Health Equity Research Network (HERN) on Improving Access to Care and other Health Inequities in Rural America

StrategicAwards@heart.org

The American Heart Association will provide funding for a Health Equity Research Network that consists of a Coordinating Center and 5 projects at distinct institutions. Network projects should have a common fundamental theme that will assess interventions and/or approaches that address rural health disparities.

Examples of general themes include, but are not limited to:

• Research on the effectiveness of digital medicine or other technological approaches in different rural areas and/or populations
• Studies to understand the most effective types and configurations of clinicians and community-based practitioners to support the needs of one or more distinct rural populations
• Development and assessment of rural-specific quality and outcome measures to inform value-based reimbursement models
• Development and assessment of a 'Levels of Care' (similar to Levels of Maternal Care) or other care regionalization approach to identify the best location for patient care based on individual risk level

Each network must include at least one project that incorporates the use of community-based participatory research (CBPR) into its research design, and the use of technology in at least one of the projects is strongly encouraged.

Each network must meet at least one of the following conditions.

1. Academic institutions that primarily educate/train individuals from groups who are under-represented in the sciences (such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities [HBCUs], Tribal Colleges and Universities [TCUs], and institutions who serve Hispanic students as a majority of their population) or from investigators at a non-research-intensive institution
2. Other non-federal, nonprofit institutions that primarily provide services to historically under-served populations, such as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and/or a Rural Health Clinics (RCHs)
3. If not originating from one of the categories noted above, networks must partner with an institution from one of the categories noted above. Investigators from these partnering institutions must be included in a substantive manner.

Other requirements include:

• Each applicant must be an American Heart Association Professional Member
• At least 25% of research team key personnel must be from a group or groups under-represented in science and medicine (Black/African American; Hispanic/Latino; Native American or Alaska Native; Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander; LGBTQ+; women, military veterans, and/or individuals with disabilities). Projects with principal investigators who are under-represented in science and medicine are strongly encouraged.
• Each project must name at least 2 full-time pre- or postdoctoral trainees during the award term
• At least 50% of the trainees named to each project must be from a racial or ethnic group that is under-represented in science

Award ceiling: $20,000,000
Project period: 4 years
Estimated number of awards: 1

A link to the online pre-proposal form is available on the program website. Selected applicants will be invited to Phase II Review, with a deadline of April 4, 2023.