PRIM&R’s 2018 Advancing Ethical Research Conference (AER18) was very inspiring. It provided me an opportunity to be immersed in an interesting learning opportunity, wherein I noted a common theme of this conference was to highlight the changes in the revised Common Rule and its practical implementation. Read more
For investigators, IRB members, and IRB staff alike, the revised Common Rule’s new exempt category at 45 CFR 46.104(d)(4)(iii) was a dream come true. The so-called HIPAA Exemption eliminates IRB review for research use of retrospectively or prospectively collected “identifiable health information when that use is regulated by the HIPAA Privacy Rule as health care operations, research, or for public health activities […].” Applying the HIPAA Exemption is not quite as simple as it might seem, though, as I learned at the 2018 Advancing Ethical Research Conference (AER18) session, appropriately titled “Just When You Thought You Understood the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.” Read more
It’s been suggested by some that it is time to jettison the term “research subject” from our research ethics vocabulary—including in the regulations—and exclusively use the term “research participant” to refer to those who enroll in research. While there are many compelling arguments for using "participant" instead of "subject" in the modern research context, PRIM&R's executive director, Elisa A. Hurley, PhD, argues that we need to keep both research "subject and research "participant" in our shared vocabulary. Read more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently put out a "Request for Information on Modifying HIPAA Rules to Improve Coordinated Care." PRIM&R submitted comments encouraging HHS to take this opportunity to harmonize the HIPAA Rules with the Common Rule to improve it's use in the research context. The research community has long argued that HIPAA is confusing, awkward, inconsistent, and unnecessarily burdensome as applied to human subjects research. Read more
The 2018 Advancing Ethical Research Conference (AER18) presentation titled “It’s Not as New as You Think: Understanding How to Operationalize the Revised Common Rule” provided information regarding the history of the Common Rule and the recent changes to it. It is important that IRB professionals and staff become familiar with these revisions, as they have important implications for the oversight and the conduct of medical research. Presenters Jeffrey A. Cooper, MD, MMM; Kristin Craun, MPH, CIP; Jessica Huening, JD; Heather Pierce, JD, MPH, helped to clarify much of the confusion concerning the recently revised regulations. Key changes in the revised Common Rule were emphasized. An important part of the presentation delineated what happens as these revised rules become effective. This was helpful in understanding how to transition from the “original” Common Rule to the revised Common Rule. Read more
