Patient Safety Learning Laboratories: Pursuing Safety in Diagnosis and Treatment at the Intersection of Design, Systems Engineering, and Health Services Research (R18) | RFA HS 18 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA HS 18 001

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, offered this discretionary grant opportunity under the R18 mechanism titled "Patient Safety Learning Laboratories: Pursuing Safety in Diagnosis and Treatment at the Intersection of Design, Systems Engineering, and Health Services Research" (Funding Opportunity Number RFA-HS-18-001; CFDA 93.226). The central aim is to fund the creation and use of Patient Safety Learning Laboratories, which function as real-world settings and collaborative networks where transdisciplinary teams work together to reduce harm and cost tied to failures in diagnosis and treatment. The program is built around the idea that many patient safety problems are not caused by one person or one step, but by interacting system factors, and that meaningful improvement requires coordinated redesign of processes, tools, environments, and workflows.

A defining feature of the opportunity is its required use of a systems engineering approach. Applicants are expected to follow a structured, iterative methodology that mirrors how complex high-reliability industries develop safer systems. The required backbone is a flexible but recognizable sequence: problem analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. Teams begin by identifying a high-impact area where diagnostic or treatment threats are closely related and contribute to substantial harm and financial burden. From there, the learning laboratory is meant to push beyond traditional professional boundaries by combining expertise from clinical care, human factors, engineering, informatics, operations, and health services research, among others, to rethink how care is delivered and how safety is supported.

The work emphasized in this RFA goes beyond planning or single interventions. It encourages brainstorming, rapid prototyping, and repeated develop-test-revise cycles, similar to product and process development in other industries. Promising concepts are expected to be translated into prototypes, refined through iterative testing, and then integrated into a functioning system rather than remaining as isolated fixes. After integration and further improvement, the resulting system is evaluated for efficacy in a realistic setting, which could include a simulated environment or an actual clinical setting, depending on what is appropriate and feasible for the project. In other words, the expectation is a progression from identifying a safety threat, to designing and building practical solutions, to demonstrating that the integrated solution works under real-world conditions.

AHRQ explicitly signals that proposals may focus on either diagnostic safety or treatment safety, and it highlights diagnostic failure as an important and sometimes under-addressed source of patient harm. Because of that, applications that tackle diagnosis-related harms as well as treatment-related harms are welcomed. The emphasis on both sides of medicine underscores that diagnostic and treatment processes are deeply connected, and improvements often require looking across the full care pathway where information is gathered, interpreted, communicated, and acted upon.

In terms of administrative details, the opportunity was created on January 12, 2018, with an original application closing date of March 26, 2018. The award ceiling listed is $625,000, and AHRQ anticipated making about 8 awards. Eligibility was broad and included various levels of government (state, county, city/township, and special districts), independent school districts, public and private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (outside of higher education), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and other applicants as further clarified in the full eligibility guidance.

Overall, this R18 funding opportunity supports applied, team-based safety innovation that treats patient harm as a systems problem. The program is designed to produce rigorously developed and tested solutions that can be implemented as integrated working systems, with evaluation in environments that reflect the complexity of real clinical care, and with strong interest in improving safety in both diagnosis and treatment.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Health Care Research and Quality in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Patient Safety Learning Laboratories: Pursuing Safety in Diagnosis and Treatment at the Intersection of Design, Systems Engineering, and Health Services Research (R18)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.226.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 12, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 26, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $625,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 8 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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