Statewide Research Consortium Receives $7.9 Million for Research to Improve Patient Outcomes

A statewide partnership among Orlando Health, the University of Florida, University of Miami, Florida State University, health care systems, health plans, providers and patients was approved for a three-year, $7.9 million funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, or PCORI, to support patient-centered health care research throughout Florida and the country.

The funding award will create a clinical data research network that is part of a larger collaborative initiative called the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, or PCORnet. PCORnet will enable researchers nationwide to conduct clinical research more quickly and less expensively than is now possible and will ensure that research focuses on the most important outcomes to patients.

The PCORI funding will designate the statewide partnership, called the OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium, as one of 13 clinical data research networks nationwide, which are working to accelerate the translation of promising research findings into improved patient care. The consortium includes 22 hospitals, 914 clinical practices and 4,100 physicians, providing care for close to 40 percent of Floridians. The UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute is leading development of the consortium and will coordinate the funding award.

The 13 clinical data research networks are part of PCORnet, which links researchers, patient communities, clinicians and health systems in research partnerships that involve large volumes of health data. PCORnet studies focus on implementing best practices in patient care settings and identifying barriers to patients receiving optimal care.

OneFlorida initially will focus on high blood pressure, obesity and two rare genetic diseases, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Phelan-McDermid syndrome. In a statewide survey, almost 75 percent of Floridians identified high blood pressure as their No. 1 health care concern, and clinicians routinely identify that condition as a critical issue for their patients.

“This PCORI funding will allow the consortium to help change how health care research is conducted in Florida,” said Betsy A. Shenkman, Ph.D., chair of the department of health outcomes and policy in the UF College of Medicine and one of two co-principal investigators for the funding award. “Research will become more relevant to patients due to their involvement in the process, and it will be more efficient, since it will be conducted in health care settings where the research results eventually will be implemented.”

“This funding is a critical component to our work with our statewide partners, including UF Health, to bring important research opportunities and clinical trials to our patients right here in Central Florida,” said Mark Roh, MD, president, UF Health Cancer Center – Orlando Health and member of the OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium. “Our state faces an incredible health care burden and Orlando Health is committed to work collaboratively to make sure our patients and our community have access to cutting edge treatments, trials and procedures. This funding will help connect our many partners around the state, and change the face of health care for Floridians.”

The funding award will facilitate greater involvement with clinicians across the state, who can work with researchers to implement quality improvement projects and research in their clinics and practices.