Black Lung Data and Resource Center

The purpose of the Black Lung Data and Resource Center (BLDRC) program is to improve health care in rural areas by supporting patient-level data collection and analysis, clinic operations, and the quality and breadth of services provided by recipients of Black Lung Clinics Program (BLCP) funding. For the purposes of this Notice of Funding Opportunity, BLCP award recipients are referred to as BLCP recipients. Additional details about the program requirements and expectations for BLCP recipients can be found in HRSA-25-040. Our goal is to strengthen BLCP recipients’ ability to examine and treat respiratory diseases and pulmonary impairments in active and inactive U.S. coal miners. To that end, the BLDRC provides programmatic assistance and resources to help BLCP recipients use data analysis to better understand the health status and needs of U.S. coal miners. BLDRC support and data analysis contributes to advancing evidence-based models of health care for rural health care providers, including BLCP recipients and other health care providers serving rural populations. The BLDRC will work with BLCP recipients and stakeholders to address long-standing challenges and barriers to medical, outreach, educational, and benefits counseling services for U.S. coal miners. The BLDRC will also help collect and analyze information on the demographics and clinical status of coal miners with Coal Mine Dust Lung Diseases (CMDLD), or black lung diseases, especially Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis (CWP) and its most severe form, Progressive Massive Fibrosis (PMF). The BLDRC supports BLCP recipients, including rural health providers, in discerning effective methods to address challenges, analyzing best practices, and informing lessons learned that translate across rural and non-rural health care settings. These methods also expand and further enhance support for health care delivery in rural areas.