Why is ROI analysis pointless?

Vendors of traditional (client-server) systems and services incure significant expense in terms of initial installation. They often offer ROI (return on investment) analysis, showing how much the practice will benefit by paying these costs over a typical five-year time period.

The pitfall of this approach is that it ignores Moore's law of digital technology development: Chip density doubles every 18 months. Therefore, computer hardware and technology developed on it becomes obsolete every 36 months.

Why would anybody invest in a technology using a 5-year horizon?

Read more in Case Study

“Your costs are too high. I have another offer at 6%.”

Keep in mind quality and accountability. Consider other components included for free. There should be no upfront costs. An offer to analyze ROI is a read flag.

1. Big picture including quality: Added revenue far outweighs the costs. How does the competitor measure quality? Read Case Study
   
   
2. Have you considered all of your costs: employee benefits, training, replacement, motivation, vacations, conflicts, sick days, employee payroll, payroll taxes, insurance benefits, retirement plan contributions. Add capital investment in software and hardware, monthly maintenance, backups, disaster recovery, replacement, training, telephone systems and supplies. Include your own time required to follow up on especially complex cases.
   
   
3. Transparency: How do you hold vendor's feet to the fire? What level of transparency is offered? Are tools included for measurement and early warning?
   
   
4. Office workflow integration: Does the service include built-in scheduler and SOAP and EMR notes? The scheduler must have integrated billing and eligibility verification at the point of schedule.
   
   

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