Funding for Implementing PCOR in Primary Care Practices

Funding for Implementing PCOR in Primary Care Practices

The Agency for Health Care Research (AHRQ) has issued two funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) aimed at increasing the use of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) in primary care practices. The first FOA will fund up to 8 regional cooperatives to assist primary care practices build capacity for the implementation of PCOR findings in clinical care. Initial efforts will support the use of PCOR findings to improve heart health. The second companion FOAsolicits a robust, external evaluation of the same initiative designed to discover if and how practice support can best be used to disseminate and implement PCOR findings in primary care practice.  AHRQ expects that the grants will be funded in early 2015.

Applicants must specifically work with primary care practices using a comprehensive approach that uses evidence-based quality improvement strategies, such as practice facilitation, designed to improve the capacity of primary care practices to implement new PCOR evidence into the delivery of care.

Grantees must also propose to rigorously evaluate their initiatives and agree to contribute to an overarching evaluation. AHRQ will invest up to $120 million over three years supporting up to 8 grantees, a landmark investment for the agency. A technical assistance and information conference call will be held on April 24, 2014. Letters of intent are due May 23, 2014 and applications are due July 3, 2014.This initiative was planned and developed in close coordination with agencies across the Department of Health and Human Services and is funded through the PCOR Trust Fund.

Learn more about how to improve primary care. Visit AHRQ’s Prevention & Chronic Care Program at: http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/prevention-chronic-care/index.html