Practices Employing NPs, PAs 75% More Likely To Have EHRs

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Despite the increased use of scribes to lighten EHR workloads, many physicians are expressing concerns the industry’s standards are not high enough for this critical position.

Medical scribes, often med students, aid physicians in capturing notes which are entered into the EHR. While scribes enter the information, physicians are ultimately responsible for reviewing and correcting for mistakes. According to a report from Health IT Outcomes earlier this year, doctors are generally pleased they can devote more time to seeing patients rather than entering data.

The problem, however, is a lack of standards in the medical scribe industry. iHealth Beat notes scribes are expected to correctly input medical terminology and billing code data, easily adapt to various EHR platforms, and quickly record physician notes during patient examinations. Physicians are concerned that, despite the benefits, the standards for becoming a medical scribe are not rigid enough.

“According to the American College of Scribe Specialists, scribes are not licensed and about one-third are voluntarily certified,” they note. “The minimum qualification to become a scribe typically is a high school diploma, although some companies prefer candidates to have at least two years of college.”

Additionally, while federal law prohibits scribes from entering certain sensitive patient information such as prescription drug orders or X-rays, there is no way to make sure this law is being followed.

George Gellert, regional CMIO at Christus Santa Rosa Health System, said, “This is literally an exploding industry, filling a perceived gap, but there is no regulation or oversight at all.” He added, “We're concerned that there will be a situation where inevitably these scribes are used to enter an order.”