Predoc Accelerates Trial Enrollment At Large Site Network

Records Limit Enrollment Rates

For a network running vaccine, therapeutic, pediatric, and psychiatric trials in parallel, enrollment was slow, inconsistent, and difficult to scale. Leadership estimated that missing records alone accounted for nearly 40% of screen failures among otherwise-qualified patients.

The impact was especially acute in therapeutic research, where eligibility often depends on prior treatment history. Many of today’s trials target patients who have not responded to standard care, so without efficient records retrieval, the studies that matter most cannot reach the patients they are designed to serve.

“Understanding what has worked and what has not worked for a patient is only clinically valid when we understand it from another physician’s perspective. Medical records make a big difference for that.”
Network Enrollment Manager

In one migraine trial, the network identified a patient who appeared to meet every protocol requirement, but the study closed without a single enrollment because the team could not secure the neurologist’s records in time.

“We found this golden patient who met every single checkbox, and we got stuck on medical records. I personally called the neurologist’s office every day, and we just didn’t get anything back from them.”

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The Challenge: Record Retrieval as a Recurring Bottleneck

Before Predoc, the record-retrieval process was manual and fragile. The patient signed a release of information onsite, site coordinators faxed the request from local office fax machines, and the team waited, sometimes weeks, for a response that might never come. When records did not arrive, site operations teams already juggling trials in parallel had to manually re-fax, and follow-ups were ad-hoc.

“There was no pattern. Sometimes I would make them fill up manual Excel sheets to track when they submitted it again.”

An earlier attempt to add a cash incentive for patients to bring their own records did not work, because the process was so lengthy and time-consuming that patients did not feel it was worth it.

The Solution: Predoc as the First Step in Every Trial

After implementing Predoc, the research network embedded it as a standard part of every new trial launch. Rather than treating record retrieval as a downstream task, Predoc became the first operational step — initiated as soon as a trial was assigned.

“Predoc is part of my main strategy. Whenever I get assigned a trial, step one is getting Predoc set up.”

The shift wasn’t just procedural — it changed how the team approached enrollment planning entirely. With records arriving faster and more completely, coordinators could begin meaningful patient review sooner, reducing the lag between initial screening and eligibility determination.

The Impact: Faster Enrollment, Sponsors Noticed

• Faster time-to-enrollment: with Facesheet and data returned in hours and before patients reach the site, physician-led first-level review confirms baseline eligibility in a fraction of the previous time. Some sites in the network now randomize patients on data alone.
• Staff working at the top of their role: coordinators no longer manage fax cycles or chase provider offices.

“That’s taken a lot of workload off my shoulders. I don’t have to chase them and say, did you submit it the second time? Did you call them today?”

• Hard-to-reach patients became reachable: persistent record chases for out-of-state providers and solo practitioners are now completed without burdening coordinators.

“You’re more persistent than we are. You’ve helped us with the group of patients who are very difficult to otherwise get hold of.”

• Sponsors noticed: Predoc has become a credible answer in sponsor conversations. In a recent obesity program kickoff, when early screen fails surfaced as a concern and the sponsor raised medical records as the likely gap, the team quickly assuaged fears based on Predoc’s success rates and retrieval turnaround times.

Returning complete, structured data early closes the records gap behind an estimated 40% of screen fails, which is the difference between losing a golden patient and randomizing them. When a physician can confirm baseline eligibility from a Facesheet in minutes to hours, otherwise-qualified patients move toward enrollment faster, and coordinators spend their time on patients rather than fax machines.