Rural Health Granting Opportunities

Personal Health Information Technology Grant Program
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Application Deadline: September 19, 2006

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has issued a call for proposals for a new program to stimulate innovations in personal health information technology. The initiative, Project HealthDesign: Rethinking the Power and Potential of Personal Health Records, encourages technology pioneers to design the next generation of personal health record systems in ways that empower patients to better manage their health and health care.

The $3.5 million program will support up to ten multi-disciplinary teams in a collaborative effort to design and test innovative PHR applications that can be built upon a common technology platform. All teams will work closely with patients and consumers throughout the process to ensure that their designs align with end users’ needs and preferences. Upon completing the design phase of the program, teams will test prototype applications with patient populations.

Applicants may be either public entities or nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The program is also open to for-profit entities. Applicants must demonstrate a bold vision of innovation to aid people in using personal health information to pursue and maintain good health and/or to manage significant health challenges; clear focus on a target population and strategies for ensuring that its needs and preferences will shape the personal health applications to be designed; willingness to work as part of a collaborative network and contribute to an overall effort of promoting an interoperable environment for managing personal health information and activities; an innovative and feasible technical approach; and a strong, interdisciplinary design team.

Grants up to $300,000 each will be provided to eight to ten applicants for eighteen-month projects. The Project HealthDesign call for proposals is available online at the RWJF Web site.

Link to full announcement: http://www.rwjf.org/applications/solicited/cfp.jsp?ID=19646.

Community Health Leadership Program
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Application Deadline (Letters of Intent): September 22, 2006

Nominations Invited for The Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program honors outstanding individuals who overcome daunting odds to expand access to health care and social services to underserved and isolated populations in communities across the United States. The program's goal is to elevate the work of its leaders through financial support, opportunities for growth and networking, and assistance raising awareness of their contributions. CHLP is based in Boston at Third Sector New England and is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The program honors ten outstanding individuals each year for their work in creating or enhancing healthcare programs serving communities whose needs have been ignored and unmet. Candidates should be working at the grassroots level, have received no significant national recognition, and be in "mid-career," with no less than five and no more than fifteen years of community health experience.
Each leader receives $120,000 to be used for personal and program enhancement over a period of up to three years.

CHLP welcomes nominations from consumers, community leaders, health professionals, government officials, and others who have been personally inspired by people providing essential community health services. Nominations from development and public relations departments or professional grant writers cannot be accepted.

Link to full announcement: http://www.communityhealthleaders.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7bDF43CEA9-3679-40B5-9026-73EDC2F99D78%7d.

Physician Advocacy Fellowship
Institute on Medicine as a Profession
Application Deadline: October 6

The Physician Advocacy Fellowship funds physicians to develop or enhance their advocacy skills by implementing a project in partnership with advocacy organizations. It seeks to make advocacy a core professional value for physicians and to develop a cadre of advocates with expertise in achieving system or policy change at the local, state, and national level. The Advocacy Fellowship supports physician collaboration with U.S.-based advocacy organizations for a 12 to 24 month period. Participating physicians design and implement projects to address disparities in health and service delivery, or deficiencies caused by racism, violence, environmental hazards, income inequality, or inadequate education. Projects must be focused within the United States and should identify system or policy level changes as the outcomes of the fellowship work.

Link to full announcement: http://www.imapny.org/advocacy/.

Rural Community Development Initiative
United States Department of Agriculture
Application Deadline: October 10, 2006

Grants will be made to qualified intermediary organizations that will provide financial and technical assistance to recipient organizations to develop their capacity and ability to undertake projects related to housing, community facilities, or community and economic development.

Link to full announcement: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rd/nofas/2006/071206rcdi.pdf.

Health Care Services Outreach Program
Office of Rural Health Policy/Health Resources Services Administration
Application Deadline: October 18, 2006

The Office of Rural Health Policy’s Health Care Services Outreach Program encourages the development of new and innovative health care delivery systems in rural communities that lack essential care services. The emphasis of the grant program is on service delivery through creative strategies requiring the grantee to form a consortium with at least two additional partners. Programs funded have varied greatly and have brought care that would not otherwise have been available to at least 2 million rural citizens across the country. Through consortia of schools, churches, emergency medical service providers, local universities, private practitioners and the like, rural communities have managed to create hospice care, bring health check-ups to children, and provide prenatal care to women in remote areas.

Link to full announcement: https://grants.hrsa.gov/webExternal/SFO.asp?ID=A5452B55-95B2-43AD-99FA-EC3BA4814E27.

Rural Health Network Development Program
Health Resources Services Administration
Application Deadline: November 2, 2006

To support the development of rural health networks, whose purpose is to increase access to care by overcoming the fragmentation and vulnerability of providers in rural areas. Grant funds are used to support activities that strengthen capabilities of these networks.

Link to full announcement: https://grants.hrsa.gov/webExternal/SFO.asp?ID=74D82F92-0A6D-426E-A0C6-D40715E218CD.

Public Health Conference Support Program
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / Agency for Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Letter of Intent Deadline: Cycle A: November 9, 2006; Cycle B: February 2, 2007
Application Deadline: Cycle A: December 11, 2006; Cycle B: March 5, 2007

The CDC/ATSDR announces the pending availability of appropriated fiscal year (FY) 2007 funds for the CDC/ATSDR Public Health Conference Support Program. This program addresses the "Healthy People 2010" focus areas of Access to Quality Health Services; Arthritis; Osteoporosis; Chronic Back Conditions; Cancer, Diabetes; Disability and Secondary Conditions; Educational and Community-Based Programs; Environmental Health; Family Planning; Food Safety; Health Communication; Heart Disease and Stroke; Immunization and Infectious Diseases; Injury and Violence Prevention; Maternal, Infant and Child Health; Medical Product Safety; Mental Health and Mental Disorders; Nutrition and Overweight; Oral Health; Physical Activity and Fitness; Public Health Infrastructure; Respiratory Diseases; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Substance Abuse; Tobacco Use; and Vision and Hearing.

The purpose of conference support funding is to provide partial support for specific non-Federal conferences in the areas of health promotion and disease prevention information and education programs, and applied research.

Link to full announcement: http://www.cdc.gov/od/pgo/funding/05031-A2.htm.

Research on Disparities Issues
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Application Deadline: Ongoing

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation seeks to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the care of patients with cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus type 2, and/or depression. To that end, RWJF invites research proposals that offer solutions toward reducing healthcare disparities.

The foundation will consider projects of up to $75,000 with a one-year time frame that address one or more of the following issues:

Link to full announcement: http://www.rwjf.org/newsroom/featureDetail.jsp?featureID=1586&pageNum=1&type=3.

Posted: 08/23/06