The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is a United States-based non-profit institute created through the 2010

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...

. It is a government-sponsored organization charged with funding

comparative effectiveness research Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is the direct comparison of existing health care interventions to determine which work best for which patients and which pose the greatest benefits and harms. The core question of comparative effectiveness ...

that assists consumers, clinicians, purchasers, and policy makers to make informed decisions intended to improve health care at both the individual and population levels, according to the Institute of Medicine. Medicare considers the Institute's research in determining what sorts of therapies it will cover, although the institute's authorizing legislation set certain limits on uses of the research by federal health agencies.

Funding

PCORI is funded through the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (PCORTF), which was authorized by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and reauthorized through the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020. Its annual income comes from the general fund of the U.S. Treasury and a small fee assessed on Medicare, private health insurance, and self-insured plans. The Act mandates a $2 fee, adjusted for inflation, for each person covered on a group plan.Pipes, Sally.
Obamacare Increases Large Employers' Health Costs
. ''Forbes''. May 19, 2014. In 2018, PCORI's revenue was $506,485,458 dollars with approved research awards of $308,000,000. It made about $2 billion in commitments for funding awards between 2010 and 2017. About $1.6 billion (79% of its commitments) through fiscal 2017 was for research awards, while $325 million (16%) was to build the capacity to use existing health data for research.

Research

PCORI funds research studies that focus on

patient-centered outcomes Patient-centered outcomes are results of health care that can be obtained from a healthcare professional's ability to care for their patients and their patient's families in ways that are meaningful, valuable and helpful to the patient. Patient ...

, rather than only on

alone. Patient-centered outcomes research involves questions and outcomes that are "meaningful and important to patients and caregivers" in order to help those individuals make informed decisions for their own care. As of 2019, there have been 65 research standards developed to support patient-centered outcomes research. PCORI's authorizing legislation requires it "to guarantee peer review of all research results and to make those results publicly accessible within 90 days of their receipt."

PCORnet

Funding from PCORI enabled the development of PCORnet, a collaboration of several networks that support research using health data collected in the course of care through electronic health records, claims, and from patients. It established and maintains a common data model that allows analysis across many sites.

References

External links

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Peer-review of PCORI-collected data

People-Centered Research Foundation
{{authority control Medical research institutes in Washington, D.C. Affordable Care Act 2010 establishments in Washington, D.C. Organizations established in 2010