Medical Scribing is a revolutionary concept in modern medicine. With the advent of the Electronic Health Record (EHR), it has created an overload of documentation and clerical responsibilities for the physicians and eats into their time that should ideally be spent on what they do best – actual patient care! To relieve the documentation overload to help physicians see more patients but also get a work-life balance for themselves to prevent a burnout, physicians across the country are turning to Medical Scribe services.
VTS provides our clients with high-quality, physician-dedicated medical scribes that drastically reduces the documentation works. A Virtual Medical Scribe eases the doctor’s burnout at their work as real-time data is captured by a virtual assistant and directly entered in to the EHR of practice during patient visit.
Our scribes are compliant with HIPAA regulations and the documentation procedures required to document patient encounter which the physician can monitor on his/her screen. A busy schedule, multi-tasking, and parallel work activities can easily make doctors forget to note down some of the information or conversations that are important during healthcare decisions and here a vital role is being played by our medical scribe to ensure all necessary medical information is entered on the EHR platform.
Understanding Virtual Medical Scribing
In a recent study, 90% of providers polled said they’re considering outsourcing more administrative functions at their organization. This includes tasks like scribing, which can now be 100% virtual.
A virtual scribe is a remote professional who provides scribing services in real-time. The attending physician can patch in the virtual scribe using an audio/video format. Then, the scribe enters critical data into your EHR during the visit.
As you can imagine, a virtual scribe can free up providers from time-consuming administrative tasks. But that’s not the only benefit of choosing a service like virtual medical scribe.
The Top Five Benefits of Virtual Medical Scribing
1. Medical Scribes Reduce Administrative Burden
The National Academy of Medicine estimates that US healthcare organizations spend two times more than necessary on administrative duties. With a virtual medical scribe, you can slash excess administrative workload at your facility. A virtual scribe will do all the digital charting for you, freeing up physicians and other providers to do what they do best — care for the patients.
2. Virtual Scribes Are Less Intrusive
Unlike regular scribes, virtual medical scribes don’t have to be in the room with you. You can connect with the virtual medical scribe through the HIPAA-complaint virtual scribing software with just the click of a button. Then, the virtual scribe can listen in on the visit (patient-provider conversation). Not having the scribe in the room during the visit maintains patient privacy, which can help physicians build trust. This, in turn, improves the overall patient experience.
3. Medical Scribes Allow Physicians to See More Patients and help with revenue generation
Medical scribes take care of data capturing and coding tasks traditionally performed by the physician. By utilizing a virtual medical scribe, providers can spend less time on administrative tasks and spend more quality time with the patients. Patient satisfaction improves. Studies show that hiring a virtual medical scribe can help you increase the patients seen in a day by up to 25-30%, which in turn will help generate more revenue.
4. Virtual Scribes Cut Costs
As per a study, it is estimated that US hospitals spend an excess of $248 billion per year on administrative tasks. Meanwhile, hospitals that employ a virtual medical scribe can help you cut more costs. That is because these remote virtual scribes does not need office space or any equipment. Plus, virtual scribes are experienced professionals, you will not have to train them. Most of the virtual scribes are located in India, which helps reduce more costs.
5. Medical Scribes Reduce Provider Burnout
42% of physicians say they’re burnt out. And 55% of burnt-out doctors say it’s because they spend too much time on paperwork. With a virtual medical scribe, physicians do not have to work late to file digital paperwork, which means more freedom, a better work-life balance, and higher overall job satisfaction, plus additional revenue generation.
