Where the hours actually go
Most clinic burnout isn't clinical — it's admin. The portal inbox, refill queue, prior auth packets, intake re-entry, and follow-up calls add 1–3 hours of unpaid work to every clinician's day.
The four time sinks
Inbox triage. Intake re-entry. Prior authorization prep. Care-gap follow-up. In our design-partner clinics, these four account for 60–80% of admin time.
What to fix first
Start with the channel your team complains about loudest. For most primary care, it's the inbox. For specialty, it's prior auth. Pick one, measure baseline turnaround, then layer.
Don't replace judgment
Anything that touches a clinical decision should stay a draft for a human to review. Anything that's purely operational (categorize, route, draft, surface) is fair game to delegate to AI.
How to measure progress
Three numbers worth tracking weekly: median inbox response time, prior auth turnaround days, and overdue care gaps. Watch them move; ignore vanity metrics.