It’s crucial that there’s consistent communication with participants and follow-up during the entire process. Patient recruitment requires a full-funnel communications plan, and identifying a potential participant with a compelling ad is only the first step. Once a patient displays interest, following up with relevant health information, offering to answer any questions they may have about the trial itself, and friendly reminders to fill out any medical authorization forms or pre-screening documents increases the likelihood they will join your clinical study. Discover more about a patient recruitment company’s communication plan with questions such as:

• What communication channels do you use to reach potential participants, and how do you leverage digital technologies to maximize your efforts?
• How much time elapses between each of the steps in your patient follow-up strategy?
• How flexible are you in modifying your communication strategies based on the progress of the recruitment process?

One of the most frequent challenges we see in patient enrollment is the fear that a participant’s health data won’t be kept safe and secure. Ensuring that a recruitment company’s methods are in compliance with HIPAA is crucial for protecting the privacy of potential enrollees. Here are some questions you can ask to measure how responsibly your next recruitment partner is in gathering health data:

• How do you gather, store, and transmit participant health data in a way that complies with HIPAA regulations?
• What steps do you take if there’s been a security breach?
• What do you do with patient data once the trial is completed?

Your patients are online no matter what. Insider Intelligence predicts that 90% of North Americans will be internet users by the end of 2024. Patient recruitment is now therapeutic-agnostic, which means that sophisticated digital targeting strategies and compelling advertising are at a premium—as compared to expertise in a specific therapeutic area of study. Ask these targeted questions to discover if your patient recruitment company is the right fit for you:

• What are some examples of clinical trials in diverse therapeutic areas that you have successfully recruited for?
• What are some common challenges to patient recruitment across all therapeutic areas, and how have you overcome them in the past?
• What processes do you have in place for regular improvement across diverse therapeutic areas?
• Do you have previous positive results from a new translatability assessment? What elements of your strategy are repeatable?

In short, what does your patient recruitment company think success looks like? For example, if your goal is to enroll a certain number of patients in a short amount of time, you’ll want to partner with a patient recruitment company that places a stronger emphasis on average recruitment rate and efficiency. But if you have more lead time, a balanced approach with a higher initial reach, could be more helpful. In short, make sure you’re on the same page so that you’re focusing on metrics that directly affect the success of your study. Ask these questions to see if you and your potential partner are on the same page:

• What were the specific goals of your last patient recruitment campaign, and how did you achieve those results?
• Can you talk about a strategy or initiative you’ve recently employed that made a big difference in success rates?
• If you had an additional 12 months to achieve the results we discussed, how would that change your campaign strategy?
• What metrics do you evaluate to determine the health of the campaign in the first 7 days, 1 month, 3 months?

One of the most important aspects of patient-centric recruitment is effective communication. Is it as simple as ensuring that digital ads are engaging, and the pre-screening questionnaires are easy to understand? Or has the patient recruitment company found that phone calls and mailers increase the likelihood they’ll find quality enrollees? Here are some questions to ensure your partner isn’t spending unnecessary time and money attempting to engage patients:

• Do you have a specific screening process in mind for this campaign, or do you have a general screening process across all trials?
• Is the screening process fully automated before site referral, or do you have someone reaching out to patients with things like secondary phone screens and telehealth visits?
• Can you provide an example of a screening process that wasn’t going according to plan and how you fixed it?

Even the best patient recruitment companies can encounter unforeseen challenges, no matter how experienced they are. The National Institutes of Health reported that “more than 80% of trials fail to enroll on time” leading to costly delays. You don’t need the NIH to remind you that delays are costly, but help in avoiding them in the first place is probably welcome. That’s why learning how companies mitigate risks and navigate problems is important. How flexible are they with their processes? Are they experienced in making changes in the middle of their campaign? By asking questions that focus on their ability to overcome adversity, you can get an idea of how equipped they are to see your clinical trial enrollment through to completion:

• How do you proactively identify and assess potential risks that could impact patient recruitment efforts?
• Can you provide an example of when you needed to make an adjustment mid-campaign to meet an enrollment deadline?
• What is your process in quickly ensuring that a change you want to make is in compliance with regulatory standards?