Strategies to Mitigate the Cost and Training of a Medical Scribe

There are several ways to calculate the cost of a medical scribe. First, how will the scribe learn to scribe for your organization? Most scribes learn to scribe by looking over the shoulder of your staff for a month or more. In most cases, this shadowing takes 30-60 days before they can truly begin to learn to document themselves.

Our Virtual M.D. Scribe program is unique as we look at the way you work in your EMR. We record how you document. We look at previous documentation to mimic the style of the physician. When our scribe shows up on site they are familiar with your EMR as well as the documentation that you expect. After a few days of shadowing, our Virtual M.D. Scribe is ready to refine their documentation style and details with the physician.

Another issue is that most scribes have little (approximately 2 weeks) medical experience. Because of this, your staff will need to provide daily ongoing training to the scribe as to medical terms, patient complaints, physician questions and advice, exams, procedures, orders etc. In most cases, training will continue for at least a year before the scribe is proficient.

Our Virtual M.D. Scribe program recruits and hires only foreign-trained, foreign-licensed physicians from a 6-year medical program with a pathway to US residency. Because we use medical professionals, training is greatly reduced for your physician and staff. Our Virtual M.D. Scribes have experienced and managed the doctor-patient relationship at a clinic or hospital in the Caribbean.

Having a virtual or remote scribe has several benefits. The first is they can be anywhere instantly, whether that’s another exam room or another building. The patient exam room and hallways aren’t as crowded. Our Virtual M.D. Scribes even worked through COVID (or other illnesses) because they are virtual and illness does not affect your work environment or your patients.

The unfortunate reality in the scribe business is that scribes are not permanent. You can expect to hire a new scribe within a year or sooner, and then the training starts all over again with them shadowing your physician and nurse. We feel we can mitigate this because our Virtual M.D. Scribes have completed their medical degree and are looking for a long-term medical career. For our Virtual M.D. Scribes, this is an opportunity to work with US based medical practices and hospitals and they are enthusiastic to grow their knowledge base.

Our Virtual M.D. Scribes are all bilingual, and many are multi-lingual, an extra benefit not normally derived from medical scribes. This can help organizations comply with the Cares Act by providing qualified interpreter for the patient.

If you would like to learn more about how our Virtual M.D. Scribe Program can benefit your practice, please contact us below.