Medical transcription services: Why is it needed?

The process of healthcare is the culmination of several inputs including the education, experience and expertise of healthcare professionals, the right equipments, the right drugs, the right procedures and therapies. The common thread that binds all these together to form the basis of successful patient care is information. Imagine a situation where the healthcare professional does not have access to the right information! That is why it is acknowledged that creation of patient records is important.

Medical transcription provides the important link to the healthcare process chain by documenting the patient-healthcare professional encounter. Medical transcription is the process of converting the audio records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. The process of medical transcription can be made more efficient and cost-effective by outsourcing the medical transcription process to a professional service provider.

Medical transcription plays an important role in the process of healthcare by creating patient records that serve the following purposes:

• Consistency in treatment: Patient records provide consistency in treatment by capturing all the details exhaustively

• Basis for subsequent visits: Patient records work as a point of reference for subsequent visits of the patient, and help curb duplication of efforts of the support staff

• Ensures patient safety: Patient records ensure patient safety by providing details on:

a)     Allergies

b)     Dosage

c)      Test results

• Billing purposes: The information captured in the patient records form the basis for coding and billing

• Medico-legal purposes: the information captured in the patient record also serves as evidence in case of litigation

It can be seen that creation of patient records is very important to the process of healthcare. Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider ensures that the creation of patient records takes place in a timely, accurate, secure and cost effective manner.

The capabilities of the medical transcription service provider needs to be evaluated 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. Care should be taken to pick a medical transcription service provider who has quality check methods in place to ensure accuracy

• Turnaround time: Turnaround time refers to the time taken to revert the transcribed report to the healthcare facility. A turnaround time guarantee of not more than 24 hours for normal reports and 4-12 hours for STAT reports given by the medical transcription service provider 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: Reduced costs are 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 used by the medical transcription service provider 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 company should not only be secure but should also be easy to use, without having to require extensive training.

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, executed by experienced and qualified 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!          

For more details about the advantages of outsourced medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here