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The Broad Pragmatic Studies (BPS) PCORI Funding Announcement (PFA) was first issued in January 2022 and is designed to provide funding for high-quality comparative clinical effectiveness research projects. All applications for the BPS PFA 2023 funding cycle year must address at least one of PCORI’s National Priorities for Health and may indicate their alignment with Topic Themes.
Beginning in Cycle 2 of 2023, PCORI is excited to announce the addition of a Category 3 to the BPS PFA. The new Category 3 will support PCORnet® Studies that advance PCORI’s National Priorities for Health using PCORnet®, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network. Category 3 will support awards with direct costs of up to $10 million. PCORnet is publicly accessible to all investigators at no cost through the PCORnet Front Door.
PCORnet is funded by PCORI to improve the nation’s capacity to conduct large-scale patient-centered health research. In Fall 2022, PCORI’s Board of Governors approved a set of Strategies to Leverage PCORnet to Advance PCORI’s National Priorities for Health and Strategic Priorities. Primary among these strategies is a commitment to fund research that uses the PCORnet infrastructure to conduct definitive studies that advance PCORI's National Priorities for Health, with special attention given to intellectual and developmental disabilities, maternal morbidity and mortality, health equity, and rare disease research.
Category 3 of the BPS PFA addresses this strategy by soliciting applications to conduct PCORnet Studies comparing at least two alternative approaches to achieve the National Priorities for Health and in alignment with Topic Themes. PCORnet Studies are defined as those that:
- Include two or more Clinical Research Networks (CRNs)
- Share study progress and performance metrics
- Exchange best practices with the network to promote continuous learning and improvement
As appropriate to support the research, PCORnet Studies leverage the PCORnet Common Data Model.
Applicants to Category 3 must contact the PCORnet Front Door before preparing their applications. In the full application, applicants must submit Letters of Support from at least two CRN sites that have agreed to participate. PCORnet Studies are required to share study progress and best practices regularly with the network, such as through annual presentations to the PCORnet Steering Committee, and report performance on study site metrics (e.g., time to IRB, enrollment rates) monthly to the Coordinating Center for PCORnet to promote continuous learning and improvement. These additional requirements will be outlined in PCORnet Studies milestones for all funded Category 3 BPS PFA projects.
Category 3 will permit awards for direct costs of up to $10 million. Applications for funding under Category 3 requesting direct costs greater than $5 million will be expected to justify the size and scope of the proposed research as well as why additional funds are necessary to support the scale, scope, and complexity of personnel and material resources needed to address the proposed research question.
Categories 1 and 2 will remain consistent with previous cycles of the BPS PFA.
In addition to the Cycle 2 2023 BPS PFA Applicant Town Hall which will be held on May 17, 2023, at 11:30 am (ET), PCORI will offer a series of workshops to review PCORnet resources. These sessions are intended to support potential applicants to the new Category 3. The first workshop will provide an overview of PCORnet resources and PFA requirements. The second will provide a deep dive into data, research, and engagement resources.
