Addressing Substance Use PCORI Funding Announcement -- Cycle 3 2026
PCORI funds patient-centered comparative effectiveness research on substance use and disorders, emphasizing evidence-based strategies and active stakeholder engagement to improve patient outcomes.
Funder: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
Due Dates: September 9, 2026 (LOI, 5 pm ET) | January 12, 2027 (Full application, 5 pm ET)
Funding Amounts: Up to $12 million total direct costs per project (max 5 years); $60 million total available
Summary: Funds patient-centered comparative effectiveness research on substance use, misuse, and substance use disorders, emphasizing evidence-based strategies and stakeholder engagement.
Key Information: Strictly implementation-focused or novel intervention development studies are not eligible.
Description
This funding opportunity from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) supports high-quality, patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) projects that address substance use/misuse and substance use disorders. The initiative targets the significant health, social, and economic burdens associated with substance use, with a focus on populations experiencing high incidence, prevalence, or burden, or those with lower access to or effectiveness of interventions.
Eligible studies may investigate prevention, screening, treatment, and recovery approaches at the individual, community, or systems level to improve patient-centered substance-use-related outcomes. PCORI encourages research aligned with special areas of emphasis, such as evidence-based prevention and treatment strategies, overdose prevention, nicotine and tobacco reduction, and the intersection of poor sleep and substance misuse. All projects must involve meaningful patient and stakeholder engagement and utilize well-justified, validated outcomes relevant to patients and healthcare decision-makers.
Proposals that are solely for novel intervention development, strictly implementation-focused, or primarily for the creation of new tools/technologies are not responsive to this announcement.
