FAQs

Payments Support

Payments FAQs

All research involving human subjects who pay their participants in Health Sciences will be required to use the Participant Payments System by 07/01/2023.

    • New Participant Payment users are required to attend a Participant Payments Orientation prior to being granted access. Once complete, access will be granted. 

      Book Participant Payments Orientation through our website Payments Training and Access

    • Anyone who has been assigned with the “Participant Check-in + Pay Stipends” role in the system will be able to request payments for stipends and/or reimbursements.

    • Anyone who has been assigned with the “Financial Reviewer” role can approve requested stipends and/or reimbursements.

    • No. In keeping in line with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and internal control requirements, any financial transactions need to be signed by two individuals. It is important that the “Financial Reviewer” not also be assigned the “Participant Check-in + Pay Stipends” role.  For departments that have limitations with this workflow, please contact the CRSO team at CRSO@hsc.utah.edu.

    • Please submit an OnCore Service Now Support Ticket to request the cards that you need. We are asking that teams request up to 25 cards at a time just to ensure that we have an appropriate number on hand for other study teams. However, you can request additional cards and provide an explanation. We understand that flexibility in these situations is important. Please allow three business days to process the request and arrange for pick-up from the CRSO department located at 27 S. Mario Capecchi Drive (Building 379, Room 2-220-24).

      For studies that are currently enrolling participants we will work with study teams to be sure that those participants have debit cards and minimize any potential for disruption of providing stipends or reimbursements.

    • Lost cards can be replaced through a request to the CRSO team who can cancel the lost card. A new card number (from the requesting department’s inventory) will be assigned to the participant. Any balances from the lost card will be transferred to the new card and available immediately.

      Participants are encouraged to contact the card support service directly should the card be lost after hours, weekends, holidays, etc.

    • This is still be discussed at the CRSO level. It is likely that study teams will need to notify the CRSO team to request that a card be replaced. We will need the participant’s name and a new ICN (card number) from the department’s inventory. This will cancel the old card and transfer any funds to the new number immediately.

      Participants are encouraged to contact the card support service directly should the card be lost after hours, weekends, holidays, etc.

    • Yes. Debit cards expire after three years after they have been purchased by CRSO for participant payments. Study teams will need to request a new card and assign it to the participant if a card expires. These cards will be subject to the current contracted rate we pay to Advarra. See Participant Payment Fees for current rates. Any current balance on the participant’s card can be transferred and available on the new card.

       

    • No, debit cards cannot be returned to CRSO. 

       

    • Yes, the cards themselves can be used outside the US, and are subject to normal foreign transaction fees. It’s important to note that if a card is used outside of the US, it is more likely to be flagged as potential fraud. 

    • Please see the IRB and Consent Document FAQs - Participant Payments documents

      that has been provided on our website.

    • No. study teams will need to identify which method of payment is preferred by each participant. Participants can chose to be paid the following ways...

      • Reloadable debit cards

      OR

      • Direct deposit / Paper checks

    • If patients are already entered into OnCore, they will be pushed to the Participant Payments system. For studies that have not entered patients into OnCore, those will need to be added by the study teams. That can be done at any time if the study status in OnCore is set to “Open to Enrollment.”

    • No. The participant will use one card for all studies at the University of Utah.

    • No, the funds are not available immediately. The delay depends on the department approval process. Once the study team member submits it for payment, someone with the signature authority must review and approve it. Funds are available upon that second review. That second sign-off cannot be the same individual who submitted the request for stipend or reimbursement. This is in line with University policy and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and has been reviewed with the University Internal Audit team.

    • Study teams are responsible for creating the payment calendar. If they need assistance, please reach out by submitting a OnCore Service Now Support Ticket.

    • The system has a role that allows certain individuals the ability to review the balance on a card. We will discuss this role at CRSO and who should be given that access in the future. It does not provide details of transactions. 

    • There are reports that can be used from the OnCore and/or Payments to assist with auditing the operations of the system. We have been in contact with the Internal Audit team to identify any risk points and determine how those can be minimized. The CRSO and Internal Audit team may request information to confirm that cards are being assigned appropriately in the system.

    • Yes. The CRSO team will invoice the department with the chartfield provided by the study team at the time debit cards are distributed and received by the study team. These costs are outlined below and are consistent with the contracted pricing from Advarra, the vendor for the system. We encourage teams to be mindful of the number of cards that are requested since they cannot be returned to CRSO once they have been distributed.

      • Debit Cards: $1.50/per card distributed to the department
      • Load Fees: Load fees are charged when a stipend and/or reimbursement is distributed to a participant through the debit or direct deposit.
        • Debit Card Fee: $0.80/per transaction
        • Direct Deposit Fee: $2.00/per transaction

      Please note that debit cards expire three years after activated for the participant. If studies are paying a participant for more than three years, a new card will need to be assigned and will be subject to the current fees addressed above. Outstanding balances can be transferred to the new card.  For more information, please see the Clinical Research Fee Schedule-(SOP 13). 

    • No. The participant can start using the card right away as a credit card. The only time a set-up is required is if they would like to use the card as a debit card. They will need to set up a PIN. There are additional features that are made available if the participant wants to register their card. These are outlined in the Participant Payments information that has been posted to the CRSO Payments website.

    • The participant will be able to check their transaction history by setting up a PayPortal account.

    • Yes. If a participant wishes to use their card to withdraw cash at an ATM, they can register their account through Advarra Hyperwallet. This also allows cards to carry a higher balance (up to $10,000). Un-registered cards will not be able to carry balances above $1,000. In addition, they can request cash back on store purchases.

    • Per Advarra, we do not currently support payments to participants outside the mainland US. Our banking partner requires that all payees are residing in the US, which they verify based on the address entered into the participant profile within Payments (no option for a non-US address). If you mark “No Address” on the participant page, the CRSO address will be set as the participant’s address by default. Please make sure a valid address is used under the participant profile. 

      Per A/P Office, please submit payments through the ePR system as it will be reviewed by Tax Services to evaluate the reporting criteria. 

    • If an individual does not have an SSN/TIN the study team needs to choose one of the
      following courses of action.
       

      • Apply for a Payment Process Exception from the IRB. This can be done at the beginning of a study or through an amendment
        submitted once a study is approved. The Payment Process Exception form needs to be completed and attached
        to the amendment.
      • The participant can enroll in a study, but must agree to waive payments for
        their participation.

      This is all outlined in the Payments to Human Research Participants document. 

  • Minors FAQs (Printable Version)

    • You can answer your questions by referring to the  Payments to Minors Update – FAQs.

      Overall, cards/direct deposit accounts already created for participants under the age of 18. Study teams will be able to continue transferring funds to these accounts unless the following conditions apply:

      • Demographics (DOB, email address, etc.) need to be changed in Participant Payments. 
      • Hyperwallet (debit card vendor) may flag an individual after manual review and suspend payments. This is not expected to be a common occurrence. 

      Study teams will need to reissue a card to any participants who have had their accounts suspended or when changing demographics.

    • No. As of 08/24/23, our partners that are managing the system have determined they cannot support payments/reimbursements directly to minors. These payments must be issued by linking the participant to a guardian. See the Linking a Participant to a Guardian tip sheet to answer any questions about that process. 

    • This is a decision made at the system level and we are not able to configure a local scenario to continue paying minors directly. After thorough discussions with their banking partner and legal team, Advarra and Hyperwallet (vendors for the Participant Payments process) determined that allowing minors to have their own individual banking accounts is not aligned with industry standards.

    • Yes. This change does not impact the workflow for existing minors in the Participant Payments system. 

    • No. This only impacts minors with NEW Participant Payments accounts as of 08/10/23. 

      Advarra has notified us that there could be instances where a card is suspended for a minor issued a card prior to 08/10/23, but it would be infrequent. This should only occur if an account is flagged by Hyperwallet during one of their manual reviews for participants under 18 years of age.

    • No. This will not impact the current cards, only those that are newly enrolled. 

    • No. You will still be able to replace cards for minors if their cards aren't suspended, as normal.

    • Linking a guardian account to an existing participant under the age of 18 years will only be required when there are updates of demographics for the participant. If a change to their demographics (name, DOB, email address, payment mechanism, etc.) is necessary, a guardian account will be required.

    • You can find out more about adding a guardian using our Creating a Guardian Account tip sheet. 

    • CRSO is not currently able to provide replacement cards. We anticipate that the frequency of re-issuing cards will be infrequent. The cost of the cards/direct deposit is nominal ($1.50/$2.00) and is not anticipated to substantially impact study budgets.

    • Waiver requests can be submitted through a Service Now ticket to waive the requirement for individual studies where linking a participant to a guardian is not feasible. This could be studies that involve abuse, substance use, etc. where a guardian’s involvement could jeopardize the minor and/or the study.  The IRB must waive parental permission in these circumstances. 

Contact Participant Payments Team