How Children’s Health Council Used TextExpander to Save Hundreds of Hours on Documentation and Serve More Families

At Children’s Health Council (CHC), a nonprofit dedicated to supporting children and families with learning, behavioral, and mental health challenges, every minute counts. 

Clinician Melanie Hsu, PhD and her 75 colleagues spend hours producing detailed neurodevelopmental reports for children being assessed for autism, ADHD, and learning disorders. These reports, often 30 to 50 pages long, are essential for guiding treatment, but creating them can be repetitive, time-consuming, and physically taxing for the team.

Time-Consuming Reports Put Clinicians Under Pressure

Clinical psychologists at CHC must follow strict templates and clinical guidelines while producing lengthy diagnostic reports. Each report requires a significant amount of repetitive typing, which can slow productivity and lead to strain.

“We were known around the building for our wrist guards and pain patches,” says Dr. Hsu. “The repetitive typing was taking a physical toll.”

The team needed to focus on patient care and began looking for a solution that would reduce the time spent on documentation without compromising report accuracy or quality.

Reducing Repetitive Typing to Free Up Clinician Time

CHC adopted TextExpander in 2023 to eliminate repetitive typing and make report creation faster and more consistent.

“TextExpander has been really helpful in cutting down on the amount of repetitive movements we have to make. I’m able to create templates that I can then go distribute to my team for reports or for our progress notes,” says Dr. Hsu.

The team’s shared library of Snippets was built to improve the standardization of reports and progress notes, in addition to improving the speed at which they are completed. With fill-ins and dropdown menus, clinicians can quickly insert standardized text and categories while still personalizing each patient’s report. This ensures both efficiency and accuracy across all documentation.

Hours Saved Each Week Allow Clinicians to See More Patients

With TextExpander, CHC clinicians have dramatically reduced the time spent on repetitive documentation, allowing them to see more patients and provide higher-quality care. Reports that once required tedious manual input are now faster to complete, more consistent across clinicians, and easier to manage.

In just one year, CHC’s 75 clinicians saved more than 1,600 hours of documentation time, which is the equivalent of 204 workdays. Not only did it reduce the physical strain and cognitive load on the providers, but it freed up time so they could focus on what matters most: supporting children and families.

“This has saved us hours and hours of work,” says Dr. Hsu. “Children are often on waitlists for a year or more. Any time that I can save, the more children I can see, the more families I can help.”