Applies to: All UF Health Science Center Research
Effective date: 07/07/2011
All research-funded activities/visits conducted within a UFHP or Shands clinic are to be scheduled into the Epic scheduling system and accounted for by entering the appropriate research U codes and/or Facility Fee charge at checkout. Some exceptions exist.
Scheduling Policy for Research-Funded UFHP Clinic Visits
Policy – Marvin Dewar, MD
Date: Original Policy – July 7, 2011 – Revised June 21, 2016 to exclude “piggy-backed” visits
To: Department Chairs (Meeting discussion and email distribution)
Issue: In the past, some research-funded clinic visits conducted within a UF Health Physicians (UFHP) clinic were scheduled into the clinic scheduling system, and some were not.
Rationale:
- Scheduling research activity can help track studies and study participants for improved billing compliance.
- Scheduling research activity for utilization purposes helps the clinic staff manage room resources more efficiently.
- Scheduling may help UF leadership to better understand how we are using our clinic space and what part of our business is research.
Solution:
All research-funded activities/visits conducted within a UFHP clinic must be scheduled into the Epic scheduling system and accounted for by entering the appropriate research U codes and CPT codes (as applicable) at checkout. Note: Salary-supported research U codes are to be used for any research activity being performed by a member of the study team; Provider-based research U codes are to be used for any research-funded E&M visit performed by a clinic provider who is not a member of the study team.
Exceptions:
- Consenting activity is considered part of Standard of Care (SOC) and does NOT have to be scheduled in Epic. However, if the consenting visit is a “stand alone” visit of any significant length, using the Epic scheduling system for that visit if it will help the clinic manage rooms more efficiently.
- If the protocol includes research-funded activities that are to be performed by a member of the study team at the same time as a Standard of Care (SOC) clinic visit, and the group of research activities performed will not add significant time to the SOC encounter, the research activities do not have to be scheduled in Epic. Examples include:
- A blood draw performed by a study coordinator
- Specimen/sample collection for study purposes only (e.g. nasal swab, stool sample, urine sample, saliva sample, skin scrape, etc.)
- Data collection from the medical record
- Brief questionnaires
- Photographs taken for study purposes only.
- Dedicated research rooms within the clinic do not need to be scheduled in Epic if all of the following are true:
- The dedicated research room is used only for research activity (i.e. no Standard of Care (SOC) visits are ever conducted in the room) and
- The dedicated research room has its own scheduling system (i.e. Epic is not used to schedule the use of the room)
- There is a written agreement between the chair of the department that manages the clinic and Dr. Dewar’s office (for UFHP clinics) or Shands (for Shands Clinics) that the room is to be used for research only.
If the research-funded activities are to be performed in a “stand alone” encounter (i.e. there is no Standard of Care (SOC) clinic visit taking place at the same time), the research visit must be scheduled in Epic, even if the research activity will be brief and performed by the study team.