Your patients deserve your full attention during their visits, but you often find yourself staying late to catch up on charts and you’re struggling to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
The solution seems simple enough - outsource your medical documentation to the best medical scribe company available.
In 2024, there are quite a few outstanding options for medical scribe services that can boost your productivity and improve your patient experience.
Today we’ll run through:
- What medical scribe companies are about
- How they compare to AI medical scribes
- The 5 best medical scribe companies in 2024
- An AI solution that will blow your mind
Let’s get right into it!
Why use a medical scribe company?
A medical scribe company employs specially trained professionals to handle your medical charting and documentation needs.
You know the drill: Jotting down notes, struggling with cumbersome EHR software, or relying on your staff to handle notes – a scribe service takes that off your hands and handles your data entry needs.
Employing a professional scribe helps you prioritize patients over paperwork.
Their real-time charting means you'll have comprehensive yet concise notes ready for review and signing immediately after each visit.
Also, scribes are thoroughly trained and experienced, so you can trust your documentation and billing will stand up to scrutiny (ie: audits).
So, for physicians wanting to spend less time on admin duties some sort of medical scribe is pretty much a no-brainer.
Are they better than just using medical scribe software?
In a world with rapidly evolving AI, it seems fair to compare humans to their emerging AI cousins.
While conventional wisdom would quickly say: “Yes, humans are better,” that conception is changing by the minute.
Let’s give each side their fair share:
Customization, adaptability, flexibility.
Medical scribes bring an undeniable human element to documentation and are able to adapt to various physicians' styles and needs. They can handle non-standard situations and provide real-time interactions.
However, AI-based scribe software is catching up at a breakneck pace, with ever-increasing levels of customization and learning capabilities that can closely mimic – and sometimes even surpass – human adaptability.
Accuracy and compliance
Experienced human scribes are well-versed in medical terminology and HIPAA compliance, ensuring accurate and secure documentation.
But AI scribes, on the other hand, have continuous updates and can access vast databases for medical terminology, often leading to enhanced accuracy and adherence to the latest compliance standards – yes, including HIPAA.
Patient engagement
Virtual scribes allow physicians to focus on patient care without the distraction of note-taking. AI scribe software also aims to minimize physician workload, using speech recognition and other technologies to seamlessly integrate into patient-physician interactions without intruding on the personal element.
What to look for in a medical scribe company
What makes the “best medical scribe company,” anyway? As it turns out, several key factors.
Let’s take a look:
- It won’t be full-time unless you need it to: Look for a scribe service offering part-time, PRN, and full-time solutions. Factor in things like quick response to schedule changes and the ability to cover various shift lengths – including weekends and after-hours.
- How much will it cost you? Compare costs across services, keeping in mind that prices shift with location (overseas vs. U.S.-based scribes). And yes, some overseas options can stand toe-to-toe with US companies, quality-wise.
- Are they compliant? Do they have a large network? Go with a company that has a strong compliance record, particularly with HIPAA. Also, a large network is beneficial for reliable coverage and finding scribes that meet specific clinical needs.
Top 5 Medical Scribe Companies in 2024
In 2024, several companies can lay a believable claim to being the best medical scribe company.
As technology and regulations evolve, the companies providing compliant, cutting-edge services at the best value will rise to the top.
Some of the best medical scribe companies in 2024 are:
- Scribe America - Affordable, dependable, and spread over 2,000 US-based clinics.
- Aquity Solutions - For its focus on emergency rooms and clinics.
- The Remote Scribe - Because of their competitive pricing and integration with multiple EHRs.
- ScribeWell - For their proactivity and use of only extremely high-level professionals.
- ProScribe MD - for their nearly 15 years of experience with both off and on-site scribes.
Scribe America
Scribe America is, without a doubt one of the best medical scribe companies, working with over 2,000 clinics across the US. They provide both on and off-site (ie: virtual) solutions.
Their on-site scribes take care of EHR data entry and other clerical tasks with budget-friendly pricing starting at $25/hour.
But, for smaller, strapped-for-cash clinics, they have an even more affordable remote scribe service.
Scribes work remotely from HIPAA-compliant locations, capturing data from your office via a 100% secure audio/video feed and entering it directly into your EHR in real-time.
For this option, their pricing is usually 20-30% less than on-site scribing.
Also, Scribe America trains their medical scribes to cover over 30 EHR specialties, giving you plenty of options to work with.
Aquity Solutions
Aquity Solutions also makes this list, with high-quality transcription services for emergency rooms, clinics, and private practices across the U.S.
Aquity also offers flexible solutions for practices of any size, with remote and on-site scribes.
Something that sets them apart is that all their scribes are U.S.-based, college-educated, and trained to meet high professional standards.
You’d think that this would be worth a bit more, and you’re not totally wrong. On average, you can expect to pay between $25 to $35 per hour for an Aquity medical scribe. But, the company offers monthly billing with no long-term contracts required – no need to enter into binding arrangements here.
What makes them one of the best medical scribe companies? Their 97% physician satisfaction rating and near-99% accuracy rate, and over 10,000,000 patient experiences in the last 12 months.
The Remote Scribe
The Remote Scribe deserves a place on this list, with a team of highly trained, US-based medical scribes who are trained to handle a variety of EHRs like Epic, Cerner, Athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, Centricity, NextGen, Meditech, MEDENT, PointClickCare, etc.
Another excellent perk of the Remote Scribe is their competitive pricing, starting at just $22/hour, which is a little lower than most others on this list.
Also, they take their data privacy seriously, employing military-grade encryption and secure cloud storage techniques.
Another huge perk is their multilingual support in over 20 languages, a huge help to practices that cater to diverse communities.
ScribeWell
ScribeWell is all about individualized scribe support. What they’re great at is ditching the cookie-cutter approach and delving into solutions that adapt to each client’s documentation style.
Also boasting a huge network of specialized, rigorously trained, US-based scribes, ScribeWell is dedicated only to virtual scribe services.
But what they lack in options, they make up for proactivity, asking clarifying questions and flagging potential issues. This two-way dialogue fosters comprehensive diagnoses and efficient treatment plans, ultimately elevating patient care.
Also, they let you collaborate with your scribe to create just-for-you note templates that mirror your preferred format and documentation style, all in a user-friendly online portal that handles scheduling, report access, and communication channels.
This will cost you a bit more on average, with general practice scribes ranging from $28-32/Hr, and a one-time onboarding fee of $150 per scribe, and a $25/mo technology fee for their portal access.
In the end, their 99% accuracy rate and 95% physician satisfaction rating, and over 7 million patient experiences in the past year alone are enough to make them one of the best medical scribe companies.
ProScribe MD
ProScribe MD has been in business since 2010, and they’re still on top of their game. Their focus is on the speed and quality of EHR documentation.
They provide on-site (live scribes) and virtual (Scribe on the Go – “SoGo”) services, catering to various healthcare settings and specialties.
Plus, the company specifically tailors its scribe programs to meet the individual needs of each specialty, so no half-baked solutions here.
As of now, their rates hover around the $32-35/Hr mark for general practice medical scribes.
To round that out, ProScribe MD has a fantastically consistent 99.8% shift coverage.
Lindy: A radical solution for medical note-taking
While the best medical scribe companies offer excellent solutions, AI is the new player in town, and it is rapidly matching – or exceeding – the potential of human scribes at only a fraction of the cost.
Lindy, a state-of-the-art AI medical scribe listens, understands, transcribes, and streamlines the whole note-taking process without missing a bit.
Lindy’s strengths:
- Fast and accurate speech recognition understands even specialized jargon, having been trained with data from a huge variety of medical specialties.
- Click a button, the note goes into the EHR. Zero waiting, zero reprocessing. Not even same-day; it’s same-hour.
- Real-time charting assistance that suggests text based on keywords spoken and data within the patient record. You can then accept, edit, or ignore these friendly suggestions.
- Lindy keeps learning. Just like a human, Lindy will grow to understand your speech patterns, mannerisms, and personal abbreviations.
- Intelligent task management that alerts you and your staff to follow-up items like tests, referrals, and appointments based on details in the notes.
- Fully HIPAA compliant to protect your patient’s privacy.
Lindy helps clinicians and staff regain up to 2 hours per day – a total 80% reduction in time spent on notes.
Summing up
The companies on this list are innovating new ways to streamline documentation and give physicians their time back. They all deserve to be called “the best medical scribe company” due to their commitment to high service standards and accuracy.
But now, AI also offers an attractive solution that may even exceed the capabilities of human beings.
It’s up to you to weigh the options, take advantage of free trials, and go with what feels like the best fit for your needs and budget.
