Introduction
As private practices, research sites, and independent clinical research professionals look for more efficient ways to staff studies, Clinolink provides a modern contracting platform built specifically for clinical trials. Below are the most common questions potential users ask, answered with clarity and precision.
1. What is Clinolink?
Clinolink is a contracting and staffing platform built for clinical research sites and private practices. It connects Investigators, Study Coordinators, and Regulatory Coordinators with research sites seeking flexible, milestone-based clinical trial support. The platform handles contracting, payments, messaging and document storage.
2. Who is Clinolink designed for?
Clinolink supports two primary user groups:
For Sites & Private Practices
Sites running clinical trials
Private practices looking to add research as a service line
Organizations needing short-term or milestone-based clinical trial staffing
Groups looking to reduce overhead and avoid hiring full-time staff
For Freelancers
Investigators
Study Coordinators
Regulatory Coordinators
Research Nurses and Ops specialists (optional based on your platform scope)
3. What types of contracts does Clinolink support?
Clinolink specializes in non-hourly contracting and instead focuses on:
Milestone-Based Contracts
Recommended for:
Per patient enrolled
Per patient completed in EDC
Per CRF/eCRF completed
Per query resolved
Study start-up tasks
"In total" project-based engagements
Time-Based Engagements
(Week is the smallest interval---no hourly billing)
Weekly
Biweekly
Monthly
Bimonthly
Annually
Biannually
These timeframes allow both sides to structure engagement intensity without the inefficiency of hourly time-tracking.
4. How do payouts work on Clinolink?
Clinolink separates engagement structure from payout timing.
For example: A coordinator might be contracted for $30/week, but choose a monthly payout interval.
Supported payout intervals include:
Weekly
Monthly
Bimonthly
Annually
Biannually
At contract completion
Sites choose the payout structure during contract creation. Freelancers may offer alternative payout models in their bids.
5. Can freelancers see competing bids?
Yes. Clinolink offers transparent bidding, allowing freelancers to see anonymized bid ranges from other professionals. This helps establish true market clarity---solving the common problem of guessing what similar professionals charge.
6. How do contracts get created and signed?
Clinolink offers a fully digital contract workflow:
Sites post a contract publicly for freelancers to review (including scope and initial offered rate).
Freelancers submit a bid (offering their own terms, rate, intervals).
Sites review bids and user profiles and select one that fits best.
Both parties review the digital contract.
Each user signs electronically using secure text-based signatures.
The contract is automatically stored, versioned, and accessible anytime to either party.
Both parties then update milestones as the contract progresses confirming prior to set payout dates
Contracts are generated as PDFs for final storage and recall.
7. How does payment processing work?
Clinolink uses Stripe for secure, compliant payments.
Freelancers connect their Stripe Express accounts to receive payouts.
Sites and organizations maintain Stripe customer accounts for subscription and contract payments.
Sites can store different payment methods for different locations if needed.
All transactions are itemized and tracked in-app.
8. Does Clinolink have recurring monthly site subscriptions?
Yes. Sites subscribe to Clinolink to access features such as:
Contracting & payments
Bidding marketplace access
Site profile visibility for freelancers
Study pipeline tools to help connect sites with study opportunites
Payments are managed through each organization's and freelancer’s Stripe accounts.
9. Can an organization have multiple payment methods?
Yes.\ Organizations can have unique payment methods for:
The parent organization subscription
Freelancer-specific contracts\ This ensures financial separation and flexibility across multi-site operations.
10. What is the difference between a Site, Organization, and User on Clinolink?
User: An individual person (investigator, coordinator, owner, etc.).
Organization: The parent entity (e.g., "ABC Medical Group").
Site: A location under that organization (e.g., "ABC Medical Group -- Dallas").
Owners only exist at the organization level; sites inherit ownership logically.
11. What permissions can users have?
Clinolink includes object-based permissions:
Org -- manage payment methods, subscriptions, org settings and has access to all sites belonging to the Org.
Site -- manage study activities, bids, and contracts
User -- manage user profile, respond to messages on their behalf, and bid on contracts
Permissions are broken down into three major categories “Basic”, “Participation” and “Finance” for each different object so you can customize how much each user can update.
* Basic * -- manage basic profile information (e.g. user skills, site phone number and org email)
* Participation * -- manage object participation (e.g. contracts and other users access to the object)
* Finance * -- manage object finances (e.g. update default payment methods for sites or subscription type for orgs)
12. Does Clinolink support placeholder accounts?
Yes.\ Sites can create placeholder accounts for staff using only an email. Staff can begin filling out the profile on behalf of the other user. The invited staff member then "claims" the account, verifies their email, and completes their profile. This is ideal for onboarding new coordinators or investigators quickly. If the account is not claimed by the invited staff within 30 days, the account is deleted and all previously entered information is removed.
13. How does messaging work on Clinolink?
Clinolink includes a real-time, WebSocket-based messaging system supporting:
User-to-user direct messaging
Site-level group chats
Organization-level chats
Notifications are individualized: each user gets an unread indicator that clears only when they view the messages.
14. Can private practices use Clinolink to start running clinical trials?
Yes. Clinolink is designed to help private practices launch and scale clinical research by:
Finding qualified freelance investigators and coordinators
Staffing only as needed (no full-time hiring required)
Reducing overhead with milestone-based payouts
Managing contracts in one place
This makes it easier for private practices to add a revenue stream while improving patient access to new treatments.
15. What makes Clinolink different from staffing agencies or CROs?
Clinolink is not a staffing agency and not built for CRO outsourcing.
Clinolink specializes in direct contracting between sites and freelancers, giving both sides:
Full transparency
Market-based pricing
Flexible contract structures
Control over engagement terms
Lower cost and lower friction vs traditional staffing
It is purpose-built for clinical trial site operations - not general healthcare staffing.
