Trial reportJournal of general internal medicine2023
Effect of a National VHA Medical Scribe Pilot on Provider Productivity, Wait Times, and Patient Satisfaction in Cardiology and Orthopedics.
Trial report in Journal of general internal medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04154462 (Evaluation of the Use of Medical Scribes on Provider Efficiency, Patient Satisfaction, and Wait Times in VAMC Emergency Departments and Specialty Care Clinics), which is not on this map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Evaluation of the Use of Medical Scribes on Provider Efficiency, Patient Satisfaction, and Wait Times in VAMC Emergency Departments and Specialty Care Clinics
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- The economic impact of medical scribe provision on physician productivity in outpatient clinics: a scoping review.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSection 507 of the VA MISSION Act of 2018 mandated a 2-year pilot study of medical scribes in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), with 12 VA Medical Centers randomly selected to receive scribes in their emergency departments or high wait time specialty clinics (cardiology and orthopedics). The pilot began on June 30, 2020, and ended on July 1, 2022.
objectiveOur objective was to evaluate the impact of medical scribes on provider productivity, wait times, and patient satisfaction in cardiology and orthopedics, as mandated by the MISSION Act.
designCluster randomized trial, with intent-to-treat analysis using difference-in-differences regression. PATIENTS: Veterans using 18 included VA Medical Centers (12 intervention and 6 comparison sites).
interventionRandomization into MISSION 507 medical scribe pilot. MAIN MEASURES: Provider productivity, wait times, and patient satisfaction per clinic-pay period. KEY
resultsRandomization into the scribe pilot was associated with increases of 25.2 relative value units (RVUs) per full-time equivalent (FTE) (p < 0.001) and 8.5 visits per FTE (p = 0.002) in cardiology and increases of 17.3 RVUs per FTE (p = 0.001) and 12.5 visits per FTE (p = 0.001) in orthopedics. We found that the scribe pilot was associated with a decrease of 8.5 days in request to appointment day wait times (p < 0.001) in orthopedics, driven by a 5.7-day decrease in appointment made to appointment day wait times (p < 0.001), and observed no change in wait times in cardiology. We also observed no declines in patient satisfaction with randomization into the scribe pilot.
conclusionsGiven the potential improvements in productivity and wait times with no change in patient satisfaction, our results suggest that scribes may be a useful tool to improve access to VHA care. However, participation in the pilot by sites and providers was voluntary, which could have implications for scalability and what effects could be expected if scribes were introduced to the care process without buy-in. Cost was not considered in this analysis but is an important factor for future implementation.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04154462.
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