The Cost of Duplication: Reclaiming Time for Patient Care

• Feb 8, 2025

Introduction

Every minute a physician spends on duplicative tasks—whether reordering tests, re-entering patient data, or repeating assessments—is a minute lost from direct patient care. This inefficiency not only wastes time but reduces the quality of care, frustrates physicians, and contributes to burnout. The more doctors are pulled away from meaningful interactions, the less fulfilling medicine becomes, and the more patients suffer from fragmented, impersonal care.

The Burden of Repetitive Tasks in Healthcare

Physicians enter medicine to heal, diagnose, and connect with patients, not to get lost in redundant paperwork and bureaucratic inefficiencies. However, modern healthcare systems are plagued by duplication at multiple levels:

1- Reordering Unnecessary Tests

• Physicians often repeat lab work, imaging, or screenings due to lack of access to prior results.
• A study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that 20% of imaging tests and 30% of lab tests are unnecessarily repeated, wasting time and resources.
• This leads to patient frustration, higher healthcare costs, and longer wait times for necessary are.

2- Redundant Documentation & Data Entry

• Physicians spend an average of two hours on administrative work for every one hour of direct patient care, according to the American Medical Association (AMA).
• Much of this time is spent re-entering patient histories, diagnoses, and treatment plans across multiple platforms.
• Electronic Health Records (EHRs), originally designed to streamline care, often create extra work by requiring duplicate documentation across different systems.

3- Inefficiencies in Care Coordination

• Many hospitals and clinics lack seamless data-sharing, forcing doctors to gather the same information repeatedly from patients.
• Patients are frequently asked to restate their medical history multiple times to different providers, leading to frustration and inconsistencies.
• Poor interoperability between different EHR systems creates information silos, making it harder for physicians to access up-to-date patient records.

The Impact: Lost Time, Frustration, and Burnout

• The more time physicians spend on duplicative tasks, the less time they have for actual patient care, leading to:
• Shorter, rushed appointments – Less time to listen, explain, and build trust with patients.
• Reduced clinical efficiency – Delays in diagnosis and treatment due to administrative backlogs.
• Lower job satisfaction – Physicians feel they are spending more time as data clerks than as healers.
• Higher rates of burnout – A 2022 study in The Lancet linked excessive administrative tasks to higher emotional exhaustion and decreased work engagement among physicians.

How Can Healthcare Systems Be Restructured to Give Physicians More Time?

Addressing these inefficiencies requires systemic changes that prioritize streamlining workflows, reducing redundancies, and leveraging technology effectively:

1- Improve EHR Interoperability

• Integrating health records across systems would prevent unnecessary test duplication and reduce manual data entry.
• A universal, patient-centered health record system could ensure that physicians can access up-to-date information across different care settings.

2- Reduce Administrative Burdens

• Automating tasks such as prior authorizations, documentation, and billing processes can significantly cut down on repetitive work.
• Implementing scribes or AI-driven documentation assistants can allow physicians to focus on patient interactions instead of paperwork.

3- Implement Smarter Workflow Systems

• Hospitals and clinics should adopt clinical decision support tools that flag duplicate orders and prevent unnecessary testing.
• Using pre-filled, standardized templates for common conditions could streamline documentation without compromising accuracy

4- Foster a Culture of Efficiency and Patient-Centered Care

• Healthcare administrators must recognize that time spent with patients is more valuable than excessive documentation.
• Institutions should measure quality of care rather than productivity based on patient volume.

Restoring Time for Patient Care

Physicians are most effective when they can focus on healing rather than administrative redundancies. How much better could healthcare be if we eliminated wasteful duplication and allowed doctors to spend more time doing what they do best—caring for patients?

Join the Discussion

How does the time lost to duplication impact the quality of care that physicians can provide? What solutions do you think would be most effective in giving doctors more time for patient care? Let’s explore ways to create a more efficient, patient-centered system.