PHYS THER
Vol. 86, No. 5, May 2006, pp. 754-755
Initiatives in Rehabilitation Research |
News from APTA
Federal funding of rehabilitation research depends on how much that research is valued, both within the physical therapy profession and among the external groups and individuals who have a stake in the research outcomes. To help advance rehabilitation research, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) forges partnerships, coalitions, and collaborations for advocacy, awareness, and legislative action; promotes the appointment of physical therapists to federal panels; and fosters infrastructure and research capacity building. To further cement the physical therapy profession’s relationship with policymakers, APTA also is identifying health policy questions.
 | Pursuit of Funding Beyond NIH |
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Previous columns have highlighted the American Physical Therapy Association’s (APTA) advocacy efforts for rehabilitation research and individual rehabilitation researchers within centers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The physical therapy profession—as evidenced by a number of factors, including conversations with our colleagues at the NIH and increased placement of physical therapists on study sections—is very highly regarded. The NIH, however, has a number of budgetary issues that have implications for funding. During fiscal years 2000, 2001, and 2002, the NIH’s budget increase was approximately 35%. When the more recent 3-year period (2003-2005) is examined, the increase was only approximately 4%.1 Clearly, the decline in resources affects available funding and training opportunities for research.
These fiscal developments have motivated APTA to aggressively pursue other sources of funding. Moses et al2 indicate that industry support accounts for 57% of biomedical research funding, whereas the NIH accounts for 28%. Therefore, although maintaining vigilance and a strong visibility at the NIH is still a high priority, APTA is now focusing on increasing the visibility of physical therapy research among other funders as well.
Advocacy for rehabilitation research will now be expanded to a broader array of potential funders, including private foundations, industry sources, and, potentially, physical therapist owners of practices that employ other physical therapists. Strategies to approach this last group of potential donors, however, still need to be developed, because they already have been strong supporters of the Foundation for Physical Therapy, and APTA does not want its initiatives to conflict in any way with the excellent work being done by the Foundation.
The funding sources that will be approached initially are private foundations whose programs include either rehabilitation or biomedical research. The first step is to gather data at the Washington, DC, office of the Foundation Center, which maintains a database of more than 4,600 grantsmakers, including corporate funders and private foundation sources.3 Staff have already identified a number of viable foundations, but the list is far from complete. Searches of this valuable database will continue until all foundations that can potentially provide funding have been located.
Once relevant funders have been identified, they will need to be convinced of the importance of rehabilitation research. Program officers must be made aware that enhancing care (and ability to perform activities of daily living) is as essential as finding a cure for a particular condition.
As part of this effort, APTA staff in the research and education divisions and in the government affairs department will develop a prospectus that explains the importance and value of rehabilitation research and describes the expertise of physical therapists. Like all projects having to do with advocacy for research, we will seek the input of APTA members. Once contact is made through the prospectus, visits by APTA staff and appropriate members will be scheduled with interested foundations. This model has been applied successfully with program officers at the NIH. The synergy created by APTA staff and individual physical therapist researchers in meetings with federal funding agencies will likely transfer to the private sector as well.
This new initiative raises a number of questions. For example, how will APTA and Foundation staff work together to increase funding? Strategies must be put in place so that the role of the Foundation is not diminished and so that individuals who have contributed to the Foundation continue making those donations. Furthermore, some sort of public (as represented by the NIH) and private collaborative models must be developed to garner optimal benefit. According to program officers at federal funding agencies, this type of public/private venture has not been easily implemented and has not been as successful as hoped for in the past. Finally, the bias against funding provided by pharmaceutical or other industrial sources must be overcome.
Despite these challenges, this new initiative is exciting for a number of reasons. It is the first opportunity for staff in research, government affairs, and education to work collaboratively on a project that has implications for research, education, and, ultimately, practice.
Even more important, the initiative will potentially expand the fiscal resources needed to support rehabilitation research. Because less money is available at the federal level, an alarmingly low percentage of well-designed research projects submitted to federal funding agencies actually receive funding. Increasing the potential pool of funding can only aid our educational institutions, the research process, and, ultimately, the patients and clients who receive physical therapy.
References
- NIH Almanac—Appropriations: Section 2. National Institutes of Health Web site. Available at: http://www.nih.gov/about/almanac/appropriations/part2.htm. Accessed April 5, 2006.
- Moses H III, Dorsey ER, Matheson DH, Thier SO. Financial anatomy of biomedical research.
JAMA. 2005;294:1333-1342.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- The Foundation Center. 2004 Annual Report. Available at: http://fdncenter.org/about/FCAR04.pdf. Accessed April 5, 2006.
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Copyright © 2006 by the American Physical Therapy Association.
