Musings of an AHRQ Program Official David Meyers, MD AHRQ Chief - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Musings of an AHRQ Program Official

David Meyers, MD AHRQ Chief Physician June 3, 2019

AHRQ’s Role: The Why, What, and How

Our Competencies

• Health Systems

Research

• Practice

Improvement

• Data &

Analytics (How) Our Aim To help healthcare systems and professionals deliver care that is

• High Quality
• Safe
• High Value

(What) Our Goal Improve the lives

• f patients

(Why)

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The View of AHRQ’s Director

• Cure and Care are two sides of the

same coin.

• While science and research to discover

cures is needed, science, research, and implementation to improve care is imperative.

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FY 2019 Budget

• $338 million in annual appropriations

► Second consecutive fiscal year with a budget increase ► AHRQ is the smallest operating division in HHS

• ~ $110 million transfer from the PCOR Trust Fund

► To be invested in:

− Researcher training, and − Disseminating and Implementing evidence into practice

Topics heard while getting my morning coffee…

• Patient safety

► Diagnostic error ► Healthcare Associated Infections / Healthcare-Acquired Conditions

• Policy-relevant analysis and evaluation

► Secondary Data Analysis

• Primary care
• Using digital health to improve quality
• Improving care for people living with multiple chronic conditions
• Opioids/Pain Management; Drug Pricing (Secretarial Priorities)
• Value
• Innovative Investigator-Initiated Ideas

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Where to check if you aren’t in the AHRQ cafeteria…

• AHRQ Special Emphasis Notices

► https://www.ahrq.gov/funding/priorities-contacts/special-emphasis-

notices/index.html

• AHRQ Research Priorities

► https://www.ahrq.gov/funding/policies/foaguidance/index.html#priorities

• Introduction to AHRQ HSR R01 (Part 2, Section 1)

► https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-18-795.html

• AHRQ Views Blog

► https://www.ahrq.gov/news/blog/ahrqviews/index.html

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When to think about AHRQ

• Are you thinking about the healthcare system?
• Are you thinking about improving quality, safety, or value?
• Is there no obvious NIH institute with a focus on your question?
• Are you interested in both implementing evidence and

understanding how best to implement evidence?

• Are you thinking about moving beyond translation into
• perationalization and sustainability?
• Are you looking for career development support and answer yes

to the questions above?

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When AHRQ may not be the best fit

• Disease or condition focused treatment research (NIH)
• Health research that does not engage the healthcare delivery

system (CDC)

• Clinical comparative effectiveness research (PCORI)

► AHRQ maintains an interest in HSR-focused CER

• Developing a prototype of a new technology or algorithm (Venture

capital)

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Major AHRQ Standing Research Announcements

• Definitive Research:

► HSR R01: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-18-795.html ► HSR R18: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-18-793.html

• Exploratory Research:

► HSR R03: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-18-794.html ► Health IT R21: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-17-246.html

• Conference Grant:

► R13: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-16-453.html

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Interesting Targeted Standing Announcements

• Advancing Evidence into Practice through Shared, Interoperable

Clinical Decision Support Resources (U18)

• Making Health Care Safer in Ambulatory Care Settings and Long

Term Care Facilities (R18)

• Implementation and Evaluation of New Health Information

Technology (IT) Strategies for Collecting and Using Patient- Reported Outcome (PRO) Measures (U18)

• Large Research Projects for Prevention of Healthcare-Associated

Infections (R01)

• Developing Measures of Shared Decision Making (R01)

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AHRQ Career Development Opportunities

Pre-Doctoral

• AHRQ Health Services Research Dissertation Program (R36)

Post-Doctoral

• AHRQ Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32)

Career Development

• AHRQ Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development

Award (K08)

• AHRQ Mentored Research Scientist Research Career

Development Award (K01)

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AHRQ and NIH are similar

• One can find all AHRQ and NIH grant opportunities in NIH’s Guide

for Grants: http://www.grants.gov

► Individual NIH institutes and AHRQ also list their opportunities on their own

websites: AHRQ -- https://www.ahrq.gov/funding/fund-opps/index.html

• AHRQ and NIH use a common application template (SF424)
• PIs and Institutions must register before submitting an application
• AHRQ and NIH grant applications are submitted to the same

Center for Scientific Review

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…but not identical

• AHRQ does not accept modular budgets
• AHRQ requires indirects to be bundled into total costs for grant

budget, NIH only requires direct costs to be included

• AHRQ standard maximum annual R01 level is $400K, NIH $500k

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Reminder:vWhen to think about AHRQ

• Are you thinking about the healthcare system?
• Are you thinking about improving quality, safety, or value?
• Is there no obvious NIH institute with a focus on your question?
• Are you interested in both implementing evidence and

understanding how best to implement evidence?

• Are you thinking about moving beyond translation into
• perationalization and sustainability?
• Are you looking for career development support and answer yes

to the questions above?

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Improving your chances of getting funded

• Talk to program officers

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Improving your chances of getting funded

• Talk to program officers
• (I really could stop here)

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Improving your chances of getting funded

• Talk to program officers
• Read FOAs carefully

► Each NIH institute and AHRQ are different ► Within AHRQ, details vary between FOAs

• Consider the review criteria
• Listen to what the FOA is asking for
• Join or build a team
• Submit more than one application based on a portfolio of related

ideas

• Befriend a statistician
• Don’t forget about AHRQ

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