Augmenting patient-physician interactions by the use of medical scribes

The healthcare sector is a growing area of interest for the integration of virtual assistants. According to a study published by the American College of Physicians (ACP), primary care physicians spent 49% of their workday completing administrative tasks which has drastic negative effects on patient’s interaction. In an effort to reduce the administrative burden of medical transcription and clinical documentation, researchers are developing AI-driven virtual assistants for the healthcare industry. 1

Electronic health records (EHR) designed for healthcare practices on latest cloud-based technology have changed the way the physicians have been managing the patients till now. Virtual assistants such as virtual scribe, chronic care management (CCM), remote patient monitoring (RPM), and appointment reminder offers a number of benefits including reduced cost, increased flexibility, and trimming down training time. A virtual scribe program can offer the physician the ability to increase revenue, improve work-life balance and decrease physician’s physical exertion. 1

 

Research supports medical scribes as a tool for better physician-patient interaction

 

According to a recent study by Association of Medical Scribes (AMA) the use of medical scribes has potential benefits such as lesser physician documentation burden and enhanced efficiency, workflow and patient-physician interaction. 2

The findings of this study suggest five benefits of using medical scribes:

1. Better patient interactions: Approximately 50% ( of total 735 patients) of the patients reported better patient interactions by their physicians as they spent more time than usual talking to them and better understanding their health status when using scribes. 2
2. Improved physician satisfaction: On a one-to-four scale with four being “strongly agree,” a 3.6 average response to the statement that using a scribe has increased my job satisfaction” reported by the physicians. 2
3. Superior teamwork: The study reports that“team documentation inculcates a sense of cooperation among staff at all levels of your practice.” 2
4. Increase in revenue: Studies document that 79 % of the physicians reported a readiness to increase patient volume with scribe support. There was an observance of 507 more patient visits which was linked to 3,029 more relative-value units (RVUs) of work and therefore improved productivity. This equated to the revenue of almost $1.4 million at a cost of almost $99,000. 2
5. Mitigating physician’s exertion: The findings also suggest that the use of scribes can prove a useful strategy to mitigate the increasing EHR documentation burden among the physicians. 2

 

GeeseMed Virtual Scribe AI based Platform

 

GeeseMed Virtual Scribe platform offers following advantages

 

⁃ Voice Recognition Technology (AI based): Speech-to-text feature which facilitates the provider to dictate in real-time while treating the patient, reducing hours per day wasted in documentation. 3
⁃ Integrates into existing workflow: Comprehensive notes and orders integrate into GeeseMed (GISMed) or any other EHR. 3
⁃ High Quality Documentation: The remote scribe provides quality documentation by completing the patient encounter in real time by transcribing the relevant information of the provider’s dictation. 3
⁃ Lower Cost: Increase revenues as they aid physician to see more patients, improve their coding and billing thus providing more options for the physician. 3
⁃ Minimal Training required: GeeseMed EHR add on virtual scribe is familiar with the physician’s workflow and documentation preferences. 3
⁃ Increased focus on patient care and communication, physician satisfaction, and physician -staff relationship 3

 

For more information contact: sales@MDofficeManager.com

References:

 

1. https://emerj.com/ai-sector-overviews/virtual-medical-assistants/
2. Robeznieks A.The overlooked benefits of medical scribes. https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/sustainability/overlooked-benefits-medical-scribes
3. Virtual Medical Scribe for Providers. https://www.geesemed.com/geesemed-ehr/virtual-physician -scribes-virtual-medical-scribes-for-doctors/