The clinical trial industry continues to experience rapid change. The increasing complexity of trial designs, growing pressures to build and execute more quickly, and demands for new automation and new data sources are driving technology decisions. As new technologies emerge, there is a growing need to integrate systems and processes that support clinical trial design and conduct. Clinical trial teams are looking for new ways to leverage enabling technologies and seamlessly integrate functionality to move data more efficiently through the trial lifecycle.
Use Cases
There are numerous use cases for clinical technology integrations. The most common scenario is the EDC – CTMS – Safety system integration that automates adverse event tracking and reporting. More clinical research teams are also looking for ePRO – EDC – CTMS integrations as a result of COVID-19 and an increased interest in patients entering data. CTMS – CTMS integration is an interesting use case for both CROs and sponsors to support oversight efforts. Other clinical teams want to automate data tracking that triggers risk-based monitoring activities. They may also wish to collect and analyze data across trials and therapeutic programs, which requires moving data from clinical applications to data warehouses, reporting and analytics tools.
Integration Challenges
Each integration has the potential to streamline processes, but they also bring an assortment of challenges. Many applications have limited integration or API capabilities. Legacy application integrations are traditionally complicated and require ongoing and costly maintenance.
Commonly, applications either have no programming interface, or they have multiple, complex, integration interfaces, each with sizeable technical documentation sets to digest. These solutions also typically require coding skillsets. The user must understand the response payload, how to expose the correct data for a successful integration, and the impact on compliance (GDPR, GCP, etc.).
These challenges, individually and collectively, present a greater risk of integration failure. They can also negatively impact business agility. Workarounds and bottlenecks grow in size and frequency when integrations fail.
A New Approach: Mednet and AppBus Partnership
Mednet recently announced a partnership with AppBus designed to help clinical trial teams connect, expand, and exploit the functionality of the Mednet platform. The AppBus Application Extension Platform allows users to integrate Mednet with adjacent clinical technologies seamlessly. AppBus users can model user behaviors and interactions, along with screens and controls, to develop automation through one single integration point. The integration can be created and rapidly deployed using basic process modeling concepts without the need for coding.
Benefits
The Mednet AppBus partnership reduces the need for multiple, complex integration points (and multiple, complex integration projects) and offers a new level of interoperability across clinical operations. The Open API is readily accessed by other integration platforms or today’s modern application development frameworks.
The AppBus application extension platform offers a SIMPLE (no coding required), SCALABLE, and SECURE (hosted on AWS) integration. This seamless integration helps CROs and Sponsors future-proof their clinical trial environment. The seamless integration provides continuous flexibility required to remain competitive while also addressing compliance.
Creating efficiencies enables research teams to save time, money, and resources. However, successful integrations also improve the overall quality of the data by minimizing handoffs and decreasing the opportunity for human error.
The Value of Flexibility
Previously in this blog, we have discussed the importance of flexibility when choosing and deploying clinical trial technologies in such a complex and changing environment. Perhaps the most outstanding value afforded by the Mednet and AppBus partnership is maximized agility. By increasing the flexibility of the trial team, this unparalleled integration exposes numerous new opportunities to extend the value of the iMednet platform and its native applications. It connects data and processes to the people who are using them. It speeds up the collection, management, and analysis of trial data. It improves the data quality and enables clinical research teams to access data throughout the clinical trial lifecycle, regardless of where it resides.
The Mednet and AppBus partnership means endless possibilities can be quickly realized. We are committed to ensuring the successful and rapid integration and automation of trial technologies to advance critical research.
To see our recent webinar on the AppBus integration, click here. To learn more, contact us.