RECRUITMENT WORKED. CAN PARTICIPANTS KEEP RETURNING?

Consider a participant who joins a study that requires regular travel. They understand the visit schedule, and the study covers their travel expenses. For the first few appointments, they buy their tickets and submit receipts for reimbursement.

Then two visits fall close together. The participant needs to book the next trip before reimbursement for the previous one arrives. Both expenses are eligible, and the payment process is operating on schedule. But the participant can’t foot the cost of two trips at once. Nothing about their willingness to participate has changed, but getting to the next visit now takes money they might not have readily available.

A study can budget for every visit and still depend on participants having enough money to make the next one happen. Recruitment may establish that someone is eligible and willing to join. Study planning also needs to examine what it will take for that person to keep returning.

Getting to the first visit doesn’t guarantee a ride to the next.

Suppose a participant’s sister drives them to their first two study visits. Before the third, she starts a job that requires her to work during the appointment. So, the participant needs another way to get there. The monthly visit was manageable when someone was available to drive. Now attending means paying for transportation the participant had not expected to need.

The study reimburses taxi fares, but the participant must pay before submitting a claim. If they cannot afford the round trip, reimbursement alone won’t get them to the appointment. Arranging and paying for the ride directly, where permitted, would remove that upfront cost. Faster reimbursement would shorten the wait for repayment, but the participant would still need enough money to make the trip.

Study teams should examine what their support process requires when a participant’s original arrangements fall through. In this case, someone needs to arrange a replacement ride before the appointment. The study’s transportation policy should establish how that request gets handled, including when approval is needed.

Use actual visits to test the plan.

A study may budget for participants to travel home after each appointment. If visits regularly finish after the last train participants can take home, they’re going to need somewhere to stay. Requiring a separate lodging approval for every visit leaves them repeatedly asking whether the study will cover a room.

For someone who can’t pay for a hotel themselves, an unanswered request can prevent them from confirming the next trip. People need to know where they’re going to sleep before leaving home.

Study teams should review recurring requests to identify arrangements that need to change. If overnight stays are consistently necessary for certain visits, approving lodging in advance for those circumstances would let the support team book each trip without seeking the same exception again.

The people handling bookings may recognize the pattern, but they might not have the authority to change the policy. Someone on the study team needs responsibility for reviewing those requests and taking proposed changes to the appropriate decision-maker. Until a change is approved, the support team needs a way to obtain individual decisions before participants must commit to travel.

Once a travel request is approved, someone still needs to arrange the trip and confirm the details with the participant. Sites need to know who will handle that follow-through and which questions require their clinical input.

Scout coordinates participant travel and manages participant payments within the services agreed for a study. Booking transportation directly can remove an upfront expense the participant cannot afford. When a payment question arises, participants and sites have someone to contact.

Sponsors should examine what participants still have to arrange or pay for themselves under those agreements. If attending the next visit depends on money a participant may or may not have, the team needs to decide how that expense will be covered before asking them to book the trip.

Talk with Scout about travel and payment support that helps participants make it to their next visit. (And the one after that.)