# How long will it take to review this chart?

> Turn a page count into a review-time range and a cost. Handwriting, duplication, and complexity all change the answer.

Source: https://imecore.com/tools/records-review-time-estimator

This tool runs entirely in the browser. Nothing is uploaded and no account is needed.

## How to use it

1. **Enter the page count.** Use the real total, including duplicates. Duplication is a separate input.
2. **Describe the document mix.** Handwritten clinical notes take far longer per page than typed reports.
3. **Set the complexity.** A single injury reads faster than a multi-system or psychiatric file.
4. **Add your reviewer rate.** The tool converts hours into a cost so you can price or budget the work.

## Why page count alone is a bad estimate

Two 600-page files can take two hours or ten. What moves the number is how much of it is handwritten, how much of it repeats, and how many body systems the questions touch. A discharge summary sent four times is one document, not four.

## What the published rates imply

The Doctors of BC fee guide bills physician record review at $122 per 15 minutes, or about $488 per hour. The SEAK 2024 survey found about 6.5 hours of total examiner time per IME across review, examination, and report. New York State's procurement schedule includes 200 pages of records in the base IME fee and charges $1.00 USD per page beyond that, which tells you the state treats 200 pages as the normal load.

## Where the time actually goes

Most reviewers spend the first block sorting rather than reading: putting documents in date order, working out which provider wrote what, and finding the duplicates. That is clerical work billed at a clinical rate. Sorting the file before it reaches the reviewer is the cheapest hour you will ever save.

## Questions people ask

### How many pages can a reviewer read per hour?

For typed, well-organized records, 80 to 150 pages an hour is realistic. For mixed handwritten clinical notes, 25 to 50. For a dense psychiatric or neuropsychological file, less again.

### What does record review cost per hour in Canada?

The Doctors of BC guide for uninsured services recommends $122 per 15 minutes of physician record review, which is about $488 an hour. A paralegal or medical summarizer costs far less.

### Does deduplication really change the number?

Yes. Heavy duplication is common in files assembled from several providers. Removing exact duplicates often cuts effective page count by a fifth or more.

### Can I use this to price a fixed-fee review?

Use the high end of the range, not the middle. Estimates are optimistic and rework is not free.