Doctors routinely spend long hours on paperwork each week. This leads to inefficient systems, loss of patients, and delayed accuracy in medical diagnosis. Hiring a medical scribe is a proven way many practices are improving their overall care and increasing income.
In this article, you'll discover exactly how virtual medical patient scribe services pay for themselves.
See More Patients, Faster
One major way a virtual medical patient scribe service pays for itself is by increasing the number of patients a medical practice can see in a day. In one study, two hospitals found that they had a 7% to 8% improvement in the patients they saw in an hour while using medical scribes. Also, they saw a 20% to 40% improvement in the time a patient arrived to when they were seen by the doctor. For every one percent improvement, there was at least a $16,000 return.
A common complaint among doctors is the scribe turnover. Scribes are often medical students working during the summer. When school opens back up, physicians have to go through the orientation process all over again with a new person. Each virtual scribe is trained on multiple EHR systems and works with a small group of doctors. This practice makes it so that when one person leaves, the physician isn't left with the burden of retraining.
Improve Diagnosis From Patient History
Medical scribes listen to the patient and input the information into electronic medical records. This allows the doctor to focus on the patient and treatment instead of paperwork. In the above-mentioned study, the participants saw a 72% to 87% improvement in patient charting. This lead to better treatment plans, which resulted in shorter hospital stays for adults and pediatric patients.
Some patients are reluctant to share intimate details of their life with a physician. This is compounded with a third person in the room. Remote medical patient scribe services provide privacy to the doctors and patients while still allowing the doctors to focus on what they're good at. A virtual scribe tunes in via video or audio transmitted across a HIPPA-compliant connection.
Prevent Physician Burnout
Electronic health records were created with the hopes they would reduce physician stress and improve medical diagnoses. In many cases, EHRs have been proven to add stress to the already-heavy workload of a physician. This has lead to reduced quality of life, hours more of paperwork, and damaging time limits imposed on doctor-patient visits. Burnout among physicians has resulted in anxiety, lowered health, and in some cases, suicide. Scribes can help doctors to feel less stressed.
Aside from the monetary benefit of using remote medical patient scribe services, the biggest takeaway is that patients receive better care. EHRs are more accurate, and doctors have more time with their patients and more time to focus on their quality of life. Hire virtual medical scribes today to see these benefits in your practice.
Share30 September 2020
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