Skip to main content
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Digital Health
    • Transformation
    • ESG
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Blogs
    • AI
    • Deals
    • Layoff Tracker
    • HIMSS 2023
  • Opinion
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - AI and Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
  • Data & Insights
    • Data & Insights Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • Newsletters
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Safety & Quality
May 01, 2015 12:00 AM

First PCORI studies on improving care are done, but where are the results?

Sabriya Rice
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    The Affordable Care Act created an independent organization to support research that assesses which healthcare interventions are most effective. But three years after it started funding studies, there's no central repository of results or a clear strategy for making sure the knowledge reaches the clinicians it's intended to influence.

    The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute distributed grants worth $30 million to its inaugural round of 50 projects. About 30 are complete and more results are anticipated this summer, PCORI leaders told Modern Healthcare.

    It's not clear, however, when or where those results can be found. PCORI says grantees are expected to have a plan for sharing their findings but also that it does not set timelines for completing studies.

    As of last week the group said it had not been notified by project leaders of the completed research whether or not they have submitted manuscripts to peer-reviewed journals. The institute also said it does not have a central database where results can be shared, and researchers are not required to submit manuscripts to journals for publication.

    PCORI has now approved $845 million in funding for nearly 400 projects, and the latest round came April 21. The organization announced $120 million in funding for 34 comparative clinical-effectiveness research projects, including five pragmatic clinical studies.

    While some of the initial projects were criticized as too trivial to meaningfully inform clinical practice, the new studies address a wide range of important and controversial clinical questions, including use of radiation therapy for breast cancer, effective treatments for bipolar disorder, and lifestyle interventions versus drug therapy for diabetic patients.

    The results, experts say, are at risk of getting lost in the same black hole often noted of traditional clinical data, which often remains unpublished or unreported long after studies are completed.

    Without a robust system for dissemination, the idea of “a cumulative evidence base is just a metaphor,” said Lynn Etheredge, director of the Rapid Learning Project, which promotes the concept of analyzing electronic patient data to fuel continuous improvement in safety and quality.

    The availability of comparable, computable and combinable data dramatically improves the worth of the studies and is “part of the public accountability for a research agency,” Etheredge said.

    PCORI's hands-off approach to results may simply reflect what's known as the Inglefinger rule, the long-standing policy of the New England Journal of Medicine that discourages the sharing of data before it has been published, suggested Michael Millenson, president of the Highland Park, Ill., consulting firm Health Quality Advisors.

    But, he said, there needs to be “imaginative rethinking in the deployment of resources” to ensure the efficient, effective and rapid translation of research into clinical practice. “Frankly, given the amount of money they have, that's something that perhaps needs to be a greater priority,” Millenson said.

    In January the Institute of Medicine urged major changes in data-sharing practices for clinical trials, including suggesting specific timetables for releasing adverse-event summaries and analyzable data sets that make it easier for independent researchers to compare costly therapies.

    In an editorial published after the release of the IOM report, Dr. Jeffrey Drazen, the NEJM editor-in-chief, noted that the way data is thought about needs to change. “We need to view it as a community resource, much like a shared park, rather than as personal property,” he wrote. Drazen told Modern Healthcare that PCORI's dissemination of its comparative-effectiveness data “is an area we are watching.”

    PCORI, meanwhile, says it is nearing the end of the first phase of development of an infrastructure called PCORnet, which is essentially a network of networks providing access to information from electronic health records, claims data and other sources. The participants will have the capacity to share their findings through the network.

    The first study in that project, expected to begin this summer, will compare the effect of different doses of aspirin for the prevention of heart attack and stroke among people with heart disease. The early PCORnet projects will help “illustrate PCORnet's wide-ranging capabilities and pave the way for future research,” the institute said.

    As the challenges associated with gathering and sharing clinical data persist, both among traditional clinical trial research and emerging comparative-effectiveness studies, Millenson, says it's important to not lose sight of the goal.

    “The reason to do research in this field is to help people,” he said. “The key is to make sure research results are translated into helping change patient care as quickly as possible.”

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    QUALITY OFFICER
    NCQA health plan quality ratings include new equity measure
    Hospital with money
    More hospitals to be charged readmissions penalties: CMS
    Most Popular
    1
    CMS tries luring providers to revamped Medicare ACOs
    2
    Oregon joins other states in setting ratios for nurse staffing
    3
    Blue Shield CA taps Amazon, Mark Cuban, CVS for new PBM model
    4
    A health innovation hub grows in Lake Nona Medical City
    5
    Hospital-at-home providers push for Medicaid coverage
    Sponsored Content
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Help Center
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Digital Health
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • ESG
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Blogs
      • AI
      • Deals
      • Layoff Tracker
      • HIMSS 2023
    • Opinion
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - AI and Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
      • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
    • Data & Insights
      • Data & Insights Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • Newsletters
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing