Friday, July 30, 2010

Medical transcription: Anticipating the needs of healthcare facilities

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

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

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

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

  • Training methods: Training methods adopted by the medical transcription service provider have impact on the following areas.
  1. Coping with varying volumes: By constantly recruiting and maintaining a large team of medical transcriptionists, the medical transcription service provider would be able to maintain accuracy levels and meet turnaround time commitments even with huge influx of patients.
  2. Dealing with specialties: A medical transcription service provider that creates specialist medical transcriptionists by training them in one or two specialties enables them to cope varying needs of the healthcare facilities, when new specialties are added. Moreover updating the medical transcriptionists on the latest developments in the particular specialty becomes more efficient. The medical transcriptionists are well versed with the terminology used and with the formats required enabling them to meet the highest standards of accuracy within optimum turnaround time.
  • Adopting technology: Technology adopted by the medical transcription service provider has impact on the following areas:
  1. Flexible uploads and downloads: Medical transcription uses technology for dictation, uploading of audio files and downloading of finished transcripts. The technology used by the medical transcription service provider needs to be advanced to cope with all these needs and at the time need to be easy to use.
  2. Powerful archiving: Healthcare facilities have a huge number of healthcare professionals dictating sizable volumes of dictation on a daily basis. The healthcare facility would also be receiving huge volume of transcribed files on a daily basis. Tracing these files, dictated as well as transcribed at any given point of time can be very difficult. Anticipating this the service provider needs to use a system which has powerful archival features to enable all these functions.
  3. Security: Security of data during transmission is on of the main concerns of healthcare facilities. Technology used by the service provider needs to provide for the security of data at all levels.
  4. Integration with EMR: Adoption of EMR needs that the service provider has HL7 interface to enable transmission of data into the EMR system without additional investment.
TransDyne is a professional medical transcription service provider that has always anticipated the needs of healthcare facilities and also incorporated the latest developments in the field of healthcare, while offering outsourced medical transcription solutions to healthcare facilities.

TransDyne offers medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert medical transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use.

To avail outsourced medical transcription solutions from TransDyne, click here.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Medical transcription: How does outsourcing help increase cash flow?

Outsourcing is the process of obtaining certain services through an outside service provider. Usually the services that are outsourced are essential services that form part of the costs. Outsourcing is a good method to cut down costs and sharpen focus on the core business.

Medical transcription is the process of creating medical records of the patient -healthcare professional encounter. Though medical transcription is an essential part of the healthcare process and plays an important role in the receivable cycle, it is not part of the core competence of the healthcare facility. Outsourcing medical transcription to a  professional service provider is a cost effective method of record creation in a timely, accurate and secure way.

Apart from the obvious advantages of outsourcing medical transcription, there is the added advantage of increased cash flow.

How does outsourcing of medical transcription services improve cash flow?
By restricting cost of transcription: Outsourcing medical transcription limits the cost of transcription to the cost per line of transcription. There is no wastage of idle production capacity during slack times and no extra expenses for medical transcription when the patient influx is high. A professional medical transcription service provider would provide a package deal including weekend and holiday transcription requirements.

By reducing investment in infrastructure: Outsourcing medical transcription eliminates the need for investment in capital investment like computers, furniture, and servers with regard to medical transcription. The healthcare facility can channel these funds for other purposes.

By reducing expenses in utilities: In-house transcription would incur a large expense in terms of utilities like power, Internet etc. by outsourcing medical transcription the cost of utilities would be dramatically reduced, thus improving the cash flow.

By shortening the receivables cycle: It is a known fact that the medical record of the patient is the basis for coding and billing and medical transcription is the process of creating these records. Timely medical transcription accelerates the process of reimbursement, thus improving cash flow.

TransDyne is a professionally managed medical transcription service provider that has been providing outsourced medical transcription services for over a decade. TransDyne provides medical transcription services, which are tailored to suit the specific needs of different healthcare facilities. Apart from increasing the cash flow of a healthcare facility, the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne are:
  • Accuracy of above 99%
  • Turnaround time of 24 hours with an option of 4-12 hours for STAT reports
  • Data transmission through secure channels
  • HIPAA and HITECH compliance by use of secure technology, processes, people and infrastructure.
  • No dilution of quality and security by use of subcontractors
  • Reasonable and fair pricing ensuring enormous savings.
  • Technology that not only enables automatic upload of files, download of files, powerful archiving, easy EMR integration, but also easy to use.
  • Remote printing and Fax solutions
  • 24/7 customer interaction to solve any issues that may arise
  • Free trial for a limited period without any obligatory signup
To avail the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne, click here.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Medical transcription: Outsourcing advantages

When it comes to medical transcription needs of a healthcare facility, there are various options available to them. They could choose to go in for an in-house transcription team or engage Independent contractors, or engage the services of a medical transcription service provider. Sometimes healthcare facilities choose to have a combination of all three.

However outsourcing medical transcription needs on a turnkey basis to a professional medical transcription service provider has a lot of advantages. Once the expertise of the medical transcription service provider has been evaluated in terms of accuracy, turnaround time, security, technology and the flexibility of services, there are many advantages to outsourcing medical transcription the right way.

Given below are some of the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription:
  1. Saving time: By outsourcing medical transcription, the administrative staff of the healthcare facility as well the healthcare professionals can organize their limited time better to focus on the core business; that of providing quality care.
  2. Saving resources: Outsourcing medical transcription frees up resources like Information technology, real estate, working capital, management personnel etc. These resources can then be utilized more optimally.
  3. Savings on infrastructure: Having medical transcription in-house would require infrastructure like real estate, computers, utilities etc, which would have to be dedicated to medical transcription. By outsourcing medical transcription, investment on this infrastructure could be saved.
  4. Saving on efforts: A lot efforts are needed from people at every level, when medical transcription is executed in-house or through the use of independent contractors. Activities like recruitment, training requires a lot of effort. Outsourcing medical transcription makes sure that these efforts are channeled more productively.
  5. Less strain on internal resources: Due to increasing costs, decreasing percentage of reimbursements, and limited budgets, it has become increasingly challenging to manage internal resources. Outsourcing medical transcription lessens the strain on internal resources.
  6. Gaining from the expertise of the provider: Outsourcing medical transcription has the advantage of the healthcare facility gaining from the expertise of the medical transcription service provider. The experience and expertise of the medical transcription service provider add to the other benefits of outsourcing.
  7. High quality of service: As more and more resources of the healthcare facility are freed, the focus on providing quality services would improve, thereby enhancing the quality of service.
  8. Flexibility of choice: One of the major advantages of outsourcing medical transcription is the flexibility of services provided. The onus of having to organize medical transcription services for varying influx of patients, holiday transcription and weekend transcription needs is on the service provider.
  9. Increase shareholder value: With the minimization of costs, profits are maximized thus increasing shareholder value.
  10. Streamlined and improved operations: With one of the vital functions in the healthcare process, being taken care of, the administration of the healthcare facility is free to focus on other areas. This helps streamline and improve operations.
  11. Being competitive: The ability to cut costs without affecting the quality and turnaround time of medical reports, gives a competitive edge to the healthcare facility.
  12. Improvement and expansion of services: With huge cost saving benefits and improvement in efficiency, by outsourcing medical transcription, the healthcare facility, improvement and expansion plans become a reality.
  13. Improvement in cash flow: Medical transcription is the first stage of the receivables cycle. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the turnaround time is reduced, thus quickening the receivables cycle. This in turn improves the cash flow.
Apart from all the above strategic advantages, outsourcing medical transcription needs to a professional medical transcription service provider like TransDyne has benefits like 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.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Flexible services

It is a constantly changing world, needs are also constantly changing. It is the onus of the service providers to be flexible to meet the changing requirements of their target customers. Medical transcription is a service that has been allied with the healthcare sector by converting the audio records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. To fulfill the varying needs of the healthcare sector it is important that medical transcription services be flexible.

What are the factors that could affect medical transcription?
Varying influx of patients: The influx of patients is not something that can be predicted. It is important for medical transcription service providers to be prepared for varying volumes of transcription depending on the inflow of patients.

Turnaround time requirements: Different specialties have different turnaround time requirements. Sometimes the healthcare professional may require the report to be transcribed instantly and sometimes a time lag does not affect the process of healthcare. A medical transcription service provider has to be in a position to meet the varying turnaround time requirements

New specialties being added to existing healthcare facilities: A medical transcription service provider may be used to transcribing only for certain specialties. When new specialties are added the medical transcription service provider has to develop competency in transcribing for the new specialty as well as keeping up with the current demands.

Expansion plans: Healthcare facilities may have plans to expand geographically as well as in other ways. This could mean that the medical transcription service provider needs to adjust to various new factors like new healthcare professionals, new specialties, new formats, different accents, different time zones, different turnaround time expectations and even different systems

Different formats required by different specialists: Medical transcription service providers have to keep up with the demands of different formats of reports required by different specialists.

New developments in the field of healthcare: Healthcare is a field that has constant developments. This could be in the form of discovering new ailments, new therapies and invention of new drugs and procedures. A competent medical transcription service provider has to constantly update its’ team of medical transcriptionists to enable them to provide expert medical transcription services.

Adoption of EMR: Healthcare facilities may decide to implement an EMR/EHR system. This would require a medical transcription service provider to enable entry of information into the EMR/EHR via HL7 interface.

Adoption of voice recognition software: Sometimes the medical transcription service provider has to adopt the role of proofreader/editor when healthcare facilities have adopted voice recognition software for their medical transcription needs.

Being associated with healthcare, medical transcription services have to be flexible to meet the varying needs.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry believes in being flexible to meet the varying needs of healthcare facilities. TransDyne has a team of expert medical transcriptionists who have trained to be domain experts in various specialties; this ensures that medical transcription needs for new specialties added are handled expertly. TransDyne has the technology in place to handle HL7 interface for EMR/EHR  adoption. TransDyne can handle varying turnaround time requirements as well any specific formats required by healthcare professionals.

Outsourcing to a company like TransDyne, which is a leader in the medical transcription industry provides numerous benefits like medical transcription services with 99% accuracy, a guaranteed turnaround time of 24 hours with an option of 4-12 hours for STAT reports, reducing costs by 40% to 50%,  technology that is advanced but easy to use and transcription through secure channels to ensure HIPAA and HITECH compliance.

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

Monday, July 26, 2010

Medical transcription: A case study for outsourcing

Dr. Williams, 37, was based in New Jersey in an upscale neighborhood. He was a general physician and had a well-established practice. He had a small clinic right next to his home, a staff of two, a nurse and a receptionist cum secretary. He also had a part time accountant who took care of filing reimbursement forms, bank work and tax filing.

The nurse, Sarah would help him with initial information collection like patient name, social security number, details of the healthcare plan, demographics and assisted him while examining patients, administering injections, checking blood pressure etc. The receptionist/secretary Jane was in charge of scheduling patients, handling patients when they came in and transcribing the doctors notes once he had finished dictating his notes.

Dr. Williams found that he was constantly juggling things, and he could never find the information he wanted on time. He could not actually find fault with Jane as she seemed to be overloaded with work. She constantly seemed to be juggling phone calls, people in the reception, typing out files and maintaining the filing system. He was also informed by Robert the accountant that his fund flow was low, as filing for claims seemed to take an inordinate time, owing to the fact that he could never find information on time.

Dr. Williams would observe whenever there was an additional influx of patients he would receive reports as late as seven days including for those patients for whom he had ordered further tests. This would hinder him from making the appropriate treatment plans. He would find himself relying on scribbled notes, his own memory and the inputs provided by his nurse. And one day he was stunned to observe a patient craning her neck to try and read from the computer trying to view what Jane had typed. When he looked at the screen himself, he was flabbergasted to observe it was a file about a well-known patient of his who was having some rather embarrassing health problems.

He would also find that he had lesser time to spend with his family due to the fact that an inordinate amount of his time was spent looking for information in the patient records and then correcting wrong entries. He would question Jane about it only to be told that she only had so much time to do everything. Sometimes he would find that whole tapes of his recordings had been misplaced and therefore big chunks of information would be missing from Patient records, sometimes entire files would be missing.

He tried to outsource the excess work of transcription to an independent contractor (IC) and soon found that the rates were high and he had to spend a lot of time explaining to the IC what he ‘actually’ wanted. He also was not assured of uninterrupted services during weekends and Holidays. In addition, more time was spent on coordinating the files transcribed by his secretary and those transcribed by the IC.

And when claims were filed for reimbursement, he would find that it was very difficult to bill the patient for the rejected amount of the claim as too much time had passed since the patient’s visit.

One day he got in touch with TransDyne (www.transdyne.com), a full service medical transcription provider. The people at TransDyne heard his office woes and offered to take care of his medical transcription needs. He was not sure but decided to listen to their offer. TransDyne offered him a medical transcription plan with the following benefits:
  • He could retain his current mode of dictation
  • Transcribed files would be returned with a turnaround time of 24 hours. If he required STAT files sooner, they could be returned within 4-12 hours.
  • The files would have a guaranteed accuracy of above 99%
  • All his weekend and holiday transcription work would be covered.
  • He would be provided with the benefits of an online system, which would help him trace his dictations and transcribed documents easily. His dictations would be uploaded automatically and he would have the options of printing finished documents automatically, if required
  • The information would be completely secure ensuring HIPAA/ HITECH compliance
  • The cost per line of transcription would be 10 cents per 65-character line
  • Any specific formats and templates he wanted could be incorporated
  • Medical transcriptionists who were specifically trained in his specialty would transcribe his files
  • TransDyne had the ability to transmit information from the transcribed files into an EMR system if required
  • TransDyne would offer him a free trial period to enjoy their services before deciding to sign with them
  • He could talk to customers of TransDyne who had benefited from similar services
Dr. Williams checked with a couple of satisfied customers and decided to avail a free trial of medical transcription services from TransDyne. He was pleasantly surprised at how easy and convenient it was. In case he or his staff had any queries TransDyne would attend to them immediately. He was thrilled to see that his medical transcription costs had come down by nearly 50%. Information was available on time and was captured accurately. The technology features offered by TransDyne made life easier, by making it easy to locate any information. He was also happy to observe that the entire process was secure. Dr. Williams decided to sign a contract with TransDyne to avail their services

In the next few weeks, Robert informed him that his funds flow had improved and reimbursements were happening faster because they were now able to file claims much sooner than they were doing earlier.

To avail the advantages of outsourced medical transcription services by TransDyne click here or call (866)-290-0301.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Medical transcription: Process for outsourcing

Having seen the strategic advantages of outsourcing medical transcription, a healthcare facility needs to adopt a strategy for outsourcing medical transcription that enables them to avail all the advantages.

The process for outsourcing should include the following:
Selection of appropriate vendor for medical transcription, based on:
  1. Long-term experience of the medical transcription service provider: While outsourcing services as vital as medical transcription it pays to be cautious while picking out the provider. History of the provider is providing similar services are vital. This shows that the medical transcription service provider is prepared in every way to deliver the right solution.
  2. Availability of skilled people with the service provider: The quality/ accuracy and the timeliness of the records transcribed are vital for providing quality healthcare and have other uses like the forming the basis of coding & billing and as evidence in case of litigation. The accuracy of the transcripts and the turnaround time are dependent on the skill level of the medical transcriptionists. Therefore it is important that the medical transcription service provider has a team of expert medical transcriptionists.
  3. Technical infrastructure available with the service provider: The technological capabilities affects the turnaround time, security of data and the ease of use. Factors like flexible modes of dictation, automatic upload of audio files and download of transcribed records, archiving facilities and HL7 integration are important factors to be analyzed.
  4. Pricing: Pricing in medical transcription can be as easy or as complex as the billing method used by the medical transcription service provider. Often prices are discussed without properly qualifying the billable units or the billing method. This leaves room for manipulation and ambiguities. The billing method needs to be verifiable, measurable, definable, consistent and fair& honest.
  5. Integration capabilities: The systems/technology used by the service provider needs to easily integrate with the systems of the healthcare facilities. This ensures access to information in an easy and workable manner.
  6. Security measures taken by the medical transcription service provider: Patient data is confidential and needs to be protected at every stage. Because the medical transcription process involves the transmission of data through electronic channels and is exposed to medical transcriptionists during the process of transcription, it is highly vulnerable to misuse. Security measures taken by the medical transcription service provider needs to cover technology, process and people to ensure total confidentiality.
  7. Investment required for availing the services: One of the main reasons for outsourcing medical transcription is to curb capital investment towards non-healthcare related areas in a healthcare facility. While outsourcing medical transcription, the healthcare facility needs to ensure that no further capital investment is required.
  8. Adaptability of service provider to varying demands: The demands of healthcare professionals may vary according to many factors like their specialty, influx of patients and other factors. While choosing a medical transcription service provider it is important to choose one that has experience servicing varied requirements.
  9. Customer service channels: Transition from in-house medical transcription to outsourced medical transcription requires a certain period of handholding to make the process smooth. Even after the transition process is complete, there may be numerous instances where instant turnaround on queries is required. Open channels of communication are essential while outsourcing.
Verifying testimonials: Success stories of clients who have availed of similar services need to be checked before finalizing the outsourced medical transcription service provider.

Free trial period: Availing a free trial period will ensure that the service provider is capable of delivering services as per the promised criteria.

The contact: The actual contract needs to be studied and all the requisite parameters required should be included, in a clear and unambiguous manner.

TransDyne, a leading provider of medical transcription services offers medical transcription services that include all the above criteria. TransDyne:

  • Has been providing outsourced medical transcription services for over a decade
  • Has a large team of expertly trained medical transcriptionists, ensuring accuracy and turnaround time
  • Uses technology that is advanced and easy to use
  • Uses the “character method” of billing to ensure fair pricing,
  • Has the technological capability to integrate with the healthcare facilities’ systems.
  • Is HIPAA and HITECH compliant with regard to technology, processes, infrastructure and people
  • Requires zero investment to avail their services.
  • Can adapt their services to the needs of the clients.
  • Has  open channels of communication available 24/7.
  • Has some of the success stories available on their website
  • Offers a free trial period without obligatory sign up
  • Is ready to work on the contract as per the needs of the client.
To avail the strategic advantages of outsourced medical transcription by TransDyne click here.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Strategic advantages

Due to the advent of Internet, services from all over the world have suddenly become more accessible. As the concept of global village advances, it makes sense for all businesses to outsource non-core activities to make the most of their limited resources. Communication facilities have improved, development of processes have reached maturity and there are well-integrated teams in place to provide specialized services at reasonable rates.

When it comes to healthcare, administrators of healthcare facilities have to deal with shrinking budgets, reduced reimbursements and increased demand for quality healthcare services. It makes sense to strategically outsource those functions that are not part of the core business. Medical transcription is one such function that demands a high level of commitment in terms of both time and resources. Outsourcing medical transcription to a professionally managed medical transcription service provider can provide the healthcare facility with numerous advantages:

  • It streamlines medical transcription: By outsourcing the medical transcription needs of the healthcare facility to a professional medical transcription service provider the process gets streamlined. The medical transcription service provider acts as a one-stop shop to provide varied services with different parameters from one source. Co-ordination for quality, turnaround time, security and pricing becomes simpler
  • Reduces demand for medical transcription staff: It has been seen that getting the right people to work on transcription is important to meet all parameters like accuracy, turnaround time and security. By outsourcing medical transcription the onus of acquiring the right team is passed on to the service provider.
  • Provides access to additional resources in the form of skill sets and technology: By outsourcing medical transcription the healthcare facility can have the advantage of the technology used by the service provider along with the skill sets of the provider’s team.
  • Guarantees reduction in expenses: By outsourcing medical transcription to the right medical transcription service provider, the healthcare facility can expect to benefit from both the skills and the economies of scale of the service provider in terms of drastic reduction in the cost per line of transcription.
  • Special medical transcription needs/problems are attended to immediately: Due to the benefits of having a huge team of skilled medical transcriptionists available to the medical transcription service provider, they would be in a position to accommodate any special needs of the healthcare professionals, whether in terms of formats, or turnaround time or any other parameters required by them.
  • Services improve and become more reliable: Medical transcription is the process of consolidating information regarding the patients’ encounter with the healthcare professional. Timely medical transcription can have a positive impact on the quality of healthcare services by providing timely and accurate information.
To avail the strategic advantages of outsourced medical transcription, the healthcare facility has to undergo a process of identifying their needs and picking out the right service provider.

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!

For more details about how to use TransDyne’s superior outsourced medical transcription services, click here.

Process for choosing the right medical transcription service provider in the next blog.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Medical transcription: The beginning and the end

Medical transcription has become popular both as a profession and as a service needed by healthcare facilities. Though most people are aware of medical transcription as a process of converting audio files of a patient-healthcare professional encounter into a text format, the role of medical transcription is still not clear and is often confused with medical billing or that of a medical secretary.

Medical transcription is more than just the conversion of audio files of the patient-healthcare professional into text format. The records created by medical transcription play an important role in the following:
  1. Patient treatment: Information plays a vital role in continuity of patient treatment. Factors like age, sex, occupation, lifestyle, allergies, previous treatments & medication etc are vital to the ability to provide quality care. Medical transcription plays an important role in recording these details as accurately as possible.
  2. Permanent Patient records: Medical transcription creates records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter to form part of the permanent patient record. This enables the healthcare professional to draw information from a reliable source rather than depend on his/her memory or the patients themselves. The medical record containing the patient’s medical history is especially important while providing emergency care, where the patient is not in a condition to provide details about himself/herself.
  3. Referrals to other doctors: A patient may be required to be referred to a specialist for further treatment. In this case the medial record provides information of the findings and treatment given till date and prevents wastage of resources by preventing duplication.
  4. Evidence in case of malpractice suits: In case of litigation the medical record provides important evidence of the process of healthcare provided by the healthcare professional. Documenting the patient-healthcare professional process in detail can lessen the ambiguity and clear the healthcare professional of any malpractice.
  5. Satisfaction of regulatory norms: The law requires that the patients’ record should be maintained by the healthcare facility for a minimum period of time.
The role of medical transcription is not just limited to the healthcare aspect. Medical transcription also plays a vital role in the accounts receivables cycle. The information recorded in the patient’s records form the basis of:
  • Coding: Based on the information in the medical record coding is done as per CPT (current procedural terminology) and ICD (international classification of disease) with the help of coding books and maintaining coding guidelines.
  • Billing: The bills are then generated as per the coded records, which are then sent to the relevant insurance providers for claims.
Medical transcription plays a vital role in both the provision of quality healthcare as well as the commercial aspects. Medical transcription starts with the patient-healthcare professional encounter and continues to play an important role in collections as well as providing information for other factors like research, profiling of diseases, prevention of epidemics and preventive disease management.

Considering the vital role played by medical transcription, choosing a medical transcription service provider requires careful consideration. The medical transcription service provider needs to be assessed on the basis of accuracy, turnaround time, security, pricing and the technology used by the medical transcription service provider.

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.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Medical transcription: Outsourcing improves turnaround time and report accuracy

Outsourcing medical transcription has numerous benefits like reduction in the cost per line of transcription, shortening the accounts receivables cycle, decreasing management expenses and improving utilization of resources that otherwise would have been utilized for medical transcription. But the main benefit of outsourcing of medical transcription is that of increasing the accuracy of medical reports and decreasing turnaround time.

How does outsourcing medical transcription affect the accuracy of medical reports?

Core business: Medical transcription is the core business of the medical transcription service provider. This helps improve the accuracy level of the finished transcripts because all the resources of the medical transcription service provider are focused towards medical transcription unlike healthcare facilities whose core business is that of providing quality healthcare and medical transcription is just a support service.

Superior recruiting and training: The accuracy of the finished transcripts is totally dependent on the caliber of medical transcriptionists. A medical transcription service provider would have a process by which the best talent in the business would constantly be recruited and trained. The medical transcriptionists would not only be trained in the process of general medical transcription, they would also be given specialist training enabling them to become domain experts. This ensures accuracy of the finished transcripts from the very beginning.

Multi-level quality checks: A medical transcription service provider would have several levels of quality checks in place to ensure accuracy of the final transcripts. This would mean that the medical record would be subjected to quality checks by several sets of qualified “eyes and ears” to make sure that errors are minimized.

How does outsourcing medical transcription affect the turnaround time of finished transcripts?

Large pool of qualified medical transcriptionists: A medical transcription service provider would have a large pool of trained and qualified personnel who would be able to cope with the varying requirements of healthcare facilities. This would ensure that the turnaround time guarantee is met with in spite of factors like shift changes, absenteeism, weekend & holiday transcription requirements.

Use of technology: A professional medical transcription service provider would use advanced technology to meet both the turnaround time and security requirements. This would mean that the healthcare facility could benefit from this technology through improved turnaround time and security without having to make any additional investments.

It can be seen that by outsourcing medical transcription to a professionally managed medical transcription service provider a healthcare facility can benefit not only in terms of cost saving but also through increased accuracy and reduced turnaround time.

TransDyne is a professional medical transcription service provider that guarantees an accuracy level of above 99%. TransDyne focuses on the recruitment of quality medical transcriptionists and provides them with specialty training enabling them to provide quality transcription from the very beginning. TransDyne ensures accuracy by adopting a four level quality check of medical transcriptionist, language proofreader, unit in charge and finally by our Quality Assurance (QA) team which tries to minimize errors before returning the finished reports

TransDyne assures a turnaround time of 24 hours from the time of receipt of the audio. STAT reports have a turnaround time of 4-12 hours. TransDyne offers prompt medical transcription services and maintains their turnaround time by maintaining a large pool medical transcriptionists who are trained to their stringent standards. TransDyne has a technologically advanced system that has features like automatic uploads and downloads. These features enable the audio files to be uploaded automatically for transcription and also enable the finished transcripts to be made available automatically, improving turnaround time.

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

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Medical transcription: Outsourcing the right way!

Outsourcing medical transcription need not be a traumatic and difficult process. The transition process to outsourced services can be made easy by the simple process of matching the needs of the healthcare facility to the services provided by the medical transcription service provider.

When it comes to any service there are certain common factors that are absolutely vital. The same criteria can be applied to outsourcing medical transcription services. Normally any service is evaluated based on the following:

Quality: In case of medical transcription quality of service denoted the accuracy of the transcribed document in comparison to the audio records

Speed: The speed of service in case of medical transcription refers to the turnaround time. The turnaround time required can vary according to the type of services provided by the healthcare facility

Consistency: Consistency of service with reference to medical transcription refers to the ability of the medical transcription service provider to provide consistent service no matter what the volumes.

Convenience: Convenience in medical transcription services refers to the technology used. As time is a sparse commodity for healthcare professionals, the technology used for medical transcription should be easy to use without compromising the utility.

Flexibility: Flexibility of services in medical transcription refers to both the volumes as well as the modes of dictation.

Safety: Safety in medical transcription services refers to the security of confidential patient data at all stages of transcription. For medical transcription services to provide the requisite security care has to be taken to secure people, processes and technology.

Location of service: Location of service has lost all importance in this digital era. Medical transcription services can be availed from any location as long as the services meet all standards of accuracy, turnaround time, reasonable costs and security.

Investment: Availing services like medical transcription could mean additional investment in certain equipment. Care has to be taken to choose a service provider who can start the services with minimum investment.

Cost saving: One of the main benefits that a healthcare facility hopes to have from outsourcing medical transcription is that of enormous cost saving. Pricing has to be studied based on the parameters to make sure that there are no hidden costs.

Once a medical transcription service provider has been evaluated on the following criteria the next stage would involve:

Check references: This will provide an additional assurance on the capabilities of the medical transcription service provider to deliver the services as promised.

Avail free trial: Availing a free trial period for the services will help healthcare facility experience the service firsthand.

Check for channels of communication: Any service needs to be backed up by good channels for communication so that any doubts that arise can be clarified instantly.

TransDyne is a medical transcription service provider having vast experience in medical transcription. TransDyne provides medical transcription with an accuracy level of above 99%, a turnaround time of 24 hours and an option for 4-12 hours for STAT reports, at fair and reasonable prices, through secure HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels, all these services are provided with technology that is advanced but easy to use.

TransDyne proudly displays the success stories of some their clients on their website, offers a free trial period for availing their services and has open channels for communication enabling their customers to be in touch with them all the time.

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

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Medical transcription: Billing methods and line count methodology.

When it comes to outsourcing medical transcription needs, there are many factors to be considered. A healthcare facility needs to analyze what it exactly hopes to gain from outsourcing and then has to evaluate a medical transcription service provider on the basis of these criteria.

But one of the most important and often ignored factors is the billing method used by the medical transcription company. On the face of it, this could seem trivial, but it is really important to study this to ensure that the partnership with the service provider works in the long run. Comparing quotes by different providers could be like comparing apples to oranges. One needs to understand the variables in the billing methods used to make an equitable evaluation.

There are different methods of billing; some of the methods are as follows:

Page: Under this method the client will be charged on the number of pages transcribed. This seems like a fair and verifiable method unless one looks at it in depth. The disparity arises because of differences in the contents of a page. A page could have as many as 46 lines or have a low as 10 lines. However the amount charged would remain the same regardless of the contents of the page.

Report: Under this method the client will be charged a flat rate on each report transcribed. Again this is not a fair method of calculating rates for transcription as the number of pages and lines in a report could vary vastly.

Minute: Under this method the client would be charged on the number of minutes transcribed. This would mean that a slow talker would be charged more than a fast talker. This method would also include interruptions and any other intrusions that occur while a healthcare professional is dictating. Factors like accent, specialty of the healthcare professional could affect the cost of transcription.

Gross lines: Under this method a client would be charged on a visual count of lines. Many healthcare professionals do prefer this method given the ease of calculation. However what they do not realize is that under this method the bill could be beefed up by double spacing and other formatting tricks.

Visible black character: Under this method the client would be charged on the characters that are visible. This method does not provide for equitable charges for the efforts put in by the medical transcriptionists for spacing, formatting, bolding, italicizing, underlining, tab sets etc. Normally the charges under this method are inflated taking into consideration these factors, making this method unattractive.

Character line: Under this method the total number of characters transcribed including space and returns are added and the total is divided by a predefined number like 50, 60, 65 characters to arrive at the total number of lines transcribed.

The character line method of billing has the advantage of meeting all the criteria of “ Billing method principles” as recommended by the MTIA.

According to the billing method principles advocated by the MTIA a billing method has to be:
  • Verifiable
  • Definable
  • Measurable
  • Consistent
  • Fair and honest
TransDyne has adopted the character line method of billing, charging 10 cents for a 65-character line. This ensures that the client is charged a price, which is fair and easy to understand. Care is taken to make sure that the healthcare facility has no doubts about the method about the line count methodology and the billing method.

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert medical transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time and 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 low cost medical transcription services for TransDyne, click here

Friday, July 16, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Quality services

What makes the quality of a service great?


When the needs that lead to the purchase decision are fulfilled with the right service, with the desired quality, within the desired parameters, within the desired timeframe, with ease and with reasonable prices, it would be considered to be of the great quality.

When it comes to a service like medical transcription, which is a critical part of the total healthcare process, the components of great quality would be defined as:

Accuracy: Accuracy in medical transcription refers to the integrity of the data in the text report in comparison to the audio recording. Accuracy is one of the most important criteria while assessing medical transcription services as the data in the medical record forms the basis of patient records, future treatment, referrals and in case of litigation.

Turnaround time: Apart from the accuracy of the data recorded, the turnaround time of the reports is important for the ability to provide quality care. Having the right information at the right time can help improve the quality of care and accelerate the receivables cycle.

Security of data: The information collected during the patient-healthcare professional encounter is private and confidential. It is important to protect the confidentiality of the data during transmission, as this data is vulnerable to misuse.

Right technology: Technology plays an important role in both protecting the confidentiality of the data as well as the turnaround time. Not only this, technology also plays a major role in providing busy and time-starved healthcare professionals ease of use allowing them to make optimum use of their time.

Reasonable prices: Though medical transcription is critical to the provision of quality care and the acceleration of the receivables cycle, it does not directly contribute to the income, therefore the cost per line of transcription should be fair and reasonable.

Flexibility: For medical transcription services to be great, the service has to have the flexibility to adjust and provide services as per the needs of the healthcare facility. Special requirements like reports in specific formats, holiday & weekend transcription, STAT reports etc. need to be accommodated.

What are the factors that help achieve quality medical transcription?

The right people: The quality of medical transcription is totally dependent on the quality of medical transcriptionists. Quality of medical transcriptionists is again dependent on the recruitment and training methods used by the medical transcription service provider. Care has to be taken to have a foolproof selection process and medical transcriptionists have to be trained in specific specialties instead of generic training. This helps them become domain experts who can produce quality work within specified turnaround time from the very beginning.

The right process: To achieve quality medical transcription, there needs to be a process in place, which will ensure that the data is captured accurately and errors are minimized. Moreover having the right process also ensures that turnaround time is met and security of data is not compromised.

The right technology: Technology plays varied roles like:

  • Easy and flexible modes of dictation
  • Easy & automatic uploads and downloads
  • Help secure the data during transmission with features like encryption, firewalls etc
  • Powerful archival facility
  • HL7 transmission for easy transition to EMR/EHR
The right customer support: The process of outsourcing medical transcription can be easy and simple when backed up by the right kind of customer support, which actively finds out the specific requirements of the healthcare facility and tailors the solutions accordingly. Even after the services have begun, a good customer support system in place can iron out any hiccups and solve minor issues immediately.

TransDyne provides flexible and quality medical transcription services with an assured accuracy level of above 99%, guaranteed turnaround time of 24 hours and an option of 4-12 hours for STAT reports, through secure channels, at reasonable prices and with technology that is advanced but easy to use. TransDyne has the right people, the right process, the right technology and the right customer support to provide quality medical transcription.

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

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Medical transcription: Turnaround time

Medical transcription is the process of converting the audio records of a patient-healthcare professional encounter into a typed format, which is then stored as part of the patient’s permanent health record. This record could be stored in paper format or as a soft copy. This ensures that information is available for the continued care of the patient. Moreover this record is also essential to initiate the process of reimbursement.

The quality of medical transcription services is evaluated on the basis of accuracy, turnaround time, pricing and security. The added benefit of medical transcription comes from the technology used by the medical transcription service provider, providing additional features that add value to the service.

As with any other service the value of the service comes from being available on time. In case of medical transcription this becomes even more important as it involves healthcare where having the right information can make a huge difference to the quality of healthcare. Having records on hand takes away the need to depend on memory or guesswork.

Turnaround time denotes the time between uploading the audio files to when the finished transcripts are made available to the healthcare professional. Most service providers guarantee turnaround time. The decision making process for choosing the right provider means that they should be evaluated on their ability to meet their commitment.

A healthcare facility needs to carefully evaluate the turnaround time guaranteed by the service provider. There are certain criteria that can be used to evaluate whether the guaranteed turnaround time will be delivered.

Given below are some of the factors, which indicate the ability of the service provider to deliver on their guaranteed turnaround time:

  • Technology: Apart from convenience and security, technology used by the medical transcription service provider plays a significant role in meeting turnaround time guarantee. Convenient features like automatic upload for dictation, downloading finished transcripts, and backup systems can cut down the turnaround time. This would make work at both the healthcare facility and medical transcription service provider’s ends fast, safe and convenient.
  • Executing medical transcription work in-house: When a service provider executes all the medical transcription work outsourced to them, in-house, this not only ensures accuracy and security, but also cuts down the turnaround time. Factors like system failure, absenteeism and power failures at the subcontractors’ end can cause a lot of delays. Moreover subcontractors would treat work as just another job and not have the commitment to meet the turnaround time offered by the service provider.
  • Training methods used: As medical transcription work is totally dependent on the skill set of the people working on it, the training method used by the medical transcription service provider can fine-tune the turnaround time. Medical transcriptionists trained to be domain specialists could be able to execute accurate work at optimum speed from the very beginning.
  • Service provider’s experience in dealing with varied customer needs: The experience of the medical transcription service provider in dealing with healthcare facilities of all types would give them the experience to have tried and tested methods in place to produce quality work within the turnaround time promised.
  • Standardized quality check procedures: Having a standard method in place for producing work of accuracy levels promised can ensure that the turnaround time guarantee is met with.
TransDyne offers a turnaround time guarantee of 24 hours with an option of 4-12 hours for STAT reports. TransDyne meets the turnaround time commitment by using the latest technology, executing all medical transcription work in-house, training medical transcriptionists to be domain specialists, have experience in dealing with healthcare facilities with varied needs and has in place standardized quality check procedures.

Not only guaranteed turnaround time, TransDyne also offers medical transcription with an accuracy of above 99%, at fair and reasonable prices, through HIPAA and HITECH channels and with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

To avail speedy and prompt medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Medical transcription services: At low costs

The dilemma of every healthcare facility during the decision making process for outsourcing is to determine which medical transcription service provider will deliver low cost medical transcription as promised. That is quality transcription, at low cost, within the turnaround time promised and without compromising the security of data. Once the process of choosing an outsourcer starts, the deluge of information available can be really confusing, often misleading. Medical transcription being such a critical function requires the healthcare facility to proceed with the outsourcing decision cautiously.

Given below are a few indicators that will help separate the wheat from the chaff and make the outsourcing process more effective.

Check for billing methods: Medical transcription service providers use several methods for billing that can often look attractive, but turn out to have hidden costs. Often the method of billing leaves a huge scope for manipulation. The billing method used for medical transcription needs to be definable, verifiable, measurable, consistent and fair & honest. There are various methods by which medical transcription work is billed; the billing could be based on page, report, and gross lines or by minutes of dictation. All these methods leave room for manipulation. The “character line” method of billing has been found to be adhering to the Billing Method Principles as prescribed by AHDI and gives a representation of fair charges for services rendered.

Check for training practices: Training methods used by the medical transcription service provider directly affect the accuracy level and the turnaround time times and this would have an indirect impact on the cost per line. A medical transcription service provider, who is committed to providing their customers with the best possible service would refine their training methods according to the need of the healthcare professionals. Medical transcriptionists trained in one or two specialties of medicine would be able to provide quality transcription within the promised turnaround time from the very beginning.

Check whether the medical transcription service provider uses subcontractors: Often it has been seen that medical transcription service providers further subcontract the work to subcontractors, which would result in dilution of quality, delay in turnaround time and compromise the security of the data. This indirectly impacts the cost per line of transaction.

Check for methods used to obtain the accuracy levels guaranteed: Often in the quest for meeting turnaround time, accuracy of reports generated could be compromised. This could lead to gross errors in reports and result in frequent mishaps.

Check for the technology used: The technology used by the medical transcription service provider not only affects the turnaround time, but  can also  have an impact on the technology spending of the healthcare facility. In some cases when the security measures are not adequate it could also affect the security of the data.

Check for success stories: The experience of the medical transcription service provider in providing solutions to healthcare facilities of various dimensions would clearly indicate the willingness of the service provider to tailor their services to the specific needs of the healthcare facilities, without adversely compromising cost, quality, turnaround time and security.

Check for open channels for customer service: The transition from in-house medical transcription to outsourced medical transcription can have a few hiccups in the beginning stages. A proactive customer service department can solve all minor issues from the very beginning. It is important to check whether the medical transcription service provider has open channels for response to queries.

TransDyne, a leader in the medical transcription field offers customized solutions to suit the needs of healthcare facilities regardless of their size. TransDyne offers medical transcription services at reasonable rates using the “character line method of billing”. Care is taken to explain the methodology in detail, so that there are no ambiguities.

TransDyne believes in taking care of special needs of healthcare professionals by training their medical transcriptionists in one or two areas of medicine, enabling them to offer quality output from the very beginning.

TransDyne believes that it is their privilege to serve the needs of their customers personally that is why they do not use subcontractors to execute the work outsourced to them. This ensures the accuracy levels are met, security is not compromised and turnaround time is met with.

TransDyne ensures quality by adopting a four level quality check of medical transcriptionist, language proofreader, unit in charge and finally by the quality assurance team which tries to minimize errors before returning the finished reports.

TransDyne uses advance technology to ensure automatic uploads, downloads and archiving. TransDyne also uses appropriate measures like incorporating security measures like 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security, safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers, denial of access procedure and multi modal alerts as security measures. This enables the healthcare facility to benefit from all this technology without requiring them to make huge investments.

TransDyne has been successfully serving some of the leading names in healthcare, the testimonials of some of these satisfied customers are available on their website.

TransDyne has open channels of communication, which enables them to solve any queries as soon as possible.

To avail cost effective medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Medical transcription: Outsourcing at low costs

The concept of outsourcing is not new to the world. The origin of outsourcing started with goods, when certain things especially of good quality and affordable prices could only be produced in certain places. This was generally because of geographical, climatic conditions and availability of skilled labor. This gave consumers the benefit of quality goods at low costs.

Outsourcing of services however has become possible only in the modern world with the advent of various means of transportation, communication and the advent of the Internet. It has made it truly easy for enterprises to concentrate on their core business and outsource non-core activities. This helps them consolidate their position and increase profits by containing costs. It is a well-known fact that it is cheaper to avail services from a source that is specialized in providing the service rather than executing it in-house.

The business of healthcare requires a high degree of skill and education, along with resources like investment and time. It is a highly specialized and essential service that requires total concentration. One of the main concerns in the field of healthcare is that of dilution of focus. There are various essential activities associated with healthcare that are not part of the core business, but require considerable resources and expertise. Medical transcription is one such activity. It forms the basis for continuity of quality care and the starting point for reimbursements.

Outsourcing medical transcription is an economical and efficient method to improve quality and turnaround time. TransDyne provides professional medical transcription services with benefits like:

Pricing: TransDyne believes in offering a fair and verifiable price that will ensure the profit of the healthcare facility. TransDyne offers both competitive prices as well as quality work. TransDyne offers medical transcription work at the rate of 10 cents per 65-character line, which is much lower than the industry norms. The method of billing used by TransDyne ensures that the price is fair and verifiable.

Accuracy: TransDyne offers medical transcription with accuracy of 99% or above. TransDyne ensures quality by adopting a four level quality check of medical transcriptionist, language proofreader, unit in charge and finally by the quality assurance team which tries to minimize errors before returning the finished reports.

Turnaround time: TransDyne assures a turnaround time of 24 hours from the time of uploading the dictation file into our servers. STAT reports have a turnaround time of 4-12 hours. Turnaround time is guaranteed by using the right training methods and the right technology.

Security: TransDyne ensures secure medical transcription by incorporating security measures like 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security, safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers, denial of access procedure and multi modal alerts.

Technology that is easy to use: TransDyne believes that technology should not only be advanced, but also be easy to use for the end user. TransDyne has made it very easy for the doctors to upload their dictation through various devices and also down load the transcribed files in a simple manner.

Outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne offers all the advantages like the right price, the right technology, the right quality and optimum turnaround time without any of the operational hassles of in-house medical transcription. Apart from the obvious benefits outsourcing medical transcription has benefits like:

  • Savings on capital investments
  • Less strain on precious internal resources.
  • Renewed focus on core business
  • Improve strategic planning
  • Service around the clock
To avail outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Medical transcription: The success story

Medical transcription has been an integral part of healthcare, providing a low key but essential service for a long time. The reason behind the success of medical transcription is the ability of this industry to adapt to change.

To quote Darwin” It’s not the strongest or the largest of the species that survives, but the one most adaptable to change”

This has never been truer than for the medical transcription industry. Veterans in the industry would vouch for the changes that have taken place and the way medical transcription service providers and medical transcriptionists have adapted to these changes.

Medical transcription service providers have come a long way from the days of collecting tapes of healthcare professional’s dictation from the healthcare facility and typing them up and returning reports to the healthcare facility. With the advent of computers and the Internet, it has become possible for medical transcription service providers from remote locations to serve the needs of healthcare facilities in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Medical transcription has adapted to the technological changes admirably by adopting technology to improve all the standards of medical transcription work, namely:

  • Accuracy
  • Turnaround time
  • Pricing
  • Security of data.
Not only have service providers adapted themselves to new technology but also used technology for the maximum benefit of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities, by providing additional features like:

  • Automatic uploads
  • Automatic downloads
  • Archiving
  • Flexible modes of dictation.
  • HL7 integration
The progress of medical transcription into the technological era has not been without pitfalls. There have been doubts about the sanctity and security of confidential patient data and the threat of being phased out by voice recognition software.

Security for medical transcription: Some of the leaders in the medical transcription industry like TransDyne have taken appropriate measures to secure technology by incorporating security measures like 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security, safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers, denial of access procedure and multi modal alerts. Further security measures regarding the people and processes have totally secured the confidentiality of data.

Voice recognition software: Had been touted as a substitute for medical transcription. But with usage it has been proven that medical transcription is essential for voice recognition software to meet the standards of accuracy needed! Accuracy of data in transcribed report is probably the single most important feature of medical transcription as it plays an important role in both quality of healthcare and for coding & billing as part of the accounts receivable cycle. Voice recognition software has been known to give an accuracy of 60%-80%, after the software has been extensively trained on the healthcare professional’s voice and the appropriate technology. It is left to the medical transcriptionist to proofread the transcripts and correct it to achieve accepted accuracy levels.

TransDyne, a leading name in the medical transcription industry has proven to be one of the foremost examples of the adaptability of a service provider. With the use of its extensive background in Information technology, TransDyne offers medical transcription services that are tailored to the needs of a healthcare facility, whether it is a single doctor practice, a multi-specialty clinic or a huge hospital with numerous divisions. TransDyne offers each a customized solution to meet their needs.

TransDyne offers medical transcription with an accuracy level of above 99%, turnaround time of 24 hours and 4-12 hours for STAT reports. Not only this, TransDyne has used its background in information technology to adopt latest technology to provide multiple benefits like absolute security of data, easy uploads & downloads of audio files, flexible modes of dictation, archiving facilities and HL7 integration. Using the right mix of people, process and technology, TransDyne provides immaculate medical transcription services at very reasonable rates.

To avail outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here