FDA Issues Draft Guidance Encouraging More Widespread Use of Electronic Health Record Data in Clinical Trials

On May 17, 2016, FDA issued Draft Guidance for Industry on Use of Electronic Health Record Data in Clinical Investigations ("Draft Guidance").  This Draft Guidance builds on prior FDA guidance on Computerized Systems Used in Clinical Investigations and Electronic Source Data in Clinical Investigations, and provides information on FDA's expectations for the use of Electronic Health Record ("EHR") data to clinical investigators, research institutions and sponsors of clinical research on drugs, biologics, medical devices and combination products conducted under an Investigational New Drug Application or Investigational Device Exemption.

While the recommendations set forth in the Draft Guidance do not represent a significant departure from existing guidance, research sponsors, institutions and investigators should consider the extent to which their existing policies and procedures, template agreements, protocols and informed consent documents should be updated to incorporate FDA's recommendations.

Specifically, the draft guidance provides additional detail on FDA's expectations for the due diligence to be performed by sponsors prior to determining the adequacy of any EHR system used by a clinical investigator to capture source data for use in a clinical investigation. FDA expects sponsors to assess whether systems have adequate controls in place to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and reliability of the data. FDA encourages the use of EHR systems certified through the ONC Health IT Certification Program, and will presume that source data collected in Health IT certified EHR systems is reliable and that the technical and software components of privacy and security protection requirements have been met. Sponsors should consider requesting additional detail in site pre-qualification questionnaires or pre-study visits regarding any EHR system utilized by clinical investigators to record source data, including whether such systems are Health IT certified. Sponsors may also consider the extent to which their existing site qualification policies and clinical trial agreements templates adequately reflect the technical requirements for sites utilizing EHR systems to record source data, the need to ensure that any updates to those systems do not impact the reliability of the security of the data, and the extent to which the data, including all required audit trails, are backed up and retained by the site to ensure necessary access by FDA.

The Draft Guidance also includes recommendations regarding the information it expects to be included in study protocols and informed consent documents. When the use of EHR systems is contemplated, FDA recommends that study protocols include a description or diagram of the electronic data flow between the EHR and the sponsor's EDC system, along with information regarding the manner in which the data are extracted and imported from the EHR and monitored for consistency and completeness. FDA also recommends incorporation into informed consent forms of information regarding the extent of access to EHRs granted to sponsors, contract research organizations, and study monitors, as well as a description of any reasonably foreseeable risks with the use of EHRs, such as those involving an increased risk of data breaches. While information related to third party access to health information is typically addressed in informed consent documents, specific details related to access to EHRs and their associated risks are less common. Sponsors and research institutions should consider the extent to which their template informed consent documents should be updated to incorporate the best practice recommendation in the Draft Guidance.

In addition, in the Draft Guidance, FDA encourages the development and use of interoperable EDC and EHR systems to permit electronic transfer of EHR data into the eCRFs being utilized for a clinical trial, including the adoption of data standards and standardization requirements of the ONC Health Information Technology (Health IT) Certification Program. While interoperability of EHR and EDC systems offers the promise of increasing efficiency of clinical trial data collection and reducing the transcription errors that commonly result from the maintenance of this information in separate repositories, FDA acknowledges challenges related to the diverse ownership of the data and EHR systems used to capture them, and the confidentiality of clinical trial information, that will need to be overcome in order to realize the benefits offered by interoperability.