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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 Grant Program FAQs

Below are some frequently asked questions to help your organization with the process for letter of intent submissions.

• Q. What type of organization is eligible?
  A. Primary care institutions (health systems, hospitals and clinics) are all eligible to apply. The Cardinal Health Foundation provides grants to 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. Please use your institution's appropriate charitable foundation or non-profit organization tax ID when submitting your letter of intent. The database the Cardinal Health Foundation uses syncs to the IRS database of tax-exempt organizations in the U.S.
• Q. What is the program's review process from start to finish?
  A. The letters are first reviewed for completeness and fit against the published criteria for the program, then a committee of approximately 20 clinicians score and rank letters based on the scoring criteria outlined. The review committee will give fair consideration to all applications from organizations of any size. This is a blind review process, meaning that the review will be unaware of the name of the applying organization. Following the initial letter of intent review in the fall, the committee will repeat the blind review process for full proposal applications in the winter.
• Q. Can I receive individual feedback on my specific program?
  A. Cardinal Health received more than 700 letters of intent in 2008 for the Patient Safety Grant Program. We anticipate at least this in 2009. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide individual feedback for each applicant's specific program, but will provide information on the website 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.
• Q. How many grants will the Cardinal Health Foundation award?
  A. Grants will be made up to $50,000. Grant amounts will be based on the review committee's scores. An average grant amount is $30,000. Last year the committee awarded 34 grants. We anticipate a very elite group again this program year.
• Q. If my organization applies for $50,000 and are chosen as an award recipient, will we receive the full amount?
  A. Not necessarily. In an effort to be fair to all applicants, the review committee's scores will determine the level of funding for selected grant recipients.
• Q. I applied on behalf of a health system / hospital / clinic in 2008 and was not invited to submit a proposal. Can I apply again this year?
  A. Yes, we encourage organizations to reapply and drive patient safety efforts on the two priorities Cardinal Health is focusing on this program year - healthcare-associated infections and medication safety and reconciliation.
• Q. My organization received a Cardinal Health Patient Safety Grant last year. Are we eligible to apply again?
  A. Yes, all organizations are eligible to apply again under the 2009 criteria. There will be no preference to previous winners.
• Q. Can my organization submit more than one letter of intent?
  A. Yes, organizations can submit more than one letter of intent for different programs that relate to the specific criteria outlined on the website. We encourage organizations to review the criteria carefully to determine appropriate programs for which you may submit letters of intent.
• Q. Can you tell me the exact dates and timeline for this year's Cardinal Health Patient Safety Grant Program?
  A. The 2009 program will follow a very similar timeline to last year's evaluation process. Below are important dates to keep in mind.

  Friday, October 31, 2008 - Letters of intent submission deadline
  Monday, January 12, 2009 - Invitations to organizations selected to submit full program proposals
  Friday, February 20, 2009 - Full proposal submission deadline
  March / April 2009 - Announcement of award winners

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