Clinical Quality Awards

CLINICAL QUALITY AWARDS
CO-SPONSORED BY THE UF COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
& UF HSC SELF INSURANCE PROGRAM

Introduction:
The UF College of Medicine Continuing Medical Education and the UF Health Science Center Self Insurance Program are excited to announce their newly developed co-sponsorship of an integrated Clinical Quality Award (CQA) Program. It provides start-up support for College of Medicine and Health Science Center faculty and Shands staff in Gainesville and Jacksonville to design and implement educational projects focused on clinical quality, patient safety and clinical process improvement. A particular focus of the grant program is to support projects that are directed at advancing Institute for Healthcare Improvement or Joint Commission quality initiatives, University HealthSystem Consortium quality measures, Physician Quality Reporting System quality reporting metrics, or National Quality Forum quality initiatives.

Project requirements:
CQA-funded projects must plan and implement clinical education and process improvement initiatives designed to directly improve patient safety and/or clinical processes in either outpatient or inpatient settings including Shands at UF, Shands Jacksonville, or the University of Florida faculty practices in Gainesville or Jacksonville. Proposals should focus on projects directed at improving performance related to quality measures that are publicly reported or part of national quality campaigns, as described in the introduction.

Supported projects should have a strong improvement implementation plan. Primary data gathering or hypothesis-generating proposals are unlikely to be funded.

Project proposals should include a plan for evaluating the impact of the educational intervention and process improvement effort on the relevant measure. Projects must include a UF CME-accredited educational program.

Additional consideration will be given to applications that include the following features:

1. Project has interdisciplinary components including physicians, residents, nurses and other health care workers.
2. Initiative is applicable across the educational continuum including faculty, resident, student, and post-graduate continuing medical education components.
3. Project is expected to result in publication, poster presentation or other scholarly activity.
4. Demonstration of how the project will be sustained after completion of the support and spread successful processes to other locations.
5. Project is likely to serve as a foundation for further funded research.

Grant amounts:
Most CQA project grants have been for amounts of $25,000 or less over the life of the project. In special circumstances, consideration will be given to requests for larger amounts. We anticipate funding 10-15 projects annually.

Project duration: Up to 18 months.

Grant cycles: Applications are reviewed twice per year by a subcommittee of the UF SIP Claim & Loss Prevention Committee, in December and June, with award announcements in January and July.

Eligible applicants: All COM faculty in Gainesville and Jacksonville, Shands and other Health Science Center faculty and staff teams, as well as medical students and residents. Priority will be given to proposals that address one or more of the 2011-2012 quality goals.

Grant submission form: Grants must be submitted using the CQA application. Please visit the SIP website at Flbog.sip.ufl.edu to download the CQA application.

Budget information: CQAs may be used to support a variety of project related items including consumables, data analysis, and limited FTE support. CQAs may not be used to support expenditures that should be submitted through the regular budget process, such as clinical equipment, and may not be used to support new FTE lines or ongoing expense commitments that extend beyond the grant period. The use of CQA funds will be limited to those expense items listed in the grant request budget.

Application review process: CQA applications must be submitted using the Clinical Quality Award Submission Form format and include signatures of the Investigator(s), Department Chair, and Division Chief (if applicable). Applications will be peer reviewed.

IRB submission: CQA projects will frequently require data collection involving human subjects (e.g. students, residents, faculty, patients, etc.). Human subject research is subject to review and approval by the UF Health Center IRB. CQA projects approved for funding must be reviewed and approved by the IRB prior to initiating the project. Many CQA projects will likely qualify for either Exempt or Expedited review by the IRB, which means they can be reviewed by the Chair or Vice Chairs and do not have to be reviewed by the full Board. The application for approval of Exempt or Expedited studies can be found at the IRB website http://www.irb.ufl.edu/irb01/forms.htm under “Forms for New Studies.”

Project reports: Awardees must provide a brief midpoint project report four to six months into the project timeline and a complete project report at the end of the project support period. Ongoing funding is contingent on the receipt of these progress reports. Project sponsors may be required to present project progress at various UF and Shands enterprise forums.

Contact: For more information, please contact

• Laura Gruber (UF CME Office) at 265-8309 or grubela@ufl.edu
• Rebecca Graves (UF HSC Self Insurance Program) at 273-7006 or gravesr@ufl.edu