Automated reporting of payments made to patients for their participation in a clinical study in a blinded manner to the sponsor of the clinical study

Abstract

An automated method and computer program product are provided for reporting payments made to patients for their participation in a clinical study in a blinded manner to the sponsor of the clinical study. The clinical study has a plurality of investigative sites which perform activities in accordance with the protocol of the clinical study. Each patient has patient ID information and is assigned a subject ID that de-identifies the patient. Payment requests are received at a software application from the investigative sites associated with patient activity. The software application includes for each patient that is participating in the clinical study, the patient ID information, and the de-identified subject ID. The payment requests are associated with the patient ID information. The payment requests are processed at the software application, and payments that conform to predefined compensation guidelines for the clinical study are approved. The software application generates blinded payment reports for electronic delivery to the sponsor. The payment reports show at least the de-identified subject ID for each approved payment, the payment amounts for each approved payment, and a date associated with the payment.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is a continuation of copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 170,899 filed Jun. 28, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference.[0002]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61 / 360,219 filed Jun. 30, 2010, which is incorporated in its entirety herein.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology (sponsor) companies that wish to bring a product to market in the United States must have their product undergo Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed clinical studies. The purpose of these studies includes testing the efficacy and safety of products on human subjects (also, referred to herein as patients or study participants). Since these studies address the medical status and health aspects of the subjects, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) pertains to the use and disclosure of the subjects' personal he...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a method for reporting payments made to patients for participating in a clinical study in a blinded manner to the sponsor of the study. The method involves receiving payment requests from investigative sites and processing them to approve payments that meet predefined guidelines. The application generates blinded payment reports that include the de-identified subject ID for each approved payment and the associated patient ID information. The patient can use their assigned debit card to access the payment amount. The technical effect of this patent is to provide a secure and efficient way to manage payments in clinical studies while maintaining patient privacy.

Problems solved by technology

Typically, this is an expense borne by the sponsor of the study and administered by the study coordinators who interact with the subjects in a trial, and must adhere to the study-specific protocols that govern the study and that detail the structure of patient compensation.

Both cash and checks have disadvantages within the clinical study compensation process.

Cash provides no reproducible proof of compensation.

Checks often take weeks to be issued and require a subject to have a bank account or incur check cashing fees.

In addition, it oftentimes proves to be difficult, if not impossible, to provide records to the sponsor or other parties associated with the execution of an ongoing clinical study of the compensation paid to the subjects for the purposes of auditing or reconciliation, without revealing sensitive information which the sponsor should not be exposed to.

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