Does PCORI allow both a fixed-fee budget and a capitated budget?

PCORI does allow for both fixed fee as well as capitated budgets, but they must be clearly delineated and well justified in your budget justification. Proposed costs and responsibilities cannot be duplicated in the two categories, and applicants should mindful to ensure that any per-patient costs are not duplicated across other spending categories. PCORI encourages applicants to ensure that costs are clearly delineated and justified in terms of what specific costs are allocated toward fixed costs, and what costs are associated to a capitated budget.

For example, if there is a capitated per-patient cost that includes recruitment costs, then they cannot also include recruitment responsibilities in the personnel costs for that site. Or, if there is a site PI who is being paid separately from the per-patient costs, then those responsibilities as site PI should be clearly delineated and different from the capitation charges – tasks that are very specifically not activities captured in the capitation such as writing manuscripts or providing guidance to the project’s strategy.