Broad Pragmatic Studies PCORI Funding Announcement — Cycle 3 2026

About this program

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) will issue a Broad Pragmatic Studies (BPS) funding announcement on Aug 4, 2026 to support high‑impact, patient‑centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) that compares at least two treatments, services, or care‑delivery strategies; Cycle 3 highlights include perinatal mental health and substance use, cancer survivorship, diabetes prevention/care, and management of neuropathic pain (including pain in people with IDD/ADRD). Applicants must demonstrate meaningful patient and stakeholder engagement in accordance with PCORI’s Foundational Expectations, propose clinically meaningful and validated patient‑centered outcomes, and ideally plan randomized or cluster‑randomized trials (well‑specified natural experiments and robust observational studies are also acceptable). Direct cost requests up to $12 million and project periods up to five years are allowed across three categories (Category 1: ≤$5M; Category 2: >$5M–$12M, requiring additional justification and planned subgroup analyses; Category 3: up to $12M for national PCORnet® studies using ≥2 Clinical Research Networks); PCORI expects to commit up to $120 million total. Key dates: PFA and online system open Aug 4, 2026; Letter of Intent due Sept 8, 2026; full applications due Jan 12, 2027 (contact pfa@pcori.org for questions).