The Health Resources and Services Administration announces the availability of $400,000 to fund two grants that will study the impact of information technology (IT) on health care among medically underserved HIV-infected populations.

The one-year grants will analyze the extent to which IT systems help reduce medical errors and improve the quality of care for underserved HIV/AIDS patients such as women, youth, people who are homeless, communities of color, the uninsured and the multiply diagnosed.  Eligible grantees are Ryan White CARE Act-funded, community-based organizations with medical set-ups/medical setting affiliation that serve HIV-infected populations.

HRSA and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality – the two HHS agencies collaborating on the project -- will consider research in three areas:

• the role of informatics in improving clinical decision-making, reducing medical errors and advancing patient safety;
• barriers to acceptance and adoption of health information technology for improved patient safety; and
• utilization of effective strategies to improve patient safety while maintaining patient confidentiality.

Special priority will be given to applications that focus on outpatient settings -- such as nursing home care, home care, emergency room service and urgent care -- and on priority populations, which include women, children, elderly, minority, low-income populations and patients with special health care needs.

The grants will support the development and testing of technology such as hand-held electronic medication and specimen management systems, computerized bar-coding, smart cards and automated medication dispensing systems.  

Funding for the grants come from HRSA’s Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) Program, which is funded under the CARE Act and administered by HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau.  To obtain an application for the SPNS grants, go to the February 23, 2001, NIH Guide at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HS-01-006.html.  To read specific information on the grants, scroll about a quarter of the way down the file to the “Funds Available” section.

Letters of intent for the grants are due April 6, 2001; applications are due April 23, 2001.

For HRSA technical clarification, contact Dr. Laura Cheever at (301) 443-3067, or via e-mail at lcheever@hrsa.gov.  For more information from AHRQ, contact Dr. Eduardo Ortiz at (301) 594-6236, or via e-mail at eortiz@ahrq.gov.  

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