UW News

August 5, 2004

New position will support clinical research billing policies

Sue Clausen has been appointed as director of the Clinical Research Compliance Office in the School of Medicine’s Office of Research and Graduate Education.

Part of the Office of Clinical Research, the new compliance office is designed to improve the clinical research billing process across several units, including UW Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and UW Physicians. Clausen will oversee the design and implementation of billing policies that meet compliance requirements and are uniform across practice sites, according to Dr. Evan Kharasch, assistant dean for clinical research. The new office will work closely with School of Medicine departments, clinical investigators and research staff to provide education about billing practices and help them navigate administrative complexities associated with the clinical research process.

Clausen joins UW Medicine from the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, where she served in several capacities since 1997. She began as special assistant to the Executive Vice Chancellor and director of the Equal Opportunity Office. She was later appointed executive director of research administration, and became associate vice chancellor for compliance in 2003. In that position she was responsible for university-wide oversight of research protection, conflict of interest, safety, HIPAA, equal opportunity and disability access compliance activities. She was the institutional official for human and animal federal protection assurances, co-investigator on two NIH grants, and an ex-officio member of the Research Advisory Council.

Having worked at both Central and Western Washington Universities, and with a degree in policy administration from Fairhaven College at WWU, Clausen has roots in the Pacific Northwest.

“I’m happy to be back ‘home’ and look forward to working with faculty and staff to accomplish meaningful change,” said Clausen. She noted that the medical centers and practice plans have already partnered to identify needs, and stated: “Our next step will be to engage others in the development of practical solutions for our clinical research billing challenges. We know that a good compliance system isn’t created in a vacuum. Complicated billing requirements have to be viewed through the eyes of coders, investigators, department heads, study coordinators and practice sites.”

Clausen is located in A-300, HSB, and can be reached by e-mail at sclausen@u.washington.edu or phone at

206-543-3322.