# Supporting Patients Recovering from COVID-19 (SPaRC)

> **NIH AHRQ U18** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $1,000,000

## Abstract

Project Summary: Long COVID impacts 10-30% of people after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, with potentially
devastating long-term impact on quality of life. Moreover, Long COVID disproportionately affects minority, rural,
older, and other at-risk populations. Multidisciplinary Long COVID clinics provide clinical care and offer
infrastructure for evaluating promising interventions to improve Long COVID outcomes. The Johns Hopkins
Post-Acute COVID-19 Team (JH PACT) is among the country's first and largest Long COVID programs. Via
this AHRQ U18 proposal, JH PACT proposes the following Aims: (1) To deliver a comprehensive,
multidisciplinary program (Supporting Patients Recovering from COVID, “SPaRC”) to patients with Long
COVID, with an expanded focus on underserved populations. The SPaRC program will expand on the existing
expertise of the JH PACT multidisciplinary Long COVID outpatient program to increase capacity and decrease
wait times, with expanded services to underserved patient populations, including older adult, minority
race/ethnicity, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and geographically distant and rural populations via
enhanced partnerships with key existing organizations (e.g., Medicine for Greater Good, Center for Clinical
Global Health Education). (2) To iteratively evaluate and refine the SPaRC Long COVID program to increase
access and improve patient-centered, evidence-based care. The SPaRC program will be evaluated and
iteratively refined in quarterly cycles via mixed methods evaluation (via patient data from electronic medical
records and semi-structured qualitative interviews of patients/caregivers and staff/clinicians) to inform
implementation strategies based on the “Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change” (ERIC)
framework within a learning health system. In each review cycle, the implementation team and key SPaRC
internal and external stakeholders will evaluate the program and outcomes and select goals for refinement and
advancement for the next quarterly review cycle. An external Stakeholder Advisory Council, led by an
independent Chair, will provide ongoing feedback via quarterly meetings throughout the project. (3) Partner
with regional Long COVID stakeholders, including primary care providers (PCPs), to create and expand access
to comprehensive, patient-centered, coordinated Long COVID care across the mid-Atlantic region. We will
build a multi-disciplinary Long COVID provider-to-provider e-consult service, customized educational
curriculum (delivered via both live and on-demand electronic formats), and continuing education toolkit for
PCPs, in conjunction with key stakeholders (e.g., patients, caregivers, community leaders, and PCPs). JH
PACT and the SPaRC Team include internationally-recognized experts in Long COVID care, patient outcomes
assessment, implementation science, stakeholder/community engagement, and primary care education. JH
PACT is ideally positioned to create a Long COVID Center of Excellence, leveraging the ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10865843
- **Project number:** 1U18HS029937-01
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Ann Marie Parker
- **Activity code:** U18 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** AHRQ
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,000,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-07-01 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10865843

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10865843, Supporting Patients Recovering from COVID-19 (SPaRC) (1U18HS029937-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10865843. Licensed CC0.

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