What are the qualities of a good medical transcriptionist?

When making the decision to outsource medical transcription needs, obviously recruitment and training requirements (with regard to medical transcriptionists) are also being outsourced to the Medical Transcription Service provider

The quality of the transcripts depends entirely on the quality of transcriptionists. And this will be determined by the selection process and the training provided by the medical transcription service provider that the healthcare facility chooses.

What are the qualities that a good medical transcriptionist should have?
Ability to multitask: Transcription is a skill that requires that a person be able to listen and type at the same time. They also have to be able to use the start/pause/stop function of the audio device. Being able to multitask is an important skill for a medical transcriptionist.

Comfortable with the Internet: Audio files of the healthcare professional’s encounter with the patient are uploaded into server, these need to be downloaded by the medical transcriptionist and then the finished records need to uploaded to be transmitted to the healthcare facilities. The medical transcriptionist needs to search for difficult terms, words etc in the Internet. All these activities entail that the medical transcriptionist should be Internet savvy.

Research abilities: A medical transcriptionist needs to be adept at research whether it is on the Internet or in research books. This is important to ensure that gaps in the report are minimized.

Speedy typing skills: Not only does a medical transcriptionist have to be accurate, he also has to have the ability to type reasonably fast to ensure that turnaround time guaranteed is met with.

Good computer skills: Nowadays all medical transcription reports are created on the computer. Different formats are required to be used and headers & footers are required to be added for certain type of reports. Good computer skills are essential for a medical transcriptionist.

Knowledge of medical terminology: Medical terminology is complex and not generally known to the layman. A good grasp of medical terminology is one of the main qualifications for a medical transcriptionist.

Above average knowledge of English Grammar, punctuation and usage: A medical transcriptionist needs to have good language skills along with all the other skills to be able to produce quality transcripts. Wrong usage of words, punctuation errors or any other grammatical errors could totally change the meaning of the report.

Ability to concentrate filtering outside disturbances etc.: A medical transcriptionist needs to be able to concentrate on the audio recording and filter out any extra noises in the tape, as well as external noises, in order to be able to produce accurate documents.

Commitment to confidentiality: A medical transcriptionist needs to understand that the work entrusted to him needs to be kept confidential as it pertains to private and important data. A serious commitment to maintaining confidentiality is an essential quality for a medical transcriptionist.

Disciplined: It takes discipline and commitment on the part of the medical transcriptionist to produce accurate records in a timely manner, while maintaining confidentiality.

An eye for details: To capture all the information and to make sure that it is done accurately, a medical transcriptionist needs to have an eye for details.

Perfectionist attitude: An attitude of following through on all the difficult words/ terms and making sure that the accuracy of the finished transcript is as close to 100% requires that a medical transcriptionist needs to have a perfectionist attitude.

Working well under constraints: A medical transcriptionist has to understand the importance of producing quality transcripts in a timely manner while tuning out external disturbances. An ability to work well under constraints is an important quality for a medical transcriptionist.

Having a sense of Responsibility, Work Ethics, Integrity and Professional Attitude

TransDyne believes in recruiting people with the right attitude towards perfection, commitment, and attention to detail, responsibility, commitment to confidentiality etc and developing their inherent aptitude to produce medical transcriptionists of immaculate quality who can provide accurate and timely transcription.

TransDyne believes in developing their aptitude even further by training them in one or two areas of medicine making them domain experts. This helps them serve their clients even better.

To avail TransDyne’s superior outsourced medical transcription services, click here.

MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION: Dictation tips

Make the transcriptionist more efficient

The process of medical transcription starts with the medical transcriptionist listening to the audio files as narrated by the healthcare professionals. It is important for medical records to be created with maximum accuracy and returned within a reasonable turnaround time. Healthcare professionals can help make the process of medical transcription more efficient with a few changes in their dictation style. This could improve accuracy and turnaround time of transcripts enormously!

As a healthcare professional life is all about juggling their time schedules and getting maximum done in minimum time. Proof reading the returned transcripts is one task that they wish they could avoid. By following a few simple tips given by us they can avoid it! It is actually very simple and will not take any extra time.

All they need to do is organize and prepare themselves so that they can dictate better and improve the quality of transcripts returned to them. Here are some simple tips to improve the quality of dictation thereby the quality of returned transcripts:

• Allotting some time every day for dictation: Dictating notes of patient visits is a very important task, time needs to be scheduled for this so that these can be completed on time without any backlogs

• Collecting all papers before starting: Now that time has been allotted to do this task, it is also important that all relevant papers/documents are available easily for any reference

• Knowing the recording equipment: Familiarity with how the equipment works will make the process speedy. Taking time to familiarize themselves with the equipment to be used can help the healthcare professional to dictate better

• Choosing a quiet place: It is important that the quality of the healthcare professional’s recording is not distorted by any unnecessary noises. A place with least or no amount of noise would be preferable

• Pausing before starting and ending dictation: A few seconds pause before starting and ending your dictation can prevent the words from sounding clipped

• Making sure there are no distractions: The time allotted by the healthcare professional for dictation should be without any outside distractions as this would distort the dictation quality and increase the time spent on it

• Not being self-conscious: Being self-conscious while dictating will make the dictation process awkward and the words will come out garbled and unclear. Taking a deep breath, relaxing and then dictating should help

• Developing a rhythm that is neither slow nor too fast: While dictating following a rhythm that is not too slow, will stop the transcriptionists’ mind from wandering, and not going too fast will help decrease errors in the transcript. Maintaining a clear and steady pace is advised

• Pressing the pause button while taking breaks: Pressing the pause button while taking breaks will prevent the transcriptionist from hearing long blanks in the dictation

• Making sure to spell out difficult names etc: Spelling out difficult and unique names and terms will improve the accuracy and quality of transcription

• Trying not to eat or drink while dictating: Eating or drinking during dictation will distort the quality of sound and the words will be garbled, making transcription slow, difficult and inaccurate

• Enunciating words clearly: Difficult medical terminology, procedures, names of drugs needs to be enunciated clearly for accuracy. Sometimes spelling them out also helps

• Rewinding and listening: Rewinding and listening to the dictation will clarify the areas in which improvements are needed. It will also give the healthcare professional an idea of what the transcriptionist goes through while transcribing the dictation

• Using mike properly: Knowing the equipment and using the mike at the optimum distance specified in the equipment manual will improve quality of dictation and eliminate voice distortion

• Indicating the start and end of the dictation: Indicating the start and end of the report can make transcription easier

• Specifying required format at the beginning of the dictation: Any specific formatting required by the healthcare professional should be indicated at the beginning of the dictation to enable the medical transcriptionist to make note of it and act on it

• Including punctuation: Specifying punctuation while dictating can make the work of the transcriptionist easier and there is less scope for guesswork on their part

• Standardizing dictation terms: Standardize certain reports that are needed to be transcribed and informing the transcriptionist at the beginning can help the transcriptionist use standard terms as required by the healthcare professional

Following these simple dictation tips can help healthcare professionals get better service with accurate and timely transcripts at a fair price.

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Managing erratic transcription volumes

Problems managing the fluctuations in the volume of transcription due to unpredictability of patient inflow and staffing fluctuations?

Managing the transcription volume for a healthcare organization would mean facing two main challenges:

• The unpredictable volume of transcription needs
  In the business of healthcare it is nearly impossible to predict the patient inflow to the healthcare facility. Thereby the volume of transcription to be handled can wildly fluctuate according to the volume of patients coming to the healthcare facility.
  
• Managing in-house transcription staff schedules.
  The in-house staff in a healthcare facility is prepared to handle a certain amount of transcription volume. Any excess volume of transcribed reports can create a serious lag in the processing of reports. Moreover issues like vacations, sick leaves etc can create a serious lag in generation of Transcribed reports.
  

These two issues can leave the healthcare facility with serious lags in generation of transcription reports that can in turn affect patient care and the receivables cycle.

What are the issues that arise due to lag in medical transcription?
Delay in medical transcription can have a spiraling effect in the following areas:

Increase in the cost per line of transcription: To keep up with varying volumes, the existing staff may either be underutilized or paid to overtime increasing the cost per line of transcription.

Wastage of resources: Resources like management staff, utilities and real estate would have to be allocated to manage overflow of transcription needs, which results in loss of opportunity costs.

Security issues: To meet urgent transcription needs, the excess work may be outsourced to independent contractors without ascertaining the security measures used by them, and this could result in security breaches.

Increase in the cost of information technology: Coordinating reports from various resources into the healthcare facility could mean additional IT costs.

Outsourcing medical transcription needs to a medical transcription service provider can solve both problems of fluctuating medical transcription needs and issues with staffing in one shot. The service provider would have a huge pool of well-trained medical transcriptionists who can expertly transcribe reports on a timely basis, no matter what the volumes are. It would also ensure that the other issues arising out of delayed transcription would be solved at a stroke.

Outsourcing to a professionally managed medical service provider like TransDyne to take care of the healthcare facility’s medical transcription needs will solve both the problems of planning for volume as well as staff requirements. Not just that, TransDyne will also partner with the healthcare facility to try and bring down transcription costs by almost 40% and take care of any volume needs or any holiday staffing needs that may arise, leaving the management of the healthcare facility free to focus on other areas.

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 : Reduce upfront capital investment

Many healthcare facilities may not be aware that outsourcing their medical transcription needs can actually reduce their capital outlay in non-healthcare related areas. Healthcare business is ever changing and needs huge investments in the latest equipments to give the best possible care to patients. This means having to stretch limited money resources to cover all needs. Investing in capital equipment not related to the core business, like medical transcription can stretch the already over worked budgets to the limit.

What is the Capital investment required for medical transcription?
Capital investment for medical transcription could be in the following areas:

• Computer systems for transcribing including monitors, headsets, foot pedals, keyboards etc.
• Software for the transcription systems
• Server for centrally uploading dictation files and downloading finished transcripts
• Furniture used by in-house medical transcriptionists
• Software for integration of the finished transcripts from various transcription sources into the healthcare facility’s central system.

Though not directly related to the core business, transcription is vital to the smooth running of a healthcare facility and so cannot be ignored. In a situation where too many demands are made on limited resources, one easy fix is to outsource medical transcription needs. This then shifts the onus of major capital investment on to the medical transcription service provider.

But the decision to outsource medical transcription needs should not be taken lightly, and one needs to carefully evaluate the medical transcription service provider in terms of:

Accuracy: This means the percentage of accuracy in the transcribed document with relation to the audio files. Minimum of 99% and above would be acceptable.

Turnaround time: Turnaround time refers to the time taken to revert the transcribed report to you. A Turnaround time of not more than 24 hours for normal reports and 4-12 hours for STAT reports would be considered ideal.

Data security: The Company being outsourced to should be HIPAA/HITECH compliant. The medical transcription service provider has to have adequate security measures so that the confidential data transmitted back and forth is safe and secure.

Fair pricing: Pricing should be fair and reasonable for the services rendered. Pricing method should also be transparent and simple so that concerned parties can verify the same at any stage of the process

Above all the medical transcription service provider should offer services to take care of all the medical transcription needs without involving any additional investments on the healthcare facility’s part.

TransDyne not only offers medical transcription with accuracy of above 99%, with a 24-hour turnaround time, at fair prices and with Data security that will match and exceed industry standards, but also offers advantages like:

• Reduced work on filing documents and tracking dictations.
• Eliminating scope for missing documents.
• No additional investment in Hardware or software.
• Configuration for multi provider, multi user and multi location setting.
• Upgrades without any change to the client’s computer

Outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne not only reduces capital investment budget and eliminates the cost of repairs, maintenance and up gradation of equipments but would also help the healthcare facility improve patient care.

To avail medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Specialty Medical Transcription

Medical transcription is the process of converting audio files of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into a typed report. Medical transcription plays a supporting role in the healthcare process by making information available in an accurate and timely manner. Records need to be created of the patient –healthcare professional encounter for the following purposes:

• For patient treatment
• As part of the permanent patient records
• Statutory requirement
• As the first step of the accounts receivable process for insurance claims
• For further references/treatments/procedures/therapy.
• As evidence in case of litigation.

The quality and timeliness of these records is dependant to a large extent on the quality of medical transcriptionists working on it. Therefore it becomes important to evaluate the caliber of medical transcriptionists while evaluating a medical transcription service provider. The caliber of the medical transcriptionists would largely depend on the training method used.

How does the training method used affect Accuracy? Training medical transcriptionists in one or two areas of the medicine enables them to become domain experts; this in turn ensures that the accuracy level of the finished transcript is the highest possible.

How does the training method used affect Turnaround time? Training medical transcriptionists in one or two areas ensures that they are able to produce quality transcription in a very short time. This in turn ensures that the turnaround times guaranteed are met with.

How does the training method used affect the Cost per line? The number of errors in a finished report are dramatically reduced due to the specialist based training this reduces the cost per line of transcription by bringing down the cost of quality checks required.

It takes a specialist to take care of specialty needs. TransDyne believes in tailoring their medical transcription Services to the needs of their clients. TransDyne understands that the field of medicine is vast and highly specialized. It needs the service of people who are well versed in medicine to offer the best quality transcription. Rather than offering generic medical transcription Services, TransDyne firmly believes in training their medical transcriptionists in one or two areas of medicine.

This training method of training the medical transcriptionist in one or two areas makes it easier for TransDyne to offer faster and accurate medical transcription services from day one. There is no time wasted on the learning curve of the medical transcriptionists, as they do not need time to learn the area of specialization that the healthcare facility providers would dictate about. They have already been trained extensively in that area and they are well versed with the appropriate anatomical and medicinal terminology.

TransDyne updates their medical transcriptionists regularly on the latest developments in their area of specialization as part of mid-career training programs. TransDyne understands the special needs of healthcare facilities and have tailored their training programs accordingly.

TransDyne offers accurate medical transcription of above 99%, at reasonable costs, with a turnaround time guarantee of 24 hours, through secure, HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels, using advanced technology that is easy to use.

To avail specialty based medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Medical transcription outsourcing: Billing method and the bottom line

The method of billing adopted by the medical transcription service provider could have a direct impact on the healthcare facility’s bottom-line!

After all any healthcare facility is going for specialist medical transcription services in anticipation of cost saving benefits. It is important to pick a company, which adopts a transparent and simple method of billing. How complicated could it be? This is an area that is worth studying in detail. According to the principles of MTIA the billing method adopted by a medical transcription service provider should be:

Verifiable: The billing method used by a medical transcription service provider should be easy to verify.

Definable: The terms and parameters of the billing method used by the medical transcription service provider should be defined in clear terms.

Measurable: The formulas used by a medical transcription service provider should allow for easy understanding.

Consistent: The method of billing should be consistent for clear understanding and ease of operation. Any changes made in the method of billing should be communicated to the client to avoid inconsistencies

Fair and honest: The billing method used by a medical transcription service provider should be a fair and honest representation of charges for work executed

There are various methods, used for billing, which have been summed up below:
Page: Each page of transcribed material constitutes a billable unit. The problem arises when there is a vast disparity in the content of pages. They could end up paying the same amount for a page consisting of 10 lines, as a page consisting of 45 lines. This would not be indicative of fair payment for services rendered.

Report: The total pages of finished transcription in a report constitute a billable unit. The problem arises when there is a vast disparity in the number of pages in a report. A report could consist of anything between 1 page to 10 pages, which again is not indicative of fair payment for services rendered.

Minute: This means every minute of dictation constitutes a billable unit. This method may seem like a fair one until the healthcare facility considers the different speeds of dictation, the interruptions and distractions faced by doctors during this process. They would be billed for those too!

Gross lines: Simply put, this method consists of visually counting the number of lines. The problem with this method is that it is dependent on the method of formatting used. The amount billed could be more when a Medical Transcriptionist uses tabs and indents excessively.

Character Lines: Character lines are usually defined counting the characters in the finished report and dividing it by a fixed number, say 65. Space and returns are also included. This method is simple, fair and consistent. It has the advantage of being easily verifiable.

TransDyne offers a fair and transparent billing process. TransDyne has adopted the “Character lines” method of billing. This method consists of counting all the characters in a finished report. The total is then divided by 65 to define a Character line. The billing is done on the total number of character lines transcribed.
The process of billing is explained at the very beginning so that what is being paid for is clearly understood. At every stage of the process TransDyne’s team offers further support to explain any clarifications that may be needed. With this billing system in place it ensures that the healthcare facility can rest assured that they are being billed exactly for the services rendered in a fair and verifiable manner.

Not only does TransDyne offer reasonably priced medical transcription services, TransDyne also offers medical transcription services with an accuracy of above 99%, executed by expert medical transcriptionists, within a quick turnaround time transmitted through HIPAA and HITECH compliant channles, and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

To avail low-cost medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Medical Transcription services

What is transcription and how does it relate to the field of medicine?
Transcription is conversion of audio files to typed records in a paper form or in the form of computer files as per specified formats. Medical transcription is the conversion of audio files of a patient encounter as dictated by a healthcare professional into a typed version, which is then stored in the form of paper records or as a computer file.

Why is medical transcription needed?
Records of patient encounter need to be created and maintained for various reasons such as Patient treatment, Permanent Patient records, Referrals to other doctors, Evidence in case of malpractice suits, Coding, billing and insurance claims and Satisfaction of regulatory norms. Medical transcription plays a vital role in creating accurate records of patient encounters with the doctors.

How is medical transcription done?
After the patient encounter, the healthcare professional dictates notes regarding the encounter into a recording device of his choice, which is then transcribed by a person skilled in this kind of work having knowledge of medicine, latest drugs, procedures and good language skills.

When is medical transcription done?
Once the doctor has finished dictating notes these are then transmitted to the medical transcriptionist using various means, the actual transcription is finished within a period of 24 hours at the latest. Priority is given to STAT files and these are returned earlier.

Who does the medical transcription?
Medical transcription is done by in-house medical transcriptionists or through outsourcing to a medical transcription service provider who specializes in this kind of work. It has been argued that doctors could themselves create records as and when they finish with the patient encounter. But this has been proven to curb the productivity of doctors in terms of time spent typing (which is not necessarily their core skill) and reducing the time spent on care of patients.

Why outsource medical transcription?
Outsourcing medical transcription can benefit a healthcare facility in various ways. If helps them to focus on healthcare which is their core business rather than medical transcription which is not. It also improves profitability by freeing up valuable resources like manpower, capital and time etc which would otherwise be focused on medical transcription.

Having understood the importance of medical transcription and the benefits of outsourcing, one needs to choose a medical transcription service provider that excels on the following criteria:

Accuracy: This means the percentage of accuracy of the completed transcripts vis-à-vis what was dictated. A minimum of 99% and above would be acceptable.

Turnaround time: Turnaround time refers to the time taken to revert the transcribed report to the healthcare facility. A Turnaround time of not more than 24 hours for normal reports and 4-12 hours for STAT reports would be considered ideal.

Data security: The Company being outsourced to should be HIPAA/HITECH compliant. The medical transcription service provider has to have adequate security measures to ensure that the confidential data transmitted back and forth is safe and secure.

Pricing: This is one of the main benefits that a healthcare facility hopes to have, from the outsourcing option. Pricing should be fair and reasonable for the services rendered. Pricing method should also be transparent and simple so that both parties can verify the same at any stage of the process

Technology: The technology used by the Medical Transcription Company should not only secure but should also be easy to use, without having to require extensive training.

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 medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.