Clinician burnout is at a breaking point. More than 60% of physicians reported burnout in 2021.1 The problem persists: physicians now spend an average of 13.3 hours per week outside normal hours on EHR work, with one in four logging 16 hours or more.2 A projected shortfall of over 87,000 primary care physicians by 2037 threatens to widen access gaps,3even as nearly 100 million Americans already lack access to primary care.4
Clinicians are under mounting pressure to improve outcomes, manage rising patient complexity, and maintain meaningful relationships—all while navigating staffing shortages and administrative demands. The good news: AI-powered Primary Care as a Service (PCaaS) offers a practical path forward. By targeting the areas of highest burden, AI can help to free up clinician capacity, help to improve patient satisfaction, and lay the foundation for a sustainable, scalable primary care delivery model.
Here are five of the most impactful ways Agentic AI healthcare assistants reduce burnout and drive healthcare digital transformation.
1. Free Yourself from Documentation Overload
Documentation overload is the single greatest driver of clinician burnout, consuming valuable time that could otherwise be spent with patients. Generative AI based ambient listening scribes directly address this burden by capturing patient–clinician conversations in real time and structuring them seamlessly into the Electronic Health Record (EHR).
The impact is clear: in one study, 82% of physicians reported improved job satisfaction and 84% said patient interactions improved when using AI scribes.5 By reducing screen time and shifting focus back to the patient, clinicians can reclaim both efficiency and fulfillment.
But freeing yourself from documentation overload requires more than transcription alone. The most effective AI scribe solutions link documentation directly to healthcare workflow automation—initiating follow-up actions such as referrals, lab orders, or patient reminders. This means notes aren’t just recorded; they’re acted upon. The result: documentation that drives coordinated care without adding work back to the clinician.
Building upon that with new Agentic AI technologies means that practicing can change for clinicians, in a drastic way, supporting additional patient touch points in between visits, summarization, and providing clinical decision support.
2. Reduce After-Hours “Pajama Time” with AI Enabled Prep and Documentation
“Pajama time” describes the hours clinicians spend after clinic, often late at night, completing unfinished documentation and inbox tasks. Physicians log an average of 1–2 extra hours each evening.6 This hidden workload erodes work–life balance and accelerates burnout.
AI-enabled chart prep and real-time documentation help ensure most notes are completed before the day ends. By pre-populating decision support and task lists during visits, these solutions minimize reconciliation later—cutting down pajama time and protecting personal time.
3. Reduce Administrative Tasks – Less Paperwork, More Patient Care
Inbox management, call returns, and after-hours charting can drain time and energy, adding to burnout. Agentic AI helps improve workflows by routing tasks to the right team members, coordinating care, capturing key information in pre-visit planning conversations to ensure that both physician and patient can make the most out of their in-person visits. Clinicians know what their patient wants to cover, and the patient is confident that their concerns are covered. That can reduce the follow-up calls and the out-the-door remembering of concerns.
This reduces cognitive load, eliminates redundant steps, and frees clinicians to focus on patient care instead of repetitive administrative tasks. It also supports healthcare efficiency improvement by streamlining operations and reducing the bottlenecks that overwhelm both clinicians and staff.
By embedding AI thoughtfully, health systems can reduce burnout, restore clinician well-being, and ensure patients receive the attentive, high-quality care they deserve.
4. Embed AI Into Workflows—Not Dashboards
Too many AI tools increase workload rather than reduce it, adding extra clicks, alerts, and dashboards that clinicians must chase. Research shows physicians receive over 100 EHR alerts per day, most of which are low-value or duplicative.7 This constant context-switching increases cognitive burden, disrupts patient interactions, and pushes work into evenings and weekends.
Effective solutions embed directly into EHR workflows, surfacing the best next action and triggering follow-up automatically—such as scheduling a screening, obtaining patient self-reported blood pressure or blood sugar levels, or giving them a nudge to schedule their next annual wellness visit. The rule is simple: if AI adds more to-do’s, it’s not reducing burnout.
5. Scale Preventive Care – Stop Playing Catch-Up in Care
Reactive care fuels burnout by creating urgent visits, complex cases, and extra manual outreach. Yet over 30% of adults aged 45+ are overdue for colorectal cancer screening,8 and one in four Americans are behind on recommended screenings and immunizations.9 Closing these gaps often falls on overextended clinicians and staff.
Agentic AI flips the model by continuously scanning for preventive care gaps, automating reminders, and scheduling follow-ups. This approach reduces manual workload, prevents avoidable complications, and shifts clinicians from reactive “catch-up” care to proactive, relationship-based care. In doing so, it supports primary care transformation with AI, where prevention becomes embedded in routine workflows that don’t add to clinician burden.
Conclusion: A Path to Sustainable Primary Care
Clinician burnout isn’t just about daily tasks—it’s systemic. AI-enabled PCaaS transforms documentation into coordinated action, reduces pajama time, automates administrative tasks, embeds into workflows, and scales preventive care. Together, these tools transform care—from capturing the visit, to closing the loop, to delivering continuous, connected care. By embedding AI thoughtfully, health systems can reduce burnout, restore clinician well-being, and ensure patients receive the attentive, high-quality care they deserve.
Learn more about Tom — Lumeris’ AI-powered ‘primary care as-a-service’ assistant designed to transform primary care for patients, clinicians, and health systems.
Agentic AI flips the model by continuously scanning for preventive care gaps, automating reminders, and scheduling follow-ups. This approach reduces manual workload, prevents avoidable complications, and shifts clinicians from reactive “catch-up” care to proactive, relationship-based care. In doing so, it supports primary care transformation with AI, where prevention becomes embedded in routine workflows that don’t add to clinician burden.
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1. Underdahl, L., Ditri, M., & Duthely, L. M. (2024, January 4). Physician Burnout: Evidence‑Based Roadmaps to Prioritizing and Supporting Personal Wellbeing. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 16, 15–27. https://doi.org/10.2147/JHL.S389245
2. athenahealth. (2025, January). Pajama time persists: New findings on after-hours work in primary care. https://www.athenahealth.com/insights/pajama-time-persists
3. Health Resources and Services Administration, National Center for Health Workforce Analysis. (2024, November). State of the primary care workforce, 2024. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bureau-health-workforce/state-of-the-primary-care-workforce-report-2024.pdf
4. National Association of Community Health Centers. (2023, February 7). Closing the primary care gap.https://www.nachc.org/research-and-data/closing-the-primary-care-gap
5. Tierney, A. A., Gayre, G., Hoberman, B., et al. (2025). Ambient artificial intelligence scribes: Learnings after 1 year and over 2.5 million uses. NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery, 6(5). https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.25.0022
6. American Medical Association. (n.d.). Allocation of physician time in ambulatory practice. Retrieved August 25, 2025, from https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/digital-health/allocation-physician-time-ambulatory-practice
7. Phrase Health. (2025, May 1). Cranky Index report from Phrase Health exposes the hidden impact of EHR alert fatigue[Press release]. PR Newswire/PRWeb. Retrieved from https://www.phrasehealth.com/resources/cranky-index-report-from-phrase-health-exposes-the-hidden-impact-of-ehr-alert-fatigue
8. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, March 1). Colorectal cancer screening rates remain low. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2025/25_0175.htm
9.American Association of Nurse Practitioners. (2024, Oct 7). A new poll shows a large number of patients are not getting health screenings. https://www.aanp.org/news-feed/new-poll-shows-a-large-number-of-patients-are-not-getting-health-screenings
