News Release

PCORI Offers Up To $4 Million for Engagement Projects Through Expanded "Pipeline to Proposal" Awards Program

Application system opens for patients, stakeholders eager to engage in research
Published: Nov. 21, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has begun accepting proposals from interested applicants nationwide through its "Pipeline to Proposal" Awards program. This initiative is designed develop a nationwide community of patients, researchers and other healthcare stakeholders with the knowledge and capacity to participate in patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR).

The national launch of the Pipeline Awards, which will offer up to $4 million in fiscal year 2015, expands on a pilot phase of the initiative in which PCORI made 30 awards to applicants in 13 western states.

By providing seed funds, Pipeline Awards enable patients, advocacy groups, clinicians, and others who are not usual candidates for research funding to forge relationships within their respective communities. The goal is to turn a shared interest in a critical healthcare topic into patient-centered comparative effectiveness research (CER) proposals that they can submit to PCORI or another research funder.

“We’re very pleased to make this important opportunity available nationally to people who are eager to promote and actively engage in patient-centered outcomes research, but are at the earliest stages of engagement," said Jean Slutsky, PA, MSPH, PCORI's Chief Engagement and Dissemination Officer. "We look forward to seeing many effective partnerships develop proposals."

With a series of tiered awards, the Pipeline program leads recipients through a collaborative process that begins with a shared health interest, builds the project participants' knowledge and capacity to participate in CER, and culminates in a funding proposal.

  • Tier I Awards – Up to $15,000 per award for a nine-month term to support relationship development. Patients, physicians, researchers, or other stakeholders create partnerships, and begin developing governance structures, communications plans, and potential research questions.
  • Tier II Awards – Up to $25,000 per award for a one-year term to support capacity building. These awards are available to successful Tier I awardees to help them strengthen and expand their partnerships and research plans.
  • Tier III Awards – Up to $50,000 per award for a one-year term to support proposal development. These awards support fully formed research teams in developing a high-quality, patient-centered CER proposal. Groups that have not received Tier I and II awards are eligible to apply as well as those who have successfully completed those tiers. Tier III will be announced in early 2015.

Individuals and groups interested in applying for Tier I funds must submit Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) by Tuesday, December 23. LOIs are competitive, meaning they will be screened for their responsiveness and fit to the initiative’s goals. PCORI will notify those invited to submit full applications by Friday, January 23, 2015. Other key dates and details can be found in the full funding announcement on PCORI’s website.

Potential applicants can also learn more about the types of projects PCORI is looking to fund through the Pipeline to Proposal program in a webinar from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, December 3. Registration details for this webinar can be found on PCORI’s website at www.pcori.org/events.