Welcome to AAMC's 2023 Telehealth Equity Catalyst (TEC) Awards

AAMC Telehealth Equity Catalyst (TEC) Awards

Action Plan 7: Improve Access to Health Care for All

2023 Call for Applications 

Submission Deadline: Monday, March 20 at 11:59 p.m. ET 

Background Information 

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) through the work of Action Plan 7: Improve Access to Care for All seeks to support member institutions in their efforts to advancing health care equity through telehealth and health technology in new and effective ways, while tackling barriers to care via telehealth that impact health and health care equity. As the health care environment continues to change, the need for developing, maintaining, disseminating, and studying equitable telehealth practices has arisen. As a result, for the past three years the AAMC’s Telehealth Equity Catalyst (TEC) program has provided funding resources to AAMC member institutions throughout the country addressing telehealth equity. 

Program Goals  

As part of the AAMC’s efforts to continue supporting our members’ work to advance telehealth equity, institutions will be awarded $15,000 each for programming reflecting innovative contributions to health care delivery that can serve as models for other institutions to address and mitigate the barriers to care associated with telehealth, particularly for communities that are under-resourced with limited access to health care services. Applicants can utilize the funding to assist with sustaining and/or scaling their program or to aid the implementation and evaluation of a new project. 

New in 2023: 

• AAMC is welcoming past TEC Awardees and Grantees to apply for our sustainability funding. The sustainability track will provide past-awardees and grantees the opportunity to seek additional funding for established TEC programs. 
• To connect TEC Awards to greater AAMC institutional priorities set in AAMC Action Plan 7: Improve Access to Care for All, applications that focus on rural telehealth or pediatric telehealth will receive special consideration.

Selection Criteria 

Only AAMC-member medical schools and health systems are eligible for an award or grant.  

All applications will be judged on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the following: 

• Detailed clinical delivery project that aims to clearly address inequities in access, quality, or outcomes of care for telehealth services.
• Describes clinical delivery program is intended to mitigate inequities in delivering care via telehealth by addressing the needs of various patient populations.
• Evidence of collaboration across the health system and community.
• Outlines specific objectives, key milestones, and methods to measure the impact of the program
• Detailed budget with a breakdown of anticipated use of funds to achieve program goals.
• Potential plan for sustainability and/or expansion.
• Rationale for how the program may be generalizable or transferable for adoption in other health systems or training programs.
• Requires collaboration with communities and/or patients to identify barriers for specific patient populations, establish trust, and improve health outcomes for patients, especially those in medically underserved communities.
• Aims to address health care inequities (i.e., measurable, systemic, avoidable, and unjust differences in health care access, utilization, quality, and outcomes between groups, stemming from differences in levels of social advantage and disadvantage) for patients and communities.

Special Consideration will be given to applications that focus on Rural Health and Pediatrics: 

• Requires strategic plan on how to address rural health populations or pediatrics populations. 
• Community collaboration requirement includes groups/programs working in rural communities or with pediatric populations.  

Funding Schedule  

Applicants will be eligible to receive $15,000 to assist with the implementation and evaluation of the program. Programs will be funded through one of the two schedules:  

1. TEC Award applications receive all the funding at the start of the program.

2. TEC Grant applications receive half the funds at the start of the program and the remaining funds at mid-point of the funding cycle (1 year). Applicants applying for the sustainability funding will be awarded under the TEC Grant Funding Schedule. 

TEC Award and Grant funding will be assigned at the discretion of the review committee.  

Application Submission 

Applicants must complete the online application form and upload an institutional letter of support and additional documents, as required, outlined in the application. Incomplete applications will not be considered or reviewed. Applicants are encouraged to develop and save their responses in a separate document before submitting the online application form. 

Application Checklist (Submit no later than March 20, 2023, 11:59 p.m. ET) 

• Complete online application form.
• Upload institutional letter of support (see application instructions).
• Upload brief bios for collaborators (see application instructions).
• Upload a 12-month project timeline (June 2023-May 2024) with descriptions of key milestones to help reviewers understand your project implementation.
• Optional: upload up to two additional materials (see application instructions)

Application Review 

Applications will be judged by a selection committee based on the selection criteria. The AAMC expects to notify applicants of final decisions by April 24, 2023. 

Requirements 

Since the AAMC aims to foster a community that discusses and shares evolving best practices in promoting telehealth access and equity within academic medicine, grantees and awardees will be required to document progress toward milestones, challenges encountered, and lessons learned. 

Over the course of the year, grantees and awardees will participate in interviews reporting to AAMC staff to enable a deeper understanding of the program and its implementation, and to consider additional opportunities to share lessons learned with peers in other health systems and training programs. Grantees and awardees will work directly in the programming and fulfillment of AAMC Action Plan 7: Improve Access to Health Care for All.  AAMC will work with institutions to share generalizable approaches, strategies, and lessons learned (e.g., collaborate on resource development, participate/present in a conference, workshop, and/or webinar) to improve access and equity in health care through clinical delivery.

Questions? 

Please direct all inquiries and communications to Katie Reget at kreget@aamc.org