The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors met April 30 to approve $74 million in funding for nine research projects on comparative effectiveness research (CER) topics, as well as $20 million to support four studies that will use PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network.
Additionally, the Board approved two new PCORI Funding Announcements (PFAs). According to the first PFA, PCORI will fund studies examining the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions with office-based opioid treatment for opioid use disorder, and according to the second PFA, PCORFI will focus on dissemination and implementation efforts to promote uptake of peer-reviewed findings from PCORI-funded studies.
The Board also approved five new PCORI Methodology Standards, four of which are included in the Standard for Studies of Complex Intervention category, and the fifth standard was added to the Standards for Data Integrity and Rigorous Analyses category.
During his update to the board, PCORI Executive Director Joe V. Selby, MD, MPH, noted that PCORI will establish a Horizon Scanning Program by the end of 2018. It will identify new and emerging technologies to monitor in health care and it will help to establish key research questions about these technologies.
Additionally, Dr. Selby informed the Board that PCORI is in the process of evaluating its CER portfolio and comparing it to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) CER portfolio. Specific areas of comparison include characteristics of the funded study’s principal investigator and institution, the efficiency of the study, and the study’s dissemination and impact.