Medical transcription outsourcing: Helping solve healthcare documentation challenges

It is a known fact that the healthcare documentation process is guided not only by the needs of healthcare professionals and insurance providers, but also influenced by statutory norms. In the face of the changing requirements for healthcare documentation, healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities are faced with the challenge to meet the new statutory requirements without making significant changes in the way they work, as well as controlling costs.

Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records converting the audio records of the patient- healthcare professional encounter into text format. Medical transcription services aid the healthcare process by ensuring accurate and prompt creation of medical records. However the main challenges faced by healthcare facilities as regards to medical transcription are:

• Limited transcription resources
• Controlling costs
• Dilution of focus on the core business

Taking these challenges and the face of the changing healthcare documentation scenario, outsourcing medical transcription has been found to be the best solution for healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals to face these challenges

How does outsourcing medical transcription help healthcare facilities face the challenges of the changing documentation scenario?

Simply put outsourcing medical transcription provides healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals access to unlimited resources in the form of:

• Trained medical transcriptionists: Access to a sizable pool of skilled and trained personnel helps healthcare facilities face the challenges of the changing documentation scenario by enabling the following:

1.      Allowing the healthcare professionals to retain their preferred method of creating patient transcripts; dictation to transcription. This enables the healthcare professional to retain the narrative, ensure maximum accuracy while still enabling EMR adoption using HL7 interface

2.      Medical transcriptionists trained to be experts in different specialties of medicine can also act as editors and proofreaders for back end speech recognition software based transcripts

3.      Having detailed records of the patient- healthcare professional encounter is an essential element of risk management

• Software and tools: The process of medical transcription is made secure and speedy using the right technology. Technology provides healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities with several benefits like:

1.      Providing a secure and efficient system for transcription

2.      Allowing healthcare professionals to retain familiar modes of dictation

3.      HL7 interface

4.      Archives

5.      Flexible modes of document delivery

• The experience and expertise of the medical transcription service provider: As the healthcare documentation scenario keeps evolving the experience and expertise of the medical transcription service provider in providing flexible and feasible solutions can provide much needed assistance to healthcare facilities meet documentation requirements.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has utilized their extensive background in information technology and their experience in providing medical transcription services to come up with medical transcription solutions that support the smooth running of   healthcare facilities. 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 outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Helping attain the meaningful use objectives

Healthcare sector deals with services that strive to improve the quality of life by providing treatment for and prevention of illnesses. The quality of healthcare services provided by a nation is vital to the present and future growth of the nation. Keeping this is mind; ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) or Economic Stimulus bill was introduced in February 2009, aimed at spurring economic growth across multiple industries through Government spending. Out of this $ 19 billion was aimed at the healthcare Industry by way of incentives for meaningful adoption and implementation of EHR (Electronic Health Record) also known as EMR (Electronic Medical Record).

On July 13^th 2010 the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced the meaningful use criteria for adoption of nationwide Electronic Health Records. The purpose for introducing a nationwide electronic health system is to help make the healthcare system:

·        Improve quality

·        Improve efficiency

·        Enhance safety

·        Curb costs

Medical transcription and the meaningful use criteria

The process of documenting the patient- healthcare professionals encounter has evolved from handwritten notes being typed to sophisticated medical transcription services enabling:

• Capture of the dictation using sophisticated and easy to use devices
• Transcription using specially trained and skilled medical transcriptionists
• Delivery of transcripts to healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities via the modes specified by them.

Another development aiding the medical transcription process become even more efficient and economical is the concept of specialist services provided by outsourced medical transcription service providers. Partnering with outsourced medical transcription service providers can help in achieving the objectives of a nationwide electronic health record system, that is of providing quality care in an efficient, safe and cost effective manner

How can outsourced medical transcription service providers help in achieving the electronic health record objective?

Outsourced medical transcription service providers provide customized medical transcription solutions suited to the intuitively preferred method used by the healthcare professionals of documenting the patient encounter. The services provided by medical transcription service providers help in the following ways:

• Improve quality of care: By outsourcing medical transcription the healthcare facilities can increase focus on the process of care. The traditional method of converting dictation to transcripts also improves the productivity of healthcare professionals. Capturing the narrative of the patient health story helps the diagnostic process by capturing all the details comprehensively.
• Improves efficiency: Outsourced medical transcription service providers would improve the efficiency of the medical transcription process itself by providing software and tools that provide functions like automatic uploads and secure delivery of transcripts by various modes as specified by the healthcare professional.
• Enhance safety: The information in the patient records provides important inputs for the process of providing continued care. Having patient medical records transcribed by an outsourced medical transcription service provider team ensures that each transcript is subject to stringent quality checks to ensure maximum accuracy while still maintaining tight turnaround time.
• Curb costs: Outsourcing medical transcription is one of the most cost effective methods of documenting the healthcare process without compromising on the quality. Outsourced medical transcription service providers have also expanded their services to include HL7 interface and speech recognition editing services which enables healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities to adopt electronic health records without making major changes in their style of working.

It can be seen that outsourcing to the right medical transcription company can help healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals in adopting EMR/ EHR without using their preferred method of documenting the patient- healthcare professional encounter.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has been providing medical transcription services for over a decade. TransDyne has used their extensive background in information technology to create systems that provide maximum benefits and save on efforts.

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 outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Medical transcription outsourcing: Helping standardize the healthcare process

The healthcare process depends on proper information flow to provide quality care and accelerate reimbursements. The process of documenting the patient- healthcare professional encounter has evolved over the years from a simple typing service to a service that aids the healthcare process in various ways.  Initially medical transcription was a simple service that essentially converted the audio dictation of the patient- healthcare professional into text format.

With the advent of technology and the increase for standardized documentation mandated by law, medical transcription evolved into a service that helps in standardizing the healthcare process. There have been many changes in the way medical transcription services work; one of the most notable being services that are not restricted to the physical proximity of the healthcare professional or healthcare facility.  This development has benefited both the medical transcription service provider as well as the healthcare facility.

By moving away from the concept of an in-house medical transcription department to that of specialized outsourced medical transcription services, these services have provided many benefits to healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities, some of which are given below:

• Allowing for increased focus on provision of quality care: By outsourcing medical transcription, the healthcare facility can increase the focus of their time, efforts and capital towards the process of providing quality care.
• Substantial saving on costs, both direct and indirect: Outsourcing the medical transcription process helps the healthcare facility save on direct and indirect costs that would have been incurred by having medical transcription in-house.  Moreover outsourcing medical transcription essentially converts the fixed cost of medical transcription to variable costs
• Benefit from the experience and expertise of the medical transcription service provider: Medical transcription is a specialized skill, which requires the culmination of the right team, the right process and the right technology to provide optimum results. Outsourcing to an experienced medical transcription service provider ensures that all the needs of the healthcare professionals are anticipated and solutions are customized to suit their needs.
• Increased adaptability to changing statutory requirements for documenting: The very nature of healthcare services, mandates certain regulations regarding the norms for documentation, like adopting electronic health records; outsourced medical transcription services help healthcare professionals retain their preferred method of dictation- transcription while still enabling information to be transferred to EMR via HL7 interface. Factors like ensuring HIPAA/ HITECH compliance as mandated by law during the process of transcription are also provided for by the outsourced medical transcription service provider
• Access to a bigger and better workforce: By outsourcing medical transcription the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have access to a large pool of skilled and trained medical transcriptionists. Not only that they also have access to the supervisory, the technical and managerial workforce of the service provider
• Enhance patient safety by creating legible records: The process of medical transcription ensures that patient medical records are created by documentation experts who put each transcript through multiple level quality checks. This ensures that patient medical records are accurate and legible.
• Improve workflow: The process of outsourced medical transcription services ensures a smooth flow for collection of dictation, transmission to the outsourced service provider and document delivery via the modes specified by the healthcare professional. Having quality information available on a timely basis through easy access modes enables a smoother workflow. Finding older transcripts is also easier due to the archive facilities provided by the outsourced medical transcription service provider, which enables easy searching using various criteria.
• Helping the healthcare process by providing timely information: Outsourced medical transcription service providers ensure that patient medical records are made available to the healthcare professionals within the turnaround time specified by them.

It can be seen that outsourcing medical transcription can provide healthcare facilities with services that enable them to standardize their services, by providing accurate, timely, secure and cost effective transcripts.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has been providing medical transcription services for over a decade. TransDyne has used their extensive background in information technology to create systems that provide maximum benefits and save on efforts.

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 outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Helping improve quality of care

Healthcare and information technology are inextricably linked together, in the sense that information technology helps the process of healthcare become more efficient, safer and cost effective. It is important to acknowledge the role of information in the process of healthcare and the role information technology plays to make this information more user- friendly. As healthcare professionals are essentially time starved it is important that the process for creating patient records should be integrated seamlessly into their working lives.

After each patient – healthcare professional encounter it is important to document the encounter in detail. This provides healthcare professionals a valuable source of information facilitating the following:

• Patient medical history
• Findings from the physical examination
• Demographics regarding the patient which can provide valuable clues for diagnosis
• Information regarding allergies, drug interactions etc.

Moreover information from patient records is an essential input for the coding and billing process and an important component of risk management. Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records converting the dictation of the patient- healthcare professional encounter into text format. Healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have various options available to them for the creation of patient medical records.

However while considering the various options available to healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities for medical transcription it is important to consider an option that will seamlessly integrate into the current working style of healthcare professionals. Healthcare professionals have shown a preference for the traditional method of dictation to transcription as this helps them in the process of providing healthcare.

How does the traditional method of dictation to transcription aid in the process of providing quality healthcare?

The process of providing quality healthcare depends on:

• Accurate diagnosis, which depends on:

1.     Collecting detailed information regarding the patient's history

2.     Findings from the physical examination

• Succinct documenting leading to:

1.      Crafting thoughtful diagnosis

2.      Make a note of questions that have not been adequately answered

• Continuously refining and updating information regarding the patient and the progress made
• Managing problems and conflicting medication
• Ordering tests and tracking results

Medical transcription is the process by which healthcare professionals can conveniently capture all these details, while allowing for healthcare professionals to use the preferred method of dictating the details on the patient- healthcare professional encounter using the mode of dictation preferred by them. As medical transcription is a specialized service requiring inputs in the form of the right team, the right process and the right technology, outsourcing medical transcription has been found to be an efficient and effective method of creating patient records.

Moreover outsourcing medical transcription provides the healthcare facilities with the following benefits:

• Options for using familiar modes of dictation
• An efficient system for medical transcription enabling upload of audio files and delivery of transcripts through preferred modes or delivery
• A system for tracking dictation, work in progress and older transcripts
• Specialty medical transcription service based on the specialty of the healthcare professional
• Substantial savings on costs
• Customized turnaround time
• Adoption of EMR/ EHR using HL7 interface
• Editing and proof reading services for speech recognition software transcription
• Transmission of data through HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology to provide medical transcription solutions that provide healthcare facilities with maximum benefits while saving on time, money and efforts. 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 outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing meaningful services

As the healthcare documentation scenario is undergoing major changes, the way in which clinical records are created and utilized has also seen major changes. Medical transcription services play a major part in the clinical documentation scenario through the sheer magnitude of education and experience amassed by them. Medical transcriptionists and medical transcription service providers have a deep understanding of how healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals work; combined with the vast store of knowledge and skills available to them, this puts them in an unique position to act as a catalyst in the process of adopting nationwide electronic health records.

Information has been vital to the process of healthcare, and as documentation specialists, medical transcription service providers provide support to the healthcare process. Healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have found that outsourcing medical transcription leaves them in an unique position to enjoy accurate, timely, secure and cost effective creation of patient medical records, while leaving them free to focus on their core business.

Outsourced medical transcription service providers have always strived to provide meaningful services that have significant impact on the operations of healthcare facilities.

Some of the meaningful and significant services provided by outsourced medical transcription service providers include:

• Accurate and timely medical transcription for varying volumes: Outsourced medical transcription service providers have added meaning to the process of simply converting the dictation of the patient- healthcare professional encounter into text by using the vast skills at their disposal by providing services with the following advantages:

1.      Ensuring correction of any oversight by the healthcare professional

2.      Subjecting each transcript to multiple level quality checks

3.      Ensuring that the dictated content fits the context

• Accepting flexible methods of dictation: Outsourced medical transcription service providers have eased the working life of healthcare professionals by accepting dictation from various modes of dictation that the healthcare professionals find easy to work with
• Providing a system for medical transcription: The process of medical transcription needs support from technology to meet the expected quality criteria, especially turnaround time, security and easy to use features. Outsourced medical transcription service providers have adapted to this by not only providing end-to-end solutions, but also where required integrated with the existing systems of the healthcare facility to provide seamless services.
• Allowing for healthcare facilities to capitalize on EMR/ EHR incentives: Outsourced medical transcription service providers have used HL7 interface to transmit data to the EMR/ EHR system without making any changes in the healthcare professional preferred method of document creation- dictation- transcription
• Providing editing and proof reading services for speech recognition software: Many healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities have started using speech recognition software to create transcripts. Though speech recognition software solves the problem of turnaround time, the accuracy levels are below acceptable levels. Outsourced medical transcription service providers have aided in this by providing editing and proofreading services for these transcripts bringing them up to acceptable accuracy levels.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology to come up with medical transcription services that provide easy to use solutions for the needs of healthcare professionals and other staff of the healthcare facilities. 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 outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: The changing role of medical transcription in healthcare documentation

The healthcare sector today is going through many changes in the way the patient- healthcare encounter is documented. The announcement of the stimulus package for adoption of EMR/EHR systems using certified equipment and demonstrating meaningful use has brought about a major question about the role of medical transcription services in the process of adopting this new technology.

Considering the underlying objective of adopting nationwide electronic healthcare system, the role of medical transcription in this process becomes even more significant. The implementation of nationwide EHR systems have been encouraged to:

• Improve quality of care
• Reduce costs of care

Outsourced medical transcription services have earned their place in the emerging healthcare documentation scenario by virtue of contributing to the achievement of both these objectives. Medical transcription services contribute to healthcare documentation by:

• Helping preserve narrative data: As healthcare is an essential service one involving decisions regarding life and death situations and involving the improvement of life situations; the importance of capturing the narrative story of the patient is vital. Medical transcription helps in capturing the total health story by converting dictation into text. This helps in improving the quality of care by converting mere data into information, which can be used for providing quality healthcare.

• Having a core knowledge regarding the working of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities: Medical transcription service providers and medical transcriptionists have an inherent understanding of the working life of healthcare professionals and the running of healthcare facilities. This helps medical transcription service providers create solutions that help improve the working life of healthcare professionals by using software and technology to provide maximum benefits while still being easy to use.

• Providing the benefit of training and knowledge to improve the quality of the data captured: Medical transcriptionists undergo a process of training that enhances their language skills, develops knowledge of the medical field, improves keyboard skills; these attributes make them adept at providing healthcare documentation that is accurate and timely. Not only that, medical transcriptionists also use their experience and knowledge of the healthcare field to apply context to rectify any oversight made by time starved healthcare professionals to produce accurate transcripts.

• Being very adaptable to change: Medical transcription, the process of documenting the healthcare process, has seen so many changes affecting the way information is captured. Medical transcription has evolved as a specialist service that has seen changes in the way dictation is captured to the way that transcripts are delivered. The experience of medical transcription service providers to adapt to the changing needs of the healthcare sector puts them in unique position help in this transition.

Medical transcription services have used a combination of the right people skills, optimum process and advanced technology to provide accurate, timely, secure and cost effective transcripts.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has utilized their extensive background in information technology and their experience in providing medical transcription services to come up with medical transcription solutions that help healthcare facilities save on time, money and effort. TransDyne has a smart delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems. The Smart Delivery system is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems.

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 outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing perceptive services

The process of healthcare is complemented by inputs from various sources to provide effective and efficient healthcare services. As the healthcare sector deals with services that help improve quality of life and life saving services, it is important that the quality of inputs that contribute to the healthcare process meet the highest quality standards. Healthcare is supported by information from patient records in both the process of providing quality care and dealing with administrative & commercial aspects. It is important that the process of healthcare is documented accurately and in a timely manner to enable streamlined operations.

Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records by converting the audio inputs of the patient- healthcare professional encounter into text format. Healthcare facilities have various options available to them to avail medical transcription services including having an in-house department, outsourcing to independent contractors or availing the services of a outsourced medical transcription service provider or even a combination of two or more of these sources. However in the interest of quality output, curbing costs and having a proper system for transcription, outsourcing to a professional medical transcription service provider has been found to be the most viable option.

Outsourced medical transcription service providers provide perceptive medical transcription solutions for the needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities. Outsourced service providers provide services that combine:

• An insight into the workings of healthcare facilities: Medical transcription services have evolved into sophisticated services that extend beyond mere typing services. Medical transcription service providers have an insight into the workings of healthcare facilities and have tailored medical transcription services and technology to support the smooth running of healthcare facilities with regard to patient medical record creation.

• Acumen to provide solutions to the perceived requirements: Medical transcription service providers have anticipated the specific requirements of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities and provided solutions to meet these requirements. The service providers have used their experience and background to create solutions that provide for:

1.      Allowing for using preferred methods of capturing dictation

2.      Systems that automatically check for dictation files and upload the same for transcription at specified intervals

3.      Specialty-specific trained medical transcriptionists to enhance quality of service in terms of turnaround time and accuracy.

4.      Archiving of transcripts allowing for easy search options

5.      Secure and speedy document delivery modes as specified by the healthcare professional/ healthcare facility.

6.      Constantly work at updating and improving security measures to mitigate concerns regarding HIPAA and HITECH violation

• Discernment that provides services according to changing needs: It is a known fact that the documentation specifications of the healthcare sector are governed by statutory norms. Taking the latest meaningful use requirements mandating EMR/ EHR adoption, medical transcription service providers have discerning included the following in the scope of their services:

1.      Speech recognition transcription

2.      HL7 interface enabling transmission of information to the EMR/ EHR

It can be seen that choosing the right medical transcription service provider ensures healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals with not only accurate, timely, secure and cost effective creation of patient medical records but also provides perceptive services that help healthcare facilities cope with the changing healthcare documentation scenario.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide total 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!               

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