VMeDx Medical Virtual Scribe Pushing Patient Care Into the Future

As the healthcare industry evolves, so do its services and tools. Professionals like doctors, dentists, and clinicians must embrace modern advances to enhance patient care. Recently, the role of the medical virtual scribe has undergone significant transformation, reflecting these changes in the medical field.

Medical scribes offer assistance to doctors by documenting patient encounters. Scribes of days past used to be a part of the in-house staff. Doctors would hire in-person scribes to complete documentation and the like. However, due to the rise of the digital sphere, medical practitioners now have the option to hire virtual scribes rather than traditional medical scribes who work in-house.

This practice transformation eventually meant better for doctors. Having said that, why is it better, exactly? How is it better to hire a virtual scribe or can doctors find better work from traditional ones? In this article, we will explore the key differences between the two and ultimately expand upon why virtual scribes are better for medical practices than traditional medical scribes.

Virtual Medical Scribe Services Vs. Traditional Scribe Services

Both virtual and traditional medical scribes offer services that enhance efficiency, increase productivity, and, most importantly, improve patient care. However, employing a virtual scribe over an in-house scribe offers a wide range of advantages.

Cost Efficient

One of the biggest advantages when it comes to hiring a remote medical scribe over one that works in the office is cost. Traditionally, in-house scribes require a physical workspace and equipment, which in itself comes with overhead expenses. Hiring a remote medical scribe removes this cost.

Virtual scribes are also more flexible in terms of work hours, which allows doctors to adjust staffing according to the needs of the practice. This is an entirely more cost-effective approach to expanding the workforce and reducing your workload, subsequently allowing practitioners to allocate their resources towards other aspects of their practice.

Access to a Larger Talent Pool

When doctors opt to hire virtual scribes, they immediately enable themselves to access a larger talent pool compared to traditional scribes. Ordinarily, the talent pool is geographically limited, meaning doctors generally only have access to scribes that operate in their city. When hiring virtual scribes, the reach is expanded and they have the chance to hire scribes from around the world.

This wider reach allows healthcare professionals to be a tad more selective when hiring. They can also have the chance to hire more skilled and experienced virtual scribes that meet their unique needs. As a result, they enhance the overall quality of their patient care. As a bonus, they will also have a more diverse team.

Flexibility

Flexibility is another strong factor that sets virtual scribes apart. These employees have the ability to work anywhere and can work at any time. They will adjust to any schedule accordingly and, due to the nature of their work, have the leniency to be available round-the-clock, given the agreement of the work beforehand. This level of flexibility is highly valuable in the world of medicine.

Virtual scribes also aren’t constrained by commute times, which means they can begin work as soon as needed.

Telehealth Support

Telehealth support is a service that has grown more popular in recent years. This has allowed healthcare professionals from all around the world to tend to a wider range of patients, elevating their practice. This practice has also empowered patients to approach doctors they otherwise would have a very difficult time reaching, enhancing their overall welfare.

A remote medical scribe can support this service seamlessly due to their work situation. They can easily join in on any telehealth appointment, creating real-time documentation as needed. This allows healthcare providers to focus on their patients better, tending to their needs with more attention and care.

More Technologically Proficient

Virtual medical scribes do more than just be familiar with any medical terminology and create medical documentation for the physicians they work for. They also handle other administrative tasks, many of which require the use of digital tools and software. Virtual medical scribes are way more experienced in handling these tools, thanks to their technological proficiency.

Tools such as electronic health records systems, telehealth software, billing applications, and communication software are frequently used in the industry. Doctors are highly likely to dedicate time to training traditional scribes in handling these tools. Virtual medical scribes are already exposed to them or have an easier time adjusting to newer software thanks to experience.

More Experience

Speaking of experience, a typical virtual scribe is generally more experienced than a typical in-house scribe. This is because most virtual scribes work for a more diverse range of doctors. They have scribed doctors of various specializations from different backgrounds who use different tools and have different patient demographics.

Most scribes also work for multiple clients at once due to their availability. This ultimately allows them to gain better experience as a whole due to more exposure.

The Increasing Need for Scribes in the Medical Space

The demand for medical scribes has only increased over the years. This can only be attributed to the increasing complexity of the healthcare work, which extends to appointment and EHR documentation. To this end, both traditional and virtual medical scribes have seen more work. However, due to the reasons listed above, doctors are more likely to hire a virtual scribe than a traditional one for their practice.

The addition of telehealth in one’s healthcare practice, along with the growing intricacies of digital technologies, created a greater need to employ technologically proficient employees who are experienced and require less specialty training due to their experience. A virtual scribe fills this need perfectly.

When healthcare providers add a virtual scribe to their workforce, the services they provide increase patient satisfaction immediately because they can issue better patient care. This highlights the importance of virtual medical scribe services to the medical field in the modern world.

The Benefits of Working With Virtual Scribes

Increasing both patient and physician satisfaction, scribes offer a myriad of benefits for the physicians they work for. The following are just a handful of examples of the many that ultimately contribute to the success of a healthcare provider’s business.

Increased Scalability

One key benefit of hiring a virtual medical scribe is increased scalability. This is an aspect of one’s practice that enables them to scale the workforce up or down based on patient volume and the overall need of the practice. Scalability is easier to manage when a healthcare provider hires virtually.

Administrative Assistance

Studies show that administrative tasks and paperwork take up a massive amount of a doctor’s time. These are precious hours that are much better allocated to patient care. Scribes can take a major heavy lifting and complete the administrative tasks that physicians would ordinarily do, freeing up their time to tend to more patients better.

Regulation Compliance

Every medical practice must adhere to the regulations set by HIPAA to protect their patients’ private information. A virtual scribe is trained and educated to deal with the intricacies of the practice while adhering to HIPAA regulations. Not only do they assist in making sure patient data is protected, but they also prevent you from having to deal with setbacks and legal issues that may come with breaking guidelines.

Improved Quality Care

The main purpose of physicians expanding their workforce is to improve the quality of service they offer to their patients, and that’s certainly what scribes will do. Scribes help in achieving this goal by creating real-time documentation and making patient records updated and accurate, helping doctors create more informed clinical decisions.

Improved Patient Interactions

With the administrative burden of documentation removed from a doctor’s workload, they are empowered to focus better on patient care. This ultimately leads to more patient interactions, increasing patient satisfaction and, most importantly, greatly contributing to the improvement of their physical health.

Increased Productivity

One of the most important aspects virtual scribes bring forth to a medical practice is efficiency. Through this efficiency, a practice also sees an increase in productivity. By creating accurate documentation and managing records properly, healthcare providers can seamlessly access the information they require in a timely manner, thus improving their overall operational performance. Similarly, the other members of the staff experience the same increase in performance, thus increasing the overall productivity of the clinic.

Better Financial Flow

Accurate documentation is a major contributor to the financial aspect of a practice. This is because this ensures that billing and coding processes are always error-free. This level of accuracy will prevent any claim denials, delays, and other setbacks that can hurt the practice’s financial flow.

On top of that, the efficiency of the work the clinic is able to perform contributes to their overall quality. This, in turn, results in better reviews and more patient visits.

Reduced Burnout Risk and Better Work and Life Balance

The burden of work that has little to do with patients directly can easily tire and wear off doctors. The assistance scribes offer plays a pivotal role in reducing burnout risk so that doctors can consistently perform at the level they are required. When they spend hour after hour on patient encounters and less on paperwork, doctors can experience increased work satisfaction.

Another result of the work of scribes is healthcare providers experiencing a better work-life balance. They receive more free time thanks to fewer paperwork and administrative duties, allowing them to focus better on the other aspects of their life outside of work.

Introducing the Virtual Medical Scribes of VMeDx

With a complete understanding of the needs of modern healthcare providers, VMeDx stands out as a leader in providing high-quality service. The virtual scribes employed by our organization are equipped with the most essential skills, the most meaningful experience, and the most professional temperament to deal with the complications of the healthcare world.

Doctors deserve the most talented pool of virtual scribes, and VMeDx is a convergence of these talents. Work with us today and benefit from our expertise and dedication to providing the best patient care in the medical industry.