Medical transcription and Voice Recognition

Is voice recognition the new solution for medical transcription needs? Voice recognition or speech recognition is one of the new developments in the medical transcription field. It has been touted as the solution for a health provider’s documentation needs.

How does it work? The doctor is offered a digital platform by the Voice recognition service provider where the doctor can dial in and dictate his patient notes at the end of the day. The software converts it to typed form, which is made available to the doctor to edit and correct as needed.

Seems simple enough. But is it as simple as that? Apparently not! Voice recognition needs to be evaluated on all the criteria used while finalizing a healthcare facility’s medical transcription service provider.

Time saved: When medical transcription needs are outsourced one of the main benefits is the time saving factor. Time is a precious commodity for Doctors and they would like to utilize it for providing quality care to their patients. But when voice recognition software is used the doctor has to spend more time on it in the following areas:

1. Training time: Voice recognition software requires the doctor to personally ‘train’ the software on the speech pattern, accent, standard terms and various nuances of his/her speech pattern so that the software can ‘learn’ it and adapt accordingly. This could involve a huge time commitment from the doctor using it, which he may ill afford to make.

2. Time for dictation: Voice recognition software requires the doctor to change his style of dictation to include punctuations, grammar, spellings, detailed terminology, paragraph and report start and ending etc., as opposed to the free flow form of dictations that the doctors are used to.

3. Time for editing: Unlike the traditional method of medical transcription where the records are subject to rigorous proof reading and quality checks, here the doctor needs to spend considerable time editing and correcting before signing off on the reports

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Accuracy: The accuracy levels of the finished reports is of utmost importance as it affects care of the patients at every level as well as forming the basis for all further documentation needs. The accuracy level from voice recognition software is found to be about 60%-65%. That means correcting and editing the documents have to make up for the remaining 35%-40% accuracy.

Cost: The cost factor for voice recognition software will vary according to the number of users and the size of the organization. It will also have to factor in additional costs required for editing the documents to an acceptable level. One may find that it is costing more per line than was quoted in the beginning.

Learning curve: When healthcare facilities look for solutions for producing their patients’ medical records they would like to have solutions that are expert and accurate from the very beginning. In the case of voice recognition software there is a definite learning curve that affects the quality of finished reports till the software ‘learns’ to follow a particular doctor’s speech patterns and even then the accuracy levels are only 60%-65%.

Flexibility: When new doctors are added to the practice the voice recognition software has to be trained further to accept the speech nuances of the new joiners. There is no flexibility offered by voice recognition software for this.

In conclusion we can safely say that voice recognition software will never be able to completely replace manual medical transcription. The important point to be considered here is that medical records are created of human beings, dictated by human beings and therefore needs another human being to transcribe it. Medical transcriptionists will have an important role to play at least as editors and proofreaders.

Medical transcription requires a certain amount of training, subjective judgment and understanding the context to be accurate and relevant, which will not be possible to achieve completely through software, no matter how expertly created.

For the transcription needs of a healthcare facility one should look for a medical transcription service provider that offers commitment on accuracy, turnaround time, reasonable pricing and data security.

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 avail outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Medical transcription outsourcing: Physical therapy

Physical therapy is a healthcare profession that provides treatment to individual to develop, maintain and restore maximum movement and function throughout life. This includes providing treatment in circumstances where movement and function are threatened by aging, injury, disease or environmental factors. Physical therapy is concerned with identifying and maximizing quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, treatment/intervention, habilitation and rehabilitation. This encompasses physical, psychological, emotional, and social well-being.

It involves the interaction between physical therapist (PT), patients/clients, other health professionals, families, caregivers, and communities in a process where movement potential is assessed and goals are agreed upon, using knowledge and skills unique to physical therapists

Physical therapists use an individual’s history and physical examination to arrive at a diagnosis and establish a management plan and when necessary incorporate the results of laboratory and imaging studies.

Physical therapy medical transcription involves the transcription of audio records dictated by physical therapists’ and other related healthcare professionals’ encounter with patients. To be able to provide medical transcription services of optimum accuracy and turnaround time, the medical transcriptionists working on the audio files need to be familiar with the procedures, terminology and drugs used in Physical therapy.

Acknowledging that medicine is a vast field having numerous specialties, and the transcription of each specialty requires a familiarity with the language associated with this specialty, TransDyne has decided to create specialty medical transcriptionists. This means that medical transcriptionists are trained in the transcription of one or two specialties enabling them to serve the transcription needs of the specialists better.

How does specialty training in Physical therapy medical transcription affect accuracy levels?

Specialty training in Physical therapy medical transcription helps the medical transcriptionists produce quality work from the very beginning. The medical transcriptionists are familiar with the terminology, tests, procedures and drugs related to Physical therapy. Due to the specialty training in Physical therapy medical transcription the medical transcriptionists are able to achieve accuracy of above 99% maintaining the integrity of information captured.

How does specialty training in Physical therapy medical transcription affect turnaround time?

Specialty training in Physical therapy medical transcription enables the medical transcriptionists to produce high quality transcripts within the turnaround time guaranteed. Due to the familiarity with the language of Physical therapy, the medical transcriptionist need not spend much time researching difficult terms in the Internet. Due to the higher levels of accuracy the number of quality checks required are less thus reducing turnaround time.

How does specialty training in Physical therapy medical transcription affect pricing?

Specialty training in Physical therapy medical transcription increases the productivity of the medical transcriptionists and decreases the time required for frequent quality checks thus bringing down the cost per line of transcription. The healthcare facility benefits from the economies of scale.

Physical therapy medical transcription from TransDyne not only has the benefits of accuracy above 99%, turnaround time of 24 hours and reasonable prices, it has other benefits like:

• Security: One of the main concerns that healthcare facilities have is regarding the security of data. During the medical transcription process, data is transmitted back & forth; the protection of data during this process is vital. TransDyne ensures security of data by taking on a three pronged approach, which involves security measures with regard to technology, people and processes. This ensures the confidentiality of data is protected at all stages.

  • Flexible modes of dictation: Realizing that time is a precious commodity for healthcare professionals, TransDyne has made it possible for them to retain familiar modes of dictation enabling to manage their time for maximum productivity.

    • Benefits of advanced technology: TransDyne offers healthcare facilities the benefit of advanced technological features like automatic uploads of dictation; automatic downloads of finished transcripts, remote printing & faxing, power archiving facilities and HL7 integration etc at no extra costs.

      To avail superb Physical therapy medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription for Specialties: Plastic surgery

Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. While famous for aesthetic surgery, plastic surgery also included many types of reconstructive surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery and the treatment of burns. Healthcare professionals specializing in plastic surgery are known as plastic surgeons.

Plastic surgery medical transcription involves the transcription of audio records dictated by plastic surgeons’ and other related healthcare professionals’ encounter with patients. To be able to provide medical transcription services of optimum accuracy and turnaround time, the medical transcriptionists working on the audio files need to be familiar with the procedures, terminology and drugs used in Plastic surgery.

Acknowledging that medicine is a vast field having numerous specialties, and the transcription of each specialty requires a familiarity with the language associated with this specialty, TransDyne has decided to create specialty medical transcriptionists. This means that medical transcriptionists are trained in the transcription of one or two specialties enabling them to serve the transcription needs of the specialists better.

How does specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription affect accuracy levels?

Specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription helps the medical transcriptionists produce quality work from the very beginning. The medical transcriptionists are familiar with the terminology, tests, procedures and drugs related to Plastic surgery. Due to the specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription the medical transcriptionists are able to achieve accuracy of above 99% maintaining the integrity of information captured.

How does specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription affect turnaround time?

Specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription enables the medical transcriptionists to produce high quality transcripts within the turnaround time guaranteed. Due to the familiarity with the language of Plastic surgery, the medical transcriptionist need not spend much time researching difficult terms in the Internet. Due to the higher levels of accuracy the number of quality checks required are less thus reducing turnaround time.

How does specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription affect pricing?

Specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription increases the productivity of the medical transcriptionists and decreases the time required for frequent quality checks thus bringing down the cost per line of transcription. The healthcare facility benefits from the economies of scale.

Plastic surgery medical transcription from TransDyne not only has the benefits of accuracy above 99%, turnaround time of 24 hours and reasonable prices, it has other benefits like:

• Security: One of the main concerns that healthcare facilities have is regarding the security of data. During the medical transcription process, data is transmitted back & forth; the protection of data during this process is vital. TransDyne ensures security of data by taking on a three pronged approach, which involves security measures with regard to technology, people and processes. This ensures the confidentiality of data is protected at all stages.

• Flexible modes of dictation: Realizing that time is a precious commodity for healthcare professionals, TransDyne has made it possible for them to retain familiar modes of dictation enabling to manage their time for maximum productivity.

• Benefits of advanced technology: TransDyne offers healthcare facilities the benefit of advanced technological features like automatic uploads of dictation; automatic downloads of finished transcripts, remote printing & faxing, power archiving facilities and HL7 integration etc at no extra costs.

To avail superb Plastic surgery medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Quality Medical transcription: Foundation for revenue cycle and first line of risk management

Medical transcription plays an important part in the healthcare process, creating records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter by converting audio files of the healthcare professional into a text format. Though this is the main service provided by medical transcription, there are a large number of benefits to be derived from quality medical transcription.

By creating accurate, timely and secure records, medical transcription additionally helps healthcare facilities in two main areas:

• Speeding up the revenue cycle: The revenue cycle of a healthcare facility typically follows the following stages:

• Patient visit/Emergency visit
• Collection of patient demographic data
• Treatment /test/procedures/referrals
• Dictation of the patient visit by the healthcare professional
• Medical transcription
• Coding and billing
• Claims processing
• Reimbursement of claimable amount.

It is evident that timely and accurate medical transcription can help speed up the revenue cycle, as it form the base of information about the patient’s visit and all other relevant details. This information is then used to start the process of reimbursement.

• Risk management:. Risk management is the process of assuring that covered persons receive all of the health care services they need, to which they are entitled under the contract, no more and no less at the most cost effective level possible by reducing or eliminating untoward incidents that might lead to injury or illness of patients. In an increasingly litigious environment it is important that healthcare facilities are adequately covered against risk of litigation by keeping accurate records of the whole treatment procedure covering all the details. Medical transcription aids in the process of risk management by capturing every nuance of the treatment process as narrated by the healthcare professional, in an accurate and timely manner.  Another potential litigation risk that healthcare facilities face is due to the leakage of confidential patient information, namely a HIPAA violation, during the process of medical transcription. The data becomes vulnerable to exposure during the process of medical transcription by being transmitted back and forth. A service provider providing quality medical transcription would ensure adequate measures are taken to protect the data, pertaining to technology, processes, people and infrastructure.

As medical transcription plays such an important role in different aspects of the healthcare process, it is important to stringently evaluate the medical transcription service provider on various aspects.

What are the criteria for evaluating a medical transcription service provider?

• Quality/accuracy: As the information captured in the medical record plays such an important role in various aspects of the healthcare facility operations, it is important to evaluate the medical transcription service provider on the basis of the accuracy levels guaranteed. Apart from the accuracy level guaranteed by the service provider, it is important to evaluate the service provider’s ability to meet quality standards. This can be ascertained by evaluating:

1. The number of quality checks used to achieve accuracy
2. The training methods used
3. The quality guidelines adopted by the service provider
4. Ascertaining whether the service provider executes all the transcription work in-house or by using subcontractors.

• Turnaround time: Timely delivery of finished reports is an important aspect of ensuring that the reimbursement process takes place on time. It is important to evaluate whether a service provider will be able to meet turnaround time guarantees. This can be ascertained by evaluating:

1. Availability of skilled medical transcriptionists
2. Skill level of the medical transcriptionists
3. The technology used for transcription

• HIPAA compliance: As maintaining the security of confidential patient data is of absolute importance, it is important to evaluate the service provider on the basis of HIPAA compliance. The service provider needs to be evaluated on the following:

1. Steps taken to protect technology
2. Steps taken to protect processes and people
3. Steps taken to secure Infrastructure

• Cost of transcription: The reduced cost of transcription is perhaps one of the most important benefits of outsourcing medical transcription. It is important that the price quoted by the medical transcription service provider be evaluated to ascertain that it is fair and reasonable to the services rendered. This can be evaluated based on the billing methodology used by the service provider.

• Track record: Ascertaining the track record of the service provider in providing similar services is an important aspect of evaluating the capability of the medical transcription service provider. This can be evaluated by verifying the testimonials of satisfied customers.

• Technology: Technology used by the medical transcription service provider plays an important part in three vital areas, namely:

1. Turnaround time
2. HIPAA compliance
3. Ease of use

Evaluating a medical transcription service provider based on all these aspects would ensure efficient, effective, secure and economical medical transcription services.

TransDyne offers 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 benefit from immaculate medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here

Medical transcription: Outsource the right way!

Medical transcription is an important contributor to the smooth running of a healthcare facility. It is important for medical transcription to be accurate, timely, reasonably priced and transmitted through secure channels. Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider can make this possible.

However while outsourcing such a vital function as medical transcription, care needs to be taken to prepare the groundwork for outsourcing:

• Preparing the groundwork for outsourcing: Outsourcing a vital part of the healthcare process to a service provider is essentially like taking on a long-term business partner. Thereby it is important that the decision to outsource is based on inputs from every department affected by the decision.

What are the factors to be considered before outsourcing medical transcription?

• Consulting staff: The services of the medical transcription service provider are going to be used by not only healthcare professionals, but also support staff, billing department and Information technology department. It is important to get inputs from all the people who are directly or indirectly affected by medical transcription so that the right service provider is selected

• Drawing up objective criteria for evaluation: It is important to have a clear objective for the outsourcing plan; this enables the healthcare facility to evaluate the medical transcription service provider thoroughly. The criteria for outsourcing could be varied, it could be cutting costs, streamlining transcription flow, reducing turnaround time or improving quality. Sometimes it could be a combination of one or more of the objectives.

• Follow up references: instead of taking the promises/claims made by the service provider it is important to check the references provided by the medical transcription service provider to ensure that they can deliver the promises made by them.

• Analyze quoted price thoroughly: The billing methods used in medical transcription are varied and are subject to manipulation. The price quoted by the medical transcription service provider cannot be taken at face value, it is important to know the components of cost to be able to compare the prices quoted by different providers in an equitable manner.

• Focus on factors beyond price: Medical transcription plays a long-term role by documenting the patient data. This information could be called upon in the future for various purposes, including litigation. It is important to weigh factors like the capability of the medical transcription service provider in providing similar services, quality of reports, the skill set of medical transcriptionists, adoption to EMR and archiving capabilities in addition to the cost factor.

• Consider future requirements: It is important to choose a service provider who has the capability to grow along with the future requirements of the healthcare facility. Factors like increasing volumes, adding on new specialties will affect the level of service required. The service provider needs to be evaluated on the basis of their ability to service future requirements

• Consider technological compatibility: Technology has changed the way medical transcription works. Information Technology (IT) has made the process simpler, quicker and more secure. It is important to evaluate the service provider on the basis of technological capabilities and whether further investment is required on the healthcare facility’s behalf before availing the services

• Avail free trial: It is important to test the services of the medical transcription service provider by availing a free trial before actually signing the agreement.

• Contract evaluation: The contract is the document that specifies the service level expected. It is important to study the contract carefully for clauses that are binding and consider their impact before signing. Points like use of subcontractors, provisions for HIPAA compliance need to be included in the contract document.

TransDyne is a leading provider of outsourced medical transcription services that has anticipated the needs of healthcare facilities and designed their services accordingly. TransDyne offers 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 benefit from outsourced medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: A blend of technology and human expertise

Medical transcription is a service that has become an essential component of healthcare services. Outsourcing medical transcription enables the process of healthcare to become quicker and efficient by creating records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter in an accurate and timely fashion. Additionally it also curbs costs by making the process economical and secure. Efficient medical transcription can also accelerate the reimbursement process.

It is obvious that medical transcription is more than just the process of record creation.

What exactly are the components of efficient and effective medical transcription?

To be effective and efficient, medical transcription has to have the right blend of technology and human expertise.

What role does technology play in the process of medical transcription?

• Turnaround time: Turnaround time indicates the time between uploading the dictation and when the final transcript is made available to the healthcare facility. Technology plays an important role in meeting the turnaround time requirements. Use of technology enables the audio file to be delivered automatically to the medical transcriptionist for transcription by checking for files at regular intervals and uploading them. The finished transcripts are also delivered quickly and efficiently through a web based system
• Security: Security of confidential patient data is one of the biggest concerns of healthcare facilities outsourcing medical transcription. Technology ensures that the data is protected during transmission using safety features like data encryption, security safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers, firewalls etc making the data secure
• Lowering costs: Using the right technology enables the process of medical transcription to be quicker and safer. This increases the productivity, thus reducing costs. By making the process secure technology also ensures that the healthcare facility is protected from litigation due to breach of security.
• Ease of use: Use of the right technology enables the healthcare professionals to optimize their time, by providing multiple features that have time saving benefits.

  What role does human expertise play in the process of medical transcription?

  
  

  • Accuracy: The quality/ accuracy of the transcribed document refers to the percentage of accuracy in the transcribed document viz. a viz. the audio files. The percentage of accuracy in the transcripts is largely dependent on the skill level of the medical transcriptionists. The recruitment and training process of the medical transcription service provider determines the skill level of the medical transcriptionists.
  • Turnaround time: The turnaround time of the finished transcripts depends on both the technology used as well the skill level of medical transcriptionists. The familiarity of the medical transcriptionist with both the system used for transcription as well as the specific terminologies used by the healthcare professional enables the medical transcriptionist to produce quality transcripts on time
  • Lowering costs: Skilled medical transcriptionists can lower the cost of medical transcription by producing quality transcripts on time. This increases the productivity and reduces the number of quality checks required, thus lowering costs

    In conclusion it can be said that for medical transcription to efficient, effective and economical it requires the right blend of technology and human expertise.

    
    

    TransDyne, a leading provider of outsourced medical transcription services uses the right blend of technology and human expertise to provide medical transcription solutions. The main benefits of medical transcription by TransDyne are:

    
    

    • Accuracy of above 99%
    • Turnaround time of 24 hours, with an option of 4-12 hours turnaround time for STAT files
    • HIPAA compliant medical transcription using the right technology, processes and people
    • Fair and reasonable prices
    • Technology with maximum utility with easy to use features

    
    

    To avail outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, please click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: The benefits of doing it the right way!

Medical transcription is the process of converting the audio records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that patient records are available on time, the cost per line of medical transcription is reduced and the receivables cycle is accelerated.

Apart from the above-mentioned benefits, outsourcing medical transcription has far reaching benefits that permeate every level of a healthcare facility.

What are the benefits of outsourcing medical transcription to a professional service provider?

To understand the benefits of outsourcing medical transcription, it is important to see how medical transcription outsourcing benefits different departments.

Management team: By outsourcing medical transcription the management of a healthcare facility can benefit from the following:

• Savings on investment to be made for computers, furniture and other equipment for the medical transcription process
• Savings on investing and upgrading technology required for medical transcription
• Time saved on reconciling the billed amounts with the services rendered due to the transparent billing method used by the medical transcription service provider
• Reduced cost per line of transcription leading to savings

Administrative team: Outsourcing medical transcription can benefit the administrative staff of a healthcare facility in the following:

• No hassle of recruiting, training and retaining medical transcriptionists
• No hassles of turnaround time or accuracy in the finished documents
• The onus of taking precautions for HIPAA during the process of transcription is passed on to the medical transcription service provider

Healthcare professionals: The doctors or other healthcare professionals who are actually dictating the audio files benefit from outsourced medical transcription services in the following manner:

• Healthcare professionals are allowed to retain their familiar modes of dictation, which gives them the flexibility of managing their time in the best way possible
• Outsourced medical transcription provides additional support to healthcare professionals in the form of powerful archiving facilities, which makes it easier for healthcare professionals to trace files in an easy and hassle-free manner helping them make informed decisions

Support staff team: Outsourced medical transcription provides additional benefits to the support staff like:

• Remote printing and faxing
• Facility to correct/edit reports online
• Searching and locating reports when required by the healthcare professionals

Information technology team: Outsourced medical transcription services benefit the Information technology staff by freeing their time from medical transcription related information technology requirements by taking care of the following requirements:

• Interfacing with the EMR/EHR
• Redundancy and backup requirements
• By installing and upgrading software/hardware required for medical transcription.

Outsourcing medical transcription needs to a professional service provider like TransDyne offers healthcare facilities complete solutions for all their medical transcription needs. TransDyne offers 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 benefit from outsourced medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here.