PCORnet® 2020: current state, accomplishments, and future directions

Area of Science:

• Clinical research networks
• Patient-centered outcomes research
• Health informatics

Background:

• PCORnet is a national clinical research network designed to advance patient-centered outcomes research.
• It integrates data from multiple health systems and health plans across the United States.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the current state and future directions of PCORnet.
• To highlight its capabilities for large-scale clinical research.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive study utilizing cross-sectional analyses.
• Examined health systems and patient populations within PCORnet's Clinical Research Networks and Health Plan Research Networks.

Main Results:

• PCORnet includes data from 337 hospitals, 169,695 physicians, and over 80 million patients (2009-2018).
• The Health Plan Research Network covers over 60 million individuals with substantial follow-up data (2009-2019).
• Infrastructure supports recruitment from numerous clinical sites.

Conclusions:

• PCORnet possesses a robust infrastructure with diverse clinical data.
• It facilitates rapid access to large patient cohorts for pragmatic clinical trials and epidemiological research.
• The network is well-positioned for patient-centered research, including studies on rare diseases.