HEAL Initiative: Prevention and Management of Chronic Pain in Rural Populations (UG3/UH3, Clinical Trials Required)

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages UG3/UH3 phased cooperative research applications to accelerate implementation of effective non-opioid interventions for chronic pain management in rural and remote populations. Projects include pragmatic, implementation, or hybrid effectiveness-implementation trials to improve pain management and reduce the use of inappropriate opioid medications. Awards made under this FOA will initially support a milestone-driven, planning phase (UG3) of 1 to 2 years, with possible transition to an implementation phase (UH3) of up to 4 years duration (5 years total for the two phases). UG3 projects that have met the scientific milestone and feasibility requirements may transition to the UH3 phase. The UG3/UH3 application must be submitted as a single application, following the instructions described in this FOA. The overall goal of this initiative is to support the "real world" implementation of effective interventions to manage pain in rural and remote areas. Results from the trials supported by this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) should inform policy makers, payers, community stakeholders, as well as health care providers and patients in the primary care, emergency department, hospital, home health, or dental setting. This FOA requires that the investigators partner with one or more rural healthcare system(s) to plan and implement the intervention. During the planning phase, investigators must develop an additional one or more community-based partnership(s). Studies may propose to integrate multi-component, bundled, or multi-level interventions that have demonstrated efficacy.