average daily documentation time
One Community Health: documentation off the provider's evening, quality measures up
An FQHC serving nearly 12,000 patients put a remote medical scribe in the visit. Documentation time fell by more than a third, quality measures climbed, and the clinic more than doubled the program.
- Federally qualified health center, Oregon and Washington
- Primary care, women's health, chronic disease management, integrated dental and behavioral health
- Nearly 12,000 patients annually
01
The challenge
Providers were finishing the day's documentation at night. The clinic's own EMR data showed one physician logging in and out between 10 PM and 2 AM to finish charting, most nights of the week. Burnout was building, and with it a real threat to retention and to the quality of care the health center exists to deliver.
02
What Scribe-X put in place
One Community Health partnered with Scribe-X starting in the winter of 2020. Trained, US-based remote medical scribes joined providers inside the visit and documented each encounter in the EHR in real time, trained on the clinic's workflows and EHR before go-live.
The scribes carried the documentation so providers could carry the visit. Chart review dropped to under a minute per chart for the providers in the program.
03
The results
average daily documentation time
of surveyed providers strongly agreed after-hours charting time fell
nutrition measurements completed
breast cancer screenings
- In the provider survey, 80% strongly agreed a scribe helps them connect with patients, contributes to higher quality care, and lowered their stress at home.
- Quality measures moved with the workflow: colorectal screenings and diabetes control also improved (+2.1% and +1.9%).
- On the strength of the data, One Community Health more than doubled the program to cover a majority of its providers, and its leadership dropped a plan to add patient volume because capacity had recovered without it.
Source: One Community Health case study, approved for public reference. Results reflect this organization's measured experience; they are not platform averages.
Before I worked with a medical scribe service, there was a weight I'd carry on my back every night that wouldn't go away until my charts were finished. Now, I don't have that weight on my shoulders. My headspace is at home, and I'm not stressed. I can't imagine life without a scribe now.
“There is so much value in allowing our providers to practice medicine in a more sustainable and thoughtful way. We had initially planned on adding more patients, but with our medical scribe program in place, we no longer feel that need.”