What is PCORI? Why should you care?

What is PCORI?
PCORI stands for Patient Centered Outcomes Research Initiative. Put simply, PCORI is a private organization interested in what patients think about current treatment systems within U.S. healthcare and users’ experience of that care. According to PCORI’s mission, patients and their preferences should be at the center of care. PCORI does not seek to steer patients toward any one option, but instead wants to serve as a trusted source of information for patients and caregivers alike.

You can check out the PCORI site here

Dr. Joe Selby, the director of PCORI, describes PCORI’s focus as one that concentrates on patient engagement and he asserts the value PCORI places on public feedback about systems of care and the care itself. Although central to the Initiative, the definition of “patient centered outcomes research” is in the process of being finalized, following a period of public comment from practitioners and patients across the country.

PCORI seeks to work with practitioners and patients to provide patients and their caregivers answers to these questions:
“Given my personal characteristics, conditions and preferences, what should I expect will happen to me?”
“What are my options and what are the benefits and harms of those options?”
“What can I do to improve the outcomes that are most important to me?”
“How can the health care system improve my chances of achieving the outcomes I prefer?”

Why should you care?
Dentists practicing Dental Sleep Medicine are providing a treatment option that has been slowly and surely attracting more and more proponents. The evidence for Dental Sleep Medicine’s success and high rates of patient acceptance and subsequent compliance is mounting.

PCORI is an organization trying hard to hear patient voices and to create healthcare systems around their preferences in collaboration with their healthcare providers. Dentists practicing Dental Sleep Medicine must continue to forge relationships with physicians and other healthcare providers in treating patients suffering from Sleep Breathing Disorders. In keeping with the mission of PCORI, healthcare providers’ collaborative efforts in the identification and management of sleep breathing disorders must continue to be strengthened and supported.

Keep your eye on PCORI’s website, and when you’re offered a chance to submit a comment, be sure to do so. The Academy will be watching closely as well for opportunities to have our community’s voice heard. PCORI may be a useful vehicle to further the spread of dentist and physician collaboration and the healthcare community’s acceptance of Dental Sleep Medicine as a patient-centered option.