Improving Individual and Family Outcomes through Continuity and Coordination of Care in Hospice (R21) | PA 17 015

Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 17 015

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity "Improving Individual and Family Outcomes through Continuity and Coordination of Care in Hospice (R21)" (Funding Opportunity Number: PA-17-015; CFDA: 93.361) supports early-stage, exploratory research aimed at improving how hospice care is coordinated and how care transitions are managed at the end of life. The central focus is on reducing harmful or burdensome outcomes for patients and their families that can result from unwanted transitions, such as avoidable transfers between home, hospitals, inpatient hospice units, assisted living, or nursing facilities. At the same time, the FOA prioritizes research that identifies and tests approaches to strengthen continuity and coordination of care so that hospice patients experience more consistent, high-quality support aligned with their goals and preferences, and family caregivers are better supported throughout the process.

A key theme of this opportunity is the recognition that end-of-life care often involves multiple settings and multiple providers, which can lead to fragmented communication, confusing handoffs, inconsistent symptom management, duplicated services, stress for caregivers, and care that does not reflect what the patient actually wants. Projects responsive to this announcement would typically examine the points where coordination breaks down (for example, transitions from hospital to home hospice, from a nursing facility to hospice services, or from home hospice to inpatient hospice) and develop or evaluate strategies that keep care plans coherent across settings. The intent is to prevent transitions that patients and families view as unwanted, unnecessary, or disruptive, and to improve outcomes tied to comfort, dignity, caregiver burden, satisfaction with care, and overall quality near the end of life.

The FOA emphasizes research involving hospice patients and their family caregivers in any location where hospice services are delivered. This includes a patient's home, a relative's home, hospice inpatient facilities, assisted living facilities, short- or long-term care facilities, and hospitals. By explicitly naming a wide range of care environments, the announcement encourages studies that account for real-world complexity and the different coordination challenges that appear in each setting. For instance, coordination issues in a hospital discharge to hospice can look very different from coordination challenges in a long-term care facility where hospice staff must integrate with facility staff, documentation systems, and existing routines.

This is an R21 mechanism, which generally signals support for exploratory, developmental, or proof-of-concept studies rather than large, fully powered clinical trials. In that spirit, the FOA is geared toward stimulating new ideas, testing promising models, developing measurement approaches, piloting interventions to improve care coordination, or generating preliminary data that could lead to larger follow-on studies. The listed award ceiling is $200,000, reflecting the smaller, early-phase nature of the work typically expected under an R21.

Eligibility for this grant is broad. In addition to common applicant types such as public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (with or without 501(c)(3) status), for-profit organizations (excluding small businesses in one category but also including small businesses separately), and multiple levels of government (state, county, city/township, special districts), the FOA explicitly includes Native American tribal governments (federally recognized) and Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments), as well as public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities. The announcement also highlights additional eligible applicants such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and even non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations). This wide eligibility reflects the broad public health relevance of hospice coordination challenges and the importance of including diverse communities, care delivery systems, and geographic contexts.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is categorized as a discretionary grant within the education and health activity area, with NIH as the sponsoring agency. The source information notes an original closing date of 2018-01-24 and a creation date of 2016-10-18, which situates the announcement historically, but the program description itself captures the enduring research priorities: improving continuity and coordination in hospice, minimizing unwanted end-of-life transitions, and strengthening outcomes for both patients and family caregivers across all hospice care settings.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Improving Individual and Family Outcomes through Continuity and Coordination of Care in Hospice (R21)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.361.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-10-18.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-01-24. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for PA 17 015

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: