Lehigh Valley Health Network automates IRB processes with Click Commerce eResearch Portal software

Sep 21 2010

Click Commerce, the pioneer in customer-configurable solutions for the business of research, announced today that Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) will use the company's eResearch Portal software to automate its Institutional Review Board (IRB) processes, which monitor the safe and ethical conduct of research involving human subjects. LVHN expects the software to accelerate the timely review of study proposals and to improve its ability to manage increasing volumes of research. The organization will also rely on the software's ability to facilitate secure research team collaboration, even among team members who may be outside LVHN.

“Managing the collaborative work of compliance review more efficiently will allow our researchers more time to focus on their true work—delivering new therapies and devices that benefit our communities.”

Named multiple times a "100 Most Wired" and "25 Most Wireless" hospital by Hospitals and Health Networks magazine, accolades which include recognition for systems to promote efficiency and transparency, LVHN is also accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP), the "gold seal" for adhering to rigorous standards in quality and research subject protection. This spring LVHN was also selected by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, to join a national network of community cancer centers offering expanded research opportunities at hospitals serving largely rural, suburban, small-town, and underserved urban populations. Together these honors indicate LVHN's commitment to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery while ensuring high quality and safe care for patients.

LVHN's clinical research programs range from cancer and cardiology to surgery and trauma. Research projects typically involve teams which may be divided among two hospitals in Allentown, PA, and a third hospital in Bethlehem, PA. In addition, LVHN researchers will soon engage with research teams at the University of South Florida, another AAHRPP-accredited institution using Click's eResearch Portal for IRB software. For all projects originating at LVHN, cumbersome and time-consuming paper processes will now be replaced with streamlined electronic processes fully configured to support LVHN's operating culture of researchers, administrators and IRB committee members. As an integrated solution, the eResearch Portal for IRB software includes protocol submission creation and tracking, reviewer checklists, IRB meeting management, IRB process reporting, adverse event management, continuing review and protocol amendment management—all accessible from a single website on a server located at LVHN.

"The importance of comprehensive research administration software to automate our compliance processes is critical," said Scott Lipkin, DPM, LVHN's chief of the Office of Research and Innovation. "Managing the collaborative work of compliance review more efficiently will allow our researchers more time to focus on their true work—delivering new therapies and devices that benefit our communities."

"LVHN becomes the 25^th AAHRPP-accredited institution to choose to streamline IRB processes with Click Commerce's configurable eResearch Portal software," said Nick Stier, president, Click Commerce. "Each of those institutions is able to continuously improve its processes and ensure consistent oversight of the highest quality—no matter how widely dispersed its research teams may be."