Blog

PCORI-Funded Research Addresses Pain and Opioid Use

Published: 
September 18, 2017
Author(s): 
Layla Lavasani, PhD, MHS,
Penny Mohr, MA
Blog Topics: 
Research
Engagement Blogs
Evaluating Our Work
As the nation’s growing opioid crisis continues to make headlines, the underlying problem of managing chronic pain gets less public attention. Around 100 million US adults experience chronic pain, according to the National Academy of Medicine, costing the nation up to $635 billion each year in...
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What 30 Years of Living with Pain Taught Me about Advancing Research

Published: 
September 18, 2017
Author(s): 
Christin Veasley
Blog Topics: 
Research
Engagement Blogs
Guest Blogs
When I was 15 years old, I was hit by a car while riding my bike. It was an accident I wasn’t expected to survive. I sustained major injuries, requiring multiple surgeries and rehabilitation. It was a miracle that I could walk and talk normally again. By 18, though, I started developing chronic...
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PCORI's Data-Sharing Initiative: An Update

Published: 
September 6, 2017
Author(s): 
Jason Gerson, PhD,
Parag Aggarwal, PhD,
Katherine Jackstadt, MS
Blog Topics: 
Research
Evaluating Our Work
At PCORI, we try to ensure transparency in everything we do. It’s part of our commitment to the patients, caregivers, researchers, clinicians, and other healthcare stakeholders we serve. This transparency includes our efforts to support open science, making scientific research—including the data...
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Finding and Recruiting Research Partners: Lessons from PCORI Awardees

Published: 
September 1, 2017
Author(s): 
Chinenye Anyanwu, PharmD, MPH,
Rachel Hemphill, MA, PhD
Blog Topics: 
Research
Engagement Blogs
Engaging patients and others across the healthcare community is at the core of all we do at PCORI. That includes requiring that researchers work with patients and other key stakeholders to design and conduct the studies we fund, and to disseminate their findings. Why have we been committed to this...
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A Clinician's View: Patient-Centered Research Is the Path to Better Health Care

Published: 
August 24, 2017
Author(s): 
David Hahn, MD, MS
Blog Topics: 
Research
Guest Blogs
Every day, patients make difficult decisions about their care. Should I have surgery? Which drug is best for me? Would I be better off waiting, or should I begin treatment now?
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Bipartisan Policy Center Forum Highlights CER and PCORI's Work

Published: 
August 17, 2017
Blog Topics: 
Engagement Blogs
The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) recently held the second of two forums on the future of comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER), featuring a pair of panels addressing the history, concerns, current challenges, and future opportunities for patient-centered CER. The forum noted the key...
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Keeping Our Research Standards Up to Date

Published: 
July 31, 2017
Author(s): 
David Hickam, MD, MPH,
Emily Evans, PhD, MPH,
Robin Newhouse, PhD, RN,
Blog Topics: 
Research
Methods Blogs
Guest Blogs
Failure to follow good research practices can result in studies that don’t provide findings useful for informing clinical decisions. To avoid such wasted effort, PCORI’s authorizing law required that our research program be based on rigorous scientific methods and that we develop a set of standards...
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Achieving Results: An Update

Published: 
July 21, 2017
Author(s): 
Joe V. Selby, MD, MPH
Blog Topics: 
Research
Evaluating Our Work
Executive Director's Blog
I’ve reported to you on occasion about results emerging from PCORI’s earliest funded studies. Most recently, in April , I called your attention to a number of articles that appeared in leading medical journals. At the time, I predicted a steady stream of additional publications reporting findings...
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Implementing Shared Decision Making: A New PCORI Initiative

Published: 
July 19, 2017
Author(s): 
Joanna Siegel, SM, ScD,
Christopher Gayer, PhD
Blog Topics: 
Research
Application Process
Funding Awards
Helping patients use evidence to make informed healthcare decisions that best match their values and preferences is one of PCORI’s major goals. This is an important focus because even with evidence from comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) studies, choosing between treatments or other...
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Engagement Project Yields Unexpected Dividends

Published: 
June 9, 2017
Author(s): 
Lia Hotchkiss, MPH
Blog Topics: 
Research
Engagement Blogs
Funding Awards
When she applied for a Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award, Sharron Close, PhD, of Atlanta never dreamed it would lead her all the way to the Georgia capitol and Governor Nathan Deal. Close, a researcher at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, was leading a PCORI-...
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