Project Grant R21MD020868

The National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities awarded the University of Alabama at Birmingham $363,573 on July 18, 2026, under the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research program (CFDA 93.307, Project Grant R21MD020868) to develop a provider-to-provider teletrauma implementation toolkit for rural emergency departments.

The toolkit will guide sustainable deployment of telehealth-enabled trauma care consultation in rural settings, enabling injured patients at rural emergency departments to access remote expertise from trauma specialists at the time of arrival. The project addresses documented disparities in trauma care access: nearly 30 million rural U.S. residents, disproportionately from Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and low-income populations, lack timely access to trauma centers. Timely treatment at specialized trauma units reduces mortality risk by 25 percent, yet access to trauma care and clinical outcomes among rural injured patients have not improved in over a decade. While only 8 percent of U.S. emergency departments reported using teletrauma in 2020, the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality have called for creation of a trauma-specific implementation toolkit, as existing non-trauma telehealth toolkits cannot be readily adapted to the time-sensitive, medically complex, multidisciplinary nature of trauma care.

The award runs through June 30, 2028, with performance in Alabama. This is a project grant, an assistance type providing support for time-limited, defined research projects.