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CRI Recharge Rates

CRI Recharge Rates

The rates outlined below reflect the new CRI recharge policy, which is effective as of January 1, 2026.

For more information on these changes, please refer to the FAQ section at the end of this page.

Service Statement

SC CTSI's Clinical Research Informatics group provides a variety of free resources and consultations, with an option to purchase additional services on a recharge basis.

Our priority and target audience is: 1) NIH-funded, junior investigators; and 2) those planning to apply for NIH-funding. SC CTSI heavily subsidizes these services. Please plan to cite the SC CTSI grant in any publications that benefit from them. Please see here for more information about citing CTSI services.

Payment Provision and Acceptable Payment Methods

Before service can begin on any project, researchers must provide a valid payment method. Investigators affiliated with USC may provide an account number (PPGG #), while non-affiliates may provide other forms of payment information, including credit card, wire transfer, or check. 

Services Available Through the Clinical Research Informatics Team

Service

Description

Cost

Access to self-service tools for querying medical records

Self-service tools for searching USC records (i2b2) and records from other health systems (LADR, ENACT, TriNetX, N3C, and All of Us) allow users to instantly view de-identified patient counts and cohort breakdowns based on selected criteria.

Some tools also allow users to request de-identified datasets through the platform (e.g., TriNetX, i2b2) without assistance from CRI developers.

Free

Simple data extraction by CRI Developers

Extracting de-identified, aggregate, and identified patient datasets—with appropriate approvals—that cannot be fulfilled through self-service tools alone.

UPDATE: Identified Keck patient dataset requests made through TriNetX or i2b2 will require CRI developer assistance and will be billed at the standard rate.

$125/hour NIH funded / $150 Non-NIH

Complex data extraction and development by CRI Developers

Extracting and preparing custom clinical datasets in an analysis-ready format.

$125/hour NIH funded / $150 Non-NIH

mHealth consultations

Expert consulting on mobile health research and application development.

$125/hour NIH funded / $150 Non-NIH

Geospatial consultations

Expert consulting on informatics research projects linking geospatial information with health data.

$125/hour NIH funded / $150 Non-NIH

Technical consultations

Expert scientific consulting on clinical research informatics projects.

$125/hour NIH funded / $150 Non-NIH

REDCap project design

REDCap expert consultation and assistance with designing and building REDCap projects/databases.

$125/hour NIH funded / $150 Non-NIH

 

Categories for Pro-Bono Services

There are some instances where services or partial services may be rendered for free. Please see the chart below for more detail.

Category

Description

Amount

Initial Consultation

Free for any project based at USC, CHLA and affiliated SC CTSI institutions.

Initial consultations typically compromise one 30-minute meeting, and follow-up emails and correspondence (totaling one-hour). Additional consultation time will be billed as a Technical consultation.

Free up to 1 hour

Junior Investigators

Junior Investigators*, as defined by NIH and/or in an Assistant Professor classification, may receive up to 3 free hours of support per project and 9 per fiscal year**.

*UPDATE. To receive this subsidy, the junior investigator must be the Principal Investigator of the study. Requests submitted under junior investigators who are collaborators will not qualify for free hours. Free hours cannot be pooled across investigators, multiple projects, or fiscal years for a single request.  

**UPDATE: Effective January 1, 2026, Junior investigators will receive 3 free hrs/project (max 9-hrs/yr). Existing unused hours from previous 5 free hrs/project (max 15-hr/yr) allotment may be used on requests submitted before January 1, 2026. 

Free up to 3 hours per project

Free up to 9 hours per fiscal year (ending June 30th)

SC CTSI Pilot Funding and DHS Implementation Science Awardees

Any SC CTSI Pilot Funding Awardee can receive up to 2 hours free for work related to the funded project

Free up to 2 hours

K Awardees

All K awardees may receive up to 9 hours free in total per fiscal year for their K – related project based at USC, CHLA and affiliated SC CTSI institutions

Free up to 9 hours per fiscal year (ending June 30th)

T Scholars

All T scholars may receive up to 15 hours free in total per fiscal year for their T – related project based at USC, CHLA and affiliated SC CTSI institutions

Free up to 9 hours per fiscal year (ending June 30th)

Extramural Grant Planning

Researchers seeking support in the preparation of grants for submission within 6 months, may receive up to 3 free hours of services in support of the grant application that includes 5% or more budget for CRI Data Services.

Free up to 3 hours of services in support of the grant application that includes 5% or more budget for CRI Data Services.

Additional Categories

  • If you are a DHS investigator with a project DHS Research Category of 1, please contact cri@usc.edu for details or visit: {+}LA DHS: Doing Research at DHS.

  • If you are a volunteer willing to train other investigators in CRI tools and services, please contact cri@usc.edu for details.

 

FAQ - Recharge Policy Updates effective January 1, 2026

What projects are eligible for free support hours from CRI?

Projects for which the Principal Investigator (PI) on the study’s IRB is a junior investigator are eligible for up to 3 free hours per project and a maximum of 9 hours per fiscal year. Junior investigators are faculty members at USC with the title of Assistant Professor. You can use USC’s Directory Search to look up an individual’s name and view their title.

The principal investigator of my study is not a junior investigator, but one of the study collaborators is a junior investigator. Can their free hours be used to cover my project?

No. The junior investigator must be the principal investigator on a study’s IRB in order to apply their free hours to a project.

I submitted a request before January 1, 2026. How many free service hours am I entitled to?

If you submitted a request before January 1, 2026, you are entitled to the free hours under the old policy, which is up to 5 free hours per project and up to 15 free hours per fiscal year. Requests submitted on or after January 1, 2026 will follow the new policy of 3 hours per project and 9 hours per fiscal year.

How many free service hours do I have after January 1, 2026?

After January 1, 2026, your free hours as a junior investigator will immediately be adjusted to the new limit of 3 hours per project and 9 hours per fiscal year. The number of hours available to you will depend on how many you have already used this fiscal year, as the policy update does not reset your current usage—any hours already used will count toward the new nine-hour annual limit.

Practically, if you have used 3 free hours on projects submitted before January 1, 2026, you will have 6 free hours remaining to use on projects serviced by CRI. If you have already reached the 9-hour limit, any additional services between January 1 and June 30, 2026, will need to be paid. When the new fiscal year begins on July 1, 2026, a new allocation of nine free hours will be available for your projects until the end of that fiscal year.

Are self-service data discovery tools like TriNetX and i2b2 free to use?

Self-service data discovery tools such as TriNetX, i2b2, LADR, ENACT, the All of Us Research Hub, and the N3C are free to access and use for all University of Southern California–affiliated researchers. There is no charge for platform access or usage time.

These self-service tools allow users to instantly view de-identified patient counts and cohort breakdowns based on selected criteria. Some platforms (including TriNetX and i2b2) also allow users to request de-identified datasets directly through the platform without assistance from Clinical Research Informatics developers.

Charges only apply when researchers request identified patient datasets from the Keck Medical Center of USC through TriNetX or i2b2, as these requests require support from Clinical Research Informatics developers. These services are billed at the standard rate of $125/hour for NIH–funded studies and $150/hour for non-NIH–funded studies.

Can I request data from Keck i2b2 or TriNetX for free?

Requests to obtain identified, patient-level data from Keck i2b2 or from TriNetX’s USC Network will be billed at the standard rate of $150/hour, or $125/hour for NIH-funded studies. This includes lists of patient MRNs or patient contact information.

However, CRI will not charge researchers for requests to download de-identified datasets from any TriNetX network, including the USC network. Dataset requests from TriNetX’s external networks are subject to TriNetX’s recharge policy.*

* Charges may be applicable if your study has grant funding.

What services are not free?

In general, any service that requires Technical Consultation beyond the Initial Consultation or CRI developer assistance beyond what can be done using self-service tools alone will be billed at the standard rate of $150/hour, or $125/hour for NIH-funded studies.

What if my question is not answered here?

You can reach out to cri@usc.edu.