All you human research protections nerds and geeks who like to tune in online to the thrice-yearly meetings of the HHS’ Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections (SACHRP) won’t be denied that pleasure the rest of this year, after all. The HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), to which SACHRP reports, has rescinded a requirement that SACHRP hold the rest of this year’s meetings virtually.
Sometime in the spring, OASH put in a place a policy requiring all of its advisory commitees to hold at least half of their meetings per year in a “virtual” format, and related subcommittees were prohibited from meeting in person at all. OASH told RRC the change was made to “promote cost-effectiveness and efficiencies.” The decision was widely denounced as a blow to SACHRP and its subcommittees’ deliberations (RRC 4/18, p. 1).