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In early July 2021, I called a local South Florida medical specialist where I am an established patient for an appointment. The first available appointment was in October—three months away! Adding to my frustration of waiting three months to see my doctor, wait times while I am at the office for my appointment typically range from 20-45 mins. This example is becoming more and more common in the state of Florida. The deep-rooted reason is that current physicians are rethinking their career choice, and people looking at school tracks are choosing not to pursue medicine, leading to a Florida physician shortage.   Prior to the COVID pandemic, there was already data suggesting the upcoming and worsening shortage of physicians and other allied health professionals.[1] Fuel to the shortage fire were reasons such as the added administrative burden on the 21st- century physician, high physician demand due to the growth of the total population, aging state population, and overall aging physicians without an adequate commensurate increase in physician supplies.  Based on current trends, the number of states receiving a grade of “D” or “F” for their physician shortage ratio will increase from 4 in 2017 to 23 by 2030.[2]  What Factors Augment …

No one likes to wait, but in healthcare, waiting can lead to issues beyond just frustration—it can lead to serious consequences, from quality of care to the increase of adverse events. The effects of adverse outcomes on patients can include: delay in being assessed and receiving appropriate required care, increasing frequency of the possibility of medical errors, reduction of patient satisfaction, proper outcomes, and overall mortality. [1] To figure out how to reduce patient waiting time, we need to examine several factors and implement a well-rounded strategy. Most people feel that they spend more time waiting on receiving care than they actually spend with their physicians to get the care they need. Emergency rooms (ERs) are a prime example of extremely lengthy wait times. The average hospital ER patient in the United States waits more than an hour and a half to be taken to his or her room and about two hours and 15 minutes before being discharged. Even more alarming is when a patient arrives with a broken bone. They may wait a painful 54 minutes, on average, before receiving any pain meds. [2] Many people that come to ERs do not fully understand the reasons behind the …

Healthcare as a whole has become a consumer-driven industry. Hospital systems must compete to maintain the loyalty of patients they serve, build their reputation, and gain referrals, all by earning high patient satisfaction scores. A recent 5-year study that observed over 3,500 hospitals showed that a positive patient experience is associated with increased profitability and a negative patient experience is even more strongly associated with decreased profitability, highlighting the importance of patient experience in hospitals. [1] Since this realization, healthcare facilities around the United States have added job positions such as Patient Experience Officer, Patient Advocates, and Patient Liaisons to help earn higher patient satisfaction scores, show their value to consumers, and obtain higher reimbursement rates. Furthermore, research has shown that better patient experience correlates with lower medical malpractice risk for physicians and lower staff turnover ratios. [2] Assessing the Importance of Patient Experience in Hospitals The HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems), also known as CAHPS Hospital Survey, is the first national, standardized 29-item patient satisfaction survey required by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for all United States hospitals. HCAHPS has been able to showcase quantitative comparisons from hospitals locally, regionally, and nationally …

Paulina, a recent graduate of Pennsylvania State University, has always dreamed of becoming a physician. She knew that it was vital to understand what it truly entails to be a physician before going to medical school — and medical scribing is a great way to gain that insight. A scribe who worked at a nearby hospital informed her that their company was hiring, so she applied and never looked back. Not only is Paulina consistently gaining knowledge of the ins and outs of a physician’s clinical day and gaining the experience needed for medical schools, but her impact on the physician has been paramount. Paulina gives her physician more time to spend with each patient, allows her to see more patients in a clinical day, and most importantly, helps to reduce physician burnout! Q & A with Paulina Q: Are you currently in college? A: No, I graduated from Penn State in December 2020 with a degree in Biobehavioral Health and a minor in Spanish.   Q: How did you become interested in working as a medical scribe? A: It’s always been on my list of things to do to prepare for a medical career. I think it’s absolutely vital …

Nurse burnout is a rising epidemic within the healthcare industry. Discover how nurse burnout affects patient care and the steps our healthcare system should take to combat this important issue. Samantha is an ICU nurse at a large metropolitan hospital. She’s been a nurse for only 3 years, and moved quickly to the ICU setting because of her love of high acuity. It’s her fourth 12-hour shift this week since nursing callouts and a nursing shortage has continued since the onset of COVID. Her nurse manager called her early this morning to see if she would pick up extra today. Thankfully, the COVID census has dropped dramatically over the past few weeks, but hospital volumes have returned to pre-COVID levels. Today, she is not only in charge of her patients’ well-being but also expected to be the EKG tech, nurses’ aide, and secretary due to a couple of callouts. On top of that, she’s taking a stretch assignment with three patients instead of her usual two. She has been running from room to room trying to keep up with everyone’s care for over two hours and finally has gotten a chance to sit down to record everything into the EHR …

As we move through 2021, we must focus on improving our health systems as a whole and recouping the revenue that we lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a new healthcare executive survey, the most potentially disruptive forces facing hospitals and health systems in the next three years are provider burnout, disengagement, and resulting shortages among healthcare professionals. [1] Luckily, a medical scribe service can propel you through these changes. Burnout is not only limited to physicians. Within the past year we have seen startling statistics and first-hand repercussions: 82% of healthcare executives say that filling executive positions remains challenging. [2] 1/3 of nurses that leave their jobs note burnout as the reason. [3] 66% of non-physician clinicians (NPs, PAs, nurses, social workers, and chaplains) experienced at least one symptom of burnout. Emergency medicine physician assistants have the highest percentage of burnout out of other specialty physician assistants. [4] More than 20% of the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes reported severe shortages of nursing aides. [5] 3 in 10 health-care workers have weighed leaving their profession. More than half are burnt out. [6] Stabilize Your Healthcare Teams to Prevent Burnout with a Medica Scribe Service Focusing on the main reasons for …

Every year we mark a week as “National Hospital Week,” an opportunity to honor our nation’s hospitals and those who staff them in service of their communities. Now, more than ever, this week is important to recognize and support medical staff that continue to provide unwavering service, courage, and sacrifice on a day-to-day and during a worldwide pandemic. Support Medical Staff and Their Mental Health As healthcare leaders are reminded each year during this week to stop and show appreciation to every single person that staffs their hospitals, remember to look for ways to better support their medical staff as burnout is only increasing. 93% of healthcare workers have experienced stress, 86% faced anxiety, 77% reported frustration, 76% endured exhaustion and burnout, and 75% said they were overwhelmed this past year. [1]  Below are just a few helpful tips on improving the support for our everyday heroes: Encourage your healthcare workers to give feedback on how they feel, what has inspired them to continue through the pandemic, and what measures they feel can help improve their work-life. This feedback can be in the form of random surveys, “feedback/suggestion” boxes, or even implementing an “office time” each week with the director …

Since the 1970s, there has been a widespread transition for physicians & nurses to move from paper records to electronic health records. In addition to this move, providers need to contend with other outside influences, such as the ever-changing rules, regulations, and billing requirements, including the addition of new technology aimed to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases. These factors have changed the ways that physicians and healthcare systems deliver care—ways that are sometimes not focused on the needs of the patients they serve, leading to a lack of patient-centered care. “Although these medical developments have improved some elements of the care of patients, such as safety, effectiveness and efficiency, they come with new problems.” [1] How Dehumanization Interferes with Patient Care When the constant need for computerized technology and administrative tasks overshadows a physician or nurse’s clinical day, it can easily distract them from the provider-patient interaction, which is vital to giving the best patient care available. “Suffering” is not limited to just our patients—it extends to all of our healthcare providers. This “suffering” refers to depersonalization, where the distraction of a provider’s burdens begin to overpower their thoughts and emotions. Depersonalization (also known as dehumanization) is when practitioners view …

Widespread physician burnout has been recognized for more than 2 decades and continues to worsen for a multitude of reasons. [1] Many have looked for resources to combat this growing epidemic. Medical scribes, a prime way to humanize healthcare again, has become popular in all specialties within healthcare — from primary care to specialty and even sub-specialties. Some healthcare leaders still consider this service a luxury instead of a necessity and that medical scribe services are “no better” than a dictation software. Is that a fair and honest answer or is this an assumption based on comfort and/or discomfort for change? To note: 40% of physicians already credit their burnout to a lack of tools and resources that are necessary to provide high-quality patient care. [2]  Medical scribes have consistently proved to “free” the physician’s time in their clinical work day so they focus on a number of different aspects of their work life.  Here are the top 4:  #1: Quality Patient Care Time Adding a scribe to the physician care team enables the physician to spend more time directly speaking and diagnosing the patients. They do this by having the scribe pre-chart, document the encounter as it is happening, …

Physicians continue to face increasingly high stress and emotional exhaustion with a continued feeling of no solution in sight, which has affected physician attitudes, performance, and overall behaviors. These negative effects often lead to compromised healthcare in areas such as clinical performance, satisfaction, and clinical outcomes. Even as of March 2021, a recent study concluded that provider burnout and disengagement resulting in physician shortages could be the most disruptive facing healthcare organizations in the next three years. [1] The effects of COVID-19 have only exacerbated burnout symptoms, prompting the need for physician burnout solutions. Acknowledge the Problem There have been years of studies on the persistent, worsening epidemic of burnout. Some part of the solution lies in physician actions — but the major part lies on the shoulders of their healthcare leadership. To make matters worse, some leaders believe that burnout is not a “problem” that can be “solved,” rather “only a dilemma.” [2]  This continued misconception that nothing meaningful can be done to reduce burnout and promote engagement is a serious issue. Healthcare leaders need to understand the business case to not only reduce burnout but also to promote engagement are key steps for the healthcare systems to take …

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a devastating social and economic disruption. However, there is a factor less spoken about: delayed treatment due to COVID-19. This is an unprecedented challenge that the pandemic has caused in providing medical care for patients with conditions other than COVID-19. It has long been assumed that the driving forces preventing healthcare access was lack of health insurance and cost-associated barriers but new obstacles have emerged since the start of the pandemic. [1] What Has Changed Since the Pandemic Began? More than 40% of American adults have avoided or delayed receiving medical care because of the concerns about COVID-19, and people with multiple underlying conditions, such as diabetes or hypertension, are significantly more likely to avoid urgent or emergency care compared to people without these conditions. [2] Studies also showed that screenings for breast, colon, prostate and lung cancer dropped significantly during the pandemic. One analysis of Medicare claims representing about 5% to 7% of the population found that at the pandemic’s spring peak, breast cancer screening dropped by 85%, while colonoscopies dropped 75%. [3] These percentages are alarming since we know that delaying or avoiding medical care can increase morbidity and mortality due to chronic …

It’s no surprise that since the onset of COVID-19, physician office visits dropped dramatically. Pent up demand for in-person checkups, screenings, and routine care is at an all-time high. Add to that the increasing administrative tasks, ever changing billing requirements, regulations and protocols. Physicians are at risk of reaching a breaking point. With the advent of mass COVID vaccinations, healthcare industry experts predict 2021 will be the year of “return-to-normal” — but “normal” still shouldn’t include the burden of EHR documentation. When looking for resources to help relieve the burden, medical scribes can help alleviate this clerical workload. Now more than ever, medical scribe costs are worth the investment. There are many factors to take into account on the return on investment (ROI) of medical scribes for physicians. Below is the breakdown of each component that could factor in, dependent on the physician’s location and specialty.  Increased Efficiency To focus on the ROI of medical scribe use, we can note the efficiency by throughput, increase of patient load, and reduced time spent on the computer between patients, after-hours, and weekends. Physicians in ambulatory settings spend an average of 73% of their day on administrative, non-clinical tasks. In addition, after-hour documenting …

As time goes by, the list of the reasons why a Medical Scribe is essential in a physician’s workday continues to increase. Here are just a few of those reasons: The desire to increase patient load The need to reduce wait times The desire for increased efficiency The desire to have more face-to-face time with the patients Reduce Physician Burnout Frustrations with navigating within the EHR system Frustrations of having “pajama time” at nights and weekends completing documentation What first started out only being utilized in emergency rooms has grown to all other specialties once proof of concept studies began to show that it could be equally beneficial. The 21st– century physician’s job description has become not only patient care but EHR documentation, CPT codes and modifiers. What Scribe Specialties Does Scrivas Offer? As a physician owned and operated company, Scrivas uniquely understands that having specialized training in different specialties is crucial in the success of physician & practice objectives. Scrivas offers the following specializations and sub-specialties: Emergency Urgent Care Hospitalists Ambulatory Internal Family Specialty Sub-specialty  Each specialization and sub-specialty have unique aspects that are vital in the field in which the physician works. For example, in the ED, increasing …

In what seemed like a brief moment in February 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began to force the cancellation of traditional learning. This forced students, parents, and teachers to provide at-home learning, which many were not equipped to do (https://www.edweek.org/leadership/the-coronavirus-spring-the-historic-closing-of-u-s-schools-a-timeline/2020/07). Even still, as of February 16th, 2021, four states continue to enforce state-ordered regional school closures, require closures for certain grade levels, or allow hybrid instruction only — 41 states continue to leave the decisions to the schools or districts (https://ballotpedia.org/School_responses_to_the_coronavirus_(COVID-19)_pandemic_during_the_2020-2021_academic_year). Many large districts aim to open school doors once more. That is why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new CDC roadmap for reopening schools last week. Downsides to At-Home Instruction Due to continued at-home learning, the lack of structure in our public education system has led to increasingly poor academic performance and slow progress of social and emotional development skills that are essential for children of all ages around the United States. These detrimental impacts will continue to worsen until schools can reopen. Can Schools Go Back to In-Person Learning? The CDC roadmap for reopening focuses on 5 key mitigation strategies and outlines the proper tools to decide when and under what conditions schools should …

Since the start of the global pandemic, healthcare systems have taken many measures to help minimize the spread of COVID. These measures have led to many detrimental effects, such as declining revenue, reduced services, increased overhead costs, and general negative workplaces changes. It has been essential for healthcare systems to develop a greater business coordination and operational resilience by reducing risk. How can hospitals do this through COVID contact tracing?  These are the top 3 reasons your hospital should look to hire an outside vendor for COVID-related support: #1: Alleviate the burden of an added cumbersome workload When healthcare systems utilize their own staff to do the necessary full-time work of COVID support services such as contact tracing, healthcare screeners, and vaccine support specialists, their team is now doing double the work. The newly added work may even take precedence — employees might start contributing poor work efforts towards your normal day-to-day operations. These new conditions can cause stress in your overall operations and increase employee burnout. Outsourcing COVID support staff and contact tracer services allows healthcare systems to increase their capacity and output to meet the unexpected and ever-changing demands during COVID and the current vaccine roll-out. Furthermore, the …

Many businesses are not equipped to deal with health crises. While enforcing masks and social distancing are two important aspects of containing the virus, you should be complementing these mandates with a COVID-19 contact tracing procedure. Understandably, many employers do not know where to even begin, especially with the burden of their day-to-day responsibilities. If that is your situation, you might benefit from outsourcing this process to a trusted medical organization. What is COVID-19 Contact Tracing? In the age of COVID-19, contract tracing is essential to containing the spread of the virus. This is a process that helps you proactively detect employees who test positive, preventing them from spreading the virus to other team members or clients who frequent your business. Contact tracing helps you: Protect Workers and Customers Keeping your business open means your employees will have a higher risk of contracting the virus. As an employer, you have a duty to keep track of employees who have been exposed, symptomatic, or confirmed positive for an active infection. A contact tracing service can help you stay on top of who needs to be tested and who needs to be quarantined. This not only maintains the health of your staff …

The pandemic has demanded more time and effort from already taxed physicians, and administrative demands continue to be among the most significant factors that lead to physician burnout. Charting takes up a sizable portion of a physician’s day, but scribes can be a part of the solution to lessen this burden. Now more than ever, all clinical personnel, including residents and MAs, must be focused on patient care. If you’re thinking of outsourcing, here is how to hire a medical scribe service. Needs Evaluation The first step in determining how to hire a medical scribe service is to assess your needs. This is the time to reflect on your pain points. Before you meet with a medical scribe company, it helps to have a good idea of what your practice or hospital requires and how you want to improve. Here are a few questions you might consider: Are you frustrated with your current workflow? Do you wish your physicians had more face-to-face time with patients? Do your physicians complain about too much time spent charting? Are your physicians staying late or working on weekends to complete documentation? Are physicians concerned about not spending enough time with their families? Has patient …