C. KENNETH AND DIANNE WRIGHT CENTER
FOR CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH

Office of Research and Innovation

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RURAL PILOTS VOUCHER PROGRAM

Funding

For general inquiries about the Rural Pilots Voucher Program, please contact:

The Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research, in partnership with VCU Health, offers investigators the opportunity to apply for a voucher to offset costs related to innovative digital health methods for participant engagement and recruitment in hard-to-reach patient populations, including in rural areas and groups that have been underrepresented in clinical research.

Vouchers are equivalent to up to $25,000 in services. Recipients will need to submit a progress report.

Find the online application here.

The goal of the program is to support activities or proposals that evaluate innovative digital health methods for participant engagement and recruitment in hard-to-reach patient populations. Voucher requests should include plans to utilize services within the VCU Health System, including the VCU Medical Center in Richmond, VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill, Va., the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, the Brook Road Campus in Richmond, VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital and ambulatory care facilities throughout Virginia. Your study design should include what digital health methods you will be using, how you plan to recruit patients specifically in rural areas and/or hard-to reach-populations, and how the initiative will lead to more rural patients being enrolled.

Applicable services include but are not limited to: outlines of three figures, intertwined and the words rural pilots voucher program

  • Devices, equipment and technologies needed for telehealth visits at remote rural locations (i.e. smart phones, webcams, tablets)
  • Access to wireless data platforms for monitoring health outcomes for research participants in rural areas
  • Costs related to software or fees related to the use of devices or apps to research participants in rural areas
  • Advertisement materials for hard-to-reach and rural populations
  • Costs related to manuscripts and conference attendance for related projects
  • Costs related to language translation services for research services inherent to the rural and hard-to-reach populations
  • Payments for participants to cover costs of transportation and/or other costs related to participation in the study
  • Coordinator salary to support studies that are promoting participant engagement and recruitment in hard-to-reach populations
  • Costs related to travel for team members to support enrollment of participants in rural areas or of unrepresented populations
  • Snacks and meals for participants

Applications are received on a continuous basis and are typically reviewed within one month of receipt.