Innovative Challenge Grant Applications Now Being Accepted

The application process is now open for the third annual Northwestern Medicine Innovation Challenge Grant. This year’s focus will be improvements in ambulatory care. Teams may submit proposals to receive $50,000 to improve the patient experience in NM’s ambulatory care practices.

All staff and physicians – employed and private – are encouraged to participate. Applications are due December 17 and can be submitted through the Innovation Challenge Grant page on NM Interactive (NMI log in required).

Applicants must be teams of two to five Northwestern Medicine staff members, physicians or Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine fellows or residents that include at least one clinical direct care provider, such as a physician, nurse or physician assistant.

Multidisciplinary teams are encouraged to be collaborative across departments and service lines, working together to develop innovative approaches to improve patient care and outcomes. Top projects will be selected to participate in a competitive grant process to help fund innovative approaches to improve the delivery of ambulatory care throughout our health system.

Some examples include:

• Improve access to Northwestern Medicine physicians, including patient-physician communication or clinical care
• Expand outpatient clinical research recruitment, such as increasing awareness of research opportunities at Northwestern Medicine
• Create new educational and community service programs, such as digital tools or transformative projects that impact patients and communities and can plug into nm.org or the MyNM app

​For more information about the grant, including information on how to apply, visit the Innovation Challenge Grant page on NMI (log in required).