Key Dates:
Call for proposals released: June 21, 2023
Optional applicant informational webinar: July 18, 2023 (1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET, registration required)
Deadline for receipt of brief proposals: August 18, 2023 (3 p.m. ET)
Applicants notified whether invited to submit full proposals: November 3, 2023
Deadline for receipt of full proposals: January 12, 2024 (3 p.m. ET)
Notification of finalists: May 1, 2024
Grants start: June 15, 2024
Overview & Goals:
The Health Data for Action (HD4A) program, launched by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2017 and managed by AcademyHealth, is designed to leverage health data for actionable insights. With greater access to health data, including data from delivery systems, payers, and health information technology, researchers can better answer important questions to build a Culture of Health and inform health policy to make healthcare more affordable and equitable.
Through each HD4A call for proposals (CFP), RWJF makes valuable data from unique data owners available to researchers. The 2023 HD4A CFP is primarily for data access, with successful applicants receiving no-cost access to data from one of the 16 available data sets. While most selected projects will not be accompanied by a financial award for personnel or other project-related costs, limited funding is available for a small number of projects from principal investigators who are first-time investigators on a grant award at the time of application.
Eligible research projects can focus on a variety of topics, including national practice patterns in long-term care, public health surveillance and population health, diagnostic quality, and the health effects of COVID-19, among others. Applicants under this CFP will write a proposal for a research study using data from one of the data sets. Projects proposing to use and/or link two data sets under the HD4A CFP will be evaluated for feasibility and awarded on a case-by-case basis.
Eligibility:
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. RWJF may require additional documentation.
Projects may be generated from disciplines including health services research; economics; sociology; program evaluation; political science; public policy; public health; public administration; law; business administration; or other related fields.
Use of the data under this CFP is restricted to noncommercial purposes.
Consistent with RWJF’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Commitment, we particularly encourage applications with project directors or team members from backgrounds historically underrepresented in research disciplines as a result of their race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, or other factors.
Proposal Guidelines:
The brief proposal should contain the following information about the proposed project, and any specific content requested from the available data sets:
Proposal Review Process:
Brief proposals will be reviewed by staff at RWJF, AcademyHealth, and the data providers. Invited full proposals will undergo peer review by external, subject matter experts, as well as staff at RWJF, AcademyHealth, and the data providers. RWJF will make all final grant decisions.