Patient Reimbursement Prepaid Debit Cards Issued with a Single Click from within Allegro® Clinical Trial Management Systems

June 26, 2012 – Eliminating time and costs associated with issuing checks or tracking cash payments to patients who participate in clinical research studies is now a reality due to a partnership between Forte Research Systems^®, Inc. and one of the largest commercial banks in the United States. With seamlessly integrated systems, the bank and the clinical research software provider have come together to offer unprecedented efficiencies and ease of use to research sites that reimburse their patient volunteers for their contribution to scientific discovery through the new Allegro^®ePayments system.

“Our customers were struggling with the fact that they were losing time and money on the patient reimbursement process. For those who were still cutting checks, it was costing them about $50 to issue a $40 check,” said Srini Kalluri, CEO and Chief Customer Officer at Forte Research Systems. “We were in a position to improve this process and we found the right partner to help us make one-click patient reimbursement a reality for our customers.”

Leveraging the bank’s systems for electronic funds transfer and debit card issuance, the Allegro ePayments system is a significant improvement over other card programs used by some research sites. The new technology eliminates the need to stockpile and track inventories of preloaded cards in the physician’s office or to log in to multiple computer systems in order to transfer funds.

Cardholders receive a personalized, prepaid debit card in the mail soon after their initial session.  Payments are loaded directly to the patient's card, eliminating wait time for a check in the mail.  Patients can then use their cards to make purchases, withdrawal cash and track their balance over the phone or online.

The system is a further improvement on existing technologies because patient payments are automatically reconciled within the financial management functionality of their clinical trial management system (CTMS). With Allegro ePayments, the research site is always in control of clinical trial financials and can respond to subject visit events in real time.

Improved Patient Reimbursement Process for Research Sites

• Save money with low set-up fees.

• Issue and load cards directly from the Allegro CTMS.

• Pay patients promptly and accurately.

• Automatically reconcile patient payments with clinical trial events.

• Eliminate the inefficiencies of cutting checks or tracking cash payments.

Improved Patient Experience

• Receive reimbursements in a timely manner.

• Personalized, reloadable prepaid debit card delivered directly to the patient by mail.

• No fees to withdraw money at in-network automated teller machines (ATMs).

• No "point-of-sale" charges.

Ability to track card balance by phone, website, or mobile application.