University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Selects Conflict of Interest Management System

JERICHO, N.Y., Sept. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Care Compliance Strategies, Inc. (HCCS) announced today that The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has selected the HCCS COI-SMART system to automate their conflict of interest disclosure process. The COI-SMART system will assist UCSF in complying with new National Institute of Health (NIH) conflict of interest disclosure regulations by managing and reporting on COI disclosures for nearly 5000 faculty, post-docs, and fellows.

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"We selected COI-SMART for its functionality, ease of use and scalability to meet the new NIH requirements for PHS grants and contracts," says Eric Mah, Senior Director, Research - UCSF. "With a large number of users involved in many research projects, it was imperative to have a flexible system that could be implemented quickly and would make the disclosure process straightforward and easy for our research investigators and administrators alike. HCCS' customer service and responsiveness is second to none."

COI-SMART provides full back-end management and reporting to eliminate paper-based conflict of interest disclosure management. Universities and other organizations see improved control and reduced risk. The system provides for the development of multi-level branching questionnaires, automated assignment of reviewers, the development of COI management plans, and data mining tools for auditing, tracking and reporting on potential conflicts of interest.

COI-SMART can be used for an annual COI survey process as well as for transactional or "elective" questionnaires. The system includes role-based tiered questions that allow respondents to provide detailed responses. Administrative dashboards provide a graphical representation of the status of the COI disclosure process.

"We're excited to bring COI-SMART to The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)," says Ben Diamond, President of HCCS. "We are pleased that UCSF has determined that the unique features and user interface in COI-SMART will help to facilitate their process of disclosing, tracking, managing and reporting on potential conflicts of interest."

COI-SMART offers a Quick-Start Option to facilitate compliance for PHS funded research with the new NIH COI regulations.

About University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It is the only UC campus in the 10-campus system dedicated exclusively to the health sciences. 

About Health Care Compliance Strategies, Inc.  (HCCS)
HCCS is a leading provider of compliance training and tracking solutions.  HCCS has provided over 7 million hours of compliance and competency online training courses to Universities, research organizations, teaching facilities, hospitals, medical schools, health plans and other health care entities. HCCS provides expert training courses in Medicare, Medicaid, HIPAA, Harassment, Research, Patient Safety and more. COI-SMART is a solution for tracking and managing Conflicts of Interest disclosures.

For more information about COI-SMART, contact HCCS at (877) 933-4227, by email at [email protected], or via the web at www.coismart.com or www.hccs.com.

SOURCE Health Care Compliance Strategies