Investigators and institutional review boards (IRBs) wrestling with the difficult issue of how to compensate or pay financial incentives to subjects enrolled in research will have to wait a bit longer for some guidelines to make that task easier.

The Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections (SACHRP) was expected to approve a document on the topic of payment at its March 27-28 meeting, which would then have been forwarded to HHS for possible issuance as a formal guidance document.

But despite being announced in the Federal Register, the meeting was canceled due to a lack of members—HHS having failed to name new appointees to fill seven open spots on the 11-member panel, whose members serve three- or four-year terms.

HHS has made no new appointments to SACHRP since 2016.

Three vacancies were created in recent years when two members resigned before their terms were over and one died. Three other members’ terms expired in October; they were asked to stay on temporarily in order for the March meeting to have a sufficient number of members.

But on March 18, acting on fears of a lack of a quorum, HHS informed RRC it had canceled the meeting.