New Employee General Information
New Employee Welcome

DSI wishes to welcome you to our office as a new employee. We want to nurture a good relationship that will be beneficial to all of us. The following will be an overview:

The employment contract will look like this:

EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT

HOURLY WAGE $ ___________

Employment Trial Period 3 months.

2 week Vacation after 1 year of Employment Paid National Holidays.

No insurance Benefits. No pay for days taken off.

Paychecks on 15th and Last Day of Month (reflecting 2 weeks behind).

Need to provide one month's written notice of intent to leave and terminate agreement. Failure to do so will lead to loss of good standing. This could affect recommendations and re-hiring in the future. Early notification of intent to leave will be highly appreciated and your continued employment will be preserved.

You will have internet access for work related duties only. Your computer usage will be monitored. If you are caught using your work-time for other than work-related issues, you may be asked to leave.

Our Mission Statement:
We have three practices under one roof, collectively called The Jupiter Preventive Medicine Center (JPMC) with the general goal of promoting good health. Each has different missions:

• The Jupiter Preventive Internal Medicine Center (JPIMC) is our regular group of patients that we follow for their continuing care. Our goal is to provide good primary care to these patients while trying to include them in one of our two other groups of patients.
• The Concierge Care Club (CCC) www.CareClub.MD is a retainer boutique type of practice where a select few join for $2000.00 per year and receive advanced access to all of our services. This would include: having the doctors' home and cell phone numbers, house calls, discussing medical conditions with multiple family members, and, in general, being more accessible and spending more time than the ordinary insurance companies reimbursement allow.
• Drug Study Institute (DSI) www.DrugStudy.MD is our experimental research arm where we enroll research subject volunteers in experimental drug studies. The patients who volunteer for these obtain a high level care with an education that rivals a medical school class. It's almost like getting a free CCC membership. We help drug companies study their drugs so that they can get them on the market. We have a special way of doing it that minimizes risks while maximizing benefits.

The main advantage for volunteering to be a research subject volunteer with us is that you receive attention. Often, the reason a diagnosis is missed is due to a lack of attention. In today's HMO cost cutting society, doctors have less time to see more patients. Well, as a patient in our program, you will notice that you will spend more time with the doctor more often than regular care. We are also very open and honest. We will point out where our treatment exceeds conventional care and where it's different. Drug Studies are one of the Best Kept Secretes in modern medicine today. Patients receive a very high level of care at no charge. Some of the aspects of drug studies include:
Testing
Before a pharmaceutical medicine becomes available in drug stores as an approved treatment, it is subjected to a deliberate, rational, and scientific scrutiny based upon mechanisms of action and molecular targets. The development begins in the laboratory and follows a prescribed pathway through federally mandated stages of safety and efficacy testing (how well it works). But how safe is it for the thousands of research subject volunteers that are needed to participate in an experimental drug study in order to get each new drug on the market?
Safety
We want to ensure medicines are safe and efficacious (work). In order to accomplish this, we need to enroll many subjects in drug studies and study them for a long time. The more people we have enrolled, the more we will know about the drug you will be on. Studies are broken up into phases. Phase 1 is first in humans. After phase 3, the drug gets on the market. Phase 4 studies drugs that are already marketed.
Clinical trials have several steps they must pass through to ensure a participant gets careful medical attention. One or more review groups have to approve the protocol (the study guideline) for each study before a patient is asked to participate as a research subject volunteer (RSV). One review group every study center must have is an institutional review board (IRB) that oversees clinical research. The IRB is made up of doctors, other health care providers, consumers, and sometimes members of the clergy, who do not have any personal interest in the results of the study. In addition to the IRB, the federal government's FDA reviews all non-NIH clinical trials to ensure patient/research subject volunteer safety. Safety is our first, last, and every concern in any experimental drug study. Researchers respect that you're coming forth to volunteer for a study. Without your help, we couldn't get new drugs on the market. In turn, the study protocol will have safeguards built into it to minimize risk, maximize benefit, and to provide you with an overall good experience so that you will consider volunteering for another trial at sometime in the future.
Placebo
DSI vouches for our process even if the product is a placebo! For example, in a study of a new experimental pain medicine vs. placebo, there will be some "rescue" medicine available for people in pain. Therefore, we should see the placebo group using more rescue pain reliever than the study group, if the new medicine works. If it doesn't work, the two groups would use a similar amount of rescue pain drug. But everybody in the drug would always have their pain controlled at all times, even if they were assigned to the placebo group.
Benefits
People volunteer to be part of a clinical trial for several reasons. Some people simply want to help in the advancement of science. Some people may be suffering from a disease for which a good treatment does not presently exist. Others join hoping to get improved medical care with more attention in a Ritz-Carlton type of environment. By joining a clinical trial, a person helps in the development of medical therapies, which may offer better treatments for everyone. Without volunteers, we couldn't advance medicine and bring new and better drugs to the market. People who join clinical trials help themselves and others live longer and healthier lives now and in the future.
Visits
A person will receive a physical exam and a review of their medical history, including your physician's old records. The trial will be explained step-by-step in an informed consent form (ICF) which the person taking part in the study will sign and take home a copy. Safety and communication are the priorities. Therefore, it is important that the participant takes all of their medicine, keep scheduled appointments, and inform the investigator of any health issues that occur whether or not they are study related. The participant's privacy is protected and their medical records are kept confidential. The information given to the FDA and pharmaceutical company will not include names of people participating in the study. Participants have the right to quit the study at any time for any reason.
Transition
At the end of the experimental drug study, the PI (doctor) will assist you in transitioning to your new medical therapy. Sometimes, sponsors have open label extension trials where they continue to provide study drug with less testing. Other times, you will need to be placed on something else while all of the information is analyzed to see if the drug is working, if it is safe, and if it has side effects. The FDA thoroughly reviews this information before approving the new drug.
RSV
The research subject volunteers (RSV) receive more time and attention with the doctor (principal investigator) than in regular care. They receive more tests and wind up very pleased with all the extra attention. They come out of the study having learned a lot about their medical attention and how to maintain a healthier lifestyle in the future. Knowledge is power. Everyday I empower patients to be healthier. Consider joining a drug study and share the power of knowledge by studying tomorrow's pharmaceuticals today.

In conclusion, it is our goal to make a very nice working environment for everyone. We plan weekly strategy meetings where we encourage input from everyone about how to improve things. We appreciate your good attendance and the commorority. We appreciate your feedback on how to make the work environment a more pleasant place. We also appreciate your input on ways to improve patient safety and quality of care. And, when it’s your time to leave, we appreciate at least one months notice. We promise nobody will be terminated for telling us they are leaving. On the contrary, we will be very grateful for all your help it the transition period. We cherish our employees like family.

Sincerely:

Joseph Saponaro, MD, DABIM, FACP, CPI, CCI, CCTI, CCRC, CCRP
PI (Principal Investigator), DSI (Drug Study Institute)
Board Certified Internist, JPMC (Jupiter Preventive Medicine Center)
DABIM (Diplomat American Board of Internal Medicine)
FACP (Fellow American College of Physicians)
CPI (Certified Physician Investigator) by the AAPP (American Academy of Pharmaceutical Physicians)
CCTI (Certified Clinical Trial Investigator) by the ACRP (Association of Clinical Research Professionals)
CCI (Certified Clinical Investigator) by the DIA (Drug Information Association)
CCRC (Certified Clinical Research Coordinator) by the ACRP (Association of Clinical Research Professionals)
CCRP (Certified Clinical Research Professional) by SoCRA (Society of Clinical Research Associates)
Founder, CertifiedResearchers.com
IRB Member, Jupiter Medical Center
Ethics Committee Member, Jupiter Medical Center
Member, ARENA (Applied Research Ethics National Association)
Member, PRIM&R (Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research)
Member: The American College of Preventive Medicine
Expert Medical Witness, ExpertMD