Site finance

Why research site costs are rising, and where to cut safely

By TrialNotice · Updated
Research site director in his office looking at a laptop showing a rising line chart
Short answerSite costs are rising mainly because of salaries and protocol complexity. SCRS data shows about 82% of sites saw operating costs rise 6% or more in 2024, over half by 10% or more, with salaries the top driver, and 41.2% could not offset the increase. Procedures per Phase III protocol rose from 187 to 301 between 2020 and 2025. Cut administrative waste, not the work that enrolls patients.

How fast are costs rising?

About 82% of sites reported operating costs up 6% or more in 2024, and over half saw increases of 10% or more. Salaries were the main driver for about 69% of sites, followed by technology, insurance, and regulatory fees, and 41.2% said they could not mitigate the increase (Bourne Partners, citing SCRS).

What is driving the increase?

  • Protocol complexity. Tufts CSDD data shows the average Phase III trial grew from 187 to 301 procedures and from 1.8 million to about 4.9 million data points between 2020 and 2025 (Bourne Partners, citing Tufts CSDD). 24% of sites declined a trial due to complexity (SCRS 2025 via Clinical Leader).
  • Staff turnover. Patient facing turnover of 35% to 61%, with 85% of leavers going to sponsors and CROs, and 6 to 12 months to recover a study (SCRS).
  • Training time. An average of 17.5 hours per study per month in sponsor training (SCRS).
  • Unfunded recruitment. 53% of sites pay for recruitment from their own funds (SCRS).

Where can sites cut safely?

  1. Unbilled work: bill training time, prescreening, and amendments wherever the contract allows.
  2. Studies that will not enroll: declining them saves startup cost.
  3. Duplicate systems and manual reentry.
  4. Turnover: keeping a coordinator is cheaper than replacing one.

What should you not cut?

Patient sourcing. Cutting recruitment to save money lowers enrollment, which lowers revenue faster than it lowers cost. The better move is to make recruitment efficient: fewer coordinator hours chasing unqualified leads, and more prequalified patients arriving from referring physicians. Measure it with the recruitment ROI calculator.

Get your study in front of the right local physicians

TrialNotice builds a physician referral pipeline around one active study. We identify relevant local physicians within driving distance of your site, send study aligned direct mail, follow up by email and LinkedIn, track engagement with recipient level QR codes, and route warm responses into your site team's workflow.

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Sources

  1. Bourne Partners, "Update on the Fundamentals of Clinical Trial Sites" (SCRS Global Site Solutions Summit takeaways, October 2025)
  2. Society for Clinical Research Sites, Workforce Challenges at Clinical Research Sites
  3. Society for Clinical Research Sites, "Reducing Site Training Hours: A Call to Action"
  4. Clinical Leader, "Endpoints, Procedures, And Deviations Are On The Rise" (2025 SCRS Landscape Survey Report)
  5. SCRS 2024 Global Site Landscape results, Site Solutions Summit

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