The Productivity Requirements of Implementing a Medical Scribe Program.

Area of Science:

• Health economics
• Medical practice management

Background:

• Economic analyses of medical scribes have been limited, often focusing on individual clinics.
• Previous studies lacked a comprehensive view across various medical specialties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the number of additional patient visits required for different medical specialties to cover the costs of implementing medical scribes within one year.
• To assess the financial viability of scribe programs in diverse clinical settings.

Main Methods:

• A modeling study utilizing 2015 data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.
• Scribe costs were estimated using literature reviews and a third-party contractor model.
• Revenue was calculated based on direct visit billing, Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) billing, and survey data.

Main Results:

• An average of 1.34 additional new patient visits or 2.15 returning patient visits per day were needed to recover scribe costs.
• Specialty ranges for cost recovery varied, from 0.89 new visits in cardiology to 1.80 in orthopedic surgery.
• Seeing 2 new or 3 returning patients daily proved profitable for all analyzed specialties.

Conclusions:

• Modest productivity gains from medical scribes can enable physicians to increase patient volume and offset implementation costs.
• Scribe programs demonstrate potential for revenue neutrality across various medical specialties.
• Further research should consider indirect costs and documentation quality improvements.