OCR Announcements

To receive our announcements or communications, join our listserv by emailing OCR@Emory.edu.

2024

March - New PI Consultations!

PI Consultations are offered to new and existing investigators who need assistance starting their new clinical research project at Emory University. This concierge service provides information about the types of research, funding sources, departments involved, systems, research process, and orientation for your School. View details on our PI Consultation webpage.

March - New Communication Tool for Study Teams!  VIVA ENGAGE

Join the Emory Clinical Research Community Form on Microsoft Office Suite > Engage.  Download the app on your computer to engage and join the Emory Clinical Research Community Forum. Post a discussion or question, give praise, or create a poll. Click “Files” on the webpage to view documents such as OnCore Tip Sheets, OnCore to Epic Workflow, etc.  

2023

September - Delays in EHC Charges Posting to Compass Grant Accounts

  • ISSUE:  We have experienced delays in EHC charges posting to Compass grant accounts.  In addition to the delays, some rates have not utilized discounts available for research activities. 
  • ROOT CAUSES: We have identified the following causes of the issues encountered:
    • Since EHC’s conversion to Epic on 10/1/2022, charges have not been sent to the Compass grant account. This was due to a loss of connection from Cerner to the EHC Clinical Data Warehouse, which had previously generated a report to complete journal entries in Compass. 
    • The research discounted fee schedule was not uploaded to Epic during the system conversion.
  • SHORT-TERM ACTIONS:As a short-term solution to process as many charges as possible in fiscal 2023, a file was created to send hospital billing (HB) charges to Compass to the appropriate grant account. The hospital billing charges are assessed at a 75% discounted rate. These files were posted on 9/2/23. We are continuing to work on reconciling items and will have any applicable remaining entries posted as soon as possible.

WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU: Carefully review all of the HB charges to your grant accounts for accuracy. Corrections may be processed in September / October of fiscal 2024 and will be posted in fiscal 2024.  If during your review you detect charges posted to the wrong award budget period or SpeedType, contact your RAS representative for assistance with corrections. If you do not know the appropriate project to offset, please contact the EHC Clinical Trials Billing Department (CTBD) through one of their email mailboxes to ensure charges are reviewed promptly:

Hospital: euh.business.office.clinical.trials@emoryhealthcare.org
Clinic:specialty.clearance@emoryhealthcare.org

FUTURE STEPS PLANNED: We continue assessing the physician billing (PB) charges and are preparing additional charges. We will notify you when this occurs so you can review the PB charges to your grant accounts.

  • University and Healthcare staff from CTBD, Finance, RGC, RAS, OIT, and OCR are working diligently together to identify solutions to address the root causes of these issues and improve the overall clinical billing process.

Thank you for your patience during this transition to Epic and OnCore. We are committed to resolving these issues for you as quickly as possible.

Best regards,
Edwin Bemmel, Robin Ginn, and Tonya Jenkins

July - OCR Invoicing OnCore-tracked activities

Great news! OCR Invoicing and IT worked to create a successful interface between OnCore and ERMS.  Starting July 10, 2023, we can generate invoices for all past and future OnCore-tracked activities in ERMS.  Study teams should continue to track in OnCore. Please ensure your team does not re-track items previously tracked in ERMS.  Any activity item occurring before 10/1/2022 and tracked in OnCore will not be considered for invoicing unless the CRC directly contacts the CRFM assigned to the protocol.   

OCR Invoicing will continue to review every study account monthly, which includes invoicing, payment reconciliation, subject stipend/reimbursements, vendor payables, and reporting; however, we will no longer send a SOT to the study team. 

From now on, OCR Invoicing will upload the following to the OnCore Financials Console as a Financial Attachment: 

  1. Financials – OCR Tracking Reminders 
  2. Financials – OCR Invoicing Monthly Statement of Transactions 
  3. Financials – OCR Invoicing Monthly Invoice 
  4. Financials - Sponsor Remittance (remittance provides itemized details of sponsor payment) 

 The following provides instructions to access the documents above: 

Access OnCore Financial Consoles> Attachments>Financial Attachment Details  

Invoicing and payment reconciliation for all OnCore-tracked activities will be completed by September 1, 2023. 

Feel free to contact @Coleman, Sherry D. directly should you have questions. Thank you for your continued patience as we continue this transition. 

June -  New: OCR Clinical Research eForm

The Office for Clinical Research (OCR) announces its new Clinical Trials PreStudy eForm Application.  This new application replaces several forms that you use via a paper format.
Effective Monday, June 25, 2023, the new Clinical Research eForm will be available to submit new applications for the following forms:
  • OCR Submission Form
  • ERMS Activation Form or Clinical Trials Activation Only Form
  • Clinical Research Key Point Summary (CRKP) Checklist
  • Emory Medical Laboratory (EML) Checklist
  • Radiology Checklist
  • Subject Tracking Only
  • Expanded Access
If the study has already been submitted in paper format, please DO NOT resubmit it electronically, as this will delay your application.
For additional resources and to access the new Clinical Research eForm, visit our webpage at https://ocr.emory.edu/resources/systems/ct-prestudy-eform-app.html.  

June -  Update: OnCore Invoicing

Great news! We are steps closer to correcting the invoicing challenges that resulted from OnCore implementation. Over the past few months, OCR Invoicing and IT worked together to create an interface between OnCore and ERMS.  This new interface will allow the invoicing team to begin generating invoices for all past and future OnCore-tracked activities in ERMS.  Study teams should continue to track in OnCore as usual. Please ensure your team does not re-track items previously tracked in ERMS.  Any activity item occurring before 10/1/2022 and tracked in OnCore will not be considered for invoicing unless the CRC directly contacts the CRFM assigned to the protocol.

We will send an official announcement when the data import is completed and invoicing begins. You will also receive instructions on where and how to access the current Summary of Transactions and any Invoices generated for activities tracked in OnCore after 10/1/2022.

Feel free to contact @Coleman, Sherry D. directly should you have questions. Thank you for your continued patience as we continue this transition.