Clinical Transcription vs. AI: Selecting AI Medical Scribe or Humans

Today, for the first time in recent history, most American clinicians are opting to work in larger care organizations or hospitals instead of running private practices. While this shift is partly due to a growing compensation gap and a general decline in the appeal of small business ownership, clinicians across the nation point to the heavy administrative workload as the main reason they avoid opening or staying in private practices.

Previously, clinicians outsourced their medical documentation to third-party services like transcriptionists or medical scribes, allowing them to focus more on patient care and business tasks. However, regulatory changes over the last 12 years have increased documentation demands significantly, placing practitioners under greater scrutiny and pushing patient care down the priority list. While all healthcare providers feel the strain from increased administrative tasks, private practitioners tend to face a greater burden than hospital-based clinicians due to the nature of owning a small business.

Drawback of Clinical Transcription Services 

After the implementation of HITECH, the outlook for clinical transcriptionists was optimistic. However, in recent years, the demand for transcription services has outpaced the capacity of transcriptionists, and job opportunities in this field have declined. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, transcriptionist jobs are expected to decrease by 7-10 percent over the next decade.

For clinicians in private practice, using transcription services has several downsides. First, concerns about the quality of training and the effectiveness of notes arise. Since there is no governing body for medical transcription, it can be difficult to assess and maintain consistent training standards across third-party providers. There are also issues like line-cutting (where providers pay extra for quicker turnaround times) and the cognitive burden of recalling details from patient visits to dictate for transcription. Ultimately, cost concerns and minimal time savings are driving clinicians away from using transcription services.

Unlike hospital-based clinicians, who often work with an organization that already partners with a transcription company, private practitioners must pay for these services out of their own funds. This means any money spent on transcription services is directly taken from the clinician's earnings. As a result, transcription services are closely scrutinized in private practices. Even with a contracted transcriptionist, providers still need to document patient interactions in real time, dictate the key points after hours, and wait up to two days for the final notes to be delivered. This inefficient process increases the risk of malpractice due to potential PHI leaks, impacts the practice’s bottom line, and fails to provide substantial time savings. This is why transcription jobs are declining, clinicians are feeling burned out, and private practice ownership is diminishing in the US.

Drawbacks of Medical Scribe Solutions

The medical scribe industry, like transcription services, experienced significant growth after HITECH and Meaningful Use were implemented. However, the industry’s popularity has decreased in recent years, especially among private practice providers.

One problem is that training, scheduling, and supervising human medical scribes demand considerable time and resources, particularly in private practices, where staff is usually smaller, and employees often take on multiple roles. In these practices, resources spent on training human scribes detract from the primary objectives of delivering care and generating income, which many private practices find problematic.

Another major issue is the high turnover rate among medical scribes. Many scribes use the role as a stepping stone to gain clinical experience before attending medical school or pursuing other medical careers, leading to frequent turnover. Most scribes stay for about six months before moving on, which means private practitioners must constantly recruit, onboard, and train new staff. This process is time-consuming and limits the quality of documentation, as scribes typically reach their peak learning and contribution within a short time frame.

Similar to transcription services, the medical scribe industry lacks standardization. Even when a private practice works with an agency to place scribes, the training methods and management practices can vary greatly from one agency to another. Additionally, cost concerns, time-saving doubts, functional creep, and malpractice risks contribute to why many providers are moving away from using in-person scribes for documentation.

What Can be Done to Salvage the Clinicians and Practices 

In recent years, new documentation solutions have emerged with the aim of assisting clinicians so they can focus on patient care. However, many of these tools are just updated versions of old methods. For instance, some speech recognition technologies promoted as AI assistants or "ambient" voice tools are, in reality, advanced dictation and transcription systems. While these tools use improved technology to aid clinicians with documentation, they often still require real-time dictation or post-visit dictation, making them little more than sophisticated transcription tools.

The reality is that providers today are burdened by an overwhelming administrative load that only worsens with time. The increasing demand for medical documentation is putting a strain on clinicians, threatening the viability of private practices, and jeopardizing the healthcare system itself. This is a problem that demands a fresh approach, one that goes beyond simply applying new technology to outdated solutions.

The Solution Clinicians Need: SOAPsuds

Clinicians need a documentation solution that is specifically designed to meet their true needs. SOAPsuds’ AI-powered medical scribe is the only tool that addresses these needs effectively. Here is why practices need SOAPsuds for all their clinical documentation and transcription needs: 

Prioritizing the Clinician Needs First: A documentation solution must be created with the primary goal of helping clinicians perform their tasks more efficiently and effectively. It should adapt to each clinician’s workflow and automate time-consuming tasks.

SOAPsuds is clinic-first because our AI technology automates medical note-taking which allows you to speak to patients naturally, without the need for dictation. Thanks to machine learning and continuous quality assurance, SOAPsuds will only improve over time.

Security and Compliance: Providers need a tool that will not put them at risk for data breaches, security issues, or malpractice.

SOAPsuds is fully HIPAA-compliant, and all sensitive patient data is encrypted during the documentation process, both in transit and while stored.

Reduced Costs: A good documentation solution should be affordable for private practice providers.

SOAPsuds costs only 1/6 of a transcriptionist or medical scribe and half the price of other competing technologies.

Time-Savings: Providers deserve a solution that actually saves them time with their documentation, rather than simply substituting one form of documentation (typing) with another (dictating or training scribes).

SOAPsuds automates medical documentation. On average, users save up to three hours per day, making fewer than one edit per note.

Want to know more about the not-taking solution that is transforming practices and helping clinicians with the documentation duties. Try SOAPsuds for free!