Prevention Above All Discoveries Grants

Medline is committing up to $1 million in total costs over several years to stimulate the gathering of solid evidence that supports the adoption of solutions into clinical practice. A review panel, whose members represent a breadth of research and practice knowledge, will select grant recipients to be awarded up to $25,000 each for pilot grants or $100,000 each for an empirical study.

Objectives

• To stimulate research that will lead to the development of new targeted interventions aimed at reducing medical risks and harms associated with hospital-acquired conditions (identified by CMS in 2008 IPPS final rule).
• To test the costs and effectiveness of interventions and programs designed to reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired conditions.
• To disseminate practical, evidence-based solutions within and across hospitals, leading to a reduction in hospital-acquired conditions.

These awards are designed to assist healthcare providers in developing and testing creative solutions or interventions for reducing or preventing hospital-acquired harms. Recipients of grant awards will be paired with a research mentor/consultant through the grant program to develop methods and guide the conduct of the study, ensuring that a rigorous research process is followed. These studies can be small pilot studies aimed at developing and testing the feasibility of new solutions or larger evaluation studies to more fully test the costs, effectiveness or dissemination of evidence-based solutions.

Award Process

1. In response to our request for applications (RFA), providers will submit a 2-3 page letter of intent providing the following information:
   • The HAC(s) that the study will address
   • Whether the letter is for a pilot study or empirical study
   • The proposed solution
   • The objective of the study
   • The proposed approach in as much detail as you have thought it through at this point
   • Expected output of the study
   • Brief biography about the individuals involved, including any experience in the area of focus
   • Budget estimate, including the major expenditure categories
2. The review committee will review all LOI’s received after the March 31, 2010 deadline (see list of review committee members). Acceptable letters will be assigned to the most appropriate research mentor, who will contact the applicant and work with him/her to develop the letter into a full proposal of 5-7 pages in length, including a complete budget. Proposal and budget guidelines will be sent after approval of letter of intent.
3. The review committee will review full proposals and budgets on a rolling basis. Most of the projects that are chosen for full proposal submission will be funded; however, this process may involve a subsequent resubmission of a revised proposal so that the funded research plan is clear.
4. Pilot grants will generally be up to six months in duration with a budget of about $25,000. Empirical studies can be up to $100,000 and last about a year in duration. Pilot study grantees can go on to submit an empirical study grant at the successful conclusion of the pilot project, or applicants can apply for a full empirical study grant based on their initial letter of intent if they have an existing practice with some evidence base that they wish to evaluate.
5. The final report for a pilot grant study should be a brief paper written for a Medline publication (Healthy Skin, The OR Connection or Infection Prevention Now) whether or not the grant is successful. The final report for an empirical study is a paper to be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.