National HIV Surveillance System (NHSS) | Apply Online

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1) What is this funding opportunity?

This opportunity is a CDC discretionary cooperative agreement supplement titled National HIV Surveillance System (NHSS), Funding Opportunity Number CDC RFA PS13-13020401SUPP16. It is designed to strengthen how funded health departments track HIV diagnoses and related outcomes in the United States.

2) What is the main goal of the supplement?

The central goal is to improve the quality and completeness of CDC-funded HIV testing data by putting in place routine, reliable sharing of data between:

• HIV case surveillance (reported into NHSS), and
• CDC-funded HIV testing and prevention activity monitoring captured in CDC's National HIV Prevention Program Monitoring and Evaluation (NHME) system.

3) Why is CDC funding data sharing between NHSS and NHME?

Health departments often have HIV surveillance and HIV prevention/testing programs operating in parallel, with separate data systems. Without strong sharing and reconciliation between these data streams, jurisdictions may have trouble:

• Correctly determining whether a positive HIV test is a new diagnosis or a previously diagnosed person, and
• Having complete and timely information about whether newly diagnosed individuals are linked to HIV medical care.

This supplement supports processes that help prevention and surveillance staff reconcile records so reporting and performance measurement are more accurate.

4) What CDC organization is responsible for this work?

The work sits within CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), specifically the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) and its HIV Incidence and Case Surveillance Branch (HICSB).

5) What is NHSS and how are the data used?

NHSS is CDC's primary system for monitoring trends in diagnosed HIV infections nationwide. Funded jurisdictions report case surveillance data into NHSS. Those data are used for:

• Basic case counts of diagnosed HIV infection
• Estimating HIV prevalence and incidence
• Examining disease progression after diagnosis
• Assessing receipt of care using laboratory evidence such as CD4 and viral load test results

These outputs guide public health planning, targeting, and evaluation at federal, state, and local levels.

6) What kinds of laboratory data are emphasized in this opportunity?

The opportunity emphasizes laboratory evidence used to understand care outcomes after diagnosis, specifically CD4 and viral load test results.

7) What practical activities are expected from funded health departments?

Funded health departments are expected to establish processes that allow prevention and surveillance staff to routinely reconcile HIV testing records (from CDC-funded testing programs tracked via NHME) with HIV case surveillance records (reported to NHSS). The focus is on strengthening data sharing inside each funded health department.

8) What improvements should result from reconciling testing and surveillance data?

The intended results include:

• More accurate reporting of new versus pre-existing HIV diagnoses identified through CDC-funded testing
• Better measurement of linkage to care among people newly diagnosed
• More trustworthy indicators for monitoring and evaluating HIV prevention and testing programs
• Stronger decision-making about where to direct prevention resources and how to improve linkage-to-care performance

9) What is the funding instrument and what does it imply?

The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement. This typically means CDC expects substantial involvement beyond simply issuing funds, such as technical guidance, collaboration on performance expectations, and oversight consistent with federal cooperative agreement practices.

10) How much funding was available and how many awards were anticipated?

CDC anticipated about 20 awards with an estimated total funding amount of $1,200,000.

11) What was the expected award size?

Individual awards were expected to range from $20,000 (floor) to $120,000 (ceiling).

12) Was cost sharing or matching required?

No. There was no cost sharing or matching requirement.

13) Who was eligible to apply?

Eligibility was restricted to specific jurisdictions that were already funded under FOA CDC RFA PS13-1302 for HIV case surveillance (Component A) and that met strong laboratory reporting and data completeness thresholds related to CD4 and viral load reporting as of December 2014.

14) What types of organizations could apply?

Eligible applicants were governmental entities, including:

• State governments
• City or township governments
• Special district governments

15) What laboratory reporting thresholds were required for eligibility?

Based on the information provided, eligibility required meeting all of the following:

• The jurisdiction had laws or regulations requiring reporting of all CD4 and viral load results to the state or city health department.
• Laboratories performing HIV-related testing for the jurisdiction had reported at least 95% of HIV-related test results to the health department.
• The jurisdiction had reported to CDC at least 95% of all CD4 and viral load test results received from January 2012 through September 2014.

16) Were specific jurisdictions explicitly listed as eligible?

Yes. The announcement listed specific eligible jurisdictions, including certain states and cities such as Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and the District of Columbia, among others.

17) What larger funding opportunity does this supplement relate to?

This supplement expands activities under the larger FOA CDC RFA PS13-1302 and focuses specifically on improving data sharing and reconciliation between CDC-funded HIV testing data (NHME) and HIV case surveillance data (NHSS) inside each funded health department.

18) What is the CFDA number for this opportunity?

The CFDA number associated with the opportunity is 93.944, titled Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immunodeficiency Virus Syndrome (AIDS) Surveillance.

19) When was the opportunity posted and when were applications due?

The opportunity had a posted date of August 3, 2015. The application deadline was October 5, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. ET for electronic submissions.

20) When was the opportunity archived?

The archive date listed for the opportunity was November 4, 2015.

21) Who was listed as a point of contact for access issues?

The listed point of contact for access issues was Levator Brown in Grants Policy at lxb4@cdc.gov.

22) How does this work help with measuring linkage to HIV medical care?

By improving routine sharing and reconciliation of testing and surveillance data, jurisdictions can more accurately identify newly diagnosed individuals and then better assess whether they are connected to medical care in a timely way, using available surveillance and laboratory reporting (including CD4 and viral load results) as evidence of care engagement.

23) What public health decisions can be improved by stronger NHSS and NHME data integration?

More complete and accurate surveillance and testing data can improve planning, targeting, and evaluation of prevention initiatives, including efforts intended to reduce morbidity by keeping people in care and virally suppressed.