New era for health records drives demand for medical scribes

When Austin eye surgeon George Thorne sees patients, he is followed by a staff member who, for the most part, sits quietly behind him and takes notes. Shayla Martinez, certified as an ophthalmic technician, spends much of her workdays as a medical scribe, recording the information Thorne and other doctors collect from patients. She inputs that data into a computer program, helping the doctors stay up to date on the electronic health records that federal law requires them to keep. A few years ago, when those requirements were less demanding, Thorne was not accompanied by a scribe. "But we gave up on having the doctors do it all on the computer and see the patient because we couldn't get through the day” under the new regulations, he said.