ABSTRACT
Healthcare delivery systems face mounting administrative complexity that contributes to clinician burnout, medical errors, and reduced access to care for patients. This editorial explores how automation and artificial intelligence (AI) can address key operational inefficiencies—specifically in prior authorization, quality metric reporting, and clinical documentation—by leveraging informatics-driven solutions. We examine the current landscape, quantify the impact of administrative burden, and propose informatics strategies to realign healthcare delivery around patient-centered, efficient care.
Patients, clinicians, and administrators face a crisis of mounting administrative burdens that drive physician burnout, associated medical errors [1, 2] and access challenges all while reducing workforce productivity and job satisfaction [3]. While the causes are multifactorial, automation and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) driven informatics tools can transform healthcare by unburdening patients and clinicians from administrative constraints. Broader headwinds in the physician labor force make improving efficiency a policy imperative, with the physician shortage estimated in 2027 to reach 124,180 physicians [4]. Simultaneously, clinical workloads are overwhelming, with a study estimating that completion of all recommended tasks results in a 26.7 h primary care physician workday [5]. Thus, improving administrative efficiency to unburden physicians and expand the workforce is a national policy imperative.
AI and automation can drive efficiency in a more decentralized, personalized healthcare ecosystem through operational process improvement, including prior authorization, quality measurement, and documentation and billing, thus reducing patient and physician administrative burden. This editorial reviews each of these current operational challenges, clinical labor impacts, and opportunities for technological innovation to surmount these barriers.