Competitive Revision Supplements to Existing AHRQ Health Service Research (HSR) Grants and Cooperative Agreements to Evaluate Health System and Healthcare Professional Responsiveness to COVID-19 (Supplement - Clinical Trial Optional) | PA 20 070

Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 20 070

This funding opportunity, PA-20-070, is an AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) announcement offering competitive revision supplements to organizations that already hold active AHRQ health services research (HSR) grants or cooperative agreements. The central goal is to quickly add targeted, COVID-19-focused work to ongoing AHRQ-funded projects so investigators can respond to urgent, real-world needs in how health systems and healthcare professionals adapted during the COVID-19 public health crisis. The supplements are meant to accelerate timely evidence generation about what worked, what failed, and what can be improved in healthcare delivery and workforce response under pandemic conditions. Clinical trials are optional under this supplement mechanism, meaning applicants may propose studies that include clinical trial elements if appropriate, but they are not required to do so.

A key point is that this program is specifically for revisions to existing AHRQ awards, not brand-new standalone projects. It is also limited by award type: certain AHRQ mechanisms are excluded, including R13 conference grants as well as T32 and F32 training and fellowship awards. In addition, the announcement explicitly excludes projects that were originally funded under AHRQ FOAs supported by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (PCOR TF) dollars. For those PCOR TF-supported grants, AHRQ directed applicants to a separate opportunity (PA-20-072). In practice, that means eligibility depends not only on having an active AHRQ award, but also on the funding source and mechanism of that award.

The supplement’s research focus is on evaluating health system and healthcare professional responsiveness to COVID-19. While the short description does not list detailed topic areas, the intent is clearly to support rapid, applied health services research examining healthcare delivery and workforce performance during COVID-19, such as how organizations adjusted care processes, protected staff, maintained essential services, managed capacity constraints, implemented telehealth or new triage workflows, addressed supply chain disruptions, or responded to evolving guidance. Because these are competitive revisions, applications would generally need to demonstrate that the proposed COVID-19 work is tightly connected to the aims, data resources, partnerships, or infrastructure of the parent AHRQ-funded project, and that the supplement will produce actionable findings on a compressed timeline.

Eligibility is broad in terms of institution types, but still bounded by the “active AHRQ award” requirement and the non-U.S. restrictions. The opportunity lists many eligible applicant categories that include state, county, and city governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) as well as small businesses; and other entities. It also highlights additional eligible applicants such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISI institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, HBCUs, tribally controlled colleges and universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, it clearly states that non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible, which narrows participation to U.S.-based applicants and operations.

From an administrative perspective, this is a discretionary grant opportunity under the health funding activity category, associated with CFDA 93.226. The issuing agency is AHRQ. The original closing date listed is May 31, 2020, and the FOA was created on April 29, 2020, reflecting the rapid-turnaround nature of early-pandemic funding actions. The published excerpt does not provide an award ceiling or expected number of awards, so applicants would need to consult the full FOA for budget limits, allowable costs, the maximum supplement amount relative to the parent award, project period constraints, and application instructions. Overall, PA-20-070 is best understood as an emergency-response supplement mechanism designed to quickly extend existing AHRQ-funded HSR projects to capture and evaluate how healthcare systems and clinicians responded to COVID-19, with the expectation that results will inform near-term improvements and preparedness for future public health disruptions.

• The Agency for Health Care Research and Quality in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Competitive Revision Supplements to Existing AHRQ Health Service Research (HSR) Grants and Cooperative Agreements to Evaluate Health System and Healthcare Professional Responsiveness to COVID-19 (Supplement - Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.226.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-04-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-05-31. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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.

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