LOS ANGELES – The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) is implementing a clinical research management system to track patient data for clinical trials and billing purposes.

The eResearch system, from Fremont, Calif.-based Velos, Inc., will be implemented at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and Translational Oncology Research International (TORI), an affiliated clinical research network.

Officials also plan to deploy the system in non-cancer studies being conducted in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

eResearch will show what studies are open, how well they are accruing patients and the stage they have reached in the regulatory process.

"Managing that was always a very laborious and inefficient process for us," said Courtney Martin, associate director of the cancer center's informatics division. "Before Velos eResearch, it was much more difficult. Now our senior leadership will be able to log into the system and be able to access the data they need in real time."

eResearch will also allow the cancer center to electronically exchange data with the various TORI network sites and provide invoicing staff with access to real time patient tracking data needed for billing.

"We look forward to moving into a system that will allow us to track studies and patients real time in an efficient manner that will facilitate coordination of our clinical trials and allow accurate financial tracking of study procedures and processes," said Nancy Ryba, a registered nurse and director of the Jonsson Cancer Center's clinical research unit.