Value-based Healthcare Innovation Grant Program (Australia)

The TAC is a Government-owned enterprise, established under the Transport Accident Act 1986 to reduce the social and financial cost of transport accident injuries to the Victorian community. The TAC’s key functions are to prevent accidents and support those who have been injured on the roads. The TAC’s commitment to having a positive impact on the lives of the clients, their providers, and every Victorian road user is exemplified by their purpose statement.

Value-based Healthcare is a patient-centric approach that seeks to support the delivery of health outcomes at a sustainable cost. There are four key principles underpinning VBHC:

• The outcomes that matter to the patient
• The patient’s experience of care
• The provider’s experience of care
• The effectiveness and efficiency of care

Value-based Healthcare gives patients more say in their treatment options and empowers them to identify and achieve the goals that matter most to them.

As a result, the patient achieves the desired outcomes and has a better experience of care. This translates into a better experience for the provider as well – with higher levels of job fulfilment stemming from better-informed and more-satisfied patients.

Aims

• The grant program aims to incentivise health service providers to implement innovative projects that embrace the principles of VBHC. They are looking for projects that address an area of priority for people with transport accident injuries and will build capability in developing integrated care pathways, using risk screening and outcomes data to inform clinical decisions and improve care, and measure the efficiency of care.

Funding Information

• This grant program offers grants of up to $150,000 (ex. GST).
• Duration
  • All project activities must be completed within 15 months of the Funding Agreement commencement date unless otherwise agreed to by the TAC.

Eligible Funding

• Funding can be used for the following project expenses:
  • Key personnel – Salary contributions for supporting project management roles, consultants (e.g. researchers), experts (e.g. statistician) and consumers. Must match the roles and responsibilities of the position and reflect the time commitment.
  • Equipment – Essential to the project. For example, language translation, transcribing, access to specialist archives / databases, specialized information technology software and/or devices (e.g. live scribe pens), and outcome measurement tools. Individual items of equipment must not exceed $5,000.
  • Travel – Essential to the project. For example, vehicle mileage and accommodation for data collection.
  • Other direct research costs – Ethics approval costs, venue hire and hospitality costs for workshops associated with data collection.
• Applicants are required to justify the budget.

Ineligible Funding

• Expenses that won’t be funded within this program include:
  • Infrastructure and capital works
  • Professional membership fees
  • Professional development courses
  • Conference registration fees
  • Cleaning services
  • Anything not directly related to the project

Eligible Projects

• Funding will be prioritised for small-scale projects that align with helping TAC clients get their life back on track. You are invited to submit an application for projects that:
  • Address at least two of the principles of VBHC
    • Highly desirable. Projects targeting the effectiveness and efficiency of care.
  • Demonstrate innovation in health care; the project creates a new or significantly changes an existing method, process or service
  • Focus on known gaps in services such as better integrating care following surgical procedures and solutions to support mental health
  • Use existing evidence, outcomes data sets, codesign and information technology platforms to improve care pathways and better integrate care
  • Consider social determinants of health such as the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse populations, or people living in rural or remote areas.

Ineligible Projects

• Projects that won’t be funded include:
  • Projects requesting access to and use of TAC data
  • Interstate projects that do not involve a Victorian health service related provider
  • Projects that have already taken place
  • Secondary research of any kind
  • One-off events such as workshops, expos and conferences
  • Professional development of staff, including training
  • General fundraising projects
  • Projects that are more appropriately funded through existing operational budgets

Who can apply?

• To be eligible for funding you must be Victorian based, financially viable and one of the following health service related provider groups:
  • Hospitals – includes pre-hospital clinics and surgeons
  • Rehabilitation services – includes inpatient and outpatient services
  • Post-hospital services – includes early discharge and post-acute care type services
  • Primary health care services – includes General Practitioners, Primary Health Networks and community based Allied Health services
  • Pain management service providers
  • Disability service providers
  • Peak Bodies
  • Professional Societies.
• Applicants out of Victoria will need to demonstrate they are collaborating with a Victorian partner.
• Applicants must nominate a Chief Investigator who will be responsible for submitting the application, conducting the project, and reporting as required under the Funding Agreement.
• The TAC will accept multiple applications from a single organisation, however each application must nominate a different Chief Investigator to lead each project and the projects must be inherently different.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Individuals who are not a health service related provider
• Academic researchers without dual appointment at an eligible health setting
• Service providers who are members of the TAC Clinical Panel
• Recipients (Chief Investigators) of the 2023 VBHC grant round
• Applications may also be considered ineligible if the following requirements are breached:
  • It is incomplete or fails to answer all questions
  • Duplicates previous research or current research in-progress
  • A person is nominated as Chief Investigator on more than one application
  • Not submitted by the designated closing date and time
  • Not submitted on the SmartyGrants platform.

For more information, visit TAC.