Healthpartners Institute

Healthpartners Institute, a non-profit research subsidiary of Healthpartners, Inc. based in Bloomington, Minnesota, provides clinical epidemiology, vaccine safety surveillance, and real-world evidence research services to federal health agencies as both a prime recipient on federal grants and contracts and as a subcontractor on multisite research awards. The organization competes full-and-open with no set-aside designations across its federal footprint.

Healthpartners Institute's federal portfolio centers on vaccine safety monitoring, behavioral intervention research, and clinical epidemiology conducted through integrated health system data access and embedded research infrastructure. Representative work includes a $2.1 million delivery order from the CDC Pittsburgh awarded August 2026 to evaluate childhood vaccination schedules under Executive Order 14398 within the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) master IDIQ, a $3.0 million NIH National Institute of Nursing Research award (CFDA 93.361) to develop AI-Triage+, an artificial intelligence tool supporting emergency department decision-making through large language models trained on expert-annotated clinical cases, and a $1.5 million NIH National Institute on Aging award (CFDA 93.866) to optimize MAP TO HEALTH, a digital behavior change intervention targeting physical activity in midlife adults through self-determination theory mechanisms. The institute also received a $314 thousand National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases award (CFDA 93.847) for RISE-CGM, a digital intervention delivering real-time continuous glucose monitoring support for type 2 diabetes self-management. On the contract side, Healthpartners Institute holds a $149 million CDC Pittsburgh master IDIQ for post-licensure vaccine safety surveillance through September 2027, with three active delivery orders totaling approximately $3.5 million in combined value.

Federal customer concentration is dominated by the Department of Health and Human Services. The CDC Pittsburgh accounts for $369.1 million (99.8%) of combined potential value across 18 awards — nearly all tied to the Vaccine Safety Datalink vehicle. NIH institutes collectively provide the volume anchor: the top five NIH customer components (National Institutes of Health overall, National Institute on Aging, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, and National Institute of Mental Health) account for 104 of 220 awards (47% of the total award count by coverage), distributed across project grants and subgrants at lower individual values than the VSD contract awards. This two-tier customer structure reflects Healthpartners Institute's dual posture: as a deep technical partner on CDC vaccine safety surveillance anchored to a single IDIQ, and as a distributed research site across NIH's intramural and extramural grant networks.

Healthpartners Institute operates as a nearly balanced prime-and-sub performer. Of 220 total awards, 106 (48%) are primes and 114 (52%) are subs. The institute's sub engagement is concentrated in NIH multisite behavioral intervention and clinical epidemiology studies led by academic medical centers and large health systems (Case Western Reserve University, University of Pittsburgh, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, University of Minnesota, Michigan State University, Brown University, and others). As a subcontractor, Healthpartners Institute typically provides site principal investigator oversight, data extraction and validation, patient recruitment and retention, and clinical expertise — roles that leverage its integrated health system access rather than independent subcontracted labor. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts (a small slice of the broader grant portfolio), the organization invoiced $2.4 million between FY2022 and FY2024, with blended government-paid hourly rates ranging from $111.48 to $213.49 per hour (median $138.39/hr), delivering primarily through internal clinical and research staff with subcontractors accounting for approximately 5% of contractor hours.

Activity has grown substantially. Awards per year rose from 7 in 2022 to 45 in 2024, with 27 awards in 2025 and 18 in the first eight months of 2026. Eight awards (combined potential value $5.5 million) face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing a modest recompete exposure relative to the Vaccine Safety Datalink IDIQ's September 2027 completion date, which anchors the portfolio. Healthpartners Institute's capability footprint reflects its parent organization's clinical footprint: vaccine safety epidemiology, type 1 and type 2 diabetes management and outcomes research, behavioral health and suicide prevention, physical medicine and rehabilitation, cancer prevention and control, orthopedic surgery outcomes, and public health implementation science. The institute's federal relevance derives from its access to longitudinal health system data spanning over 7,000 type 1 diabetes patients at its International Diabetes Center, integrated electronic health records, state immunization information systems partnerships, and established researcher networks within the Mental Health Research Network and CDC's Vaccine Safety Datalink collaborative.