But more is to come. Following a Board of Governors vote early this month, PCORI is putting additional pieces in place to solicit innovative projects from the nation’s investigators and healthcare stakeholder communities. To complement these PCORI-wide efforts, we committed existing Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Awards funding to a special opportunity: Supporting Engagement in and Dissemination of PCOR/CER in the Context of COVID-19.

Learn More and Apply Now for This Special Funding Opportunity

A Unique Time, a Unique Opportunity

This special funding announcement will support projects that help communities increase their ability to participate across all phases of patient-centered outcomes research/comparative clinical effectiveness research (PCOR/CER) while responding to societal changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. We also seek to fund organizations and community groups to actively disseminate PCORI-funded research results during the pandemic. We invite applicants to explore virtual or distanced methods of engagement, and to generate new questions and evidence needs across stakeholder groups.

Because of the urgent needs COVID-19 presents, this funding announcement does not require Letters of Inquiry. A full proposal is due at the time of submission, with projects to begin by either July 1 or August 1, 2020. Prospective applicants can watch a virtual information session to answer questions they might have about the process.

Watch the Virtual Information Session for Prospective Applicants

Innovative Engagement Practices in the Context of Social Distancing

As with all Engagement Awards, organizations applying for funding through this opportunity must have strong ties to patients, caregivers, clinicians, and other stakeholders they can engage as partners in PCOR/CER in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic.​ Projects will strengthen the skills of stakeholders to engage in PCOR/CER using creative approaches that follow all local and federal guidelines on social distancing measures.

Projects should address emerging needs, with an emphasis on the PCOR/CER needs of front-line and end-user communities facing the COVID-19 pandemic, including clinicians, policy makers, hospitals, and health systems. Projects funded through this opportunity will also equip organizations to manage ongoing adaptations that arise in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spreading the Word About Our Research Results

While responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, PCORI remains committed to its mission to get results from its funded projects into the hands of patients and others who need them to make better-informed healthcare decisions. That’s why, through this opportunity, we’ll fund projects that support organizations with strong ties to end-user audiences to lay the groundwork for disseminating research results. We expect applicants to leverage these ties to understand opportunities and limitations of stakeholder engagement during this time and propose appropriate strategies to mitigate challenges.  

PCORI intends for these projects to focus on strengthening the infrastructure and relationships necessary to actively disseminate research results or products derived from PCORI-funded studies. Projects can also develop, demonstrate, and evaluate the mechanisms necessary to incorporate PCOR/CER results into decision-making settings while following local and federal social distancing guidelines.

We expect that projects selected for an Engagement Award will further PCORI’s goals of promoting the relevance of research to target audiences and the uptake of research results by end users. We are committed to using and sharing successful approaches to engagement under these unique circumstances. The information and learnings generated by Engagement Award projects must be of interest or use not only to the applicant organizations, but also to others doing related work. The learnings and information will be made public so they can have a broader impact.

In addition to the virtual information session mentioned earlier, prospective applicants can email [email protected] with additional questions.