MAT-LINK sites selectedDecember 20, 2019The Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) is working with CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) Office of Health Policy---- through the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund---- as the implementation partner for the MATernaL and Infant NetworK to Understand Outcomes Associated with Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder during Pregnancy (MAT-LINK) project. We are pleased to announce that four clinical sites for MAT-LINK have been selected to be awarded:Boston Medical Center CorporationKaiser Foundation Research InstituteThe Ohio State University University of UtahCongratulations to the selected sites and continue to refer to this site for PHII updates on the MAT-LINK project. Request for proposals for funding opportunitySeptember 25, 2019The Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) is pleased to announce a request for proposals (RFP) in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the MATernaL and Infant NetworK to Understand Outcomes Associated with Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder during Pregnancy (MAT-LINK).The goal of MAT-LINK is to establish a surveillance network to collect data on maternal, infant and child health outcomes associated with treatments for opioid use disorder during pregnancy. The purpose of the RFP is to award clinical sites that have the ability to integrate or link maternal and newborn data and the authority to access and share these data with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Applicants may send in questions about the RFP at any time before the submission deadline; all answers will be posted to this page in the expandable "frequently asked questions" boxes below.Key datesOctober 4, 2019: Applicants may send in questions to MAT-LINK@phii.org before this date to be addressed in the pre-proposal webinar. (Questions submitted after this date and before the proposal deadline will still be answered under FAQs on this page.)October 10, 2019: A pre-proposal webinar will be held for interested applicants at 1 p.m. EDT. The link for this future webinar is available here.November 15, 2019: All proposals are due by 5 p.m. EDT.Frequently asked questions (FAQs)Click to expand question categories.+ Format 1. Regarding the format of the application, template, required attachments, page limits, font type and size, and margins: are there examples of prior applications that can be shared to better understand the format?The format for responding can be found beginning on page 8 of the RFP. You will see four sections with a series of bullets under each heading that will require a response. The sections are: Summary of Applicant Background Financial Information Equipment, Service or Technology Cost Proposal Summary and Breakdown When assembling your proposal, the order should be: Proposal Submission Section Questionnaire Budget and Budget Justification Attachments The required attachments include: CVs of Key Personnel Organizational Chart of your institution Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate DocumentationThe proposal submission section should not be more than 25 pages, which includes the proposal submission section, the completed questionnaire and budget documents. Required attachments include CVs of key personnel and evidence of Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate. Please use Helvetica 12 point typeface, single-spaced. There are no required margins.Unfortunately, we do not have any examples that we can share.2. Regarding the 25-page proposal limit: are references/citations counted in the 25-page limit? What about letters of support? Are they welcome as attachments? Yes, any references/citations should be included in the 25-page limit. You are welcome to provide letters of support as attachments, but they are not required.3. My team and I will be the key individuals working with PHII to achieve the RFP outcomes. I do have an extensive list of collaborators (some in-kind, some paid) whom I will be listing in the budget and narrative. These individuals are resources for existing data collection tools and content expertise. Would you want to see CVs from all of them, or is a paragraph description of their role and experience sufficient?The only required CVs are for key personnel with a major role on the project. CVs for subcontractors, consultants and other subject matter experts are not required. A description of their role and background will be accepted. + Budget1. Is there more guidance regarding budget templates and guidelines?Applicants may use a budget template of their choosing but should provide two separate budgets-one for each of the two budget periods indicated in the RFP (budget period 1: March 1, 2020 - August 31, 2020; budget period 2: September 1, 2020 - August 31, 2021).2. Is there an indirect cost rate, and if so, is there a maximum? Are there other rules surrounding indirect costs, or costs that cannot be included? Does the total budget include both direct and indirect costs?The total budget should include both direct and indirect costs, and there is no maximum to the indirect cost rate; however, it cannot exceed the federally negotiated rate for your institution. The indirect cost rate will vary and depends on the applicant/agency. These costs are usually overhead costs and also depend on the applicant/agency but could include general and administrative expenses (G&A) and fringe benefits. If you have a federally negotiated indirect cost rate, we ask that you submit documentation of that as an attachment.3. Can the budget include aspects other than staffing, such as transportation needs of clients?The budget can include aspects other than staffing, but because this is a public health surveillance project, it does not allow for or provide reimbursement for treatment of patients, including transportation needs of clients. This is not a direct services or client support services project, only public health surveillance.4. What costs are not allowable?Unallowable costs include: (1) food (no food can be charged for staff, patients, or other) and (2) direct services to patients.5. Do we need to use a salary cap? If so, which one?Yes, please use the NIH salary cap, which is $192,300.6. Will the funds awarded be considered federal or non-federal funds?The funds are considered federal funds.7. Does the $300,000 - $500,000 MAT-LINK budget include only the direct portion of our budget, or does the indirect + direct cost need to stay under $500,000?The budget range of $300,000 - $500,000 does include both indirect and direct costs.8. Do you anticipate any domestic travel for participants in the MAT-LINK project such a meeting of all site PIs? Is that a budgetary expense that we should include?PHII will travel up to three (3) staff from each of the selected sites to attend a two-day consensus building and training workshop at PHII offices in Decatur, GA. This travel will be paid directly by PHII and does not need to be included in your budget.9. Can you please tell me how the funding would flow if this project were awarded? I am asking so that I can create the proposal in our internal system correctly. Would the funding be issued by Emory, CDC Task Force or PHII? The Task Force for Global Health (TFGH) will issue the contract for this project directly to the selected sites. + Meeting the inclusion criteria1. I took the call to mean linkage from clinical sites where mothers would deliver their babies, and to collect clinical data on MAT and newborn NAS and other clinical outcomes. For us, that would mean capturing maternal report from a convenience sample of women who contacted us, and then requesting medical records for mother and infant. Is that acceptable?2. Though we do not provide direct services ourselves, we have access to data relevant to the analysis. We meet all the eligibility criteria for the data listed in the RFP but we are not a health care facility. Are we still able to submit an application?We are seeking applications from sites that have access and authority to share linked maternal, infant, and child health data. Additionally, we are asking that sites demonstrate existing or previously successful linkage or integration of maternal, prenatal, delivery and newborn hospitalization records. If you can meet these criteria in addition to the other criteria outlined in the RFP, then we encourage you to complete a full application.3. With systems where the inpatient electronic medical system is different from the outpatient systems, will you entertain contracting separately with respective legal/administrative teams, for instance in order to get data transferred from the hospital/inpatient record separately from the data from the outpatient record?4. One of the requirements for applicants is to demonstrate licensure/certification as a treatment center. I practice in a university setting where we have a program to care for women who are pregnant with substance use disorders. As we are a prenatal clinic and our patients receive their MAT at outside treatment centers in the community, we are not a treatment center per se, so we have no license or certification as such. However, we do have relationships with the outside treatment centers and we communicate regarding patients. Is that setup acceptable to be considered as an applicant?If you can partner with the other entities to submit a single application and meet the criteria outlined in the RFP, then we encourage you to complete a full application.5. Some patients may end up receiving treatment from detox centers, methadone clinics etc. We are assuming that information, thus data, about such occurrences may come only from referral data within the in and/or outpatient record. (For instance, when referrals are seen as a "order" in a chart). Does this seem responsive to the RFP?As outlined in the inclusion criteria in the RFP, clinical sites must d
