The highly regulated, compliance-driven nature of the modern healthcare environment keeps fax machines, paper stacks and PDFs firmly embedded in everyday operations. For many organizations, fax chaos and communication complexity is just normal: thousands of documents come in every day and staff have to sort them, scan them, retype information and figure out where each one needs to go. It’s slow, manual work that leaves plenty of room for mistakes - and it drags down both patient care and revenue.
Now, artificial intelligence (AI) and Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) are finally giving healthcare organizations a way to end the manual processing burden and reclaim hours of staff time.
Fax chaos and the manual burden
Despite decades of digital transformation, fax remains a dominant information transmission channel. In 2025, fax remains one of the largest communication channels in healthcare and more than half of those required manual intervention before they could be processed. (Stuck in the Fax Lane, 2025)
Staff spend significant time on document-related tasks like scanning, data entry and chasing approvals. Fax chaos delays care, frustrates teams and increases the risk of errors. A staggering 88% of healthcare professionals say fax-related delays impact patient care, from postponed procedures to delayed referrals. Beyond that, 44% of faxed documents are time-sensitive, meaning delays in processing can have immediate downstream impacts on both care delivery and operations.
Fax is just the tip of the iceberg. Manual workflows plague nearly every operational area resulting in wasted time, errors and revenue leakage. Every repeated data entry or misrouted document compounds frustration and cost.
Why manual processes persist
Healthcare administrative burden isn’t random. The system is fragmented: dozens of providers, each with unique forms, rules and communication channels; legacy IT systems that often don’t integrate; and strict regulatory requirements that favor documentation over efficiency. This results in misaligned incentives between healthcare providers where the sender has no incentive to make the receiver of that communication's life any easier. Healthtech vendors are only now breaking down self-imposed barriers raised by decades of thinking that their walled gardens were a competitive advantage.
Even when electronic systems do exist, documents still arrive as PDFs, scans or emails, requiring humans to read, classify, extract and route information. This slow workflow introduces bottlenecks and errors and with HIPAA and other compliance rules, organizations often hesitate to automate without secure, auditable processes.
The result is a workforce constantly firefighting paperwork, stretching teams thin and risking delays in patient care and billing cycles. A report shows that 77% of healthcare professionals reported finishing work later than desired or needing to work at home due to excessive documentation tasks, highlighting the extensive after‑hours administrative burden clinicians face. (AMIA, 2024)
What is Intelligent Document Processing (IDP)?
Intelligent Document Processing is an AI agent that reads, understands and acts on documents automatically. IDP serves as a critical bridge between content tuned for human consumption (unstructured documents) and information capable of being managed by systems (structured data). Digital systems can manage massive amounts of data, allowing people to turn their attention to what really matters: patient care.
In practice:
- Read - IDP ingests faxes, PDFs, scans and other unstructured communications.
- Understand - AI identifies key data points such as patient names, date of birth, zip code and medical record number (MRN).
- Act - Extracted data is automatically routed into the correct workflow/EHR.
Unlike simple Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which only converts images to raw text, IDP interprets content and context, handling multiple document types and variations across providers. It turns paper chaos into structured, actionable data - instantly.
How Documo solves the problem?
Documo’s Intelligent Document Processing is built to tackle fax chaos and manual operational burdens. Its platform automatically reads, classifies and extracts data from incoming documents, then delivers the information securely to the correct workflow.
The results are clear:
- Significant reduction in manual document handling
- Improved accuracy and consistency in extracted data
- Faster routing of referrals, lab results and other critical documents
Staff are freed to focus on higher-value work, while clinical teams get timely access to lab results, referrals and insurance data. Revenue cycles accelerate, compliance risks drop and fax chaos becomes manageable instead of overwhelming. IDP is an AI agent designed to slot seamlessly into your existing electronic and human environment, turning manual documents into actionable workflows.
Impact on staff and patient care
IDP doesn’t just save time and money - it improves care. Manual administrative delays - particularly in prior authorization - are associated with significant disruption in care. About 33% of patients abandon medications or follow-up treatments due to these delays, underscoring how administrative bottlenecks can negatively impact patient outcomes. (Victory RCM, 2023)
Staff also benefit as removing repetitive, error-prone tasks reduces burnout and after-hours work. Clinicians and admin teams can focus on higher-value activities like patient engagement and complex case management - improving satisfaction across the board.
Where care meets efficiency
Fax machines and the chaos of manual document handling won’t disappear overnight. Documo’s IDP provides a path to finally lessen the chaos. By automatically reading, understanding and routing documents, healthcare organizations can reduce costs, accelerate revenue cycles and improve care delivery.
The hidden cost of manual operations has been ignored for too long. AI and IDP don’t just automate work - they transform healthcare operations, making them faster, safer and more efficient for both staff and patients.
