Pay for studies submitted (PASS) method for clinical trials

摘要

A system and method is disclosed for facilitating the acquisition of medical images used as part of a clinical trials process by requiring Imaging Centers to compete with each other to supply the images. Agreements between the Sponsor and a plurality of Imaging Centers stipulate that the Sponsor is only required to accept a certain total number of medical images and is free to reject any medical images that either do not comply with the protocol, or which exceed the total number of medical images required for the study. This motivates the Imaging Centers to quickly obtain and transmit to the Sponsor high quality medical images that meet the basic requirements outlined in the clinical study protocol, since images are accepted and compensated for by the Sponsor on a first-come, first-served basis. A system for implementing this method is also disclosed.

主权项

1. A system, including a processor, for contracting with imaging centers for the provision of patient medical images as part of a clinical trials process, comprising:
means for providing a study protocol as part of a clinical trials process, the study protocol including a medical imaging protocol, the study protocol or the medical imaging protocol including a requirement for obtaining a predetermined quantity of patient medical images according to a minimum acceptance standard; means for contracting with a plurality of imaging centers to provide patient medical images according to the medical imaging protocol; and means for accepting patient medical images from one or more of said plurality of contracted imaging centers, wherein the means for accepting patient medical images is configured to implement competition among the plurality of contracted imaging centers by:
accepting patient medical images from one or more of the plurality of contracted imaging centers on a first-come, first-served basis, until it is determined based on a comparison that a total number of accepted patient medical images that meet the minimum acceptance standard equals the predetermined quantity, andautomatically refusing acceptance of further patient medical images from said plurality of contracted imaging centers after the total number of accepted patient medical images that meet the minimum acceptance standard equals the predetermined quantity,wherein the quality of the patient medical images is determined by a quality control processor.