All of Us Program to Fund Participant and Partner Services Center

Nov. 21, 2022

Center will encompass Participant Technology Systems Center, which provides tools and platforms that help participants enroll, share their health information, and receive program updates

David Raths

The National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program is planning to create a new Participant and Partner Services Center (PPSC) to enhance participant engagement, enrollment, and retention. The PPSC is expected to bring new and refined technology and research capabilities to support the program’s growth.

The All of Us program has enrolled more than 545,000 adult participants and assembled an awardee partner network of more than 100 organizations supporting community outreach and engagement, participant enrollment and retention, study operations, and long-term program management.

The PPSC will encompass the program’s Participant Technology Systems Center, which provides tools and platforms that help participants enroll in the program, share their health information, and receive program updates.

Although applicants are not being solicited at this time, NIH has posted a notice detailing the future https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-PM-23-001.html. The notice outlines the anticipated support and expertise envisioned for the PPSC to provide potential applicants time to engage with the program in advance of the release of a Research Opportunity Announcement (ROA) in early 2023.

Any proposed technology systems and research services for the PPSC must be capable of integrating with current All of Us participant platforms. The selected proposal will be responsible for transitioning existing data integrations with other All of Us partners and the scope of the current PTSC award.

“The first five years of the program have been crucial for developing a solid infrastructure and foundation for All of Us,” said Chris Lunt, chief technology officer, All of Us Research Program, in a statement. “We are looking for new solutions that will leverage the strengths of the program and provide a platform to continue to grow and evolve our efforts and support for program partners and participants.”

Through the PPSC, the program aims to broaden support for its continuously evolving set of enrollment partners, participants (including children and adolescents in the future), data collection methods, ancillary study integration, and return of information to participants. The PPSC will provide essential program support and enhanced functions including:

Supporting nationwide enrollment locations and networks
Sustaining support for, and retention of, a large, diverse, nationally distributed cohort;
Enhancing the participation experience across All of Us’ participants, including those from different cultural backgrounds, education levels, and health statuses;
Enabling new data collection methods for participant participation;
Providing translation, and supporting implementation of the research protocol in multiple languages; and
Integrating new technology, methods, and services for participant data collection, including environmental monitoring.

The PPSC Research Opportunity Announcement will consist of two cores. The Research Technology Systems (RTS) Core will provide scalable and secure enterprise technology capable of supporting both centralized and locally tailored research protocols and participant support. The Program Management and Delivery (PMD) Core will provide indirect and direct research support services supporting protocol operations for the All of Us Research Program. The estimated budget is $30 million (total costs) for both Cores in Year 1.