A primary care Doctor’s days are very busy. In addition to seeing one patient after another for anywhere from 4 to 9 hours each day, he/she makes phone calls to other doctors or patients, authorizes prescription refills, prepares prior authorizations, reports on lab and imaging results, and documents office visits in the electronic medical record. Oh! and then Mrs. Smith, who has been in labor at the hospital for 8 hours, has finally reached the time to deliver. Everything that the doctor was working on abruptly stops while he/she goes to the hospital to deliver the baby. All those tasks and all those patients have to wait because Mrs.Smith and her newborn infant now take center stage.
Of course, not every family doctor does obstetrics so the mid-day interruption can be omitted, but all the other tasks remain. If it gets to be 5:30 or 6:00 pm, the unfinished work gets taken home and completed in the evening. All the various communications take time and thought and should not be rushed or haphazardly completed. A doctor either loves this because he/she really enjoys managing patients or hates it because time is precious and the kids are growing up so fast. This is the kind of situation that strains marriages and causes burnout among doctors. The doctor’s work-life balance has been skewed, and may be beyond repair.
Medscape conducted a survey of practicing physicians and presented a State of the Medical Profession Index Report 2026. This survey generated a report that included “Key practice challenges,” and “Current issues,” and produced a High-impact analysis of the data.
The main conclusions reported are:
7 in 10 doctors were dissatisfied with their ability to manage one-on-one time with patients
Satisfaction with record keeping and administrative tasks is very low—little optimism for
improvement in next five years.
Low satisfaction with the practice administration’s ability to offer support.
6 in 10 doctors would take a pay cut to improve their work-life balance
The AMA estimates medical record keeping and administrative tasks comprise about 35% of a doctor’s working hours each week. Paperwork—prior authorizations, prescription refills, lab results discussions, medical record documentation, and patient care all consume time. Tasks get pushed into after hours time, nights, and/or weekends.
One solution offered by the author is to take full advantage of your staff time and communicate and coordinate with them, delegating tasks and streamlining their responsibilities. This reduces the doctor’s workload and frees up one-on-one up time for patient care.
Implementing AI into clinical practice to streamline record keeping and messaging is a big help as well, but that comes with a heavy cost the practice may not be able to afford because of declining revenues. It all comes down to efficient use of time, delegating specific tasks, and being focused and diligent. Yet, while still giving patients the time they need and communicating effectively with patients and staff. It’s a delicate balance, but it can be done.
Reference: Hochwald L. Physicians spend more time on paperwork than with patients: The squeeze of Invisible work. medscape.com 2026 October 21.
