Are you feeling overwhelmed by documentation tasks as a healthcare provider? Well the solution is virtual medical scribe.
Do you often feel like spending more time interacting with computers rather than with your patients? Over the years, documentation requirements have increased significantly. Modern healthcare settings add lots of administrative burdens to physicians and healthcare service providers.
Wondering how to keep up with the immense administrative workload while delivering quality patient care?
Well, the answer lies in the arising trend of Virtual Medical Scribe. Utilizing online medical scribes in the healthcare industry can save your time, money and frustration. They let you focus more on patient encounters and less on paperwork.
Keep reading this blog to know how this innovative approach can transform your physician practice.
What is a Virtual Medical Scribe?
A virtual medical scribe is a professional who assists physicians and healthcare providers by efficiently documenting patient encounters in real-time.
Unlike traditional in-person scribing, online medical transcription for doctors operates remotely, from different locations. They use secured internet connections and advanced software to access patient details and record data.
The most interesting fact of remote scribing is that they need not be present in any hospital setup. They can easily record every physician patient encounters through video calls.
What does a Virtual Medical Scribe do?
Virtual medical scribes typically listen to patient visits via a HIPAA-compliant audio or video communication. They are responsible for transcribing the physician’s notes, updating electronic health records, and managing all other clinical tasks. Their motto is to allow the physicians to focus more on patient care than documenting the details.
The process typically involves the following steps, let’s have a look:
- Live Transcription: The scribe usually listens to the physician-patient interaction in real-time and records patient’s medical information in EHR.
- EHR Management: The virtual medical scribe services update the EHR with the patient’s medical history, physical exams, diagnoses, treatment plans and other critical data.
- Administrative Support: One of the main roles of the virtual scribing is to handle additional tasks such as scheduling appointments, managing referrals and handling documentation for insurance purposes.
What are the benefits of Using a Virtual Medical Scribe?
The implementation of virtual medical scribes offer numerous advantages for both healthcare providers and patients. Here are some of the key benefits:
Increased Physicians’ Efficiency:
By offloading the administrative burdens to a virtual medical scribe, physicians can spend more time directly interacting with patients. As a result, doctors can easily attend to more patients throughout the day and improve the quality of care they provide to them.
Enhanced Patient Care:
When doctors are not bogged down with documentation, they can give their full attention to diagnosis and interacting with their patients. This leads to better patient outcomes and higher satisfaction rate.
Cost-Effective Healthcare Solutions:
Hiring a virtual medical scribe can be the more cost-effective option rather than employing an in-person scribe. This professional does not need any particular office space. The nature of their job is remote, as a result they can easily connect from any location. It reduces the overhead costs associated with medical practices.
Improved Documentation Quality:
Online medical scribes are well-trained to be meticulous and precise. Their focused approach can result in more accurate and comprehensive patient records. This detailed recording is crucial for ongoing patient care and legal compliance.
Faster Turnaround Time:
Hiring a medical scribe for a clinical setting offers significant time-saving benefits. Let’s have a look,
Per 8-Hours Clinic Day:
For a physician, it takes 3 hours to EMR data entry. But with the help of a remote scribe it needs only 0.5 hours to complete. As a result, the net time benefit is 2.5 hours saved per day.
So, if you are considering the same for the whole year, then the average time benefit will be approx 14.5 days or 350 hours saved in a year.
What is the Highest Paying Virtual Scribe Salary?
After a patient visit, a physician typically spends 5-10 minutes on each EMR documentation. With real-time documentation, a remote scribe helps the physicians to save their valuable time. They allow the medical professionals to attend at least 3 additional patients.
Just assume that an average billing rate is $250 per patient. That means your facility can generate an extra $750 daily per physician. So, if you hire a scribe on an hourly basis or a monthly salary, the cost of a virtual medical scribe will not exceed $300 a day. As a result, the net gain is $450 per provider per day.
Besides these, the accurate, high-quality medical charts prepared by remote scribes optimize billing and expedite insurance approvals. Thus enhancing reimbursements and potentially boosting healthcare revenue by up to 40%.
Future Trends and Innovations in Virtual Medical Scribe Tech
After the advancement of telehealth, the future of virtual scribes for doctors looks quite promising. Here are some trends to watch that enhance the efficiency level:
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning:
AI and machine learning in medical scribe can have a significant impact on improving the capabilities of virtual medical scribes. These advanced technologies can assist them with more accurate transcriptions, predictive text inputs and automated updates to patient records. It also reduces the administrative burden on physicians and healthcare professionals.
Voice Recognition Software:
Advanced voice recording software is becoming increasingly sophisticated, allowing virtual medical scribes to transcribe notes more quickly and accurately. This modern technology can also be used to automate certain documentation tasks.
Telemedicine Integration:
As the telemedicine concept continues to grow, virtual scribes for doctors play an even more pivotal role. They can facilitate smoother telehealth visits
By handling the documentation of doctor patient encounters. As a result, it allows doctors to focus more on patient care during the virtual medical consultations.
The Bottom Line
Ready to implement virtual medical scribing in your healthcare setting?
There is no surprise that these remote scribes represent a significant innovation in today’s dynamic healthcare industry. It offers an amazing solution for physicians struggling to manage the overwhelming administrative burdens.
By improving efficiency, enhancing patient care, and reducing overall costs, virtual scribes for doctors are set to become an integral part of medical practice. As technology continues to evolve, the role of these remote scribes will likely expand. It offers amazing benefits to both patients and healthcare practitioners.
So, incorporating virtual scribes in healthcare systems not only addresses the immediate need for administrative support but also sets the stage for a more focused and effective future.
Let this long-term asset shape the future of our healthcare industry. See how RevMaxx AI works for you – request a free demo here.
