Across Healthcare’s Matrix Joins UNC and Emory-Led ARPA-H RAPID Initiative to Advance Rare Disease Diagnosis and Care

Across Healthcare’s Matrix platform will support longitudinal data acquisition and help rare disease communities contribute to a landmark national effort

CARROLLTON, GA, UNITED STATES, September 1, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Across Healthcare (“Across”) today announced that it will serve as a subcontractor to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and a collaborator on a landmark initiative supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to build the world’s largest data resource for rare disease.

The four-and-a-half-year project is supported by an up to $35 million award to UNC from ARPA-H, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through its Rare Disease AI/ML for Precision Integrated Diagnostics (RAPID) program. Led by UNC and Emory University, the initiative aims to build a large-scale data resource spanning approximately 2,700 rare diseases.

RAPID is designed to help find and diagnose rare disease patients sooner. By bringing together clinical, genetic, patient-reported, and other longitudinal data, the initiative is intended to help researchers identify disease patterns, improve clinical decision support, strengthen patient identification for research and clinical trials, and accelerate treatment discovery.

As part of the effort, Across will contribute technology and rare disease data expertise through its Matrix platform. Across will support acquisition and harmonization of longitudinal data from rare disease registries and other authorized sources, participant consent and engagement, data quality, healthcare data connectivity, and privacy-preserving linkage. Matrix also supports longitudinal registries, patient- and clinician-reported research data, electronic consent, and electronic health record connectivity.

Across will be able to contribute rare disease community data throughout the program. Patient advocacy groups can establish a longitudinal registry on Matrix or leverage an existing Matrix registry, creating a pathway for appropriately consented and governed data from their communities to contribute to the broader RAPID data resource in accordance with program privacy requirements.

“For years, rare disease patient advocacy groups have told us they need better ways to find patients, understand their communities, identify people for research and clinical trials, and ultimately help patients reach an accurate diagnosis faster,” said Jason Colquitt, CEO of Across Healthcare. “Through Matrix, we can help additional rare disease communities build the longitudinal data infrastructure they need while contributing appropriately consented data to a larger effort designed to accelerate diagnosis and care.”

“Rare disease organizations understand how difficult it can be to find patients, connect families with research opportunities, and ensure that the patient experience is represented in research,” said Terry Jo Bichell, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of COMBINEDBrain, a Matrix client and RAPID Patient Experience Partner. “RAPID creates an opportunity to connect more rare disease communities to a broader research ecosystem while preserving the engagement and trust those organizations have built with patients and families.”

For patient advocacy groups, a longitudinal registry can support not only data contribution to RAPID, but also natural history research, patient identification, clinical trial recruitment, outcomes research, and future research partnerships for their communities.

Rare disease patient advocacy groups interested in establishing a Matrix registry or exploring how their community can contribute data through Across Healthcare’s RAPID work are encouraged to contact Across Healthcare at info@acrossmatrix.com.

About Across Healthcare
Across Healthcare develops technology and data infrastructure for patient-centered research and real-world evidence generation. Its Matrix rare disease platform enables patient advocacy organizations, researchers, and healthcare organizations to collect, connect, and responsibly use longitudinal information from participants, clinicians, electronic health records, and other authorized data sources.

Funding Acknowledgment
This research was, in part, funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the United States Government.

Jason Colquitt
Across Healthcare
info@acrossmatrix.com