Medical Scribes in Sub-Specialty Practices Increase Physician Productivity

Abstract

There is little research on the impact of scribes in sub-specialty practices. We sought to determine the extent to which scribes impact physician productivity (measured by Relative Value Units (RVUs)) in an Allergy/Immunology clinic. Time of physician-patient encounter and patient chart time (both pre and post office visits) were measured among 3 physicians with scribe and without scribe for a two-week period. RVU reports for each provider were reviewed through the practice’s EHR system and analyzed for any significant difference in RVU production per hour between “scribe” and “no scribe” groups. These groups for each provider were compared using two sample t-test assuming equal variances. A p-value <0.05 was significant. A total of 247 patients’ data were analyzed. We found a significant difference (p<0.01) in the mean RVUs/hr production for provider A’s scribe group (54.50 RVUs/hr) versus provider A’s no scribe group (28.65 RVUs/hr). There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in RVUs/hr among provider B’s scribe and no scribe groups. A significant difference (p<0.01) was found in the mean RVUs/hr production for provider C’s scribe group (21.24 RVUs/hr) versus provider C’s no scribe group (11.58 RVUs/hr). We suspect that there is a substantial increase in physician productivity among providers who use medical scribes. However, the increase in productivity may depend on the provider. Another factor to consider among scribe vs no scribe groups is completeness and accuracy of the patient note. Medical entry detail, medical errors, and statement errors will be analyzed in future aspects of this project.