Payment tech automates reimbursements to clinical trial sites

Traditionally, clinical trial work payment​ has been challenged by slow reimbursement and calculation errors. According to the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative​ (CTTI), payment delays result in high turnover rates among clinical investigators, with 40% of sites dropping out of FDA-regulated clinical trials.

“As clinical trial protocols and budgets become increasingly complex, payments to clinical research sites have become more difficult. In addition, clinical trials are conducted globally, which means sponsors face challenges with different currencies, taxes and multiple banking regulations​,” April Mulroney, Medidata's Managing Director of Payments, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.

Today, nearly 80% of all clinical trial payments are processed using a combination of manual, Excel-based processes, and single, disparate systems.

“As a result, payments to clinical trial sites are often late and inaccurate. This causes significant financial strain on sites, which rely on timely reimbursement for the efforts and expenses incurred while participating in clinical trials​,” added Mulroney, who explained added that such delays and inaccuracies are one of the most significant pain points for sites.

As one solution to these challenges, Medidata​ has launched Medidata Payments​ – a new component of the company’s Medidata Clinical Cloud​.

The addition will allow clinical trial sponsors and contract research organizations (CROs) to calculate reimbursements to investigative sites in real time and make automatic payments.

The tool specifically identifies and calculates withholding tax, captures indirect tax and performs global disbursement.

“Medidata Payments is an end-to-end SaaS technology that allows sponsors and CROs to calculate and disburse payments to clinical sites for the work they do on a clinical trial​,” explained Mulroney. “The core capabilities of Medidata Payments include payment calculation, disbursement and EDC and ERP integration​.”

It also features various payment calculation capabilities including pre-payments, holdbacks, split payments among different payees, payments in multiple currencies and accruals, and more.

Alistair Macdonald, president and chief operating officer, INC Research, described Medidata’s comprehensive payments solution as “an exciting addition to their platform​.”