OAKLAND, CA -- January 11, 2010 -- The Center for Technology and Aging today released application guidelines for its $500,000 Remote Patient Monitoring Diffusion Grants Program. Up to five one-year grants will be made to organizations successfully proposing programs that directly benefit older adults. Most grants will focus on Californians, but one or two may include older adults in other regions of the U.S.
Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) refers to a wide variety of technologies designed to manage and monitor a range of health conditions and that are particularly applicable for people with chronic illness or prone to falls or wandering.
"Eight out of ten older Americans are faced with the health challenges of one or more chronic diseases. One of the most important means of maintaining older adults' independence and maximizing their functional capacity is the ability for caregivers, clinicians, and family members to monitor vital signs or a person's whereabouts from a distance. Thankfully, many effective tools and technologies already exist to greatly reduce these problems," said David Lindeman, Ph.D., director of the Center for Technology and Aging. "We want to see the use of these technologies expand more quickly across the U.S."
Programs eligible for grants must use technologies already proven and ready to be used more broadly. Grant applicants are expected to have prior experience with remote patient monitoring technologies and must be able to demonstrate a positive and measurable impact in the near term, including reducing the likelihood that older adults will be moved to more intensive, higher-cost care settings. Programs seeking grants must propose a strategy for integrating their technology into the fabric of state and national health care delivery and reimbursement systems.
The deadline for Letters of Intent is 5 p.m. PST, Friday, March 12, 2010.
Applicants will be notified by March 26, 2010 if selected to submit a full proposal. The anticipated start date for grant projects is July 1, 2010.
Application information is available for download at www.techandaging.org/rpmgrant.pdf.
The Center for Technology and Aging (www.techandaging.org) is devoted to helping California and the nation more rapidly implement technologies that improve home and community-based care for older adults. Through research, grants, public policy involvement, and development of practical implementation tools, the Center serves as a resource for all those seeking to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of long-term care services.
It was established in 2009 with a generous grant from The SCAN Foundation (www.thescanfoundation.org) and is located at the Public Health Institute (www.phi.org) in Oakland, CA.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Valerie Steinmetz
510-285-5687
[email protected]