Medical transcription outsourcing: In 3 easy steps

The changing healthcare documentation scenario has had many healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities making changes in the way care encounters are documented to meet the meaningful use criteria. Apart from this it has also become important to ensure that the care process is documented in its entirety to ensure proper communication with patients, appropriate coding & billing and for meeting risk management aspects. Medical transcription is one of the services that have provided support to healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities in fulfilling these objectives. Outsourcing medical transcription has ensured that healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities have access to uninterrupted transcription services that meet all the quality criteria and help in lowering costs.

With the proposed move to adoption of EMR/ EHR, medical transcription companies have evolved to meet the changing needs by providing services like structured dictation, structured transcription, discrete reportable transcription, HL7 interface and editing services for speech recognition software. All these additional features of outsourced transcription services help healthcare professionals focus completely on the patient during the care process and leave the documentation process to expert medical transcription companies. However to maximize the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription it is important partner with the right medical transcription company.

Following these three simple steps can ensure the success of the medical transcription outsourcing process:

Step 1

Defining the objectives: Defining the objectives of outsourcing clearly is an important step as it defines in exact terms as to what is the expected outcome of the outsourcing decision. It should include:

• Acceptable accuracy levels
• Expected turnaround time
• Dictation modes
• Document delivery modes
• Assistance for adopting EMR/ EHR
• Expected savings on cost
• HIPAA and HITECH compliance

Step 2

Finding the right match: With information virtually a click away finding medical transcription companies has become very easy. However on the flip side this has resulted in excess of information resulting in confusion. To overcome this, medical transcription companies need to be evaluated on certain criteria to ensure that the transcription company can deliver on the services as promised. This includes:

·       Accuracy: Evaluating ability to meet accuracy levels by evaluating the training process and the quality process of the medical transcription company

·       Turnaround time: Ability to meet turnaround time can be assessed by evaluating the technology used and the ready availability of  trained & skilled medical transcriptionists

·       Dictation modes: The ability of the medical transcription company’s transcription interface to accept different dictation modes need to be assessed

·       Document delivery modes: The ability of the medical transcription company’s transcription interface to deliver transcripts according to the healthcare professionals preference needs to evaluated

·       Assistance for EMR/ EHR adoption: The capability of the medical transcription company to provide additional facilities for adoption of EMR/ EHR like structured dictation, structured transcription, discrete reportable transcription, HL7 interface and editing services for speech recognition software needs to be evaluated.

·       Savings on cost: The billing method used by the medical transcription company needs to be evaluated to ensure that the healthcare facility / healthcare professional actually saves on cost of transcription

·       HIPAA and HITECH compliance: This can be evaluated by assessing the HIPAA compliant measures taken by the medical transcription company to ensure security in terms of securing people, processes, technology and infrastructure

Step 3

Testing the transcription services and signing contract:  After defining the objectives and evaluating the medical transcription company it is important to follow these two steps before signing the contract:

• Check on references
• Avail free trial

Following these 3 easy steps for outsourcing medical transcription can ensure that the healthcare facility is assured of a long-term partner for their changing transcription needs.

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 affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

Among the software and tools offered by TransDyne for transcription, the smart delivery system has a large role to play in easing the path to EMR/EHR adoption The Smart Delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems.  Apart from this TransDyne also offers discounted rates for those healthcare facilities that provide demographic data entered in the EMR rather than through other modes.

Along with medical transcription services involving multiple level quality checks to ensure accuracy, the use of the right technology for ease of use, turnaround time and security, at reasonable rates, TransDyne also provides discrete reportable transcription for adoption of EMR/ EHR 

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