Coming Soon! Notice of Intent to Publish a Request for Applications: 2027 ePCT Planning Grants Program for Dementia Care

Posted on by Josee Meehan

The IMPACT Collaboratory is pleased to announce plans to publish two Requests for Applications (RFA) for the 2027 Embedded Pragmatic Clinical Trials (ePCT) Planning Grants Program in early December 2026. These RFAs will focus on planning grants to improve care for people living with dementia in assisted living communities and emergency departments.

The Planning Grants Program supports activities necessary to collaboratively plan and develop a feasible, fully specified protocol for a Stage IV effectiveness ePCT (based on the National Institute of Health (NIH) Stage Model) in dementia care. Applicants must partner with an organization that provides care to people living with dementia (PLWD) with participation from at least two sites (either within a single organization or across multiple organizations) and include a PLWD-care partner advisory board.

This program emphasizes strong partnerships among investigators, health care system partners, and advisory boards of PLWD, care partners, and other caregivers. By prioritizing collaboration, the goal of this program is to ensure that the planned intervention and implementation align with real-world operational contexts, are feasible, and are ready for future testing in an ePCT. By the end of the award period, awardees are expected to produce a fully specified trial protocol for either a pilot or full-scale ePCT.

Funding Opportunity Description

  • Request for Applications: Early December 2026
  • Funding: Up to $150,000 direct cost
  • Duration: 12 months
  • Awards Available: Up to 2 per RFA
  • Settings of Care for Funding Cycle: Assisted Living Communities & Emergency Departments

The 2027 ePCT Planning Grant Program will fund up to two 12-month awards for up to $150,000 (total direct costs) for each RFA to support the development of ePCTs that evaluate the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions to improve care in the following priority areas: 

Assisted Living Community

  • Engaging Assisted Living Residents with Dementia in Meaningful Activities: Proposed interventions should aim to enhance the engagement of assisted living residents with dementia in meaningful activities, including those based on the individual residents’ interests, abilities, and life histories.
  • Staff Understanding of Dementia and Interactions with Assisted Living Residents with Dementia. Proposed interventions should aim to improve the direct care staff’s understanding of dementia, and/or their interactions with assisted living residents with dementia (e.g. communication).

Emergency Department

  • Care Transitions from ED to Primary and Community Care: Proposed interventions should aim to improve the transition of patients with dementia from the emergency department back to primary and community care.
  • Communication and Shared Decision-Making: Proposed interventions should aim to improve communication and shared decision-making for patients with dementia in the emergency department. Interventions should support informed, person-centered decisions while ensuring that caregivers and healthcare professionals have a shared understanding of the treatment plan.

IMPACT will consider Planning Grants proposing to develop protocols for ePCTs evaluating the effectiveness of organizational-level interventions suitable for evaluation in future pilot or full-scale ePCTs.

Awards are structured to provide sufficient resources to support meaningful engagement with organizational partners, the resident-care partner advisory board, and other engaged partners, including relationship-building and collaborative planning for developing and finalizing the ePCT protocol, intervention and implementation strategy, participant and outcome selection, and plans for data access and transfer. The planning activities should ensure that the ePCT protocol is well aligned with the operational workflows, staffing, and care delivery needs and constraints.

With a well-developed protocol in place, awardees are expected to be strongly positioned to pursue subsequent funding to conduct either a pilot ePCT (e.g., IMPACT Pilot Grant, NIH R21, R34) or a full-scale ePCT (e.g., IMPACT Demonstration Project Grant, R01, or equivalent).

Opportunities for Partner Matching

Investigators who do not yet have an established organizational partner, and organizations without identified scientific collaborators, may request assistance with partner matching as part of the required LOI. The RFAs will detail the partner-matching process for each care setting.

This Notice is provided for planning purposes only and does not constitute a formal solicitation. Details are subject to change upon release of the official RFA. Kindly hold all inquiries until after the RFA is released, when further details and guidance will be provided in the RFA.

Visit IMPACTcollaboratory.org to learn more about our Grants and Training Programs.