Houston – October 13, 2026 -- Healthcare professionals spend an average of 86 minutes a day on administrative tasks they believe AI could eliminate or significantly reduce, according to the fifth annual Compass Survey from healthcare operations software provider symplr. Directors and managers report 106 minutes a day, roughly a fifth of the workday.
Core hospital processes remain largely manual
Between 40% and 46% of clinicians, operations and IT respondents describe credentialing, contract management, workforce scheduling and supply chain management as fully manual. Only 2% to 6% call these processes fully automated.
By workflow, 46% each say provider credentialing, onboarding and contract management are fully manual. The figure is 44% for supply chain and vendor management, 43% for provider evaluation, 41% for workforce scheduling and 40% for safety performance. Nearly 60% of respondents nonetheless say their organizations are pursuing operational efficiency and automation initiatives.
AI governance covers only 26% of organizations
Just 26% of respondents report a comprehensive AI policy that is actively enforced. More than half of clinicians (51%) are unsure whether any AI policy exists, versus 3% of executives who say they do not know.
Twenty-one percent say their organization has deployed AI without establishing metrics to evaluate it. Only 3% name staff development and change management as their primary strategy for addressing operational challenges, compared with 27% who name AI deployment.
Bain and KLAS put potential AI ROI at 3.5X as proof pressure builds
Bain & Company and KLAS found potential AI return on investment averaging 3.5X. The survey finds many hospitals lack the fundamentals to reach it, including alignment between clinicians and leadership, comprehensive AI governance and performance metrics.
symplr CEO Venkat Kavarthapu said deploying AI on top of fragmented data and manual workflows "won't transform healthcare operations." He said technology should instead remove friction across systems, processes and teams.
Clinicians and executives rank different threats first
Financial pressure is the top operational threat for 65% of C-suite and VP respondents and 45% of IT respondents. Among clinicians, 46% rank burnout first, the position it has held since 2023.
symplr partnered with the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) on the survey. It was fielded online from June 1 to July 17, 2026, with 146 respondents across clinical, IT and operational roles at U.S. hospitals and health systems. The report is titled "From Stalled to Scattered: How Healthcare Broke Its Paralysis but Not Ground."