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Foundation
to Fund eHealth Effectiveness Research
The new Health e-Technologies Initiative [sic] of The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation offers $10.3 million in grants
for research that evaluates whether eHealth services actually help. Specifically,
the foundation wants to know whether interactive electronic communication
of health information improves US residents' health-related behavior or
their ability to cope if they have chronic diseases. The impetus for this
initiative was a discussion among communication and behavioral scientists
that was co-sponsored by the RWJ Foundation and the National Cancer Institute
in August 2001.
The
foundation's FAQ
page on their Web site states that "For the purposes of this Initiative,
eHealth is defined as the use of emerging interactive technologies (i.e.,
Internet, interactive TV, interactive voice response systems, kiosks,
personal digital assistants, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs) to enable health improvement
and health care services. For this initiative, these technologies should
focus primarily on health behavior change and chronic disease management
for consumers or patients." Grants will support research that assesses
the evidence for effectiveness of eHealth services according to 3 criteria:
- actual
changes in health-related behavior
- verifiable
improvement in patients' self-management of chronic disease
- evidence
of better patient-provider interactions
Be
sure to read the foundation's guidelines
thoroughly for actual criteria.
The
$10.3 million will be allocated in two cycles:
- They'll
award a total of $7.25 million, or a bit more than two-thirds of the
money, as a result of this 2002 Call for Proposals.
- In 2003,
they will issue a follow-up call for proposals to consider applications
for the rest.
First-round
funds will be awarded in two categories:
- Short-term,
6- to 12-month grants of up to $100,000 to help address methodology
and design challenges related to the scientific evaluation of eHealth
applications
- Longer-term
grants for up to 3 years and as much as $600,000 to evaluate applications
designed to produce or maintain health-related behavior change or to
enhance patient self-management of chronic disease
Either
nonprofit or for-profit organizations may apply. The deadline for the
letter of intent is January 8, 2003. You can get the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation's complete Call
for Proposal and application on their Web site or by calling 617.732.9727.
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