Physician burnout doesn’t always manifest through patient complaints or clinical errors.
Sometimes, it accumulates silently in the inbox.
Recent studies reveal that primary care physicians spend approximately 7.3 hours per day on electronic health record (EHR) tasks, with 1.2 hours dedicated solely to managing inbox messages. Alarmingly, 2.7 hours of this work occur outside scheduled patient hours, encroaching on personal time and contributing to burnout.This digital overload isn’t merely an IT concern—it poses significant operational and financial risks:
-
Increased turnover: Replacing a single physician can cost between $250K–$1M+
-
Reduced productivity: Clinicians experience diminished efficiency due to inbox fatigue
-
Compromised quality and safety: Attention diverted from patient care can erode key metrics
At Alteris Healthcare, our analysis of provider workflows across multiple organizations uncovered that physicians receive 400–600 inbox messages weekly, with nearly 30% being system-generated notifications. These messages often lack clinical relevance and could be triaged, delegated, or automated to alleviate the burden.If you’re a healthcare executive, it’s imperative to recognize the inbox as an emerging cost center—not just in terms of time, but also morale and retention.
Let’s reimagine the inbox as a clinical workflow opportunity, not just an EHR feature. Let’s implement strategies to measure and manage digital workloads effectively. Let’s restore physicians’ personal time and cognitive bandwidth.We’re collaborating with practices to streamline these workflows and would be glad to share insights from our latest benchmarking data. If your teams are grappling with inbox fatigue, let’s discuss actionable solutions to mitigate this digital burden.
Let’s connect.
