In today’s situation healthcare facilities have to maintain a delicate balance between providing quality healthcare and still maintaining profits. The demands made on the limited resources available to a healthcare facility are numerous. In such a situation it is important for healthcare facilities to have maximum flexibility so that they can adapt themselves quickly to the changing demands placed on them. Outsourcing medical transcription can help healthcare facilities remain flexible!
How does outsourcing medical transcription help the healthcare facilities remain flexible?
Though medical transcription is an important contributor to the healthcare process it is not part of the core competencies of the healthcare facilities. The key to maintaining flexibility is to concentrate on the core competencies and outsource all the other activities.
Outsourcing medical transcription helps the healthcare facility remain flexible by the following means:
By offering a price structure based on fee for services rendered: Outsourced medical transcription service providers normally quote prices that are based on the services used by the healthcare facilities, that is based on variables like number of lines, number of reports, number of pages etc., instead of a flat rate. This ensures that healthcare facilities incur expenses limited to the usage of services.
By helping transform fixed costs to variable costs: By outsourcing medical transcription the healthcare facility can convert the fixed cost incurred for in-house transcription to variable costs. Fixed costs like real estate, salaries etc can be avoided.
Enabling increased flexibility in resource management: Outsourcing medical transcription frees up several valuable resources. The healthcare facility is then in a position to utilize these resources for other purposes.
Helping reduce response time to outside changes: In a changing atmosphere it is important for healthcare facilities to be able to respond to changes in a speedy manner. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that valuable resources are free for the healthcare facilities to use while responding to outside changes.
Increase focus on core activities: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the healthcare facilities can focus on their core activity of providing quality care rather than on other associated activities like medical transcription.
Freeing up key employees: Outsourcing medical transcription not only benefits the healthcare professionals but also key employees of the healthcare facility like the support staff, the management staff and the information technology staff to focus on the core business of the healthcare facility.
Increasing speed: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the patient medical records are available to the healthcare professionals and support staff on time. This ensures that the speed of service is also more efficient.
By helping avoid bottlenecks to quicker reimbursements: Outsourcing medical transcription not only reduces direct and indirect costs but also removes bottlenecks that hinder the cash flow. Medical transcription is the first step in the receivables cycle; timely medical transcription ensures that the process of reimbursement can start on time.
However the process of outsourcing medical transcription needs to be approached with caution. Apart from evaluating the medical transcription service provider on the basis of criteria like accuracy, turnaround time and technology used, healthcare facilities need to evaluate the medical transcription service provider on the following additional points:
- Billing methodology
- Ability to deliver quality by checking on training methods and levels of quality checks used.
- HIPAA/HITECH compliance
- Experience of the medical transcription service provider by checking on references
- Actual capability of the medical transcription service provider by availing a free trial
- Availability of open channels of communication.
Once the medical transcription service provider has been evaluated on all these criteria the healthcare facility can enjoy immaculate services, which lets them enjoy the benefit of being flexible in an ever-changing competitive environment.
TransDyne a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers complete medical transcription solutions. 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!