Advancing the Science of Geriatric Palliative Care (R21) | PA 17 226

Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 17 226

Advancing the Science of Geriatric Palliative Care (R21) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) discretionary grant opportunity designed to support early-stage, exploratory, or developmental research that can move geriatric palliative care forward. The central aim is to fund projects that create or refine new tools, methods, and models specifically tailored to the needs of older adults who may be living with serious illness, multiple chronic conditions, functional impairment, frailty, or complex care needs. Because it uses the NIH R21 mechanism, the opportunity is geared toward studies that test promising ideas, generate preliminary data, or demonstrate feasibility rather than large, definitive trials. The intent is to help researchers develop approaches that can later be scaled, validated, or tested in larger follow-on studies.

A major feature of this announcement is its broad view of where geriatric palliative care happens. It explicitly welcomes studies conducted across many real-world care environments, including hospitals and specific hospital locations such as specialty medical and surgical wards, intensive care units, and emergency departments. It also extends to post-acute care settings, outpatient clinics and physicians offices, patients homes and other residential settings, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, hospices, and other healthcare or community-based sites. This wide setting scope matters because older adults often move between care environments, and palliative care quality can depend heavily on how well care is coordinated across those transitions.

The FOA encourages flexible research approaches and is open to both new data collection and strong secondary analyses. Applicants can propose prospective studies, but they are also encouraged to analyze existing datasets and records, including health and medical records, claims data, and other data sources that can shed light on palliative care delivery and outcomes in geriatric populations. In practice, that means a project might involve mining electronic health record data to identify gaps in symptom management for older adults, evaluating patterns of healthcare utilization near the end of life, or studying how different care models affect outcomes such as comfort, caregiver burden, care transitions, and goal-concordant care. The announcement also signals that NIH is interested in efficient, resource-smart work by encouraging investigators to leverage existing cohorts, ongoing intervention studies, research networks, data and specimen repositories, and other established infrastructure. This emphasis makes it easier to propose a feasible R21 project while still addressing meaningful questions.

In terms of study design, the announcement allows a range of methods appropriate for developmental work. Observational studies are welcomed, as are quasi-experimental designs that can evaluate changes in care when randomization is not practical. Limited interventional studies are also considered appropriate when feasible under the R21 scope. Taken together, this means applicants are not confined to one methodology; they can match design to setting, data availability, and ethical or logistical constraints typical in serious illness research with older adults. The common thread is that the work should advance palliative care science by producing new approaches or evidence that can improve care for aging populations.

Eligibility is intentionally broad and includes many organization types that might contribute to geriatric palliative care innovation. Standard eligible applicants include state, county, city or 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; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); small businesses; and other entities. The announcement also highlights additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal government agencies, non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations), regional organizations, Indian/Native American tribal governments that are not federally recognized, and U.S. territories or possessions. This broad eligibility reflects the reality that palliative care research and service innovation often emerge from diverse clinical systems and community partnerships, not only from traditional academic centers.

Key administrative details from the source information include the opportunity title and identifier (Funding Opportunity Number PA 17 226), the funding instrument (grant), and NIH as the sponsoring agency. The activity categories listed include education and health, and the CFDA numbers associated with the opportunity are 93.307, 93.361, and 93.866. The listed award ceiling is $200,000. The record shows an original closing date of 2017-12-15 and a creation date of 2017-03-20, which is useful context for timing and for determining whether an updated or reissued version of the FOA is currently active.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Advancing the Science of Geriatric Palliative Care (R21)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.307, 93.361, 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-03-20.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-12-15. (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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