OVR Announces 4 Invitations for Bid (IFB) for Independent Living Projects

Effective January 18, 2012 at 10:00 am, the Department of Labor and Industry, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, in conjunction with the PA Statewide Independent Living Council (PASILC), will have posted 4 Invitations for Bid (IFB) on the Department of General Services (DGS) web site to develop Independent Living Projects. Please read the attached Announcement and go to the DGS web site link contained in the Announcement to download all the Attachments and the Statement of Work for an IFB(s). The IFBs will be posted for 21 days. The bid period closes on February 7, 2012 at 3:00 pm. Only Electronic Bids will be accepted by that date and time. All vendors wishing to do business with the Commonwealth must register at https://www.pasupplierportal.state.pa.us/irj/portal/anonymous.

You must be a registered PA vendor in order to view, bid and receive a Contract through this IFB process. Bids will be completed through the following DGS web site: https://www.pasupplierportal.state.pa.us/irj/portal/anonymous.

Questions will be answered through this DGS web site. If you need assistance becoming a registered PA vendor, you may call this toll free number: 1-877-435-7363. If you have difficulties locating these IFBs or posting your questions, please contact Mary Ann McKinney, L&I Procurement Office at RA-li-OIT-BAS-Procur@state.pa.us. 

State Grant Writing Assistance Fund for foundations

[from Philanthropy News Digest] With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the GIH State Grant Writing Assistance Fund provides grants to foundations that are interested in providing grantwriting support to state and county government agencies working to implement the Affordable Care Act.

Eligible organizations include all state and local foundations able to meet the matching requirement. (GIH considers "foundations" to be organizations whose primary function and activity is charitable grantmaking to multiple individuals or organizations.) Previous GIH State Grant Writing Assistance Fund awardees are eligible to reapply.

Grants of up to $30,000 will be awarded for a period of up to six months. The Request for Proposals includes a matching rate of 2:1 (the fund will match two dollars for every dollar requested).

Visit the GIH Web site for the complete RFP, eligibility requirements, and application procedures.

Link to Complete RFP

Lilly Reintegration Scholarships

[from Philanthropy News Digest] Funded by Eli Lilly and Company, the Lilly Reintegration Scholarship program is designed to help people with schizophrenia, related schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, or bipolar disorder acquire the educational and vocational skills necessary to reintegrate into society, secure jobs, and regain their lives.

The scholarship program offers financial assistance for a wide range of educational opportunities in which students work to attain a certificate or degree. Eligible programs include high school equivalency programs, trade or vocational school programs, and associate, bachelor, and graduate degrees. The program does not cover noncredit, online, or distance learning courses.

To be eligible, applicants must be diagnosed with bipolar, schizophrenia, schizophreniform, or schizoaffective disorder; be currently receiving medical treatment for the disease, including medications and psychiatric follow-up; be actively involved in rehabilitative or reintegrative efforts, such as clubhouse membership, part-time work, volunteer efforts, or school enrollment; and be a United States citizen and plan to attend a school in the U.S.

The 2012-13 scholarship program will be effective for the fall 2012 to spring 2013 school year only. Past winners wishing to continue/complete their education must reapply to renew their scholarship on an annual basis.

Visit the Center for Reintegration Web site for complete program guidelines, an FAQ, and the application form.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Health Care Innovation Challenge

[from US DOLETA] The Health Care Innovation Challenge will award up $1 billion in grants to applicants who will implement the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP, particularly those with the highest health care needs.

All proposals should include the following elements:

• Workforce Development and Deployment: Proposed models should include the development and/or deployment of health care workers in new, innovative ways. The review process will favor innovative proposals that demonstrate the ability to create the workforce of the future.

• Speed to Implementation: All proposed models must be operational or capable of rapid expansion within six months.

• Model Sustainability: All proposals are expected to define a clear pathway to sustainability, and should consider scalability and diffusion of the proposed model. Awards will range from approximately $1 million to $30 million for a three-year period. Applications are open to providers, payers, local government, public-private partnerships and multi-payer collaboratives. Each grantee project will be monitored for measurable improvements in quality of care and savings generated.

The Health Care Innovation Challenge will encourage applicants to include new models of workforce development and deployment that efficiently support their service delivery model proposal. Enhanced infrastructure to support more cost effective system-wide function is also a critical component of health care system transformation, and applicants are encouraged to include this as an element of their proposals.

Application Information All applications must be submitted electronically through www.grants.gov. Applicants are strongly encouraged to use the review criteria information provided in the "Application Review Information" section in the funding opportunity announcement (FOA), to help ensure that the proposal adequately addresses all the criteria that will be used in evaluating the proposals.

Letter of Intent: December 19, 2011

Applications are due, January 27, 2012

Anticipated Award Date: March 30, 2012

CMS Innovation Center staff will be hosting an informational webinar on the Health Care Innovation Challenge for all interested individuals and organizations on Thursday, November 17, 2011 from 2:00-3:30pm ET. Staff will provide an overview of the initiative and be available to answer questions from the audience.

Please visit the webinar site at http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=83452 to join. No advance registration is required.

Participants wishing to only listen to audio may dial 888-567-1602 or 201-604-5049 and request "Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation Webcast" (no passcode). Reminder, participants will only be able to ask questions via chat feature online.

A recording will be available following the webinar.

To learn more about the Health Care Innovation Challenge and information about the application process please read the Funding Opportunity Announcement

To read an overview of the Health Care Innovation Challenge, including important deadlines, please read our Fact Sheet (PDF).

Healthcare Academic Research Enhancement Awards

The purpose of the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) program is to stimulate research in educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees for a significant number of the Nation's research scientists, but that have not been major recipients of NIH support. AREA grants create opportunities for scientists and institutions, otherwise unlikely to participate extensively in NIH research programs, to contribute to the Nation's biomedical and behavioral research effort. AREA grants are intended to support small-scale research projects proposed by faculty members of eligible, domestic institutions, to expose students to meritorious research projects, and to strengthen the research environment of the applicant institution.

Link to Full Announcement

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-12-006.html

New Careers in Nursing scholarships

[from Philanthropy News Digest] The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Careers in Nursing program is designed to help alleviate the nursing shortage and increase the diversity of nursing professionals. Through grants to schools of nursing, the program will provide scholarships to college graduates without nursing degrees who are enrolled in accelerated baccalaureate and master's nursing programs.

Through the program, funds to support up to four hundred scholarships of $10,000 each will be awarded to selected schools of nursing annually over a three-year period. A school of nursing may apply for between five and thirty scholarships a year, to be awarded to students from underrepresented groups in nursing or who are economically disadvantaged. Preference will be given to schools which can demonstrate that the availability of scholarship funds will expand enrollment in their accelerated nursing programs.

To be eligible, applicant institutions must offer an entry-level accelerated baccalaureate nursing program or master's nursing program for non-nursing college graduates, and be accredited by a nursing accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is committed to programs that embrace racial, ethnic, and economic diversity. Applications should address the applicant organization's past achievements and future plans to recruit and retain a diverse student body.

Optional informational applicant Web conferences will be held on November 3 and December 1, 2011.

Visit the RWJF Web site for the complete call for applications, the application form, and Web conference registration information.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Community Health Assessment workshop

Driving Community Health Assessment:

Collecting the Right Data and Turning It Into Useful Information for Decision Making

Presented by Debra A. Thompson, President of Strategy Solutions, Inc.

Thursday October 27th from 2-4 PM EST

Worried about what the new IRS requirements for community health assessments may be and what that really means for your hospital? Attend this session and put your fears to rest! We will cover:

• Setting the Context For Your Community Health Improvement Efforts - Why Are We Here?
• Integrating Hospital Planning with Public Health/Community Planning: Ideal Model
• Options for Consideration/Our Recommendations
• Criteria for Selecting the Best Vendor

Click here to register for this FREE webinar today!