Pricing

The Biostatistics Core operates as a consultative core without a chargeback.  The justification for operating as a consultative core includes:

• A substantial portion of the work of the core facility supports the many small early clinical trials in DF/HCC.  These trials often do not have a funding source that can be charged for statistical consulting, and the effort to obtain funding can substantially delay an important trial.
   
• The Biostatistics Core provides advice on the design and experimental methods for the initial submission of both large (SPOREs, P01s) and small (R01) grants.  Investigators usually do not have funding for statistical consulting during grant preparation work.  When statisticians assist in the preparation of large, collaborative grants, those applications always request separate funding for statistics as part of the grant budget.  When these large grants are funded, continuing statistical collaboration is supported directly by that grant and not by the CCSG.
   
• Biostatistical consulting is inherently an iterative enterprise, and it is not always easy to predict the time that will be needed to match an efficient design with other constraints of a study.  We believe that, within limits, the science of the DF/HCC is best served by producing the best possible designs and analyses without regard to additional constraints imposed by a charging structure for statistical consulting.