myTomorrows Survey Reveals 52% of Clinical Trial Sites Say 1 in 5 Referrals Are Ineligible Before Screening Even Begins

New myTomorrows survey of U.S. trial site professionals reveals how poor referral quality, information gaps, and disconnected workflows are driving missed enrollment targets, delayed timelines, and rising costs across clinical trials.

AMSTERDAM, July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- myTomorrows, a global health technology company that connects patients and physicians with clinical trial options, today published a new data report, The Referral Readiness Gap: Why Clinical Trial Sites Need Better Qualified, Better Documented, and Easier-to-Act-On Referrals. Based on a survey of 100 U.S.-based clinical trial site professionals, it finds that more than half of sites (52%) see at least one in five referrals ruled ineligible before formal screening even begins - a signal that recruitment's core problem is no longer volume, but readiness.

The cost of that gap is largely invisible, and it lands on the teams responsible for enrolling patients. Poor referral quality, fragmented workflows, and incomplete patient information compound one another, and the consequences reach all the way to enrollment: 59% of sites report enrolling fewer eligible patients as a direct result of recruitment inefficiencies.

Recruitment delays already affect an estimated 80% of clinical trials. Site teams sit at the center of that challenge - screening and assessing patient fit, coordinating with sponsors and CROs, and guiding patients through critical decisions - all while eligibility criteria tighten and timelines compress. Yet referrals routinely arrive incomplete or ineligible, and assessing them still relies on manual work spread across disconnected systems. The gap between what sites are asked to deliver and the tools supporting them has real consequences for drug development and for patients waiting on access to new therapies.

The survey points to four structural pressures:

• Referrals are failing at the source. 62% say the leading reason for pre-screen failure is that patients simply don't meet key inclusion/exclusion criteria — meaning the problem starts upstream, before a referral ever reaches the site.
• Triage is draining valuable site resources. 27% of sites spend more than 20 hours a week reviewing incoming referrals, and nearly 7 in 10 say recruitment workload limits their ability to focus on patient care or study quality.
• Sites are managing too many systems. 52% use at least four tools for pre-screening alone and 43% use four or more for referral intake, while 42% cite delays in accessing complete patient information as a top barrier — friction at exactly the point where speed and accuracy matter most.
• The downstream effects are widespread. Beyond fewer patients enrolled, 55% report delayed timelines or missed enrollment targets and 35% report increased costs, with knock-on effects including protocol amendments and staff burnout.

Sites are also clear about what better support looks like:

• AI is seen as a practical fix. 67% say AI could help detect potential matches for new or amended trials, and 65% believe it could reduce administrative workload.
• Patient navigation is highly valued. 76% say personalized patient navigation would deliver high or very high value, and 70% believe it could increase the share of referrals who meet basic eligibility criteria before ever reaching the site.

"Trial site professionals are telling us something we need to take seriously – that the current trial recruitment process often creates unnecessary barriers to enrolling patients in clinical research," said Michel van Harten, MD, CEO of myTomorrows. "As trial design becomes increasingly targeted and complex across disease areas, identifying patients who are both eligible and ready for screening becomes more challenging. By improving the upfront quality of referrals, centralizing workflows and making communications truly transparent - sites are able to function much more efficiently, and focus on patient care."

The findings are drawn from a myTomorrows survey of 100 U.S.-based clinical trial site professionals, conducted in Spring 2026. All participants were actively engaged in clinical trial recruitment at the time of the survey, spanning a broad range of site roles: from clinical research coordinators, study nurses, and principal investigators to sub-investigators, clinical project managers, directors of clinical trials, and heads of site research. The full data report can be found here.

To learn more about myTomorrows' goal to create a smarter, more connected clinical trial ecosystem that supports the development of tomorrow's therapies, visit mytomorrows.com.

About myTomorrows

myTomorrows is a global healthtech company that connects patients, physicians, trial sites, and BioPharma partners to enable earlier and better access to pre-approval treatments. Through a centralized, multi-stakeholder platform, myTomorrows combines AI-driven insights with human expertise to deliver tailored solutions that help overcome some of today's greatest barriers to patient access. By simplifying and bringing transparency to the path of discovery and access to treatment, myTomorrows accelerates global patient access while supporting more efficient drug development.

Headquartered in Amsterdam, with an office in New York City, myTomorrows has supported more than 17,700 patients and 3,000 physicians across 440+ sites in over 135 countries and partners with 10+ of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies.

myTomorrows Media Contact:
Kate Schoenstadt
Headline Media
[email protected]
+972-54-7776684

SOURCE myTomorrows