The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) www.ahrq.gov posted the Funding Announcement (FOA) “Making Health Care Safer in Ambulatory Care Settings and in Long Term Care Facilities” on February 13, 2015.
To address the safety issue, AHRQ is launching a multi-year initiative in FY 2015 to expand scientific evidence, strategies, and tools available for improving patient safety in all healthcare settings.
The majority of healthcare delivered in ambulatory settings with outpatient visits are more numerous than inpatient stays. There are about one billion outpatient visits per year in the U.S. outnumbering hospital discharges by a factor of more than 30 to 1.
Approximately one in ten Americans have an inpatient stay in a year, but the average number of visits to ambulatory care settings for each American is four per year. Because of the complex decentralized organization of ambulatory healthcare, individuals frequently must seek outpatient care from a variety of settings and providers.
This makes it necessary for patients to obtain and maintain information on various aspects of their healthcare and communicate with more types of healthcare providers than they do in the inpatient setting.
AHRQ serves vulnerable populations that includes Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), Community Health Centers, safety-net hospital outpatient departments, physician offices and long term care facilities. Initially, AHRQ’s FOA focuses on two healthcare settings related to ambulatory care and long term care facilities.
Eligible organizations include public or non-profit institutions, such as universities colleges or faith-based or community-based organizations, local or state government, eligible agency of the Federal government Indian/Native American Tribal Government and Indian/Native American Tribally designated organizations. For-profit organizations may participate in projects only as members in a consortia or as subcontractors.
AHRQ intends to fund five to ten awards for a total of up to $3.5 million in fiscal year 2015. The open date for applications begins March 27, 2015 with applications due April 27, 2015. To view the FOA, go to http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HS-15-002.html.