NIH Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory announces awards

The National Institute of Health’s Health Care Systems (NIH HCS) Research Collaboratory has announced five new research awards. The HCS Research Collaboratory involves health care systems in conducting large scale clinical studies.

The awards total $4.15 million for a one-year planning phase, with an estimated $30.85 million expected for four subsequent years of study implementation.

The Research Collaboratory is currently supporting nine large scale clinical trials with health care systems across the US, and a coordinating centre at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The clinical trials are looking to treat various diseases, from colon cancer and chronic pain, to kidney failure and suicide prevention.

Dr David Shurtleff, Acting Director at the National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) said, “This collaboratory program pioneered efforts at NIH to conduct large-scale clinical trials within health care systems, and we are excited about expanding this initiative. Conducting clinical trials in real-world settings is a critical aspect of the collaboratory program.”

The five new projects for NIH HCS Research Collaboratory are supported by six NIH institutes, centres and offices, including NCCIH, the National Institute on Ageing (NIA), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the Office of Behavioural and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), the Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

The new projects include:

• Improving advance care planning in oncology
• Pragmatic trial of parent-focussed prevention in paediatric primary care
• Primary palliative care for emergency medicine
• Pragmatic trial of user-centred clinical decision support for opioid use disorder
• Personalised patient data and behavioural nudges to improve adherence to chronic cardiovascular medications

The main goal of the HCS Research Collaboratory is to provide implementation methods and practises that will enable the participation of many health care systems in clinical research. The Collaboratory aim to strengthen the ability to implement large-scale and cost-effective studies, involving these health care systems on a national scale.