49% of physician time is spent on EHR and desk work
With only 27% spent on direct clinical face-to-face patient care
Primary Source
1. Allocation of Physician Time in Ambulatory Practice
Sinsky, C., Colligan, L., Li, L., Prgomet, M., Reynolds, S., Goeders, L., Westbrook, J., Tutty, M., & Blike, G. (2016). Allocation of Physician Time in Ambulatory Practice: A Time and Motion Study in 4 Specialties. Annals of Internal Medicine, 165(11), 753-760.
Published by the American Medical Association and Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system
Study Design: Direct observational time and motion study of 57 physicians in family medicine, internal medicine, cardiology, and orthopedics across 4 states
Key Findings:
- Physicians spent 49.2% of office time on EHR and desk work
- Only 27% of time was spent on direct clinical face time with patients
- When in exam rooms, physicians spent 37% of time on EHR tasks
- Additional 1-2 hours of personal time each night on documentation
Supporting Research
UK NHS Clinical Documentation Study (2022)
Nuance Communications & Ignetica Research. Survey of 966 NHS healthcare professionals from four acute trusts and one mental health and community trust.
Key Finding: Healthcare professionals spend an average of 13.5 hours per week on clinical documentation (more than 1/3 of working hours), a 25% increase from 2015.
Read more →Medical Documentation Burden Among US Office-Based Physicians (2022)
Woolhandler, S., Himmelstein, D. U., & Cai, C. (2022). Medical Documentation Burden Among US Office-Based Physicians in 2019: A National Study. JAMA Internal Medicine, 182(5), 564-566.
Key Finding: 58.1% of physicians disagreed that time spent documenting was appropriate and did not reduce time with patients. Estimated 125 million hours spent on documentation outside office hours in 2019.
View study →Time Spent on Dedicated Patient Care and Documentation Tasks (2018)
Joukes, E., Abu-Hanna, A., Cornet, R., & de Keizer, N. F. (2018). Time Spent on Dedicated Patient Care and Documentation Tasks Before and After the Introduction of a Structured and Standardized Electronic Health Record. Applied Clinical Informatics, 9(1), 46-53.
Key Finding: Physicians spend approximately 33-37% of consultation time on EHR documentation, with similar percentages across multiple studies and healthcare systems.
View study →Physician EHR Burden Analysis (2024)
American Medical Association. Analysis of 200,081 physicians using Epic Systems' Signal platform tracking EHR activity.
Key Finding: Physicians spend 5.8 hours on EHR for every 8 hours of scheduled patient time (72.5%), with infectious disease specialists spending the most time (8.4 hours per 8 hours scheduled).
Read more →Why This Matters
The burden of clinical documentation has been consistently documented across multiple independent studies, healthcare systems, and countries. This administrative overhead:
- Reduces time available for direct patient care
- Contributes to physician burnout and job dissatisfaction
- Leads to missed or buried clinical details despite extensive documentation
- Results in 1-2 hours of additional work outside office hours daily
- Has increased 25% over the past 7 years despite technological advances
Last updated: January 2026