Collaborative Activities with Banner Health

Banner Health (BH) is the University of Arizona's academic medical partner. This partnership is governed by an Academic Affiliation Agreement (AAA). Research studies covered by the AAA are known as “covered studies." Covered studies must meet the two following criteria:

  1. Principal Investigator (PI) is a Banner University Medical Group (BUMG) faculty physician and holds a University of Arizona faculty title; and
  2. Research involves one or more BH resources:
  • Research involves a select site (BUMC-T, BUMC-South, BUMC-P, or BH clinics)
  • Potential study subjects have or had a treating relationship with BH
  • Data is being collected on BH patients
  • Biological samples are being collected on BH patients

Research studies that do not meet these two criteria are known as “non-covered studies." These are studies conducted by a PI who is not a BUMG faculty physician.

The University of Arizona IRB reviews all University-affiliated research activity at Banner's hospitals (BUMC-Tucson, South, and Phoenix campuses) or clinics. In addition, all access by UA affiliated faculty, staff, or students to Banner facilities, patients, services, staff, resources as a clinical provider, or access to health records requires a Determination of Human Research approval or IRB approval AND Banner approval before the activity may begin. Multiple processes exist depending on the type of activity proposed as outlined below. 

If there are cases in which a study will perform study procedures across the Banner system, and 75% or more of study enrollment occurs at sites that are not of the three UA-Banner sites listed above, Banner IRB would act as the IRB of Record, not the University of Arizona IRB. This rule does not apply to retrospective or prospective data use studies. For questions on this process, you may contact the Honest Broker Team at: BHHonestBrokerDataRequest@bannerhealth.com.  For existing studies that have already been reviewed and approved by the UA IRB, and the investigators propose to expand their study to non-academic medical centers/facilities within Banner, the UA IRB can continue to have IRB oversight over the project. In this case, an IAA would be established to defer oversight from Banner IRB to UA IRB for the non-academic sites. 

Research Projects

To conduct research at Banner Health covered sites:

Once BH Feasibility approval is obtained, UAHS RA will provide the necessary approvals. Please visit our Getting Started page for more information on submitting material to the IRB for review.

Be sure to use the required University of Arizona/Banner Health Medical Consent Form.

  • Submit to the UAHS Research Administration Portal (RAP). Additional resources and information on clinical trials, coverage analysis, CT.gov requirements, and contracting is also available from UAHS Research Administration.
  • UAHS Research Administration will review RAP applications for completeness of information. Fully completed RAPs are submitted to BH Research Operations for feasibility review and approval. For questions about BH Research Operations, please contact the Clinical Research Program Director (CRPD) assigned to your department: https://research.uahs.arizona.edu/clinical-trials/cerner.
  • For studies being deferred to an outside IRB of record, RAP will require submission of the Drug or Device appendices for clinical investigations. For questions related to RAP submission requirements, please click here.
  • If recruiting Banner staff for participation in research, include the required Banner employee addendum in addition to the normal research consent. If you are using a consent disclosure, you may insert the following language into your disclosure form in place of the Banner employee addendum consent: Completion of the survey and participation in this research project is voluntary. If you complete the survey you are confirming that you voluntarily consent to participate in this research project and you understand that participation in this project is not a condition of employment at Banner Health. You may complete this survey at work. If you elect to complete the survey on your own time, you will not be paid for your time spent on completing the survey. 

Non-Research Projects

For any UA-affiliated faculty, staff, or student who wishes to conduct a non-research project (e.g., quality improvement, program evaluation, case report evaluation, etc.) at a Banner covered site (BUMC-Tucson, South, and Phoenix), the UA IRB must first ensure the project does not qualify as human research. As of October 2022, non-human subjects determinations will no longer require NRDUC review. Effective October 07, 2022, determination submissions to the UA IRB should include the following: 

Banner Systems Access Requests & Resources 

For more information on how to get access to Banner systems and resources, please visit UAHS Research Administration's webpage for:

  • Cerner/EPIC Access
  • OnCore
  • Banner Security Badges

Access to the Data Warehouse

Two data warehouses exist that researchers may use to obtain data for a research project:

  • Banner Clinical Research Data Warehouse (CRDW): To access data from CERNER (September 19, 2017 – present date), submit to the Research Administration Portal (RAP) first and include the CRDW request form. Once BH Feasibility is obtained, submit either an IRB Protocol for Human Research/IRB Protocol for Human Research Retrospective Data Review (if obtaining identifiable data) or an IRB Protocol for Determination of Human Research (if obtaining de-identified data) in eIRB. Please note, RAP approval is not needed if only obtaining de-identified data from the CRDW. Be sure to provide a copy of the IRB approval/determination to the CRDW.
  • UA Clinical Data Warehouse (CDW) - To access data from EPIC (November 1, 2013 - September 18, 2017), submit either an IRB Protocol for Human Research/IRB Protocol for Human Research Retrospective Data Review (if obtaining identifiable data) or an IRB Protocol for Determination of Human Research (if obtaining de-identified data) in eIRB. Once IRB approval is obtained, submit a data request to the CDW

Banner Translation Services

For projects occurring at a Banner Health location (BUMC-Tucson, South, Phoenix, or other Banner Health clinics) that will enroll non-English speaking individuals, all study-related documents seen or utilized by non-English speaking subjects require translation and IRB approval. 

Use of Cyracom, Banner's approved translation service, is preferred for:

  • Non-sponsored studies; or
  • Sponsored studies where the Sponsor or central IRB will not provide translation of the study documents themselves.

Once English versions of study documents have been approved by the IRB, translation requests can be sent directly through Cyracom’s portal https://portal.cyracom.com/customers/#/sign-in/ or to doctrans@cyracom.comPlease review the Language Translation Process document for detailed instructions on how to obtain translations through Cyracom

Researchers at the University of Arizona can also use alternative translation services as long as they issue a Certificate of Translation. 

UA researchers may also utilize the University of Arizona's National Center for Interpretation to provide translated participant material and consent forms for use in studies occurring at Banner. Any translations provided by the UA NCI must come with a Certificate of Translation/Accuracy. 

Nursing (DNP) Projects

Banner Health is vested in ensuring that nursing research is part of the clinical practice. All nursing projects (defined as project lead or PI is a Nurse that is Banner employed) require Banner review. 

If the activity is for a UA student completing a degree program then the UA IRB reviews. If the activity is for a Banner-employed nurse, non-UA affiliated, then Banner IRB reviews.

Contacts:

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