EHR Recruitment Service
This service allows studies to create automatically updated reports of UCSF Health patients who are potentially eligible for their study, and then use the reports to efficiently contact these patients with information about their study.
- The use of the EHR Recruitment Service requires IRB approval, but you must consult with us before submitting your modification. We assist with IRB modification direction.
- When you are ready to get started, fill out the Consultation Request Form . Check the box: “EHR Recruitment – MyChart and Recruitment Letter Service”. Please note that you will be asked to provide additional information once the form has been submitted.
If you have any questions, email [email protected].
Eligibility
Studies wishing to use the EHR Recruitment Service must meet eligibility requirements.
The study must:
- Have or request an APeX Study Build (instructions below)
- Have a UCSF IRB number (External IRB approval is acceptable, as long as there is also a UCSF IRB record as well.)
- Send paper letters to non-MyChart users to address disparities in MyChart vs. Non-MyChart user patient populations.
PI and staff must:
- Be UCSF employees (and have a UCSF Employee ID number)
- Have or obtain APeX user accounts (instructions below)
Once recruitment starts, study personnel must agree to:
- Log into APeX at least 3x/week once recruitment period starts:
- Respond to inbasket notifications from potential research participants within 1 week, preferably within 1-2 business days.
- Send recruitment messages to new batches of patients.
- Promptly report any technical problems, patient feedback, or complaints to PRP at: [email protected]
Cost
All studies interested in using the EHR recruitment service start with a consultation to discuss the service and determine if it’s a good fit for the study. This meeting is free and there is no further obligation.
For studies that wish to proceed with the service, the following costs will apply: Set-up, Programming, and Letters for non-MyChart users. Please review each of these components below carefully to estimate costs associated with this service. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].
Set-up
$400 (4 hours at $100/hour*) Set-up time includes project management, consultation on patient-facing message, and guidance on submitting for IRB approval.
This will be billed in installments:
- First installment: $200 once patient-facing materials are drafted.
- Second installment: $200 once programming and MyChart set up is complete.
*Quoted rates are for non-industry sponsored trials; for more information on industry rates, see Consultation Services recharge policy.
Programming
$480-$960 (4-8 hours at $120/hour) This service is done in collaboration with Academic Research Systems (ARS) programmers who work with the study team to develop the query for the recruitment reports. Recruitment queries typically take 4-8 hours per project, but can increase if the query is complicated. (This range is provided for budgeting and estimation purposes only; project estimates will be provided for each project before work commences.)
Scholarships may be available to support the cost of data query development work. You will be offered an opportunity to apply for scholarship funds once your project has been triaged to the ARS programming team.
Letters for non-MyChart users
- Cost per letter ($.53/piece, which includes paper, printing, and postage. (note: 200 letter minimum)
- Cost of effort to send letters per batch (0.5-1 hr at $100/hr)
To ensure that all patients have access to research participation opportunities, PRP requires studies using MyChart for recruitment to also budget for paper letters to patients who are eligible but do not have MyChart accounts. This service is managed by PRP as the honest broker.
The amount you budget for paper letters will depend on study size, recruitment goals, and the number of potentially eligible patients at UCSF. (Use the UCSF Research Data Browser (RDB) to determine how many patients at UCSF meet your eligibility criteria. Registration and account activation is required. Visit the Research Data Browser page for more information.)
EHR Recruitment Service Set-up Process
The set-up process for the EHR Recruitment Service can take about six weeks. This timeline is dependent on 1.) study team's timely completion of set-up tasks; 2.) availability and work queue of programming staff at time of submission; and 3.) IRB approval time. PRP will make every effort to keep the study team apprised of updates related to setup and expected launch dates.
EHR Recruitment Service Process |
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1. Submit a Consultation Services intake form. Once you fill this out, your consultant will reach out to you to schedule an intake call. After the call, you will be asked to fill out a short Qualtrics form to provide some additional information. |
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2. Once the supplemental Qualtrics form has been submitted, a PRP plain language expert will draft the patient-facing recruitment message using the PRP standardized format for EHR recruitment. The patient-facing materials and IRB submission instructions will be sent to the study team for review and edits within 7-10 business days following submission of the Qualtrics form. |
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3. Submit an IRB minor modification (PRP will provide instructions) and notify PRP once it has been submitted. |
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4. Meet with the data programming team to build your recruitment query. Your data consultant will contact you to set up a call within 1-2 weeks after you notify PRP that you have submitted your IRB approval.) |
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5. Concurrently with previous steps, study team should complete necessary APeX study set-up steps (see instructions below: Study set-up: APeX User Accounts or Study set-up: APeX Study Build for details). |
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6. Send IRB approval notification to PRP once it is received. |
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7. Once IRB approval, APeX Study Setup, and programming are complete, PRP will complete the final set-up steps within 3-5 business days. |
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8. Once set-up is complete, PRP will provide training materials and, if requested, schedule an optional training call with the study team. Study team can start to use the EHRMa EHR Recruitment Platform. |
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9. Send monthly metrics reporting to PRP (PRP will send monthly surveys to Study teams). |
Using the EHR Recruitment Service
Once set-up is complete (see above), here’s an overview of how the EHR Recruitment Service works:
- Study staff logs into the EHRMa EHR Recruitment Platform (link and instructions will be provided upon set-up), selects the number of patients they wish to send recruitment messages to, and clicks a button to send the recruitment messages.
- Patients receive a brief email saying they have a new message about research. They can log into MyChart and land on a Research page (see image below) where they can read about your study. If they would like to learn more, they can click a button that says “I’m Interested”.
- For patients that click “I’m Interested” the study team will receive an APeX Inbasket message with that patient’s information. The study team can then respond to that patient per the study’s preferred workflow. (Tip: use a SmartPhrase to quickly reply to patients with information about your study.) Note that study teams never see the PHI of a patient until a patient expresses interest.
- Studies can send up to 250 MyChart Messages per day. There is no limit to the number of letters that can be sent.
An EHRMa tip sheet with detailed instructions is available for your review.
The “Research” page in MyChart:
APeX Study Set-up: User accounts
Having an APeX Study Build and APeX User accounts for your study team is a prerequisite to working with PRP on the MyChart recruitment service. Please see the detailed instructions below.
Study set-up: New APeX Users
1. User Account Request Form:
Study PIs and CRCs will need to have accounts in APeX before the study can be built (see Study set-up: APeX Study Build below).
Concurrent with the training (step 2) you can request APeX user access via the Account Request Form.
Request form: https://arf.ucsfmedicalcenter.org/
Guide to creating a request: http://myapex.ucsf.edu/system/files/Tip_Sheets/Creating_an_ARF.pdf
You will need to request the following Role / Template:
- Template: Select RESEARCH → UCSF RSH RESEARCH COORDINATOR
Note about PI access: All PIs must create APeX accounts but if they are creating accounts for recruitment purposes solely, they only need to request the UCSF RSH RESEARCH COORDINATOR template.
Tips for completing the ARF: You will need to select an approver from your department—this is usually a manager, but not all managers have APeX approval authority. If you cannot find your manager in the system, please work with your manager to find someone in the database who would be appropriate to approve this request. You are also able to suggest an approver from within your department (this will take a bit longer).
2. APeX Training
All new APeX research users who will log into APeX to perform recruitment activities must complete two eLearning modules on the UC Learning Center. To access, please follow this link. This must be completed before requesting a study build (see APeX Study set-up: APeX Study Build below) but can be done concurrently with the Account Request Form (step 1 above).
These eLearning courses should be taken in the order listed below:
- Clinical Research Coordinator (CRC) Online Training
- Research for Clinical Research Coordinators (CRC) (estimated duration 4 hours)
Note: If you are scheduling and registering patients in addition to your Clinical Research responsibilities, the Scheduling & Registration (Cadence) training (estimated duration 8 hours) is also required.
Study set-up: Current APeX Users
Current APeX users who will be conducting MyChart recruitment must:
1. Have the correct research APeX User Template:
For Clinical Research Coordinators or other non-clinician: You must have the APeX User Template "UCSF RSH RESEARCH COORDINATOR" (Updates can be requested via an Account Request Form (ARF); at Step 3, click on the "Role/Template button and select RESEARCH → UCSF RSH RESEARCH COORDINATOR ).
For Clinicians with existing APeX access. You must have the APeX User Subtemplate: UCSF RESEARCH USER SUBTEMPLATE. (Updates can be requested via an Account Request Form (ARF); skip Step 3 (Role/Template) and in the General Comment box type: “Add Template UCSF RESEARCH USER SUBTEMPLATE”)
2. Ensure they are listed as a study coordinator on the APeX study build. (Submit an APeX Maintenance Ticket to add the person to the APeX study build.)
All account details can be confirmed by calling IT Support: 415-514-4100, press 1 for APeX, it is a good idea to check your account details to ensure everything is correct.
APeX Study set-up: APeX Study Build
APeX Study Build
If your study is not currently set up in APeX, you will need to submit an APeX Study Request form.
Please note that trainings and user account requests (see APeX Study Set-up: User accounts above) must be completed before the study build request is submitted.
Tips for completing the study build request form:
- Study Name: All APeX Study names start with “zz” —so this will be your study name preceded by “zz” (For example, “zzSAMPLE Study”). The study title (without the “zz”) will be patient-facing on the study description, so please keep that in mind when creating your APeX study name.
- Although Chart of Accounts (funding information) is a required field, if you are setting the study up in APeX for the purpose of MyChart recruitment only, there will not be any charges billed directly through APeX.
- When completing the form, make sure that the person who will be conducting MyChart recruitment is listed as a study coordinator on the request form.