WASHINGTON, DC — The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors today approved $2.8 million to fund two projects designed to speed the use of results of PCORI-funded studies into practice. The Board also approved a PCORnet funding announcement and adopted new methodology standards.

The newly approved awards, funded through PCORI’s Dissemination and Implementation initiative, are:

• $1.4 million for a University of Arizona initiative to support use of a phone-based peer support program, which has shown success in improving continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) adherence among people newly diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, at 11 sleep centers and clinics across the Banner Health system.
• $1.4 million for a University of Pennsylvania project to implement IMPaCT, a community health worker program shown in a PCORI-funded study to improve patient satisfaction and decrease hospitalization among low-income patients with chronic illness, at three healthcare organizations across North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

“PCORI is dedicated to supporting research that improves patient care and outcomes, but that’s only part of our mandate,” said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. “We must also practice – at the system, clinician and patient levels – to align with the new evidence. This is a challenge. Old habits die hard and new ideas are often slow to take root. These new awards, like others we’ve funded to support dissemination and implementation of findings from our funded research, are designed to help ensure that these final steps happen.”

With these latest awards, PCORI has approved $25 million in projects designed to support the uptake of selected results from comparative effectiveness research it has funded to help patients and those who care for them make better-informed healthcare decisions. More details on all of PCORI’s dissemination and implementation projects appear on PCORI’s website.

The Board also approved up to $6 million for a limited PCORnet funding announcement geared toward building its sustainability and success. The announcement provides opportunities for clinical research networks to develop funding partnerships to conduct research.   

In addition, the Board voted to adopt 11 new methodology standards concerning qualitative method, mixed methods research, and individual participant-level data meta-analysis. “We are very excited to see PCORI-endorsed methodology standards in these important topical areas become available to the research and stakeholder communities. I want to congratulate and thank PCORI’s Methodology Committee and the PCORI staff who support them in this work,” added Selby. Additional information about the new standards is available here.