The assignment this week will be the second short paper on Return on investment with a focus on the steps recommended for building the documentation for the justification of a “soft return”(soft costs include risk avoidance, client goodwill, patient safety, process improvement, and regulatory compliance and support costs) and the gathering of metrics with the intention of estimating the financial benefits expected from the project.

There are three steps in documenting soft returns, which are:

Identifying a process improvement opportunity

Create a formula to calculate the benefits

Determine the costs of the process and the net benefits.

Soft costs include risk avoidance, client goodwill, and support costs. Many projects in healthcare today require large outlays of capital for electronic health records, clinical information systems whose return on investment is not easily documented with new revenues and operating expenses but from a quality standpoint are wanted and needed.

In your research, consider what would be needed to support a capital acquisition that would improve efficiency, quality, customer satisfaction, and overall effectiveness within the organization.

Also, would a project management office establishment be of any assistance in monitoring the project?