HRSA Geriatric Academic Career Award Application Now Available

The Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA) has updated its Geriatric Academic Career Award Application (GACA) to reflect provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010, Public Law 111-148. Under the Act, disciplines that are now eligible for these awards include medicine, osteopathy, dentistry, nursing, social work, psychology, and pharmacy, among others. The HRSA recommends that all individuals applying for the awards review the updated application in its entirety, as there have been significant changes. The EWA advocated for the expansion of eligibility for the GACAs -- and for expanded funding -- given our shared belief in the value of the interdisciplinary team and given the shortage of geriatrics faculty in all of the targeted disciplines. Society leaders are now working on a FY2011 appropriations request that would support what we anticipate will be greater demand for the GACA Awards, and provide funding for new programs created under PPACA. Look for an advocacy campaign in support of that campaign to launch next week.

HRSA Award Notification:
The Geriatric Academic Career Award (GACA) Program has reissued the FY 2010 GACA application guidance on April 16, 2010: to reflect changes in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010, Public Law 111-148. The application guidance is available on the Grants.gov website: www.grants.gov.

The funding opportunity number is HRSA-10-228 and the CFDA number is 93.250. The deadline of the application in Grants.gov is June 7, 2010.

The PPACA of 2010, Public Law 111-148, reauthorized the Geriatric Academic Career Award (GACA) Program. Below summarizes changes in the new legislation pertaining to the prospective GACA applicants:

   1. Expands eligibility to include individuals in the following disciplines: allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, nursing, social work, psychology, dentistry, pharmacy, and allied health. To address this expansion, the GACA Program will make awards available to include individuals from all of these disciplines.

   2. Authorizes payment to be made to institutions on behalf of individuals. Therefore, the eligible institutions to receive payments and to submit applications on behalf of individuals applying for a Geriatric Academic Career Award. The eligible institutions include: accredited health professions schools of medicine, osteopathic medicine, nursing, social work, psychology, dentistry, pharmacy, or allied health. The eligible institutions must submit electronic applications on behalf of eligible individuals on www.grants.gov.

The program will conduct a technical assistance telephone conference on May 7, 2010 and replay of the recoded technical assistance will be available one hour after the technical assistance (TA) telephone conference. Below is the detail of call-in information:

• When: May 7, 2010 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM (EST)
• Dial in numbers: 877-917-1556
• Participant passcode: GACA (4222)
• Recorded TA conference calls will be available until June 7, 2010 at: 402-220-6427

Please note that there are significant changes to the FY 2010 application guidance. Therefore, the program recommends all prospective applicants to thoroughly review the application guidance and bring any questions to the TA conference or contact the program.