• 2013 Loan Repayment Application Now Open!
• AHRQ Conference Grant Program (R13)
• Aetna's National and Regional Grants
• CT-ORH Announces 2011-12 CT Rural Hospital Quality Improvement Grant Recipients
• Additional Funding Opportunities

2013 Loan Repayment Application Now Open!

Today, February 7th, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program (LRP)opens its 2013 application cycle! The application cycle will be open through April 16, 2013.
To help ensure that the communities with the greatest need are supported, qualified applicants working in Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) with the highest scores as of January 1, 2013, will be given funding preference. With continued service, NHSC providers may be able to pay off all of their student loans. 

Initial awards amounts are as follows:

The processing of applications for the 2013 NHSC Loan Repayment Program application cycle will begin after the program closes on April 16, 2013. Applicants should ensure that the application they submit is complete and includes all requested information. A couple new features for 2013 is the ability to withdraw a submitted application prior to the closing date, if changes are necessary and an online Employment Verification for NHSC sites, which must be completed prior to submission.

Program Announcement: AHRQ Conference Grant Program (R13).

Purpose: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), announces its interest in supporting conferences through the AHRQ Conference Grant Program. AHRQ seeks to support conferences that help to further its mission to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. The types of conferences eligible for support include:

1. Research Development
2. Research Design and Methodology
3. Dissemination and Implementation Conferences
4. Research Training, Infrastructure and Career Development

AHRQ is especially interested in supporting conferences that demonstrate strategies that include plans for disseminating complementary conference materials and products beyond the participants attending the event. Such strategies might include, but are not limited to, submitting articles for publication, posting information on a web site, and seeking formal opportunities to discuss conference information with others.

To learn more about this opportunity and review application instructions, visit the grants.nh.gov website.

Funding Uses:
The Aetna Foundation is dedicated to promoting wellness, health, and access to high-quality health care for everyone, while supporting the communities they serve. To improve the quality and delivery of health services to everyone, and to drive improved health status for the American public, the health care system must be repaired.

The Aetna Foundation seeks national and regional partners with the vision to make these goals a reality. They focus grant making on issues that improve health and the health care system in three areas: obesity - focuses on initiatives that create a better understanding of the root causes of the obesity epidemic; racial and ethnic health care equity - understanding connections between where people live and receive health care, and the quality and equity of the care they receive; and integrated health care – aims to repair a fractured health care system and eliminate gaps in shared information and communication that detract dramatically from patient safety and quality in health care.

Within the three program areas, they will award the following types of grants: Research: Grants that will generate new knowledge, making use of either quantitative or qualitative techniques; Projects: Grants that will investigate or disseminate new practices; or evaluate programs designed to improve health and health care; and Policy: Grants that analyze and promote policies to ensure that programs and practices to improve health and health care can be replicated and disseminated broadly.

The Foundation will consider national and regional proposals as follows: National: Generalizable across the nation; implications or results from the projects are not limited to one geographic area; having national impact and relevance; and Regional: Impact and relevance for a specific region, state or community.

General Eligibility Requirements:
501c3 nonprofit organizations having national impact and relevance or localized in a specific region, state or community: Arizona (Phoenix); California (Los Angeles); Connecticut (statewide); Florida (Miami); Georgia (Atlanta); Illinois (Chicago); Maryland (Baltimore and D.C. areas); New Jersey (statewide); New York (New York City); Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) and/or Texas (Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio).

Funding Available:
Up to $250,000

Deadlines & Proposal Information:
Full proposals will be accepted in quarterly cycles with submission closing dates of:

• February 15
• May 15
• August 15
• November 15

Applications received after midnight Eastern Time on the close date will be reviewed in the next cycle.

Proposals are accepted only through the Aetna Foundation's online system.

For guidelines and more information, visit the Aetna Foundation website.

The CT-ORH is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2011-12 Rural Hospital Quality Improvement grant program. Annually, the grant awardees are selected by panel from the applications received by the end of the application period in September. All applications require a full description of the proposed projects including data showing need, submission of a detailed budget, timeline with goals and measureable outcomes. The proposed projects need to have a mission to enhance the quality of rural Connecticut health care or to increase access to health care for Connecticut rural residents.

The 2011-12 grant recipients are:

For more information about these grant initiatives or the CT-ORH grant program, please contact the CT-ORH.

• Rural Assistance Center (RAC) Funding Database: Searchable database for Funding Opportunities.