Once the encounter is over, the scribe prompts the physician for any missing information required to complete the medical chart, such as physical exam details, differential diagnoses, orders, and treatments. These types of virtual scribes provide real-time documentation in EHRs using their own accounts. Examples of this are the TeleScribe Audio from ScribeAmerica and ScribeLink from Aquity. Some providers and patients prefer this option as they feel it is less intrusive during the patient visit. The physician and remote medical scribe are continuously connected, allowing the clinician to move from patient to patient without stopping at the computer station to document. The earpiece has a microphone that allows the scribe to hear, capture, and document the encounter in the EHR. The provider is equipped with a light wireless earpiece connected to the HIPAA-secure line. The physician calls the telescribe over a HIPAA-secure landline or mobile phone before seeing the patient. An example of this is TeleScribe Video from ScribeAmerica. They are able to communicate audibly, and the video allows the scribe to respond to non-verbal cues as if he or she was in the room with the provider, this allows real-time documentation of the encounter in the EHR. The virtual clinical scribe and provider are connected through a tablet or laptop via a secure app, the electronic device can be set on a counter, or transported on a mobile cart. Types of Virtual Medical Scribes Video virtual Clinical scribes There are different types of virtual medical scribes. They document patient-provider encounters directly on electronic health records of medical practices or hospitals, via a HIPAA-secure computer connection. Virtual scribes can be located either at their homes or at company designated offices. The ER scribe follows the doctor to the examination room and documents the encounter on EHRs in real-time. Difference between in-person medical scribes and virtual medical scribesĪn in-person medical scribe works onsite, meaning they are in the same location as the healthcare provider often at emergency departments in hospitals.

These results explain why medical scribes are in high demand and why a more flexible and accessible alternative to live scribing, such as virtual medical scribing has been created to meet the demand. This has allowed the clinicians to focus on patient-centered care, which has resulted in increased patient satisfaction, increased provider productivity, provider job satisfaction and decreased burnout. Hospital scribes provide insurmountable support to clinicians by alleviating the documentation burden. According to the American Health Information Management Association, a clinical scribe is a person who has a core responsibility to capture accurate and detailed documentation of doctor-patient encounters in a timely manner in EHRs. Medical scribes are a solution to this documentation burden and are a very important part of healthcare teams. This can result in increased physician stress and burnout. Although the implementation of EHRs seems to have many benefits such as improved documention quality, cost reduction, and enhanced patient safety, EHRs add demands to a physician’s time mainly by increasing clerical workload. Finally, we look at several virtual scribe companies providing remote medical scribing services.Įlectronic health records are widely used in hospitals and among office-based physicians.

The benefits and challenges of using remote medical scribes are discussed as well. You will also learn the different types of virtual scribes. In this article you will learn what is a medical scribe and how telescribes differ from in-person physician scribes. A virtual medical scribe is also known as a telescribe, virtual scribe, or remote medical scribe. This workload has increased due to the implementation of electronic health records, which force doctors to spend much of their time typing on a computer during a patient’s visit. In-person scribes and virtual medical scribes reduce the physician’s workload. Virtual medical scribes are filling an important role in healthcare by documenting the physician-patient encounter remotely.

Virtual medical scribe meaning