Affineon Case Study: Dr. Painter’s Shift from Burnout to Balance

What would it feel like to walk out of the office with an empty clinical inbox? At San Marcos Family Medicine, the inbox felt like a second shift no one signed up for. And for Dr. Mia Painter, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, it trailed her home for years, bleeding into the hours meant for personal life. Each click dragged her further from care. Until she found Affineon.

The Problem: Bringing the provider inbox home

To say Dr. Painter’s inbox was just busywork was to put it mildly. It created anxiety that followed her out of the clinic. Even normal lab results demanded attention. Every message had to be drafted by hand. Rx renewals became tedious and time-consuming, with every refill demanding manual checks through the chart.

The burden didn’t stop when the day ended.

Q: What was it like managing your inbox before Affineon?

“So, the inbox has always been a struggle for not just me, but the other providers in our practice. Because of the sheer volume and trying to get those messages out and those lab results out … and see patients in a timely manner. And so there was a lot of stress associated with it, a lot of anxiety, I think, associated with it, and a lot of frustration associated with it, because it took a lot of time outside of patient care time. Oftentimes that carried over into lunch hours or after-hours family time for our providers. And so that was a big struggle.”

That overwhelm eventually forced a bigger question: how long could the inbox keep running this way? Something had to change.

The Solution: Getting time back for what matters most

When her practice turned on Affineon, the change was immediate. Lab results surfaced in one clear view. Prescription renewals that once took minutes of chart-digging now closed out in seconds. Normal labs flowed straight to patients, while abnormal results rose to the top of the inbox with clinical decision support already in place.

Q: What’s it been like working with Affineon?

Dr. Painter:

“The process of working with Affineon has been wonderful. The support and the transition over have been so seamless, and the questions that we have have been answered very timely and very appropriately. It's been very exciting.

From my standpoint as a provider and an administrator, this is the first time that I'm leaving the office and not taking work home. My lunch hour is now my lunch hour; my family time is now my family time, and messages are getting done in real time or very quickly within 24 hours, so I know my patients are being taken care of.”

Affineon was the first solution that felt like it lifted the burden rather than shifting it around.

Q: What was onboarding like? How was the learning curve?

A: The team agreed on parameters for labs and messages, Affineon flipped the switch, and the support team made quick adjustments, stayed responsive, and kept the system tuned to the realities of daily practice.

Q: Do you use the Rx renewals feature, or just labs?

A: Prescription renewals that once required dozens of clicks now happen in one streamlined view. Affineon surfaces all the data providers and staff need in a single screen, cutting out the scavenger hunt through charts.

‍

Q: What would you say has been the most surprising aspect of working with Affineon so far?

A: On her first day with Affineon, Dr. Painter opened her inbox to find it nearly 50% lighter than usual. At first, she assumed the system had missed results. But after checking across several days, she saw the difference was real—zero messages waiting, and everything up-to-date.

The Result: Hours saves and personal time reclaimed

By turning to Affineon, Dr. Painter was able to cut her workload by half, and with it the pressure of an inbox that never closed. She could leave the office without logging in again at night, confident her patients were cared for.

‍

Her staff felt the change too. Medical assistants, once buried in renewal requests, now moved quickly through the inbox with all the information they needed in one place. That freed them to focus on patient calls and other work that added value to the practice.

‍

And through it all, care quality never wavered. For Dr. Painter, that was the most important result: the inbox was finally under control without compromising the quality of care for her patients.

‍

The relief in her inbox set the stage for a new sense of balance across the entire practice.

Q: Do you have a sense of ROI so far?

Dr. Painter:

“It’s very difficult to put an ROI on time, because that means something different to everybody. But there’s really no price you can put on it—getting that time back is invaluable.

As far as what I’ve been able to do outside of my usual workflow, that’s also been immeasurable. As an administrator, there are different things I need to focus on outside of the inbox and outside of patient care. Oftentimes those got pushed aside because handling patients was the priority.

And so now it’s a matter of being able to focus on those other things that keep the practice running and keep our staff going. I don’t know that I could put a value on it. I think it’s invaluable.”

Q: If Affineon were taken away tomorrow, how would you react?

Dr. Painter:

“Oh, I would hunt you down.

Looking Ahead

After 16 years in practice, Dr. Painter finally found a way to keep the inbox from running her life. What used to spill into personal time now fits inside the workday. The shift reshaped her day—from the inbox itself to the way she manages her energy, her patients, and her team.

This has been the best product implementation we’ve had in years—delivering real impact, efficiency, and improved patient care.”

Q: How would you describe Affineon to a stranger?

Dr. Painter:

Probably close to one of the most perfected AI tools to assist with inbox management that we can get.

‍Q: I would recommend Affineon to anyone who…

‍Dr. Painter:

“...values their patient care, their patient quality, but also their personal time. Because this allows them to balance everything that they need to provide the best care they can—in a timely manner, without jeopardizing their quality of life and their time outside of the practice.”

What worked for Dr. Painter is now available to providers and practices everywhere.