AOTA Advocates for Rehabilitation Research as NIH Develops 5-Year Research Plan

AOTA filed formal comments with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as the institute prepares to update its Trans-NIH Rehabilitation Research Plan. The update—which was required by the 21st Century Cures Act, which AOTA advocated for in 2016—is scheduled for publication in 2021, but the agency formally requested recommendations in June to consider as part of the plan.  

AOTA recommended that NCMRR continue to promote and support research targeting the important public health outcomes of participation and function. It was emphasized that success in early detection, diagnosis, and medical management of many previously fatal diseases and injuries has increased survival rates; however, these same people must also now adapt to substantive chronic, disabling conditions that significantly affect personal and public health. Research must, therefore, be focused on enabling these people to manage chronic conditions and disabilities.

AOTA also noted that the new rehabilitation plan should address aspects of disability and chronic conditions that affect societal participation across the life span, including among those with disparities, and that there is a need to better understand how environment may be addressed to prevent negative events such as falls or to enable function and participation across society.

Finally, AOTA suggested that the plan should link to the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science and that work currently funded must be expanded to embrace data on outcomes information from sources such as Medicare IMPACT Act outcomes, the NIH All of Us mission, and data addressing initiatives targeted toward improving general health and social determinants of health.

This effort continues AOTA’s focus on encouraging enhanced rehabilitation research efforts, including occupational therapy studies at NIH. In addition to meetings with NIDILRR and NICHD Directors, AOTA member researchers have met with directors of the National Cancer Institute, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Institute for Nursing Research to emphasize the importance of rehabilitation research.