Medical transcription outsourcing: Improves resource utilization

In the current scenario the healthcare sector is faced with many challenges, two of the main being maintaining high quality standards for their services and maintaining profitability. The pressures faced by the healthcare sector in achieving these goals are the need to keep up with the new developments in the healthcare sector, threat of litigation, increased expenses, shrinking or static level of reimbursements among other external pressures.

Under such circumstances it makes sense for healthcare facilities to focus on their core business of providing quality healthcare and outsource all those activities that are not part of the core business. Medical transcription plays an important role in the delivery of healthcare services, by creating records of the patient- healthcare professional encounters.  Though medical transcription is vital for the healthcare process it is not part of the core competencies of the healthcare facility.

Outsourcing medical transcription not only ensures creation of patient medical records in an accurate, timely, cost effective and secure manner, but also aids the healthcare facilities to improve resource utilization.

How does outsourcing medical transcription improve resource utilization?

• Outsourcing medical transcription is cost effective: One of the main advantages of outsourcing medical transcription is the enormous cost saving benefits to the healthcare facility. Cost saving are a result of:

1.      Economies of scale: Medical transcription is the core business of the service provider and therefore the service provider would be able to provide quality service at lower rates having the right team, the right process and the right technology in place.

2.      Expertise: Having served medical transcription needs of varied healthcare facilities/ healthcare professionals, the service provider would have honed their expertise in providing services that are suited to the specific needs of healthcare facilities/ healthcare professionals at reasonable rates.

• Outsourcing medical transcription produces better results: One of the main contributors to quality medical transcription services are the quality of the medical transcriptionists working on the transcription. A professional service provider would have the recruited and trained the right talent. This would ensure that the accuracy levels are high from the very beginning.

• Outsourcing medical transcription produces quicker results: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures not only accuracy but also optimum turnaround time. The service provider would have teams of specialist medical transcriptionists available to transcribe records round the clock ensuring that patient medical records are created without any delays

• Outsourcing medical transcription helps streamline processes: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the service provider would have software and tools in place, which will provide added benefits to streamline the process. Functions like uploading audio files, downloading transcripts, tracking patient files, adoption to EMR, varied modes of document delivery, HIPAA/ HITECH compliance during the transcription process would be provided for by the service provider.

It can be seen that outsourcing medical transcription helps the healthcare facilities improve resource utilization. Healthcare facilities can save on resources like capital, real estate, salaries & taxes, management personnel, Information technology personnel and various other resources by outsourcing medical transcription.

Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription service provider not only saves on cost and improves resource utilization, but also quickens the receivables cycle.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has been providing outsourced medical transcription services for over a decade, helping healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals optimize their resource utilization.. 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: 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.

Medical Transcription Outsourcing - Combining Expertise and Experience

Outsourcing medical transcription is a vital decision, involving thorough analysis of the needs of the healthcare facilities and what it hopes to gain from outsourcing and then evaluating the medical transcription service provider to ensure that the service provider can provide services as required by the healthcare facility. Medical transcription is a vital ingredient of the healthcare process and outsourcing medical transcription should be done with a lot of caution. One needs to source a service provider who has the right combination of expertise and experience to provide excellent services.

What defines the expertise of the medical transcription service provider?
Expertise refers to the skill or knowledge in a particular field. By this definition it is important to source a service provider whose core business is that of providing outsourced medical transcription services. The expertise of the medical transcription service provider needs to be evaluated on the following criteria:

Team: Quality medical transcription requires the right team to ensure accuracy and turnaround time. The expertise of the medical transcription service provider can be evaluated on the basis of their recruiting and training processes. This would ensure that the service provider has a pool of manpower to draw from as per the transcription requirements

Process: The expertise of the medical transcription service provider can be judged by the processes in place to ensure accuracy, turnaround time and security. A service provider with the right expertise would ensure that none of the criteria for quality medical transcription are compromised by having the correct process in place.

Technology: The expertise of the medical transcription service provider can be evaluated based on the technology used by them to ensure speedy and secure medical transcription services. The technology used by the service provider would ensure maximum benefits with ease of use.

What defines the experience of the medical transcription service provider?
Experience refers to familiarity with a skill or field of knowledge acquired over a period of time by actual practice resulting in superior understanding. By this definition it is important to source a medical transcription service provider who has experience in providing outsourced medical transcription services over a period of time enabling the service provider to understand the specific needs of the customer and provide solutions accordingly. The experience of the medical transcription service provider can be evaluated on the following criteria:

Testimonials: An experienced medical transcription service provider would have experience in providing outsourced medical transcription services to healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals of all types. This would reflect in the testimonials / references provided by customers.

Add on benefits: Medical transcription services have evolved from being just a transcription service to that of being a back office support function for healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals. An experienced service provider would be aware of the needs of healthcare facilities/ healthcare professionals and would provide advanced services including:

a) Flexible modes of dictationb) Archiving
c) Multiple modes of document delivery
d) HL7 interface

While outsourcing medical transcription it is important to choose a medical transcription service provider with both the relevant expertise and experience. This not only ensures accurate, timely and secure medical transcription services, it also ensures major cost saving benefits to healthcare facilities.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has both the relevant experience and expertise. TransDyne offers quality 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 avail outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Benefit from the experience of the service provider

Medical transcription is the process of converting audio records of the patient- healthcare professional encounter into text format. As information from patient records is a vital ingredient in the process of delivering quality healthcare, medical transcription has earned its place in the healthcare process. The process of medical transcription along with that of healthcare has undergone major changes, requiring more and more expertise to be efficient and economical.

Outsourcing medical transcription to an experienced and professional service provider has proven to be a good fix for the documentation needs of a healthcare facility. Outsourced medical transcription services can be tailored to the specific requirements of the healthcare facilities/ healthcare professionals specifications by an experienced medical transcription service provider.

What are the benefits of outsourcing to an experienced medical transcription service provider?

• High accuracy levels for all specialties: An experienced medical transcription service provider would be in a position to provide accurate transcription services for all specialties. Having a team of medical transcriptionists trained to be domain experts in one or two specialties enables the service provider to provide services that take into consideration not only the language, terminology, drugs and procedures pertaining to that specialty, but also include other factors like the templates to be used, the type of report format to be used for the specific specialty during the process of transcription etc. while preparing the transcripts.

• Flexible turnaround time according to requirements: The turnaround time requirements could vary based on the specialty or the specific situation. An experienced medical transcription service provider would have the right team, the right process and the right technology in place to ensure that varied turnaround time requirements are met with.

• Low cost services: Lowering the cost per line of transcription is probably one of the main reasons for outsourcing medical transcription. Outsourcing to an experienced medical transcription service provider can help in this aspect too. A medical transcription service provider with extensive experience would be in a position to provide quality services at a reasonable rate, by virtue of best practices and the benefits of economies of scale.

• Security of confidential patient information: Protecting confidential patient information is not only the moral obligation of the healthcare facility it is also mandated by law. An experienced medical transcription service provider would be aware of the significance of maintaining HIPAA/ HITECH compliance and would have the right measures in place to ensure total security.

• Technology with maximum benefits: An experienced medical transcription service provider would realize that a complete medical transcription solution would require use of technology that provides numerous time saving, effort saving and money saving benefits to the healthcare facilities, healthcare professionals and the support staff.

An experienced service provider would have the right blend of technology and human expertise to provide services with maximum benefits that are easy to use.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has over a decade of experience in serving the needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities. TransDyne has used its extensive experience and background in information technology to develop software and tools for medical transcription that ensure maximum benefits and security. TransDyne not only provides complete medical transcription services, but also anticipates the needs of healthcare facilities and provides solutions accordingly.

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 medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing support services

The process of healthcare is complex and ever changing. Not only does healthcare involve constant improvement and innovation it also involves considerable investment to stay up to date. In a situation where healthcare facilities are faced with the challenge of constant improvement and innovation while dealing with limited resources and delayed reimbursements, outsourcing medical transcription can provide considerable support.

How does outsourcing medical transcription provide support to healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals?

Outsourcing medical transcription has considerable benefits, some of which are obvious and some of which are additional benefits, which are not so obvious. Medical transcription services support the process of healthcare in numerous ways, some of which have been described below:

By creating accurate records: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the patient records are created by expert medical transcriptionists who are trained to be specialists. This ensures that comprehensive information is captured with the highest accuracy. Accurate medical records are useful in the following

1. Helps healthcare professionals provide quality healthcare based on the             information in the patient records rather than rely on memory/ guesswork/ repeated inputs from patients.
2. Helps the coding and billing department to correctly code the information and bill             for it ensuring that the reimbursement process starts smoothly.
3. Provides the narrative of the treatment process as evidence  in case of litigation

By creating timely records: Healthcare professionals require information that is not only accurate but also timely to be able to respond to the treatment needs of the patients. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that patient records are created on time and transmitted instantaneously to healthcare facilities. Medical transcription service providers are able to meet turnaround time requirements using the right team, processes and the right technology.

By providing technology that is easy to use: Healthcare professionals have numerous demands on their limited time. Outsourcing medical transcription helps healthcare professionals optimize their limited time by providing technology with the following benefits:

            a)            Flexible modes of dictation

            b)            Automatic upload of audio files at regular intervals

            c)            Flexible modes of document delivery

            d)            Archives

By ensuring HIPAA/HITECH compliance: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the security of the confidential patient information is ensured through the medical transcription process. This benefits the healthcare facilities/ healthcare professionals in two ways. It ensures the continued confidence of the patients in the healthcare facility and protects the healthcare facility from litigation.

By providing HL7 interface: Outsourcing medical transcription can help the healthcare facilities protect their existing investment in EMR/EHR system by having a HL7 interface.

Outsourced medical transcription services play a vital support role in both the operational and commercial aspects of providing healthcare. However while outsourcing medical transcription it is important to pick a service provider who has the capacity to not only service the current needs of the healthcare facility, but also have the capacity to service any future needs that may arise.

TransDyne, leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry provides services with the following benefits:

Ø      TransDyne offers medical transcription with an accuracy of above 99%

Ø      TransDyne assures a turnaround time of 24 hours with an option of 4-12 hours for STAT reports.

Ø      TransDyne ensures security of data by securing technology, processes and people.

Ø      TransDyne offers a reasonable and fair price by charging 10 cents per line, which is calculated by using the character line pricing method.

Ø      TransDyne maintains a large, well-trained team of medical transcriptionists, which enables them to cope with varying volumes

Ø      TransDyne offers medical transcription services by using the latest technology that is advanced and easy to use.

Ø      TransDyne uses the character line billing method that is verifiable, definable, measurable, consistent and fair & honest

Ø      TransDyne has the testimonials of their success stories available for viewing on their website.

To know more details on how TransDyne can ease the medical transcription process, click here

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing dynamic services

Medical transcription is a service that is associated with healthcare services, by documenting the patient- healthcare professional encounter. The process of medical transcription involves listening to the audio recording of the healthcare professional and transcribing it into text format. But the process of medical transcription goes beyond being a simple service of listening to the voice recordings of healthcare professionals and typing them out. Healthcare is a dynamic sector, where things are changing on a daily basis. As medical transcription is closely associated with the healthcare sector, medical transcription also needs to be able to cope with all the changes occurring in the healthcare sector.

Outsourcing medical transcription has always been considered an efficient, effective and economic solution for the documentation needs of a healthcare facility. However while outsourcing medical transcription it is important for the healthcare facility to not only evaluate the medical transcription service provider on the basis of criteria like accuracy, turnaround time, security and pricing but also needs to look for a service provider who can provide dynamic services to cope with the developments in the healthcare sector.

What is meant by dynamic medical transcription services?

Dynamic medical transcription implies a service provider who can cope with the changing needs of the healthcare field. This would mean adding benefits by using innovative technology and processes.

Some of the ways that outsourced medical transcription service provider have coped with the changing needs of healthcare facilities/ healthcare professionals by providing dynamic services are as follows:

• Flexible modes of dictation: Time is a scarce commodity for healthcare professionals, and outsourced medical transcription service providers have helped healthcare professionals cope with this situation by allowing them to use flexible and familiar modes of dictation. This allows healthcare professionals to make the best use of the limited time available to them

• Adding new specialties: Healthcare facilities are constantly adding on new specialties, the language of each specialty is unique. Acknowledging this, outsourced medical transcription service provider have trained their medical transcriptionists to be specialists in one or two specialties enabling them to produce quality transcripts within the required turnaround time

• Modes of document delivery: Outsourced medical transcription service provider have provided varied modes of delivering transcripts, ensuring that the healthcare professionals have access to transcripts in a timely and secure manner.

• Archiving for tracing transcripts: Healthcare professionals and support staff have to spend a lot of time tracing dictation, work-in-progress and finished transcripts. Outsourced medical transcription service providers have solved this problem by providing convenient archives to enable healthcare professionals and support staff to trace transcripts easily

• Varied turnaround time requirements: outsourced medical transcription service providers have coped with the varied turnaround time requirements of the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals by having the right mix of a huge pool of manpower who have been trained to be specialists and using the right technology

• Adoption of EMR/EHR: Medical transcription service providers have enabled healthcare facilities to save on their existing investments in EMR/EHR by having HL7 interface

It can be seen that while outsourcing medical transcription it is important to source a provider who can use the right combination of the right team the right processes and the right technology to cope with the dynamic healthcare sector.

TransDyne a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers dynamic medical transcription services that help healthcare facilities enhance their productivity. 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 know more about dynamic medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing and risk management

Medical transcription outsourcing and risk management are very closely related. Risk management involves minimizing the risk involved in the healthcare process and medical transcription is the process of creating patient records from the audio narration by the healthcare professionals of their encounter with the patient.  Medical transcription  by its very nature is an activity that requires sensitive handling and  would affect risk management 

It is a known fact that the patient- healthcare professional relationship is sacrosanct and is founded on the basis of the healthcare professional/ healthcare facility's ability to maintain the confidentiality of the privileged patient information. Protecting the confidentiality of the patient information is not only a moral obligation is also mandated by law. HIPAA has provided specific guidelines for protecting confidential patient information. The HITECH provisions that have come into effect recently have provisions that elaborate on HIPAA and have provided HIPAA added arsenal to punish offenders.

Outsourcing medical transcription has been proven to be one of the most efficient, effective and economical ways of creating patient records. However outsourcing medical transcription to a third party service provider raises some apprehensions regarding security.

However these concerns can be alleviated by choosing the medical transcription service provider with utmost care. This will ensure that the medical transcription service provider:

·        Is well versed with the requirements of HIPAA/ HITECH

·        Has provisions in place to ensure total security

Ensuring that the outsourced medical transcription service provider is HIPAA / HITECH compliant will also help with the process of risk management.

How can outsourced medical transcription service help in the process of risk management?

To understand how outsourced medical transcription helps in risk management it is important to understand the principles of risk management and how outsourced medical transcription services helps in the process.

The principles of risk management are as follows:

• Create value
• Be an integral part of the organizational process
• Be part of decision making
• Explicitly address uncertainty
• Systematic and structured
• Based on best available information
• Tailored
• Take into account human factors
• Transparent and inclusive
• Dynamic and responsive to change
• Continual improvement and enhancement

Outsourced medical transcription helps the healthcare facilities in the risk management process fulfilling all the principles of risk management in the process medical transcription.

Outsourcing medical transcription ensures:

• Medical records are created by with utmost accuracy. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures this by using medical transcriptionists who are specialists in the specialty they are transcribing in. Further quality is ensured by having a multiple level quality check ensuring maximum accuracy. The information captured in the patient records needs to be accurate as it forms a part of evidence in case malpractice litigation.

• Medical records are created on time. Optimum turnaround time is ensured by the medical transcription service provider by using the right team, the right process and the right technology. This ensures that healthcare professionals have the information needed by them for formulating plans for the patient's healthcare, on time. This helps in managing risk

• Medical records are created securely. Another aspect of risk management is protecting the confidentiality of patient information. Outsourced medical transcription helps in this aspect by having measures in place to protect patient information by securing people, process and technology.

Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider not only help healthcare facilities in some aspects of risk management it also helps the healthcare facilities save on costs, increase focus on core business and help provide multiple benefits by using the right technology.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers total solutions to suit varying need of different of different kinds of healthcare facilities. TransDyne has teams of medical transcriptionists who are trained in different specialties, making them domain experts. This ensures that TransDyne can cope with medical transcription for any specialty with an accuracy level of above 99%. TransDyne offers a turnaround time of 24 hours with an option of a turnaround time of 4-12 hours for STAT files.

TransDyne has the technical capabilities to integrate with the existing systems of healthcare facilities, requiring no additional investments. TransDyne offers medical transcription for weekends and holidays, and has people and systems in place to cope up with varying volumes of transcription. TransDyne has software and tools that offer additional features like archiving, remote printing & faxing among other benefits. TransDyne ensures security of confidential patient information, by securing people processes, infrastructure and technology

To avail total medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.