Compensation Is Engagement: What New DIA/Tufts CSDD Data Means For Keeping Patients In Clinical Trials

By Elizabeth Smith, Director of Product Management, Patient Engagement at Suvoda

Could payment practices be pushing patients out of clinical trials? New research from a DIA and Tufts CSDD consortium suggests they may be. Paper checks are hard on rural patients and on caregivers who run everything from a phone. So are travel models where patients pay now and get reimbursed later, especially for people managing serious illness. When trials book and pay for travel directly, patients avoid out-of-pocket costs and sites spend less time on reimbursement paperwork.

Research also shows that 92% of protocols combine visit payments, expense reimbursement, and support services, but few tailor that mix to what a study actually asks of participants. Amounts vary widely. This suggests many sponsors still set compensation based on “what we did last time” rather than evidence. Learn how to shape compensation around your study’s phase, therapeutic area, region, and patient population so that payment helps keep patients in the study.