ROI in healthcare stands for "return on investment" and refers to the financial gain a hospital or health system can obtain from each dollar it invests in a quality improvement program. However, ROI can also be used to evaluate non-financial benefits, such as improvements in readmission rates or patient satisfaction ratings. In medical settings, ROI can also refer to the release of information, which involves sharing medical records. The ROI process for medical records is complex and regulated, with more than 40 steps divided into five phases. ROI is a useful tool for assessing major expenses and investments such as equipment purchases or hiring decisions in healthcare organizations. ROI can be calculated after a practice improvement has been implemented to assess its value and inform decisions on future improvement actions. In healthcare, ROI is not strictly a matter of dollars and cents, because financial metrics are just one of many categories used by healthcare organizations to quantify successes. ROI can be used to analyze any measure of effectiveness or efficiency, taking into account the needs of any or all stakeholder groups, such as staff, patients, investors, or even society as a whole.