Following a request and proposal from the German Network for Health Services Research (DNVF), a two-stage application process will be implemented for health services research funding measures within the framework of the Innovation Fund, as announced by Prof. Josef Hecken, Chairman of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) and also of the recently constituted Innovation Committee, in a keynote address at the start of the panel discussion "The Innovation Fund Shortly Before Launch" at the 14th Annual Congress of the German Network for Health Services Research. This two-stage application process, however, applies only to the €75 million fund explicitly allocated for health services research studies, while a single-stage application process is planned for funding applications from the innovation component, which amounts to €225 million annually.
According to Hecken, the difference stems from the fact that in the two-stage application process, applicants can initially submit only a project outline, which is then reviewed by the Innovation Committee's expert advisory board to assess whether the proposed project has any chance of receiving funding. Only if the expert advisory board, to which the DNVF has already nominated three of its members, gives the project a positive assessment, is the applicant asked to submit a final and complete project proposal, in which any formal or substantive deficiencies can then be corrected and addressed. In contrast, the single-stage application process requires a complete proposal, including an evaluation concept, from the Innovation Committee. "This division reflects our desire to get started with healthcare research projects very quickly," Hecken explained.
Hedges. However, since projects in the field of healthcare research will likely be mostly smaller, researchers cannot be expected to invest a lot of money in the project proposal itself; moreover, money that a smaller research institution might not even have.
However, for major projects within the framework of the 225 million euro fund, in de-
Even if a health insurance company is regularly required to be a co-applicant, the innovation committee can indeed demand this upfront investment – it is only against this background that there are different application regulations, which are laid down in the currently drafted procedural rules and are based on
www.innovationsfonds.g-ba.de will be published.
Priorities set by the tenders
Likewise, the first call for proposals will be published in December (for initial details, see also "Market Access & Health Policy" 06/15), and is currently undergoing intensive discussion, including at the next meeting of the Innovation Committee on December 17, 2015. Hecken: "With the first call for proposals, we don't want to limit ourselves to the requirements set by the legislator." These requirements are not exhaustive, and the Innovation Committee doesn't want to simply address topics that "happen to be mentioned in the explanatory memorandum or the text of the law." On the contrary, in addition to setting priorities that will be included in the respective calls for proposals (including the first one, which is to be published in December), the committee also wants to offer the opportunity to submit open-ended applications at least once a year. Hecken: "Because we don't know what other ideas might be out there around the world."„
Furthermore, the evaluation concept of the projects, which will operate in the 225 million euro range, will be given very high weight in the assessment. The goal is, after all, to ultimately generate the necessary evidence to inform a decision...
Image. Panel discussion – „The Innovation Fund shortly before its launch“ (from left): Prof. Josef Hecken (G-BA), Dr. Christoph Straub (BARMER GEK), Dr. Regina Feldmann (National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians), moderator Dr. Albrecht Kloepfer, Hannelore Loskill (BAG SELBSTHILFE), Prof. Dr. Holger Pfaff (IMVR) and Prof. Dr. Gabriele Meyer (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/Saale).
