Jewish Healthcare Foundation Approves a $300k Grant to Promote Patient Safety Research and Development in the Pittsburgh Region

PITTSBURGH, PA—The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) approved a $300,000 one-year grant to the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI) to support patient safety research and development in the region via the second phase of the Regional Autonomous Patient Safety (RAPS) initiative, including the creation of a new $200,000 seed grant program.

RAPS kicked off in February with a launch event co-hosted with the Pittsburgh Technology Council that generated excitement among representatives from the Pittsburgh region's education, technology, and healthcare industries about the potential to establish Pittsburgh as a global hub for patient safety technology solutions.

PRHI will use the new $300,000 grant to launch the second phase of the RAPS initiative. This will include creating a $200,000 Seed Grant Program to provide early-stage grants to multidisciplinary R&D teams, start-ups or tech companies in the Pittsburgh region that are developing, testing, or adopting an autonomous solution to prevent medical errors; commissioning an economic analysis to capture the region's potential for becoming a global tech hub for autonomous patient safety solutions; and organizing a series of "Patient Safety R&D Salons" with multidisciplinary research teams, providers, payers, and tech companies in the region in response to the ideas raised during breakout sessions at the RAPS Launch Event.

The Seed Grant Program will begin accepting proposals on June 1, 2023 with funding being awarded based on the extent to which the autonomous patient safety solution is aligned with what healthcare providers need to work in a safe environment and the extent to which it is aligned with federal funding opportunities. More details will be forthcoming soon on the PRHI website.

This next phase of RAPS is designed to seed more interest, solidify ongoing partnerships, spark collaborations for autonomous patient safety technologies, and secure additional funding for patient safety R&D in the region.

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Available for Interviews: Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD, President and CEO, Jewish Healthcare Foundation

Contact: Scotland Huber, 412-594-2553, huber@jhf.org

About the Jewish Healthcare Foundation

The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) and its three operating arms — the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI), Health Careers Futures (HCF), and the Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) — offer a unique brand of activist philanthropy to advance healthcare innovation, advocacy, collaboration, and education in the interest of better population health.