As you may have heard, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced a March 28, 2024 update of Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. There is no action for you at this time – changes must be implemented by March 28, 2029.
This directive revises previous standards for race and ethnicity categories used across federal agencies. Key revisions include:
- Using one combined question for race and ethnicity.
- Adding a new Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) minimum category.
- Requiring collection of additional detail beyond the minimum required race and ethnicity categories for most situations.
- Updated terminology, definitions, and guidelines.
NIH has already begun work on implementation and is working with other Department of Health Human Services (HHS) agencies on a coordinated approach. To facilitate a smooth transition, changes will be instituted over time.
What does this mean for NIH funding recipients? No changes are immediately required for the collection and reporting of race and ethnicity information for NIH-funded funded studies – they are not part of the FORMS-I updates already in progress. For now, recipients should continue to report race and ethnicity information for study participants using the 1997 categories.
Recipients will be required to report using the 2024 categories in time, so stay tuned for updates. As NIH plans implementation, we will provide further information on requirements to the extramural community.
Want to know more about the Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (SPD-15) changes? Check out the Federal Register Notice, White House Announcement, and the 2024 Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 website. You can also review information on the HHS Implementation of SPD-15.
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