NIOSH Seeks Grant Applications to Stimulate Health Services Research Training

Contact: Fred Blosser (202) 260-8519
August 3, 1999

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is seeking competitive applications for approximately $500,000 in grants to train occupational health services researchers. The grants will help universities and other institutions develop training programs to build professional research expertise in studying the provision of health care and health related services to workers who have suffered or are at risk of suffering job-related injuries and illnesses.

NIOSH expects to award three training grants ranging from $150,000 to $200,000 each. Universities and other public and private educational or training agencies or institutions are eligible. Applications must be submitted by Nov. 30, 1999.

“Understanding the health services provided to workers will serve three important goals for our nation,” said NIOSH Director Linda Rosenstock, M.D., M.P.H. “It will improve access to health care for people with work-related injuries and illnesses, and the quality and efficiency of that care. It will increase the role of health practitioners in helping employers and workers to prevent work injury and illness. It also will build capacity for evaluating the magnitude of health and economic costs of work injury and illness, and who bears those costs. Our announcement is a significant step in developing a new generation of researchers who will lead those important studies.”

The National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) includes health services research as one of the 21 priority areas in which new national research will be critical for protecting worker health and safety over the next decade. NORA notes that research is needed urgently for addressing current concerns about access to care for occupational injuries and illnesses, quality of care, availability of health professionals, and patterns of health care cost and utilization.

Among other elements, programs funded under the new training grants will:

• Train researchers to examine the impact of the organization, financing, and management of occupational health services on the delivery, quality, cost, access to, and outcomes of such services.
• Promote collaborative research across different departments of universities, and across different universities.
• Build bridges between institutions that train researchers and the organizations involved in managing occupational health services, such as insurers and managed health care providers.
• Support training at the masters, doctoral, and post-doctoral levels, with doctoral programs initially given highest priority to address a dearth of senior researchers evaluating work health services.

Further technical information is available from Bernadine Kuchinski, NIOSH Office of Extramural Coordination and Special Projects, tel. (404) 639-3342, e-mail bbk1@cdc.gov. NIOSH’s notice of availability of funds (Program Announcement 00012) was published in the Federal Register on July 29, 1999, and is posted on the NIOSH Web Page on the World Wide Web at www.cdc.gov/niosh/fedreg.html. Further research on NORA and NIOSH research is available on the Web page, or from the NIOSH toll-free information number, 1-800-35-NIOSH (1-800-356-4674).