Advarra Frequently Asked Questions

• The solution was populated with more than 2,600 employees.  To confirm your access, please send an email to [email protected].
• Non-GW employees such as MFA staff must first be granted an affiliate account vis HRIS.  An affiliate account provides a user with an "@gwu.edu" UserID.  This is the username when logging into the Forte solution.
• Once an affiliate has a GW UserID, they can be added to the Advarra solution using step "a" above.

A user requesting access should provide:

• UserID
• Role defining their responsibilities in the solution (users may be assigned more than one role):

1. Protocol Administrator
2. Payment Reviewer
3. Participant Check-in and Pay
4. Payment Card Replacement

At enrollment, in the Advarra solution, GW is not collecting the participant’s address.  Therefore, the cardholder’s address defaults to that of the University. When a participant receives $450 in total incentives or stipends within a single calendar year, the Protocol users will collect the participant's address and W9 in preparation for a potential 1099 tax filing with the IRS.

If a participant provides their address at the time of enrollment, the zip code for the card is their zip code.

When a participant is enrolled with no address, the general rule at GW, the system looks to the last card order for the zip code, currently 21047.

No, the participants' file in Advarra is a solution-wide (GW) file.  The participant can enroll in multiple studies at the same time,  There is no "study participant ID" in Advarra Participant Payments.

• It is our intent to use Advarra as the preferred method of paying all study participants for studies starting after February 17, 2020.
• Studies subject to IRB periodic reauthorization will file a modification to use Advarra upon reauthorization.
• On-going studies (as of February 17, 2020) are not required to use Advarra for participant payments until their study renews or needs IRB reauthorization.
• We understand there may be certain circumstances that make it difficult or inefficient to use Advarra - confidential or blind studies, single payments, etc.  If these instances apply to your study, please contact Donna Ginter at [email protected] or 571-553-4276.  A mutually beneficial solution will be developed or an exception will be provided for submission with the IRB application.
• It is not our intent to be a hindrance to the research community, but rather to provide administrative solutions to assist study personnel and university compliance efforts.

• To order Advarra cards, please email [email protected].
• Please allow 2 weeks to receive the cards from Forte.
• Please note the cards cost of $1.50 each plus $0.80 load fee will be billed to the study effective July 1st, 2022.

We use Advarra Participant Payments, a secure online funds transfer system, to process your payments. As you participate in the study, we pay money into your account. Our banking partner, Hyperwallet, is responsible for all aspects related to banking.

You decide how to access the funds in your account. You can choose direct deposit into a bank account or a paper check by mail. You also decide whether you want to receive payments automatically or keep money in the Hyperwallet account until you request it.

Notifications are sent when a payment is loaded to an account, and also when funds are transferred from a Pay Portal account to a bank account.

There is a $2.00 load fee for each direct deposit account. 

Advarra specific language for the informed consent form is included in the consent templates provided on the OHR webpage.

Please see the Standard Operating Procedures for the Forte Participant Payments System.