Health Data Access Program (HeDAP)

Through the HEDAP, CMS OMH provides grant funding to support three seats in the CMS Virtual Research Data Center in the Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse to provide a means for researchers to gain access to CMS restricted data for minority health res

The Health Equity Data Access program (HEDAP) is a grant from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) for research initiatives to support three (3) "seats" in the CMS Virtual Research Data Center (VRDC), assisting researchers in gaining access to CMS restricted data for minority health research. These researchers will conduct health services research focusing on, but not limited to, racial and ethnic minority groups; people with disabilities; members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community; individuals with limited English proficiency; individuals residing in rural areas; and individuals adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality. The HEDAP supports specific applied research projects that relate to creative and innovative methods for using CMS data to identify, document, assess, and evaluate health disparities among Medicare and Medicaid and CHIP enrollees.

The eligible applicants are public and private institutions of higher education or 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations.

All applicants must submit required forms, including the SF-424; a project narrative; project abstract; project location form; business assessment of applicant organization; key staff qualifications; letters of agreement, endorsement, or support; memoranda of understanding/agreements; and an Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval plan.

The amount of funding for each fixed amount award is for the sole purpose of obtaining support for data access in the CMS Virtual Research Data Center (VRDC), to assist researchers from institutes of higher education in gaining access to CMS restricted data for minority health research.

The HEDAP timeline is three years, pending the availability of funds. Individual fixed amount awards will not exceed $90,000. The period of performance is a 36-month budget period subject to availability of funds and satisfactory performance by the recipient. CMS will release funding in the amount $30,000 annually. At the time of award the recipient will only have access to funds in Year 1 conditional upon any restrictions placed upon year 1 activities and costs. Funds for years 2 and 3 will remain restricted. Recipient may not incur costs or drawdown funds for year 2 and 3 until CMS issues a Notice to Award to release these funds and provides prior approval for the proposed activities/costs for the respective year.

Application materials will be available at https://www.grants.gov. CMS requires electronic submission of applications for all Notice of Funding Opportunities through the Grants.gov website. Each application must include all contents of the application package, in the order indicated, and conform to the formatting specifications. Applications determined to be ineligible, incomplete, and/or nonresponsive based on the initial screening may be eliminated from further review. However, in accordance with HHS Grants Policy, the CMS, Office of Acquisition and Grants Management (OAGM), Grants Management Officer in his/her sole discretion, may continue the review process for an ineligible application if it is in the best interests of the government to meet the objectives of the program.

Applications will be evaluated by a merit review committee of CMS employees. Procedures for assessing the technical merit of grant applications have been instituted to provide for an objective review of applications and to assist the applicant in understanding the standards against which each application will be judged. The results of the merit review of the applications by qualified experts will be used to advise the CMS approving official. Final award decisions will be made by a CMS approving official. In making these decisions, the CMS approving official will take into consideration: recommendations of the review panel; the readiness of the applicant to conduct the work required; the scope of overall projected impact on the aims; reviews for programmatic and grants management compliance; the reasonableness of the estimated cost to the government and anticipated results; the geographic diversity of all applications; and the likelihood that the proposed project will result in the benefits expected.

If successful, the applicant will receive a Notice of Award (NoA) signed and dated by the CMS Grants Management Officer. The NoA is the legal document authorizing the grant and issued to the applicant as listed on the SF-424 and available to the applicant organization through the online grants management system used by CMS and recipient organizations.

June 27, 2023 through July 21, 2023

Recipients must meet reporting and certification deadlines (as outlined in section F) to be eligible throughout the 36-month budget period. In addition, recipients must demonstrate satisfactory performance during the previous funding cycle(s) to ensure continued access to funding. At any time in the award cycle, recipients could receive decreased funding or their award could be terminated in accordance with 2 CFR 200.340 "Termination" if they fail to perform the requirements of the award.