Selecting the best clinical trials payments solution for your organization is crucial for the success of your trials. Modernized and streamlined clinical trials payments processes — from recruitment payments to delivering patient stipends and reimbursements — can significantly impact participant satisfaction, retention, and overall trial efficiency. Five main things you should look for in a payments solution include efficiency, compliance practices, flexibility, cost effectiveness, and support when it comes to participant recruitment and retention.
1. Speed and Efficiency
One of the most critical factors to consider is the speed and efficiency of clinical trials payments processing. Delays in clinical trials payments, including patient stipends, can lead to participant dissatisfaction and increased dropout rates. According to a
Additionally, decentralized clinical trials have become more and more prominent within the industry over the past few years. Assuring participants are paid in a fast, near-instant manner, is important, especially when they may be located in a different state or different country altogether. Payments sent quickly and efficiently to patients and participants (unlike paper checks) allow for more streamlined trial processes.
2. Compliance and Security
Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and maintaining high security standards is essential for clinical trials payments. Compliance with financial regulations is crucial for managing clinical trial finances, including patient stipends and reimbursements. Assuring your payments solution provider is HIPAA compliant is super important within the healthcare and clinical trial industry, but also, assuring an organization is PCI and SOC2 compliant is important on a data security level.
The credentials of your clinical trials payments solution provider should also be taken into consideration. Who are they partnered with? Does both Visa® and Mastercard® work with the payments organization? Who is their processor and bank sponsor? Ensuring that your payments provider has strong partnerships and reliable financial backing is crucial for seamless and secure transactions.
3. Flexibility for Participants
The flexibility of payment options for clinical trial participants is crucial in ensuring a positive and seamless experience. Providing participants with the ability to access their funds immediately or transfer them to an account of their choosing can significantly enhance their trial satisfaction. Specifically, digital delivery methods offer participants the freedom to manage their compensation in a way that best suits their needs.
This flexibility is particularly important in decentralized clinical trials, where participants may be located in different states or countries. By offering real-time, convenient payment methods, trial organizers can ensure that participants receive their funds promptly, regardless of their location. This not only reduces administrative burdens but also helps in maintaining high levels of participant engagement and retention.
Moreover, modernizing stipend and reimbursement methods to include digital payment solutions can streamline the payment process, making it more efficient and secure. Participants can avoid the delays and hassles associated with traditional payment methods, such as paper checks, and instead enjoy the benefits of instant access to their funds. This approach not only improves the overall trial experience for participants but also contributes to the success of the clinical trial by fostering trust and reliability.
4. Cost-Effectiveness
Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of a clinical trials payments solution is essential. Organizations are using clinical trials payments, including patient stipends, to cut administrative costs and improve patient satisfaction. Studies show that improving the clinical trial experience can increase patient retention rates by 20-30%, leading to overall faster study completion and cost savings for research sites.
5. Support for Recruitment and Retention
Considering how a clinical trials payment solution can support recruitment and retention efforts can be important to consider. A clinical trial solution provider that can offer you a solution to not only pay participants already involved in trials, but one that allows you to offer incentives for recruitment can be extremely beneficial.
Recruitment strategy has been a growing need for clinical trial organizations due to the changing clinical trial landscape. Effective recruitment strategies are more critical than ever as they directly impact the success of clinical trials. One of the key reasons is the increasing complexity of clinical trials, which often require more specific and diverse patient populations. This makes it challenging to find suitable participants, leading to delays and overall increased costs. Additionally, the rise of decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) has introduced new dynamics in patient recruitment. DCTs offer flexibility by allowing participants to take part in trials from their homes or local community sites, but they also require innovative recruitment strategies to reach and engage potential participants effectively.
On average, research shows the cost ($19,533) of replacing a lost clinical trial patient is more than three times higher than the initial recruitment cost ($6,533). When incentives for recruitment are utilized within clinical trial processes, having a streamlined solution to deliver monetary inventive payments is helpful in order to reach a larger demographic in a quick a secure manner.
Importance of Streamlined Clinical Trial Payments
Modern clinical trials demand payment methods that are not only efficient but also instantly delivered and widely accepted. This ensures that participants receive their stipends and reimbursements promptly, which significantly enhances their overall satisfaction and trust in the trial process.
By adopting such modern payment solutions, clinical trial sites can improve participant retention rates and foster a positive experience that encourages continued participation and word-of-mouth referrals.
Choosing the right clinical trials payments solution involves considering several critical factors, including speed and efficiency, compliance and security, flexibility and customization, cost-effectiveness, and support. By focusing on these aspects, you can ensure a smoother and more successful clinical trial process, benefiting both the research team and the participants through timely, secure, and efficient patient stipends (and recruitment payments!).