Enhancing Suicide Prevention in Emergency Care via Telehealth (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA MH 20 226

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA MH 20 226

The NIH funding opportunity "Enhancing Suicide Prevention in Emergency Care via Telehealth (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" (RFA-MH-20-226; CFDA 93.242) supports research aimed at improving how emergency departments evaluate and treat patients who present with suicide risk, especially in settings that do not have adequate on-site mental health specialty consultation. The central idea is to develop, refine, and rigorously test telehealth-based mental health approaches that can be delivered without an in-person interaction between a mental health clinician and the patient. Projects are expected to compare these telehealth-enabled approaches against usual care in emergency departments where specialty consultation is limited or unavailable, with an emphasis on outcomes that matter both clinically and operationally for EDs.

A major focus is whether telehealth methods change key clinical decision points and downstream care patterns during and after an ED visit. The opportunity highlights several primary research questions: whether telehealth affects the proportion of patients judged to be at imminent risk for suicide; whether it reduces or changes ED boarding for suicide risk (for example, patients waiting in the ED for placement or further evaluation); and whether it influences the need for hospitalization specifically due to suicide risk. Beyond disposition decisions, the announcement also prioritizes whether telehealth increases delivery of evidence-based suicide prevention interventions during the ED encounter itself, which could include structured safety planning, lethal means counseling, brief therapeutic interventions, or other validated practices commonly recommended for suicidal patients.

The FOA also pushes applicants to look beyond the ED visit and measure longer-term patient outcomes and system impacts. Specifically, it calls for studying whether telehealth-enabled care affects rates of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicide deaths over the year following the initial ED visit in which suicide risk was identified. In parallel, it emphasizes health services outcomes, encouraging analyses of healthcare utilization and costs during that same one-year period. This makes the program relevant not only to clinical researchers but also to health systems and policy researchers interested in whether telehealth changes patterns like repeat ED visits, outpatient follow-up, inpatient admissions, and overall cost of care.

To make findings useful for real-world uptake, the opportunity explicitly seeks qualitative data to guide future implementation of telehealth-enabled suicide prevention in emergency care. Applicants are encouraged to collect and analyze perspectives from both patients and providers, focusing on feasibility and acceptability. Examples include how telehealth influences clinical decision-making, how well it fits into ED workflows, how easy the technology is to use under emergency conditions, and what barriers or facilitators affect consistent delivery. This implementation-oriented component signals that NIH is looking for solutions that can be sustained and scaled in busy, resource-limited emergency settings rather than one-off demonstrations.

The mechanism is an R01 research project grant, and clinical trials are optional, meaning applicants may propose a clinical trial if it is appropriate to answer the research questions, but they are not required to do so. Eligible applicants are broad and include state, county, city, township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public housing authorities; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public and private institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (including small businesses, and other for-profits that are not small businesses); and other entities. The FOA also calls out additional eligible applicant types such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISISs, Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, eligible federal agencies, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, and US territories or possessions. At the same time, it clearly restricts foreign involvement: non-US entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of US organizations are not eligible, and foreign components as defined by NIH policy are not allowed.

Key administrative details in the source information include the sponsoring agency (National Institutes of Health), the opportunity category (discretionary grant), and the original closing date listed as October 15, 2020, with a creation date of November 19, 2019. Overall, the grant is designed to build strong evidence on whether telehealth-only mental health methods can improve suicide risk evaluation and intervention in emergency departments, reduce boarding and potentially unnecessary hospitalization, increase delivery of evidence-based care in the moment, and improve patient safety and health system outcomes over the following year, while also generating practical implementation knowledge to support adoption in real ED environments.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Enhancing Suicide Prevention in Emergency Care via Telehealth (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.242.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-11-19.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-10-15. (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.

Apply for RFA MH 20 226

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