19 Dec BPC Action Applauds Congress for Reauthorizing the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) in Budget and Appropriations, Health

BPC Action applauds Congress for fully reauthorizing the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). In particular, BPC Action thanks Sens. Grassley and Wyden for their efforts to reauthorize this critical program and Sens. Warner (D-VA), Cassidy (R-LA), Van Hollen (D-MD), and Capito (R-WV) for their bipartisan leadership on the PCORI Reauthorization Act.

PCORI is an independent, non-profit organization with a mission to provide patients and providers with information to make decisions that improve health outcomes. At a time when we are all working to improve the quality and value of health care, PCORI’s mission is more important than ever. PCORI funds and disseminates clinical comparative effectiveness research studies that compare health care options to learn which works best given a patient’s circumstances and preferences. PCORI’s research is unique among funders. It requires that patients and other stakeholders be engaged in the studies it supports from the start and remain involved all the way through the dissemination of results. This makes it more likely that PCORI-funded studies will get the research questions right and that the results will be placed into clinical practice more quickly. 

BPC has long called for fully extending PCORI to ensure that this critical organization is able to fund new comparative effectiveness research to continue to promote patient access to evidence-based treatments and high-value care. BPC Action applauds Congress for acting to provide a full, long-term reauthorization of PCORI to ensure that this critical program can continue funding new research in FY2020 and beyond.