November is a time for reflection, gratitude, and recognizing the things that truly matter. In healthcare, we often express gratitude for patients, colleagues, and life-saving work – but there’s one thing we rarely pause to appreciate: time.
Time is the one resource we cannot buy more of, and in healthcare, it is perpetually stretched. Between clinical care, patient communications, administrative requirements, and compliance obligations, healthcare teams spend countless hours on repetitive, manual document tasks: processing intake forms, handling prior authorizations, reconciling EOBs, managing referrals, and reviewing discharge summaries.
This Thanksgiving season, it’s worth asking: what if we could reclaim some of that time? What if staff could focus on patients, meaningful care, and operational improvements, instead of manual paperwork?
The Hidden Cost of Manual Document Work
Consider a typical week at a busy clinic:
- A staff member spends 20 minutes per prior authorization, with 50 requests per day.
- Intake forms take 10 minutes each, multiplied by dozens of patients.
- EOBs, claims, lab results, and discharge reports all add additional hours of manual work, much of it repetitive and prone to human error.
Individually, these tasks might seem minor. But cumulatively, they consume hundreds – even thousands – of hours per month, time that could be redirected toward higher-value activities like patient care, care coordination, or operational improvements.
And while healthcare teams often see these hours as “just part of the job,” they come at a real cost:
- Staff burnout: Repetitive administrative work drains energy, reducing engagement and increasing turnover.
- Delayed care: Manual processing slows approvals, referrals, and clinical decision-making.
- Errors: Human error is inevitable when teams are overloaded with paperwork.
- Lost opportunities: Hours spent on manual tasks are hours not spent improving patient outcomes or strategic initiatives.
This November, as we reflect on what we are thankful for, it’s worth appreciating the value of time itself – and thinking about ways to reclaim it.
Why Time is Healthcare’s Most Valuable Currency
Most organizations talk about ROI in terms of money. But in healthcare, time saved often translates directly into better outcomes:
- Faster patient access: Streamlined document workflows allow patients to receive care sooner.
- Improved staff morale: Reducing administrative burden lets staff focus on meaningful work, decreasing burnout.
- Increased accuracy: Automation reduces errors, improving compliance and patient safety.
- Enhanced capacity: Hours saved can be redirected to strategic initiatives, quality improvement, or patient engagement.
In short, every hour reclaimed is an opportunity to do more of what matters most.
How Automation Supports Gratitude in Practice
Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) helps healthcare organizations reclaim these hours by automating repetitive, document-heavy workflows. It doesn’t replace humans – it enhances their ability to focus on higher-value work.
Here’s what IDP makes possible:
- Automatic classification and extraction: IDP reads and categorizes incoming documents like intake forms, prior authorizations, referrals, EOBs, and discharge reports.
- Routing to the right system or person: Documents are sent automatically to the correct workflow, reducing delays and misrouting.
- Reduced re-keying and manual errors: Staff no longer spend hours entering data manually or correcting mistakes.
- Scalable efficiency: As document volumes grow, IDP scales with your organization without additional staffing.
In practical terms, automation gives teams the gift of time — a resource they can spend on patient care, improving workflows, or simply getting a few minutes back in their day.
Seeing Your Time Savings in Real Time
One of the easiest ways to understand your potential impact is with the Documo IDP ROI Calculator. This interactive tool helps healthcare teams:
- Enter document volumes: How many documents does your team process each month?
- Add workflow details: Average processing time per document, pages per document, FTE hours, and estimated time reduction from IDP.
- See results instantly: Get a month-by-month and annual view of potential time savings.
The calculator transforms abstract frustration into measurable, actionable insight, allowing teams to see exactly how much time automation could reclaim. It’s a simple first step toward smarter workflow decisions and a more efficient, patient-focused organization.
Giving Thanks for What Really Matters
This Thanksgiving, while we celebrate the season with family, friends, and traditions, it’s also worth reflecting on a resource that healthcare teams treasure every day: time – the time to spend with patients, support colleagues, and focus on providing the best possible care.
Automation doesn’t replace the human touch – it protects it. By removing repetitive, low-value administrative work, IDP allows healthcare teams to focus on the work that matters most: care, connection, and outcomes.
This November, give thanks for the hours your team has – and consider giving them more. The gift of reclaimed time is one that keeps on giving.
Take the First Step
Reclaiming time starts with awareness. The Documo IDP ROI Calculator helps healthcare teams see the hours they could save, the workflows that could benefit most, and the practical impact automation can deliver.
Because in healthcare, time saved is the most valuable ROI of all.
