PCORI awards $500K to Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care as part of health systems implementation initiative

Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care, both part of Advocate Health, have together been awarded $500,000 in funding to support their joint participation in the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s (PCORI) Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII).

PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress. Its mission is to fund research that provides patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence needed to make better informed health care decisions.

The goal of HSII, launched by PCORI in 2022 with a $50 million investment, is to help reduce the 17-year lag between the publication of research that could benefit patients and its widespread use in hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices. To accomplish this goal, HSII is encouraging the real-world implementation of new evidence resulting from PCORI research by directly funding organizations, such as medical centers and community-based health care systems, that are responsible for health care delivery.

“PCORI has for years funded innovative and vital health care research,” said Denise Angst, PhD, RN, Vice President of Academic Research and Strategic Partnerships for Advocate Auroa Research Institute, which is assisting with the project. “This capacity-building funding will enable us to take on future HSII projects that will inform the implementation of evidence-based practices across a variety of health care delivery settings. This work is fundamental to our commitment to providing the best care for our patients and our responsibility as a learning health system.”

The $500,000 funding award will specifically be used for building out Advocate’s and Aurora’s capacity to advance the adoption of specific PCORI-funded evidence in practice. As an example, this capacity-building grant will be used to characterize practice sites, develop community engagement for future HSII projects, and enhance the system’s abilities to use the LiveWell app.

Capacity building is an essential step for HSII participation. With key infrastructure in place, HSII sites will be able to compete for future funding awards of up to $5 million that focus on particular practice changes.

Advocate and Aurora are together one of 42 health systems selected to participate in HSII. HSII participants collectively represent 800 hospitals serving 79 million unique patients – nearly a quarter of the U.S. population – across 41 states and the District of Columbia.

In addition to providing funding awards, HSII will facilitate learning between members, as participating health systems will be at the forefront of implementing practice-changing care strategies.

“Our care delivery ranges from rural farmland to large urban markets such as Chicago and Milwaukee, and across more than 500 sites of care and 27 hospitals, including dedicated children’s and psychiatric hospitals,” said Amy Margeson, Vice President of Quality – Acute. “That constitutes one of the largest single instances of Epic in the world, encompassing more than 10.1 million patient records. Combined with our commitment to evidence-based improvements in care delivery, this ideally positions Advocate and Aurora to lead this push to refine, employ and demonstrate workable strategies to improve patient care.”