Administrative Burdens and Inefficiencies Continue to Fuel Provider Burnout, Surescripts Survey Finds

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Surescripts®, the nation's leading health intelligence network, released a new report detailing key drivers of clinician burnout, including administrative burdens and inefficiencies.

According to a survey of prescribers and pharmacists, most agree that provider burnout is still a major challenge, with 74% of pharmacists and 73% of prescribers identifying it as one of the biggest issues in healthcare, second to the cost of care.

Report: Administrative Burden & Inefficient Systems Fuel Burnout in Healthcare

“Clinician burnout is an alarming challenge—but one worth working to solve. Prescribers and pharmacists point to lack of time, cumbersome administrative tasks and inefficiencies in their workflows as the main contributors to burnout,” said Dr. Andrew Mellin, Vice President & Chief Medical Information Officer for Surescripts. “We have the opportunity to disrupt this trend by focusing on innovative technology that removes the burdens facing care teams, replacing phone calls and faxes with secure automation, and empowering providers to do more of the work they want to do – provide meaningful care to the patients in their communities.”

“Advancing pharmacy interoperability is critical to eliminating manual tasks that cause burnout and better equipping care teams to continue providing accessible, quality care for patients,” said Meg Murphy, PharmD, Pharmacy & Regulatory Affairs Manager at Surescripts. “When care teams have access to essential patient insights within their existing workflows, they can provide more efficient, effective and coordinated care, and can focus on the high-value services that help keep patient care on track.”

Report Highlights:

Top Drivers of Clinician Burnout

• Nearly 9 in 10 clinicians indicate that lack of time is a daily challenge that contributes to burnout.
• 40% of pharmacists and 23% of prescribers say lack of time is their number one daily challenge with administrative tasks (paperwork, phone calls) cited as the second biggest challenge for both groups.
• Prior authorizations for medications are also a major pain point with 38% of pharmacists and 48% of prescribers say prior authorization “significantly” increases burnout; most others say it increases burnout “a little”
  

Clinicians Want More Technology & Interoperability

• More than half of prescribers and pharmacists saw room for improvement and an interest in new innovative technologies designed to eliminate the need for phone calls, faxes, and administrative work, enhance collaboration as part of patient care teams, and request patient information in real-time.

Check out more insights from Surescripts’ annual clinician survey:

• Care Teams Seek Tools to Improve Patient Experience
• Healthcare Professionals Highlight Medication Prior Authorization Challenges & Solutions

Surescripts partnered with APCO Insight™ to conduct a survey between May 28 and June 16, 2025, to understand the opinions and attitudes of pharmacists and prescribers (including physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners) on a variety of topics around the healthcare industry including impressions of the wider industry, job priorities and challenges, challenges with prior authorization, and interest in prior authorization solutions. A total of 503 individuals completed the online survey.

About Surescripts

Our purpose is to serve the nation through simpler, trusted health intelligence sharing, in order to increase patient safety, lower costs and ensure quality care. At Surescripts, we bring healthcare together to inform and accelerate decisions, helping keep patient care on track. With the Surescripts Network Alliance®, we’re empowering the healthcare ecosystem with intelligence and interoperability for smarter, faster prescribing, prior authorization, treatment, care management and more. Visit us at surescripts.com and follow us on LinkedIn.