The Guide to Success with Virtual Scribes
Virtual scribes are a natural and cost-effective solution for many physicians
A virtual assistant reduces the burden of documentation without intruding on the doctor-patient relationship.
In 2022, scribes are no longer optional.
The added workload of EHR documentation has been frequently described as “a crisis” for physicians.
But there’s a solution: hire a scribe.
Though there are different types of medical scribe services, virtual scribes – also known as remote, offsite, or telescribes – have some clear advantages. In general, virtual scribes:
Don’t intrude on the doctor-patient relationship
Are easier to manage compared to in-person scribes
Reduce overall costs for your practice
This guide also discusses the limitation of virtual scribes. If you’d like to talk about how virtual scribes could fit into your practice, you can get in touch with us here.
Ready? Let’s get started.
Benefits: What Virtual Scribes Do Best
The major benefits of virtual scribes fall into three categories:
Improving the doctor-patient relationship
Reducing physician work time
Increasing profitability of a practice
How virtual scribes help you connect with your patients
There’s no way around it: creating notes in EHR software takes time, and a physician cannot focus on two things at once.
Dr. Zubin Damania summarizes the effect of EHR’s on the doctor-patient relationship:
“Have you ever wondered what’s changed in medicine that now you go to the doctor and they don’t look you in the eye? Instead, they’re looking at a computer screen. Their back may be to you. You’re sitting there…thinking, ‘This person doesn’t care about me.’” (Emphasis ours.)
An in-person scribe solves this dilemma but creates another. Some studies have shown that patients may view the scribe as an intrusion. However, even though having an additional person in the exam room may not be a good thing, another recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association did conclude that use of a scribe improves the overall patient experience.
Virtual scribes provide the best of both worlds: the benefits of a scribe, without any intrusions. When managed effectively, a virtual scribe can be all but invisible to the patient.
How virtual scribes improve physician productivity
This might seem simple. The scribe does the notes. The physician works less.
End of story? Not quite.
Here’s the catch: Someone has to manage the scribe. Virtual scribes are usually the most efficient type of scribe, because – unlike live scribes – virtual scribes remove the job of charting without adding major new tasks.
We’ve found some of our clients save at least 1 hour per day by using a virtual scribe. A number of studies confirm our experience. For example, a study of ER docs in Australia found scribes can increase physician productivity by over 25%.
A study published in 2018 by the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that use of a scribe improves the overall patient experience.
How virtual scribes increase revenue
Most scribes easily pay for themselves and even improve their practice’s revenue and profitability. If your practice has demand, you can see more patients – and your revenue will go up substantially. This is the biggest reason why most practices find scribes are very profitable. For a quick back-of-the-envelope profitability calculator, see this article on the ROI of medical scribes.
However, in our experience virtual scribes such as our own MyScribe service are generally much less expensive than the figures mentioned.
Cons: Some Limitations Of Virtual Scribes
There are some things virtual scribes cannot do.
A virtual scribe is, of course, unable to help with physical tasks around the office. One of the unique benefits of a live scribe is that he or she can act as a personal assistant in the office, performing minor tasks to make the physician’s day more efficient. If you need help with physical tasks, you should go with a live scribe.
A second limitation of some (but not all) virtual scribe programs is that they provide notes next-day. Many clinical environments, such as emergency medicine & urgent care, require notes to be available immediately. However, some virtual scribe providers – such as our own MyScribe virtual scribe service – do offer real-time notes for physicians who require it.
Another limitation of virtual scribes is that they often cannot pick up on visual cues the way a live scribe can. Therefore, a virtual scribe may require more specific directions than a live scribe would. However, this limitation can also be a strength, because once the physician is accustomed to giving specific directions the scribe will create the note exactly as directed, with no ambiguity.
Next Steps
Transition to a virtual scribe is not a painless process. It takes work. Scribes are not without drawbacks. However, when you have a clear understanding of what is required, you’re much more likely to be successful. Setup and implementation require physician time and resources. Virtual scribes also may not be practical in certain clinical environments. And, physicians must develop new routines and processes to integrate the virtual scribe into their workday.
Our MyScribe clients usually must put in an extra 45-90 minutes per day, 2-3 days per week during their setup & implementation phase, which takes 6-8 weeks. All told, you can expect approximately 15-25 hrs of extra work during the first 60 days of your transition.
We know the prospect of extra work might seem daunting.
But it’s manageable, and it’s worth it.
If you want to explore next steps, click here to get in touch with us.