The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Funding Opportunity Announcement will support pilot and feasibility trials to test interventions that involve screening for and addressing adverse social determinants of health (SDoH), also called social risks, during a health care visit.
Donor Name: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
State: All States
County: All Counties
U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/19/2023
Size of the Grant: $300,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
Patients’ endorsed social needs could be addressed by appropriately referring/navigating patients or caregivers to resources that address these issues at social service organizations located externally or co-located in the healthcare system.
The trials will determine 1) feasibility and acceptability of screening for social risks, identifying social needs and implementing referral service linkages (e.g., addressing transportation and housing needs, food insecurity, etc.) within the context of a healthcare visit, and 2) preliminary signals of the intervention’s impact on both the social risk/need(s) and NIDDK disease outcomes. Preliminary data regarding intervention efficacy are not required. The proposed pilot and feasibility clinical trials should lay the foundation for larger clinical trials to integrate social care and medical care and improve health outcomes related to the prevention and/or treatment of diseases within the mission of NIDDK. It is expected that these pilot studies will begin to delineate promising practices for future equitable and effective “real world” implementation of social and medical care integration. The overarching goal of this FOA is to develop pragmatic approaches that can be used in health care settings to reduce health disparities in diseases within the mission of NIDDK and achieve health equity, especially among individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups, rural populations, sexual and gender minority groups, and other socioeconomically disadvantaged and medically underserved communities.
Research Objectives
Pilot and feasibility trials funded through this initiative will study interventions that involve screening for and addressing social risks and needs at a health care visit. Screening for social risks must be accompanied by provision of resources to meet the patient’s most important identified needs. Screening should include a dialogue to ascertain the patient’s endorsed social needs, which could be addressed by appropriately referring/navigating patients to resources to address these issues using social service organizations located externally or co-located in the healthcare system. Thus, shared decision making and meaningful conversations between patient and provider are fundamental components to the studies proposed under this FOA. The trials must:
- determine feasibility and acceptability of screening for social risks, identifying social needs and implementing referral service linkages (e.g., addressing transportation, housing, food, and other health-related social needs) within the context of a healthcare visit;
- assess fidelity of implementation of the proposed intervention; and
- follow participants to assess preliminary signals of the intervention’s impact on the social risks and health outcomes for diseases in NIDDK’s mission.
Proposals should leverage partnership models between the healthcare sector, community resources such as social service organizations, and relevant stakeholders (e.g., people with NIDDK diseases, medical, community, and home-based practitioners, researchers, local businesses, etc.). Studies will be allowed up to 1-year of the award period to conduct some formative and preparatory work for the trial, if needed. Although some formative work may be appropriate, the purpose of this FOA is to support pilot and feasibility testing of the proposed intervention and not for intervention development. While qualitative measures and patient-reported outcomes are encouraged, the trials must measure an objective, clinically meaningful outcome for NIDDK diseases and the status of social risks/needs (i.e., improved or not). Grant funds may not be used to build new screening tools, although refinement of these tools may be done before starting the trial. Likewise, the collaboration model and entities (healthcare system, referral organizations) must be in place prior to application. Funding to support building health IT systems or directly provide social services is not allowed.
Proposed trials may test a single approach to screening and linkage or may be designed to determine optimal strategies for screening, linkage, patient uptake, and/or follow-up of resource referrals. Examples of social risks/needs that could be targeted include, but are not limited to:
- Referral to/uptake of food bank or other services to address food insecurity in coordination with medical nutrition therapy (e.g., medically tailored diets to improve glycemic control in diabetes and/or hyperphosphatemia and/or hyperkalemia in progressive CKD; or to provide calorie restricted diets to promote weight loss in patients with obesity).
- Connection to resources to address housing insecurity or related needs (e.g., HUD-supported or community programs) to improve or intensify treatment effects of efficacious interventions for NIDDK mission area diseases and patients’ adherence to medical treatments.
- Access to transportation services to facilitate travel to healthcare appointments to improve screening, prevention, and management strategies for diseases in NIDDK’s mission.
- Referral to existing national and local programs (e.g., home visiting programs, WIC) that can address multiple social needs that hinder efforts to prevent or treat diseases in NIDDK’s mission.
Funding Information
Application budgets are limited to $300,000 direct costs per year but need to reflect the actual.
Project Period
The maximum project period is 3 years.
Eligibility Criteria
Higher Education Institutions
- Public/State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
- Private Institutions of Higher Education
The following types of Higher Education Institutions are always encouraged to apply for NIH support as Public or Private Institutions of Higher Education:
- Hispanic-serving Institutions
- Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
- Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs)
- Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions
- Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs)
Nonprofits Other Than Institutions of Higher Education
- Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
- Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
For-Profit Organizations
- Small Businesses
- For-Profit Organizations (Other than Small Businesses)
Local Governments
- State Governments
- County Governments
- City or Township Governments
- Special District Governments
- Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Federally Recognized)
- Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized)
Federal Governments
- Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government
- U.S. Territory or Possession
Other
- Independent School Districts
- Public Housing Authorities/Indian Housing Authorities
- Native American Tribal Organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Faith-based or Community-based Organizations
- Regional Organizations
Foreign Institutions
- Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Institutions) are not eligible to apply.
- Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply.
- Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
