The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) http://mchb.hrsa.gov plans to establish an Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) Innovation and Improvement Center for FY 2016. The federal EMSC program is now accepting applications funded at approximately $21 million to ensure that every child has access to optimal pediatric emergency care no matter where they live or travel. The EMSC program allocates funds through competitive demonstration grants or cooperative agreements to state governments and accredited schools of medicine. The EMSC program allocates funds through four main grant programs.
The grant programs include:
- State Partnership Grants www.emscnrc.org/Grantee_Portal/State_Partnership.aspx to ensure that pediatric emergency care is integrated into the larger emergency medical services system
- Targeted Issues Grants www.emscnrc.org/Grantee_Portal/targeted_Issue.aspx to support innovative cross-cutting pediatric emergency care projects
- State Partnership Regionalization of Care Grants (SPROC) www.emscnrc.org/Grantee_Portal/SPROC.aspx to develop systems of care models to improve pediatric emergency care to rural and tribal communities
- The Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network Grants www.emscnrc.org/Grantee_Portal/PECARN.aspx to conduct rigorous multi institutional studies.
This EMSC program will provide funding over a four year period during FY 2016-2019. Approximately $1,500,000 is expected to be available annually to fund one recipient. The actual amount will not be determined until enactment of the final FY 2016 federal budget.
The activities in this funding announcement are to:
- Provide education, training, and consultation on prehospital and hospital pediatric emergency care
- Establish and implement Quality Improvement (QI) collaboratives
- Develop QI tools and products needed by EMSC grant recipients
- Disseminate tools and products
- Facilitate communication between the emergency medical services community and recipients
- Collaborate and communicate with EMSC program key stakeholders
The funding notice was released October 22, 2015 with the application due January 20, 2016. Go to www.grants.gov/view-opportunity.html?oppiod=279748 to view the announcement (HRSA-16-052). For more information, email Theresa Morrison-Quinata at tmorrison-quinata@hrsa.gov.