The Levy Incubator is now accepting Letters of Intent for its next cohort of projects, due March 14, 2025.
Overview
The Levy Health Care Delivery Incubator is pleased to announce that applications are now open for our next funding cycle. See the full RFA here.
The Levy Incubator seeks to support initiatives focused on the development and testing of new models of primary and community-based care that integrate medical and social services to improve health and reduce rural disparities for those living in Northern New England.
Over the past five years, the Levy Incubator has supported 17 projects across various clinical areas and populations of focus. Some have included components that emphasized home care, involvement of family caregivers, and an interdisciplinary care team approach to achieve better outcomes at lower costs. For more information about the previous five cohorts, refer to the Summative Evaluation 2019-2024 report on this website.
What the Levy Incubator Offers
- Funding. Initial funding for a 9-month period will be awarded to support intervention design and pilot testing. Teams then will be eligible for an additional 9-month funding period to implement and sustain their intervention locally and to develop a plan to scale. Funding will be provided to support dedicated time of key team members, including community-based organizations and patient/caregiver partners, and other resources as needed. Each project’s 18-month budget should not exceed $300,000. No indirect cost recovery is permitted.
- Curriculum and Support. The Levy Incubator staff will engage Dartmouth faculty and other national experts to deliver a curriculum for all teams to support the successful design, testing, implementation, and scaling phases of the projects. Additional services and support will be provided through mentorship, access to a policy analyst, assistance from the DH Analytics Institute for evaluation and metrics, and assistance from DH Clinical Informatics for integrating tools within the electronic health record (for DH-based projects).
Eligibility Requirements
We welcome projects that meet the following requirements:
- A clearly defined problem. A solvable problem with metrics and milestones that will be used to measure improvement and provide real-time feedback.
- A clearly defined population or region. A focus on populations or regions experiencing suboptimal access to primary care and social services with poorer health outcomes.
- A balanced team. The team must include at least one Dartmouth faculty member to be eligible for this award. Teams should aim for ~50% non-clinical team members and must include at least one primary care champion, one community-based social service organization partner, and one patient or care partner.
- Partnership between primary care and social services. Project design must demonstrate authentic partnerships between primary care and community-based social services teams, as described in the Dartmouth Community Engagement Coalition’s principles and best practices for community engagement.
- Available data. Projects must include descriptions of anticipated data sources and accessibility.
Funding Priorities
The Incubator has always prioritized transformational redesign to enhance quality, reduce costs, and improve patient and provider experience. Our current funding priorities are redesign efforts that advance community health through partnerships between primary care and social services. Responsive proposals will:
- Serve vulnerable populations, including older adults, people living in rural areas, and other populations with unmet medical and social needs
- Focus on the Northern New England region
- Demonstrate potential scalability to other sites or populations
- Build in plans for financial sustainability
Letter of Intent
The following information should be emailed in Word document format to the Levy Incubator team at Levy.Incubator@Dartmouth.edu by March 14, 2025.
- Primary Project Lead and Secondary Project Lead (if applicable) – name(s), contact information, and department(s)/section(s)
- Project Title
- A one-sentence summary of the problem your proposal aims to solve.
- Additional details (please limit your response to 500 words or less):
- Describe the proposed project in more detail, including its significance, feasibility, and responsiveness to the Levy Incubator’s funding priorities of fostering the collaboration and integration of primary care and social services.
- Define the target population, including the need or burden that exists for this population, families, caregivers, and healthcare and community workers.
Review Process. The Levy Incubator Steering Committee will review all Letters of Intent and will assess them based on project significance, potential impact, and alignment with funding priorities. Those who are selected to submit a full application for funding will be notified on March 31, 2025.
Full Application
Those invited to submit a full application will be required to submit the following information and supporting documents by May 5, 2025.
- Project Title
- Project Team
- Project Lead
- Secondary Project Lead (if applicable)
- Team Members (including at least one primary care lead, one community-based social service organization partner, and one patient and/or care partner)
- Answers to a series of questions [template provided, with responses limited to 250-500 words] designed to address how the proposed project meets the selection criteria below.
- Budget [template will be provided]
- Letters of Support
- DH Team Members: a letter of support from the Department Chair
- Community-Based Organizations: a letter of support from the executive director of the organization
Selection Criteria
Proposed projects will be reviewed by the Levy Incubator Steering Committee and scored based on the following criteria.
- Impact. This project has the potential to improve outcomes for a rural, vulnerable population(s) or region(s).
- Significance. This problem substantially burdens a large and/or especially vulnerable population and can be quantified.
- Sustainability and Scalability. The proposed solution is likely to be operationally and financially sustained and has potential to expand its impact to other regions, health systems, or populations.
- Feasibility. This problem is appropriately scoped given allotted time and finances to address it.
- Team Balance and Readiness. The team is cognitively diverse and multidisciplinary; team shows willingness and enthusiasm to take part in Incubator processes and activities.
- Health Equity. This problem contributes to known disparities faced by vulnerable populations (as defined by socioeconomics, rurality, race, gender, or sexual orientation/identification).
- Ecosystem Awareness. What has been tried previously here / elsewhere; how might our environment be unique?
Timeline
| Letter of Intent Due: | March 14, 2025 |
| Invitation to Full Application: | March 31, 2025 |
| Full Application Due: | May 5, 2025 |
| Award Notification: | June 1, 2025 |
| Project Start Date | September 1, 2025 |
| Kick-Off Retreat | TBD – early September, 2025 |
Application Tips and Guidelines
How detailed should my application be?
We ask you to approach your application with an open mind regarding what your intervention(s) may ultimately look like. You must demonstrate a willingness to follow the Incubator process, question your preconceived notions, and remain open to change.
What would an ideal team look like?
At least 50% of team members should be non-clinical. In addition to a Dartmouth faculty member, we require that teams include a primary care champion, a representative from a community-based social service agency, and patient(s) or care partner(s). (Your team will also include the Levy Senior Program Director and Program Manager.)
How often will the team meet?
The full team is expected to meet for 60-90 minutes once a week. Team leads will also meet with Incubator staff for 30 minutes once a week.
How much FTE does the Levy Incubator fund?
Team members can be funded from 5% up to a max of 20% FTE (2 to 8 hours per week).
Besides weekly meetings, what other time commitments can I expect?
The Incubator will sometimes invite subject matter experts to work with the teams. These sessions might not occur during your regularly scheduled meeting times, but team members should make an effort to attend.
What reporting requirements are expected?
You will formally share key deliverables with Levy Incubator Leadership at predetermined intervals. These meetings are designed to ensure progress for continued funding and provide teams with feedback throughout the project period.
What academic products are expected from this work?
Your team is encouraged to write at least one manuscript describing one or more of the following: (1) the redesign process, (2) learnings from your qualitative data, and/or (3) the outcomes of your pilot. We anticipate that you will: submit at least two conference abstracts, present on your work during Levy Innovation Grand Rounds, and be open to exploring future funding opportunities.