HCS Research Collaboratory

While valuable in determining the mechanism of action of and efficacy in a targeted population, results from traditional clinical trials have limited relevance in the real-world setting of clinical care where for example, patients may have more diverse medical conditions. The HCS Research Collaboratory supports the implementation of randomized pragmatic clinical trials conducted at the site of care, with healthcare delivery organizations actively participating as learning health care systems to inform optimal care and decision making. Performing trials in real word settings present substantial hurdles not faced by randomized clinical trials, and the Collaboratory aims to address these hurdles and provide guidance to increase the national capacity to conduct such trials.

The program currently supports a series of pragmatic clinical trials that take place at the site of care within health care delivery systems. These embedded pragmatic clinical trials address a range of pressing public health concerns including cancer screening, pain management, kidney dialysis, hospital-acquired infections, medication adherence, suicide prevention, and advanced care planning and take place at medical centers across the country. Lessons learned from these projects are being documented by the Collaboratory to inform the design and implementation of future pragmatic trials. For more information about these trials please see the public health relevance page.

To provide critical infrastructure to address the unique challenges of embedded pragmatic clinical trials and disseminate lessons learned, the program also supports a Collaboratory Coordinating Center. For example, the Coordinating Center oversees a number of Cores/Working Groups that each focus on a unique aspect of conducting pragmatic clinical trials. The Cores/Working Groups then provide essential guidance to the pragmatic clinical trial investigators. Learn more about the Collaboratory Cores/Working Groups. 

Visit the Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory website maintained by the Collaboratory Coordinating Center for detailed information on:

• Collaboratory Organizational Structure
• Pragmatic Clinical Trial Projects
• Cores/Working Groups
• The Knowledge Repository - a collection of Collaboratory documents and resources