SCOPE Summit 2026: Understanding the Different Flavors of eSource

In a recent video interview with Applied Clinical Trials at the 2026 SCOPE Summit, Mike Wenger, chief innovation officer at CRIO, explained how eSource adoption requires a nuanced understanding of site workflows, with different approaches needed for EHR-based health systems versus protocol-driven research sites. He highlighted where AI can responsibly add value once data pipelines are established, particularly in supporting quality review and monitoring, while stressing the importance of risk mitigation and human oversight. Wenger also underscored how continued advancement of eSource and EHR integration strengthens data integrity, enables structured capture, and expands remote monitoring capabilities across clinical trial operations.

Editor's note: This transcript is a lightly edited rendering of the original audio/video content. It may contain errors, informal language, or omissions as spoken in the original recording.

ACT: What are your key takeaways from the session you participated in on data capture?

Wenger: It was a phenomenal discussion with all the panelists, and Doug (Clinflo) and Mike Ward from Eli Lilly. I think one of the big takeaways that we shared with the audience was that when you think about the concept of eSource, there are different flavors of eSource, and it’s important to be aware of that as you’re thinking about your study and the sites that are going to be on that study.

One flavor of site eSource would be organizations that are maybe a cancer center, academic medical center, or hospital. They’re seeing patients as part of standard of care, and they’re also conducting research. They’ve already made an investment in an EHR system—something maybe like Epic—and when they go and do their research, the team is already familiar with that tool, and that’s where that source data is going to be initially stored.

For other sites that are often referred to as independent research sites, dedicated research sites, SMOs, or site networks, they are not using an EHR as part of their day-to-day workflow. And so for those groups, they’re going to use a different flavor of eSource—something that I like to refer to as protocol-driven eSource—where for every protocol, we’re going to build a different digital data capture form that allows a site to really adhere not only to that specific protocol and what data needs to be captured, but also to that site’s SOPs.

And so for CRIO, we build solutions for sites. We play more in that space, where we help sites build those digital data capture forms and collect high-quality source data. But it’s very complementary to some other organizations that were on the panel, where they work with sites that are more on the EHR side of the fence.