symplr Survey Finds Nearly Half of Hospital Operations Remain Manual

symplr, which sells healthcare operations software to hospitals, said in a press release that 40% to 46% of respondents to its fifth annual Compass Survey describe core hospital processes such as credentialing, contract management, workforce scheduling and supply chain management as fully manual. Only 2% to 6% described them as fully automated.

Respondents reported spending an average of 86 minutes a day on administrative tasks they believe AI could eliminate or significantly reduce. Directors and managers reported 106 minutes a day.

Only 26% of respondents said their organization has a comprehensive AI policy that is actively enforced, and 51% of clinicians said they were unsure whether an AI policy exists. Twenty one percent said their organization had deployed AI without establishing metrics to evaluate it.

The online survey was run with the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives between June 1 and July 17, 2026, and drew 146 respondents across clinical, IT and operational roles at US hospitals and health systems.