Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing flexibility of choice

In the current scenario healthcare facilities are faced with numerous challenges like increasing operational costs, declining reimbursements and patient bad debts. Healthcare facilities need to walk a thin line in order to keep providing quality healthcare services,  coping with all the changes and challenges thrown at them and still maintaining a healthy bottom line

In a challenging scenario like this it is the need of the hour is for healthcare facilities to focus completely on their core business- that of providing quality healthcare and outsource all other activities. One such activity that can be outsourced is medical transcription, which plays a major role in the healthcare process but is not part of the core competence of the healthcare facility.

Outsourcing medical transcription has a lot of advantages, one of the main being flexibility of choice. Healthcare facilities get to choose medical transcription services that can be tailored to their specific needs making it cost effective and easy to use.

How does outsourcing medical transcription provide flexibility of choice?

Outsourcing medical transcription essentially reduces the burden of the healthcare facilities towards anything connected with the medical transcription process including the team, the equipment, the technology, infrastructure, process, responsibility of HIPAA/  HITECH during transcription, modes of document delivery, management and administration etc. By doing this outsourced medical transcription service providers essentially provide flexibility of choice in the following:

·       Volume of transcription:  Healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities have the flexibility of choice to avail accurate and timely medical transcription services irrelevant of the volume of transcription. Outsourcing medical transcription essentially ensures that the service provider has a qualified and trained team of medical transcriptionists to cope with the varying volume of medical transcription.

·       Formats/ templates : Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the reports required by healthcare professionals are delivered to them in the format/ template even font specified by the healthcare professional.

·       Modes of dictation: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that healthcare professionals have the flexibility of choice of using flexible and familiar dictation modes. This further gives them the flexibility of using the time available to them optimally

·       Modes of document delivery: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities have the choice of specifying the mode of document delivery required by them. Options like delivering transcripts to specific folders, delivering transcripts to multiple users, options for remote printing and faxing etc can be specified to the outsourced medical transcription service provider.

·       Turnaround time: Outsourcing medical transcription also avails the healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities the option to specify specific turnaround time depending on the urgency of the situation.

·       Editing and proof reading services for speech recognition: Some healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities may have invested in speech recognition software. However the accuracy of transcripts produced by this software may be below acceptable levels. Outsourced medical transcription service providers even offer the option of editing and proofreading services for such transcripts

·       Adopting EMR: Outsourcing medical transcription also offers healthcare professionals the option of retaining the traditional dictation- medical transcription method of capturing data while still offering option of integrating with EMR through HL7 interface.

·       Methods of billing: There are numerous options for billing methodology in medical transcription. Outsourced medical transcription service providers offer the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals the choice of picking the billing methodology they are most comfortable with.

·       Converting fixed costs: One of the most significant benefit of outsourcing medical transcription is that of choice of converting fixed costs incurred for medical transcription into variable costs. The expenses incurred for medical transcription is limited to the usage.

Outsourcing medical transcription provides healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals with  the flexibility of choosing the parameters of medical transcription services as suited to their requirements.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has been providing medical transcription services for over a decade, customizing solutions suited to the specific needs of the healthcare facility. 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 flexible medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription: Steps for easy transition to outsourced services

The role of medical transcription in both the operational and commercial aspects of healthcare is undeniable. Outsourcing medical transcription has been found to be an easy, economical, efficient and effective to the process of medical records creation. However the process of choosing the right medical transcription service provider needs a certain process so that it can result in a fruitful and long-term association.

The steps leading to successful outsourcing of medical transcription are:

·       Defining the purpose of outsourcing medical transcription: This part of the outsourcing process is very important and often overlooked. Overlooking this step in the process of outsourcing can result in:

a)    Unrealistic expectations: Outsourcing medical transcription can help the healthcare facility in many aspects. But focusing only on factors like reduced cost and ignoring quality can result in outsourcing expectations not being met.

b)    Inadequate customization: Healthcare professionals of different specialties may have specific requirements. These may not be included while customizing services if the purpose of outsourcing is not clearly defined

c)     Loss of productivity: Not defining the purpose of outsourcing medical transcription can result in certain tasks being overlooked and resulting in loss of productivity

·       Consulting the people involved in or affected by outsourcing medical transcription: Outsourcing medical transcription affects personnel of several departments of the healthcare facility. It is important to involve all the people in the process of outsourcing to ensure success. It is important to not only consult the healthcare professionals and support staff, but is also vital to include the inputs of the Information technology, administrative, management and finance departments to gain maximum from outsourcing medical transcription

·       Defining the desired outcome from outsourcing medical transcription:

a)    Reducing cost of medical transcription

b)    Accuracy levels

c)     Desired turnaround time

d)    Formals/templates/fonts

e)    Document delivery modes

f)      HIPAA/HITECH compliant transcription

g)    Adoption of EMR/EHR

·       Designating key people for implementation: Transition for outsourced medical transcription services can require some adjustments. To ensure smooth transition it is important to designate key people who can coordinate with the medical transcription service provider staff to ensure seamless transition.

·       Starting the process of outsourcing: To actually start the process of outsourcing medical transcription it is important to undertake the following steps:

a)    Technology adjustment

b)    Familiarizing healthcare professionals and support staff with uploading dictation and downloading finished transcripts

c)     Establishing open channels of communication with the medical transcription service provider.  

Outsourcing medical transcription is an important decision and following the due process can result in satisfactory outcome for all the parties concerned.

TransDyne is a leading provider of outsourced medical transcription services, having served healthcare facilities of all types. TransDyne understands the needs of the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals and provides complete solutions to the varied needs of healthcare professionals and 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!         

Outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne offers additional advantages like:

• Volume flexibility
• Medical transcriptionists trained in specialties
• Customized reports/formats/templates
• Facility to integrate with EMR/EHR
• Option to retain flexible modes of dictation
• Remote printing and faxing options 

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

Medical transcription services: Creating patient records

Medical transcription can simplistically be defined as the process of creating patient records, however medical transcription adds value to the healthcare process by providing numerous benefits. The inputs for the medical transcription process come from the audio recordings of the healthcare professionals. Once the patient visit is over, the healthcare professional records the details of the patient-healthcare professional encounter in audio format. Medical transcription is the process of conversion of these audio files into text format.

The patient records created by the medical transcription process have an important role to play in the healthcare process. Patient records have an important role to play in the following:

·       Provide continuity of care

·       Basis for planning patient care

·       Assist in protecting legal interests

·       Form the base for coding and billing

·       Form the basis for education and research

·       Fulfill statutory requirements

What are the details recorded in patient records?

Patient records contain details regarding the following:

·       Medical history

·       Symptoms

·       Examination results

·       Diagnostic tests

·       Treatment methods

·       And a record of all other information collected by healthcare professional/healthcare facilities

Considering the vital role information from patient records play in the healthcare process, it is important to assure medical records are made available for the use of healthcare professionals/ healthcare facilities ensuring maximum quality, security and accessibility. The process of medical transcription requires not only the right skills, the right team, the right technology and the right process, but also substantial investment in terms of capital and time.

The easy fix to ensure that medical records are created within the parameters required is to outsource the process to a professional medical transcription service provider. This not only ensures quality, security and accessibility, it also ensures that cost of transcription is reduced by as much as 40%-50%.

How does outsourcing medical transcription ensure quality?

By outsourcing medical transcription to a professional service provider, quality can be ensured because:

1.     The medical transcription service provider would have the right team: Medical transcription is the core business of the service provider. Hence recruiting the right talent and training them to be experts would be an ongoing process ensuring that the service provider has the team to process any medical transcription requirements as required. The right team would not only ensure accuracy but also ensure that the transcripts are created within the required turnaround time.

2.     The medical transcription service provider would have the right procedure: To ensure that quality patient records are created on time, the medical transcription service provider would have a procedure to ensure that each transcript is checked thoroughly through a stringent quality process. This would ensure that records are accurate and timely.

3.     The medical transcription service provider would have the right technology: The right technology would help in quickening the process of collecting and transmitting the audio files for transcription. It would also help in the process of delivering finished transcripts to the healthcare professionals through various modes.  

How does outsourcing medical transcription ensure security?

The medical transcription service provider would provide for security of confidential patient information by having measures in place to secure people, processes, infrastructure and technology

How does outsourcing medical transcription ensure accessibility?

The medical transcription service provider would ensure accessibility by having the right technology. The technology used by the service provider would not only ensure flexible modes of uploading dictation and offer multiple modes of document delivery, it would also ensure make sure that the technology is easy to use.

While outsourcing medical transcription healthcare facilities have to ensure that the medical transcription service providers are carefully evaluated on the criteria of being accurate, timely, secure, cost effective and flexible to ensure seamless services.

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 outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription: Blend of human expertise and technology

Medical transcription has been acknowledged as an integral part of the healthcare process by creating accurate, speedy, secure and cost-effective patient records. It has also been acknowledged that outsourcing medical transcription is an easy and economic fix to ensure timely and accurate creation of patient records.

However while outsourcing, healthcare facilities have to go through a stringent process of evaluation to ensure that they have sourced the right medical transcription service provider.  For the process of assessment to be effective it is important to understand the components of medical transcription. This will provide the healthcare facility the right criteria to evaluate the service provider.

The process of medical transcription consists of the following steps:

Input: The inputs for medical transcription come from the dictation of the patient- healthcare professionals encounter in the form of audio files. The quality of the audio files is an important contributor to the accuracy of medical transcription. The quality of audio is a combination of the right technology and the dictation skills of the healthcare professional. Thus the quality of dictation is the product of a blend of the right technology and the right human skill

Process: The actual process of medical transcription involves the following steps:

• Uploading audio files: This step ensures that all the audio files are uploaded into a server to be made available to the medical transcription service provider to begin the transcription process. Technology plays a huge role in this step of the process by making the process secure, speedy and easy to use for healthcare professionals

• Downloading audio files: Downloading the audio files to begin the process of transcription involves using the right technology. This not only ensures timeliness and maintaining the quality of audio, it also ensures security of data during the process of transmission

• Listening to audio files: This part of the process involves human skills to a large extent. It is important for medical transcriptionist involved in the process of transcribing to have the requisite knowledge regarding the specialty being transcribed. This ensures that the medical transcriptionist has knowledge of the language, terminology, procedures, drugs and therapies associated with the specialty. 

• Typing the contents of the audio files: This part of the process also involves human skills, as speedy and accurate transcription requires that the medical transcriptionist possess keyboarding skills, knowledge of the specialty and language skills. It also requires the medical transcriptionist to have multitasking abilities, since the process involves listening and typing at the same time. The role of technology in this part of the process is limited to providing the required templates, formats, assuring audio quality and assisting with research as and when required.

• Running quality checks on the transcribed files: Running quality checks on the transcripts involves human skills, as it is the application of context and checking on the content. This requires listening skills, concentration and thinking-on-your feet abilities. 

Output: In medical transcription the output is the patient record created during the transcription process. These transcripts need to be transmitted back to the healthcare facility and further distributed to the right healthcare professionals. The process of transmitting finished transcripts in a speedy, secure and efficient manner involves the use of technology. Technology adds further benefits by making it possible to print reports at a remote location, instant transmission by faxing, and easy retrieval by creating archives, integration with EMR through HL7 interface etc. 

It can be seen that medical transcription is a blend of human expertise and the right technology. The process of medical transcription would be incomplete without either of these components. The skill set of the medical transcriptionists contributes to the accuracy, speediness and to a certain extent to the security of the patient records. Technology contributes to the turnaround time, ease of use and security of the medical transcription process. Both technology and the human skills involved contribute to lowering the cost per line of transcription. Therefore it is important to pick a medical transcription service provider who has the right blend of technology and people skills.

TransDyne provides medical transcription service with a blend of the right technology and the right team. 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 benefits

Medical transcription has always played a vital role in healthcare process, by creating patient records. Patient records play an important role in both the operational and commercial aspects of healthcare. Therefore it is important to ensure that creation of patient records takes place in an accurate, speedy, secure and economic fashion. Outsourcing medical transcription is an effective fix to ensure this.

What are the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription?

Speed: Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider ensures that patient records are automatically created within the promised turnaround time. There is no delay in the process of medical transcription due to factors like employee absenteeism, holiday/weekends etc. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the flow of work is constant due to the availability of a large pool of medical transcriptionists who are familiar with the requirements of the healthcare professionals.

Accuracy: Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider ensures that patient records are created with maximum accuracy possible. The onus of training the medical transcriptionists to achieve accuracy levels is on the service provider. Moreover accuracy is ensured by putting the transcripts through multiple quality checks, this ensures that any errors that have been overlooked and corrected, ensuring quality transcription.

Security: Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider ensures that the medical transcription process is totally secure. The medical transcription service provider would ensure that adequate security measures are taken to secure people, processes, technology and infrastructure.

Accessibility: Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider ensures that there is a systematic process in place to deliver the transcripts back to the relevant healthcare professional. This ensures that reports are easily accessible.

Affordability: Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider can bring down the cost of transcription while still maintaining the quality of work. Outsourcing medical transcription also has the additional benefit of eliminating indirect cost that would have been incurred by executing medical transcription in-house.

Versatility: Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider ensures versatility of services. Factors like different types of reports, new formats, varied templates and transcription needs for different specialties could be provided by the same medical transcription service provider. This ensures that the healthcare facility has a one-stop shop for all transcription needs.

Efficiency: Outsourcing medical transcription increases the efficiency of the support staff by saving on both time and other resources like Information technology. The software and tools provided by the medical transcription service provider ensures that tracing dictation files or finished transcripts would be easy through powerful archiving facilities. Moreover additional features like remote printing and faxing makes the work environment more efficient.

Outsourcing medical transcription not only helps the healthcare facility reduce costs and speed up the receivables cycle, but also improves the efficiency of the healthcare facility’s operations. Therefore it is important for the healthcare facility to source the right medical transcription service provider for their medical transcription needs.

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 benefit from the advantages of outsourced medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Cost-effective solutions

Medical transcription is the process of converting the audio records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. The information in the patient record is very pertinent for patient care, as evidence in case of litigation and as the basis for the receivables cycle.

Though medical transcription is an integral part of both the commercial and operational aspects of healthcare, it does not contribute directly to the bottom line of the healthcare facility. In fact, medical transcription is a part of the costs. To ensure the smooth running of the healthcare facility, as well as to curb costs it is important to keep the costs of medical transcription down, without affecting the quality adversely. Outsourcing medical transcription is a cost-effective solution for curbing costs without affecting quality.

The term “cost-effective” has been defined as producing good results for the amount of money spent.

What makes outsourcing medical transcription cost-effective?

Outsourcing medical transcription ensures the following, making it effective:

·       Right quality: Quality/ accuracy of the information captured in the patient record is very important as it affects both the quality of care as well as coding & billing for reimbursement purposes. To be effective, the accuracy levels promised by the medical transcription service provider needs to be as close to 100% as possible

·       Right quantity: When it comes to the quantity of medical transcription requirements, this is purely defined by the volume of patients. To be effective the medical transcription service provider needs to be able to cope with varying volumes of transcription needs, including holidays and weekend transcription requirements

·       Timely: Apart from capturing information accurately and coping with varying volumes, outsourced medical transcription needs to be timely to be effective. That is the turnaround time guarantees need to be met

·       Secure:  To be effective outsourced medical transcription needs to be secured, so as to protect confidential patient information. Care needs to be taken to ensure that the medical transcription service provider takes HIPAA compliant measures to secure technology, process, infrastructure and people

·       Easy to use: Technology that is easy to use is another factor that adds to the effectiveness of outsourced medical transcription services. This enables doctors to retain familiar modes of dictation, enable other support staff to avail features like easy upload of dictation and download of finished transcripts, which benefits them by helping them manage their time better

Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the service is of the right quality, right quantity, timely and secure, while making sure that the costs are restricted to the cost per line of transcription, without any extra or hidden costs.

It can be seen that outsourcing to the right service provider, ensures that the healthcare facility has a cost-effective solution for their medical transcription needs.

TransDyne provides cost effective solutions to the medical transcription needs of healthcare facilities. To make medical transcription solutions more effective, care is taken to study the needs of the healthcare facility in detail. Factors like the number of healthcare professionals practicing, their specialties, the formats/templates required by the healthcare professionals, the mode of dictation the healthcare professionals are comfortable with, the archiving needs of the healthcare facility, the need for added features like remote printing/faxing and integration with EMR are considered before offering effective solutions. 

TransDyne is able to offer customized solutions at low costs by virtue of their expert medical transcriptionists, technology and their vast experience is providing outsource medical transcription solutions. The cost per line of transcription is clearly defined and care is taken to ensure that the healthcare facility is aware of the components of the cost to ensure that everybody is on the same page.

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Customized solutions

Medical transcription has always played an important role in the healthcare process, creating records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter. The criteria for evaluating medical transcription services are accuracy, turnaround time, security, and cost per line of transcription. It is also important to consider the indirect benefits of outsourcing medical transcription like savings on payroll, information technology, real estate, management staff and utilities.

Once these have been evaluated it is important to consider the fit of the medical transcription services provided, to that of the healthcare facility requirements. With the advent of the Internet it is very easy for a healthcare facility to source medical transcription service providers, but it is also important to consider whether the service provider is willing to customize its services to the needs of the healthcare facility.

The medical transcription requirements of varied healthcare facilities could vary based on the following factors:

·       Number of doctors practicing in the healthcare facility: Healthcare facilities could vary from a one-healthcare professional practice to a hospital with a large number of specialties. The service offered by the medical transcription service provider needs to be customized to suit the specific requirements of the healthcare facility

·       Specialties: Medicine is a vast field with varied specialties. The language of each specialty is complex involving specific procedures, test, drugs and terminology. The medical transcription service provider needs to have personnel well versed in the language of each specialty

·       Number of branches: Many healthcare facilities may have branches in different locations, the technological capabilities of the service provider need to be evaluated to ensure provision of seamless services

·       Type of reports/formats/templates: Different reports/ formats/ templates are required depending on the specialty; the ability of the medical transcription service provider in customizing reports/formats/templates need to be evaluated based on their experience in having provided similar services

·       Turnaround time: The turnaround time requirements can vary according to the type of report and the specialty. The capability of the service provider to meet turnaround time requirement, needs to be evaluated based on the skill set of the medical transcriptionists and the technology used by the service provider

·       Option for integrating with EMR/EHR: For adoption of EMR/EHR, the capability of the service provider needs to be evaluated for HL7 integration

·       Dictation modes: The option to retain familiar modes of dictation, is an important factor to be evaluated during the outsourcing process

·       Features like remote printing and faxing: The ability of the medical transcription service provider to provided additional features like remote printing and faxing need to be evaluated while sourcing the right service provider

·       Expansion plans of the healthcare facility: The medical transcription service provider needs to be in position to service the healthcare facility for current needs as well as have the capacity to provide services based on the expansion plans of the healthcare facility

TransDyne is a leading provider of outsourced medical transcription services, having served healthcare facilities of all types. TransDyne understands the needs of the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals and has customized their services accordingly

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!         

Outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne offers additional advantages like:

• Volume flexibility
• Medical transcriptionists trained in specialties
• Customized reports/formats/templates
• Different modes of document delivery
• Facility to integrate with EMR/EHR through HL7 interface
• Option to retain flexible modes of dictation
• Remote printing and faxing options 

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