Health Data for Action Frequently Asked Questions This document will be updated as new questions are asked. New questions are listed first within each subsection in brown font. Last Updated 11/8/2018 Programmatic Questions Q: Will any financial awards be given under the 2018 Health Data for Action Call for Proposals? A: To broaden access to these valuable datasets, the 2018 HD4A CFP will provide access to data from one of four data providers at no cost to the research team, but the selected projects will not be accompanied by a financial award for personnel or other project-related costs. Q: Are for-profit organizations eligible to apply? A: While preference will be given to applicants that are either public entities or nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations are eligible to apply. Use of the data under this CFP is restricted to noncommercial purposes, and for-profit companies must demonstrate no conflicts of interest. The HD4A program intends to support innovative research that uses the available data to answer important research questions, and the project should have a public-facing deliverable. See data provider descriptions in the CFP for other eligibility restrictions. athenahealth Q: I noticed that you included geographic detail down to the country level in last year’s HD4A dataset, but this year you only specify urban rural and a couple basic SES indicators. Is that a change? A: Yes, this is a change. This year we added more clinical detail to the dataset, which came at the expense of some geographic detail due to de-identification considerations. This year’s dataset is particularly well-suited for clinical research and studies of care delivery but not appropriate for location-based policy evaluations. We hope to include both in future years. Q: I noticed that the CFP specifically invites proposals on obesity, but I have a great research idea that looks feasible given the dataset and or only about obesity (e.g., isn’t directly diabetes, hypertension). Will proposing a different topic hurt my chances? A: No, suggesting an alternative topic will not hurt your chances. The dataset was designed with obesity research in mind, so many of the variables included reflect that focus. However, we
Health Data for Action Frequently Asked Questions This document will be updated as new questions are asked. New questions are listed first within each subsection in brown font. Last Updated 11/8/2018 Programmatic Questions Q: Will any financial awards be given under the 2018 Health Data for Action Call for Proposals? A: To broaden access to these valuable datasets, the 2018 HD4A CFP will provide access to data from one of four data providers at no cost to the research team, but the selected projects will not be accompanied by a financial award for personnel or other project-related costs. Q: Are for-profit organizations eligible to apply? A: While preference will be given to applicants that are either public entities or nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations are eligible to apply. Use of the data under this CFP is restricted to noncommercial purposes, and for-profit companies must demonstrate no conflicts of interest. The HD4A program intends to support innovative research that uses the available data to answer important research questions, and the project should have a public-facing deliverable. See data provider descriptions in the CFP for other eligibility restrictions. athenahealth Q: I noticed that you included geographic detail down to the country level in last year’s HD4A dataset, but this year you only specify urban rural and a couple basic SES indicators. Is that a change? A: Yes, this is a change. This year we added more clinical detail to the dataset, which came at the expense of some geographic detail due to de-identification considerations. This year’s dataset is particularly well-suited for clinical research and studies of care delivery but not appropriate for location-based policy evaluations. We hope to include both in future years. Q: I noticed that the CFP specifically invites proposals on obesity, but I have a great research idea that looks feasible given the dataset and isn’t directly or only about obesity (e.g., diabetes, hypertension). Will proposing a different topic hurt my chances? A: No, suggesting an alternative topic will not hurt your chances. The dataset was designed with obesity research in mind, so many of the variables included reflect that focus. However, we
HD4A2%20Program-Specific-FAQs_AH%20edits_10-01-18.docx