Re: Reimbursement to Study Participants Schoen, Alexander 03 Jul 2002 13:07 EST
Deb, Your issue is one which many are dealing with. The reason why cash is not used is to prevent theft. The same would be true for any kind of gift certificate, card or voucher. The reason the AP solution is used is that, aside from being more secure, it gives you almost automatic tracking. One other option is the establishment of a checking account at an external bank. This would need to be approved by your administration and Finance department, but it would save A/P lots of work, and you could still track the expenses. The checks could be written by the study staff and authorized by a specific person in your division. In this way the patients would get their funds at the time of the visit, without the usual wait for the check processed through A/P. You could deposit a certain amount every month or so into the bank - this would be a check issued by A/P. Alex ----------------------------------------- Alexander Schoen Director, Office of Sponsored Programs Winthrop-University Hospital 259 First Street Mineola, NY 11501 Phone: (516) 663-8997 Fax: (516) 663-9718 xxxxxx@winthrop.org -----Original Message----- From: Hansen, Debra [mailto:xxxxxx@MMRF.MFLDCLIN.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, July 03, 2002 10:49 AM To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG Subject: [RESADM-L] Reimbursement to Study Participants Good Morning, All - We are about to embark on a very large research project, enrolling thousands of participants, each of whom would be reimbursed $20 for their time and effort and travel costs relative to participating in our study. The dilemma we are struggling with is "what is the most efficient way to pay these participants?". Considering the total dollar amount and volume of transactions relative to this activity, using "Cash" would be our absolute last resort. Issuing thousands of $20 checks would cause a nightmare for our A/P staff and outstanding check list, based on experience with other small dollar checks issued to research participants. We have explored using our local Chamber of Commerce gift certificates, but a couple of our staff do not like the fact that participants would have to use them to purchase merchandise (i.e. can not take them to a bank and cash them in). Etc., etc...... Just wondering if any of you have used any other creative means of reimbursing research participants? Thanking you in advance for any ideas suggested!! Have a Happy 4th!! Deb Debra K. Hansen Director of Sponsored Programs and Fiscal Affairs Marshfield Medical Research and Education Foundation, a Division of Marshfield Clinic 1000 N Oak Avenue - 1R3 Marshfield, WI 54449 715-387-9130 xxxxxx@mfldclin.edu ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================