The NIH Collaboratory is adding 2 new NIH Collaboratory Trials to its portfolio of innovative pragmatic clinical trials embedded in healthcare systems. The projects are funded through the Pragmatic and Implementation Studies for the Management of Pain to Reduce Opioid Prescribing (PRISM) program, a component of the Helping to End Addiction Long-Term Initiative℠, or NIH HEAL Initiative℠, to address the opioid crisis.

The new PRISM awards total approximately $1.6 million in the initial planning phase and are supported by the HEAL Initiative and administered by 2 participating NIH institutes:

• BeatPain Utah is a pragmatic trial of nonpharmacologic pain management interventions in primary care clinics of US federally qualified health centers in Utah. The interventions will be designed to overcome barriers specific to rural and lower-income communities through innovative use of telehealth resources. The study is administered by the National Institute of Nursing Research and will be conducted by Dr. Julie Fritz of the University of Utah under grant award 1UG3NR019943-01.
• The Guided Relaxation and Acupuncture for Chronic Sickle Cell Disease Pain (GRACE) trial is a hybrid effectiveness–implementation trial of guided relaxation and acupuncture for pain associated with chronic sickle cell disease in 3 large healthcare systems. The study is administered by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and will be conducted by Drs. Ardith Doorenbos, Judith Schlaeger, Robert Molokie, Miriam Ezenwa of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Dr. Nirmish Shah of Duke University under grant award 1UG3AT011265-01.

In its role as the PRISM Resource Coordinating Center, the NIH Collaboratory will provide technical support and pragmatic trial expertise for the new NIH Collaboratory Trials. The PRISM Resource Coordinating Center is supported by NIH through the NIH HEAL Initiative.

The NIH Collaboratory aims to improve the way clinical trials are conducted by creating an infrastructure for collaborative research with healthcare systems. The Collaboratory has 5 Core Working Groups of experts that help research teams address challenges of conducting research embedded in clinical care, and they collect and disseminate knowledge and best practices learned throughout the process. The ultimate goal is to ensure that healthcare providers and patients can make decisions based on the best available clinical evidence.

The Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative℠, or NIH HEAL Initiative℠, is an aggressive, trans-NIH effort to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis. Launched in April 2018, the initiative is focused on improving prevention and treatment strategies for opioid misuse and addiction, and enhancing pain management. For more information, visit heal.nih.gov.