Medical transcription: The continued role in documenting the patient- healthcare professional encounter

With the release of the meaningful use criteria, there have been many doubts as to the role of medical transcription services in documenting the patient- healthcare professional encounter. Medical transcription has been an integral part of the healthcare process by diligently creating patient medical records maintaining quality standards of being accurate, timely, secure and cost effective. Medical transcription has also evolved from merely being a typing service to that of being a service that has effectively used technology to provide services that ease the working life of healthcare professionals.

To fully comprehend the continued role of medical transcription it is important to study the efficacy of alternate methods of capturing information.

Method 1: Capturing data at the point of care using a point and click template. Under this method the healthcare professional would have to capture data using customized templates during his/her interaction with the patient. Though this method promises instant report creation and cutting down of transcription costs, this method has some inherent shortcomings:

• Substantial investment in EMR: The healthcare facilities would have to make a substantial initial investment in the EMR System and spend a lot of time, money and efforts to customize the system to the specific requirements of the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals.
• Loss of information that comes from the free form narration: It has been seen that healthcare professionals are comfortable with the free form narration allowed under the traditional dictation- transcription method of document creation. Point and click method would restrain the way healthcare professionals collect information from the patients and this would result in inadequate collection of information.
• Poor quality of documentation: The point and click templates would not reflect all the nuances and minute details of a patient- healthcare professional encounter and would not tell the whole “story” which is such an integral part of the diagnostic process.
• Cost of lost productivity: Though this method of data capture eliminates the cost of medical transcription it would result in significant loss of the productive time of the healthcare professionals, eroding the bottom line to a substantial extent.
• Taking the focus away from providing quality care to the patient: Having to capture information in a structured manner would dilute the focus of the healthcare professional on the process of providing care to the patient hindering the process and resulting in patient dissatisfaction.
• Risk management issues: A detailed record of the process of care including the symptoms, the diagnosis, the treatment process, the progress made by the patient is invaluable as evidence in case of malpractice litigation. Point and click templates may not provide the required amount of details
• Inaccurate or inadequate coding leading to inadequate reimbursement: Medicine is a vast field having many variables a point and click template may not cover all the aspects and this could result in improper capture of information. This could further result in poor coding leading to inadequate reimbursements.

Method 2: Using front end speech recognition software. Under this method the dictation of the healthcare professional is automatically converted into text format. Though this method also promises real time report creation, this method of capturing information regarding the patient- healthcare professional encounter, it has some shortcomings:

• Cost of the software: Under this method though the costs associated with medical transcription are eliminated, a substantial investment in this software and subsequent customization to suit the needs of healthcare professionals could be required.
• Time spent training the software: Speech recognition or voice recognition software would require training from the healthcare professional with regards to the style, accent, and the enunciation of the healthcare professional to be able to produce documents of even 60%- 80% accuracy.
• Change in style of dictation: Using this software requires the healthcare professional to change his/her style of dictation causing loss of time and productivity
• Loss of productivity because of need for editing by the healthcare professional: To be of reasonably acceptable quality the healthcare professional has to spend a substantial amount of time editing and proofreading the document produced by this software. This would constrain the healthcare professional's productivity
• Could result in poor documentation quality: Due to obvious constraints like lack of time, lack of expertise of the healthcare professional in creating patient medical records and the inherent shortcomings of speech recognition software the documentation quality could be below par.

It can be seen that the role of specialist medical transcription services in the process of documenting the patient – healthcare professional encounter continues to be significant, though the mode of providing these services could have changed.
 

Outsourced medical transcription service providers have adapted to the changing requirements by providing editing and proof reading services to back end speech recognition. This enables conserve on the productivity of healthcare professionals.

 

For adopting the EMR/EHR system, one needs to look for a medical transcription company that has the capabilities to import patient information to the EMR/EHR system while at the same time able to maintain accuracy, turnaround time and offer reasonable rates. This could help overcome issues like loss of productivity leading to erosion of bottom line, personal care for patients etc.

 

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

 Not only that TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, executed by experienced and qualified medical transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: What to expect

Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription service provider has proven to be a prudent solution for healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities seeking to create accurate, timely, secure and cost effective patient medical records. Outsourced medical transcription services provide several benefits to healthcare facilities, some of which are given below:

• Customized turnaround time: One of the major advantages of outsourcing medical transcription is delivery of transcripts within the turnaround time specified by the healthcare professional/ healthcare facility.
• Streamlined process for medical transcription: Medical transcription requires a system for collection of dictation, upload of audio files for transcription and document delivery modes to ensure timely delivery as specified by the healthcare professional. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the medical transcription service provider would have a transcription system in place, which would enable all these features.
• Archives to enable easy retrieval of transcripts: A lot of time of the healthcare professionals and the support staff at the healthcare facility is spent in retrieving old patient transcripts. The outsourced medical transcription service provider would provide a facility for archiving records, which will enable easy searching options. The healthcare professionals and support staff can save on time as these archives allow for searches using several criteria.
• Mitigating concerns of security compliance: One of the major concerns of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities is protecting confidential patient information. This data becomes even more vulnerable during the transcription process. Outsourcing to a vigilant HIPAA / HITECH compliant medical transcription service provider would ensure that this data is secure throughout the medical transcription process
• Accurate transcription: Using medical transcriptionists trained in specialties and multiple quality checks, the outsourced medical transcription service provider can ensure that the quality of transcription reflects accuracy and integrity without compromising on the turnaround time requirements
• Complete medical transcription solutions: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the healthcare facilities have complete transcription solutions encompassing all their needs. Factors like varied modes of dictation, transcription for different specialties, transition to EMR, speech recognition transcription, different modes of document delivery etc can be specified and included while customizing the medical transcription solutions.
• Easy to use technology: Transition to outsourced medical transcription services can be made easy for time-starved healthcare professionals by ensuring that the software and tools used to medical transcription system are easy to use requiring little change in the way healthcare professionals manage their working lives
• Transparent pricing: Reduced costs of transcription is perhaps one of the main drivers of the outsourcing decision. However pricing in medical transcription can lead to a lot of confusion. This concern can be mitigated when the billing method used by the medical transcription service provider is verifiable, definable, measurable, consistent, fair and honest. The billing process can be made easier when the service provider explains the components of cost in detail.
• Fast response to queries: Transition to outsourced medical transcription services can lead to a lot of queries and concerns, especially in the initial stages. A proactive customer service department can ease the process by providing instant response to queries and solving problems in the initial stages itself.

Outsourcing medical transcription needs to a leader in the medical transcription industry like TransDyne offers a comprehensive and easy solution for the medical transcription needs of a healthcare facility. TransDyne has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in having served the needs of leaders in the healthcare sector to come up with medical transcription solutions that help save on time, money and efforts.

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

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Provides access to the right team

It has been acknowledged that the healthcare process draws inputs from various sources to provide quality services. One of the inputs that aid the healthcare process is information from patient records. Patient records document the details of the ailment, the symptoms, the tests/procedures administered, the diagnosis, the treatment provided and the progress made by the patient. Patient medical records provide historical content regarding the health history of the patient and context regarding the patient. Having proper documentation takes away the need for guesswork and prevents wastage of resources.

Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records from the dictation provided of the patient- healthcare professional encounter. However medical transcription is a specialized skill requiring the right combination of a trained team, technology and a streamlined process to produce the desired result of accurate, timely, secure and cost effective records.

Of all the ingredients that contribute to quality medical transcription, the right team of skilled and trained medical transcriptionists is vital. However the process of recruiting and training the right talent can be a time consuming process, which would dilute the focus of the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals on the core business of providing quality healthcare.

Outsourcing medical transcription provides healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities access to the right team. The outsourced medical transcription service provider would have a process for sourcing, recruiting and training medical transcriptionists to become specialists.

What are the advantageous of having access to a team of trained medical transcriptionists?

Accuracy: Accuracy of information captured in the patient medical records is one of the most important factors as this information forms the basis of continued care, reflects the appropriateness of care and helps in filing proper claims. Skilled medical transcriptionists who are well versed in the language of the specialty they are transcribing for would ensure that they capture all the details with maximum accuracy. Skilled medical transcriptionists would also ensure that they apply context where applicable to correct minor discrepancies using their knowledge of the specialty and the healthcare professional they are transcribing for

Speed: Along with accuracy the other most important factor that affects quality care and the reimbursement process is the availability of timely information. Well-trained medical transcriptionists would ensure that not only are the transcripts accurate, but also available on time.

Customization: The level of service required by healthcare professionals would vary according to their specialty, the treatment situation and various other factors. Well trained medical transcriptionists would help in the process of customizing services according to the specific needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities.

TransDyne, a leading provider of outsourced medical transcription services recruits the best talent and has devised a rigorous training process which ensures that medical transcriptionists are well versed with the specialty they are transcribing for. Care is taken to update the medical transcriptionists on the latest developments in their specialty ensuring that they meet all the quality standards.

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

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Enhancing healthcare using the right technology

Medical transcription is the process of creating patient records by converting the audio narration of the patient- healthcare professional encounter into text format. Though this is an accurate definition of medical transcription this definition does not cover the full scope of services provided by medical transcription. Though medical transcription plays an important role in the smooth running of healthcare facilities it is not part of the core business of the healthcare facility.

Moreover medical transcription requires a combination of the right ream, the right process and the right technology to be efficient and economical, which would require substantial investment, time and efforts. The easy fix to ensure that patient medical records are created with accuracy, within turnaround time, securely and in a cost effective manner is to outsource to a professional medical transcription service provider.

Medical transcription has evolved from being just a service of  creating accurate, timely, cost effective and secure patient medical records to a service  that aids healthcare using software and tools to ease the working life of healthcare professional and healthcare facilities administrators.

Outsourced medical transcription service providers have used technology to provide services that:

Helps improve quality of care: Software and technology used in medical transcription have improved the working life of healthcare professionals by helping them conserve on their limited time resources and allowing them to concentrate a major portion of their time towards providing quality healthcare, by providing the following benefits:

1. Allowing them to retain familiar modes of dictation
2. Creating a system for automating medical transcription
3. Enabling different modes of document delivery as per the preference of the healthcare professional.
4. Allowing healthcare professionals to retain the familiar mode of dictation- transcription for patient record creation, still enabling information to be interfaced with EMR through HL7 interface.

Curb wastage of resources: The technology used by outsourced medical transcription service provider helps curb wastage of time, money and resources towards managing medical transcription process

Better coordination of healthcare service: Technology used by the outsourced medical transcription service provider provides an organized system for medical transcription, which helps keep track of dictation, work in progress and transcripts.

Helps with healthcare decision-making: Outsourced medical transcription services create timely and accurate patient medical records which aid in decision making during the healthcare process.

Provide information for research and preventive medicine: Creation of detailed, accurate and timely patient transcripts lead to accumulation of data, which helps in devising preventive health programs, and also aids in research.

Curb costs and accelerate reimbursements: outsourcing medical transcription ensures that direct and indirect costs towards transcription are curbed and the reimbursement process is quickened. This helps improve the cash flow of the healthcare facility.

Outsourcing medical transcription to a medical transcription service provider using the right blend of software & tools and personnel can help healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals perform more efficiently.

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

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

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing outstanding support

Healthcare is an essential service that draws support from various sources to be able to deliver services that meet quality standards. As healthcare is a business it is also important for healthcare to be profitable and meet statutory requirements.  Keeping all these factors in mind it is essential for healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals to focus on providing quality services while still maintaining profitability by concentrating on essential activities and outsource all support activities.

One such support activity that facilitates the smooth running of healthcare facilities is medical transcription. Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records, converting the audio files of the patient- healthcare professional encounter into text form.  Medical transcription is a specialized skill requiring a combination of the right team, the right technology and an optimum process to be accurate, complete, timely and easy to access.

Healthcare facilities have various options available to them to obtain medical transcription services. They could have an in-house team of medical transcriptionists, use independent contractors or outsource the entire process to a professional medical transcription service provider. As the healthcare process requires the total concentration of resources and time of the healthcare facility, outsourcing medical transcription has been found to the most viable solution

Outsourcing medical transcription supports the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals in numerous ways.

How does outsourced medical transcription services support healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals?

Reducing cost: Reduced cost of transcription is probably one of the main advantages of outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription service provider. Apart from considerable savings on cost of transcription, healthcare facilities can also reap the following cost benefits:

1. Retaining familiar modes of dictation
2. Conversion of fixed cost of transcription to variable costs
3. Savings on cost of weekend and holiday medical transcription requirements
4. Savings on indirect costs like utilities, investment in transcription equipment, allotment of space, information technology expenses etc.

Accurate services: Outsourcing medical transcription also helps healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities by maintaining high levels of accuracy. In context to vital services like healthcare accuracy of information is essential to ensure:

1. Quality care
2. Meet statutory requirements
3. As evidence in case of litigation
4. To ensure proper coding and billing leading to reimbursements

Timely services: To ensure timely care, it is important that vital information in the patient medical records is available to healthcare professionals promptly. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that patient medical records are created on time using the right team,  processes and transmitted to the healthcare professionals in a secure and speedy manner using the right technology. 

Secure services: The information provided by the patient to the healthcare professional is privileged and needs to be protected. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that this confidential information is protected throughout the medical transcription process by securing technology, infrastructure, processes and the team.

Improve efficiency of healthcare professionals: Outsourced medical transcription services help improve the efficiency of healthcare professional by offering them services with added benefits like:

1. Flexible turnaround time options
2. Document delivery modes as preferred and specified by the healthcare professional
3. Archives
4. HL7 interface
5. Speech recognition editing Choice to specify formats/templates
6. Software and tools for transcription to enable automatic upload of dictation and down load of transcripts, reducing delays.

Reduce the administrative burden: Having medical transcription in-house would involve dilution of focus of the administrative staff into activities like:

1. Recruiting, training and retaining medical transcriptionists
2. Work allocation, follow-up and quality assessment
3. Collection of dictation and distribution of transcripts
4. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the administrative staff is relieved of the burden of these medical transcription related activities.

Accelerate reimbursements: Timely and accurate documentation of the patient- healthcare professional encounter is essential as a foundation to start the reimbursement process. By outsourcing medical transcription the healthcare facility would be ensured that quality patient medical records are created on time, thus leading to acceleration of the reimbursement process.

Outsourced medical transcription services provide vital support to healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities in various aspects. However while outsourcing medical transcription it is important to source a service provider that can provide services that are accurate, speedy, secure, cost effective and using technology that provides numerous benefits.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has utilized their extensive background in information technology and their experience in providing medical transcription services to come up with medical transcription solutions that support the smooth running of   healthcare facilities. TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, executed by experienced and qualified medical transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Creating accurate and compliant medical records

Healthcare services by their very nature are complex and require inputs from various sources to be effective and meet the stringent standards of quality required by them. One of the main inputs that healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities depend on for providing quality healthcare and for the smooth running of the healthcare facility is information from patient records. Information can be defined as the fundamental input that keeps the healthcare facility efficient both in terms of providing quality healthcare and accelerating reimbursements.

Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical record transcribing the audio files of the patient- healthcare professional encounter into text format. These patient medical records form the basis for the smooth running of the healthcare facility

What is a patient medical record?

It can be seen that patient medical records provide vital support to the smooth running of healthcare facilities aiding the healthcare process and accelerating the reimbursement process. Outsourcing medical transcription has been found to be an effective and economical solution for healthcare facilities looking to ensure accurate, timely, secure and cost effective creation of patient medical records.

However while outsourcing medical transcription, healthcare facilities have to evaluate the medical transcription service provider based 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. It is important to choose a medical transcription service provider that executes all the medical transcription work in-house using skilled and trained medical transcriptionists and having a quality assurance process involving several checks

Turnaround time: Turnaround time refers to the time taken to revert the transcribed report to the healthcare facility. The medical transcription service provider needs to offer options for turnaround time that can be tailored to meet the needs of the healthcare facility. The acceptable turnaround time option is 24 hours for normal reports and 4-12 hours for STAT reports.

Security: The service provider being outsourced to should be HIPAA and 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: Reduced cost of transcription 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. Billing methods used by medical transcription service providers are varied and should meet the criteria of being measurable, verifiable, definable, consistent and fair & honest.

Technology: The technology used by the medical transcription service provider should not only secure but should also be easy to use, without having to require extensive training.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry provides complete medical transcription solutions.  TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, executed by experienced and qualified medical transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Transition made easy by having the right customer support

Medical transcription is a service that is vital for the smooth running of healthcare facilities, having an effect on both the operational and commercial aspects by creating accurate, timely and secure patient records. Though medical transcription plays a vital role in the smooth running of healthcare facilities it is not part of the core competencies of the healthcare facility. The best solution to ensure efficient and economic creation of patient records is to outsource medical transcription to a professional medical transcription service provider.

Outsourcing medical transcription not only ensures accurate, timely and secure creation of patient transcripts it also ensures substantial cost savings to the healthcare facility in terms of direct as well as indirect costs. The process of outsourcing medical transcription would essentially involve the following steps:

• Defining the objectives of outsourcing medical transcription: The first step would involve clearly defining the desired outcome/s from the outsourcing decision. The objectives for outsourcing medical transcription could consist of factors like reducing cost of transcription, improving quality of services, shortening the turnaround time, reducing indirect expenses incurred for transcription or a combination of any of the above objectives.
• Sourcing medical transcription service providers: Once the objective of outsourcing medical transcription has been clearly defined the next step would involve sourcing service providers based on these criteria. This stage would essentially involve eliminating those service providers who do not meet the qualifying criteria defined by the healthcare facility.
• Obtaining proposals from the medical transcription service providers including:

1. Pricing and billing methodology
2. Assured levels of accuracy
3. Turnaround time options
4. Details of technology platform used for transcription
5. Security measures to ensure HIPAA and HITECH compliance

• Evaluating the medical transcription proposals: It is important to evaluate not only the parameters of services as provided by the medical transcription company but also their capability to deliver these services as defined.

1. Pricing in medical transcription needs to be carefully evaluated by studying the billing method used by the service provider
2. The capability of the service provider to deliver accurate medical transcription services can be assessed by evaluating their training methods and the quality control method.
3. The capability of the service provider to meet turnaround time commitment can be evaluated by evaluating the technology used by them along with their methods for achieving accuracy.
4. The criteria of evaluating the technology used by the service provider should be that the healthcare facility should not require further investments and the technology used for medical transcription should provide multiple benefits while still being easy to use.
5. HIPAA and HITECH compliance can be evaluated by checking the measures taken by the medical transcription service provider to secure technology, processes, infrastructure and people

• Checking for references: The experience and expertise of the medical transcription service provider can be evaluated by checking on the references of customers who have already availed outsourced medical transcription services from them
• Availing free trial: Availing a free trial would enable the healthcare facility to test the service capabilities of the service provider and compatibility first hand
• Signing the contract: This would involve formalizing and agreeing upon the specifics of the service required from the medical transcription service provider.
• Using the services: Integrating the transcription system and actually start utilizing the outsourced medical transcription services.
• Checking for customer service channels: Throughout the process of outsourcing from the stage of sourcing medical transcription service providers to the stage where the healthcare facility starts availing outsourced medical transcription services the channels available to the healthcare facility for communicating with the medical transcription service provider play a vital role. The role of having multiple channels of communication for customer service and feedback is even more vital once the actual outsourcing process begins.

It is important for healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals to evaluate the channels of communication and customer services available to ensure smooth transition to outsourced services. The advantages of having multiple channels for customer service support include:

• Instant solution to any technical problems
• Instant customization of services
• Instant feedback and improvement in quality
• Instant clarification regarding billing
• Two way communication for improvement of services

Evaluating the medical transcription service provider based on all criteria including availability of customer service channels can help smooth transition to outsourced medical transcription services.

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

• TransDyne offers medical transcription with an accuracy of above 99%
• TransDyne assures a turnaround time of 24 hours with an option of 4-12 hours for STAT reports.
• TransDyne ensures security of data by securing technology, processes and people.
• TransDyne offers a reasonable and fair price by charging 10 cents per line, which is calculated by using the character line pricing method.
• TransDyne maintains a large, well-trained team of medical transcriptionists, which enables them to cope with varying volumes
• TransDyne offers medical transcription services by using the latest technology that is advanced and easy to use.
• TransDyne uses the character line billing method that is verifiable, definable, measurable, consistent and fair & honest
• TransDyne has the testimonials of their success stories available for viewing on their website.

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