Health Care's Role in Meeting Patients' Needs

Deadline: August 15, 2019
RWJF RFA

Clarifying the health care system’s role and responsibility in meeting patients’ goals, needs, and life circumstances to advance health equity.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is leading efforts to transform our health and health care systems by strengthening the ways in which health care, public health, and social service systems all work together to support people to live their healthiest lives possible. Despite growing momentum in the health care sector, there is increasing confusion over what health care’s ideal role should be in supporting patients.

This solicitation hopes to establish clear principles that set a high standard for the health care sector to provide equitable care that fully addresses people’s physical, emotional, and social needs; and guidance for implementing care delivery that is fully responsive to patients’ goals, needs, and life circumstances.

Purpose

The purpose of this call for proposals is to identify grantees who can lead an effort to provide:

Part I: Clear Principles that set a high standard for the health care sector to provide equitable care that fully addresses people’s physical, emotional, and social needs; and

Part II: Guidance for implementing care delivery that is fully responsive to patients’ goals, needs, and life circumstances, using maternal morbidity and mortality as a case example.

We expect that these component parts may be led by separate organizations and we invite applicants to apply to lead either one or both component parts.

The goals of the program are to:

Use evidence and engagement to articulate a set of principles describing bold aspirations for the health care sector to be responsive to patients’ goals, needs, and life circumstances, along the full spectrum of population health improvement activities. These principles should be supported by a set of clear, tested messages that resonate with audiences we aim to reach and influence (Part I, Clear Principles);
Demonstrate—with concrete examples, and using the principles identified in Part I—how health care can and should help the people they serve live their healthiest lives, with a focus on making change within health care delivery systems (Part II, Guidance);
Identify and execute communications strategies targeted to health care leaders and stakeholders (Parts I and II, Clear Principles and Guidance).

The program components include activities related to Part I, Clear Principles and activities related to Part II, Guidance. Organizations may apply to implement both the Clear Principles and Guidance component parts, but are not required to do so. If two distinct lead grantees are selected for the Clear Principles and Guidance components, the Clear Principles grantee must work closely with the Guidance grantee to ensure the Guidance component is appropriately informed with lessons from the

Clear Principles component, and vice versa. Organizations may also apply as a collaboration with a lead organization and subcontractors to execute various program components. In terms of sequencing, there is an expectation that the final products of the Guidance component will be heavily influenced by the findings of the Clear Principles component, but much of the work can take place concurrently, with collaboration and sharing of lessons between the parts.

See funding opportunity brochure PDF for further details.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

Must have existing organizational infrastructure that indicates sufficient capacity for this work to perform the functions outlined in the section titled “The Program” in the Call for Proposals. Organizations may apply as a collaboration among two or more organizations, with a lead organization and subcontractors to execute various program components.
Applicant organizations must be based in the United States or its territories.
Preference will be given to applicants that are either public entities or nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are not private foundations or Type III supporting organizations. The Foundation may require additional documentation.

Key Dates

July 23, 2019 (2 p.m. ET)
Applicant webinar. Registration is required through this link:
https://webinar.ringcentral.com/webinar/register/WN_AOygfsDVSQ-3wVfpe7J93w

August 15, 2019 (3 p.m. ET)

Deadline for receipt of brief proposals.*

Mid-September 2019
Full proposals invited.

October 14, 2019 (3 p.m. ET)
Deadline for receipt of full proposals from select applicants.*

Early December 2019
Finalists notified.

March 1, 2020
Grants start.

Total Awards

The Foundation plans to identify two grantee organizations or one collaborative of organizations who will receive up to $3,000,000 for the Clear Principles programmatic component, and up to $2,000,000 for the Guidance component, for a 24-month period. We expect the two program components to operate concurrently, or with a short delay (e.g., 3–4 months) before the start of the Guidance component. If applying as a collaboration, one organization should act as the lead organization and primary grant recipient, with the other organization(s) presented as subcontractor(s) within the application.