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Institutional Review Board

Procedures for Paying Research Participants

April 2024

Payment Options <$200 per individual in a given year:

Payments to participants in research studies may be paid without collection of SSNs/ITINs for some of the options below if they do not exceed $200 per individual per year. The exception is ClinCard that always requires SSN or the payment is subject to 30% tax withholding.

  • ClinCard (Greenphire): ClinCard is a Study Participant specialized management and payment solution providing a virtual, single use or reloadable card as payment options. The study must first obtain IRB approval to use ClinCard and also obtain verification from the appropriate Departmental/Divisional financial approver that there is a valid IO and Fund# to support the use of the program. Once IRB approval is obtained, the Study can be set up within the ClinCard solution and administered locally by the department. ClinCard always requires a SSN from the payee even for amounts less than $200 otherwise the payment amount is subject to 30% IRS tax withholdings. ClinCard is subject to card and load fees. 
  • Petty Cash: With the rollout of Greenphire’s prepaid card program, the University is migrating away from opening new petty cash bank accounts. Requests for new petty cash bank accounts will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the JHU Treasury Office. Petty Cash Tills, for study program reimbursements less than $500, may still be created by submitting a request to the Treasury Office at [email protected].
  • Gift Cards: Requests for gift cards in amounts under $200 from retail outlets will be handled in accordance with the Petty Cash Policy. Note: gift cards normally have an acquisition cost in addition to the face value of the card.

Payment Options >$200 per individual in a given year:

Payments to participants in research studies that exceed $200 must collect SSNs/ITINs for the options below and report annually all payments made to each individual.  ClinCard which always requires SSN for payment is subject to 30% withholding, reporting requirements are all automated to reduce the burden on the study team.

  •  ClinCard (Greenphire): See description above for ClinCard. 
    • Study teams seeking to use the ClinCard as a participant payment option must first obtain IRB approval using the instructions available here.
    • For studies that use the ClinCard all participants must be provided with a Greenphire ClinCard Information Sheet.
  • Direct Payment from APSSC: Studies can choose to have their participants set up as vendors via the vendor management portal, PaymentWorks. Once created, the study will submit online payment requests (FV60) through SAP with all necessary supporting documentation. After the transaction is reviewed and approved by APSSC, the payment will be issued to the participant via check or electronic funds transfer, per their vendor record setup. See the APSSC Vendor Management page for details regarding PaymentWorks: http://ssc.jhmi.edu/accountspayable/vm/dept/dept_home.html

Contact Information:

Accounts Payable Shared Services (APSSC):https://jhuprocureprod.service-now.com/

Treasury:  [email protected] or [email protected]