Medical Scribe Companies: 7 Reasons Why You Should Hire Virtually

Eliminating hours of tedious transcription at the end of each day, medical scribes provide a sanity-saving service for physicians all over the world. It’s simply a service that most doctors cannot live without.

As the owner of a medical scribe company, you’ve likely thought that your business would thrive as long as you provide high-quality scribes to your clients. And while that is true, the market is changing. Scribe companies that hire virtual scribes rather than only the traditional in-house scribes can offer lower prices while posting higher profits. If you want to stay competitive in your market, you may want to consider switching from in-person to virtual scribes. Here are six reasons why.

1. Virtual scribes are more cost-effective than traditional scribes – It’s common knowledge that outsourcing business to foreign countries can lead to big savings and higher profits for U.S. employers. That’s why so many tech support establishments are based in India, virtual assistants are based in the Philippines, and even the highest-end clothiers manufacture their items in China, Taiwan, and Thailand. Virtual scribes are typically based in countries where the cost of living is dramatically lower than in the United States. At MedVa, most of our virtual scribes are based in the Philippines. This way, we can charge our medical scribe clients far less than they’d pay for U.S.-based, in-person medical scribes, especially in expensive locations like San Fransisco and New York City. At MedVa, our fee for virtual medical scribes is only the hourly minimum wage for your state, a fraction of what in-person medical scribes are paid in the United States.

2. Virtual scribes can serve even the most rural areas – Doctors in rural areas face special challenges, including difficulties finding top-quality staff. It can be tough for practices and even your medical scribe company to find talented scribes in far-flung locations without a large population. You may not be serving these areas now simply because of this. Virtual scribes, however, can work anywhere. With the benefit of online meeting software, a virtual scribe can be “right in the exam room” anywhere from an isolated Appalachian community to a research center in Antarctica and everything in between. Imagine the growth possibilities when your company can serve any practice across the entire globe.

3. Virtual scribes protect the sense of privacy in the exam room – The exam table can be a nerve-wracking place. Sitting on the craft paper, nude except for a flimsy hospital gown, patients often feel very vulnerable. Having a stranger — a medical scribe — in the room for an exam can only make that uncomfortable feeling more intense. But this problem is not only measured in discomfort for the patient. When a patient doesn’t feel safe and confident in the exam room, they’re less likely to be completely honest with their doctor. Maybe they get nervous and forget to mention an important detail, or can’t own up to the fact that they’re not following the doctor’s orders with not one but two people in the room to judge them. Though medical scribes have certainly seen and heard it all and don’t pass judgment, sometimes it simply does not feel that way to the person on the table.A virtual scribe, however, is invisible. A virtual scribe listens in on the appointment from the doctor’s computer but is not physically in the room. The “incognito” scribe can provide the same detailed note-taking while not interrupting the private nature of the exam room, making the patient feel more comfortable and potentially opening the door for more honest doctor-patient conversations.

4. Virtual scribes don’t take up valuable office space – A packed doctor’s office that’s already bursting at the seams may be hesitant to hire a new medical scribe simply because there isn’t a single spot to put a new desk. But a virtual scribe takes up no space.

5. Scaling is less risky with a virtual scribe – When scaling a practice, one of the main challenges is hiring enough employees to cover increased growth without outpacing the increased revenue of the practice. It’s a dance that many doctors dread because when there is an error in their projections, it costs them in both customer satisfaction and payroll. With a virtual scribe, the practice can hire without worry. At only hourly minimum wage for your state and the ability to hire and fire at will (because foreign-based employees are not subject to U.S. labor laws), physicians can hire the virtual scribes they think they’ll need and adjust accordingly if the practice is more or less busy than anticipated. Scaling the practice is less risky when there’s not so much at stake.

6. Virtual scribes are available 24/7 – With the constant pressure physician’s offices are under to be more profitable, doctors are often taking appointments later in the day or even on weekends to accommodate larger patient loads. But hiring a medical scribe in person and asking them to work overtime hours isn’t just expensive, it’s a recipe for burnout for the scribe. Virtual scribes, however, can work any hours your physician clients need. If they take patients in the evening or on weekends, they can either schedule their regular virtual scribe for more hours to boost their paychecks (there is no overtime pay for virtual employees); or they can hire a second virtual scribe to cover those appointments outside of normal business hours. At only hourly minimum wage for your state, it’s feasible to add as many virtual scribes as the client needs for the length of their workdays.

Want to know more about hiring virtual scribes for your medical scribe company?

The market is changing, and to stay competitive, your company needs to change with it. MedVa makes it easy. Schedule your call today to speak with one of our scribe industry experts and find out how hiring virtual scribes can benefit your company today.