ConceptA tool I would build. Not client work.
Referral and document reader
Referrals come in by fax, post and PDF. Someone reads each one and types it into the record, and a slip in a birth date turns up weeks later.
Concept
Not client work- What this is
- A tool I would build, drawn to show the idea. Nobody has bought it, and every name on these screens is invented.
- For
- A clinic or lab that retypes incoming letters.
- The money
- In 2021, 78% of US hospitals still received care summaries by mail or fax (ONC (opens in a new tab)). In one study clerical tasks took 44.2% of physicians’ time in the record system (Annals of Family Medicine, 2017 (opens in a new tab)).
- Belongs to
- Health
- Drawn
- 11 Nov 2026 · sheet 2 of 4
Live demo
Each field shows where it was read.
Concept
Reader
The scan on the left, the fields on the right. Every field shows where on the page it was read, and what is unclear stays amber.
The other screens
Before the reader, and after it.
- Demo ClinicInbox14Match and file3Exceptions5FiledKept by the clinicAudit trailField setsLotte VoorbeeldFront desk
Document Read as From Pages Fields read State Fax, 08:14 Referral letter Family practice Lindenhof 2 9 of 11 2 to check Scan, 08:02 Insurance form Mutualiteit Voorbeeld 1 7 of 7 Ready to file PDF by email, 07:51 Lab result Lab Demo 3 12 of 12 Ready to file Fax, 07:40 Discharge summary Hospital Fictief, orthopaedics 4 14 of 16 2 to check Scan, Tue 16:48 Referral letter Dr. B. Dummy 1 0 of 9 Handwritten Fax, Tue 16:20 Not recognised 09 000 02 17 2 Could not tell what it is Needs a person PDF by email, Tue 15:05 Referral letter Physio Voorbeeld 2 11 of 11 Filed by Lotte PDF by email, Tue 14:31 Prescription copy Dr. H. Fictief 1 6 of 6 Filed by Lotte Fax, Tue 11:12 Referral letter Family practice Lindenhof 2 11 of 11 Filed by Ines Scan, Tue 10:30 Insurance form Mutualiteit Voorbeeld 2 7 of 7 Filed by Lotte PDF by email, Tue 09:48 Lab result Lab Demo 1 12 of 12 Filed by Ines Fax, Tue 09:05 Discharge summary Hospital Fictief, orthopaedics 3 16 of 16 Filed by Lotte Fax, Mon 16:52 Referral letter Dr. B. Dummy 2 11 of 11 Filed by Lotte PDF by email, Mon 15:10 Referral letter Physio Voorbeeld 1 10 of 10 Filed by Ines Concept
Inbox
Everything that came in, what kind of document the reader took it for, and how far it got.
1 / 4 - Demo ClinicInbox14Match and file3Exceptions5FiledKept by the clinicAudit trailField setsLotte VoorbeeldFront deskWho is this?read from the letter: Sofie Proef, 14/03/1961
Patient record Born Why it fits Sofie Proef 14/03/1961 Name, birth date and street match Sofie Proefs 02/11/1984 Name is close. Birth date differs New patient from this letter 14/03/1961 Only if nobody above is her Letter against recordSofie ProefField In the letter In her record Same Name Sofie Proef Sofie Proef Yes Born 14/03/1961, settled by Lotte 14/03/1961 Yes Street Proefstraat 7 Proefstraat 7 Yes Referrer Dr. Hanne Fictief Dr. Hanne Fictief, known referrer Yes Phone None 0470 00 01 12 Not in letter What filing does- Attach both pages to her recordunder Letters, dated 6 Nov 2026
- Add the referrer to her recordDr. Hanne Fictief, Family practice Lindenhof
- Open a task for the front desk“Book assessment”, due Fri 13 Nov
Send the referrer a receiptNothing happens until you press File to record.Concept
Match and file
A person picks the patient. The duplicate warning and the list of what filing will do come first.
2 / 4 - Demo ClinicInbox14Match and file3Exceptions5FiledKept by the clinicAudit trailField setsLotte VoorbeeldFront desk
Document What stopped it Waiting Scan, Tue 16:48 Handwritten letter. 0 of 9 fields read 17 h Type it in Fax, Tue 16:20 Could not tell what kind of document it is 17 h Choose a type Fax, Tue 13:02 Two patients on one fax 20 h Split Scan, Tue 10:44 Page 2 is upside down and cut off 1 day Scan again PDF by email, Mon 17:30 The file is locked with a password 2 days Ask the sender Fax, Mon 14:20 Two patients on one fax. Split by Lotte Settled Done Scan, Mon 11:05 Faint print. Scanned again by Ines Settled Done Fax, Mon 09:12 No patient found. Matched by hand by Lotte Settled Done Scan, Tue 16:48
- Read as
- Referral letter
- From
- Dr. B. Dummy
- Pages
- 1
- Fields read
- 0 of 9
The whole letter is handwritten. The reader will not guess at handwriting, so nothing was filled in.
Type it inCall the practiceConcept
Exceptions
What the reader could not handle, with the reason. Nothing is dropped; a person works the list.
3 / 4 - Demo ClinicInbox14Match and file3Exceptions5FiledKept by the clinicAudit trailField setsLotte VoorbeeldFront desk
Time Who What Detail 08:31 Lotte Voorbeeld Filed to record Sofie Proef · 2 pages · task “Book assessment” opened 08:30 Lotte Voorbeeld Matched patient Sofie Proef, born 14/03/1961 08:29 Lotte Voorbeeld Settled a field Allergies: “Ask the patient at intake” 08:28 Lotte Voorbeeld Settled a field Date of birth: 14/0? became 14/03/1961 08:15 ReaderAI Left 2 fields to check Date of birth (smudged digit), Allergies (handwritten) 08:15 ReaderAI Read 9 fields Practice, referrer, date, type, patient, reason, medication, request, priority 08:14 ReaderAI Sorted as a referral letter 2 pages, fax from 09 000 01 42 08:14 Fax line Received Stored unchanged. The original is never edited Concept
Audit trail
Who read, changed, matched and filed what. The reader’s own steps are marked as AI.
4 / 4
What it would be worth
Minutes per letter, and fewer slips.
How many minutes depends on your letters. Count them for a week before anyone quotes a saving.
78%
of US hospitals received summary of care records by mail or fax in 2021. Paper has not gone away, and somebody types it in.
Source: ONC data brief, interoperability among US hospitals (opens in a new tab), 2021. US hospitals; 69% also sent summaries that way. A public figure about American hospitals. It is not a result of mine, and your clinic may look nothing like it.
Also public: clerical tasks took 44.2% of the time physicians spent in the record system in one US study (Annals of Family Medicine (opens in a new tab), 2017). I found no public figure for minutes per letter, so there is none here.
Your retyping, in hours
Type your numbers and the sum appears here.
This is what retyping costs now. A person still checks every letter, so time one letter both ways before you count a saving. Your numbers stay in this tab.
Where the line is
It copies what is on the page. A person files it.
What it does
- Sorts incoming faxes, scans and PDFs by the kind of document they are.
- Copies names, dates, the referrer and the request into fields, labelled as read by AI.
- Shows the place on the page each field came from.
- Leaves a field amber when the page is unclear, and says why.
- Keeps a record of who changed or confirmed what, and when.
What it never does
- Guess at handwriting or a smudged digit and call it read.
- Interpret the letter, weigh a complaint or set a priority of its own. It copies the one the referrer wrote.
- File anything to a patient’s record before a person has matched the patient.
- Throw a page away. Unreadable pages go to a list a person works through.
Reading and filing paperwork is record-keeping, and I don’t market this as a medical device. Letters like this hold health data: where it is hosted, who can open it and how long it is kept are the clinic’s decisions, written down before any real letter goes in.
Want this for real?
I would start with a week on your own post: a count of what comes in, which fields you retype, and where the slips happen. Then a fixed price.