AHRQ on November 13, 2013 issued a Funding Opportunity Notice (PA-14-001) with plans to fund exploratory and developmental research grants that would provide solid evidence that health IT improves healthcare quality.
AHRQ still sees gaps in the health IT evidence base that notes that quality improvements are still needed in all types of health IT applications, all systems, all healthcare settings, and all user groups. Therefore, AHRQ’s main priority is to fund projects that will fill known gaps in the field.
For example, there can be issues in systems design that can impact the use and effectiveness of health IT. Newly implemented health IT applications and systems are not always as seamlessly integrated to existing systems which can lead to inefficiencies, workarounds, negatively impact usefulness, and may increase workloads.
There have been calls for additional user involvement in health IT design and evaluation and so research needs to be conducted in healthcare settings and/or with user groups where adoption and use lag. This funding announcement is looking into a wide variety of research designs that can generate preliminary information and/or results necessary for future health IT research projects.
Applicants are encouraged to support feasibility health IT research projects to concentrate on future health IT applications, improve existing health IT applications, and develop strategies for health IT implementation in actual care delivery settings.
Another research area that relates to the design of health IT projects requires that sound economic evaluations be done for health IT projects featuring financial and non-financial costs. Each applicant must stress the knowledge that the research project would generate and how the knowledge will advance future health IT
Eligible organizations encouraged to submit applications include universities, state and local governments, plus others. However, AHRQ does not allow for-profit organizations to be eligible to lead applications under this research mechanism but for-profit and foreign organizations may participate in the research projects as part of a consortia or as subcontractors.
The total costs to be awarded for a project sunder this FOA titled “Exploratory and Developmental Grant to Improve Health Care Quality through Health IT” cannot exceed $200,000 in any given year or $300,000 for the entire project period.
For more information, go to http://healthit.ahrq.gov/funding-opportunities or go to http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-14-001.html.