How to Reduce Administrative Burden in Healthcare with Technology
The term “administrative burden” is frequently referenced in healthcare circles, but what is it exactly? Most often, it refers to the mountain of paperwork, data entry, and non-clinical tasks that providers and their staff face daily. From charting patient visits to managing billing and scheduling, these duties consume valuable time and resources.
Reducing this burden matters for several reasons. First, it negatively impacts provider well-being and causes burnout. Burnout affects roughly 63% of U.S. physicians and is mainly caused by excessive workloads. Second, administrative burden affects staff productivity, a practice’s financial health, and the quality of the patient experience.
Technology offers powerful, scalable solutions to tackle these challenges head-on, reducing cognitive load and freeing up providers to focus on what matters most: their patients.
Join us as we explore how administrative burden is holding healthcare providers back and how the latest technology solutions can truly transform your practice.
The Rising Challenge of Administrative Burden in Healthcare
Research shows that physicians spend a staggering amount of time on documentation and administrative tasks—often more time than they spend with patients. An American Medical Association (AMA) survey reveals:
- Physicians reported (22.5%) spending more than eight hours on the electronic health record (EHR) outside regular work hours.
- Those who reported a workweek of approximately 57.8 hours revealed they spent 13 hours on indirect patient care, like documentation.
An American Academy of Family Physicians report also finds that a significant percentage of the time family physicians spend on administrative and EHR tasks is devoted to chart review (32.1%), other clerical tasks (16.6%), and visit documentation (23.7%). Physicians note their frustration in the report with comments like:
“It’s a daily death by a thousand clicks."
“A 15-minute visit means 10 minutes in a note."
“Something has to give, and it’s time with my patients and my family."
These burdens are a primary driver of physician burnout, staff stress, and soaring administrative costs. And manual processes are inefficient, prone to error, and frustrating for everyone involved.
The heavy workload not only ends up degrading patient care quality but also makes it difficult for healthcare organizations to operate efficiently. With all of these negative outcomes and limitations, the need for reducing provider workload has never been more urgent.
RELATED CONTENT: Understanding the Causes and Consequences of Physician Burnout
Key Areas Where Technology Can Streamline Healthcare Operations
Technology is the game-changer your practice needs to run smoother and smarter. By automating everyday tasks, you can boost efficiency, reduce errors, and create a more satisfying, less stressful environment for your team. Here’s how it can help your practice.
Automating Documentation and Compliance
Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered transcription and natural language processing (NLP) tools can transform how clinical notes are created. These systems listen to patient-provider conversations and automatically generate accurate documentation, simplifying one of the most time-consuming tasks.
Furthermore, built-in compliance tools ensure that all documentation meets regulatory standards, like HIPAA, safeguarding sensitive patient data through secure automation.
EHR Automation Tools
Modern Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems can help you work more efficiently. EHR automation tools are designed to minimize repetitive data entry by using smart templates, auto-populating fields, and creating streamlined workflows.
These features are crucial for improving the efficiency of practice operations, allowing your staff to process information faster and with greater accuracy.
For example, DrChrono, an EHR that integrates EMR, patient engagement, and billing into one platform, offers advanced automation features that streamline practice management workflows, including automated scheduling, business operations, and medical billing tools. These features allow you to bypass redundant tasks and realize significant productivity improvement.
Medical Billing and Revenue Cycle Management
We don’t have to tell you that claim denials and complex billing cycles are major sources of administrative strain. On the bright side, medical billing software and automation tools can help by automating insurance eligibility checks, coding, and denial analysis.
This not only reduces claim denial rates but also improves overall revenue cycle management while cutting administrative costs. One study found that predictive analytics and AI-powered automation technology achieved an 87% accuracy rate in processing CPT billing codes generated by a spinal surgery billing department.
For instance, DrChrono’s medical billing software saves time and helps improve clean claim rates by eliminating multiple data entries and human errors. One feature, Billing Profiles, ensures that the correct codes are consistently applied by easily setting ICD-10, CPT, HCPCS, and NDC codes to your most common procedures. You can set up frequent diagnoses or types as a profile to reduce data entry.
FROM ONE OF OUR PARTNERS: Simplifying Compliance: How Medical Billing Services Keep You Audit-Ready
Digital Patient Intake and Scheduling
The patient journey often begins with a stack of paper forms and a back-and-forth scheduling process. Digital patient intake solutions eliminate this friction. Patients can complete their paperwork online from any device before their appointment, reducing lobby wait times and manual data entry for staff.
Likewise, healthcare scheduling software allows patients to book their own appointments online, sends automated reminders to minimize no-shows, and simplifies coordination for the administrative team.
For example, DrChrono offers a HIPAA-compliant patient portal, OnPatient, for messaging, scheduling, conducting appointments, and more. Patients can easily schedule and update visits, sign consent and intake forms before appointments, receive patient education materials, and more. This feature streamlines the check-in process and minimizes paperwork.
Healthcare Task Automation for Staff
Beyond documentation and billing, there are countless other opportunities for reducing manual tasks in healthcare. Automating appointment reminders, billing notifications, and insurance eligibility verification frees staff to handle more complex, patient-facing responsibilities.
These time-saving tools for providers and their teams help prioritize patient care and significantly reduce healthcare admin stress. For example, DrChrono offers an automated Text Reminder feature that helps reduce no-shows and saves your staff time and effort with custom automated text campaigns.
Send patients custom reminders in advance of scheduled appointments with a schedule of messages. Patients can then confirm via phone or email, which automatically updates their appointment into the EHR app or desktop.
Benefits of Reducing Administrative Burden with Technology
Implementing healthcare workflow automation delivers tangible benefits across the entire organization, from providers with small clinics to large organizations. Here’s how:
For Providers
The AMA reveals that among physicians surveyed, 57% said managing administrative burdens through automation remains the biggest opportunity for AI. The survey also showed:
- 75% of participants felt AI-powered automation tools improved work efficiency.
- 54% of participants believed these tools reduced stress and burnout.
- 48% of participants felt this technology lowered cognitive overload.
A Stanford Health Care study examined how using AI to streamline inbox workflows could help reduce administrative burden for providers. Researchers concluded that using AI-powered automation in clinical workflows lowered physicians’ task load and emotional exhaustion, improving their overall well-being.
It’s clear that when providers spend less time on administrative tasks, they experience lower levels of burnout and stress. This shift allows them to have more meaningful, face-to-face interactions with patients, leading to better diagnoses, improved patient trust, and greater professional satisfaction.
For Staff
A Deloitte report states, “In the front end, healthcare staff spend a significant amount of time on scheduling and pre-registration. We estimate that [automation] technologies can save 38% to 47% of time, or about 700 to 870 hours a year per scheduler.”
The report also reveals that “44% to 53% of time, or about 810 to 980 hours, of an average claims-processing professional can be saved annually through the implementation of automation and AI technologies.”
Beyond saving time, when administrative team members are empowered with efficient tools, they can focus on higher-value work, feel less overwhelmed by their workload, and contribute more effectively to the practice’s success.
According to a literature review paper in the Journal of Medicine, Surgery, and Public Health, AI-powered automation can reduce the time nurses and staff spend on paperwork, allowing them to allocate more of their working hours to patient care. This ultimately leads to a more fulfilling work-life balance.
For Healthcare Organizations
The financial and operational benefits are substantial. Organizations see lower healthcare administrative costs, higher overall efficiency, and stronger compliance. Automation saves healthcare operational costs by reducing administrative overhead through task automation, which minimizes errors and speeds up processes like billing and claims processing.
It also lowers labor costs by freeing up staff to focus on high-value work and improving efficiency in areas like patient scheduling and supply chain management. One review paper reveals how healthcare organizations are reimagining their admin workflows, increasingly using automation to reduce costs and improve productivity. For example, by leveraging appointment scheduling technology and other AI-based tools, one hospital showed a consistent reduction in costs by 15% to 40%.
These improvements not only lead to greater efficiency and cost reduction but also enhance patient satisfaction and the delivery of a higher standard of care.
Real-world Examples of Healthcare Workflow Automation
Many practices are reaping the rewards of automation. Below, we reveal two case studies offering real-world examples of advanced workflow automation and how these tools improve time, efficiency, compliance, and revenue cycle outcomes.
This ophthalmology practice needed a comprehensive EHR solution for everything from patient interaction to billing. After implementing the DrChrono EHR and workflow automation tools, the practice saw immediate results.
- Time: Medical form features allow users to retrieve and input all the information needed without wasting time. For example, the system allowed users to pull up preferred prescriptions prepopulated with instructions, saving time and assuring accuracy.
- Efficiency: With automated tools like online check-in, real-time eligibility checks, and cloud-based technology, the staff can complete necessary tests and intake forms, upload the results to EHR, and send them directly to an iPad, ensuring the provider has all the information needed as soon as a visit begins.
- Revenue and Compliance: With DrChrono medical billing software, the live claims feed allows users to view any claim status in real time and immediately follow up on denials or rejections, improving compliance and revenue cycle outcomes.
Best Practices for Implementing Healthcare Automation Tools
Successfully adopting new technology requires a thoughtful process. Here are three strategies to consider:
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Assess Your Needs: Start by identifying the biggest administrative bottlenecks in your practice. Is it your EHR, documentation, scheduling, or billing workflows that are causing you headaches? Choose technology that directly addresses your most pressing challenges.
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Train Your Team: Change can be difficult. Provide comprehensive training to help staff adapt to new workflows and understand the benefits of the automation tools.
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Monitor Progress: Track key performance indicators like staff productivity, provider workload, patient wait times, and claim denial rates to measure the impact of the new technology and identify areas for further improvement.
The Future of Reducing Administrative Burden in Healthcare
AI and predictive analytics will continue to play an even larger role in the future of healthcare, anticipating needs, further automating complex processes, and providing deep insights into practice performance.
According to one report, key technologies also driving this shift include Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and machine learning. These technologies will improve efficiency, reduce errors, and support predictive analytics for better resource allocation.
Trends toward greater interoperability between systems and more patient-centric tools promise a future where the administrative burden in healthcare is minimized and operations are seamless.
RELATED CONTENT: How Ambient AI Technology is Revolutionizing Healthcare for Patients and Providers
The Bottom Line on Administrative Burden in Healthcare
Healthcare workflow automation is essential for creating a balanced, efficient, and patient-focused practice. Here are some key points discussed in this article:
Key Takeaways
- Administrative tasks like data entry and scheduling create a significant burden in healthcare, impacting provider well-being, staff productivity, and patient experience.
- Technology directly combats the administrative burden in healthcare by automating documentation, billing, scheduling, and other manual tasks.
- Adopting scalable solutions like integrated EHRs and automated billing software drives financial and operational success. It also leads to reduced provider burnout, improved staff efficiency, and a better patient experience.
Ready to reduce your practice’s administrative burden and improve your workflows? Contact DrChrono to learn how our fully integrated EHR and stress-free automation tools can help you reduce burnout, improve staff efficiency, and create a path towards operational success!
Administrative Burden in Healthcare FAQ
What causes administrative burden in healthcare?
Administrative burden in healthcare is primarily caused by extensive documentation requirements, complex billing and coding processes, manual data entry, prior authorization demands, and inefficient workflows that rely on paper-based or outdated systems.
How can healthcare workflow automation reduce provider burnout?
By automating time-consuming tasks like charting, prescription renewals, and billing, healthcare workflow automation gives providers more time for patient care, reducing their clerical workload and the associated stress that leads to burnout.
What tools help with reducing manual tasks in healthcare?
Key tools include EHR automation features, AI-powered medical transcription, automated billing and coding software, digital patient intake solutions, and healthcare scheduling software.
How do digital patient intake solutions improve efficiency?
Digital patient intake solutions allow patients to complete forms and provide information online before their visit. This eliminates manual data entry for staff, reduces wait times, and ensures information is accurate and complete in the EHR from the start.
Can EHR automation tools help with documentation compliance?
Yes. Many EHR automation tools include built-in templates and prompts that guide providers to capture all necessary information for regulatory and billing compliance, reducing the risk of errors and omissions.
How does medical billing software reduce claim denial rates?
Medical billing software often includes claim scrubbing features that automatically check for common errors in coding, patient information, and formatting before submission. This significantly increases the rate of first-pass claim acceptance.
What are the benefits of using healthcare scheduling software?
Benefits include reduced no-shows through automated reminders, optimized appointment calendars, less time spent by staff on the phone, and the convenience of online booking for patients.
How does reducing administrative burden impact healthcare costs?
It lowers costs by increasing staff productivity (doing more with less), reducing errors that lead to claim denials or rework, and decreasing the need for extensive administrative staffing. This allows resources to be reallocated toward patient care.