PCORI puts $44 million toward cancer, PTSD, care disparities research
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute has approved $44.4 million to fund 21 new patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness studies.
Several of the studies will focus on cancer, including comparing ways to improve colorectal cancer screening, developing a more patient-centered approach to assessing the quality of care for people with cancer, and assessing the effectiveness of different treatment strategies for ductal carcinoma in situ, DCIS, among older women.
Also approved are a number of studies aimed at tackling disparities in care, including a project that will examine interventions to reduce postpartum depression in low-income women and another to test the effectiveness of strategies for improving outcomes for children with Down Syndrome who do not have access to specialty clinics.
Taken together, the new projects focus on a range of conditions and problems that impose high burdens on patients, caregivers, and the healthcare system. Others include post-partum depression, misuse of antibiotics, post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans, and joint replacement.
The nonprofit PCORI received authorization by Congress in 2010 with the mission to fund research that leads to better healthcare decisions.
Since then, in fact, PCORI's board has approved more than $1.3 billion in funding for 504 patient-centered clinical effectiveness research and attendant projects.
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Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com
