IQVIA’s One Home for Sites: Reducing tech overload in clinical research

This SaaS-based solution simplifies the workflow for clinical trial site staff, enabling them to focus more on patient care and advancing trials, thereby reducing delays and increasing the number of trials that can be managed simultaneously. OSP spoke to Liss Easy, VP and GM clinical technologies at IQVIA to find out how. 

Can you explain what IQVIA's One Home for Sites is and how it benefits clinical research sites?​

Clinical research sites often juggle numerous software applications and portals from various vendors and sponsors, making technology management increasingly complex. This technology overload can hinder patient recruitment and treatment, limiting the number of trials a site can manage and potentially delaying or halting studies. One Home for Sites (One Home) is a SaaS-based platform designed to reverse the negative effects of this technology proliferation. By acting as a neutral aggregator, connector, and communicator of key systems and tasks, One Home simplifies the workflow for site staff, allowing them to focus more on patient care and advancing trials rather than administrative tasks. With a single sign-on (SSO) and personalized dashboard, One Home integrates all necessary clinical applications into one platform, freeing up time for increased research and patient care.

What specific challenges do clinical research sites face with managing multiple software applications, and how does One Home address these issues?​

Clinical trial sites manage an average of over 50 application logins, creating inefficiencies and leading to pushback against sponsors for trials perceived as too complex. Some sites even charge sponsors for each portal they are asked to use. Current single-vendor and single-sponsor SSO solutions offer limited relief, as sites still face numerous SSOs across different studies and systems.

One Home for Sites addresses this by bringing all clinical technologies under one roof, providing a single platform where site staff can access all necessary systems for all studies. This includes systems not just from IQVIA but also from other tech vendors and competitors, integrated through a step-by-step process to achieve critical mass and deliver value quickly. This holistic approach significantly reduces the technology burden on sites.

Major vendors like Medidata, Greenphire, and Clario have integrated into One Home, and many more are in process, showcasing the platform's growing acceptance.

What are the key features of One Home that help prioritize tasks and improve productivity for site staff?​

As tech partners complete Step 3, One Home provides task management with features such as:

- Visibility across studies and systems with automated prioritization by due date.

- User controls to pin tasks for focus.

- Deep links and SSO to the systems where tasks are executed.

- Oversight of outstanding tasks within a study team.

These features help organize site staff's daily activities efficiently, reducing the risk of missed or overlooked tasks.

Can you share some examples of how One Home has alleviated technology overload and increased efficiency in clinical trials?​

Currently, One Home is in a controlled pilot phase at several sites. Early feedback has been positive, indicating that the platform is intuitive and easy to navigate. Sites are excited about the potential for single sign-on access across multiple systems, which they believe will significantly alleviate technology overload and increase efficiency.

How does the single point of access provided by One Home reduce the risk of missed or overlooked activities in clinical research?​

On any given day, site users may have activities to complete in dozens of systems, each with its own notification and access protocol. This can lead to missed deadlines and overlooked tasks, impacting trial timelines and payments. One Home consolidates these activities into a single dashboard, prioritizing tasks based on due dates and other factors. This reduces the time spent logging into multiple systems and ensures tasks are not missed, thereby improving overall efficiency and compliance.

What impact does One Home have on the capacity constraints and workload of clinical research site staff?​

One Home is expected to reduce the time site users spend logging into tech systems by up to 90%. This significant time savings translates into increased capacity for sites to manage more trials simultaneously, ultimately advancing more new treatments for patients.

How does One Home support pharmaceutical companies and clinical trial sponsors in managing their clinical research more effectively?​

One Home enhances the investigator experience by integrating single sign-on across a diverse set of technology products, allowing sponsors to continue using their preferred best-of-breed systems. This approach ensures that sponsors can deliver a better experience for sites, which can lead to prioritized studies and a competitive advantage.

What feedback have you received from sites that have implemented or are testing out One Home? Any specific success stories?​

Feedback from pilot sites has been very positive. Sites find One Home intuitive and easy to navigate, and they are enthusiastic about the potential of single sign-on access across multiple systems.

Can you discuss the vendor-agnostic nature of One Home and its importance for seamless integration across different clinical trials?​

One Home is designed to be vendor-agnostic, inviting all vendors to participate. This neutrality allows for seamless integration across different clinical trials, helping to solve the site tech overload problem by providing a single platform for access, task management, and communication. This collaborative approach benefits sites, sponsors, and CROs, enhancing overall efficiency.

How does One Home ensure data security and compliance with regulatory standards in clinical research?​

IQVIA leverages its extensive experience in data security and regulatory compliance to ensure One Home meets global standards. The platform incorporates best practices in data security strategies and continually monitors for compliance and threats, ensuring data security while maintaining a user-friendly experience.

Are there any training or support services provided to site staff to help them transition to using One Home?​

One Home is designed to be intuitive, requiring minimal training. Training and support models are based on IQVIA's experience with the Investigator Site Portal platform, ensuring that site staff can quickly and easily transition to using One Home.

What are the long-term benefits you anticipate for clinical research sites that adopt One Home?​

The primary long-term benefit is increasing the industry's capacity to run clinical trials. By reducing the technology burden, sites can manage more trials, leading to more new treatments being tested and approved for patients in need.

How do you see One Home evolving in the future to continue addressing the needs of clinical research sites?​

One Home will evolve to give site users more control over their interfaces, allowing them to add tiles for their site's own technology systems and enhancing communication features. By 2025, One Home aims to become a central hub for site communications and task management, significantly improving the clinical trial process.

What steps should a clinical research site take if they are interested in implementing One Home?​

Sites interested in implementing One Home can join the advisory board to provide input into the platform's development. This collaborative approach ensures that One Home continues to meet the evolving needs of clinical research sites.