PCORI announces 42 partners for its Health Systems Implementation Initiative

21 Mar 2023

Written by Linda Essex

PCORI names the 42 US health system collaborators in its pioneering Health Systems Implementation Initiative learning network and opens the first funding opportunity to drive large-scale uptake of practice-changing health research findings in real-world care delivery settings.

On 2 March 2023, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) named 42 US health systems selected to participate in its ground-breaking Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII). An initial investment of $50 million is available to advance the uptake of practice-changing comparative clinical effectiveness research results in real-world care delivery settings and participants are invited to submit capacity-building project proposals for the first round of funding.

PCORI is leading the way to cut the estimated 17-year lag between the publication of healthcare results and their uptake in practice by directly supporting health systems in dissemination and implementation of healthcare advances with the multi-year HSII venture.

“Comparative clinical effectiveness research produces actionable information that helps people make informed health care choices and improve their outcomes, but even the best evidence only works if clinicians and health systems are aware of it and can use it,” explained PCORI Executive Director Nakela Cook. “Leveraging health systems’ on-the-ground knowledge and experience in care delivery will enhance PCORI’s efforts to implement practice-changing findings in clinical care and accelerate sustainable and scalable efforts to support lasting changes.

The 42 HSII participants collectively represent 800 hospitals serving 79 million unique patients — nearly a quarter of the US population — across 41 states and the District of Columbia. They include academic medical centers, community-based systems, integrated healthcare delivery and finance systems, safety net health systems, faith-based systems, public healthcare delivery systems, and a medical center within the Veterans Health Administration.

“HSII provides a unique opportunity for participant health systems with a wide range of capacities and patient populations to adopt evidence-based, care-transforming approaches,” voiced Harv Feldman, PCORI’s Deputy Executive Director for Patient-Centered Research. “The vital financial and peer support provided through HSII will not only facilitate the uptake of useful evidence that can improve patient outcomes, but also lay the groundwork for future, nationwide scale-up of successful implementation approaches.”

The participants are invited to each submit one capacity building project proposal by 5 April 2023 to request up to $500,000 of first round funding for work to enhance their ability to conduct successful implementation and program evaluation, with awards to be announced this summer. A subsequent HSII funding opportunity will support innovative implementation projects that actively advance the adoption of specific evidence from PCORI-funded research studies into real-world practice within the healthcare systems, with funds ranging from $500,000 to $5 million per project.

As well as the financial support under HSII, the participants will all also benefit significantly from collaboration in the learning network established by PCORI. A purpose of the network is to facilitate exchange of experiences and knowledge between participants about implementation best practices, evaluation metrics, and other topics integral to the initiative’s success. PCORI will also seek input through the network on topics and specific findings from PCORI-funded studies that are of interest for future implementation projects.

Health systems joining the HSII are:

Ascension Health
Atrium Health
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Cincinnati Hospital Children’s Medical Center

“We are honored to be selected and to pursue this initiative,” said Peter Margolis, Co-director of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence. “It dovetails with the emphasis on health system change that we have pursued for two decades at the Anderson Center — we are excited to get to work.”

Cleveland Clinic
CommonSpirit Health

“CommonSpirit is honored to be selected by PCORI to participate in the HSII initiative to advance evidence-based medicine, accelerate the adoption of research in clinical care, and improve patient outcomes,” expressed CommonSpirit Health Executive Vice President Thomas McGinn. “We look forward to collaborating with other health systems and partners as part of this initiative to bring best-in-class interventions to communities that translate cutting-edge research into real, tangible services and treatments for our patients.”

Corewell Health

“Put simply, participation in this initiative will help translate published research into useful data so physicians can deliver the right care at the right time to the right patients,” said Tricia Baird, Vice President of Care Coordination for Corewell Health. “As we discover new ways to solve long-standing problems in complex medical care, this partnership with PCORI makes a lot of sense.”

Duke University Health System
Geisinger Clinic
Harris Health System
HonorHealth
Inova Health Care Services
Intermountain Health

“Intermountain Health has a long history of clinical research and collaboration,” said JP Valin, MD, chief clinical officer at Intermountain Health. “Our participation in the HSII will augment that practice by allowing us to work alongside other health systems as we discover new ways to improve clinical efficiencies and effectively scale evidence-based best practices throughout our organization.”

Iowa City VA Medical Center
Jefferson Health
Kaiser Permanente Southern California
MedStar Health
Mercy Health
Montefiore Health System
OSF Healthcare System

“OSF HealthCare has been committed to transforming health care since 1877 when our pioneering Sisters started this Ministry,” said Melinda Cooling, DNP, chief clinician executive of OSF OnCall and senior vice president of advanced practice at OSF HealthCare. “This prestigious opportunity will allow us to continue to lead efforts to support changes in care delivery to improve patient health outcomes. We are pleased to partner with PCORI to lay the groundwork for broader adoption of evidence-based practices.”

Phoenix Children’s Hospital
Saint Luke’s Health System
San Francisco Health Network
Stanford Medicine
Temple University Health System
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

“This new initiative builds on prior successes we have achieved with PCORI funding in the area of antimicrobial stewardship, as well as ongoing work in the treatment of kidney stones and rheumatologic conditions in pediatric patients,” said Alexander Fiks, MD, MSCE, Director of Clinical Futures and Project Lead for CHOP’s participation in HSII.

The Nebraska Medical Center
The Queen’s Medical Center
The University of Chicago Medicine
The University of Missouri Health Care System

“MU Health Care’s selection is a tremendous opportunity for our organization to access the latest health care delivery expertise to build upon our success in patient outcomes,” declared Stevan Whitt, Chief Medical Officer of MU Health Care. “Our participation in the initiative enables us to remain forward-looking and on the leading edge of innovation.”

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Health
University Hospitals Health System

“One key benefit for our patients will be our ability to engage and collaborate with other health care leaders in the initiative. These connections will help us conduct more rigorous evaluation of the ways we’re innovating to improve patient care and getting interventions that work to our patients in a more timely way.” explained Peter Pronovost, Chief Quality and Clinical Transformation Officer of University Hospitals. “By building our capabilities in design and analysis, we hope to improve more quickly for our patients and share what we learn more broadly.”

University of California San Francisco Health
University of Florida Health System
University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre
Valleywise Health
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

“The time between important research discoveries that advance the delivery of care and their broad adoption into clinical settings can mean life and death,” stated Wright Pinson, Deputy CEO and Chief Health System Officer for Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). “This work will be of great value to patients here and across the nation. As a national leader in clinical research, VUMC is pleased to join this elite group of health systems.”