Medical transcription outsourcing: Meeting quality standards

Medical transcription services have aided the healthcare process by creating patient medical records; converting the narration of the patient – healthcare professional encounter into text format. Though there are numerous options available to healthcare professionals to document the patient encounter, medical transcription has proven to be the method that meets all the healthcare documentation criteria. Not only this medical transcription has also proven to be most preferred method of documentation considering the numerous advantages of documenting the patient encounter using this method.

To be effective medical transcription needs to meet the criteria of quality, compliance and usability.  As medical transcription is a specialized skill requiring quality inputs in the form of people, processes and technology and requires considerable investment of time, money and resources, the easy fix to ensure that medical transcription meets all the criteria is to outsource the entire process to a professional medical transcription service provider.

Meeting quality criteria for medical transcription:

What is the quality criteria for medical transcription and how does outsourcing help meet the quality standards?

As in every service it is important to focus on the needs of the end user while defining standards of quality. Medical transcription is no exception, the focus of the services and the quality standards defining it are focused on the end users; healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities.

Some of the quality criteria for medical transcription include:

Consistent performance: As the process of providing care is a continuous process, the need for medical transcription services is also continuous. And as the volume of services required is impossible to predict, it is impossible for healthcare facilities to have the resources to meet these fluctuating needs without adversely affecting the costs. The problem of dealing with fluctuating volumes of transcription can be solved by outsourcing the medical transcription needs to a professional medical transcription service provider who has the capability to deliver quality services consistently.

Healthcare facilities can ensure this by sourcing a service provider who believes in having a continuous recruiting and training program for building up a team of skilled medical transcriptionists to ensure consistent performance regardless of fluctuations in the volume of transcription required.

Reliability: Considering the criticality of the information in patient medical records in various aspects of healthcare and risk management, it is important that the medical transcription services are reliable and meet the requisite accuracy standards. Accuracy standards can be ensured by outsourcing to a reliable medical transcription service provider who has quality assurance process in place to ensure that each transcript is subject to multiple level quality checks.

Competitive prices: Healthcare services are constantly battling with increasing expenses and shrinking payments – it becomes essential for them to curb costs. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that not only does the healthcare facility save on cost substantially, but also helps convert fixed costs of medical transcription into variable costs restricted to the cost per line of transcription

On time delivery: As information from patient medical records is a vital element for clinical decision making, continued care, referrals, risk management and revenue cycle management, it becomes important for medical transcription services to maintain stringent turnaround time. Outsourced medical transcription service providers ensure that the required turnaround time requirements are met with using a combination of the right team, the right process and the right technology

Quick resolution of issues: It is important for the service provider to have channels of communication for quick resolution of issues to ensure smooth transition to outsourced medical transcription services

TransDyne, a leader in the medical transcription industry has made quality a key word in their work processes. TransDyne has adopted the process of continuous and comprehensive quality improvement to improve quality of medical transcription at every level. TransDyne realizes that quality is a continuous process and therefore Quality Guidelines are established and implemented at every level. This attitude of adopting quality as the basis of their services and their aptitude in information technology has helped them come up with easy to use 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 quality medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Meeting and exceeding service level expectations

Medical transcription and healthcare services have had a long-term association. Medical transcription aids the healthcare process in various ways including clinical decision making, risk management and managing the receivables cycle by creating patient medical records from the dictation of the patient- healthcare professional encounter. As medical transcription is not a part of the core business of the healthcare facility, outsourcing medical transcription has been found to be an effective, efficient and economical solution.

Considering the criticality and the importance of healthcare services, it becomes essential that all the processes including medical transcription that contribute to the healthcare process meet certain quality standards to ensure quality services as well as commercial viability. While outsourcing medical transcription it becomes imperative for the healthcare facility to set certain expected service levels to ensure quality services.

What are expected service levels?

Service levels have been defined as a common understanding about services, priorities, responsibilities, guarantees and warranties.

What are the service levels that define medical transcription services?

The service levels for medical transcription services include:

Accuracy: As medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records, accuracy of transcription is perhaps one of the foremost requirements, as the accuracy of this information is vital for clinical decision-making, reimbursements and risk management. It is important to define the minimum acceptable levels of accuracy and the recourse when these accuracy levels are not met with

Turnaround time: Apart from the accuracy of information, the other factor that has a significant impact on all the aspects is that of turnaround time. It is important to set acceptable standards for turnaround time including flexible options for different specialties and turnaround time for STAT reports.

Security: There are norms for security prescribed under HIPAA and HITECH, which are aimed towards protecting the confidentiality of patient information. As medical transcription is a process which involves working with this information, it is necessary to set standards of security for all aspects including technology, infrastructure and teams.

Flexibility: As the volume of medical transcription is dependent on the inflow of patients, which is impossible to predict, it is important to source a medical transcription service provider who has the capabilities to meet the varying needs of healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals without compromising on quality.

Viability: Reduction in costs is perhaps one of the driving forces behind the outsourcing decision, it is important to assess that the rates quoted by the medical transcription service provider actually result in cost saving. To ensure this it is important that the billing method used by the medical transcription service provider be assessed. The medical transcription service provider has to use a billing method that meets the standards of being measurable, definable, verifiable, consistent, fair and honest.

Technological compatibility: Due to advances in technology and the advent of Internet, medical transcription has evolved into the virtual world. Technology has a major role to play in the process of medical transcription by providing benefits like flexible modes of dictation, preferred document delivery modes, easy access etc. The expected standards for technology used for the medical transcription process can be set as providing multiple advantages while still being easy to use.

Ability to accommodate future requirements: The healthcare documentation scenario is constantly changing due to changing statutory mandates and innovations in technology for medical transcription. The medical transcription service provider needs to be able to accommodate the changing documentation needs like editing for speech recognition software transcription and HL7 interface for EMR/EHR adoption

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry not only meets the service level expectations but exceeds them. TransDyne, a leader in the medical transcription industry has made quality a key word in their work processes. They have adopted the process of continuous and comprehensive quality improvement to improve quality of medical transcription at every level. This attitude of adopting quality as the basis of their services and their aptitude in information technology has helped them come up with easy to use 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 medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing services beyond expectations

Healthcare is a life saving and life enhancing service. The level of service expected from the healthcare sector is high considering the significance of healthcare services. Healthcare services have had to concentrate on delivering services that not only meet but also exceed the expectations of patients in order to be able to survive in the increasingly competitive environment.  Taking into consideration that the healthcare sector has to cope with increasingly contradictory demands made on it, it becomes imperative for healthcare facilities to increase focus on their core business and outsource all other activities. However the caution while outsourcing is to ensure that the service provider will be able provide quality services on a continued basis.

Medical transcription is one such activity that has a vital role to play in the smooth running of healthcare facilities contributing to various aspects involving clinical decision making, risk management and revenue management aspects. Therefore it becomes essential to evaluate the capabilities of the medical transcription service provider in depth before making the outsourcing decision. While outsourcing medical transcription it becomes essential to not only evaluate the service provider on their ability to meet current needs but also evaluate the potential of the service provider in meeting future requirements.

What are factors that need to be evaluated while outsourcing medical transcription?

While outsourcing medical transcription there are certain obvious quality factors like accuracy, turnaround time, pricing, technology and security that needs to be evaluated. However it is also essential to evaluate the medical transcription company on the basis of criteria used for evaluating a strategic partner.

The medical transcription service provider needs to be evaluated on the following:TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has utilized their extensive background in information technology and their experience in providing medical transcription services to come up with medical transcription solutions that help healthcare facilities save on time, money and effort.

 

• The service provider's understanding of the healthcare professionals' needs: One of the premises for the workability of the outsourcing solution is the understanding demonstrated by the medical transcription service provider of the healthcare process. This gives the service provider a clear vision to envisage the way in which the service provider can ease the working life of the healthcare professionals and other support staff.
• The technical and operational capabilities of the service provider to deliver quality services: It is important for the outsourced medical transcription service provider to have the resources required in terms of technology, infrastructure, people and processes to meet the required quality criteria.
• A culture that encourages and rewards quality work: The medical transcription service provider needs to have a culture wherein all the team members are motivated to excel in providing quality medical transcription services
• Capabilities to anticipate the needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities and meet these needs: As healthcare is an evolving field subject to changing documentation needs, it becomes essential for the medical transcription service provider to keep up with the changing needs and provide services accordingly.

 

• The services offered by TransDyne are based on an in depth knowledge of the working of healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals. Given below are a few service features that are aimed at easing the work life of healthcare professionals and other staff:

1. Flexible options for dictation
2. Numerous document delivery options
3. Facilities for remote printing and faxing

• The technology used by TransDyne is aimed at providing numerous benefits and security while still being easy to use. The teams, processes and infrastructure in TransDyne are geared towards providing services that meet the accuracy, turnaround time and security criteria.
• TransDyne has a work culture that believes in rewarding their personnel for quality work.
• TransDyne not only serves the current needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities, but has also anticipated future requirements and has included in features like HL7 interface and editing services for speech recognition software as part of their services.

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing major advantages

With the advent of the Internet, it has become easier for businesses around the globe to have access to better services giving them a competitive advantage. The healthcare sector has also benefited from this. In an increasingly demanding environment of increasing expenses and diminishing reimbursements it becomes imperative for healthcare facilities to concentrate on maintaining high levels of services by concentrating on their core business and outsourcing the rest. Medical transcription is one such activity that provides major benefits to healthcare facilities when outsourced.

Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records from the dictation provided by healthcare professionals regarding the patient encounter.  By creating patient medical records not only does medical transcription play an important role in the clinical decision making process, but also plays a significant role in the reimbursement process and certain aspects of risk management. As medical transcription is a specialized skill requiring the right combination of technology, teams and processes to meet all the quality criteria, it is prudent to outsource the entire process to a professional medical transcription service provider.

Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription service provider provides the healthcare facility with major benefits, including:

Renewed focus on the core business: Though strictly speaking medical transcription is not part of the core business of the healthcare facility, it does play a significant role in the smooth running of healthcare facilities and needs a substantial investment in terms of time, money and resources. Outsourcing medical transcription affords the healthcare facility freedom to rest easy on the creation of patient medical records and concentrate on their core business of providing quality care.

Reduce or control costs: The cost of in-house medical transcription has a tendency to have many hidden costs that add to the burden. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the direct costs of medical transcription are significantly reduced and the indirect costs of medical transcription are controlled. Over time these savings have an impact on the bottom-line of the healthcare facility. Outsourcing medical transcription also ensures that patient medical records are created on time, helping accelerate the reimbursement process, thus helping improve the bottom-line

Improve efficiency: Outsourcing medical transcription helps the healthcare professionals and the support staff improves on their efficiency. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that healthcare professionals are allowed to retain their preferred modes of dictation helping them optimize their time. The healthcare facility support staff is benefited by the software and tools used by the medical transcription service provider, which helps them in numerous aspects

Provide access to specialized skills: Outsourcing medical transcription to a competent service provider ensures that the healthcare facility not only has access to well trained and skilled medical transcriptionists as and when needed, but also provides them with access to the skills of other key people from the medical transcription service provider like the Information technology team, the administrative team etc.

Establish strategic partnership providing a competitive edge: Outsourcing medical transcription can help the healthcare facility forge a strategic alliance with the medical transcription service provider. This can help the healthcare facility concentrate their resources on becoming more competitive and leaving their unpredictable medical transcription needs to the service provider.

Provide value added services: Outsourcing medical transcription also provides several value added services which help the healthcare facilities cope with the changing healthcare documentation scenario. Factors like adoption of EM/EHR while still retaining the narrative part of the patient medical record by enabling HL7 interface, providing editing & proofreading services for speech recognition software transcription etc.

Increase customer satisfaction: Having the resources in place to ensure proper flow of information regarding the patient encounter can enable the healthcare professionals to better serve the needs of the patients. This results in increased customer satisfaction.

Benefit from the experience of the service provider: Healthcare facilities can cash in on the experience of the medical transcription service provider in having served the needs of disparate customers. This gives the service provider the skills to anticipate the needs of the healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities and provide proactive services.

It can be concluded that outsourcing to the right medical transcription service provider can provide major benefits to the healthcare facility, which permeate various levels of the healthcare facility.

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.