I quit my Scribe Job & ScribeAmerica Review.

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

In many ways, this position was to die for. I worked for physicians in a competitive IM subspecialty, many well known, a few easily nationally recognized. Here's why I quit:

• It's finals week and they wanted me to work 4 days 6AM-5PM, one day in the satellite clinic 2 hours away. Outpatient Hours/Business Days and school really don't go well together.
• After nearly a year working as a scribe in a specialty outpatient clinic I realized I absolutely dread days I work. I hate the daily routine of waking up SO early and working until 5PM going room to room seeing the same 2 or 3 conditions.
• Looking at other opportunities honesty, just keeping my options open. It's always been my dream to open a business and now is the time to take that risk (If you have to be financially ruined, better when I'm single and can just start from scratch and still be young by the end.)
• Many jobs whether office jobs or field jobs have some degree of downtime. I see that physician (and scribe) is not one of those jobs. When the nurses get what they need done they can sit down and talk for a few minutes until the next thing comes along while we try to ignore them and maybe see the patients on time.

ScribeAmerica Review

• Groups/sites vary in competency by location. Our Chief scribe was not that great, our trainers were not that great. I thought I was just good but not great and always told I was great.
• Many of the scribes have a hard time getting good grades. It was not uncommon for people to ask to take their shifts because they're failing chemistry and need a day to catch up on their homework.
• Pay is not great BUT it is the same if not more than any other college parttime job so I don't see why scribes always complain about the pay.
• Lies they tell:

1. Blacklisted from Med School - Leaving on bad terms with ScribeAmerica will put you in a database and you will get "Blacklisted" (yes they actually use that term in the training) from medical school. Complete garbage.
2. The Non-Compete Clause - My old manager just texted me something along the lines of "Just a reminder, there is a noncompete clause saying you can't work as a scribe anywhere else for 2 years." Many states (including mine) do not uphold these, and it would be pretty foolish for ScribeAmerica to spend the money to even try to enforce it on a student merely working as a scribe somewhere else, if they even found out. The only way I could see them even making the attempt would be if you tried to start your own scribe company.

How I feel 6 Months Later:
Update: I regret quitting. I should have just called in for finals week and tried to fight a write up. I saw one of the old doctors I used to scribe for in the hospital cafeteria after I got a new job in the OR and he told me my old scribe manager was fired a couple months after I quit. It sucked at times but sucked WAY less than

• Taking **** from nurses (A doctor can give me **** any day becaue that's a f-ing doctor! But a nurse? Haha no....)
• Getting paid even worse
• Waking up even earlier

My job in the OR was horrible. You were invisible to doctors, answered to nurses who did nothing but nitpick things that didn't matter. I went to break one day and just didn't go back. I'm still a scribe at the free clinic but I miss my tough Cardiology Scribe job. You couldnt beat the connections.

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[DubbiDoctor]

"Leaving on bad terms with ScribeAmerica will put you in a database and you will get "Blacklisted" (yes they actually use that term in the training) from medical school."
It is insane that they would tell you that. They should be sued. Congratulations on making a choice that was right for you. The huge supply of pre-meds/pre-PAs who want scribing jobs seem to make the job relatively vulnerable to exploitation, though of course some people have great experiences.

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

The only thing that really bothered me was the fact that we were required to upcode everything in the ED to 4’s and 5’s. Traumatic crushed chest injury is coded the same as pedal edema lol I knew that physicians got a bigger cut but what I didn’t know was that hospitals can charge a bigger facility fee for higher codes sometimes double from what I’ve heard. It’s obvious something needs to change .

Oh yeah adding problems to the A/P just to get five problems and then writing in the plan "Followed by PCP"

 

[Deleted member 737595]

Ahhh... thank goodness I changed my mind about scribing before even starting. Seems like they take advantage of desperate premeds hopping on the bandwagon.

 

[MC_Spartan]

Ahhh... thank goodness I changed my mind about scribing before even starting. Seems like they take advantage of desperate premeds hopping on the bandwagon.

I had a different experience than OP as the chief scribe at a small ED program. There were many valuable lessons (both clinical and career related) to be learned and yes the pay is abysmal, yes the hours can be long, yes it can be inconvenient sometimes, and yes your management may not just let you take the whole week off for finals and screw over your entire team covering for you.

IMHO: don’t do scribing if you already have plenty of clinical contact hours, there are higher paying clinical/research gigs around, and/or you don’t like being inconvenienced. It’s a job not an extracurricular. For my situation (lived in a small town in the country and SA was the only clinically related job within commuting distance), it was perfect and I received excellent mentorship from the EM docs I worked alongside.

Bonus point: this job came up in ALL of my med school interviews, in a positive light

Clarification: the “blacklisting” is tied to HIPAA violations, never in all my manager training did I see it tied to leaving on “bad terms”.

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

I had a different experience than OP as the chief scribe at a small ED program. There were many valuable lessons (both clinical and career related) to be learned and yes the pay is abysmal, yes the hours can be long, yes it can be inconvenient sometimes, and yes your management may not just let you take the whole week off for finals and screw over your entire team covering for you.

IMHO: don’t do scribing if you already have plenty of clinical contact hours, there are higher paying clinical/research gigs around, and/or you don’t like being inconvenienced. It’s a job not an extracurricular. For my situation (lived in a small town in the country and SA was the only clinically related job within commuting distance), it was perfect and I received excellent mentorship from the EM docs I worked alongside.

Bonus point: this job came up in ALL of my med school interviews, in a positive light

Clarification: the “blacklisting” is tied to HIPAA violations, never in all my manager training did I see it tied to leaving on “bad terms”.

I get it, I was a manager and wrote the schedule at my last job and that is unacceptable from a business's perspective. When I did it I knew just how unacceptable it would come across. But grades are forever so I'll choose those over a few shifts no one will remember.

 

[PhilzCoffeeAddict]

Non-complete clauses? Really? This is interesting.

Also the medical school blacklist... not sure if they say that as an intimidation factor or if its actually true. Can any other scribes for ScribeAmerica add on to this? Curious of what goes on here.

 

[allantois]

Eh the blacklisted threats sound really shady. I was recruited out of their corporate headquarters and was never told that or about non-compete, I think it's something someone made up at the local level..

 

[21Rush12]

I think any admissions committee would laugh at someone who came to them with a scribe naughty list and asked them not to accept those students.

 

[YeaJeets2]

It is my last month with ScribeAmerica as well and I would completely agree that scribing has diminishing returns. At first, being in the ED and seeing a variety of cases was fun and exciting, but that has long since worn off, and I pretty much dread every shift.

With regards to downtime, working in an outpatient IM subspecialty setting must be completely different than the ED. I spend 75% of my time at work surfing the internet, streaming sports on my computer, etc... I scribed during a gap year, but I have to imagine scribing in an ED during school would be much more manageable than your situation because of the ample opportunity to study/do work on the job.

I also had to deal with the no-compete clause, although coming from a different company. It is not enforced in the state where I work either.

Overall, I have worked for two scribe companies and did not notice much difference between either one (worked at the same site). It is a good opportunity to log clinical hours and get solid letters from physicians, but definitely has diminishing returns as has been mentioned.

 

[Countdown117]

I had a different experience than OP as the chief scribe at a small ED program. There were many valuable lessons (both clinical and career related) to be learned and yes the pay is abysmal, yes the hours can be long, yes it can be inconvenient sometimes, and yes your management may not just let you take the whole week off for finals and screw over your entire team covering for you.

IMHO: don’t do scribing if you already have plenty of clinical contact hours, there are higher paying clinical/research gigs around, and/or you don’t like being inconvenienced. It’s a job not an extracurricular. For my situation (lived in a small town in the country and SA was the only clinically related job within commuting distance), it was perfect and I received excellent mentorship from the EM docs I worked alongside.

Bonus point: this job came up in ALL of my med school interviews, in a positive light

Clarification: the “blacklisting” is tied to HIPAA violations, never in all my manager training did I see it tied to leaving on “bad terms”.

Please tell me "Chief Scribe" is not a real thing. That sounds a little over the top.

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

Please tell me "Chief Scribe" is not a real thing. That sounds a little over the top.

Oh it's real.

 

[Isoval]

Chief scribe.

The scribe equivalent to the manager at McDonald's.

 

[Deleted member 737595]

Chief scribe.

The scribe equivalent to the manager at McDonald's.

I respect the McDonald's manager a million times more.

 

[Select All That Apply]

@BuckStrickland ScribeAmerica espouses the notion of the bottom line, so much so that they host a medical journal article explaining how scribes add 2.4 RVU/hr (relative value units) to the hospital. The link to the article can be found here: https://www.scribeamerica.com/pdf/SAEM_RWJ_Scribe.pdf

As others have mentioned, this is a great place for a first job in terms of being a learning experience. However, this was the final nail in the coffin for me in terms of working as an outside hospital contractor. I had previously worked for a small company that was contracted to ORs to provide a specialty surgical device and although that was a miserable experience, paid twice of what they were offering at ScribeAmerica. From my n=1 experience they wanted me to start on minimum wage, despite having a background in other related healthcare professions. In a sense, it's ironic that they value experience, but then have you sign a non-compete clause at times to prevent you from going to another scribe company instead of attempting to compete by offering a competitive pay. After your first year, you will receive a raise of $1.25-$1.50 which will still put you below a lot of other jobs that start off their technicians or CNAs at a higher base salary in a less stressful setting.

The short message is that this is an opportunity, but it is exploitative on the saturated premedical population when alternatives such as working as a starting CNA/technician at a hospital puts you on a comparative pay scale as a chief scribe or a scribe who has been part of the system for 3-5 years. I've seen a lot of people put a lot of work into the ScribeAmerica machine when they wanted to do PA/medical school and it ended up sucking a lot of their years that they could have spent putting into their application. There are better alternatives that are harder to gain entry into, but I have found that being treated like an insider within a hospital or a hospital network is like night and day compared to how I was treated as an outside contractor.

 

[1eyedjack]

Am I the only one who enjoys my scribing experience?? Lol

 

[allantois]

Please tell me "Chief Scribe" is not a real thing. That sounds a little over the top.

Chief Scribe will ultimately make or break your experience with scribing. Mine was a super cool dude. They are your only real boss on the job and point of contact about any issues, not to mention they are your peer who is also pre-med/PA.

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

Am I the only one who enjoys my scribing experience?? Lol

There are definitely parts I will miss, and overall my life is richer because I was there. Just couldn't continue.

 

[MC_Spartan]

@BuckStrickland ScribeAmerica espouses the notion of the bottom line, so much so that they host a medical journal article explaining how scribes add 2.4 RVU/hr (relative value units) to the hospital. The link to the article can be found here: https://www.scribeamerica.com/pdf/SAEM_RWJ_Scribe.pdf

As others have mentioned, this is a great place for a first job in terms of being a learning experience. However, this was the final nail in the coffin for me in terms of working as an outside hospital contractor. I had previously worked for a small company that was contracted to ORs to provide a specialty surgical device and although that was a miserable experience, paid twice of what they were offering at ScribeAmerica. From my n=1 experience they wanted me to start on minimum wage, despite having a background in other related healthcare professions. In a sense, it's ironic that they value experience, but then have you sign a non-compete clause at times to prevent you from going to another scribe company instead of attempting to compete by offering a competitive pay. After your first year, you will receive a raise of $1.25-$1.50 which will still put you below a lot of other jobs that start off their technicians or CNAs at a higher base salary in a less stressful setting.

The short message is that this is an opportunity, but it is exploitative on the saturated premedical population when alternatives such as working as a starting CNA/technician at a hospital puts you on a comparative pay scale as a chief scribe or a scribe who has been part of the system for 3-5 years. I've seen a lot of people put a lot of work into the ScribeAmerica machine when they wanted to do PA/medical school and it ended up sucking a lot of their years that they could have spent putting into their application. There are better alternatives that are harder to gain entry into, but I have found that being treated like an insider within a hospital or a hospital network is like night and day compared to how I was treated as an outside contractor.

It’s a buyers market flooded with premeds scrambling for opportunities, and SA is a business intelligently using this fact to fuel their model. Premeds need the clinical experience (and a bitter taste of working world realities). Some can’t afford to make $0/hr shadowing. Personally, I didn’t have the time nor money to shadow a doc for free to get my clinical hours.. so I shadowed a doc for $. Yes, SA paid me less than I was worth, even managing the program. Those friends that SA “sucked years out of”, perhaps they should’ve taken the time to evaluate their options and determine if SA was actually the best choice for their situation. Premeds get in the check box mindset and just do things because they read somewhere they had to. Analyze your personal situation critically, make grown up choices, do what will be best for you. If you waste your time, blame you not the company you don’t have to work for.

And if you’re trying to get into a field that doesn’t go to great lengths to squeeze every dollar it can out of you, you might not want to go into medicine. A quick search around this website could tell you that.

Also, don’t do SA for more than a year (unless you love it/it’s all that is available to you). Get your crap ton of paid clinical hours and soak up every bit of wisdom you can from those docs, then go diversify your application.

Chief Scribe will ultimately make or break your experience with scribing. Mine was a super cool dude. They are your only real boss on the job and point of contact about any issues, not to mention they are your peer who is also pre-med/PA.

^that is 100% true. I’d wager the bulk of “bad SA experiences” are due in large part to poor management skills of the chief scribe. But without a doubt, mindset and attitude (or arrogance) of the scribe in question is another key factor. All the scribes I managed were either pre-PA or premed. However, the scribes that excelled typically had previous work experience, understood the demands of a job, and respected the limitations their work might put on their free time. They thought critically about what taking the job might cost them before they made the choice. The less-successful scribes typically treated it like some EC that was supposed to conformed to their wants/expectations (particularly requesting last-minute time off or calling in on holidays), and made it so very obvious they were only there to check a box. Another post earlier in this discussion complained about not having downtime during their shift (that they’re being paid to work).. to which I can only wonder, you’re choosing to pursue medicine why?

 

[kb1900]

It’s a buyers market flooded with premeds scrambling for opportunities, and SA is a business intelligently using this fact to fuel their model. Premeds need the clinical experience (and a bitter taste of working world realities). Some can’t afford to make $0/hr shadowing. Personally, I didn’t have the time nor money to shadow a doc for free to get my clinical hours.. so I shadowed a doc for $. Yes, SA paid me less than I was worth, even managing the program. Those friends that SA “sucked years out of”, perhaps they should’ve taken the time to evaluate their options and determine if SA was actually the best choice for their situation. Premeds get in the check box mindset and just do things because they read somewhere they had to. Analyze your personal situation critically, make grown up choices, do what will be best for you. If you waste your time, blame you not the company you don’t have to work for.

And if you’re trying to get into a field that doesn’t go to great lengths to squeeze every dollar it can out of you, you might not want to go into medicine. A quick search around this website could tell you that.

Also, don’t do SA for more than a year (unless you love it/it’s all that is available to you). Get your crap ton of paid clinical hours and soak up every bit of wisdom you can from those docs, then go diversify your application.



^that is 100% true. I’d wager the bulk of “bad SA experiences” are due in large part to poor management skills of the chief scribe. But without a doubt, mindset and attitude (or arrogance) of the scribe in question is another key factor. All the scribes I managed were either pre-PA or premed. However, the scribes that excelled typically had previous work experience, understood the demands of a job, and respected the limitations their work might put on their free time. They thought critically about what taking the job might cost them before they made the choice. The less-successful scribes typically treated it like some EC that was supposed to conformed to their wants/expectations (particularly requesting last-minute time off or calling in on holidays), and made it so very obvious they were only there to check a box. Another post earlier in this discussion complained about not having downtime during their shift (that they’re being paid to work).. to which I can only wonder, you’re choosing to pursue medicine why?

Spot on about scribing via an organization like this being geared towards those who need to make money.

3 routes (IMO) of gaining exposure:
If you want to just chill, then shadow.
If you want to do something meaningful, then volunteer.
If you want to make $$, work a clinical job like SA

 

[BellaWriterChic]

I agree with many of the posts above. I will say this. I am also in an outpatient clinic. I work roughly 8-5 (varies depending on the doctor I am with that day). It can be long and stressful, but at the same time part of your job is to make it easier for doctors to see patients throughout the day. Down time is not always a thing at some of my sites but as my dad told me once, it is a job and you are not paid to gossip; you are paid to work. But at the same time I have been able to also get to know the office staff and nurses. Is the pay super awesome? No but I did not get into it for the money. I got into it for the experience and the money was just a bonus. I also was able to get two letters from doctors I worked closely with. And my chief scribe is awesome. We had a couple change for different reasons, but she gets things done, and she is open to helping everyone out.

 

[Neutropix]

Am I the only one who enjoys my scribing experience?? Lol

I like it. I didn’t have any leadership experience per se until I became a Scribe trainer and facility IT lead. If it comes up in my interviews I will have a lot to expound upon

 

[endocrinenerd]

I am a current Scribe for ScribeAmerica in the ED, scribing during a gap year. I agree with the posts about diminishing returns. I have only been working for 6 months, but I have been working overtime since my 1st month. I have received a single pay raise, and I would say this is probably my biggest gripe with job.

Second is upcoding. This is more a moral thing. As a scribe, you are trained to upcode, making the hospital more money. This makes sense as a business model, explaining why the hospitals would contract outside help in the first place, but is immoral when considering how much the patients (and/or their insurance) are being charged.

Another minor gripe is that you learn less and less. Some of the docs I scribe for don't teach the scribes anything (don't answer questions or give shallow answers), which is frustrating as a premed. I am definitely still learning, but not like within the first 3 months.The job is also incredibly repetitive and hasn't really pushed me to grow in any meaningful way.

Like @MC_Spartan, scribing was the only way for me to get clinical experience because it paid. Scribing is great if you want get paid for clinical experience. It is great clinical experience even not considering the pay. But there are certainly better ways to get paid, even as a premed/undergrad. I don't recommend people scribe if they want clinical experience while taking classes, because, as others have mentioned, scheduling with classes is not always feasible and leads to neglect of schoolwork or your job. Scribing also does require a fairly strict time commitment.

In regards to the blacklisting and noncompete, I was also threatened with these when being hired. The blacklisting was worded ambiguously, and did make it seem like you had to uphold your commitment to the company. The noncompete was brought up, although my chief scribe did explicitly tell me that my state doesn't uphold these clauses.

Overall, great experience. Don't do it during school. Pay isn't great. Gets repetitive after a short time. I agree with the advice to do it for no more than a year.

 

[Arturiase]

+1

 

[jarednogeek]

Congrats on quitting a job you don't like even if it looks good on your CV. let your strength resonate through the Pre-Med community.

 

[neurologue]

It is very hard to generalize how worthwhile or meaningful scribing will be for an individual, because a lot of it is based on the dynamics of your particular site, scheduling, and coworkers/supervisors. Personally, I've worked at SA for about 2 years and have liked it a lot. I look forward to work every day, and scribing has been my major confirmation that I like being in the clinic all day and that medicine is a good career path for me.

I will say that if you're working for SA, you don't make much, or as much as you deserve for the level of multitasking, organization, or responsibility that you're required to exhibit (to do the job well). Unfortunately, I think that if pay were to increase, we would likely face the burden of needing a lisence or certification (similar to how transcriptionists or phlebotomists often do), which would kind of negate the higher pay. I'm glad we're not at that point, as a lot of clinical jobs in the U.S. seem to be going that direction.

With the blacklisting thing, I can offer some insight because I've been here a while and I'm a QAA. We've fired/terminated quite a few people, some for grossly unprofessional conduct, but the only time blacklisting ever came up (besides HIPAA violations which we've never had), was the case of a scribe who was committing timecard fraud, which is theft and is therefore illegal. (He was also bragging about it... poor move.) Illegal contact will likely be reported to medical schools. Otherwise not (and I've never seen anything else threatened).

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

It is very hard to generalize how worthwhile or meaningful scribing will be for an individual, because a lot of it is based on the dynamics of your particular site, scheduling, and coworkers/supervisors. Personally, I've worked at SA for about 2 years and have liked it a lot. I look forward to work every day, and scribing has been my major confirmation that I like being in the clinic all day and that medicine is a good career path for me.

I will say that if you're working for SA, you don't make much, or as much as you deserve for the level of multitasking, organization, or responsibility that you're required to exhibit (to do the job well). Unfortunately, I think that if pay were to increase, we would likely face the burden of needing a lisence or certification (similar to how transcriptionists or phlebotomists often do), which would kind of negate the higher pay. I'm glad we're not at that point, as a lot of clinical jobs in the U.S. seem to be going that direction.

With the blacklisting thing, I can offer some insight because I've been here a while and I'm a QAA. We've fired/terminated quite a few people, some for grossly unprofessional conduct, but the only time blacklisting ever came up (besides HIPAA violations which we've never had), was the case of a scribe who was committing timecard fraud, which is theft and is therefore illegal. (He was also bragging about it... poor move.) Illegal contact will likely be reported to medical schools. Otherwise not (and I've never seen anything else threatened).

This is what we want to know. Is there a ScribeAmerica blacklist that they send to medical schools every year? (Pretty ridiculous)

 

[neurologue]

This is what we want to know. Is there a ScribeAmerica blacklist that they send to medical schools every year? (Pretty ridiculous)

Not that I know of, no. I'm not that involved with this process, but from the incidents I've seen, there isn't a "blacklist" the way that it has been construed by others (the "leaving on bad terms" thing). For anything that is not illegal conduct, chief scribes really do not care enough to ruin your career for doing poorly in this job. I've never seen that happen. Illegal conduct in the workplace (such as HIPAA violations, timecard theft, etc.) can get you "blacklisted" from medical school only in the same way that committing crimes at literally any other job would.

 

[SuperMD17]

I was a Chief Scribe for this company and I absolutely hated it. They expected me to treat it like my life-long career with the BS pay. My regional manager at the time, Laura Then was a total witch and would threaten to leave a “negative review” in my personnel file if i didn’t obey her. She also said “Medical schools call us all the time and I can’t promise I’ll have anything good to say if you dont do this or that” such a joke.

 

[NickNaylor]

It’s interesting reading about some of your experiences. The monotony and routine nature of medicine doesn’t change once you become a physician - there’s nothing special about managing the 10th case of whatever it is you’re seeing that day rather than just scribing for the provider. All things become routine at some point, though in medicine you are charged with the task of figuring out if a case really is something routine vs. something more complicated, which adds a slight degree of intellectual challenge to the situation.

The comment about upcoding is also interesting and is something you are going to be expected to do if you work in an employed position (like at an academic hospital). Obviously your employer wants to make the most out of each encounter, but most employers expect you to generate a certain number of RVUs per year, your salary is completely RVU-derived, and/or you are incetivized with production bonuses once you reach a certain RVU threshold. Thus, you, too, will be incentivized to “upcode.” Of course, providing unnecessary care and outright fraught or morally and ethically wrong, but completing a full review of systems vs. focused review of systems is not a moral dilemma in my mind if it can bump the complexity of the encounter up a notch.

There are some aspects of an encounter that effects the complexity of the case that you can’t change, but in most cases whether or not you bill a low- vs. moderate- vs. high-complexity encounter is simply dependent on what you document, not the actual care that you provide. Medicine is not a charity, and yes, there are incentives and pressures to maximize the revenue that you generate for each encounter. This is not something you will escape unless you operate a cash practice and don’t have to bother with RVUs and billing codes. Otherwise, it’s something that you will be dealing with for the entirety of your career.

 

[aspiringmd96]

I didn't leave on the best terms from SA and I didn't too bad this cycle. I doubt there is any list.

 

[FutureDr.Sigma!]

I was a chief scribe with SA before I started med school (I'm finishing 1st year now) and there is no blacklist for medical schools if you leave SA on bad terms. Your chief scribe could have explained it wrong.

There is blacklist if you break HIPAA, like with any job in the medical field. If you break HIPAA under SA then that can keep you from getting into medical school, but if you break HIPAA with any job you can kiss med school goodbye.

I hope this helps. Sorry you didn't have the best experience.

In many ways, this position was to die for. I worked for physicians in a competitive IM subspecialty, many well known, a few easily nationally recognized. Here's why I quit:

• It's finals week and they wanted me to work 4 days 6AM-5PM, one day in the satellite clinic 2 hours away. Outpatient Hours/Business Days and school really don't go well together.
• After nearly a year working as a scribe in a specialty outpatient clinic I realized I absolutely dread days I work. I hate the daily routine of waking up SO early and working until 5PM going room to room seeing the same 2 or 3 conditions.
• Looking at other opportunities honesty, just keeping my options open. It's always been my dream to open a business and now is the time to take that risk (If you have to be financially ruined, better when I'm single and can just start from scratch and still be young by the end.)
• Many jobs whether office jobs or field jobs have some degree of downtime. I see that physician (and scribe) is not one of those jobs. When the nurses get what they need done they can sit down and talk for a few minutes until the next thing comes along while we try to ignore them and maybe see the patients on time.

ScribeAmerica Review

• Groups/sites vary in competency by location. Our Chief scribe was not that great, our trainers were not that great. I thought I was just good but not great and always told I was great.
• Many of the scribes have a hard time getting good grades. It was not uncommon for people to ask to take their shifts because they're failing chemistry and need a day to catch up on their homework.
• Pay is not great BUT it is the same if not more than any other college parttime job so I don't see why scribes always complain about the pay.
• Lies they tell:

1. Blacklisted from Med School - Leaving on bad terms with ScribeAmerica will put you in a database and you will get "Blacklisted" (yes they actually use that term in the training) from medical school. Complete garbage.
2. The Non-Compete Clause - My old manager just texted me something along the lines of "Just a reminder, there is a noncompete clause saying you can't work as a scribe anywhere else for 2 years." Many states (including mine) do not uphold these, and it would be pretty foolish for ScribeAmerica to spend the money to even try to enforce it on a student merely working as a scribe somewhere else, if they even found out. The only way I could see them even making the attempt would be if you tried to start your own scribe company.

 

[kb1900]

It’s interesting reading about some of your experiences. The monotony and routine nature of medicine doesn’t change once you become a physician - there’s nothing special about managing the 10th case of whatever it is you’re seeing that day rather than just scribing for the provider. All things become routine at some point, though in medicine you are charged with the task of figuring out if a case really is something routine vs. something more complicated, which adds a slight degree of intellectual challenge to the situation.

The comment about upcoding is also interesting and is something you are going to be expected to do if you work in an employed position (like at an academic hospital). Obviously your employer wants to make the most out of each encounter, but most employers expect you to generate a certain number of RVUs per year, your salary is completely RVU-derived, and/or you are incetivized with production bonuses once you reach a certain RVU threshold. Thus, you, too, will be incentivized to “upcode.” Of course, providing unnecessary care and outright fraught or morally and ethically wrong, but completing a full review of systems vs. focused review of systems is not a moral dilemma in my mind if it can bump the complexity of the encounter up a notch.

There are some aspects of an encounter that effects the complexity of the case that you can’t change, but in most cases whether or not you bill a low- vs. moderate- vs. high-complexity encounter is simply dependent on what you document, not the actual care that you provide. Medicine is not a charity, and yes, there are incentives and pressures to maximize the revenue that you generate for each encounter. This is not something you will escape unless you operate a cash practice and don’t have to bother with RVUs and billing codes. Otherwise, it’s something that you will be dealing with for the entirety of your career.

Even as a medical student this information is very helpful. I can’t believe I’m learning it now via ur post frankly.

is this type of information just dumped on you once you hit residency since that is the first time you are an “employee”?

 

[NickNaylor]

Even as a medical student this information is very helpful. I can’t believe I’m learning it now via ur post frankly.

is this type of information just dumped on you once you hit residency since that is the first time you are an “employee”?

It’s a part of the “hidden curriculum” - the things you pick up in the course of clinical care that aren’t explicitly taught but are nevertheless relevant to your work.

RVUs aren’t relevant as a resident since, at least at our program, we do not have a “quota” or anything like that that we’re expected to meet. However, as attendings use our notes for the purposes of billing, you learn about these things because they want to bill at the maximum level; their “notes” are typically no longer than a paragraph with a skeleton plan addended to our notes, thus most of the documentation relevant for determining a billing level is in the resident’s note, not the attending’s note. There’s a reason why I document whether someone’s diabetes is poorly controlled vs. not in my notes - it’s not because it’s particularly relevant to their care, but because poorly-controlled diabetes increases the complexity of the visit, thus allowing the attending to bill more. There are lots of little things like this that you just pick up on over time.

 

[Despdoc1234]

It seems that I do not follow the same opinions as many of the commenters here.

I truly enjoyed my ScribeAmerica Experience. I was initially hired in with one of the other scribe companies that was eventually bought out by ScribeAmerica. The management, training material, and quality assurance was without a doubt better with ScribeAmerica.

It seems that your main complaints are:
1. Management
2. Pay

In terms of Management, you have to find the right person. Just like with any company, if your manager is not there for your needs then you need to obtain the information for someone above them. You need to always be able to express your concerns. ScribeAmerica actually spends a lot of money and time on teaching its managers about improving morale and how to show your subordinates they are valued.

For the pay, you have to think about the business aspects. All Medical Scribe Companies are offering rates between 18-24$ an hour billing to the client. So now when you start to factor in all the cost of training the scribes, the regulations imposed by the government, the cost of salaried and nonclinically working employees, etc, the company really cannot afford to increase the rate they are giving to their employees. The entry level scribe position is not meant for the long-term. They offer plenty of advancement opportunities with increase in pay for individuals who enjoy the company but not the pay.

In terms of Upcoding. The chart is simply expected to have enough documentation incase the provider or the billing company determines the visit is a higher billing level. You simply need to ensure there is enough documentation for the level of the patient visit. We are not upcoding.

I have honestly truly enjoyed my time with the company. They are a true HealthCare company who values productivity, efficiency, and revenue. Like others have said, if you cant handle that then you are going into the wrong career!

 

[KD6-3.7]

For the pay, you have to think about the business aspects. All Medical Scribe Companies are offering rates between 18-24$ an hour billing to the client. So now when you start to factor in all the cost of training the scribes, the regulations imposed by the government, the cost of salaried and nonclinically working employees, etc, the company really cannot afford to increase the rate they are giving to their employees. The entry level scribe position is not meant for the long-term. They offer plenty of advancement opportunities with increase in pay for individuals who enjoy the company but not the pay.
!

Pretty sure SA bills $25/hour at my site. $10 out of $25/hour is a scam, full stop, but it seems there are plenty of eager pre-meds like myself signing up.

 

[altblue]

Since this was touched on here, is there a strong correlation between enjoying scribing and enjoying medical school/residency?

I'm scribing in a pretty intense clinic in a difficult specialty I'm not that interested in, and to be frank the work is tedious to me. It feels like most, but not all, people don't really want to be there, from medical assistants to physicians. Being around this can drain my motivation a bit.

I'm just hoping it's my clinic and my relative newness to scribing that give me these perceptions. Hopefully this won't generalize to the rest of medicine.

 

[SuperMD17]

At my site they were charging well above $30/hr per scribe and my manager was regional and she still knew nothing about valuing subordinates. When there are so many complaints and few people pleased with managment one should look into the overall culture of the company. One positive review compared to many negatives paints a very clear picture of scribeamberica

 

[utah34]

I've been a chief scribe for about two years during my gap years. I have loved it and I know the scribes I work with love it also. Our physician group is a blast to work with and the management above me pretty much leaves me alone aside from a monthly conference call. The pay does suck but I don't think I would have gotten into medical school without the letters and experience I gained from the job.

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

Pretty sure SA bills $25/hour at my site. $10 out of $25/hour is a scam, full stop, but it seems there are plenty of eager pre-meds like myself signing up.

$20-something an hour at my site. (A physician who I scribed for who also wears an administrative hat told me.)

Since this was touched on here, is there a strong correlation between enjoying scribing and enjoying medical school/residency?

I'm scribing in a pretty intense clinic in a difficult specialty I'm not that interested in, and to be frank the work is tedious to me. It feels like most, but not all, people don't really want to be there, from medical assistants to physicians. Being around this can drain my motivation a bit.

I'm just hoping it's my clinic and my relative newness to scribing that's causing these perceptions. Hopefully this won't generalize to the rest of medicine for me.

Same. I still kept my free clinic scribing job. The two physicians I work with there really make it. I love it there. The cardiology clinic was the worst. Hands down the most miserable routine I have ever experienced. Dreaded days I worked.

 

[altblue]

$20-something an hour at my sight. (A physician who I scribed for who also wears an administrative hat told me.)



Same. I still kept my free clinic scribing job. The two physicians I work with there really make it. I love it there. The cardiology clinic was the worst. Hands down the most miserable routine I have ever experienced. Dreaded days I worked.

Good to hear. Thankfully it's getting more enjoyable now

 

[JoHar]

Since this was touched on here, is there a strong correlation between enjoying scribing and enjoying medical school/residency?

I'm scribing in a pretty intense clinic in a difficult specialty I'm not that interested in, and to be frank the work is tedious to me. It feels like most, but not all, people don't really want to be there, from medical assistants to physicians. Being around this can drain my motivation a bit.

I'm just hoping it's my clinic and my relative newness to scribing that give me these perceptions. Hopefully this won't generalize to the rest of medicine.

I struggled with this at my scribe site for a while as well. I think that in the end it has been motivating. I find the medicine to be fascinating but obviously it isn't that fascinating to docs that have been working for 20+ years. The things that they hate are all of the non-medical tasks that they have to satisfy in a days work. IMO these things represent a huge opportunity for incoming students (like ourselves) to improve this feild.

It is well known that doc burn out is at an all time high. People are dissatisfied and I think that means that it is time for a positive change. I hate to by an optomist, but I do feel like there are obvious things that can be improved. For one the lack of physicians in administrative positions and the sheer number of administrative positions that are being created every year. Docs are being told how to doctor by people who aren't doctors. This would be understandably frustrating.

Also, as a nontrad who has worked in Biotech prior to medicine I can say that there are unhappy people everywhere. Work is work and that will never change. Medicine is demanding but at least you will never be in a cubicle!

 

[tekkenman11]

I am a current Scribe for ScribeAmerica in the ED, scribing during a gap year. I agree with the posts about diminishing returns. I have only been working for 6 months, but I have been working overtime since my 1st month. I have received a single pay raise, and I would say this is probably my biggest gripe with job.

Second is upcoding. This is more a moral thing. As a scribe, you are trained to upcode, making the hospital more money. This makes sense as a business model, explaining why the hospitals would contract outside help in the first place, but is immoral when considering how much the patients (and/or their insurance) are being charged.

Another minor gripe is that you learn less and less. Some of the docs I scribe for don't teach the scribes anything (don't answer questions or give shallow answers), which is frustrating as a premed. I am definitely still learning, but not like within the first 3 months.The job is also incredibly repetitive and hasn't really pushed me to grow in any meaningful way.

Like @MC_Spartan, scribing was the only way for me to get clinical experience because it paid. Scribing is great if you want get paid for clinical experience. It is great clinical experience even not considering the pay. But there are certainly better ways to get paid, even as a premed/undergrad. I don't recommend people scribe if they want clinical experience while taking classes, because, as others have mentioned, scheduling with classes is not always feasible and leads to neglect of schoolwork or your job. Scribing also does require a fairly strict time commitment.

In regards to the blacklisting and noncompete, I was also threatened with these when being hired. The blacklisting was worded ambiguously, and did make it seem like you had to uphold your commitment to the company. The noncompete was brought up, although my chief scribe did explicitly tell me that my state doesn't uphold these clauses.

Overall, great experience. Don't do it during school. Pay isn't great. Gets repetitive after a short time. I agree with the advice to do it for no more than a year.

I noticed that once I told my docs that I was accepted to my first medical school (last October) they immediately started treating me better lol. This was particularly noticeable whenever this other co-worker was around who ultimately didn't get in. I guess they figured I was going to be a physician so might as well actually teach me ****.

I agree with the other previous responses in that I got bored of scribing by the 6 month mark. For reference I worked in the ED of two different hospitals and quit last month so I could enjoy my summer before medical school starts.

 

[altblue]

I noticed that once I told my docs that I was accepted to my first medical school (last October) they immediately started treating me better lol. This was particularly noticeable whenever this other co-worker was around who ultimately didn't get in. I guess they figured I was going to be a physician so might as well actually teach me ****.

I agree with the other previous responses in that I got bored of scribing by the 6 month mark. For reference I worked in the ED of two different hospitals and quit last month so I could enjoy my summer before medical school starts.

One doc I work for can be particularly condescending, and they have a reputation for it in the department. While I def get along with them better now, I'm not gonna lie it'd feel good to mention an acceptance...

 

[NeutralReiddHotel]

I'm about to begin a position with them, it's good to know the pitfalls of what I may be running into before I start. I know the pay will definitely be horrible, so I'm doing this only part-time over the weekends to gain some contact hours.

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

I'm about to begin a position with them, it's good to know the pitfalls of what I may be running into before I start. I know the pay will definitely be horrible, so I'm doing this only part-time over the weekends to gain some contact hours.

Update: I regret quitting. I should have just called in for finals week and tried to fight a write up. I saw one of the old doctors I used to scribe for in the hospital cafeteria after I got a new job in the OR and he told me my old scribe manager was fired a couple months after I quit. It sucked at times but sucked WAY less than

• Taking **** from nurses (A doctor can give me **** any day becaue that's a f-ing doctor! But a nurse? Haha no....)
• Getting paid even worse
• Waking up even earlier

My job in the OR was horrible. You were invisible to doctors, answered to nurses who did nothing but nitpick things that didn't matter. I went to break one day and just didn't go back. I'm still a scribe at the free clinic but I miss my tough Cardiology Scribe job. You couldnt beat the connections.

 

[Jubs]

I'm about to begin a position with them, it's good to know the pitfalls of what I may be running into before I start. I know the pay will definitely be horrible, so I'm doing this only part-time over the weekends to gain some contact hours.

Good luck getting consistent hours only on the weekends. For us it's mandatory to work 1 weekday, 1 weekend every week, with 2 overnight shifts a month; 1 during the week and another during the weekend. Hopefully this is just for us. I've been scribing for a year and a half and am looking to a new job while I finish up my undergrad.

 

[faerie62]

Update: I regret quitting. I should have just called in for finals week and tried to fight a write up. I saw one of the old doctors I used to scribe for in the hospital cafeteria after I got a new job in the OR and he told me my old scribe manager was fired a couple months after I quit. It sucked at times but sucked WAY less than

• Taking **** from nurses (A doctor can give me **** any day becaue that's a f-ing doctor! But a nurse? Haha no....)
• Getting paid even worse
• Waking up even earlier

My job in the OR was horrible. You were invisible to doctors, answered to nurses who did nothing but nitpick things that didn't matter. I went to break one day and just didn't go back. I'm still a scribe at the free clinic but I miss my tough Cardiology Scribe job. You couldnt beat the connections.

really though you're at the bottom of the healthcare hierarchy...

 

[puahate]

really though you're at the bottom of the healthcare hierarchy...

To be fair, we arent even in the healthcare hierarchy really. I mean lets be real.

 

[KiddCo]

I started working for Scribe America's new partner company: CareThrough in early November.

The position is of Patient Care Navigator. We work in both the ER and inpatient and its been pretty good at my location.
It's interesting in that we interact with patients directly, talk to them in their rooms, and communicate with doctors about their followup care.

Word around the hospital is that some health systems are getting rid of scribes in favor of dictation. There are a few hospitals in the area I'm around that have already gotten rid of the scribes. It sounds like scribe america is starting the patient care navigation position to stay relevant as more hospitals do away with scribes.

Anyone else hear about scribes being replaced with dictation?