Published May 3, 2018
In March 2018, Washington University announced a new fee schedule for review of human subjects protocols. As there have been presentations about the changes to the research community, concerns and questions have been raised related to some of these new fees.
In light of these concerns, implementation of selected fee categories (mostly concerning circumstances where WU is the single IRB for federal grants and projects supported by non-profit and private foundation sponsors) is being placed “on hold” immediately to allow time for re-evaluation.
This Revised Fee Schedule indicates the specific fee categories that are under review.
Researchers submitting funding applications under categories that still reflect fees on the Revised Fee Schedule should continue to work directly with HRPO to include appropriate costs in funding application budgets.
For context:
- The new fee scheduled was developed as part of the University budgeting process.
- Historically, industry sponsored research revenues were the major source of revenue to support HRPO and the IRB.
- These fees funded most of the other human subjects review activities, including federal and foundation sponsored research and university/department funded research.
- Revenues from industry sponsored research are expected to drop dramatically as industry moves to using commercial IRBs, thus leaving HRPO and the IRB without a source of revenue to fund operations.
HRPO and IRB expenses are not included in our Facilities and Administration (aka indirects) costs.