The American Sleep Medicine Foundation (ASMF) is pleased to announce the 2012 Strategic Research Award. This request for proposals (RFP) is to support planning grants or research grants aimed at improving quality of healthcare delivery in the field of sleep medicine. Specifically, there is an urgent need for: (1) identifying a better framework for health care delivery in the field of sleep medicine – such as the patient-centered home model; (2) establishing or enhancing patient registries that would assist health care providers to better monitor and deliver health care while assisting outcomes research; and (3) developing new patient-outcome measures, or better validating existing measures, to assist healthcare delivery and policy making. Such research is urgent considering the fast changing field of sleep medicine and the need to improve patient health and safety¹. Such improvements can be achieved by identifying and developing evidence-based clinical measures and measurement resources that enhance quality of patient care and promote accountability. Implementation science that promotes the development and institution of such performance improvement activities in the field of sleep medicine is needed. 

Considering the importance of the topic and the limited funds available, applications that propose work that will aid development of subsequent competitive proposals for larger grants to other award giving agencies (i.e., collection of pilot data, initiating appropriate collaborations and planning for a future grant submission to for example, NIH or AHRQ) will be considered highly responsive. Such planning proposals would need to include an appropriate timeline for submission of subsequent applications to other grant giving agencies.

This RFP falls under the broad category of Health Services Research and would require a competitive application to have significant input from health services researchers and/or biostatisticians in the conception and design of the proposal or planning grant Applicants are strongly encouraged to secure collaboration from researchers with prior experience in health care implementation science. Additional background on the topic of health services research in sleep medicine can be found in a recent “Future of Sleep Medicine” report².

Download the Strategic Research Award Application 

Eligibility

Physicians (MD, DO) and PhDs are eligible to apply. A Physician or Scientist who is an active member of the AASM should be affiliated with the project. The role of the sleep Physician/Scientist should be clearly defined in the scope of the project.  Host institutions that received Strategic Research grant funding one year are not eligible to apply for Strategic Research grant funding in the subsequent year.

Candidates must complete the application process before August 15, 2012.  The final decision of the Strategic Research awardees will be made by November 15, 2012. The award recipients will be recognized at SLEEP 2013.
 
For questions about the Humanitarian Projects Award or other ASMF inquiries, please contact Nick Cekosh, ASMF Coordinator at 630-737-9700 or ncekosh@aasmnet.org