Cardiology Medical Scribes can Improve Physician Productivity- Are you up for it?

Cardiology Medical Scribes can Improve Physician Productivity- Are you up for it?

This year the Centers for Medicare and Medic aid Services (CMS) have introduced 159 new codes, deleted 32 codes and revised 20 ICD-10 codes. These codes were introduced to enable greater specificity in identifying health issues and to provide better quality care. We are also aware of the fact that the biggest challenge faced by cardiology practices is that they have the second-highest percentage increase in ICD-10 codes, after the Orthopedics specialty. All this means that the physician has to remember all the codes which can be quite overwhelming. There is, however, a solution to this problem. By hiring medical scribes designated for cardiology practices, cardiologists can easily keep pace with the growing EHR documentation demands.

Let us now see what research studies have to say about the use of cardiology scribes in a cardiology practice. Recent studies suggest that the benefits of hiring medical scribes extend beyond improving patient interactions to greater physician satisfaction and revenue.

• According to research published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information,the use of medical scribes in a cardiology practice improved physician productivity by 10%. The researchers compared the productivity of 10 cardiologists who used scribes to 15 cardiologists who did not use scribes during routine clinic visits. The researchers concluded that physicians who took help from cardiology scribes saw 9.6% more patients per hour than physicians who didn't. Overall, scribes increased physician productivity by 10% in a cardiology practice.
• As per the same study, physicians who took the help of cardiology scribes earned additional revenue of $24,257 by creating clinical documentation with cleaner coding. The additional revenue generated made up to $1,372,694million, with the scribes costing roughly around $98,588.

Another study implementing a scribe program in a cardiology practice

This is what Alan.J.Bank, Medical Director of Research at United Heart &Vascular clinic, St Paul, Minnesota and Associate Professor in Cardiology department, University of Minnesota has to share about a study that was conducted in a cardiology practice to assess the impact of cardiology scribes on patient interaction, physician productivity, and revenue.

• A prospective study was conducted to compare standard care with that of scribe care. During standard care, the follow-up visits were 20 minutes and new patient visits were 30 minutes and during scribe care,the follow-up visits were 15 minutes and new patient visits were 30 minutes.They analyzed 65 hours of patient care using standard care and using scribe care in 4 cardiology practices. Physician productivity as measured by patients seen per hour increased by 59 percent, while RVUs generated increased by 57 percent. This was definitely a true increase in productivity. With scribe care, patient visits were completed on time and physicians didn't have to work after the clinic.
• Direct and indirect revenue generated from visits increased by $205,000 from the 81 additional patients seen over the 65 hours' time frame.
• They subsequently incorporated the scribe program into their standard care for 10 physicians.Several physicians who used to stay after clinic hours to complete their charts now left home on time and expressed remarkable satisfaction.

A win-win for everyone involved

It was observed that the use of cardiology scribes benefitted all parties involved. Patients received more focused care and better access to care as increased slots were available on the physician's calendar. Physicians reported higher job satisfaction, more time spent caring for patients, a better work-life balance, less documentation work, and increased productivity-based pay.The healthcare system became much more efficient. It increased revenue by seeing more patients rather than ordering more tasks and reduced costs by increasing productivity.

The Upshot

Using cardiology medical scribes to handle the growing documentation requirements of a cardiology practice is feasible, improves physician-patient interaction, and boosts physician productivity and revenue significantly.If you're a busy cardiologist considering hiring cardiology medical scribes, look no further. Get in touch with Scribe4Me, today.