Patient-Centered Support for Clinical Trial Success

Join Amy Franco, Senior Director of Patient Liaisons at Scout, to explore how prioritizing patient satisfaction can lead to improved clinical trial outcomes. Amy shares Scout’s unique approach to easing the burden on both patients and sites through personalized travel coordination, reimbursements, and around-the-clock support. 

She highlights how arranging transportation or reimbursing for childcare can make trials more accessible and reduce dropout rates. The conversation also dives into how Scout’s global patient liaison team and portal technology streamline administrative tasks for sites. Tune in to learn how a patient- and site-centric approach can transform trial success.

Transcript

Jimmy Bechtel: 0:03

Welcome to SCRS talks provided by the Society for Clinical Research Sites. Thank you for joining us as we explore the latest insights, trends, and innovations shaping clinical research today. I'm Jimmy Bechtel, the Vice President of Site Engagement with the Society, and today I'm joined by Amy Franco, the Senior Director of Patient Liaisons with Scout. Here to talk a little bit about how our patients and how patient satisfaction can lead to better clinical trial outcomes and what we can do to work better with our patients. Amy, it's great to have you with us. Really excited to talk patients with you for a few minutes. If you wouldn't mind though, before we get into my questions, start us off. We'd love to learn a little bit more about you and a little bit more about Scout.

Amy Franco: 0:44

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much, Jimmy. Well, it's a real pleasure to be here with you and to have the opportunity to talk about Scout. We are really excited as a company. We are actually celebrating our 30 year anniversary this year in the industry, which we believe is a pretty fantastic milestone. And perhaps just to give a brief introduction to Scout, we've got three core areas of our business. We've got our Scout Meetings and this is arranging all aspects of clinical meetings, investigative meetings, advisory boards, both in-person and virtual. We have our Scout Academy. This is a centralized platform for sort of compliance management, clinical trial training, and certification. And of course, Scout Clinical which is my area where we are managing all aspects of travel and payments for patients and their caregivers. I've personally been with Scout for over 20 years. So it's been a great journey for me to be with the company and seeing how it's grown and evolved over the years. I've had the privilege of working in a number of different areas within Scout, starting on the meeting side, which is how the company first started. And over the last sort of five to six years expanding into the patient services area, starting on the project management side, and now as the senior director of our patient liaison team.

Jimmy Bechtel: 1:58

That's great, Amy, again, great to have you and excited to talk with you and someone with your background as well about the patient experience. We know that satisfied patients lead to better outcomes. There's a variety of different reasons that we could probably spend two hours talking about, but in Scouts experience, can you talk a little bit about how prioritizing that patient experience translates into that the reliable and the low dropout rate.

Amy Franco: 2:24

Yeah, absolutely. Well, we firmly believe that patient satisfaction drives better outcomes for sites and the study overall. Our motto with the sort of scalp clinical is making it easier for patients to stick with it. And that really is what we are all about. Patients who feel supported and more likely to stay in the trial. And we need patients to stay in the trial to provide that reliable data. Scout is here to be alleviating any logistical and financial burdens for patients. If a patient can't get to their visit easily, this increases the risk of them dropping out, of course. If it's becoming a financial burden for a patient to continue on a trial, this again, it increases that dropout rate or perhaps prohibits them from even enrolling in the first place. And what might seem sort of fairly straightforward for a patient to attend a visit once a week or even once a month, perhaps even within their own city, might not be as straightforward for a patient that doesn't have their own transport or perhaps they don't have a family member that can drive them, they may be too unwell for public transport or may not even be able to afford public transport. Simply being able to arrange a car, a taxi, to pick that patient up from their house, take them to the visit, take them home again, could really mean the difference between that patient attending the visit and being part of the trial or not at all. At Scout we can coordinate and prepay for all the travel services so patients don't have to pay at all. And for patients that perhaps are paying for out-of-pocket expenses, we can assure that they're swiftly reimbursed. They don't have that financial burden hanging over them for very long. We never want financial burden to limit trial participation. And, as a company, we, are really proud of our place in that process. To prioritize that patient experience, we've got a really flexible approach to reimbursements. For example, we can facilitate reimbursements for anything that might be required during the study, not just through the typical expenses such as meals or, taxi, hotel, or flight. But we work with sponsors at the outset to look at those other payments that could really increase patient satisfaction, and of course, therefore patient retention. It could be, time wage loss compensation, or reimbursement for childcare costs or home sitting perhaps even direct lab payments, for example. We've got some protocols that will require the patients to be at the visit for extended periods of time. We could look at doing Netflix subscriptions, for example. Anything that can help make that trial accessible and increase that patient retention, which of course leads to that lower dropout rate. And I think another sort of really important point at the site and study level is, you get that reliable data by ensuring you have a diverse patient population. And at Scout we are here to reduce those participation barriers. So clinical research actually genuinely can be accessible to all. And this is what leads to the more robust, more accurate data and really to better trial outcomes. We're very fortunate in our position that we can help with this. We can assist with cross-border enrollment, for example. And we've had a great deal of experience in this with moving patients and relocating families for trials all around the world. From Columbia to Spain, Brazil to the U.S, all around the EU, Middle East to the United Arab Emirates. That's just a handful of examples of, some of the travel and the relocations that we've been able to manage. And it's really exciting to be a part of this. To enable clinical research to actually be accessible to all and breaking down those barriers that are there. Our patient liaisons, they ensure that comfort and ease of travel by addressing those specific needs and building the trust, not just with the patients, but with the sites as well, which reduces the dropouts and really enhances trial operations.

Jimmy Bechtel: 6:18

Thanks, Amy. There's a lot to unpack there. But I really like the idea of, and I talk about this a lot just kind of out of the box thinking around how we can approach what is going to make the patient experience better in a variety of different ways. Even simple things. What we might think is simple might be a big deal to them: bus fare, Netflix subscriptions, et cetera, et cetera. The list goes on of these very different ways to be able to provide that comfort for that patient or one less thing for them to have to worry about or an even an enhancement on the clinical trial experience versus something that they just might get in their day to day that is maybe a little bit of a light in what could be a a potentially darker or kind of scary situation. I really tuned into and appreciated that point. So building on that foundation then, Amy. Can you talk a little bit about how your team of liaisons customize that support? You talked about the different ways in which it is and what responsibilities do they take off of the sites plates then, because oftentimes we look to the sites to be able to navigate this or manage this or be attuned to patients with the hundreds of other things that they're doing. Mm-hmm. Talk a little bit about the work that those liaisons do.

Amy Franco: 7:34

Yeah, absolutely. We really pride ourselves on offering tailored support and addressing the unique needs of each patient and each scenario that comes up. We've got an amazing patient liaison team. Our team are available 24/ 7, 365 days a year. We've got a truly global, multilingual team and we are all in-house. We are located around the world. We've got patient liaisons in the US, in Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, China. We are globally based. The team speak many different languages. When sites and patients are calling Scout, they're not calling a call center. They're speaking directly with our global team. On a global level, we can offer that customized support. As a company we are very familiar with different country compliances, different cultural needs, but then on an individual patient basis, we provide that customized support. We've got our scalp portal and this is where each study is individually housed. We've got each site there, each patient, so we can keep notes to ensure that patients have got a really smooth and efficient experience, whether it's travel or reimbursements. For example, if they require, wheelchair adaptive transportation or if they prefer a particular hotel, or actually quite often the site has a preferred hotel that they would like that their patients to stay at. We make note of that, we ensure that is managed for their visits, and really all of this. Really does help for that smooth experience for the patients and as well as taking that burden, you know, off the site. We talked previously about prioritizing the patient experience, but at Scout we've really got a passion to be prioritizing the site experience. We want to be as site centric as we are patient centric. We are here to take those administrative tasks off the plate at the sites. So our patient liaison team, they handle all the, all the logistics. Book the transportation, arranging the accommodations, processing those payments to minimize that site workload. I mentioned about the different travel options that we can assist with. These shouldn't fall to the sites. The site staff have got enough going on without having to be travel agents or provide those concierge services as well. Even just booking, something as simple as a taxi can be troublesome enough. Let alone, as we mentioned, sort of broadening that patient reach and enrolling patients from further away, either within their own country or, perhaps cross border where more complex travel is often required. There's flights, hotels, perhaps visa support, long-term housing, even translators. We can support that. That's where Scout comes in we are here to manage that. Looking at each individual patient and what they need. And even, some sites wouldn't even have the capability to even book travel for patients which then puts that burden on the patients. They have to book their own, they've got to be out of pocket for that ideally we don't want the patients bearing that burden or expense either. Travel is not always straightforward. Our team, our patient liason team, they really approach each patient and travel scenario with personalized care. We've got, many patients, that travel with oxygen or other medical equipment. So our team work with our travel partners to ensure that this is all arranged. Make sure they're TSA compliant for travel. We can arrange the wheelchair assistance at the airport. Make sure they have the correct ADA room at the other end. We can manage the straightforward to relocating large families, traveling with children. It's not easy traveling with children, let alone sick children. We can make all those arrangements, make sure they are totally looked after. These are things that the site shouldn't have to worry about, but it makes all the difference to the patients and their families. Our services free up the site staff to concentrate on the patient care and trial success. I truly believe the flexibility in Scouts approach that minimizes the site burden, but also really ensures that participants, they feel valued no matter what their circumstances are or their location.

Jimmy Bechtel: 11:34

Yeah, Amy, it's amazing too to think that there's a service out here to do some of this stuff. I would equate it to, and you touched on this a little bit, not to generalize too much, but any other service. We're talking social media management is another great example of a service where sites aren't experts. Mm-hmm. Sites are not experts in travel, sites are not experts in the nuances that exist in reimbursement and a lot of the examples that you gave. Being able to provide that service to the sites and give the patients the efficient and effective amount of care that they need is something that they can look to an organization like yours to be able to provide. And that's great. Plus like you said travel's complicated. Mm-hmm. And it only becomes more and more complicated it seems as time goes on. Having someone in your corner that's able to help navigate some of that and manage it seems to be really, a positive, in my eyes. You've talked about this, sites are stretched thin. Can you walk us through how you take these services and you build them into something that's usable through patient portals and self-service options for these reimbursements or are really transforming that administrative workload for the site. Taking the examples that you just gave and reducing that burden and using some of the technology and the tools that you all have built to again, compound that ability to find efficiency and the execution and the patient service process.

Amy Franco: 12:58

Yeah, absolutely and as we said before, we, know how busy site staff are. Our Scout portal it's flexible to allow both site, staff and patients to access the system. Having this study configured and this way is what we call patient accessible, which can really sort of help alleviate that site burden. So this means that the patients can have access to the portal if they wish to do so. They're given a unique log on that gives them access. Of course only to the study that they are enrolled in, into their profile. But that means that they can independently submit requests for travel as well as expense reimbursements if that is what the study is scoped for. For example, if a patient knows they've got a visit coming up next week, they can submit a request in in the portal. This goes directly to our patient liaison team to organize. We will prepay for that travel and then we'll also send a confirmation of that travel that's been booked to the patient as well as a copy to the site. Perhaps, following a visit if as part of the study the patient is entitled to claim for the mileage or a meal, they can then submit their receipts to us. They can select their preferred payment method, and we've got a number of different payment methods that they can choose from. These are all saved very securely with within our Scout portal. When we receive them, these are reviewed to ensure that they are within compliance of the study and then we can process that request. This sort of, self-service or, patient accessible option reduces the site involvement in those administrative tasks. Giving the staff more time to focus on what they need to be focusing on, which is the trial execution.

Jimmy Bechtel: 14:29

Excellent examples, Amy and really cool to hear about the variety of different ways that we're using tools and expertise to support the sites what's really cool about these is that they're provided at no cost to the site, which is not something that you typically hear in the industry or I guess in the world in general. So how does the financial approach work? Talk to me a little bit about that and why it's essential to help the sites continue to operate effectively.

Amy Franco: 14:53

Yeah, and this is absolutely key. Scout services make clinical trials accessible, but at no cost to the sites. Scout works directly with the sponsor or the CRO depending on who we are contracted with to set up the scope of the study. And none of these costs are passed to the sites. At every opportunity where we get to have the ear of the sponsor, we are advocating for the sites. We want to lighten their load from an administrative point of view and to offer the additional support like we talked about earlier. Adding in that support, like childcare reimbursement or time wage loss compensation, by adding these in at the outset. This then enables us to offer a broader range of support for the sites and the patients. We work with the sponsors to get those into the budget at the outset, so the sites don't need to worry about it. Then all those pass through costs. The cost of the taxi or the flight these are billed directly to the sponsor to ensure that the site staff don't have to manage or reconcile these. All the financials are managed by Scout and there's no financial impact to the sites. There's no setup fees for the sites or cost to use the Scout portal. And of course, there's no cost to the patients to use our services, either, whether they're having bank transfer or trouble coordinated, or our scalp pass card. We don't want the sites to be overburdened with the financial record keeping or any kind of reconciliation. On the same hand, we provide the sites with true transparency. All the transactions can be easily viewed on our portal by the site staff. They can pull reports if they need to whether it's a travel coordination or an expense reimbursement. They can see the progress of that. If they log into our portal, they can see when it's been submitted, when it's been paid. So sites are fully in the loop, but there's no cost for them. This sort of no cost approach really, it enhances that collaboration between the patients and sites and the sponsors. I. And in able to provide these services, we're helping patients stick with it. We're helping that patient retention, reducing the dropout, and really we are here to support the patients and sites in the trial. And that's our mission.

Jimmy Bechtel: 17:00

Excellent. Amy, I think that's a really great place for us to end things. Thank you for sharing. How beneficial things like this can be for sites and for patients and how you've worked through the barriers to entry with these kinds of things. With that costing model, that business model that makes it approachable for everybody. So it's really great to hear someone taking such a direct approach and an expert approach in what it means to be able to bring these services to sites and patients and really provide them, that satisfaction and the better potential trial outcomes that we can see as a result of it. So thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing with us today. It was great to have you and great to have this discussion.

Amy Franco: 17:40

Yeah. Thanks so much, Jimmy. It's been a real pleasure to be with you. So thank you so much for inviting us and having an opportunity to discuss, you know, the benefit of Scout services. But I also wanted to add that I'm super excited to be attending and speaking at the SCRS summit in July, which is taking place in Melbourne, Australia. So if anyone's listening as attending, please feel free to reach out via LinkedIn. It'd be great to to meet some people and set some time perhaps to discuss how Scout can support them. Thank you again for having me.

Jimmy Bechtel: 18:10

Thanks again, Amy. And I'd like to add that for everyone listening, make sure you don't forget to explore other site focused resources made available through SCRS on our website, my scrs.org. This includes opportunities like the one Amy mentioned, our site solutions summits, other podcasts, publications, and webcasts made available throughout the year. Thanks again for listening and tuning in, and until next time.