Click Commerce to Automate Financial Disclosures for the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Click Solution Answers Increasing Challenge to Research Organizations to Ensure Transparency and Accountability

BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Click Commerce Research and Healthcare, the solutions company for the business of research, announced today that the University of Maryland School of Medicine will use the company's eResearch Portal software to fully automate financial disclosures required for all research within the institution. Beginning with researchers in the School of Medicine, the university intends to add all faculty and related leadership positions in subsequent phases. As one of the premier research institutions in the eastern U.S., the School of Medicine will gain new process efficiency while ensuring compliance with federal and state laws governing conflict of interest.

"With 1,600 protocols annually and multiple researchers associated with each protocol, we need to flag potential conflicts of interest long before they become a problem but without adding to the administrative burden on our researchers," said Susan Buskirk, executive director, IRB, and associate dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine.

There are four main benefits to the new system. The first is a single point of entry for all financial disclosures. Second, from simple reviews to full committee assessments, the system automates disclosures not only for individual researchers but also for institutional relationships that could create conflicts. Third, the system integrates both annual attestations and specific research project disclosures as they pass through the School's Click Commerce-based Institutional Review Board (IRB) system. Finally, the software streamlines creation of conflict of interest (COI) management plans, which typically must be monitored on a periodic basis to ensure compliance. An additional advantage throughout is the increased protection of personal and proprietary information that comes with replacing paper-based processes with a secure, automated system.

Buskirk added, "The Click solution fully meets our goal to reduce turnaround times, improve accuracy, increase confidentiality, and streamline the creation and delivery of management plans. It also directly addresses one of the biggest complaints from our researchers by eliminating the redundant entry of information on multiple studies. The ability to easily integrate the new COI application with our existing Click IRB system further simplifies and streamlines the process, making financial disclosures an ongoing, 'real-time' activity rather than something that has to be specially planned for."

"We are pleased to see the University of Maryland School of Medicine leverage the extensibility of Click Commerce's eResearch Portal software," said Nick Stier, senior vice president in charge of Click Commerce's Research and Healthcare division. "By centralizing applications such as IRB and COI on a common platform, the Click solution delivers both economies of scale and improved accuracy and productivity across research communities. We look forward to continuing to deliver solutions to the School of Medicine that meet both their immediate and long-term needs."

The University of Maryland School of Medicine and many other leading research institutions use Click Commerce's browser-based, secure eResearch Portal to automate a wide range of administrative processes, including those associated with IRB, IACUC, COI, Grants, and Clinical Trials Participant Tracking and Billing, among others.

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Chartered in 1807, the University of Maryland School of Medicine is the fifth oldest and first public medical school in the U.S. Davidge hall, built in 1812, is recognized as the oldest medical facility in the northern hemisphere continuously used for medical education and is a National Historical Landmark. The School of Medicine is the founding school of the University of Maryland and today is an integral part of the 11-campus University System of Maryland. Located on the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine works closely with the University of Maryland Medical Center to provide the best medical education, conduct the most innovative biomedical research and administer the best patient care and community service to Maryland and beyond. Its research grants totaled $377 million in fiscal 2008, and it ranks 19th among the 130 U.S. medical schools in research grant and contract expenditures, and 7th among the 76 public medical schools in the U.S. For more information, see medschool.umaryland.edu.

About Click Commerce Research and Healthcare

Click Commerce Research and Healthcare provides solutions for the business of research to leading academic medical centers and research institutions in North America, including Duke University, the University of Michigan, the University of Pittsburgh, and Washington University. More information can be found at research.clickcommerce.com.

Click Commerce is a registered trademark of Click Commerce, Inc., and its subsidiaries. All other company and product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.