I talk with physicians about research partnerships every week, and the best conversations are the ones where the physician interrogates us. If you are considering adding trials to your practice, with anyone, these are the five questions that separate a good partnership from a second job you did not ask for.
1. Who employs the coordinator?
If the answer is you, walk away or renegotiate. Coordinator hiring, training, backup coverage, and payroll should sit with the research organization. At Stryde the coordinator works inside your office but on our payroll, with our training and our quality oversight.
2. What happens to my clinic schedule?
A well-designed study fits inside your existing flow. Ask exactly how many hours per week of your time each study actually requires, and get it in writing. If someone says “minimal,” ask them to define minimal in hours.
3. How is my compensation structured?
Oversight, chart reviews, and patient participation should all carry defined compensation, in a written agreement, not a handshake. Vague economics at the start become resentment by month six.
4. Who answers safety questions at 7pm?
Research generates medical judgment calls. Ask who the medical monitor is and how fast they respond. At Stryde that is me, embedded in the network, which is exactly why I co-founded it this way.
5. What happens if I want to stop?
Good partnerships have clean exits. Ask what winding down looks like for active patients and how your data obligations are handled. Anyone who dodges this question is telling you something.
Ask us all five. Physician to physician, that conversation takes twenty minutes: trials@stryderesearch.com.