Background

Today's healthcare system is defined by both great achievement and great challenges. Breakthroughs in medical research and practice are improving and saving people's lives. At the same time, people's health information is decentralized and isolated, existing only in filing cabinets and a multitude of disconnected servers. It is difficult for individuals and their families to manage and share health information productively, or to navigate online and offline health resources efficiently and accurately.

Technology can play a key role in helping solve healthcare fragmentation. To this end, Microsoft has developed a technology platform called HealthVault, a storage and sharing system that uses privacy and security-enhanced measures, and through which people can interact with health-related services and devices. HealthVault will bring the health and technology industries together to place people in control of their healthcare while enabling seamless exchange of information among hundreds of health services and devices.

Microsoft HealthVault greatly reduce unnecessary confusion, paperwork and delays by allowing people to collect their health information from many sources, store it in one place, and share it with whomever they choose.

People can use HealthVault to access and put to practical use a variety of health services and devices that monitor everything from weight loss and exercise to blood sugar and blood pressure. With the support of partners that will develop these services and devices, Microsoft has committed to a platform that is of no cost to consumers and developers, inclusive of industry standards and trusted through robust privacy and security safeguards.

Microsoft has also developed HealthVault Search, a Web search service that uses the storage capabilities of the HealthVault platform. HealthVault Search helps people discover answers to their health questions, learn more about topics important to them, confidentially store the information they discover, and act on that knowledge to improve their health and wellness. Furthermore, HealthVault Search intuitively organizes the most relevant online health content, allowing people to refine searches more efficiently and with more accuracy.

The Microsoft HealthVault Be Well Fund is designed to assist academic and research health organizations in the creation of innovative online health applications for patients. These applications should make use of shared health data and connected home health devices to improve the potential for positive health outcomes for patients.

Learn more about HealthVault: http://healthvault.com/
Download the HealthVault SDK: http://msdn.microsoft.com/healthvault

Goals & Objectives

This RFP seeks to stimulate research and development across a broad range of health disciplines that have the potential to significantly improve health outcomes for patients. It is intended that the RFP proposals will open new and deeply innovative avenues of research, and explore the potential for disruptive improvements to health management enabled by re-use and sharing of data between people, families, caregivers, doctors, and facilities.

Proposals should have the potential to significantly advance the state of the art in one or more areas of study and demonstrate the potential for expansion into a large scale program. We wish to solicit proposals from a broad range of areas including, but not restricted to:

TRACK 1: Primary Prevention Applications

Several health studies have found that maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including a desirable body weight, eating a healthy diet, regular exercise, and not smoking could account for an significant reduction in risk for developing conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Proposals targeting Primary Prevention could help people and caregivers create and maintain strategies that prevent or delay onset of disease by reinforcing healthy lifestyle factors and addressing modifiable risk factors such a hypertension and weight.

TRACK 2: Secondary Prevention Applications

Patients with established conditions such as heart disease and diabetes have a high risk of subsequent adverse events, such as heart attack, stroke, and death from cardiovascular disease. The identification of major modifiable risk factors (such as dyslipidemia, hypertension, smoking, obesity, inactivity) is a prerequisite to the implementation of preventative interventions - known as secondary prevention. Proposals in this category could help people and their caregivers measure things like blood pressure, lipid profile components (LDL and HDL cholesterol and triglycerides), diet and nutrition, weight, smoking, and activity level to create the optimal plan to prevent or delay morbidity and acute care.

TRACK 3: Acute Care Applications

Certain conditions require immediate diagnosis and treatment, whether at the doctor's office or in an urgent care setting. Acute care conditions cover a broad scope: from signs and symptoms like rashes, pain, and shortness of breath to diagnoses of cancer, infection and heart disease. Patients often look for information to help them learn about, understand and manage new conditions, treatments and medications. Proposals targeting Acute Care scenarios might track progress, improve communication, and share data between the silos in our healthcare system providing caregivers with a longitudinal view of a patient's health history which ultimately leads to superior outcomes.

TRACK 4: Juvenile Disease Management

Health conditions in children often require specialized detection, diagnosis and treatment. Parents typically become eager partners in the plan of care and seek information specifically related to their child's condition. Diseases such as Type-1 diabetes mellitus require careful planning and actions such as frequent blood sugar monitoring and insulin administration. Proposals focusing on Juvenile Disease Management might provide age-appropriate tools to help both children, parents, and caregivers understand and manage their conditions.

TRACK 5: Women's Health Management

Women's health issues can be complex and are often influenced by biopsychosocial and environmental factors. Normal conditions and events such as conception, pregnancy and menopause often require diligent management and tracking of information. Much research is ongoing into female-predominant diseases and conditions like osteoporosis, breast and ovarian cancers, and fibromyalgia. Proposals targeting this track might choose to create online tools or services which help to manage health within the context of lifestyle and family.

TRACK 6: Community & Social Health Applications

Patients and caregivers dealing with illness or people interested in wellness are increasingly sharing information and support with each other through various Web-based social applications. Proposals targeting this category might include applications for health in areas such as collaboration, communication, and the use of social relationships to improve care.

Awards

The total amount available under this request for proposals (RFP) is $3,000,000. Microsoft Health Solutions Group anticipates making approximately 20 awards averaging $150,000, with a maximum of $500,000 for any single award. All awards will be made in $US. Awards are generally made as unrestricted gifts to the institution. Outside the United States other local restrictions may apply to the terms of the award. For current policy regarding non-U.S. countries, please refer to http://research.microsoft.com/ur/us/fundingopps/faq.aspx

For all awards, payment of indirect costs ("overhead") is not permitted.

Microsoft Health Solutions Group will take into account the reasonableness of the amount requested in any proposal in light of stated deliverables, local costs, etc., and reserves the right to fund proposals at an amount lower than requested if appropriate.

Awards are made for the purpose of seed-funding larger initiatives, proofs of concept, or demonstrations of feasibility. It is important to understand that funding will continue after the first year only in exceptional circumstances, and that the principal investigators should therefore make every effort to leverage Microsoft Health Solutions Group funds as one component of a diverse funding base in a larger or longer-running project.

Eligibility

Conditions of eligibility listed below will be strictly adhered to, so please read them carefully. Proposals not meeting all these criteria will not be considered.

1. The proposing institution must be either:
   • An accredited degree-granting college or university (or international equivalent) with 501(c)(3) non-profit status and awarding degrees at the baccalaureate level or above.
   • A research or health institution with 501(c)(3) non-profit status.
2. All qualifying institutions must be based in the United States.
3. An institution will be awarded a maximum of one gift per RFP, regardless of the number of proposals submitted from the institution. Collaborative proposals embracing multiple groups across the organization are encouraged.
4. Proposals that are incomplete, inaccurate, request funds in excess of the maximum award available, or are otherwise not responsive to the stated aims, terms and conditions of this RFP will, at the sole discretion of Microsoft Health Solutions Group be excluded from consideration.
5. Proposals from or on behalf of persons participating in the evaluation process for this RFP will not be considered.
6. Proposals should evidence a commitment to make all results arising from a funded project (including all intellectual property in those results) broadly available by either: (i) dedicating such results to the public domain; or (ii) making the results available under a non-restrictive license that allows modification and redistribution without any significant restrictions or conditions, including so-called "reach through" provisions that require publication of source code. An example of an acceptable license is the BSD license available at http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.html, whereas the widely-used GPL and LGPL licenses are not acceptable. Further details of the Microsoft position on open source are available at http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/Articles/MicrosoftandOpenSource.mspx
7. Proposals should evidence willingness to contribute any resulting curriculum material to the MSDN Academic Alliance Repository at http://www.msdnaacr.net/curriculum/facetmain.aspx.
8. The receiving institution must agree that awards made as unrestricted gifts, will not be subject to indirect costs or overhead charges and these may not be included in the budget for the proposed project.
9. We are not able to provide support for the development of exclusively Java or LINUX-based applications. Use of non-Microsoft applications on Windows, cross-platform development, and interoperability with other operating systems and applications are all encouraged.
10. Proposals must be make use of the HealthVault platform and HealthVault Search syndication (http://healthvault.com/)
11. We welcome submissions from institutions that are submitting proposals in partnership with industry.
12. Awardees will be expected to participate in a conference sometime in Q4 CY08 to share research and early indications of positive outcomes enabled by this award with the other RFP awardees and with Microsoft and its HealthVault partners. The cost of travel to Redmond, WA, USA should be included in your project budget.

Submission Process

Proposals will be accepted in electronic form only at http://microsoft.redwhale.com. Proposals submitted to Microsoft Health Solutions Group will not be returned. Microsoft Health Solutions Group cannot assume responsibility for the confidentiality of information in submitted proposals. Therefore, proposals should not contain information that is confidential, restricted or sensitive. Microsoft Health Solutions Group reserves the right to make public proposals that receive awards, except those portions containing budgetary or personally identifiable information.

The submission process includes two parts:

1. Brief summary and contact information. Applicants must provide full contact information for principal investigators, amount requested and a brief abstract. This information should be entered into the web forms during the proposal submission process.
2. Complete proposal containing full detail on the proposed project. 7 pages maximum, 10pt. font or larger, double-spaced, in either Microsoft Word or PDF format. This section will be made available for peer-review and should not contain information at will identify the investigators or their institution.

Proposals should address each of the items listed below under separate numbered headings:

1. Problem Statement: What is the problem or curriculum area addressed by the proposal and why is it important? What is the potential contribution to the field of the project if successful? Cite relevant work in the field as appropriate.
2. Expected Outcomes: What tangible assets, if any, will be created or produced as a result of the proposed project? How will the results of this project be disseminated to others? What indications of positive health outcomes will be demonstrated?
3. Schedule: When is the project to be completed? What milestones will be used to measure progress of the project and when will they be completed? (If the project described is part of a larger ongoing research program, estimate the time for completion of this project only).
4. Use of Funds: Provide a budget ($US) describing how the award will be used, including purchases of hardware or software, salaries, and other costs. Microsoft software or licenses requested should be listed in the budget, but the cost should be given as zero dollars. The budget does not have to be detailed, and should be presented as a table with the total budget request clearly indicated. Please note that, because awards are made as unrestricted gifts, Microsoft policy prohibits the payment of indirect cost ("overhead").
5. Use of Microsoft Technologies: Describe the Microsoft tools and technologies (if any) to be used in this project. If software is to be developed, give details of the tools to be used, the number of software developers and the proposed timescale. Does the software to be developed require the incorporation of code from commercial or public-domain libraries? If so, please give details.
6. Related Research: Give a brief summary of the current state of the art in this field, including references where appropriate.
7. Dissemination and Evaluation: How will the results of this project be evaluated (if appropriate), and how will they be disseminated to others? Under what general license terms will the results be made available?
8. Other Support: Including other contributions to this project (cash, goods or services), if any, but not including such things as use of university facilities otherwise provided on an ongoing basis. Please note: authors of winning proposals will be required to submit an original letter on department letterhead certifying the commitment of any additional or matching support described in the proposal.
9. Qualifications of Principal Investigator: Include a brief description of any relevant prior research, teaching, publication or other professional experience. A detailed vita or list of publications is not required.

Selection Process and Criteria

All proposals in compliance with the eligibility criteria and received by the deadline will be peer-reviewed by a panel of subject-matter experts chosen by Microsoft Health Solutions Group, and which may include experts from outside the company. Based on evaluations by the review panel, Microsoft Health Solutions Group will select the most worthy proposals for funding. Microsoft Health Solutions Group reserves the right to fund winning proposals at an amount greater or less than the amount requested, up to the stated maximum amount for individual awards. Due to the volume of submissions and for legal reasons, Microsoft Health Solutions Group cannot provide individual feedback on proposals that are not funded.

Authors (including co-investigators) of winning proposals will be required to grant Microsoft permission for the use of their name, image, institutional affiliation and related professional information in press releases or other forums for publication of their award. Microsoft Health Solutions Group may also request assistance with the preparation of posters, slides or other materials, and periodic reports on the status of funded projects.

All proposals will be evaluated based upon the following criteria:

1. Well-defined goals and objectives that, if achieved, have the potential to have a significant impact on health management using shared health data and connected home health devices as tools. These goals must be achievable within the timescale of the funded project, and where appropriate placed into the context of milestones in a larger or longer-running project.
2. Potential for wide dissemination and use of intellectual property created, including specific plans for publications, conference presentations, distance learning, etc., as well as plans to distribute content in multiple formats or languages.
3. Ability to complete the project including the adequacy of resources available, reasonableness of timelines, and number and qualifications of identified contributors.
4. Qualifications of principal investigator including previous history of work in the area, successful completion of previous funded projects, teaching awards, books published, etc.
5. Use of Microsoft tools and technologies: proposals should clearly indicate the Microsoft tools and technologies to be used in the project, or if no such technologies can be used, a clear statement should be made why this is the case.
6. Leveraging of other resources: preferential consideration will be given to proposals utilizing additional sources of funding to build larger or longer-running projects and/or leveraging other projects or resources in the field.
7. Evidence of real-world application: preferential consideration will be given to proposals that show compelling business cases for bringing their solution or technology to market including (but not limited to) plans to successfully grow and institutionalize their project in partnership with health care institutions and companies.

Schedule and Deadlines

Announcement	February 25, 2008
First date for submission of proposals:	Feb 25, 2008
Last date for submission of proposals:	May 9, 2008 12:00 (noon) PST [Note: PST= -8 UTC/GMT]
Notification of Awards:	UPDATED: June 10, 2008

Please address any questions to "hsgfund [at] microsoft [dot] com". Please put "Microsoft HealthVault Be Well Fund 2008 RFP" in the subject line of your e-mail message to ensure a prompt and proper response.