Section on Health
Policy and Administration APTA
Grant Application
Call for Proposals- Research Grant Program
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Full Explanation and Application
Purpose of Grant Program
The purpose of the Section Health
Policy and Administration Grant Program is to stimulate,
encourage and support research activities that enhance the
body of knowledge related to health policy and clinical administration
in physical therapy.
The purposes of the grants are to provide
funding to assist new physical therapist investigators, or
established investigators who are embarking on a new research
agenda in health policy and administration. Through
this grant program, the Section hopes to encourage the development
of proposals that will seek financial support from external
agencies.
1-2 research grant awards of up to
$5000-10,000 are available to Section members to assist with
a 1-year research study that investigates a question or questions
of importance to health policy or clinical administration. Grants may
be renewable for up to 1 year. A number of existing
APTA’s clinical research agenda questions are relevant
to HPA. In addition the Section has identified additional
areas and questions that may be suitable for funding through
this mechanism. The list of questions below is not meant
to be all-inclusive, but to provide examples of questions
in these topic areas.
Regulation and Reimbursement policy
- What research evidence is needed to influence Medicare
and other payor reimbursement policy for physical therapy?
- What areas of physical therapy effectiveness/efficacy
research can be most influential in policy change?
- What is the cost-effectiveness of
physical therapy and how can cost-analysis be used to
influence program evaluation and policy?
- What are the effects of prevention programs on
cost and utilization of physical
therapy resources?
- What is the effect of state/federal regulation on patient
outcomes in physical therapy?
- What is the impact of health behavior promotion on costs
of physical therapy care? Physical therapy outcomes? utilization
of physical therapy services?
Clinical Administration
- What is the most effective way to disseminate research
to physical therapy practice?
- What are the best methods and models to change physical
therapist behavior?
- What skills are needed by practitioners to provide evidence-based
patient care, patient advocacy and/or cost-effective care?
- What is the effect of physical therapy care extenders
(aides, assistants) on patient outcomes, cost and quality
of care?
- What alternative measures of physical therapist productivity
exist and how do they compare, How do they impact patient
care?
- What characteristics are necessary for quality documentation
systems in physical therapy and what is the cost-benefit
effect of each?
- What are the effects of changes
in the demographics of PT educational program enrollment
on practitioners and managers?
- What is the effect of residency level education on patient
outcomes?
- How does the level of mastery of LAMP skills by clinicians
impact on patient care delivery?
Eligibility
All HPA Section members are eligible
to apply for Research Grants. Collaborative research with non-section members
is permissible as long as the Principal investigator is
a member of the Section on HPA. An HPA Section member
may submit only one proposal per year for which he or she
is the Principal investigator. Although entry-level
masters and doctoral students who are HPA members are eligible
to submit proposals, priority will be given to researchers
at the post-professional level (faculty, advanced graduate
level research).
Types of grants
Although two types of grant proposals
will be considered, a priority will be given to Research
grants (type a)
- Research grant - A grant
to support a stand-alone research project or a part of
a larger series of projects
- Development grant - A research development
award to assist in the development of research projects
that will be submitted to an institution or public or private
agency for funding. The purpose of the award is to provide
seed money to fund the development of a competitive grant
proposal. (money can be used for faculty release time to
do pilot work, hiring of consultants or purchasing supplies)
Funding Focus
Priority will be given to studies
that are consistent with the identified HPA research agenda,
that have a sound research design, and strong likelihood
of contributing to the existing knowledge base of health
policy and administration in physical therapy. It
is expected that research results will be disseminated through
appropriate channels such as Physical Therapy or the HPA
Resource and American Physical Therapy Association sponsored
continuing education programs.
Physical therapists receiving funding
from this program will be expected to report their findings
at a Combined Sections Meeting within 3 years of receipt
of funding. Recipients
will receive $300 to assist with the costs for presentation
of the work at a Combined Sections Meeting.
Deadlines
Proposals due January 5th of each year.
Notification of the funding award would be by July 15th. Earliest
funding start date is August 1, 2007. Evidence of approval
from an Institutional Review Board must be provided before
the funding will be released.
Proposal format
The proposal should include sufficient
information to allow scientific review, but be presented
in a concise format A
clear, brief presentation of the proposal is an indication
of the researcher’s ability to have a focused approach
to the research project. All proposals should use the
American Medical Association’s writing and format guidelines.
The proposal should include the attached cover pages and
the sections described below. The Research Plan should
not exceed 10 single-spaced pages (12-point type or larger),
excluding references. All pages should be numbered.
Specific details on what to include in the Research Plan,
Dissemination of Results, and Budget Sections are outlined
below. In addition, please include a one page abstract.
All application forms are available in electronic form, upon
request to the Executive Officer of the Section. Applicants
should submit a research proposal that includes:
Application Cover sheet
Copy attached
Abstract
The abstract should be one page or less, and
structured using the following headings:
Background, Objectives, Methods, and Significance.
Research Plan
To include:
- Specific Goals (What do you intend to
do?) State the purpose of the research describing concisely
what the project is intended to accomplish. Include
the research questions (APTA clinical research agenda, HPA
research agenda or other) and hypotheses that will be addressed. One
or two pages recommended.
- Background and Significance (What
has already been done? Why
is this work important to physical therapy?)Summarize the
background information that directly relates to the purpose
of the study. Cite previously published work that
relates to your study. Indicate how your proposed
study is different in design, methods, or subject from
previously published studies. Clearly indicate how
the results of your proposed study will contribute to the
existing knowledge of health policy and administration
in physical therapy. Do not exceed three pages.
- Preliminary Studies Summarize the results
of pilot studies or previous published or unpublished studies
that have been carried out by the Principal investigator
that directly relate to the proposed study. If not previous
studies have been conducted, please summarize the educational
preparation of and research support available to the investigative
team.
- Research Design and Methods (How are you
going to do the work?)Describe the research design and
the procedures to be used to accomplish the specific aims
of the project. Either qualitative or quantitative
designs are acceptable, but must include sufficient rigor
appropriate for the design
Include:
- Overall study design. What kind of study is it? Describe
the overall methodology and design.
- Complete description of subjects
that will be studied, the sampling and recruitment strategies. Comment
on the feasibility of obtaining the desired number of
subjects.
- Instrumentation/methods of measurement, including validity
and reliability of proposed measurement tools.
- Procedures that will be used. Discuss
potential difficulties and limitations of the proposed
procedures.
- Plan for data analysis and interpretation. For
quantitative studies, describe how each variable will
be treated in the statistical analysis.
- Significance of the research, and its intended audience.
- Human Subjects.
Provide evidence that approval for the proposed study has
been granted by the Institutional Review Board of the institution
of the Principal investigator. If approval has not been received
at the time proposal is submitted, indicate when a response
is expected.
- Project Management and study timetable - Provide a description
of the project management plan and expected time to complete
each part of the study.
- References - List in order of citation according
to Guidelines for Instructions to Authors in The Resource. Single-space
reference list.
Dissemination of Results
Describe how the results of the study
will be shared with physical therapy colleagues. Grant
awardees are encouraged to submit abstracts at the APTA Combined
Sections Meeting as well as publish manuscripts in appropriate
journals.
The Principal investigator will be
required to send a final report to the Chairperson, Research
Committee, Section on HPA no later than 18 months after funds
are released. Reprints
of manuscripts published from the project will be sent to
the Section on HPA. Investigators should acknowledge
support from the Section on HPA in any presentations or manuscripts.
Budget and Justification
The section on HPA will fund projects
for 12 months. Funds
can be requested only for costs necessary to conduct the
study. These include expenses for personnel, equipment,
supplies and travel of the investigators or subjects associated
with data collection. The enclosed Budget Form and
a budget justification must be provided on a separate sheet
that explains how costs were calculated, and why the expense
is necessary. The Section will not pay overhead or
indirect costs. Grant awards will be made directly
to the Principal investigator unless the Principal investigator
designates their institution as the payee.
Curriculum Vitae
Submit a curriculum vitae for each investigator identified
on the research grant.
Submission Process
The due date for submissions is January
11, 2008. All
proposals must be submitted electronically by the due date
to be eligible for review. To ensure that copies of
the proposals have been received by the Section on HPA Executive
Office, investigators can request e-mail notification upon
receipt by the Section Office.
Monies not awarded in one year may
be awarded during latter grant cycles. Calls for submissions
are routinely advertised in the Resource.
To apply, submit an electronic copy
of your proposal, preferably in .pdf format, to office@aptahpa.org
Review Procedure
A subcommittee of at least one primary
and two secondary reviewers from the Section on HPA Research
Committee will review the proposals. Each reviewer will independently
read and evaluate the proposal using published HPA grant
review guidelines. The primary reviewer will evaluate
the study, the investigator’s ability to perform
the proposed work based on the attached CVs, and secondary
reviewer comments. The subcommittee as a group will
recommend study funding to the HPA Board. The HPA
Board will make the final funding determination at their
annual meeting. Investigators will be informed about
the funding determination within 3 weeks of the annual
meeting. Each investigator will also receive a copy
of the review summary from the HPA Research Committee Chair.
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Full Explanation and Application |
