BPO Make vs. Buy: Benefits of MU Compliance, Medical Scribe and Transcription Services

WRS Health recently produced a white paper titled, “BPO Make vs. Buy,” which examines new, cloud-based revenue cycle management tools for medical practices. Today, in the final installment of our four-part blog series, we examine the benefits of outsourcing Meaningful Use Compliance, medical scribe and transcription services.

Part 4

WHEN IN DOUBT, SOURCE IT OUT

Setting up the correct process. Monitoring compliance. Training your staff. These are just a few of the time consuming tasks involved in achieving MU of electronic health records. Outsourcing Clinical and MU Compliance Services relieves you of the burden and headache of taking charge of the complicated compliance process.

When a clinically-trained account manager, usually a registered nurse, oversees the compliance process, this means someone with experience is monitoring your practice for compliance to make sure you obtain the maximum stimulus payment.

These clinical experts can analyze your practice for goals and performance gaps, setup the program, evaluate results on a regular basis, manage and train your staff in proper procedure and report for your practice.

Outsourcing Clinical and MU Compliance services, provides monthly audits and meetings to gauge your medical practice’s compliance and manage the steps necessary for continual performance improvement. This process includes: an analysis of your practice’s strengths and opportunities for improvement; individualized training to improve in areas that are lacking; defined and attainable goals for your staff to achieve within the mandated timeframes; assistance in meeting additional Federal or State clinical compliance regulations; assistance with government reporting and attestation; and any needed help in the case of an MU practice audit.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A REMOTE SCRIBE

A remote scribe prepares the chart for the encounter by ensuring all test results are available for review and charted appropriately. Medical and social histories are reviewed, medications are reconciled, and allergies are entered and confirmed prior to the encounter. At the time of the encounter, using real-time HIPAA-secure video conferencing technology, scribes record all data in EHR note in real time. Next, the physician relates their assessment, plan of action and orders to the scribe, who records all of this information in EHR note in real time. The scribe then prepares, sends and/or prints all prescriptions, orders and instructions for the patient at the practice printer or patient pharmacy. Patient educational content is sent to the patient along with medication instructions. Procedure, as well as E&M codes, is charted to ensure complete charge capture. The physician reviews and signs off on the note, the visit ends, and the note is coded and complete, leaving the physician free to see their next patient.

Certified and experienced scribes and virtual assistants relieve physicians of the burden of the systematic process of documenting each aspect of their patient encounters and follow-up activities. Like all of the BPO services described in this white paper, scribe services allow physicians to see more patients, focus entirely on patient care, improve patient satisfaction and increase revenue.

So, now that we have discussed the benefits of BPO, how do you select BPO services? We will address this question in the second installment of this white paper two-part series.