What Do Patients Really Think About How They Are Being Paid During a Clinical Trial?

Patient-centricity isn’t a catchphrase in clinical trials—it’s a guiding principle for improving patient experiences. One of the most critical aspects of this is how patients are compensated for their participation in trials. While payment may seem like a simple transactional matter, it has far-reaching effects on patient satisfaction and trial engagement.

In this Xtalks Spotlight, we spoke with two experts from Medidata—Meghan Harrington, Vice President of Clinical Trial Financial Management, and Alicia Staley, Vice President of Patient Engagement—to explore how clinical trial financial management is evolving and how Medidata is leading the way in solving common payment pain points to enhance the overall patient experience.

Medidata, a leader in clinical trial technology, has delved deep into understanding the challenges surrounding patient payments, developing solutions that streamline the process and ensure patients feel fully supported throughout their participation.

Through research, Medidata gathered valuable insights from patients about real-world payment challenges, examining how these issues affect the patient experience and identifying technology-driven solutions to address them.

Bringing Patient Centricity into Clinical Trial Payments

When clinical trials are discussed, patient compensation is often misunderstood. The payments made to patients aren’t incentives to participate but reimbursements for the time, effort and costs incurred during their involvement. Many patients face real financial burdens, from parking fees in big cities to transportation costs, and these payments are meant to alleviate such barriers, not to entice participation.

As Staley explains, “We’re paying them for the inconvenience that they’re taking on to participate in the trial. If you live in a major metropolitan area and you’re going into a site in a downtown city like Boston or New York City, and you’ve got to park your car for the time that you’re in a trial, that could be anywhere from $45 to $50, and that might not be in somebody’s budget to do this.”

This distinction is crucial. Patients need financial support to navigate the logistical complexities of trial participation, and delays or inefficiencies in these payments can severely impact retention. The stakes are high—patient retention is vital for trial success, and payment issues can be a breaking point.

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Medidata’s Approach: Listening to Patients and Sites

Medidata’s patient-centric approach goes beyond simple financial transactions. Staley shared how the company actively involves patients in their development processes through the Patient Insights Board. “We’ve come up with a concept called Patient Design Studios where we meet with our product managers and engineers twice a month, making sure that the patient perspective is represented in our roadmaps and the work we’re doing.”

By working directly with patients, Medidata ensures that their products, including patient payment systems, reflect the actual needs and preferences of those participating in trials.

Harrington added that Medidata’s approach is equally thoughtful in gathering data from clinical trial sites, which are on the front lines of managing patient experience. “We were on-site with members of the site tech board to do a prioritization effort of what’s going to add the most value for the sites.”

Medidata’s efforts include external surveys with sponsors, site feedback and gap analysis. This comprehensive research allows them to address the needs of all stakeholders involved in the financial management of clinical trials, ensuring that their solutions are grounded in real-world challenges and are capable of making a tangible impact.

The Importance of Transparency and Choice

One of the key takeaways from Medidata’s research is that patients want more choice and transparency in how they receive payments. Traditional models of disbursement may no longer suffice. Flexibility in payment methods can provide a more seamless experience for patients.

As Harrington highlighted, “Patients want options in terms of how they’re going to get paid for their participation. So, funding flexibility and diversification across disbursement choices was very important to us and something that’s key to our product.”

Transparency in the payment process is equally crucial. Patients want to know where their payment stands from submission to disbursement. This clear visibility into the status of their payment instills confidence and reduces anxiety.

Importantly, transparency also extends to clinical trial sites, ensuring that both patients and site administrators are on the same page regarding payments, reducing administrative burden and confusion.

Why Now? The Case for Timely Patient Payments

Both Staley and Harrington agree that now is the right time for Medidata to step into the patient payments space with a new solution. The delay in patient payments has been a longstanding issue, one that impacts trial retention and patient satisfaction. As Staley put it, “When there’s a significant delay in making sure those payments are making their way to the patient, it can really impact whether or not a patient stays in a trial.”

Payment delays may seem like a minor inconvenience, but for patients facing financial hardships, it can mean the difference between continuing or dropping out of a trial. With Medidata’s payment solution, there’s a focus on addressing this friction point head-on, ensuring patients receive the compensation they need to stay committed to the trial.

The Road Ahead: Beyond Payments

While Medidata is making strides in improving patient payment systems, this is just one aspect of a larger vision for patient centricity. Staley emphasizes that Medidata is committed to enhancing the patient experience at every stage of the clinical trial journey.

One exciting future initiative is patient data return, where patients can receive and retain a copy of their trial data—a step toward greater patient autonomy and integration of clinical trial participation into the broader context of their healthcare.

“We’re really going to continue to push to have this end-to-end patient experience before, during and after a clinical trial,” says Staley. “For too long, the industry has treated a patient’s interaction in a trial as very transactional, and there is no stop and start for that patient’s life when it comes to the context of their experience outside of the clinical trial.”

Putting Patients First

As clinical trials evolve, so too must the systems that support patient participation. Medidata’s focus on patient-centric payment solutions is a substantial step forward in addressing longstanding issues in clinical trial financial management.

By listening to patients and sites, providing flexibility and transparency and using technology to streamline the payment process, Medidata is not only improving the patient experience but also contributing to better trial outcomes.

The insights shared by Harrington and Staley emphasize that addressing patient payments is about more than just financial transactions—it’s about respecting the patient’s time, reducing burden and fostering trust.

By putting patients at the heart of the payment process, Medidata is helping to ensure that more people can participate in clinical trials with fewer obstacles, ultimately benefiting both patients and the future of clinical research.

This article was created in collaboration with the sponsoring company and the Xtalks editorial team.