PCORnet® - A National Resource for Patient-centered Health Research

Sep 30, 2026

PCORnet® is described as a large, federated “network of networks” that enables innovative patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) and other health research at national scale. Funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute® (PCORI®), it links to more than 47 million unique patients and supports study designs from pragmatic trials to observational studies. The commentary explains PCORI’s perspective on the value of clinical research infrastructure and PCORnet’s continuous evaluation and evolution to generate trustworthy, actionable answers for patients and the health community.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Objective

Relevance to the Special Issue

The Need for National Clinical Research Infrastructure

PCORnet® : A National Resource for Patient-centered Health Research Kimberly Marschhauser, PhD, Claudia Grossmann, PhD, Emily Abbruzzi, MPH, Rachel Hemphill, PhD, Laura Forsythe, PhD, MPH, and Erin Holve, PhD, MPH, MPP Background: PCORnet is a large, federated “network of networks”that facilitates innovative patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) and other health research at a national scale. As a ﬂagship infrastructure program funded by the PatientCentered Outcomes Research Institute® (PCORI®), an independent, nonproﬁt research organization, PCORnet is unique among national clincial research networks given the scale of the network. With linkages to more than 47 million unique patients, strong governance, research expertise, and commitment to keeping the patient at the center of all activities, PCORnet can be used to conduct a range of study types, from pragmatic trials to observational studies. Since 2015, PCORnet has been used to conduct more than 250 studies, ranging from observational research to pragmatic trials. Objective: The main objective of this commentary is to provide PCORI’s perspective on the importance of clinical research infrastructure, the unique contributions of the PCORnet infrastructure to patient-centered research, and PCORI’s approach to continuous evaluation and evolution of PCORnet. Relevance to the Special Issue: This commentary aims to be useful to readers in understanding PCORI’s vision for PCORnet and approach to monitoring progress and measuring success. Key Words: clinical research infrastructure, evaluation, patientcentered (Med Care 2026;64:S174–S177) The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is an independent nonproﬁt research organization initially authorized by Congress in 2010 . PCORI From the Research Infrastucture and Innovation, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute; and Evaluation and Analysis, PatientCentered Outcomes Research Institute, Washington, DC The authors declare no conﬂict of interest. Correspondence to: Kimberly Marschhauser, PhD, Research Infrastructure and Innovation, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, 1333 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036 . E-mail: [kmarschhauser@pcori.org](kmarschhauser@pcori.org). Copyright © 2026 The Author(s) . Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal. DOI: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000002231 [S174](S174 | www.lww-medicalcare.com)[ |](S174 | www.lww-medicalcare.com)[ www.lww-medicalcare.com](S174 | www.lww-medicalcare.com) aims to empower patients and the broader health community to make better-informed health decisions and improve health outcomes by funding patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) that compares 2 or more medical treatments, services, or health practices.1 As outlined in PCORI’s National Priorities for Health, PCORI is committed to enhancing the nation’s clinical research infrastructure to support more efﬁcient and effective patient-centered CER and other health research by continued funding and support of PCORnet®, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network.2 PCORnet® is a national resource, funded by PCORI that enables insights from high-quality health data, patient partnership, and research expertise to deliver fast, trustworthy answers that advance health outcomes. PCORnet was designed to be a reusable infrastructure that continuously learns and improves to facilitate national-scale collaboration to enable a range of study designs—from observational studies to trials, particularly patient-centered CER. PCORnet generates information for the public and is accessible to th

FAQs

What is PCORnet® and what does it enable?

PCORnet® is a federated “network of networks” that facilitates patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research and other health research at a national scale.

How is PCORnet® funded and what makes it distinct?

PCORnet® is funded by PCORI® and presented as a unique national infrastructure program with broad scale, governance, and patient-centered commitments.

What kinds of study designs can PCORnet support?

PCORnet can support a range of study types, including pragmatic trials and observational studies, designed for national-scale collaboration.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Alex Sinclair