BeatPain Utah, an NIH Collaboratory Trial, is studying real-world implementation of a telehealth physical therapy strategy for patients with chronic back pain. Dr. Julie Fritz, the principal investigator of BeatPain Utah, discussed the study in a Zoom-based interview after the NIH Collaboratory’s annual steering committee meeting.
“[BeatPain Utah] is focused on overcoming access barriers and providing nonpharmacologic options for individuals in our state and in under-resourced communities who have chronic back pain,” said Fritz, who is a distinguished professor of physical therapy and athletic training and the associate dean for research at the University of Utah College of Health.
The project is part of the NIH HEAL Initiative, which aims to reduce reliance on prescription opioid medications.
Fritz highlighted the project’s partnerships with federally qualified health centers throughout the state of Utah. “Some are in urban areas serving under-resourced communities,” she said, “and others, given the geography of Utah, are in very rural and remote communities where access to specialists and allied health professionals is particularly limited.” The communities also include a significant number of patients who are Hispanic or Latino and communicate primarily in Spanish.
When asked why a pragmatic clinical trial was the best approach for BeatPain Utah, Fritz noted the urgency of the need for alternative pain management strategies, especially in low-resource populations.
“Accelerating the real-world applicability of our research is particularly critical in this area of clinical research,” Fritz said. “So for us, in addressing the needs of populations that need resources—and they need them now—a pragmatic trial that focuses on real-world solutions was a particularly attractive option,” she said.
On being part of the NIH Collaboratory, Fritz said, “So many of the things that we encounter, someone’s already dealt with or is currently working on. It’s just invaluable to have those colleagues and professionals who are trying similar aims to what we’re doing. Being part of this Collaboratory has been of tremendous value for our project.”
BeatPain Utah is supported by the NIH through the NIH HEAL Initiative under a grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research and receives logistical and technical support from the PRISM Resource Coordinating Center.
