The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) will release several Funding Announcements in August 2016, including:

• Strategies to Prevent Unsafe Opioid Prescribing in Primary Care among Patients with Acute or Chronic Non-Cancer Pain: This opportunity will encourage expert research institutions to conduct research informing strategies to promote safe opioid prescribing. It also seeks applications from consortiums of research institutions collaborating with health systems and/or payers that are implementing strategies that address the opioid epidemic and improve pain management.
• Community-Based Palliative Care Delivery for Adult Patients with Advanced Illnesses and their Caregivers: This is a new PCORI opportunity designed to generate comparative effectiveness research (CER) evidence to: a) support care planning over time that is consistent with the goals and preferences of adult patients with advanced illnesses and their caregivers, and b) support the delivery of coordinated, community-based palliative care that effectively implements those care plans.
• Management of Care Transitions for Emerging Adults with Sickle Cell Disease: This opportunity will encourage applications from teams with expertise in patient-centered CER focusing on care transitions for emerging adults (e.g., 16-25 years of age) with sickle cell disease.
• Limited PCORI Funding Announcement: Dissemination and Implementation of PCORI Funded Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Results and Products in Real World Settings – Cycle 3 2016: As in the previous cycle, this is a limited opportunity for current and former PCORI awardees to receive funding that supports dissemination and implementation of the research and products associated with their PCORI awards.
• Pragmatic Clinical Studies to Evaluate Patient-Centered Outcomes – Cycle 3 2016: This opportunity seeks to fund pragmatic clinical trials, large simple trials, or large-scale observational studies that compare two or more alternatives for addressing prevention, diagnosis, treatment, or management of a disease or symptom; improving healthcare system-level approaches to managing care; communicating or disseminating research results to patients, caregivers, or clinicians; or eliminating health or healthcare disparities.
• Improving Methods for Conducting Patient-Centered Outcomes Research – Cycle 3 2016: This opportunity is to help PCORI advance its methods for patient-centered outcomes research. Improved research methods produce more valid, trustworthy, and useful information that lead to better healthcare decisions and, ultimately, improved patient outcomes.
• Communication and Dissemination Research – Cycle 3 2016: This program funds and manages projects directed at the critical knowledge gaps in the communication and dissemination process. This includes communication and dissemination of research results to patients, their caregivers, and clinicians, as well as communication between patients, caregivers, and clinicians.
• Improving Healthcare Systems – Cycle 3 2016: This program funds research focusing on the comparison of healthcare system-level approaches to improving the safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timing, efficiency, equitability, and accessibility of care and healthcare practice.
• Assessment of Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment Options – Cycle 3 2016: The premise of this research is to uncover new knowledge that will inform critical healthcare decisions by patients and stakeholders. Applications are sought for CER that will provide insight on the comparative benefits and harms of healthcare options so that patients and caregivers, clinicians, policy makers, and healthcare system leaders can make better decisions.
• Addressing Disparities – Cycle 3 2016: This program funds and manages projects that reduce or eliminate health disparities with a particular focus on care delivery and outcomes.

Letters of Intent for these opportunities are due September 14, 2016 with applications due December 19, 2016. For more details on any of these opportunities, contact Stacie at Stacie@wordsforgood.com