Early Psychosis Intervention Network (EPINET): Data Coordinating Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA MH 19 151

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA MH 19 151

The Early Psychosis Intervention Network (EPINET): Data Coordinating Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) funding opportunity (RFA-MH-19-151) is a National Institutes of Health cooperative agreement designed to create and operate a national data coordinating center for early psychosis care in the United States. The award supports an EPINET National Data Coordinating Center (ENDCC) that will expand and unify the work being done by multiple regional scientific hubs funded under a companion announcement (RFA-MH-19-150). The overall goal is to strengthen Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) programs for people experiencing early psychosis by standardizing how clinics collect and use information, then combining those data into a national resource that can drive quality improvement, program evaluation, and practice-based research.

A central focus of the ENDCC is harmonization. In practical terms, the coordinating center is expected to align early psychosis common data elements, standard measures, and clinic procedures so that CSC clinics across different regions are collecting comparable information in consistent ways. That includes agreeing on shared definitions, using uniform assessment tools where possible, and creating repeatable workflows for how data are gathered in real-world clinical settings. This kind of standardization is essential if data from many clinics are going to be meaningfully compared, aggregated, and analyzed at scale rather than remaining fragmented and difficult to interpret across sites.

The FOA also emphasizes building the technical backbone needed for national-scale learning from clinical care. The ENDCC is responsible for developing informatics infrastructure and data pipelines that can securely receive, process, and store de-identified, patient-level data from CSC clinics within each regional network. The emphasis on de-identified person-level data signals that the program is intended to support large-scale analysis while protecting patient privacy. Alongside storage and integration, the coordinating center is expected to develop tools for analysis, visualization, presentation, and reporting, so that participating networks can use results quickly for ongoing quality improvement and evaluation rather than waiting for long research timelines.

Another major function of the ENDCC is to accelerate the spread of effective practices. The coordinating center is expected to identify innovative assessment approaches, intervention strategies, and quality improvement methods emerging in CSC settings and support their broader dissemination. In other words, the ENDCC is meant to act as a hub that not only collects information but also helps turn what clinics are learning into actionable guidance that can improve care delivery across regions.

A defining deliverable described in the announcement is the creation of a national repository that merges regional datasets into a unified EPINET resource. This repository is expected to include common data elements, clinical measures, and information on assessment and intervention strategies, along with de-identified patient-level outcomes from people receiving CSC services. By making national CSC data available for practice-based research, the ENDCC is intended to enable studies that improve early identification and diagnosis of psychotic illness, strengthen clinical assessment, evaluate intervention effectiveness in routine care, improve service delivery, and ultimately improve health outcomes for individuals in the early stages of psychosis. The FOA is explicitly labeled "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," indicating the award is meant to support infrastructure, coordination, data systems, and related research-enabling activities rather than running clinical trials under this specific mechanism.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary health funding opportunity using the cooperative agreement mechanism (U24), meaning NIH expects substantial involvement and coordination between the awardee and the funding institute compared with a standard research grant. The opportunity is associated with CFDA number 93.242. The original closing date listed is November 2, 2018, with an award ceiling of $1,000,000. The posting also lists that expected awards were not specified in the excerpt provided.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations and government entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, city/township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. The announcement also highlights additional categories of eligible applicants such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), as well as faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions.

Foreign participation restrictions are explicit. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement are not allowed. This reinforces that the data infrastructure and the national repository envisioned by the FOA are intended to be built and governed within the U.S. context for U.S. CSC programs.

In summary, this FOA funds a national coordinating center that standardizes early psychosis data collection across CSC clinics, builds secure infrastructure to aggregate de-identified patient-level data into a national repository, develops reporting and analytics that support rapid quality improvement, identifies and spreads promising clinical and operational practices, and enables practice-based research that can improve early psychosis care at scale.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Early Psychosis Intervention Network (EPINET): Data Coordinating Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.242.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2018-07-30.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-11-02. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA MH 19 151

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