title: Process Improvement for Interinstitutional Research Contracting.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sponsored research increasingly requires multiinstitutional collaboration. However, research contracting procedures have become more complicated and time consuming. The perinatal research units of two colocated healthcare systems sought to improve their research contracting processes.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Lean Process, a management practice that iteratively involves team members in root cause analyses and process improvement, was applied to the research contracting process, initially using Process Mapping and then developing Problem Solving Reports.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Root cause analyses revealed that the longest delays were the individual contract legal negotiations. In addition, the "business entity" was the research support personnel of both healthcare systems whose "customers" were investigators attempting to conduct interinstitutional research. Development of mutually acceptable research contract templates and language, chain of custody templates, and process development and refinement formats decreased the Notice of Grant Award to Purchase Order time from a mean of 103.5 days in the year prior to Lean Process implementation to 45.8 days in the year after implementation (p = 0.004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Lean Process can be applied to interinstitutional research contracting with significant improvement in contract implementation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.|Women and Newborns Clinical Program, Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.|Program in Personalized Health Care, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Varner
authors.affiliation: Program in Personalized Health Care, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Logan
authors.affiliation: Office of Sponsored Projects, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Todd
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bjorklund
authors.affiliation: Office of Research, Intermountain Healthcare Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Jesse
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Whitfield
authors.affiliation: Women and Newborns Clinical Program, Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Laurie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lesher
authors.affiliation: Office of Research, Intermountain Healthcare Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sikalis
authors.affiliation: Office of Sponsored Projects, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Brent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Sandy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Drollinger
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Larrabee
authors.affiliation: Office of Sponsored Projects, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Kristie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.|Women and Newborns Clinical Program, Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Workman
authors.affiliation: Value Engineering, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boi
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical
keywords: Lean Process; Process Mapping; research subcontract; root cause analyses