Baseline Costs
Quantify current paper-based costs: printing, postage, storage, manual data-entry labor, notary/mobile notary fees where applicable, and error remediation costs over a 12-month period.
Measuring ROI for patient consent workflows helps organizations prioritize investments that reduce clinician administrative burden, close revenue leakage, and improve compliance posture under HIPAA and applicable state law. A clear ROI estimate also supports procurement decisions for eSignature platforms and justifies changes to intake and consent procedures.
Aligning stakeholders on measurable outcomes—time saved, error reduction, and cost per consent—improves adoption and governance.
Quantify current paper-based costs: printing, postage, storage, manual data-entry labor, notary/mobile notary fees where applicable, and error remediation costs over a 12-month period.
Measure average end-to-end time from consent requested to consent received under current workflows; use this to estimate throughput improvement from eSignature adoption.
Track frequency and type of missing or incorrect consents that cause delays or billing denials; estimate reduction achievable via validation and required fields.
Include HIPAA-related safeguards, BAA procurement, secure storage costs, and potential liability exposure reduction from better audit trails and retention controls.
Estimate eSignature licensing, per-signature fees, integration development, and ongoing support as part of total cost of ownership for digital consent.
Translate time savings and error reductions into dollar values (staff hours, faster billing, fewer denials) to calculate payback period and multi-year ROI.
| Field | Configuration |
|---|---|
| Authentication | Email + optional SMS OTP or KBA for higher assurance. |
| PHI Handling | Enable encryption at rest and in transit; sign BAA with vendor. |
| Retention | Set retention policy to meet HIPAA and state requirements. |
| Audit Trail | Capture timestamps, IP, and signer authentication method. |
Confirm platform certification and integration options to reduce implementation time and support auditability.
| signNow | DocuSign | Adobe Sign | PandaDoc | HelloSign | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $8/user/mo | $15/user/mo | $14/user/mo | $19/user/mo | $15/user/mo |
| Free Trial | 7-day free trial, no credit card | Varies | Varies | Varies | Varies |
| Bulk Send | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audit Trail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA Compliant | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |