Sites & Operations
Site Payments
Site payments are the financial disbursements a sponsor or CRO makes to a clinical trial site for services rendered; typically structured as per-patient visit payments, milestone payments (activation, FPI, LPLV), startup fees, IRB fees, and pass-through costs.
Site payments are governed by the Clinical Trial Agreement (CTA) and its budget. Industry best practice is per-visit milestone-triggered payment within 30; 45 days; payment delays are a top site dissatisfaction driver and can stall enrollment.
Modern site-payment platforms (Greenphire eClinicalGPS, IQVIA Site Payments, Calyx) automate budget translation into milestone triggers and disbursement workflows.
Related terms
Clinical Trial Startup
Clinical trial startup is the set of activities between protocol finalization and first-patient-in (FPI), including regulatory submissions, IRB/IEC approvals, contract and budget execution, site selection and qualification, central lab and IRT setup, IP labeling, and site initiation visits.
Contract Research Organization (CRO)
A Contract Research Organization (CRO) is a service organization that contracts with a pharmaceutical, biotech, or medical-device sponsor to perform some or all of the operational activities of a clinical trial, from protocol design through regulatory submission.
Site Selection (Clinical Trials)
Site selection is the process by which sponsors and CROs identify, evaluate, and choose the clinical trial sites best suited to enroll a given study, based on patient population access, investigator experience, operational capacity, regulatory standing, and historical performance.
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