Purpose.
This FOA solicits Center Core grant (P30) applications from organizations with a demonstrated track record of success in conducting research in primary care PBRNs.
Each successful applicant will serve as a Research Center in Practice-Based Research and Learning.
These
Each Center must have at least 120 primary care member practices and may either consist of 1) a primary organization with 3 or more affiliated regional PBRNs(including a PBRN affiliated with the primary organizations); or 2) be a national PBRN organized around shared resources and research infrastructure.
It is expected that each Center will foster a highly collaborative, interdisciplinary research environment.
By leveraging common resources, it is expected that either the consortium of PBRNs or the national PBRN will demonstrate greater productivity and will develop and conduct independent research projects more quickly than they would as separate PBRNs without a central infrastructure and collaborative partners.
AHRQ is particularly interested in supporting an infrastructure that would accelerate both the generation of new knowledge and a community of learning for primary care practices to improve quality, patient safety and effectiveness of care.
This funding opportunity provides no funds for specific research projects.
The funds to be awarded are intended to strengthen the research and dissemination infrastructure of each Center.
It is expected that as a result of this funding, Centers will be more equipped to compete for research funding from AHRQ and other funders and be better able to conduct primary care practice-based research and support quality improvement in member practices.
Additionally, AHRQ intends to publish future rapid-cycle FOAs describing research projects that will be limited to funded Centers because of the cohesive infrastructure required to respond to these rapid-cycle funding opportunities.