PCORI to create communications panel, test PCORnet

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute is seeking members for a new advisory panel on communication and dissemination research, which will provide guidance to PCORI and help identify topics for possible funding. PCORI is targeting 12-21 members, with at least one-quarter being patients, caregivers, or representatives of patient advocacy organizations. At least two members will have experience in health literacy, numeracy or risk communication, and at least two in dissemination and implementation research, PCORI said.

PCORI also said it will provide $9 million to fund two observational obesity studies that will test the technical resources of PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, which brings together data from multiple networks. The studies will include a comparative effectiveness study of multiple bariatric surgical procedures and a study comparing the risks of childhood weight gain associated with different antibiotics given before age two. ...