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Patient safety grants

Cardinal Health has established a $1 million charitable grant to support initiatives by healthcare providers that enhance patient safety and quality of care.

The Cardinal Health Patient Safety Grant Program provides funding for initiatives that establish or implement inventive and creative methods for addressing challenges in providing quality patient care. Our goal is to promote new and innovative thinking in the area of patient safety, thereby helping drive improvements in the quality of patient care.

Cardinal Health will issue grants of up to $50,000. Amounts awarded will be commensurate with the scope of the project. Eligible organizations include hospitals, health systems clinics or that are designated as 501(c)(3) by the IRS.

Matching funds

Applicants are encouraged to be financially invested in their program through either operating support or in-kind contributions of time and materials.

Patient Safety Grants – FAQs

Below are frequently asked questions from organizations that have submitted a letter of intent.

Q. What was the process to review letters of intent?
A. The letters were first reviewed for completeness and fit against the published criteria for the program, then a committee of approximately 20 clinicians scored and ranked letters. The six criteria outlined in the program guide were: responsive, innovative, collaborative, demonstrable, sustainable and replicable. The review committee gave fair consideration to all applications from organizations of any size.

Q. Can I receive individual feedback on my specific program?
A. Cardinal Health received more than 700 letters of intent this year for the Patient Safety Grant Program. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide individual feedback for each applicant’s specific program, but have provided information on this site to be clear about the criteria we evaluated against. In addition, we will also publish information about the winning proposals to highlight those programs selected by our review committee.

With such a strong response to the Patient Safety Grant Program, our review committee had to make very difficult decisions from hundreds of excellent safety programs. We encourage all organizations to reapply during next year’s grant cycle.

Q. How can I improve my letter of intent better for next year?
A. Our review committee found it helpful when letters were complete in their description of the program, goals and objectives and budget requirements. The letter of intent is meant to be brief – typically 3-5 pages – but with enough information to understand the objectives, how it addresses Cardinal Health’s criteria and how it will be implemented by the organization.

Q. What were some programs selected to submit a full proposal and why?
A. Programs selected addressed the six criteria of Cardinal Health’s Patient Safety Grant Program and covered a range of important patient safety issues, including inpatient and outpatient measures to prevent adverse drug events; reducing the occurrence of hospital-acquired infections, addressing unique safety issues in neonatal environments, and managing a culture of safety in multiple departments and organizations.

Q. What were some programs that were not selected and why?
A. The review committee focused on the six program criteria when selecting patient safety programs and initiatives to be invited to submit full proposals. Because we received so many excellent letters of intent, our review committee tended to select those programs that were seen as more innovative than many of the standard safety initiatives that would benefit any facility, or programs that would have a significant impact on the organization. In addition, our review committee tended to rank higher those programs where the facility was also invested in the program’s outcome, and programs that were broader than just a capital equipment purchase.

Q. Can I find out what organizations in my area were invited to submit a full proposal?
A. We will announce in March 2008 the organizations and programs that were awarded a Cardinal Health Patient Safety Grant.

Q. Can you tell me the dates for the next Cardinal Health Patient Safety Grant Program?
A. We have not yet set dates for the next Patient Safety Grant Program, but we expect that letters of intent will be due in mid-October 2008.

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