Rural communities face elevated rates of morbidity and mortality along with greater percentage for the potential death from the five leading causes of death, including cancer. Individuals in rural counties have an eight percent higher overall cancer mortality rate than those in urban areas.
The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) posted in April 27, 2018 by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) https://www.cancer.gov is geared to help improve the quality of cancer care in rural areas among low income and/or underserved populations.
NCI intends to fund an estimated 8 to 10 awards corresponding to a total of $7 million for FY 2019 with future year amounts depending on annual appropriations. The Letter of Intent is due August 19, 2018 with applications due September 19, 2018.
The FOA encourages two types of research studies and applications. The first is observational research which includes pilot testing to understand and address predictors of cancer care treatments and outcomes in rural low-income and/or underserved populations.
Pilot testing is to address the predictive and/or mediating role of social determinants of health, barriers to care and treatments. The second area will focus on interventional research to address the quality of care related to cancer diagnosis, treatment, and/or survivorship.
Applicants can include higher education institutions, Hispanic-serving Institutions, Nonprofits, for-profit organizations, state, county, city or township governments plus other entities may apply.
Applications submitted may cover a range of activities that contribute to cancer care delivery also with treatment challenges in rural populations. Suggestions are made but applicants are not limited to the following discussions:
- Role of social determinants of health including socioeconomic factors, cultural differences that may influence trust in and attitudes toward institutions, medical providers, and government sponsored programs
- Limitations in information technology so that access to patient portals, telehealth, or other proposed strategies ae made available to improve patient-provider communication and care in rural communities
- IT enabled team-based care delivery models that could be used to improve the delivery of guideline-concordant, high quality cancer care among rural populations
- Evaluation of natural experiments, programs, and policies to improve care and access to treatment services in rural areas that may interact with the implementation of the intervention and potentially influence effectiveness
- Barriers to accessing health services such as financial hardships which may mean being underinsured or uninsured, dealing with the shortage of physicians and oncology specialists, obtaining services from distant treatment facilities, living without a personal vehicle plus the lack of access to public transportation to reach services
- Interventions designed to improve primary/specialty collaborative care to enhance the dissemination of state-of-the-art cancer care and follow-up
Applicants are strongly encouraged to collaborate with organizations and programs with experience or infrastructure such as telemedicine, social, clinical and behavioral health services. The goal for the partnerships is to address other health or social problems in rural populations that could provide substantial opportunities to improve cancer care quality, delivery, and outcomes.
Partnerships can take place with community-affiliated clinics or hospitals, state or county offices of rural health, departments of health, education, or human services, or other community organizations. Engagement with community advisors is also strongly encouraged.
Go to https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-CA-18-026.html#_Section_I._Funding for more information on the FOA titled “Improving the Reach and Quality of Cancer Care in Rural Populations” (RFA-CA-18-026).