IRVING, Texas, April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The VHA Health Foundation has announced it will award grants ranging from $100,000 to $250,000 to all United States health care providers to implement or enhance promising health and health care initiatives at the local level. Awards to six to eight recipients, selected through a competitive process, will be announced in late August.
Through its call for proposals, Creating Better Health Through Innovation, the foundation is embarking on a new path of finding, funding and disseminating innovative health and health care programs. The foundation will leverage its relationships with hundreds of VHA hospitals across the nation and other health industry leaders to accelerate the dissemination of these programs beyond individual communities to improve America’s health. Grant award criteria include:
-- Innovation -- a novel and/or significantly better approach to solving a problem or need related to health and/or health care -- Impact -- process and outcome measures quantified during the grant period -- Replicability -- aspects of the program that stimulate adoption/adaptation by others -- Sustainability -- evidence of strategic and operational integration, including financial viability.
“When the spirit of innovation in health care thrives, it benefits America’s communities,” said Linda DeWolf, president, VHA Health Foundation. “The VHA Health Foundation is stepping forward with a unique approach to support innovation by providing grants to fund promising initiatives at the local level that can transform our health care system nationally and create better health and health care.”
Grants are available to health care providers including hospitals, health care systems, clinics and medical practices. Local partnerships are encouraged to apply, with a health care provider serving as the lead.
The shift in the foundation’s practice of developing programs to one of finding, funding and disseminating new, innovative programs designed to improve health and health care is part of a new, multi-year strategic plan recently approved by the foundation’s board.
“We expect to utilize a portion of the foundation’s endowment over the next few years to fund local innovation and to promote rapid transfer of learning about these innovations,” said John Finan Jr., president and chief executive officer, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System in Baton Rouge, La. and VHA Health Foundation board chairperson. “The foundation will fund programs that have high potential for replication and adoption. Because of the enormous potential of this plan, we expect to attract sponsors that wish to invest with us in the future of health care.”
The foundation will complete all of the programs it currently sponsors, such as the program to support Type 2 diabetes education, the Cardinal Health Challenge, Project Fit America and the development of national sepsis measures. The foundation will also continue to administer VHA’s disaster relief fund for employees of member hospitals, as well as support certain VHA programs such as Women’s HeartAdvantage.
Proposals must be received in the VHA Health Foundation office no later than June 22, 2004. Activities pertaining to the grant must be concluded not later than Dec. 31, 2005. The applicant organization must match at least 50 percent of VHA Health Foundation funding, including cash and/or in-kind services. More information can be found at http://www.vhahealthfoundation.org/ .
The VHA Health Foundation, located in Irving, Texas, is a public foundation created by VHA Inc., a cooperative of more than 2,200 leading not-for-profit health care organizations, to encourage leadership and innovation in addressing health and health care issues. Efforts benefit VHA member health care organizations as well as non-members. The VHA Health Foundation funds programs that focus on new approaches to health and health care that make a difference, generate synergies that bring resources to add value and enhance outcomes, and diffuse knowledge and best practices.
Contact: Lisa O’Steen losteen@vha.com 972/830-0275
VHA Health Foundation
CONTACT: Lisa O’Steen of VHA Health Foundation, +1-972-830-0275, orlosteen@vha.com
Web site: http://www.vhahealthfoundation.org/
