NIH office seeks participants in mHealth partnership

An office of the National Institutes for Health has put out the call for proposals for public-private partnerships that would focus on mHealth.

The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) is seeking "organizations with the appropriate expertise" to manage and/or participate in an mHealth public-private partnership. The project's mission would be to "facilitate research and evidence collection to enable the appropriate use of wireless devices to improve health in both the domestic and global environment."

In its Request for Information (RFI), the OBSSR is looking for organizations interested in collaborating with government agencies or institutions; academia, NGOs and philanthropic groups; and the public. The ideal applicant, it said, would "be able to convene stakeholders, establish and implement a governance structure, raise funds in support of the mHealth PPP’s mission, provide project management, and to manage various operations of the mHealth PPP, such as contracts and grant making. Furthermore, the managing partner would be expected to explore potential partnership opportunities to extend and enhance the work of the mHealth PPP, including collaborations with other organizations and/or groups that could advance the mission of the mHealth PPP."

The notice, drafted by Wendy J. Nilsen, PhD, the OBSSR's health scientist administrator, also called for any organizations that would be interested in joining the planned partnership.

"With this RFI, OBSSR expresses the interest in entering into an mHealth PPP to address a profound public need to better utilize mobile technologies to improve health research, healthcare and health prevention efforts," the RFI states. "This mHealth PPP is expected to start in 2012, as a collaboration of stakeholders with the objective to support objective-driven projects carried out jointly by the mHealth PPP partners to accelerate the science of mHealth, generate information on the mHealth regulatory and payment landscapes, and create an infrastructure for supporting education and integration of stakeholders on mHealth opportunities and challenges."

Organizations responding to the RFI must do so by October 5, must indicate whether they're interested in becoming a managing partner or a member, and must submit the following information:

• A description of scientific interests and expertise in developing, testing, studying and facilitating mHealth;
• Staff qualifications, and an explanation of how any necessary expertise might be acquired;
• Suggestions for how an mHealth PPP might be run, including identification of roadblocks and additional potential partners, and an analysis of how the public and private sectors can be managed;
• Prior experience with an mHealth or other PPP-type activity or "collaborative development;"
• Suggestions for governance structure and policy framework;
• An anticipated scope and range of PPP activities;
• Fundraising experience and suggested strategies to create a sustainable mHealth PPP;
• Available resources for oversight of finances, grants and contracts administration and donor relations;
• Communications capabilities;
• Community outreach capabilities;
• Experience in clinical trials, bioinformatics, information technology (IT) and technical expertise related to mHealth and/or PPPs; and
• Experience in intellectual property management, technology transfer, business development and the oversight of/participation in pre-competitive activities.

Submissions must be e-mailed to mHealth.PPP@mail.nih.gov and include the Notice No. NOT-OD-12-151  in the subject line, as well as the name of the organization, full contact information and a designated point of contact.
 

Eric Wicklund

Editor of mHIMSS.org

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