The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has released its first primary research funding announcements to support comparative clinical effectiveness research that will give patients and those who care for them the ability to make better-informed health care decisions.

PCORI will award $120 million this year for innovative projects that effectively incorporate patients and stakeholders in research teams and address the areas of focus of PCORI's National Priorities for Research and Research Agenda.

The four PCORI Funding Announcements (PFAs) involve up to $96 million in funding and correspond to the first four areas of focus in PCORI's National Priorities for Research and Research Agenda:
 
-Assessment of Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment Options- for projects that address critical decisions that patients, their caregivers and clinicians face with too little information
-Improving Healthcare Systems - for projects that address critical decisions that face health care systems, the patients and caregivers who rely on them, and the clinicians who work within them
-Communication and Dissemination - for projects that address critical elements in the communication and dissemination process among patients, their caregivers and clinicians
-Addressing Disparities - for projects that will inform the choice of strategies to eliminate disparities

All application materials can be downloaded from the Funding Opportunities section of PCORI's website. A fifth PFA on Accelerating Patient-Centered and Methodological Research, involving up to $24 million in funding, will be issued during the summer.
 
For more information, visit pcori.org.