SCORR Marketing, a global health science marketing and communications firm, in partnership with Applied Clinical Trials, has released the results of a comprehensive survey on the use of paperless processes in clinical trials.

The report describes current levels of paperless data collection, perspectives on the importance of paperless clinical trials and the processes that have already been adopted.

“From the survey, we discovered that nearly a quarter of users said that more than 75% of their data collection processes are paperless,” said Cliff Echols, director of market intelligence at SCORR Marketing. “Respondents said that the key benefit of going paperless is better data quality, and users said that their companies have primarily implemented processes to obtain trial data source records from electronic medical records (EMR) as well as processes to implement electronic signatures on clinical trial documents.”

Information regarding the benefits and challenges emerging from the adoption of eClinical processes was also gathered, as well as which stakeholders are most resistant to paperless trials and predictions on future company and industry adoption of paperless processes.

“Survey respondents said that the top concerns they are seeing from adopting paperless processes are related to data security,” said Echols.

“We found that the cost of technology and fear of change were the two greatest hindrances to the adoption of paperless processes,” said Lisa Henderson, editor in chief at Applied Clinical Trials, a part of the life sciences unit of UBM. “However, many respondents, particularly those working within a CRO, believe that there will still be a dramatic increase in their company’s use of paperless processes over the next three years.”