Introduction: Since 2008, providers from around the country have been video recording their patient-provider interactions and providing a copy of the recordings to their patients. We present the experience of these providers to enhance patient experience, reduce liability, and save time and money in their practices.
Methods: Since 2008, over 80 providers have recorded over 6,112 clinical visits. We collected information about how both patients and these providers use the videos and any legal ramifications from video recording patients. In one of the busiest practices, we also evaluated the number of phone calls saved by the office and calculated the time saved by the medical office staff.
Results: Providers using the video recording system reported zero cases where a video had been used in a legal case, either for them or against them. Since 2008, no patient made a request to the video recording company for a copy of their recording for legal purposes. Legal counsel and several providers commented that they believed that utilizing video recording helped reduce poor communications between them and their patients. In addition, patients who watched their videos had 23.9% less phone calls to the office for medical questions. In the test practice, this resulted in savings of up to 2,618 calls per year. We calculated the time to complete one average phone call from inception to resolution as approximately 13 minutes, 20 seconds. Given the approximate hourly salaries for the providers and staff, this resulted in an annual savings of over $41,000 to the practice annually and over 580 work-hours.
Conclusions: Providing patients with personalized video recordings of their clinical visits has not resulted in increased legal risk to providers. In addition, the use of the recording by patients to answer their own questions without needing to call the office can result in significant savings to practice costs.
Patient Care: This research may help improve paitent care by helping practices and providers effectively utilize video technologies to assist patients without fearing legal ramifications. In addition, the economic benefits of video recording may allow monies to be spent in improving aspects of patient care if spent wisely.
Learning Objectives: By the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to identify the impacts of personalized video recording on the legal risk and socioeconomic welfare of providers and their medical practices.