The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), supported by the NIH HEAL Initiative, has announced a new funding opportunity for pragmatic clinical trials within the NIH-DOD-VA Pain Management Collaboratory (PMC). This initiative aims to develop and improve non-opioid pain management approaches for veterans, military personnel, and their families.
Pragmatic Trials for Pain Management
Established in 2017, the PMC has supported pragmatic trials to enhance pain management strategies within healthcare systems. The new funding opportunity leverages the PMC's coordinating center to support large-scale pragmatic clinical trials and implementation science demonstration projects. These projects will focus on non-opioid approaches to manage pain and comorbid conditions, including complementary and integrative methods used alone or with standard care.
Focus on Veterans and Military Personnel
Supported projects will be conducted within healthcare systems serving veterans, military personnel, and their families. The initiative seeks to address the critical need for effective, non-addictive pain management solutions within this population. Applications are expected to support high-impact demonstration projects, including pragmatic clinical trials focusing on effectiveness research, implementation research, or hybrid effectiveness-implementation research.
Collaboration and Data Sharing
This funding opportunity emphasizes collaboration and data sharing. Supported projects are expected to make available data, tools, best practices, and resources to facilitate research partnerships with healthcare delivery systems that provide care to veterans, military personnel, and/or their families. This collaborative approach aims to accelerate the development and implementation of effective pain management strategies.
Participating NIH Institutes
Several NIH institutes are participating in this funding opportunity, including NCCIH, the National Institute on Aging (NIA), and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The application receipt date is November 7, 2024. This initiative represents a significant investment in addressing the challenges of pain management through pragmatic research and collaborative partnerships.
