Remote Scribes in Primary Care?

In some clinical settings, using scribes can reduce the amount of time physicians spend in the electronic health record (EHR); however, few controlled studies have been designed to evaluate physicians' satisfaction with scribes. In this study, investigators examined outcomes for 38 primary care physician (PCP) volunteers in the University of Wisconsin health system who used remote scribes — i.e., scribes who were connected with physicians via audio-only cell lines. Controls were 160 PCPs in the same system without scribes. Physician time navigating within the EHR was tracked electronically.

Compared with control physicians, scribe users had significant reductions in EHR use (≈1.1 hour less per 8 scheduled hours), including ≈30 minutes less t…