Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Healthcare transcription: Picking the optimum service provider

Online transcription has become an integral element of the health management exercise, aiding in the process of record making. Essentially online transcription is an effective back end support for healthcare practices. Though healthcare transcription is an inseparable element of the health management undertaking, it is not part of the main business of the healthcare facility. The effortless answer to ensure formation of patient records in a reasonable, correct, fast and secure method is to contract out the complete exercise to an expert medical transcription company.

Picking the optimum medical transcription vendor is important, as it is an association that will have enduring effect on the running of the health facility.   Choosing an online transcription vendor is commercial decision that requires a process of qualification and evaluation to make certain that a working relationship is formed. To this end, a healthcare facility has to consider several factors while contracting out medical transcription

What are the aspects to be considered while contracting out online transcription?
The exercise of picking the right healthcare transcription vendor should realistically follow an undertaking comprising two phases.

First stage of the sub contracting resolution:

Reason of contracting out: This part of the exercise is possibly one of the most disregarded and crucial steps in the contracting out exercise. This stage needs the health facility to specifically define what it wishes to get from the sub contracting undertaking. Typically this could comprise:

Simplifying the medical transcription sequence: Sub contracting online transcription ensures that the exercise of changing dictation files into patient records happens as a matter of course

Decreasing the delivery time: Outsourcing healthcare transcription makes sure that the delivery time required by the physician is met with

Restricting expenses: Outsourcing healthcare transcription helps the health facility optimize on costs of online transcription as well as other allied expenditure

Improved focus on main business: Outsourcing healthcare transcription has the further gain of permitting the health facility to concentrate on the core business of delivering excellent health management cost-effectively

Having a leaner organizational structure: Sub contracting online transcription helps the organization structure leaner by making sure that along with the demand for medical transcriptionists, other personnel like managers, administrators and technology staff is curtailed

Accelerating the receivables management undertaking: Contracting out medical transcription makes sure that records are created on time, thus aiding to hasten the first stage of the coding and billing cycle

Results anticipated from the sub contracting undertaking: This step could concern characterizing the precise parameters to measure the outcome of outsourcing healthcare transcription:

  • Adequate accuracy levels: This is probably the most critical factor, as the data transcribed by the medical transcriptionist plays a crucial input in continued patient care
  • Delivery time for both regular reports and STAT records: Turnaround time is very critical as the details should not only be accurate but also timely
  • Total security of private patient details: Maintaining the HIPAA compliance of patient details at every step is obligatory for healthcare facilities. While sub contracting online transcription proper contemplation needs to be given to this factor. 
Factoring future needs: This basically means that the health facility has to comprise the medical transcription needs that may arise from the imminent expansion plans of the health facility, covering:

  • Adding new specialties: Adding on new specialties would need that the healthcare transcription company should be in a position to deliver medical transcription services for the new specialties without giving up the accuracy or delivery time
  • Opening of new branches: Development plans of the health facility would have an impact on the transcription capacity of the medical transcription company
  • Adoption of EMR: It is important to ascertain that the medical transcription service provider has capabilities to integrate data with EMR/EHR in the form of HL7 messages. 
Secondary phase of the sub contracting resolution:

Sourcing online transcription service providers: This has become simple bearing in mind that details are only a click away. However it is critical to look for more than the charge offered for services

Receive offers: This phase would involve looking through the proposals received to look for qualifying provisions like experience of the company, HIPAA/HITECH compliance, information technology utilized and the type of people available to execute the work
Assessing online transcription companies: This phase of the exercise would concern evaluating the healthcare transcription company on the basis of criteria like quality, turnaround time, charge and security.

Verifying the credentials. This constituent of the undertaking involves two steps:

  • Authenticating testimonials: This would entail following-up on the recommendations of customers who have utilized similar services
  • Availing free trial: Getting a free trial of services makes sure that the online transcription company is able to offer services as assured. 
Signing the agreement: This is the final stage in the contracting out exercise involving consisting of characterizing in black and white what the role of each party is in the contracting out exercise. 

Contracting out the medical transcription needs is fundamentally like picking an enduring partner and is required to be done with a great deal of care.

TransDyne offers excellent medical transcription at reasonable rates, performed by experienced and trained transcriptionists with a very prompt turnaround time performed through private HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels, with very high levels of quality and all this with information technology that is advanced but easy to employ!                 

To obtain complete online transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

No comments:

Post a Comment