Clinical Trials: Get the Facts

FAQs — Clinical Trials

Why should patients consider enrolling in a clinical trial?

Clinical trials give patients an opportunity to participate and help with the advancement of medications, devices, and ways to treat different conditions and diseases. Clinical research allows access to further information and care of a patient’s condition and possible access to new medication or treatment not available yet to the public. It also allows the patient to learn more about their disease or condition and allows them to have more of an active role in their health.

Ultimately participation in research give participants the chance to help society and other people with the same condition or disease by increasing the knowledge of disease and supports development of new medications or treatments.

What are the goals of the research department?

Our goals of the research department are to help with the advancement of new therapies and devices to help with Diabetes and Endocrine care but to improve a patient’s quality of life and health by offering new alternatives therapies that they would otherwise not have access to.

What can patients expect? Will patients have additional requirements/testing than a non-clinical trial patient?

Patients participating in a clinical trial can expect to receive additional care alongside the care they would receive from their providers. Clinical research trials can require additional procedures such as additional lab work (blood and urine samples), ECGs, questionnaires, dietician visits and visits with our clinical research team.
Research visits can take 1–3 hours depending on the type of visit and necessary requirements from the study.
Research visits must stick to the mandatory requirements of each study and maybe less flexible compared to a standard visit to your provider.
Participating in a research trial requires more frequent visits and phone calls with the site and open honest communication with the Clinical Research staff. Patients are asked to call the site if they experience any medical or health issues or changes to their medication.
Is there anything patients should be aware of before participating in a clinical trial?
Participation is voluntary and is greatly appreciated by our Clinical Research staff and the sponsors.
Patients must meet inclusion criteria and other requirements to be able to participate.
There is no cost to the patients for their participation and most studies will compensate the subject for their time and travel for completing required visits and procedures.
Clinical trials can last anywhere from 1 visit to 5 years.

Is there compensation / How are they compensated?

Yes, there is compensation for participating in each study as a thank you for your time and travel to the site. Compensation varies between each study and the requirements of each visit. Compensation is provided on a payment card that is loaded after each visit is completed. The informed consent for each trial has a detailed description of the payment schedule and the Research Coordinator will review it with the patient during their screening visit.

Patients who receive a payment of $600 or more during a tax year will receive a 1099‑MISC form in the mail for tax purposes.

What is the time commitment / How flexible are visits?

Every study is different and the visit frequency will vary depending on the type of study. Most visits with the Clinical Research Coordinator will last 1–2 hours and are scheduled based on each individual study’s requirements. The informed consent for each trial will have a detailed explanation of the number of visits required for each study and whether it’s an onsite visit or phone visit.

All visits are conducted Monday–Friday, with most visits being scheduled for the morning. Our office opens at 7am and closes at 4pm.

Most studies have a visit window which allows for some flexibility when scheduling study visits.

Will there be blood draws and where will they occur?

Most studies will require blood work to confirm eligibility and to make sure that it is safe for patients to participate in the study.

All blood work will be conducted at the site by our Research team.

All visits that require fasting blood draws will be scheduled in the morning.

Does it go through insurance / Will they have to pay copays?

Your insurance will not be billed for any research visits, all materials and medication are provided by the research study.

Will participants find out what treatment they were on / will they be informed of results when the study is over?

Yes, the study team will let the site know once all participants have completed the trial at all sites (in the U.S. and globally) and all data has been collected.

The site will then send each participant a letter with the information regarding what treatment was received during the study.

Get Started

Ready to Learn More?

Getting started is easy. Complete the interest form below or call our Research Department directly at (512) 334-3505. A member of our team will walk you through next steps and help determine if there’s a study that’s right for you.