Project Summary
In support of PCORnet®, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, this Phase 3 Coordinating Center for PCORnet will maintain and evolve network capabilities related to the PCORnet Common Data Model (CDM), which serves as a foundational component for efficient and secure access to high-quality electronic health record data. Critical to the utility of electronic health record data for research is the premise that these data are accurate, complete, and standardized. The Coordinating Center will support efforts to promote high-quality data, as well as support linkages between electronic health and other data sources, such as Medicare and death registry data to better support high-quality research that is patient centered, national in scope, and aligned with the strategic priorities of PCORI and other stakeholders. The Coordinating Center will achieve this through the implementation of its technical approach; its plans for collaboration and coordination with other stakeholders, both as part of the scope and across the other Coordinating Center scopes; its demonstrated track record, and its commitment to PCORnet’s core principles.
The overarching goal is to ensure that the PCORnet data infrastructure contains high-quality data that can be used to answer the questions that matter most to patients, clinicians, and policymakers. The Coordinating Center will support extensions to the PCORnet CDM so it contains the data elements needed to address questions of strategic importance, curation processes to ensure those data are high-quality and fit-for-purpose for research, and processes for privacy-preserving record linkage with external data sets to augment the data held by PCORnet network partners.
This Phase 3 Coordinating Center for PCORnet will seek to advance PCORnet capabilities and ensure PCORnet sites are poised to efficiently contribute data assets in support of current and future clinical research. The Coordinating Center also recognizes the critical importance of innovation and will pursue new technologies and strategies to remain on the cutting edge of research empowered by real-word data. Natural language processing, tailored software (R, Python), and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources are all important innovations to continue to advance PCORnet as the leading network for patient-centered, nationally scaled, and real-world data-empowered research.