Tracking Patient Progress is Clinicians' Biggest Challenge as Value-Based Care Mandates Expand Nationwide

New data from Twofold Health shows patient progress and outcome documentation are top pain points for mental-health and primary-care providers

NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As value-based care mandates expand nationwide, a new survey reveals an unintended consequence: tracking patient progress and outcomes is the biggest challenge facing healthcare clinicians, surpassing issues with insurance.

Among 446 mental health and primary care clinicians, 36% cited progress tracking as their biggest challenge, with nearly double those who named working on insurance issues (15.5%). The finding suggests healthcare professionals struggle to adequately monitor the effectiveness of their treatments. The survey was conducted by Twofold Health, an AI medical scribe platform.

"Clinicians are spending countless hours on administrative tasks when they should be tracking the impact of their delivery and care on patients," said Gal Steinberg, CEO of Twofold Health. "The fact that they are drowning in paperwork and don't have the tools or time to measure how their clients and patients are progressing is alarming. Our industry needs to join forces to better equip practitioners with the tools and resources to evaluate and document the care they provide."

In medium-sized practices (10-49 clinicians), progress tracking accounted for nearly half of responses, while client payment collection and late cancellations/no-shows emerged as secondary issues. Across all practice sizes, progress tracking, client acquisition, and insurance accounted for 72 percent of responses.

Clinicians flagged both standardized outcome measures and the need to assign and monitor homework or between-session tasks as particularly onerous aspects of progress tracking. For clinical professionals, the burden of documentation is immense, consuming hours that could be spent with patients or preventing burnout.

"The administrative burden has become so overwhelming that it's actually preventing us from doing the core clinical work we're trained for," said Vanessa Valles, LCSW-S, Group Practice Owner, A New Start Counseling. "Progress tracking and documentation requirements take time away from direct patient care and therapeutic presence. When clinicians have tools that reduce that administrative load, we see improvements in staff retention and reduced burnout."

The survey contributes to the growing body of research on the challenges of implementing value-based care. A 2023 study in Health Affairs found administrative tasks consume 25% of physician time, with documentation requirements cited as a primary driver of burnout.

Methodology: Twofold Health surveyed 446 users of its AI clinical documentation platform in October 2025. Respondents included mental-health professionals (therapists, counselors, social workers, psychiatrists) and primary-care clinicians (physicians, nurse practitioners) working in private practices ranging from solo practitioners to groups of 50+. The majority (61%) were solo practitioners, with 19% in practices of 2-9 clinicians and 9% in practices of 10-49 clinicians.

About Twofold Health
Twofold Health provides an AI scribe for therapists and physicians in small and medium practices, helping clinicians reduce documentation time while maintaining HIPAA compliance and quality of care. For more information, visit: https://www.trytwofold.com/

Contact:
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SOURCE Twofold Health