Compensation for enrolling subjects in study

[Megan Vimont]

Hello CAs,

I have a question that came up that I do not know how to answer.  I've reached out to SPA, and my GA told me that he is going to bring this up in his next team meeting later this week.  In the meantime, I thought I'd post it here in case any of you have encountered a similar situation.  We have a SBIR grant with the UMN site PI and another faculty member in the same dept responsible for recruiting and enrolling subjects for the study.  Health Partners is another project study site under this award from NIH, and Health Partners is telling us that the UMN site PI and the other faculty member are supposed to receive $100 for each enrollment.  The remuneration would be paid by the Health Partners Institute, and they want the funds to go to a fixed price chartfield string in the deptartment.  The accountant who manages this grant told Health Partners that there was a similar situation with a study through the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network and that the compensation was set up via a Master Service Agreement.  Health Partners is telling us that they cannot do a Master Service Agreement, and they want to know if there is any other way they can get the funds to the UMN and into a dept fund.

My questions are 1. is this allowable? and 2. If it is allowable, what would be the procedure for getting the funds to the dept?

Thanks,

Megan