ANNUAL REVIEW OF RSO SERVICES. Each year, as part of the RSO’s annual staff performance review, we survey randomly selected principal investigators and sponsors about their experiences with specific RSO staff members and with the RSO , in general. Some of the comments we received last month were:

• · [Research coordinator] is very organized and follows through with all issues in a very prompt manner
• · Your site and staff are very knowledgeable, professional and thorough with their work
• · My experience [with the RSO] was really good. Your regulatory [work] was excellent.
• · The biggest RSO asset is the ability to get contracts finalized between the University and the sponsor. I have found each study coordinator to be very cooperative and accommodating.
• · My interactions have been uniformly excellent. Everyone in the RSO I have encountered has been very responsive.

NEW RSO RATES. The RSO is raising its rates for the first time in 3 years. The new hourly rate for Research Process Mangers (RPM) is $76 and for Clinical Research Coordinator (CRC) $62. As always, research accounts are billed only for the actual time devoted to a project by an RSO staff member.
 

BEST CROs/WORST CROs. CenterWatch regularly surveys clinical investigative sites to determine who are the most and least appreciated contract research organizations (CROs). This year, the highest marks went to Ingenix, Covance, PPD, MDS Pharma and Omnicare. Earning lower marks were Parexel, Quintiles, Icon, Kendle, Pharmanet and ClinTrials.
 

HIPAA GUIDELINES FOR RESEARCH. The Department of Health and Human Services on issued its first guidance document for the new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations. The section of the document concerning privacy of health information and research can be read at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/research.html. Much of the responsibility for monitoring compliance with the new regulations for disclosure and authorization of the use of protected health information for research will fall to IRBs.