Stepping Through the CRICO Grant Process

It is a long-standing practice of CRICO’s to reinvest in our insured providers by inviting them to submit their ideas for a grant through a Request for Application (RFA) process. CRICO’s grant awards are designed to support identification, evaluation, and implementation of patient safety solutions aligned with identified areas of malpractice risk.

Every year, CRICO confirms the current focus areas and then announces the RFA opportunity in late summer. This usually yields many new and innovative ideas for potential patient safety interventions.

An Applicant’s Journey

Each applicant followed our standard process documented on our Grants RFA Details page.

Applying is a multi-step process that provides investigators with an opportunity to present a Letter of Intent (LOI) describing their proposed research. Investigators are allotted six weeks to compose their letters and assemble supporting materials. After the submission date, a panel of five experts reviews and ranks the LOIs.

Reviewers assess each LOI for its ability to:

• address the selected focus area
• provide a new and unique solution for patient safety
• generate an adequate and appropriate budget

CRICO then invites the top scoring investigators to submit a full proposal.

About the 2018 RFA LOI Submissions

CRICO uses data to identify areas of focus for potential research. The focus areas identified for this opportunity were Diagnosis, Performance of Medical Procedures, Nursing, Obstetrics, Surgery and Emerging Risk.

On August 4, 2017, CRICO opened its 2018 RFA opportunity with an announcement to all providers and employees at our member institutions. Almost all of CRICO’s member institutions submitted responses by Friday September 22, 2017. In total, CRICO received 66 Letters of Intent. The review panel and leadership team narrowed down the final submissions with 43% of the LOIs selected for full application invitation.

CRICO’s leadership and board looks forward to getting the full applications and determining the 2018 Grant Award recipients.

CRICO Funding in Action

These grants continue to stimulate research and patient safety interventions intended to improve the quality and safety of patient care. Past grant awards have developed interventions that have made a distinct impact on improving patient safety. For examples of CRICO-funded patient safety work done in the past, visit the Grants Showcase page.