I work on the web team for a large hospital system in San Diego.


>So much of the last ten or more years has been about making
>business more efficient. But all that's done is shifted the
>work onto us.
>Is now on you. The
>amount of data entry we do to go a doctor, or dentist or
>whatever ... is just goofy. That used to be a whole ass job,
>and now it's not, and they force you to do the work for free.

There are a few things at work.
1)Young people (under 40) WANT to be able to just go to a website and get a doctor's appointment without ever talking to anyone.

2)Many older people (over 50) can't use a computer system well enough to do fill out all the forms.

I'm ALWAYS pushing to let people do it BOTH ways. But I get pushback:
1)From our computer developers who think that if you can't sign up online you have to be an idiot.
2)Business folks who don't want to staff call centers with more people than 'necessary'- and even if they are staffed it's a long process that takes a lot of time to help.

My theory is that 35 year olds that can operate computers very well will lose some of that ability as they age. Then we have people who are too poor to really have the internet be very available in a way were filling out forms for 20 minutes is a burden. And then we have disabled people who using a computer - even with accessibility features - is harder than just talking to someone on the phone. Don't forget mentally disabled people and people who are 'developmentally" challenged too.

It IS cheaper to have you fill out a form without help because it saves purely on labor cost. And some people prefer it to talking with another human.

It is a barrier and for things not medical you better believe they're shifting it all to self service for the reasons you mention.