Medical transcription outsourcing: The changing role of medical transcription in healthcare documentation

The healthcare sector today is going through many changes in the way the patient- healthcare encounter is documented. The announcement of the stimulus package for adoption of EMR/EHR systems using certified equipment and demonstrating meaningful use has brought about a major question about the role of medical transcription services in the process of adopting this new technology.

Considering the underlying objective of adopting nationwide electronic healthcare system, the role of medical transcription in this process becomes even more significant. The implementation of nationwide EHR systems have been encouraged to:

• Improve quality of care
• Reduce costs of care

Outsourced medical transcription services have earned their place in the emerging healthcare documentation scenario by virtue of contributing to the achievement of both these objectives. Medical transcription services contribute to healthcare documentation by:

• Helping preserve narrative data: As healthcare is an essential service one involving decisions regarding life and death situations and involving the improvement of life situations; the importance of capturing the narrative story of the patient is vital. Medical transcription helps in capturing the total health story by converting dictation into text. This helps in improving the quality of care by converting mere data into information, which can be used for providing quality healthcare.

• Having a core knowledge regarding the working of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities: Medical transcription service providers and medical transcriptionists have an inherent understanding of the working life of healthcare professionals and the running of healthcare facilities. This helps medical transcription service providers create solutions that help improve the working life of healthcare professionals by using software and technology to provide maximum benefits while still being easy to use.

• Providing the benefit of training and knowledge to improve the quality of the data captured: Medical transcriptionists undergo a process of training that enhances their language skills, develops knowledge of the medical field, improves keyboard skills; these attributes make them adept at providing healthcare documentation that is accurate and timely. Not only that, medical transcriptionists also use their experience and knowledge of the healthcare field to apply context to rectify any oversight made by time starved healthcare professionals to produce accurate transcripts.

• Being very adaptable to change: Medical transcription, the process of documenting the healthcare process, has seen so many changes affecting the way information is captured. Medical transcription has evolved as a specialist service that has seen changes in the way dictation is captured to the way that transcripts are delivered. The experience of medical transcription service providers to adapt to the changing needs of the healthcare sector puts them in unique position help in this transition.

Medical transcription services have used a combination of the right people skills, optimum process and advanced technology to provide accurate, timely, secure and cost effective transcripts.

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. TransDyne has a smart delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems. The Smart Delivery system is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems.

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.

Outsourcing internal medicine medical transcription

Internal medicine is the medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis, management and non-surgical treatment of unusual or serious diseases. In modern urban practice, most internists are subspecialists: that is, they generally limit their medical practice to problems of one organ system or to one particular area of medical knowledge

Internal Medicine medical transcription involves the transcription of audio records dictated by Internists’ and other related healthcare professionals’ encounter with patients. Knowing that it takes a specialist to take care specialist medical transcription needs, TransDyne has trained a team of medical transcriptionists in the language of Internal Medicine.  This has enabled the medical transcriptionists to become domain specialists.

How does specialty training in Internal Medicine medical transcription affect accuracy levels?

Specialty training in Internal Medicine medical transcription helps the medical transcriptionists produce quality work from the very beginning.  The medical transcriptionists are familiar with the terminology, therapies, procedures and drugs related to Internal Medicine. Due to the specialty training in Internal Medicine medical transcription the medical transcriptionists are able to achieve accuracy of above 99% maintaining the integrity of information captured.

How does specialty training in Internal Medicine medical transcription affect turnaround time?

Specialty training in Internal Medicine medical transcription enables the medical transcriptionists to produce high quality transcripts within the turnaround time guaranteed. Due to the familiarity with the language of Internal Medicine, the medical transcriptionist need not spend much time researching difficult terms in the Internet. Due to the higher levels of accuracy the number of quality checks required are less thus reducing turnaround time.

How does specialty training in Internal Medicine medical transcription affect pricing?

Specialty training in Internal Medicine medical transcription increases the productivity of the medical transcriptionists and decreases the time required for frequent quality checks thus bringing down the cost per line of transcription. The healthcare facility benefits from the economies of scale.

Internal Medicine medical transcription from TransDyne not only has the benefits of accuracy above 99%, turnaround time of 24 hours and reasonable prices, it has other benefits like:

• Security: One of the main concerns that healthcare facilities have is regarding the security of data. During the medical transcription process, data is transmitted back & forth; the protection of data during this process is vital. TransDyne ensures security of data by taking on a three pronged approach, which involves security measures with regard to technology, people and processes. This ensures the confidentiality of data is protected at all stages.

• Flexible modes of dictation: Realizing that time is a precious commodity for healthcare professionals, TransDyne has made it possible for them to retain familiar modes of dictation enabling to manage their time for maximum productivity. 

• Benefits of advanced technology: TransDyne offers healthcare facilities the benefit of advanced technological features like automatic uploads of dictation; automatic downloads of finished transcripts, remote printing & faxing, power archiving facilities and HL7 integration etc at no extra costs.

To know more about superb Internal Medicine medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here. 

Medical transcription outsourcing: What are the advantages?

Running a healthcare facility successfully is a balancing act requiring that a delicate balance be maintained between providing quality care and maintaining profitability. To deliver quality healthcare it is imperative for healthcare facilities to clearly establish those tasks that are an integral part of the healthcare delivery chain and outsource the rest of the inputs. This ensures that the focus is not diluted and quality is not compromised. One such input that plays a vital role in the provision of healthcare is information from patient medical records.

Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records from the audio recording of the patient- healthcare professional encounter. Medical transcription is a specialized skill requiring several inputs in the form of people skills, equipment and processes to be able to deliver transcripts that are accurate, timely and secure.  Having patient medical records transcribed in-house tends to not only dilute the focus of the healthcare facilities from the core business but also tends to divert resources away from the core business.

One easy fix to ensure patient medical records are created without compromising quality standards and dilution of focus is to outsource the entire process to a professional medical transcription service provider. Outsourcing medical transcription provides healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals with numerous advantages.

What are the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription?

Outsourcing medical transcription to a professionally managed medical transcription company basically provides the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals with numerous advantages, like:

• Reduced costs: One of the main advantages of outsourcing medical transcription is that of the substantial savings on cost. Outsourcing enables healthcare facilities transcription eliminates fixed cost of medical transcription to a large extent and enables them to convert these costs to variable cost, totally depending on the volume of transcription required.

• Faster turnaround time: Another advantage of outsourcing is that of ensuring that the transcripts are made available on time. Outsourced medical transcription service providers use a combination of the right team and the right technology to ensure that the dictation files provided by the healthcare professionals are transcribed speedily so as to meet the turnaround time commitments

• Improved patient care and quality: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that quality standards of accuracy and turnaround time are maintained. Having accurate patient medical records available on time helps healthcare professionals in providing quality care.

• Develop more efficient billing procedures: The data in patient medical records is the basis for coding and billing. Prompt turnaround time of transcripts helps speed up the coding and billing process
  
  
• Legal usage: Patient medical records are an important part of risk management, as they chronicle the diagnosis and treatment process. Having descriptive, accurate and timely creation of records help in case of litigation

• Streamline document distribution management: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that there is proper process available for collecting dictation of healthcare professionals and a proper system for distribution of transcripts. Delivery of transcripts can be made to folders specified by the healthcare professional, features like automated printing & faxing, delivery to multiple healthcare professionals, easy to search archives help enhance the working life of healthcare professionals.

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: Getting started on the right note!

It has been proven that outsourcing medical transcription has numerous benefits that aid the healthcare facility in reducing costs and increasing focus on the core business of providing quality healthcare. As medical transcription services are a continuous requirement, it is important to source a medical transcription service provider who can consistently provide quality services. While outsourcing medical transcription it is important to consider a medical transcription service provider who can be more of a partner than a vendor.

Once the medical transcription service provider has been sourced and evaluated it is important to formalize the expected service levels in writing. This will clearly establish the expected levels of quality, enabling the medical transcription service provider to gear their resources to deliver quality services consistently. As the needs of each healthcare facility are different it is important to define the parameters of service expected. The expected parameters can be categorized into:

• Quality: The parameters for quality medical transcription services would include: 

1.     Accuracy: Accuracy is perhaps the most important quality criteria as the information in the patient record is used by healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities for several purposes like imparting healthcare, as evidence in case of litigation, coding and billing etc. It is important to communicate the minimum expected levels of accuracy and also the guidelines for quality.

2.     Turnaround time: As information in the transcripts is vital for the both the operational and commercial aspects of healthcare it is important that patient records be made available on time. The turnaround time requirements may differ according to various factors like the criticality of the situation, emergency, specialty etc. These need to be defined.

3.     Format/ template: Formats/ templates of reports could vary based on the type of report, the specialty or even the based on the preference of the healthcare professional, these need to be clearly specified.

• Administrative: These would include: 

1.     Options to retain familiar modes of dictation: The medical transcription service provider should be in a position to allow healthcare professionals to retain their familiar modes of dictation allowing them to maximize the time available to them. And the dictation system needs to be configured to accept audio from varied sources.

2.     Upload of audio files: The medical transcription service provider has to configure a utility, which enables automatic transfer of audio to the medical transcription service provider, by checking at frequent pre-defined intervals.

3.     Modes of document delivery: Once the transcripts are ready it is vital for the medical transcription service provider to have modes of document delivery that enables the healthcare professionals to have access of transcripts through their preferred mode. There could be variations like delivery of transcripts to specific folders, delivery to multiple users, remote printing and faxing options etc

4.     Archives: It is important that the medical transcription service provider provides an archiving system which enables the healthcare professionals and support staff to retrieve old records using various search criteria

5.     Job summary: It is important for the support staff at the healthcare facility to keep track of number of dictations uploaded, work in progress and transcripts delivered. To enable this the medical transcription service provider needs to provide a comprehensive job summary with all these details.

6.     Billing method: Reduced cost is perhaps one of the main benefit one hopes to gain from the outsourcing process. To ensure actual cost savings, it is important that the medical transcription service provider clearly defines the billing method used along with all the parameters used for calculating cost.

• Technological: This would include: 

1.     Getting started with outsourced medical transcription services: Getting started on outsourced medical transcription services could include configuring healthcare facility system with the service provider's system, building VPN tunnels, installing software, ADT feeds etc.

2.     HIPAA / HITECH compliance: Protection of patient data during the medical transcription process can be ensured by use of security features like 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers etc.

3.     HL7 interface: To configure the interfaces and deliver reports to EMR/EHR as HL7 messages at no additional costs.

4.     Upgrading software: Software to be upgraded automatically. 

• Customer service channels: This step of the outsourcing process is simply establishing that the medical transcription service provider has channels of communication so that any issues that may arise during transition can be solved at once. Having open channels of communication with the service provider ensures that the healthcare professional/ healthcare facility is in a position to seek instant relief for any doubts/ problems that is faced by them during the course of transition to outsourced medical transcription services or during any subsequent stage  

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has been providing medical transcription services for over a decade. TransDyne provides outsourced medical transcription services that include all the service parameters described above.  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 trustworthy outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Fulfilling the purpose of clinical documentation

The process of healthcare is based on the premise of drawing meaningful and significant inputs from various sources, including the experience, education and expertise of healthcare professionals & support staff, inputs from other sources like pharmaceuticals, laboratories and numerous other sources. Information regarding every step of the healthcare process in a patient medical record is one factor that has always been a common factor helping bring together all sources to provide quality healthcare profitably.

Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records from the dictation of the patient- healthcare professional encounter. Accurate, timely and secure medical transcription is the result of the culmination of resources like the right team, the right processes and the right technology. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that patient medical records meet all the quality criteria without diluting the focus of healthcare facilities on their core business of providing quality care. Outsourcing medical transcription also ensures enormous cost saving benefits.

Outsourced medical transcription service providers help the healthcare facility fulfill the purpose of clinical documentation.

How do outsourced medical transcription services help fulfill the purpose of clinical documentation?

The purpose of documenting the patient- healthcare professional encounter can be defined as:

• To provide a point of reference: Patient medical records basically provide a chronicle of the patient's health history. This information is invaluable as a diagnostic tool for planning present and future care

• For the purpose of communication: The process of healthcare requires that a primary healthcare professional may refer to specialists for inputs regarding the treatment provided to the patient. Patient medical records are essential for communication in such cases.

• To establish accountability: Patient medical records act as evidence of the appropriateness of care provided. These inputs are invaluable in case of litigation where the healthcare professional has to justify the diagnosis and the treatment provided.

• Fulfill legislative requirements: Maintaining patient medical records for a certain period of time is mandated by law.

• Quality improvement: Documenting the healthcare process helps healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities improve the quality of healthcare services provided.

• Research: Patient medical records provide valuable inputs for research and also help healthcare facilities provide preventive care

• To ensure reimbursements: Patient medical records are the basis on which coding and billing is done leading to reimbursements. 

Outsourced medical transcription services help in all the mentioned aspects of documentation by providing services with the following benefits:

Accurate: Outsourced medical transcription service providers ensure that the transcripts are created with maximum accuracy using specialty trained medical transcriptionists and stringent quality check methods

Timely: Outsourced medical transcription service providers ensure that transcripts are made available to healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals using a combination of the right team and the right technology

Secure: Outsourced medical transcription service providers ensure that the confidential patient data is secure throughout the medical transcription process by securing technology, teams and infrastructure

Cost effective: Outsourced medical transcription service providers are able to help healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals save on cost of transcription substantially by helping them convert fixed cost of transcription to variable costs, bring down the cost of medical transcription by passing on the benefits of economies of scale achieved by them and eliminating indirect costs.

Technology: Outsourced medical transcription service providers have used technology to provide medical transcription services with the following benefits, while still being easy to use:

• Retaining familiar modes of dictation
• Different modes of document delivery
• Archives
• EMR/EHR adoption 

It can be seen that outsourced medical transcription service providers understand the need for clinical documentation and help fulfill the purpose of documentation.

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. 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.