Ineligible patient referrals aren’t just a minor setback. Every time an ineligible or disengaged patient makes it to a site, teams lose valuable time, resources, and trust. Sites are left chasing records, rescheduling visits, and re-explaining protocols, all while sponsors face mounting costs, delayed timelines, and frustrated stakeholders.
The good news: ineligible referrals can be prevented. By focusing on smarter pre-screening, site support, and patient-first engagement, you can ensure that every referral has a higher likelihood of turning into a randomization. Here’s how SubjectWell can help.
Assess eligibility with instant access medical records
One of the most common causes of ineligible referrals is missing or inaccurate patient history. Sites often spend days or weeks waiting for documentation that ultimately reveals a patient was never truly eligible.
With Instant Access Medical Records, SubjectWell secures patient consent, retrieves verified medical records, and posts them directly into the site portal so you can assess that only the right patients move forward. This upfront validation reduces wasted effort and accelerates enrollment, especially in complex or rare disease studies
Go deeper with secondary screening
Basic digital screeners alone often can’t capture the nuances of complex protocols. That’s where Secondary Screening comes in. After the initial eligibility check, SubjectWell’s clinically trained Patient Companions conduct a thorough phone screen.
This additional step confirms not only eligibility but also patient interest, motivation, and ability to participate. By building trust and addressing questions early, Secondary Screening significantly improves the quality of referrals and reduces site burden.
Extend your team with full-site support
Even with strong referrals, site staff are often overwhelmed by administrative tasks such as follow-ups, scheduling, and documentation that eat into time better spent on patient care.
Full-Site Support embeds SubjectWell Patient Companions directly into site workflows. Using the site’s own tools and systems, they manage pre-referral tasks, provide same-day follow-up, and integrate seamlessly with existing processes. This results in less administrative friction, more focus on patients, and consistently higher-quality referral outcomes.
Keep patients engaged with dedicated companions
A technically “eligible” patient can still become ineligible if they lose interest or feel unsupported. Attrition is costly for both enrollment numbers and patient trust.
That’s why SubjectWell provides multilingual, clinically trained Patient Companions who support patients throughout their journey. From answering questions about eligibility to addressing barriers like transportation or dietary needs, companions provide personalized, ongoing support. This engagement keeps patients motivated, reduces drop-off, and ensures sites see committed participants.
The bottom line
Ineligible referrals don’t have to be the cost of doing business in clinical research. By combining eligibility verification, deeper screening, site support, and patient-centered care, SubjectWell helps sponsors, CROs, and sites transform referral quality so every patient who arrives is more likely to enroll, stay engaged, and contribute to trial success.
