“PCORnet: Turning a Dream Into Reality,” an editorial published online this week in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, details the promises of the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet):

“Providing accurate answers based on the highest levels of scientific evidence for the majority of unresolved clinical questions is a revolutionary dream shared by patients, providers, payers, health plans, researchers, and policy makers alike. PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, promises a transformative platform that will turn this revolutionary dream into reality.”

The authors describe PCORnet’s patient-centered vision and how its transformative clinical research will be carried out through a national research network involving both Clinical Data Research Networks and Patient-Powered Research Networks. This “network of networks” is designed to include a large, highly representative population. PCORnet will first work to establish data architecture and standards and address key policy questions, followed by the conduct of its first pragmatic clinical trial slated to begin in September 2015.

Editorial authors include NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and PCORnet Steering Committee members Kathy L. Hudson, PhD, and Josephine P. Briggs, MD.