Is a Virtual Scribe the Best Option for You?

There you are again. Sitting in your office, entering the day’s notes into your EHR and wishing you could just go home for the night. Suddenly, you realize that the time has come to get a scribe service and take back some of your life.

But wait! Physicians have several types of scribe options today – live, onsite scribes; virtual scribes; and even voice recognition software. Which one is best for you?

Determining that answer requires you to consider several things, including the time you can devote to review, correct and approve notes; your comfort level with technology; and, of course, your patients’ preferences. Today, we will discuss the benefits of working with a Virtual Scribe.

Virtual Scribes

Unlike the standard, on-site Medical Scribes that you may be more familiar with, Virtual Scribes are newer to the healthcare world. As we mentioned in “The Rise of the Virtual Scribe,” Virtual Scribes have only been around since 2007. Just like on-site Medical Scribes, the role of a Virtual Scribe is to provide real-time assistance for all of your office needs—only this time, they’re not actually in the room.

During a patient’s visit, the Virtual Scribe will connect remotely into the examination room via a secure computer connection. Recent technology improvements and a much higher degree of comfort with virtual solutions have led to Virtual Scribe services becoming a preferred choice for many physicians today.

As they listen in to the encounter, the Virtual Scribe will enter patient data into your EMR to complete the chart for you. In most cases, an individual Virtual Scribe will pair with an individual physician to build familiarity that yields ongoing efficiency improvements over time.

And, if your paperwork is piling up behind the scenes, a trained Virtual Scribe can also take care of back-office duties, assisting with everything from insurance verification to electronic filing to state-required reporting.

Virtual Scribe Advantages:

• Provides the same services as a live Medical Scribe at a fraction of the cost.
• Saves physicians an invaluable amount of time by completing all charting in real time directly into the EMR.
• One less person in the room. For both space and privacy purposes, many patients prefer one-on-one encounters with their physician.
• One-to-one Virtual Scribe-to-physician pairing is highly efficient, with back-up Virtual Scribes available when needed.
• The increase in productivity (e.g., more patient throughput) can easily pay for the Virtual
  Scribes.
• Some Virtual Scribe companies also offer additional services, such as virtual back-office
  assistance.

Virtual Scribe Concerns:

• Some patients may have trepidations about security; however, Virtual Scribe companies like Physicians Angels use HIPAA-compliant VOIP platforms, enter information directly into the physician’s EMR and retain no data, and abide by strict safety protocols to protect sensitive information.
• Not all Virtual Scribe companies have built effective training regimens for their scribes, so it’s essential to seek out a company that invests the time and effort into training their Scribes properly.

If you think you’re ready for a Virtual Scribe to ease your documentation load, now is the time to get started with the service that best suits your needs. After all, the sooner you sign up, the sooner you’ll be able to take back your time—and some of your life too.

Physicians Angels provides virtual scribe and virtual back-office services to thousands of physicians throughout the United States. Our goal is to give physicians their time back, allow them to better manage their work/life balance, increase the quality of patient care, and in most cases, increase their revenue production. To learn more, contact Physicians Angels.