Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 18 012
The National Institutes of Health funding opportunity "Examination of Survivorship Care Planning Efficacy and Impact (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)" (Funding Opportunity Number PA-18-012) supports early-stage, developmental research focused on whether and how survivorship care planning actually improves outcomes for people who have completed cancer treatment. The central theme is practical impact: the FOA is looking for studies that can show what survivorship care planning changes in the real world, for which survivors, in which settings, and at what cost. Because this is an R21 mechanism, the emphasis is on exploratory or proof-of-concept work that can establish feasibility, generate preliminary effect estimates, refine measures, and lay the groundwork for larger trials or implementation studies. Clinical trials are allowed but not required, meaning applicants can propose experimental, quasi-experimental, or observational designs as long as the approach is appropriate for testing key assumptions and generating actionable evidence.
The FOA targets survivorship challenges that occur after treatment, especially the late and long-term effects of cancer therapy and the ongoing need for coordinated follow-up care. It highlights specific survivor behaviors and outcomes that survivorship care plans are expected to influence, including self-management of treatment-related late effects, adherence to medications, adherence to recommended cancer screening, alignment with health behavior guidelines (for example, physical activity, diet, tobacco cessation), and the use of recommended follow-up care. In addition to physical health endpoints, the announcement explicitly points to survivors' psychosocial outcomes, signaling interest in areas such as distress, quality of life, anxiety about recurrence, functional status, and overall well-being. A key underlying question is whether survivorship care planning is more than a document or a handoff ritual, and instead functions as a measurable intervention that changes behavior, care utilization patterns, and health trajectories.
The research goals are organized around four major aims. First, the FOA calls for the development and testing of metrics that can credibly evaluate survivorship care planning, which implies that existing measures may be inconsistent, incomplete, or not sufficiently tied to meaningful outcomes. This could include measures of plan quality, fidelity to care planning processes, survivor comprehension and engagement, provider uptake, timing of delivery, or integration into electronic health records and workflows. Second, it seeks direct evaluation of the impact of survivorship care planning on survivor outcomes such as morbidity, self-management capacity, adherence to recommended care, and patterns of follow-up care utilization. Third, the FOA broadens the lens to systems outcomes, encouraging applicants to assess costs and resource implications as well as effects on providers and organizations responsible for implementing care planning. This includes organizational burden, workflow disruptions or improvements, staffing needs, and financial or operational tradeoffs. Fourth, the FOA encourages identification of care models and processes that make survivorship care planning more effective, which can include variations in who delivers the plan (oncology, primary care, nurse navigators), how it is delivered (in-person visits, telehealth, digital tools), how it is tailored (risk-stratified approaches), and how it is maintained over time (updates, triggers, and shared-care pathways).
Another notable aspect of the opportunity is its attention to implementation context. The FOA explicitly mentions organizational-level factors that shape whether survivorship care planning is adopted, delivered with fidelity, sustained, and scaled, along with the costs that accompany those realities. This invites research that examines barriers and facilitators inside health systems, such as leadership support, reimbursement constraints, clinical workload, interoperability of health IT, staff training, and coordination between oncology and primary care. In practice, NIH is signaling interest not only in whether survivorship care planning can work under ideal conditions, but also in whether it can work in routine settings and what it takes for clinics and health systems to do it well.
In terms of administrative details, this is a discretionary NIH grant under CFDA 93.399, with an award ceiling listed as $200,000. The original closing date provided in the source is January 7, 2019, and the creation date is November 2, 2017. Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S. governmental entities (state, county, city/township, special districts), educational institutions (public and private institutions of higher education), independent school districts, Native American tribal governments (federally recognized), tribal organizations (including those other than federally recognized tribal governments), public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status, and for-profit organizations (including small businesses and other for-profits). The FOA also explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant categories such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions, as well as faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, eligible federal agencies, and even non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations). That breadth reflects an intent to encourage diverse settings and populations in survivorship research, including underserved communities and a variety of care delivery environments.
Overall, the opportunity is aimed at building a stronger evidence base around survivorship care planning by improving how it is measured, testing whether it changes survivor behaviors and health outcomes, evaluating what it costs and how it affects care systems, and identifying delivery models that make it more effective. The longer-term objective is practical: generate enough science to inform better interventions and more reliable follow-up care for cancer survivors, so that survivorship care planning becomes an evidence-driven component of survivorship care rather than a compliance exercise.Apply for PA 18 012
- The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Examination of Survivorship Care Planning Efficacy and Impact (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.399.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2017-11-02.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-01-07. (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 $200,000.00 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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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the name of this NIH funding opportunity?
The funding opportunity is titled "Examination of Survivorship Care Planning Efficacy and Impact (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)."
What is the Funding Opportunity Number (FOA number)?
The Funding Opportunity Number is PA-18-012.
What is the main purpose of this FOA?
This FOA supports early-stage, developmental research to determine whether survivorship care planning actually improves real-world outcomes for people who have completed cancer treatment, and to understand how, for whom, in what settings, and at what cost survivorship care planning makes a difference.
What kind of research mechanism is used (and what does that imply)?
This opportunity uses the NIH R21 mechanism, which emphasizes exploratory, proof-of-concept, and feasibility-focused work. Projects are expected to generate preliminary effect estimates, refine measures, test key assumptions, and lay groundwork for larger trials or implementation studies.
Are clinical trials required under this FOA?
No. Clinical trials are optional. Applicants may propose experimental, quasi-experimental, or observational designs, as long as the approach is appropriate to generate actionable evidence about survivorship care planning.
What is the central theme NIH is looking for in proposed projects?
The FOA emphasizes practical impact. NIH is looking for studies that can demonstrate what survivorship care planning changes in real care settings, which survivors benefit, how care planning functions as an intervention (beyond being a document), and what resources and costs are involved.
What survivorship phase or population does this opportunity focus on?
The FOA focuses on people who have completed cancer treatment and the survivorship challenges that arise after treatment, including late and long-term effects of therapy and the need for coordinated follow-up care.
What outcomes and behaviors are highlighted as important to study?
The FOA highlights outcomes and behaviors that survivorship care plans are expected to influence, including self-management of treatment-related late effects, medication adherence, adherence to recommended cancer screening, alignment with health behavior guidelines (such as physical activity, diet, and tobacco cessation), and use of recommended follow-up care.
Does the FOA include psychosocial outcomes, or only physical health outcomes?
It explicitly includes psychosocial outcomes in addition to physical health endpoints. Examples of psychosocial areas of interest include distress, quality of life, anxiety about recurrence, functional status, and overall well-being.
What is NIH trying to determine about survivorship care planning, conceptually?
A key question is whether survivorship care planning is more than a document or handoff ritual and instead operates as a measurable intervention that changes survivor behavior, care utilization patterns, and health trajectories.
What are the major research aims described in the FOA?
The FOA organizes its goals around four broad aims: (1) develop and test credible metrics to evaluate survivorship care planning; (2) directly evaluate impacts on survivor outcomes such as morbidity, self-management, adherence to recommended care, and follow-up care utilization; (3) assess systems outcomes including costs, resource implications, and impacts on providers and organizations; and (4) identify care models and processes that make survivorship care planning more effective.
What kinds of measurement or metrics work does this FOA encourage?
It encourages development and testing of metrics that can credibly evaluate survivorship care planning. Examples mentioned or implied include measures of plan quality, fidelity to care planning processes, survivor comprehension and engagement, provider uptake, timing of delivery, and integration into electronic health records and clinical workflows.
What types of survivor-level impacts does the FOA suggest studying?
The FOA suggests evaluating survivorship care planning effects on morbidity, self-management capacity, adherence to recommended care (including medications and screening), and patterns of follow-up care utilization.
What kinds of health behavior outcomes are specifically called out?
The FOA points to alignment with health behavior guidelines, including physical activity, diet, and tobacco cessation.
Does the FOA encourage research on healthcare utilization and follow-up care patterns?
Yes. The FOA explicitly highlights the use of recommended follow-up care and patterns of follow-up care utilization as outcomes survivorship care plans may influence.
What kinds of systems-level outcomes are relevant under this FOA?
The FOA encourages evaluation of costs and resource implications, plus the effects on providers and organizations implementing care planning. Examples include organizational burden, workflow disruptions or improvements, staffing needs, and financial or operational tradeoffs.
Does this FOA consider implementation context inside health systems?
Yes. It specifically calls attention to organizational-level factors that influence adoption, fidelity of delivery, sustainment, and scaling, along with the costs associated with implementing survivorship care planning in routine settings.
What examples of organizational factors does the FOA mention?
Examples include leadership support, reimbursement constraints, clinical workload, interoperability of health information technology, staff training, and coordination between oncology and primary care.
What kinds of delivery models for survivorship care planning does the FOA encourage researchers to compare or test?
The FOA encourages identifying models and processes that improve effectiveness, including variations in who delivers the plan (oncology, primary care, nurse navigators), how it is delivered (in-person visits, telehealth, digital tools), how it is tailored (including risk-stratified approaches), and how it is maintained over time (updates, triggers, shared-care pathways).
Is tailoring or risk stratification within scope?
Yes. The FOA specifically notes that tailoring approaches, including risk-stratified survivorship care planning, can be part of identifying more effective models and processes.
Is integration with electronic health records (EHRs) within scope?
Yes. The FOA notes integration into electronic health records and workflows as an area relevant to measuring and evaluating survivorship care planning and its implementation.
What is the listed award ceiling?
The award ceiling listed in the provided information is $200,000.
Is this a discretionary grant and what CFDA number is associated with it?
Yes. It is described as a discretionary NIH grant under CFDA 93.399.
What was the original closing date listed for this opportunity?
The original closing date listed is January 7, 2019.
What was the creation date listed for this opportunity?
The creation date listed is November 2, 2017.
Who is eligible to apply?
Eligibility is broad and includes U.S. governmental entities (state, county, city/township, and special districts), educational institutions (public and private institutions of higher education), independent school districts, Native American tribal governments (federally recognized), tribal organizations (including those other than federally recognized tribal governments), public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status, and for-profit organizations (including small businesses and other for-profits).
Are organizations serving specific communities explicitly included in the eligible applicant categories?
Yes. The FOA explicitly calls out categories such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions.
Are faith-based or community-based organizations eligible?
Yes. Faith-based or community-based organizations are explicitly included among eligible applicant categories.
Are U.S. territories or possessions eligible to apply?
Yes. U.S. territories or possessions are explicitly listed among eligible applicant categories.
Are federal agencies eligible to apply?
Yes. Eligible federal agencies are explicitly included in the eligibility description.
Are non-U.S. (foreign) organizations eligible to apply?
Yes. The provided information states that non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations) are included among eligible applicants.
What is the longer-term objective of this funding opportunity?
The longer-term objective is to strengthen the evidence base so survivorship care planning becomes an evidence-driven component of survivorship care rather than a compliance exercise, informing better interventions and more reliable follow-up care for cancer survivors.
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