CPQCC, with its focus on NICU and HRIF populations, and our sister organization, CMQCC, with its focus on maternity care, are experts in perinatal quality improvement. 

Do you have a perinatal quality improvement research question that you want to collaborate on? If so, we invite you to apply for a CPQCC/CMQCC research collaboration project to improve outcomes for mothers and newborns in California. CPQCC’s research priorities include disparities in maternal and neonatal care, understanding the optimal culture and context for quality improvement, and maternal substance exposure/neonatal abstinence syndrome. CMQCC’s research priorities are identifying quality improvement opportunities in maternity care to direct the focus of educational and outreach efforts. 

Applying to be a research collaborator

In order to collaborate with CPQCC or CMQCC, please carefully review the following information. 

  • A CPQCC or CMQCC faculty investigator must be available to partner with you on the collaboration 
  • The research question must be scientifically sound and in alignment with the research priorities and perinatal quality improvement missions of CPQCC and CMQCC
  • Depending on the research question, you may be required to utilize a CPQCC or CMQCC biostatistician to perform the analysis and/or provide ongoing guidance on your project. 
  • A research collaboration fee will be charged to cover the cost of CPQCC/CMQCC resources needed to complete the project. 
  • For CPQCC: There is no deadline for application; proposals are accepted and reviewed on an ongoing basis.
  • For CMQCC: There is no deadline for application; proposals are reviewed on a quarterly basis. Please click here see here to access the review schedule.
  • Please submit your application at the beginning of the research process, and before applying for external funding (if applicable). Please review the application instructions prior to submission.
  • Your application will be reviewed by the CPQCC and/or CMQCC leadership team(s), as well as statewide leaders in perinatal quality improvement and maternal and neonatal care, when necessary. Proposals will be evaluated for scientific soundness, public health impact, alignment with the quality improvement purposes of CPQCC and CMQCC, research priorities, funding availability, and feasibility. Review of your proposal may take up to two months from the time of submission. 
  • We expect you to complete your research within one year and to present or publish the results. You must acknowledge the CPQCC/CMQCC co-investigator as well as Stanford University, CPQCC, or CMQCC, as applicable. 
  • You will be asked to submit a final report which includes a list of presentations, manuscripts, and/or publications that resulted from the research, upon completion.

Please consider contacting us prior to submitting your application, in case we can be of assistance in matching you with the appropriate CPQCC/CMQCC faculty investigator or providing further information about the process.

Cost recovery

In order to cover the costs incurred to support research collaborations, CPQCC and CMQCC charge a fee due within 60 days of your application's approval. This fee covers:

  • Consultation with our research team on your proposed methods and approach, data analytics, preliminary findings, and publication development
  • Data preparation and analysis by our biostatistics team (as needed)
  • Use of our data servers (as needed) 

The research collaboration fee starts at $10,000. The exact amount will be specified in your approval letter.

Application form and instructions 

Completed applications should be emailed to datacenter@cmqcc.org for maternity collaborations and research@cpqcc.org for neonatal collaborations. Please email us with any questions you have about the application process.