Medical transcription outsourcing: What is important accuracy or turnaround time?

While outsourcing medical transcription what is more important accuracy or turnaround time?

To answer this question, it is vital to understand the healthcare process and the role of medical transcription in the healthcare process.

Healthcare is a service that comes with great responsibilities being one of the basic necessities of life - saving lives and improving quality of life. As healthcare is a service that depends on various inputs to ensure quality on a continued basis, healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals are constantly endeavoring to provide better services to their patients by improving facilities, adding new equipment and enhancing skill levels.  The process of healthcare is a continuous one depending on many inputs, one of them being information regarding patients.

Considering the dependence of healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals on the information available in patient records it is very important that patient records are created capturing maximum details. Having detailed records of the patient- healthcare professional encounter helps healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities in the following:

• Saving on time
• Providing background information
• Important details of the patient's past medical history
• Current medications, preventing wrong drug interaction
• Allergies
• In case of a healthcare emergency, the only source of information
• Providing continuity of care during shift changes
• Providing evidence in case of malpractice litigation
• Providing information for referrals to specialists
• Preventing wastage of resources by preserving a record of tests/ X rays etc
• Providing information for billing of services

Medical transcription is the process of creating patient records by converting the audio of the patient- healthcare professional encounter into text format. Medical transcription aids in the healthcare process by ensuring that the patient- healthcare professional encounter is captured in its entire entirety by a professional medical transcriptionist trained to be an expert in all the skills required. Outsourcing  medical transcription ensures that the process of creating patient records is a continuous and seamless process.

Considering the role played by outsourced medical transcription services in the healthcare process it is important for patient records to created with maximum accuracy and within a reasonable turnaround time.

What is meant by accuracy?

This means the percentage of accuracy of the completed transcripts vis-à-vis what was dictated. It is important for the information to be captured with maximum accuracy, as the information in the patient records is vital to the healthcare process.

How can the healthcare facility be ensured about outsourced medical transcription services with maximum accuracy?

While outsourcing medical transcription, one of the concerns of healthcare facilities is whether the outsourced medical transcription service provider can deliver accuracy levels as promised. To ensure that the service provider has the capability to deliver quality as promised it is important to evaluate the service provider on the following:

            a) Training methods used

            b) Transcription executed in-house and not through sub contractors

            c) Quality check levels

            d) Availing a free trial

What is turnaround time?

Turnaround time is the duration between uploading dictation to the server and when the final transcribed document is made available to the healthcare facility/ healthcare professional.

How can the healthcare facility be ensured of medical transcription services within reasonable turnaround time?

While outsourcing medical transcription it is important to determine whether the service provider can deliver accurate transcripts within the promised turnaround time, as timely and accurate information is vital to the provision of quality healthcare. There are certain indicators that need to be evaluated to ensure that the service provider can meet turnaround time commitments

            a) Availability of large pool of trained and qualified medical transcriptionists

            b) Use of the right technology

            c) In-house transcription

Evaluating a medical transcription service provider based on all the above criteria will ensure that quality patient records are created on time.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers outsourced medical transcription services using the right team, the right process and the right technology. 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!              

To avail accurate and timely medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.