Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is a United States–based non-profit institute created through the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It is a government-sponsored organization charged with funding Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) that assists consumers, clinicians, purchasers, and policymakers to make informed decisions intended to improve health care at both the individual and population levels, according to the Institute of Medicine. Medicare considers the Institute's research in determining what sorts of therapies it will cover, although the institute's authorizing legislation set certain limits on uses of the research by federal health agencies.