NIH HEAL Initiative: Coordinated Approaches to Pain Care in Health Care Systems (UG3/UH3 - Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA NS 24 041

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA NS 24 041

The NIH HEAL Initiative: Coordinated Approaches to Pain Care in Health Care Systems (UG3/UH3 - Clinical Trial Optional) funding opportunity (RFA-NS-24-041) supports projects that help health care systems put coordinated, evidence-based pain care into routine practice, especially in places where that kind of coordinated care is not currently available. The focus is on using implementation science to understand what it takes to successfully adopt, integrate, and sustain proven pain care approaches inside real-world clinical operations. In other words, the program is not just asking whether a pain care model works in theory; it is asking how to make it work in everyday health care delivery across different kinds of systems.

A central requirement is that the coordinated pain care model being studied must be embedded within the applicant institutions health care delivery system, rather than operating as a standalone research program that sits outside routine care. The pain care approach should reflect a biopsychosocial understanding of pain and include input and interventions from multiple disciplines. While the announcement text does not list every discipline, the intent is clear: care should be coordinated across different types of providers and services so patients are not left navigating fragmented treatment. The opportunity also encourages applications that pair strong implementation methods with comparative effectiveness research, meaning applicants can test and compare innovative coordinated care models while also studying the practical strategies needed to implement them successfully.

This opportunity is designed with equity and real-world need in mind. NIH emphasizes prioritizing patient populations with the greatest need, and it encourages participation by health care systems that serve groups under-represented in research. A key theme is partnership: health care systems that already have research infrastructure and experience are encouraged to team up with systems that lack those resources, with the goal of spreading cost-effective coordinated pain care into settings that would benefit most but may not have the capacity to build and evaluate these programs on their own. Proposed care models are expected to fit the realities of each participating system, including staffing, workflows, and available community resources, rather than assuming a one-size-fits-all approach.

Stakeholder engagement is expected to shape the work from the beginning. Applicants should design their coordinated care model and implementation plan with meaningful input from people who will live with it and run it, including patients, clinicians, health system executives, policymakers, and payors. The research team itself must be multidisciplinary, and it must include both health care providers from multiple disciplines and implementation scientists, reinforcing that this is meant to be an applied, system-integrated effort rather than a single-specialty project.

The award mechanism is a cooperative agreement using the UG3/UH3 phased approach, and clinical trials are optional. In practice, this kind of mechanism typically supports an initial planning and preparation phase followed by a later phase focused on broader implementation and evaluation, with NIH having substantial involvement consistent with a cooperative agreement. The opportunity sits within NIH and is associated with CFDA numbers 93.121, 93.213, 93.846, 93.853, 93.865, and 93.866. The original application due date listed is 2024-11-07.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of domestic organizations that can participate in health systems research and implementation, such as state, county, and local governments; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments; tribal organizations; public housing authorities; nonprofit and for-profit organizations (including small businesses); and other entities. The announcement also explicitly highlights eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISISs, Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and US territories or possessions. At the same time, it clearly excludes foreign organizations and foreign components: non-US entities cannot apply, non-domestic components of US organizations are not eligible, and foreign components as defined by NIH policy are not allowed.

Overall, the opportunity is aimed at accelerating the adoption of coordinated, multidisciplinary pain care by studying not only clinical approaches but also the practical, scalable methods that make those approaches stick inside diverse health care systems, with a strong emphasis on partnerships, stakeholder engagement, and reaching populations with high need and limited access to coordinated pain management.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIH HEAL Initiative: Coordinated Approaches to Pain Care in Health Care Systems (UG3/UH3 - Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.121, 93.213, 93.846, 93.853, 93.865, 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-05-23.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-11-07. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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 RFA NS 24 041

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