Navigating the new NIH Data Management Sharing plan: the NIH HEAL Initiative Data2Action DMPTool template.

Objectives: This work aims to provide a specialized template for integrating diverse study data types with varying sharing restrictions specific to NIH HEAL Initiative chronic pain and substance use research.

Materials and methods: We adapted the NIH-GEN DMSP template from DMPTool to incorporate comprehensive guidance from the NIH HEAL Initiative Public Access and Data Sharing Policy.

Results: Our template provides structured guidance on implementing common data elements, standardizing metadata, protecting sensitive information, and selecting appropriate HEAL-compliant data repositories.

Discussion: Adapting to evolving data policies presents challenges for researchers, particularly when funding institutions update requirements and existing guidance primarily addresses clinical trials and basic science research rather than complex, multisource data integration.

Conclusion: This streamlined planning template enables researchers to efficiently comply with NIH data sharing standards while ensuring data follows Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) principles . By simplifying the process, we facilitate improved data management practices that enhance collaboration across diverse HEAL research projects.