Strategies to Increase Delivery of Guideline-Based Care to Populations with Health Disparities (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) | PAR 18 133

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 18 133

This grant opportunity, titled "Strategies to Increase Delivery of Guideline-Based Care to Populations with Health Disparities (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" (Funding Opportunity Number PAR 18 133), is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding announcement that supports research projects aimed at closing the gap between what clinical guidelines recommend and what patients actually receive in real-world care. The core goal is to fund innovative, practical, and testable strategies that speed up the adoption of evidence-based, guideline-driven care in populations experiencing health disparities, meaning groups that face a higher burden of disease, worse outcomes, and/or reduced access to quality care due to social, economic, geographic, or systemic factors.

The scientific emphasis is strongly aligned with the mission areas of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). That includes cardiovascular, lung, blood, and sleep diseases and disorders. The announcement specifically encourages proposals that focus on providers serving clinical populations with an excess burden of these conditions, and it highlights the importance of working in tandem with the health care delivery systems where those providers practice. In other words, the FOA is not just looking for education campaigns or isolated provider training; it is looking for strategies that operate within real clinical workflows and the systems that shape care delivery, such as clinics, hospitals, health systems, community health centers, or other clinical care settings where guideline-based practices can be embedded, supported, and sustained.

A major programmatic interest in this FOA is implementation-oriented research that tests systems, infrastructures, and operational strategies that make guideline-based care more consistent and reliable for patients who are often left behind. This could include approaches that improve how clinical teams identify eligible patients, prompt or support clinicians to follow guidelines, reduce structural barriers to recommended care, improve care coordination, strengthen referral pathways, integrate decision support into health IT, or redesign care processes so guideline-concordant actions are easier to deliver routinely. The emphasis on feasibility signals that projects should be grounded in real-world constraints like staffing, time, workflow, costs, and patient access challenges, while still being rigorous enough to generate actionable evidence about what works and why.

The award mechanism is an R01 research project grant, and clinical trials are optional, meaning applicants may propose either a clinical trial or a non-trial study design, depending on the research question and the strategy being tested. The funding instrument type is a grant, and the activity category is health. The listed CFDA numbers (93.233, 93.837, 93.838, 93.839) indicate the NIH program areas through which this opportunity is administered and tracked.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations and government entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled colleges and universities; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other domestic entities that meet NIH requirements. The FOA also calls out additional eligible applicant categories of interest, including 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, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions. This emphasis reflects the program's interest in organizations that are often deeply connected to communities experiencing disparities and can realistically test strategies within the settings where disparities are produced and can be reduced.

At the same time, the FOA is clear about restrictions related to foreign involvement. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities are not eligible to apply. Non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply. In addition, foreign components, as NIH defines them in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed. Practically speaking, that means the work needs to be led and carried out entirely within eligible U.S. organizational structures and locations, without foreign institutional components.

In terms of administrative details provided in the source text, the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding. The original closing date listed is 2018-06-21, and the creation date is 2017-11-30. The award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided data excerpt, which typically means applicants would need to consult the full FOA or NIH budget guidance for any constraints or expectations around project size, duration, and the number of awards anticipated.

Overall, this FOA is aimed at bridging the "know-do" gap for NHLBI-related conditions by funding implementation and delivery-system-focused research that helps clinicians and health systems reliably provide guideline-based care to patients who experience disproportionate disease burden and unequal outcomes. The strongest applications under this announcement are likely to be those that test concrete, system-aware strategies in real clinical settings, include the providers and delivery organizations that shape everyday practice, and generate evidence that can be replicated or scaled to reduce disparities in cardiovascular, lung, blood, and sleep health.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Strategies to Increase Delivery of Guideline-Based Care to Populations with Health Disparities (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.233, 93.837, 93.838, 93.839.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-11-30.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-06-21. (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 PAR 18 133

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