PCOR Infrastructure & Innovation

Aligned with our National Priorities for Health, the PCOR Infrastructure and Innovation division works to create synergies among the data, technology, methods, and people power needed to transform health research and advance the next generation of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR). The division is composed of three units responsible for managing projects in the following areas:

Accelerating Patient-Centered Outcomes Research and Methodological Research

The Methodological Research unit focuses on improving methods for the design and conduct of clinical studies, thereby improving PCORI’s and the nation’s capacity to conduct high-quality patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER). This priority area is complementary to the work of the PCORI Methodology Committee, which defines methodological standards for patient-centered CER and identifies methodological gaps that can be filled through research on best methods.

Research, Data, and Technology

The Research, Data, and Technology unit executes strategies to optimize use, accessibility, quality, and interoperability of real-world data for PCOR. The unit manages PCORI’s funding of PCORnet^®, a national resource where high-quality health data, patient partnership, and research expertise deliver fast, trustworthy answers that advance health outcomes. PCORnet can be used to learn from the health care experiences of millions of people to enable large-scale research that is conducted with enhanced accuracy and efficiency. To learn more about PCORnet, click here.

Workforce Development

The Workforce Development unit cultivates, executes and leads strategies to develop and support the human resource components of PCOR infrastructure—in other words, the people who are involved in PCOR. PCORI conceptualizes the “PCOR workforce” broadly to include researchers, health system leaders, patients, community members and others from diverse backgrounds who both lead and partner in PCOR.

Priority areas include:

• PCOR Training and Development: leads efforts to build an expanded, strong, diverse and sustainable workforce trained in conducting and partnering in research by supporting the creation of curricula and delivering training and development opportunities.
• Learning Health Systems (LHS): accelerates progress toward an integrated LHS by helping to develop a new generation of the PCOR community, that includes health system and community leaders who can support the generation, adoption and application of evidence to improve the outcomes of individuals and populations, and health system performance.

Posted: February 25, 2016; Updated: May 1, 2023