Polish physicians lose 11.5–13 hours every week to documentation — over 25% of their working time. The full 2025 report on healthcare bureaucracy, its cost, and how ambient AI is finally moving the number.
weekly on documentation (Poland)
EHR usability score (SUS scale)
fewer clicks with an AI assistant
reclaimed daily (Cora AI pilot)
Introduction: medicine vs. the form
Bureaucracy in healthcare is the sum of reporting and documentation tasks imposed by law and reimbursement systems. For decades the goal of medicine was closeness to the patient — today the clinician spends more time with software than with the person in front of them.
Producing complex documentation for every patient demands enormous administrative effort. The result is longer queues, lower access to care and faster burnout among medical staff.
How much time do clinicians lose to paperwork?
For every 8 hours of clinical work, a doctor spends on average 2.3 hours on documentation alone. Combined with order entry and chart review that adds up to nearly 6 hours a day in the system. Over 2.5 hours of documentation happens after visits — often at home (so-called "pajama time").
| Segment | Admin time (daily) | % of work time |
|---|---|---|
| Primary care physician | 2,5–3,5h | 35% |
| Specialist | 2,0–3,0h | 28% |
| Residents | 3,5–4,5h | 45% |
| Private sector | 1,0–1,5h | 15% |
Source: based on data from the Polish Supreme Audit Office (NIK), 2021.
The most time-consuming tasks
Four main sources of administrative load:
- Medical documentation and EHR — AMA studies rated EHR usability at 45/100 on the SUS scale.
- Payer reporting — precise procedure coding and claim submission.
- Interruptions — in emergency departments, attention is interrupted on average 84 times per shift.
- Consents and compliance — repetitive re-entry of the same patient data.
Impact on clinicians and patients
Half of physicians (53%) report symptoms of burnout. Among Polish oncologists the rate reaches a dramatic 75%.
A standard 15-minute visit contains only 9–10 minutes of actual patient contact. The rest goes to documentation during and after the visit.
Research (Linder et al., JAMA Intern Med 2014) shows a correlation between end-of-shift fatigue and inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.
The economic cost of bureaucracy
In Canada, physicians lose 18.5 million hours every year to bureaucracy — the equivalent of 55.6 million visits. In Poland the systemic loss is estimated at over PLN 4.8 billion per year.
Total cost = (number of physicians) × (admin time) × (hourly rate)lost yearly in Canada
annual systemic loss in Poland
Poland in a global context
Poland sits in the middle of OECD countries on administrative time, but at the bottom on automation maturity.
| Country | Admin time (h/wk) | Automation level |
|---|---|---|
| USA | 15,5h | High, but complex |
| Poland | 12,5h | Low — heavy manual load |
| Germany | 12h | Medium |
| Denmark | 8,5h | Very high, efficient EHR |
The technology that moves the numbers: Cora AI
A Cora AI pilot at the Children's Hospital in Dziekanów Leśny used the Manual Work Intensity Index (WIPM) to measure the impact of an AI assistant in real clinical conditions.
WIPM = keystrokes / active time in the HIS system- 26% fewer clicks.
- Up to 2 hours of time reclaimed daily.
- Notes generated automatically from the conversation with the patient.
„An AI assistant does more than shorten documentation time — it gives back the quality of patient contact that nothing else can restore."
System-level recommendations
What the system needs to do for these numbers to change:
- Make AI assistants (e.g. Cora AI) a market standard in primary and specialist care.
- Simplify payer reporting and remove duplicate data entry.
- Recognize AI-supported voice capture as a full-fledged element of medical documentation.
Frequently asked questions
Where do the numbers in the report come from?+
From NIK (2021), Mayo Clinic Proceedings (2019, 2025), JAMA Internal Medicine (2014), OECD Health Statistics 2025, and the Cora AI pilot in Dziekanów Leśny (2025).
Is Cora AI only for large hospitals?+
No. The assistant works in primary care, private practice and hospitals alike. The pilot took place on a pediatric ward, but the workflow is universal.
Does the AI replace the clinician's clinical decisions?+
No. Cora AI prepares a documentation draft — the clinician verifies, edits and approves the content.
What about patient data security?+
Raw audio is not retained after the note is generated, and notes themselves are encrypted and access-controlled in line with GDPR.