Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ: HURN), a leading provider of business consulting services, today announced that Tufts Medical Center (Tufts MC) has selected its Click® Portal software to automate administration and management of financial conflict of interest (COI) disclosures and pre-award grants processes required for research.

"With the new Conflict of Interest requirements from the Public Health Service it became impossible for us to manage disclosures off-line," said Douglas Reichgott, director of Regulatory Operations, Research Administration, Tufts Medical Center. "We wanted an automated system that could not only streamline our processes and provide robust reporting, but also be deployed quickly. In addition, integrating our online compliance management with pre-award submission management for grants just made sense. The Click product should make life easier for our investigators and administrators while providing senior management with higher quality information."

Tufts Medical Center has a robust research program that includes groundbreaking bench research, clinical trials and developments in health policy. The Medical Center ranks among the top ten percent of the nation's independent hospitals receiving federal research funds.

The federal COI rules issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cover a wide range of areas, including disclosure frequency, training, and conflict management, all of which are directly addressed by Huron's Click Portal software. The solution also eliminates roadblocks such as lengthy turnaround times, interoffice delays, duplicate data entry, and information loss. Tufts MC chose the Click software solution in part because of its ability to integrate COI and grants processes in a single automated system.

The Click Portal solution will also enable Tufts MC to accelerate pre-award grants processes, including proposal creation and submission, as the system provides a comprehensive forms library and helps ensure accurate electronic submissions to government funding organizations.

"Applying for a grant is hard enough, so having COI checks efficiently managed is important to keep the research process moving," said Nick Stier, managing director, Huron Education. "Integrating these two systems simplifies and streamlines tasks nearly every researcher and administrator must perform. It also improves collaboration between the research administration departments and overall institutional compliance."

Tufts Medical Center and many other leading research institutions use Huron's Click Portal platform to automate a wide range of administrative and compliance processes, including those associated with Institutional Review Board (IRB), Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC), COI, Grants, and Clinical Trials.

About Tufts Medical Center

Tufts Medical Center is an exceptional, not-for-profit, 415-bed academic medical center that is home to both a full-service hospital for adults and Floating Hospital for Children. Conveniently located in downtown Boston, the Medical Center is the principal teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine. Floating Hospital for Children is the full-service children's hospital of Tufts Medical Center and the principal pediatric teaching hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine. Tufts Medical Center is affiliated with New England Quality Care Alliance, its community physicians' network. For more information, please visit www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org.

About Click, a Huron Solution

Huron's Click® Portal software has been developed to meet the needs of leading academic medical centers and research institutions throughout North America. Click solutions are deployed by consulting experts from Huron Education working in conjunction with local client teams. Configurable applications for grants administration, research compliance, and clinical trials efficiently manage the business of research by combining information technology with industry best practices. Huron Education's professionals have worked with more than 90 of the top 100 research universities in the U.S. More information can be found at www.huronconsultinggroup.com/click or follow us on Twitter: @Huron.

About Huron Consulting Group

Huron Consulting Group helps clients in diverse industries improve performance, comply with complex regulations, reduce costs, recover from distress, leverage technology and stimulate growth. The Company teams with its clients to deliver sustainable and measurable results. Huron provides services to a wide variety of both financially sound and distressed organizations, including healthcare organizations, Fortune 500 companies, leading academic institutions, medium-sized businesses and the law firms that represent these various organizations. Learn more at www.huronconsultinggroup.com.

Huron Consulting Group
Jennifer Frost Hennagir, 312-880-3260
jfrost-hennagir@huronconsultinggroup.com