Planning Grants for Pragmatic Research in Healthcare Settings to Improve Diabetes and Obesity Prevention and Care (R34 Clinical Trial Required) | PAR 18 924

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 18 924

This NIH funding opportunity (PAR-18-924) supports R34 planning grants designed to pilot test pragmatic, real-world approaches that improve diabetes and obesity prevention and/or treatment within healthcare settings where patients actually receive routine medical care. The central emphasis is on testing practical, sustainable strategies that can improve both processes of care (how care is delivered, coordinated, documented, or followed up) and health outcomes for people who have diabetes or obesity, or who are at elevated risk for developing these conditions. The pilot work is meant to generate convincing early evidence and operational lessons that can directly support a later, full-scale pragmatic clinical trial aimed at changing routine practice and informing healthcare policy. A key point is that the intervention must be embedded in existing clinical structures or workflows; the healthcare system cannot be used merely as a convenient place to recruit participants for an intervention that is otherwise external to normal care.

The FOA is focused on pragmatic research, meaning the project should look and feel like something a healthcare organization could realistically adopt and maintain under everyday constraints such as limited staff time, competing priorities, typical reimbursement environments, and diverse patient needs. Projects should be designed with sustainability in mind, including attention to how the approach could be maintained after the grant ends and how it could be spread to other clinics, health systems, or community-facing healthcare settings. The program is explicitly interested in approaches that have dissemination potential beyond the single site or local context where the pilot occurs, so applicants are expected to think ahead about generalizability, scalability, implementation barriers, and what would be needed for broader uptake if results are promising.

Because this is an R34 clinical trial required opportunity, the pilot study is expected to include a clinical trial component, even though the grant mechanism is oriented toward planning and early-stage testing rather than a definitive, large efficacy trial. In practice, this usually means applicants should propose a smaller, carefully structured trial that can answer critical feasibility and design questions: whether the intervention can be delivered as intended in routine care, whether clinicians and patients will engage with it, what outcome measures are workable using real-world data sources, what recruitment and retention look like in that setting, and what effect size signals or process improvements justify moving to a larger pragmatic trial. The intent is to produce the kind of data and operational insight that makes a subsequent full-scale trial stronger, more efficient, and more likely to influence practice.

Eligible applicants are broad and include many types of U.S.-based organizations: state, county, city/township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other entities. The announcement also highlights additional eligible applicants such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions, Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and eligible federal agencies. At the same time, the FOA draws a bright line around foreign involvement: non-U.S. entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components (as NIH defines them) are not allowed.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant opportunity from the National Institutes of Health, listed under CFDA 93.847, with an award ceiling of $150,000. The source information provided lists an original closing date of 2020-02-13 and a creation date of 2018-09-17. Overall, the opportunity is geared toward healthcare-embedded pilot interventions that are ready to be tested in the realities of clinical practice, with the explicit expectation that successful R34 findings will lay the groundwork for a larger pragmatic trial capable of shifting standard care and supporting broader policy and system-level improvements in diabetes and obesity prevention and management.

• The National Institutes of Health in the food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Planning Grants for Pragmatic Research in Healthcare Settings to Improve Diabetes and Obesity Prevention and Care (R34 Clinical Trial Required)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.847.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2018-09-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-02-13. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $150,000.00 in funding.
• 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 18 924

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