Medication Safety: Advancing the Development of Improvement Strategies and Tools (R18) | PA 20 028

Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 20 028

Medication Safety: Advancing the Development of Improvement Strategies and Tools (R18) is a discretionary grant opportunity from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) focused on investigator-initiated research that improves medication safety. The core aim is to support practical, evidence-based strategies, tools, and interventions that reduce medication-related harm while also encouraging more standardized and optimized medication-use practices and behaviors across health care settings. In other words, the opportunity is not limited to studying errors or adverse drug events in isolation; it is designed to fund work that produces implementable improvements that can be adopted and sustained in real-world care.

This program sits within the health funding activity category and is cataloged under CFDA 93.226. The funding mechanism is an R18 grant, which typically aligns with research and demonstration projects that emphasize applied research, implementation, and evaluation of interventions, often with a strong focus on generating actionable findings for health systems, clinicians, and patients. Projects proposed under this opportunity would be expected to go beyond describing a problem by developing, testing, refining, or evaluating concrete improvement approaches, such as system-level safeguards, workflow redesigns, clinical decision support, patient-centered tools, training approaches, or measurement and feedback methods that can reduce risks tied to prescribing, dispensing, administration, monitoring, and transitions of care.

Eligibility is broad within the United States and includes many common applicant types: state, county, city or township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; and nonprofit organizations both with and without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education in the categories specified). The opportunity also lists an "Others" category, indicating additional U.S.-based organizational types may be eligible depending on AHRQ and federal grant rules. A key restriction is that non-U.S. entities are not eligible to apply, and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible. In practice, that means the applicant organization and the work supported by the grant must be U.S.-based.

The funding opportunity number is PA 20 028, with an original closing date of January 26, 2023, and a creation date of October 10, 2019. The source information provided does not specify an award ceiling or the expected number of awards, suggesting applicants would need to consult the full notice for budget limits, project period details, and other administrative requirements. Overall, the opportunity is intended for U.S. organizations capable of conducting applied medication safety research that produces tested improvement strategies and usable tools, with an emphasis on preventing harm and promoting consistent, high-quality medication practices.

• The Agency for Health Care Research and Quality in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Medication Safety: Advancing the Development of Improvement Strategies and Tools (R18)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.226.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-10-10.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-01-26. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others.

Apply for PA 20 028

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