Medical transcription outsourcing: Dos and Don’ts

Medical transcription plays a vital part in the healthcare process, by documenting the patient-healthcare professional encounter.  The medical records play an important role in the following areas:

1. Patient treatment
2. Permanent Patient records
3. Referrals to other doctors
4. Evidence in case of malpractice suits
5. Coding, billing and insurance claims
6. Satisfaction of regulatory norms

As medical transcription is not part of the core activities of the healthcare facility, an easy and cost effective fix is to outsource the medical transcription requirements to a professional medical transcription service provider. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the patient records are created in an easy, accurate, timely, secure and cost effective manner.

However while outsourcing medical transcription, care needs to be taken to ensure that the right service provider is chosen so as to reap long-term benefits.

What are the guidelines for outsourcing medical transcription?

The Dos:

·  Check for experience of the service provider: While outsourcing medical transcription it is important to check the credentials of the service provider. To ensure that the service provider is capable of providing services as promised the following questions need to be asked:

a)    How long has the service provider been in the business providing outsourced medical transcription services?

b)    Who are their customers?

c)     What is the range of medical transcription services?

d)    Can they provide testimonials?

e)    Do they offer a free trial of their services?

·       Check for quality measures: It is important to ascertain that the medical transcription service provider has measures in place to provide accurate medical transcription as promised. To ascertain that the service provider can deliver quality/accuracy as promised the following questions need to be asked:

a)    What are the quality check levels? Does more than one person listen to the audio before transmitting the transcript back to the healthcare professional?

b)    What is the training method used by the service provider?

c)     Does the service provider use subcontractors to execute the work?

·       Check the billing methodology: Pricing in medical transcription is a complex issue with numerous variables. Comparing quotes can be very difficult as the components of what consists cost may vary vastly. This also leaves a huge scope for manipulation in the billing. To ensure that the price quoted is reasonable, one needs to check the billing methodology used by the medical transcription service provider. The billing method needs to be verifiable, definable, measurable, consistent, fair and honest

·       Check the transcription flow: Checking the flow from the dictation stage to when the final transcript is made available to the healthcare professional ensures the use of the right technology. The right technology in turn ensures that turnaround time commitments will be met with, and the time of the support staff and healthcare professionals is not wasted tracking dictation files and finished transcripts through a complex system.

·       Check the HIPAA compliance measures:  While outsourcing medical transcription one of the main concerns is that of maintaining the security of confidential patient information. To evaluate whether a service provider has adequate measures in place to be HIPAA complaint, one needs to check for adequate measures for:

a)    Technology: To ensure security during transmission

b)    Processes: To ensure security during transcription

c)     People and infrastructure: To ensure security during every stage

·       Check for customer service channels: It is important that the healthcare facility have channels of open communication at their disposal for contacting the service provider. This ensures that any issues are sorted out at the earliest to ensure smooth transition

·       Check the website: Website of the service provider can be a valuable source of information. It is important to go through the website of the service provider to get maximum information

The Don’ts

·       Look at price only: Though reduced cost is one of the foremost benefits of outsourcing medical transcription, it is important to analyze the cost components thoroughly and to look at the capabilities of the service provider before making finalizing the service provider

·       Ignore the contract:  Though the service provider meets all the criteria for successful outsourcing it is important to look at the contract agreement in depth before signing on for the services

·       Opt for complicated technology: It is very easy to be taken in by the “bells and whistles” in the technology used by the service provider, without actually considering the utility. As time is a limited commodity for healthcare professionals it is important that the technology used by the service provider serves all the needs and at the same time is easy

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 complete and reliable medical transcription services from 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 be 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 know more about medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription: Excellence through proactive solutions

Medical transcription plays a vital role in the healthcare process both operationally as well as commercially. Medical transcription converts the audio records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into a text format, this ensures that the health information regarding a patient is available to the healthcare professional in a timely manner instead of having to rely on resources like hand written notes or memory.

Commercially, medical transcription is the first step in the accounts receivables cycle. Having the medical records transcribed in an accurate and timely manner helps speed up the receivables cycle.

Through the various stages of evolution of the process of creating records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter, medical transcription has played a vital role in anticipating the needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities, and created proactive solutions. Whether it is the limited time available to the healthcare professionals or the need of a healthcare facility to easily retrieve health records of a patient through a powerful archival system, medical transcription service providers have always anticipated the needs of healthcare facilities and come up with solutions to meet these needs.

How does outsourced medical transcription provide proactive solutions to the documentation needs of a healthcare facility?

By saving time: Outsourced medical transcription services save time of healthcare facilities at various levels.

1.     Saving time of healthcare professionals: Time is perhaps one of the scarcest commodities available to healthcare professionals. Outsourced medical transcription services help healthcare professionals to optimize their time by allowing them to use flexible modes of dictation. High accuracy of documents in the transcribed documents ensure that healthcare professionals do not have to spend time going through records and correcting them. Moreover by providing healthcare professionals with powerful archival systems less time is spent on tracing files of patients.

2.     Saving time of healthcare facilities administrative staff: The administration of a healthcare facility would have conflicting demands on their time.  By outsourcing medical transcription, a healthcare facility administration can save on time that would otherwise have been spent organizing medical transcription. Time spent on activities such as recruiting medical transcription staff, collecting dictation and distributing finished transcripts etc. would be saved.

By saving resources: Outsourced medical transcription brings about saving of resources like space, overheads, utilities, working capital, management resources, Information technology, transcription equipment etc.

By cutting costs: One of the most valuable contributions of outsourced medical transcription is the saving of costs. Not only does outsourcing medical transcription bring down the cost per line of transcription, but it also brings down associated costs like extra payment for weekend & holiday transcription, wastage due to idle transcription capacity during slack times etc.

While outsourcing the medical transcription needs of a healthcare facility care should be taken to evaluate the medical transcription service provider not only on the basis of criteria like accuracy, turnaround time, pricing, security and technology used, but also on the capacity of the medical transcription service provider to anticipate the needs of a healthcare facility and be proactive in finding solutions.

TransDyne is the new standard in medical transcription, providing solutions for the needs of healthcare facilities. TransDyne has the capacity to provide solutions for any type of healthcare facility, ranging from single doctor practices to huge hospitals with various specialties. TransDyne uses the right technology; the right processes and has the right team to cope up with the varied needs of healthcare facilities.

TransDyne offers Medical Transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert Medical Transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA 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: Anticipating the needs of healthcare facilities

Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider has many advantages. The more obvious ones being accurate, timely, economical and secure creation of records. Apart from the obvious, outsourcing medical transcription has many strategic advantages, one of them being the service provider tailoring their services according to what the healthcare facility may require.

It is a well-known fact that the healthcare field is constantly evolving, new things are being discovered on a daily basis, both in terms of new ailments as well as new remedies in the form of medication, procedures, therapies and surgery methods. It is important that the person/s documenting the patient records be well versed with the latest developments. Moreover the norms for documentation as well technological changes in the medical transcription field also keep evolving. All these need to be incorporated without incurring additional costs.

How does outsourcing medical transcription help healthcare facilities cope up with the changing environment?

Outsourcing medical transcription can help healthcare facilities cope up with the changing environment by anticipating their needs and tailoring their services accordingly.

Solutions are provided for changing needs of the healthcare facilities by the following methods: 

·       Training methods: Training methods adopted by the medical transcription service provider have impact on the following areas.

a)    Coping with varying volumes:  By constantly recruiting and maintaining a large team of medical transcriptionists, the medical transcription service provider would be able to maintain accuracy levels and meet turnaround time commitments even with huge influx of patients.

b)    Dealing with specialties: A medical transcription service provider that creates specialist medical transcriptionists by training them in one or two specialties enables them to cope varying needs of the healthcare facilities, when new specialties are added. Moreover updating the medical transcriptionists on the latest developments in the particular specialty becomes more efficient. The medical transcriptionists are well versed with the terminology used and with the formats required enabling them to meet the highest standards of accuracy within optimum turnaround time.

·       Adopting technology: Technology adopted by the medical transcription service provider has impact on the following areas:

a)    Flexible uploads and downloads: Medical transcription uses technology for dictation, uploading of audio files and downloading of finished transcripts. The technology used by the medical transcription service provider needs to be advanced to cope with all these needs and at the time need to be easy to use. 

b)    Powerful archiving: Healthcare facilities have a huge number of healthcare professionals dictating sizable volumes of dictation on a daily basis. The healthcare facility would also be receiving huge volume of transcribed files on a daily basis. Tracing these files, dictated as well as transcribed at any given point of time can be very difficult. Anticipating this the service provider needs to use a system which has powerful archival features to enable all these functions.

c)     Security:  Security of data during transmission is on of the main concerns of healthcare facilities. Technology used by the service provider needs to provide for the security of data at all levels.

d)    Integration with EMR: Adoption of EMR needs that the service provider has HL7 interface to enable transmission of data into the EMR system without additional investment.

TransDyne is a professional medical transcription service provider that has always anticipated the needs of healthcare facilities and also incorporated the latest developments in the field of healthcare, while offering outsourced medical transcription solutions to healthcare facilities.

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 avail outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.