Care & Caregiving: Health care access, use, quality disparities (Milestone 13.N)
In Progress
Timeline Start - End
2022 - 2025Research Implementation Area
Research on Care and Caregiver SupportSupport a social and behavioral research program to elucidate the mechanisms or sources of disparities in health care access, utilization, or quality of care for persons living with AD/ADRD and their care partners and/or develop approaches to address these disparities. This disparities-focused research should be guided by the NIA Health Disparities Framework, which includes environmental, sociocultural, behavioral, and biological levels of analysis; include all health disparities populations; and encompass a life-course perspective.
Success Criteria
- Launch new research initiatives to support at least six new projects or activities that:
- Move beyond documenting the existence of disparities to instead characterize the sources of or means by which disparities exist in health care access, utilization, or quality of care for persons living with AD/ADRD and their care partners; and
- Develop and test strategies, approaches, or interventions that target the sources of disparities to improve health equity in health care access, utilization, or quality of care for persons living with AD/ADRD and their care partners. These could include modifications to policy, payment models, or community, organizational, environmental, sociocultural, or individual-level approaches.
Summary of Key Accomplishments
NIA published a call for research applications (RFA-AG-23-024) for projects designed to exploit differences in social and health care policies and programs to investigate how they might be driving disparities in healthcare access, use, and quality for persons living with AD/ADRD. The goal of these projects, which will be funded at some point during 2023, is to expand the evidence base for policymakers and other decision makers seeking to mitigate these disparities, including disparities affecting individuals living with dementia in the community, assisted living facilities, or nursing homes. NIA also recently participated in two relevant trans-NIH funding opportunities inviting research applications to advance health care equity for persons living with AD/ADRD with multiple chronic conditions (PAR-22-092) and to study structural or institutional factors that lessen or worsen disparities in access to healthcare services for AD/ADRD patients and their caregivers (RFA-MD-21-004).
The key accomplishments summary is current as of July 2022.
Accomplishments/Implementation Activities
Funding Initiatives
- RFA-MD-21-004: Understanding and Addressing the Impact of Structural Racism and Discrimination on Minority Health and Health Disparities
- NOT-AG-21-033: Health Disparities and Alzheimer's Disease
- RFA-AG-23-024: Policy and AD/ADRD Healthcare Disparities: Access, Utilization, and Quality (R01)
- PAR-22-092: Health Care Models for Persons with Multiple Chronic Conditions from Populations that Experience Health Disparities: Advancing Health Care towards Health Equity (R01)
- NOT-AG-21-033: Health Disparities and Alzheimer's Disease
- RFA-MD-21-004 Understanding and Addressing the Impact of Structural Racism and Discrimination on Minority Health and Health Disparities
- PAR-22-092: Health Care Models for Persons with Multiple Chronic Conditions from Populations that Experience Health Disparities: Advancing Health Care towards Health Equity (R01 - Clinical Trials Optional)