Medical Transcription services

What is transcription and how does it relate to the field of medicine?

Transcription is conversion of audio files to typed records in a paper form or in the form of computer files as per specified formats. Medical transcription is the conversion of audio files of a patient encounter as dictated by a healthcare professional into a typed version, which is then stored in the form of paper records or as a computer file.

Why is medical transcription needed?

Records of patient encounter need to be created and maintained for various reasons such as Patient treatment, Permanent Patient records, Referrals to other doctors, Evidence in case of malpractice suits, Coding, billing and insurance claims and Satisfaction of regulatory norms. Medical transcription plays a vital role in creating accurate records of patient encounters with the doctors.

How is medical transcription done?

After the patient encounter, the healthcare professional dictates notes regarding the encounter into a recording device of his choice, which is then transcribed by a person skilled in this kind of work having knowledge of medicine, latest drugs, procedures and good language skills.

When is medical transcription done?

Once the doctor has finished dictating notes these are then transmitted to the medical transcriptionist using various means, the actual transcription is finished within a period of 24 hours at the latest. Priority is given to STAT files and these are returned earlier.

Who does the medical transcription?

Medical transcription is done by in-house medical transcriptionists or through outsourcing to a medical transcription service provider who specializes in this kind of work.

It has been argued that doctors could themselves create records as and when they finish with the patient encounter. But this has been proven to curb the productivity of doctors in terms of time spent typing (which is not necessarily their core skill) and reducing the time spent on care of patients.

Why outsource medical transcription?

Outsourcing medical transcription can benefit a healthcare facility in various ways. If helps them to focus on healthcare which is their core business rather than medical transcription which is not. It also improves profitability by freeing up valuable resources like manpower, capital and time etc which would otherwise be focused on medical transcription.

Having understood the importance of medical transcription and the benefits of outsourcing, one needs to choose a medical transcription service provider that excels on the following criteria:

• Accuracy: This means the percentage of accuracy of the completed transcripts vis-à-vis what was dictated. A minimum of 99% and above would be acceptable.

• Turnaround time: Turnaround time refers to the time taken to revert the transcribed report to the healthcare facility. A turnaround time of not more than 24 hours for normal reports and 4-12 hours for STAT reports would be considered ideal.

• Data security: The service provider being outsourced to should be HIPAA and HITECH compliant. The medical transcription service provider has to have adequate security measures to ensure that the confidential data transmitted back and forth is safe and secure.

• Pricing: This is one of the main benefits that a healthcare facility hopes to have, from the outsourcing option. Pricing should be fair and reasonable for the services rendered. Pricing method should also be transparent and simple so that both parties can verify the same at any stage of the process

• Technology: The technology used by the medical transcription service provider should not only secure but should also be easy to use, without having to require extensive training.

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert medical transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

To know more about TransDyne’s superior medical transcription services, please click here.