Jersey Community Health (JCH), a 15-clinic hospital network in Jerseyville, IL, has increased revenue and cut countless hours of electronic medical record (EMR) charting per week that providers had been doing after hours, by utilizing  real-time remote medical scribes provided by ScribeEMR.

June 2, 2022 — Jersey Community Health (JCH), a 15-clinic hospital network in Jerseyville, IL, has increased revenue and cut countless hours of electronic medical record (EMR) charting per week that providers had been doing after hours, by utilizing  real-time remote medical scribes provided by ScribeEMR.

For Jersey Community Health, utilizing remote medical scribes has been a solution to several problems.

Due to COVID-19 and staff burnout, JCH was having a particularly difficult time recruiting and keeping qualified support staff in their medical offices. When a staff scribe called in sick, it adversely impacted productivity and workflow.  

Without trained staff to help document patient visits, JCH practitioners found themselves buried in a backlog of administrative work that leaves less time to see patients and delays reimbursements. JCH leadership turned to ScribeEMR for remote medical scribe services to supplement in-house staff and support their physicians who specialize in family practice, general surgery, internal medicine, orthopedics, pain management, psychiatry, and wound care.

Virtual scribe services provide many benefits for both patients and providers. When patients started coming back to their doctors for in-person exams again, COVID-19 social distancing protocols limited visits to just the doctor and patient – with no room for a scribe. Physicians soon began to observe that patients felt more comfortable, and could be more candid about sensitive health issues, when there was no one else in the room.

“Utilizing remote scribes revealed how intrusive a third party could be during an exam and paved the way for more comfortable discussions about mental health and other more intimate issues,” says John Giertz, JCH vice president of physician services. “Outsourcing scribe services is keeping our physicians, and their staff, super-efficient and we are seeing an increase in reimbursements due to better access to care, streamlined clinical workflow and optimized billing.”  

Dedicated remote medical scribes, familiar with each healthcare provider’s systems and protocols, work within a patient’s EMR and can ask questions during a visit to make sure everything is accurate. Doctors can devote their full attention to each patient instead of typing notes, knowing that the charts will be ready for them to approve shortly after a visit.

Using remote medical scribes, JCH eliminated a 15 percent drop in practitioner productivity every time an in-person scribe was out sick. They also cut as many as 10 hours of charting per week for providers who were often completing administrative work after hours.

As JCH providers eliminated charting backlogs, they were able to see up to 26 percent more patients with fewer office hours, and spend less time on administrative work at home. Physician burnout decreased. Revenue and ROI increased.

"The potential for utilizing scribe services virtually is opening even more opportunities as doctors, and their patients, become more comfortable with telehealth and other remote technologies," says Terry Ciesla, ScribeEMR senior vice president. "Adding remote virtual assistants to fill in staffing gaps is also improving customer service and streamlining workflow. Well-trained remote medical office assistants can run insurance verifications, get pre-authorizations for medical treatments, schedule appointments, coordinate referrals, and more.

For more information: www.scribeemr.com


Related Content

Feature | Artificial Intelligence | By Melinda Taschetta-Millane

Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPh, FAMIA, FASA, FCPP, president of the American Medical Association (AMA), addressed the topic of ...

Time September 22, 2023
arrow
News | Cardiac Imaging

September 21, 2023 — Declines in cardiovascular procedure volumes observed early in the COVID-19 pandemic greatly ...

Time September 21, 2023
arrow
Feature | Radiation Oncology

The radiation oncology community lost a leader this past summer, with the passing of Jay Loeffler, MD, FACR, FASTRO. He ...

Time September 21, 2023
arrow
News | Artificial Intelligence

September 20, 2023 — Medical imaging artificial intelligence (AI) company Annalise.ai has announced that the results ...

Time September 20, 2023
arrow
News | Radiation Therapy

September 20, 2023 — RefleXion Medical, Inc., a therapeutic oncology company and 3B Pharmaceuticals (3BP) GmbH, a ...

Time September 20, 2023
arrow
Sponsored Content | Case Study | Radiology Imaging | By Tim Hodson

In June, the Philips Radiology Experience Tour hit the road to provide healthcare professionals with an opportunity to ...

Time September 19, 2023
arrow
News | Artificial Intelligence

September 19, 2023 — Clearpath Technologies announced the launch of its patient solution, PatientConnect, which it ...

Time September 19, 2023
arrow
News | SNMMI

September 18, 2023 — The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI), as a professional society ...

Time September 18, 2023
arrow
News | Radiation Oncology

September 13, 2023 — Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) should be the preferred choice when treating patients ...

Time September 13, 2023
arrow
News | RSNA

September 12, 2023 — The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) launched “RSNA Market Insights,” a series of ...

Time September 12, 2023
arrow
Subscribe Now