Health Services and Economic Research on the Prevention and Treatment of Drug, Alcohol, and Tobacco Abuse (R03 Clinical Trial Optional) | PA 18 069

Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 18 069

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant opportunity titled "Health Services and Economic Research on the Prevention and Treatment of Drug, Alcohol, and Tobacco Abuse (R03 Clinical Trial Optional)" (Funding Opportunity Number PA 18 069) supports small, focused research projects that aim to improve how substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery support services are delivered in real-world settings. The core purpose is not basic science, but practical, rigorous health services and economic research that can help systems and providers deliver higher-quality care more efficiently, including understanding what works, for whom, under what conditions, and at what cost. The mechanism is the NIH R03 small grant, which is commonly used for pilot studies, feasibility work, secondary analyses, or tightly scoped projects that can produce useful evidence quickly and position teams for larger follow-on studies.

The work NIH is looking for centers on improving the delivery and performance of services related to drug, alcohol, and tobacco use. The announcement highlights several example areas. One is clinical quality improvement, meaning studies that test strategies to improve clinical practices and patient outcomes in settings such as primary care, specialty addiction treatment, hospitals, emergency departments, community health centers, and recovery support programs. Another is organizational and management quality improvement, which focuses more on how programs are structured and run, such as staffing models, workflow redesign, supervision approaches, use of health information technology, coordination across levels of care, and strategies to reduce wait times and improve retention. A third area is implementation research, which is about closing the gap between evidence-based practices and what is actually delivered day to day; projects might examine barriers and facilitators to adopting effective interventions, compare implementation strategies, or study how context (policy, financing, workforce, rural vs. urban infrastructure) affects uptake and sustainability.

The FOA also explicitly welcomes economic and cost studies. That includes analyses of cost-effectiveness, budget impact, cost-benefit, return on investment, and broader economic consequences tied to prevention and treatment programs. These projects can be especially valuable to policymakers and health system leaders because they translate clinical and service outcomes into information that helps with resource allocation decisions. In addition, the announcement encourages research that advances the methods used in this field, such as developing or improving measurement tools, analytic methods, and instrumentation used to study prevention, treatment, and recovery services. This could include better measures of service quality, access, equity, retention, continuity of care, patient-reported outcomes, and recovery-oriented outcomes, as well as improved approaches for analyzing observational data, pragmatic study designs, or methods for working with administrative claims, electronic health records, and other real-world datasets.

This opportunity is labeled "Clinical Trial Optional," meaning applicants may propose projects that include a clinical trial if it fits the research question, but they are not required to do so. Many health services and economic studies are observational or quasi-experimental, and the FOA is broad enough to support a range of rigorous designs as long as the project is well-justified and methodologically sound. The emphasis throughout is on practical relevance and impact: studies should aim to produce findings that can improve the effectiveness, quality, accessibility, organization, and efficiency of services addressing substance use and related public health harms.

Eligibility is intentionally broad. In addition to the typical categories such as state, county, city or township governments; 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; public housing authorities; and a wide variety of nonprofit and for-profit organizations (including small businesses), the FOA calls out additional eligible applicant types. These include 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, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and even non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations). That breadth signals NIH interest in diverse settings and perspectives, including communities that are disproportionately affected by substance use harms or face access barriers to prevention and treatment services.

From the source details provided, this is a discretionary grant program under NIH, listed under CFDA numbers 93.273 and 93.279, with an award ceiling of $50,000. The original closing date shown is May 7, 2018, and the opportunity was created November 15, 2017. Even if deadlines have passed for that specific posting, the summary still reflects what NIH intended to fund through this FOA: small, rigorous studies that generate actionable evidence on improving systems of care for drug, alcohol, and tobacco use prevention, treatment, and recovery, including the organizational, implementation, and economic dimensions that determine whether effective services actually reach people and produce sustained benefit.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Health Services and Economic Research on the Prevention and Treatment of Drug, Alcohol, and Tobacco Abuse (R03 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.273, 93.279.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-11-15.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-05-07. (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 $50,000.00 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.

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