Orthopedic specialty offices are generally busy and see at least 50 patients a day. A typical day for an orthopedic physician may involve seeing patients in their office, performing elective surgeries, and attending to emergencies that may arise any time of the day or night. There is no nine-to-five office work and there is never a daily routine for orthopedic physicians. And with the switch from paper records to EHRs, orthopedic physicians not only have to take notes while seeing a patient but also have to put them into the computer for permanent record keeping. This led many orthopedic physicians to focus on trying to get the information in, rather than on patient care. They also had to spend an extra two to three hours daily just to input data into the EHRs. It is here that the need for medical scribes rose.
Reasons why orthopedic specialty needs medical scribes
- See more patients, treat more patients: Using medical scribes can help orthopedic physicians to spend more time seeing patients and less time doing onerous paperwork. They can see an addition of two new patients or three returning patients per day. In short, by using scribes, orthopedic physicians will be able to treat more patients, add more new patients and schedule more return visits.
- Improves physician satisfaction: Employing medical scribes to take some of the documentation tasks out of an orthopedic physician’s schedule goes a long way in improving their overall happiness and satisfaction. Moreover, they were also satisfied with the quality and accuracy of the charting done by the scribes.
- Improves quality of life: With almost all the paperwork completed while the patient is in the office, orthopedic physicians are able to get back home early and spend some quality time with their family. This significantly enhances their joy of practicing medicine.
- Better patient care and experience: With a scribe to take over the paperwork, orthopedic physicians can spend that time more focused on interacting with the patient, rather than on typing and clicking at the computer. An increase in patient contact time paves the way for improved patient care.
- Increased revenue: Seeing more patients means more revenue for an orthopedic practice. As a medical scribe frees up their valuable time, orthopedic surgeons are able to schedule and perform additional surgical procedures which substantially increases their revenue flow.
- Scribes pay for themselves: Using medical scribes in an orthopedic practice helps physicians schedule 20% more patient visits. This improved physician productivity more than offsets the cost of the medical scribe. Simply put, seeing more number of patients means they are able to generate more income to cover the cost of medical scribes.
Most orthopedic specialists have a busy office-based practice. Using scribe services gives orthopedic physicians more time to treat patients, add new patients, and schedule more return visits. Remember, using a scribe is not a luxury thing. Scribes pay for themselves in many ways. Orthopedic physicians are ready to set aside a significant chunk of their income for the improved quality of life they get to enjoy.