CHANGE IN FINAL REPORT REQUIREMENTS FOR AGENCY FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH AND 
QUALITY GRANTEES

RELEASE DATE:  December 19, 2003

NOTICE:  NOT-HS-04-003

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
 (http://www.ahrq.gov)

BACKGROUND

In compliance with 45 CFR 74 and 92, grantees are required to submit final 
reports to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) within 90 
days of the close of the project period.  Recently, the Agency has changed 
the format of the final progress report to more adequately address the needs 
of the Agency, as well as, to minimize the demands placed on grantee 
organizations and Principal Investigators. 

FINAL REPORT REQUIREMENTS

Beginning with fiscal year 2004, AHRQ will include all necessary information 
concerning the expectations for the final reports as a term of award on the 
last funding period of the project; it will no longer be communicating this 
information in a separate letter to the grantee at the end of the project 
period.  In addition, the final report information is available on AHRQ’s 
website (http://www.ahrq.gov) under Grant Resources.

During a transition period, the final progress report will be accepted by 
AHRQ in either the old format or the new format as detailed in this notice.  
However, after April 1, 2004, final progress reports must conform to the new 
format.  If they do not the new format requirement, the final progress 
reports will not be accepted.

A Final Financial Status Report is required for all projects. In addition, 
unless a competitive renewal is funded, a Final Invention Statement and 
Certification, and a Final Progress Report must also be submitted.  See below 
for more information:

1)   Final Financial Status Report
   
The Final Financial Status Report submitted to this office must agree with 
the final expenditures reported on the PMS 272 to the Payment Management 
System. Use Standard Form 269. It is available online at: 
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/fsr_sf269_long.pdf.

Note that this report is not required for individual fellowships.

2)   Final Invention Statement and Certification

This statement shall include all inventions which were conceived or put into 
practice during the entire project period.  Use Form HHS 568. It is available 
online at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/hhs568.pdf.

Note that this report is not required for conference grants or individual 
fellowships.

3)   Final Progress Report

The Final Progress Report is needed to describe the results of the research 
funded by the Agency.  It will be made available to the public, and, 
therefore, should not include any copyrighted, private, or proprietary 
information.  

The Final Progress Report is subject to a 20-page limit (minimum of 4 pages). 
Reports exceeding 20 pages will not be accepted. The report format should 
include the following labeled elements:

a)   Title Page - (Title, Principal Investigator and Team Members, 
Organization, Inclusive Dates of the Project, Federal Project Officer, 
Acknowledgment of Agency Support, and Grant Number.)

b)   Structured Abstract - (250-words maximum).  Include five headings: 
Purpose, Scope, Methods, Results, and Key Words:

o   Purpose (Objectives of the study)
o   Scope (Background, Context, Settings, Participants, Incidence, 
Prevalence)
o   Methods (Study Design, Data Sources/Collection, Interventions, Measures, 
Limitations)
o   Results (Principal Findings, Outcomes, Discussion, Conclusions, 
Significance, Implications)
o   List of Publications and Products (Bibliography of Outputs from the 
study.  Follow the AHRQ Citation Style Format at 
http://www.ahrq.gov/fund/refstyle.htm.
   
The AHRQ Grant Final Report Template is available online at 
http://www.ahrq.gov/fund/reptemp.htm
   
For further details on the requirements of the Final Progress Report, contact 
your project officer.
    
If you have copies of publications (not previously submitted) that resulted 
from the grant project, submit these under separate cover directly to the 
project officer of your grant; do not include them as part of the Final 
Progress Report.
      
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
   
You should submit the Final Progress Report as electronic file attachments 
via e-mail to:   [email protected]. 
   
The Final Financial Status Report and the Final Invention Statement should be 
submitted to:
   
   Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
   Grants Management/OPART
   540 Gaither Road
   Rockville, MD 20850
   
Alternatively, for the Final Progress Report, submit the original and two 
print copies plus the electronic files on a 3.5 inch computer disk in Word, 
WordPerfect, or ASCII format to the above address.
   
Failure to submit the required reports in a timely manner may result in the 
imposition of a special award provision or the withholding of funding of 
other eligible projects or activities involving the grantee organization or 
the Principal Investigator.  
   
If you have any questions concerning these changes, contact Catherine Dwyer 
at (301) 427-1457.

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