Associate professor of statistics in health care policy José Zubizarreta, PhD, has been approved for a $1 million funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to develop new statistical matching methods for comparative effectiveness research.
Zubizarreta’s study aims to develop a new generation of matching methods for big data, including methods for personalized medicine and hospital quality measurement. The project will evaluate the performance of the new methods both in simulated data and in empirical data sets from the Veterans Health Administration. Zubizarreta will develop open-source and easy-to-use software, case study vignettes, and YouTube video tutorials to make this new generation of matching methods widely available to practitioners in CER and patient-centered outcomes research.
“This project was selected for PCORI funding not only for its scientific merit and commitment to engaging patients and other stakeholders, but also for its potential to fill an important gap in our health knowledge and give people information to help them weigh the effectiveness of their care options,” said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. “We look forward to following the study’s progress and working with Harvard Medical School to share the results.”
Zubizarreta’s study was selected for PCORI funding through a highly competitive review process in which patients, clinicians and other stakeholders joined clinical scientists to evaluate the proposals. Applications were assessed for scientific merit, how well they will engage patients and other stakeholders and their methodological rigor among other criteria.
The award has been approved pending completion of a business and programmatic review by PCORI staff and issuance of a formal award contract.
PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information needed to make better-informed health care decisions.