Request for Proposals (RFP) for the 2024 Cesar Augusto Caceres Award for Innovations in HIV Prevention and Care

The Cesar Augusto Caceres Award for Innovations in HIV Prevention and Care (Caceres Award) encourages clinicians and staff to explore “innovations in HIV prevention and care” by extending and experimenting beyond traditional boundaries to pilot, share and scale up transformative initiatives and clinical care practices that incorporate technology to reach those most impacted by the disease. The primary objective of this award is to leverage and promote our shared commitment to ensure health care professionals have the resources needed to provide sustainable, impactful innovations to prevent, treat and care for those with or at risk for HIV and related conditions to achieve optimal health.

The Caceres Award prioritizes innovations and specific interventions (e.g., policies, programs, practices) that have the potential to counteract the harms of structural and systemic racism and improve access, health, well-being, quality and equity outcomes in HIV care. Our focus is on technological initiatives or services that minimize “upstream” causes of health inequities, such as the systems, structures, laws, policies, norms and practices that determine the distribution of resources and opportunities, influencing individuals’ options and behaviors.

The innovative interventions should focus on demonstrating the effective use of technology while prioritizing the needs and experiences of communities most affected by health issues. Innovation is creating new ideas, methods, products, services or solutions with a significant positive impact and value. The programs should drive practical considerations to expand effective practices, measurable for their effect, rather than simply documenting the extent of the problem. The ultimate aim should be to inform decisions about specific courses of action that will benefit affected communities.

Innovation, within this proposal, may be categorized as:

  • Primary innovation – smaller, low-stakes initiatives that seek to test ideas in a single setting.
  • Sustaining innovation – well-defined but somewhat new educational/evidence-based approaches that may merit widespread adoption.
  • Breakthrough innovation – initiatives that seek new solutions to well-understood and pervasive clinical care challenges.
  • Disruptive innovation – initiatives that employ creative solutions to the most intractable and hard-to-address educational challenges.

Examples:

Improved adherence, health care access and utilization, and overall well-being through the use of:

  • Smart health apps, devices, and sensors for chronic disease management.
  • Zoom-facilitated virtual support groups.
  • Robotic assistance in HIV care.
  • Blockchain for health care data security.
  • Augmented reality (AR) for medical education.
  • AI-enhanced personalized medicine.
  • AI chatbots for health care information.
  • Simulation training for health care professionals.
  • Virtual reality (VR) for therapy (e.g., pain management, rehabilitation and mental health).
  • AI-driven diagnostics or drug discovery.

While we will consider programs using telehealth strategies, we prioritize interventions and new solutions that remove barriers and address issues essential to delivering quality patient care. Proposals should demonstrate technologies with a high potential for replicability, providing a feasible path to implementation that benefits various clinical environments and encourages alignment among healthcare, public health, and social service systems.

Each proposal requires a brief project description, budget, justification and assessment plan.


Eligibility and Selection Criteria

Applicant organizations must be based in the United States or its territories. Submissions from teams including U.S. and international members are eligible, but the lead applicant must be in the U.S.

Applications are evaluated via a peer-review system based on the criteria mentioned above. The final funding decision is based on the strengths and weaknesses of the application as identified by peer reviewers. Peer review results are advisory and provide valuable insights to inform the decision-making process.


Summary of Grant Criteria

Successful proposals include initiatives that:

  • Demonstrate innovative use of technology.
  • Minimize barriers to quality, equitable care and racial health disparities.
  • Can be replicated and provide a feasible path to implementation.
  • Benefit various clinical environments and encourage alignment among healthcare, public health, and social service systems.


Management of Award

You will be required to:

  • Present the innovative care model utilizing technology via a national webinar.
  • Attend quarterly check-ins with the Academy to discuss progress, lessons learned and challenges.
  • Submit a progress report on initiative performance within six months of the funding period.
    • The report must discuss, at a minimum:
      • Progress achieved in the initiative, includes qualitative and quantitative data to demonstrate programmatic progress, including updates on required activities, successes, challenges and changes or adjustments made to the initiative.
      • Progress toward reaching all required goals and objectives of the initiative.
      • Programmatic data such as staffing footprint, expenditures and other reporting requirements as appropriate to reach pilot goals.
      • Progress on prioritizing underserved populations and barriers encountered regarding challenges serving populations of focus
        • Efforts to overcome these barriers

Sample Report Outline Below:

I. Introduction:

A. Purpose of the report

B. Overview of the initiative

C. Scope of the report

II. Progress achieved in the initiative

A. Qualitative data to demonstrate programmatic progress

B. Quantitative data to demonstrate programmatic progress

C. Updates on required activities

D. Successes achieved so far

E. Challenges faced during the initiative

F. Changes or adjustments made to the initiative

III. Progress toward reaching all required goals and objectives of the initiative

A. Overview of the goals and objectives of the initiative

B. Status of the goals and objectives

C. Plan for achieving the remaining goals and objectives

IV. Programmatic data

A. Staffing footprint

B. Expenditures

C. Other reporting requirements as appropriate

to reach the goals of the initiative

V. Progress on prioritizing underserved populations

A. Overview of the focus populations

Number of racial and ethnic minority populations served and their race/ethnicity demographic data in the program evaluation.

B. Progress made in serving the populations of focus

C. Barriers encountered in serving the populations of focus

VI. Efforts to overcome the barriers

A. Strategies used to overcome the barriers

B. Results achieved through the strategies

C. Plans to continue overcoming the barriers

VII. Conclusion:

A. Summary of the progress achieved

B. Challenges and opportunities for improvement

C. Future plans for the initiative.