Colpitts Celebrates Major Milestones in Clinical Trial Travel
NORWOOD, MASS. – Colpitts Clinical Trial Travel, a division of global travel management company Direct Travel, is celebrating 20 years of meeting the unique needs within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in the United States, Europe, and around the world with its full range of clinical trial travel services. Colpitts is on track to manage its 1000th trial within the next month – an indicator of how valuable coordinated travel, expense management, and custom accommodations are for the recruitment and retention of qualified trial participants.
Travel services for clinical trials are particularly unique because of the complexities involved in maintaining confidentiality and HIPPA and FDA compliance. All of Colpitts’ Clinical coordinators work exclusively with clinical clients. They are all GCP-certified, and attend annual compliance trainings so that they are up-to-date on all the latest regulations. Colpitts’ site coordinator portal is HIPPA and GDPR compliant. The portal maintains a high adoption rate, particularly with Colpitts’ clinical clients, as it facilitates efficient and private communication between sponsor site coordinators and our clinical team.
Colpitts has modernized patient expense management with prepaid Visa cards – another offering that has earned high adoption among trial sponsors. More than 95% of Colpitts clients utilize the prepaid cards to set per diem payments for trial participants, so that they do not have to file extensive paperwork for reimbursement and have money on-hand while involved in a trial. Unlike the traditional process of check payments, there is no lapse when a patient needs to extend their participation time, as Colpitts’ can immediately reload the patient’s Visa. If a card is lost or stolen, remaining funds are easily transferred to a new card without financial or emotional stress for the patient.
“We have seen more than 150,000 transactions totaling in excess of $25M on the reloadable cards in the past 5 years,” Colpitts Clinical Senior Vice President Jeanne Johnston said. “Our pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners are really looking at ways to improve the patient experience, and on top of that reduce trial costs and time spent on administrative tasks.”
Colpitts Clinical was among the first in the United States and Europe to offer travel management services specifically for clinical trials and their sponsors, and to have a division of specially certified travel experts dedicated to clinical services. The experience of servicing 1000 trials has given the Colpitts team invaluable insight and expertise in common clinical trial travel needs, including air ambulance transportation, translator services, and accommodations for entire families that must relocate in order to participate in a trial – with minimal disruption to their everyday lifestyle. Colpitts’ clients conduct a wide array of research to help discover treatments and cures for commonplace and rare health conditions.
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About Colpitts Clinical Trial Travel:
Colpitts is a pioneer in dedicated clinical trial travel and expense management for sponsors and patients. Direct Travel, Colpitts Parent company, has offices throughout the United States, Canada and United Kingdom, with clinical headquarters in Norwood, Massachusetts and Edinburgh, Scotland.
