Anticipated Request for Proposals for VA Addiction Treatment Advanced Fellowship Sites
On February 14, 2024 the VA Office of Academic Affiliations Advanced Fellowships and Professional Development announced the anticipated release of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for new sites of the VA Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment.
VA Addiction Treatment Advanced Fellowship Request for Proposals Set for Release September 1, 2024
The OAA Advanced Fellowships & Professional Development section will be inviting proposals for VA facilities to host the Addiction Treatment Advanced Fellowship. The anticipated release date for the RFP is September 1, 2024. The mission of this program is to facilitate high-quality, evidence-based substance use disorder (SUD) care for our Veterans by developing professionals with expertise in both clinical addiction care and the conduct of partnered addiction research and evaluation. The interprofessional fellowship accepts trainees from multiple disciplines, including physicians, psychologists, pharmacists, chaplains, social workers, and nurses. Selected facilities will be able to recruit two fellows per year. Designated Education Officers and leaders from relevant professions may wish to confer prior to the RFP release about whether their site should apply. Current sites will be required to re-apply to maintain funding.
For additional information, contact the Addiction Treatment Advanced Fellowship Coordinating Center team:
Program Administrator: Andrea.Confer@va.gov;
Co-Directors: Karin.daniels@va.gov; Adam.Gordon@va.gov.
Once the RFP is released, VA facilities will have approximately 90 days to respond with their full application. Described below are suggestions from the Fellowship Coordinating Center on how you can prepare for the RFP release.
- Connect with your facility’s Designated Education Officer (DEO) to discuss your interest in applying to become a fellowship site.
- The RFP will be released by OAA directly to facility DEOs.
- Once the RFP is released, DEOs are the point person to upload a Letter of Intent to apply in the OAA nomination portal.
- Your facility will have approximately 90-days from RFP release until the full application is due.
i. The application will be designed to be completed within the 90-day window, knowing that applicants have multiple responsibilities
ii. Specific questions about the application will not be addressed until the official release, when there will be information sessions and other opportunities for clarification.
- General preliminary preparation prior to the prior to RFP release could include identifying appropriate clinical activities for trainees from multiple professions, exploring opportunities for trainee addiction scholarship (e.g., research, QI), and connecting with facility leadership.
- The Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention- Substance Use Disorders (OMHSP-SUD) is the key operations partner for the Fellowship. OMHSP SUD information can be found on their SharePoint site, including information on VA SUD Directives, Clinical Practice Guidelines and other Policy Documents (see the ‘Important Documents’ section of SUD SharePoint home page) and an Overview of SUD Care in the VA (SUD 2024 Annual Conference, Day 1, Slides 6-62)
- The current OAA-approved Addiction Treatment Advanced Fellowship Curricular Model outlines four key fellowship domains, and how local and national education works together to provide training in these four focus areas.
The national coordinating center collects two national evaluations related to the fellowship. Copies of these can be found at the below links.
i. Fellow entrance and exit survey
ii. Fellow and Director annual reporting to inform OAA Advanced Fellowship Annual Report