Virtual scribes are becoming more and more popular. They take care of the administrative tasks, which consumes most of the doctor’s time. The scribes’ tasks include:
- Updating patient records
- Managing patient schedules
- Creating patient reports and many more
These scribes mainly work as remote assistants for healthcare providers. They mainly listen to the doctor-patient interaction and enter the patient details inside the EHR accordingly. They use a secure video or audio connection for this matter. The doctors spend a lot of time on paperwork every single day. That is one of the main reasons they can’t invest most of their time in patient care. So, what to do in that case?
Hence, to solve this ongoing problem, the virtual scribe company comes with its experienced personnel. They take care of all the required paperwork to ensure the doctors focus most of their time on patient care. But is it that easy to hire a scribe service? If it was, then most of the providers would have been run a smoother operation efficiently. There are some important aspects that you need to check before hiring a scribe. Let’s delve into the aspects then.
Steps to Select the Right Virtual Scribe Company
- Check their knowledge and experience: Most of the scribes have different years of experience. Some are years into this field, while some have just started their career. Hence, before hiring a scribe, you need to check not only their experience but also the clients they have handled and the number of positive reviews they got. Also, check if they understand all the complex medical terms and also if they have experience working with high-patient volume. You need to make sure that the experienced scribes can quickly adapt to your system. Hence, check out the companies that provide proper training to their scribes.
- Make sure they know all the privacy rules: Your scribes need to keep patient care as a top priority. However, as they handle sensitive patient information, they should know all the complex nuances of the HIPAA law to make sure the patient data is safe and secure. So, choose a virtual scribe company who are trained in all the updated privacy regulations.
- Check their communication skills: The scribes listen carefully to the patients. They monitor the patient-doctor interaction and then write everything down that is deemed necessary. But one thing you need to understand is how the scribes handle unclear instructions. These instructions can come when the doctors are speaking very fast during a patient visit. Furthermore, some scribes are fluent in different languages. Hence, if you cater to patients of multiple languages, a multi-language expert scribe can be the right solution for you.
- Check their EHR knowledge: The doctors carefully store the patient details inside the EHR system to make sure the patient data is safe. However, if the doctors focus on entering patient information inside the EHR, then they may not be attentive to the patients, which may impact patient care. That’s where a virtual scribe company comes in with their dedicated experts. They help with real-time EHR documentation and in some cases, after the patient visits, they put the patient data inside the EHR. Hence, choosing a scribe proficient in EHR might be a good solution for them.
Final Thoughts
The healthcare landscape is evolving with the increasing need for documentation, payer policies as well as regulatory changes. Moreover, this increased administrative work saves no time for the doctors to invest in patient care. That’s where the virtual scribe company comes into the picture. Their dedicated experts know all the complex nuances of the HIPAA law to make sure the patient data is safe. Moreover, these experts also know about working with your EHR, hence you don’t have to train them. Hence, with their help, your doctors can spend most of their time in patient care.
Sunknowledge Services Inc. – an ISO 27001:2022 certified, American-owned & operated company, headquartered in New York City – is a leading global provider of Business and Knowledge Process Outsourcing services in the US healthcare domain.
