Medical transcription outsourcing: Creating valuable documentation

Almost all activities that are part of the healthcare process need to be documented to ensure proper reimbursement, record keeping and information sharing. Documenting the healthcare process is not only essential in terms of the actual healthcare process and operations of the healthcare facility it is also mandated by law. With the recent mandate towards a connected healthcare system; documenting the healthcare process in a manner that saves costs, improves sharing & access, improves safety and curbs cost has become the need of the hour.

With this mandate in mind healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities are in the process of adopting EMR/ EHR using various methods. As a result of this the healthcare documentation sector has come into focus. Medical transcription services and medical transcription service providers have been a part of the healthcare documentation scenario providing vital support by helping create valuable documentation while still enabling adoption of EMR/ EHR for a long time.

Valuable documentation can be described as documentation that includes:

Contains all the vital information for taking the right decisions regarding the provision of care: Medical transcription meets these criteria by ensuring that complete information regarding the patient encounter is reflected in the patient medical record, including the narrative portion. Medical transcription companies ensure that not only is the information complete but also as accurate as possible using qualified and experienced medical transcriptionists who put each transcript through multiple quality checks.

Easy to use and access: Medical transcription services are very easy to use due to the technology used by the medical transcription companies. Medical transcription companies ensure that the technology used, while providing all the required benefits still remains easy to use. Access to patient medical records created is also made easy by providing multiple options for document delivery and also providing access to older records by archiving them and enabling searches using various criteria.

Flexible to the needs of healthcare professionals: Medical transcription services have a deep understanding of the needs of healthcare professionals and have therefore customized their services accordingly.  Medical transcription companies provide services that include discrete reportable transcription, structured transcription, editing & proofreading services for speech recognition software and HL7 interface which offers healthcare professionals a multitude of choices. Medical transcription companies even offer multiple options for dictation modes, formats/ templates, document delivery modes etc to healthcare professionals as per their preference

Facilitates proper coding and billing for reimbursement: Proper and complete documentation is the basis for coding and billing. Medical transcription services enable this by ensuring that the audio data provided by healthcare professionals is converted into textual information that meets all the criteria like being legible, complete, precise, accurate, reliable, clear and created on time.

HIPAA and HITECH compliant: Maintaining the security of confidential patient information is one of the main concerns of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities, especially during the transcription process when the data is transmitted back and forth. Medical transcription companies mitigate this concern by securing people, processes, technology and infrastructure

Curbs cost: Outsourcing medical transcription is perhaps one of the most cost effective methods of creating quality patient medical records. Though other methods like point and click entry by the healthcare professional or front end speech recognition software may seem like cheaper options, these methods tend to curb the productivity of healthcare professionals, thereby increasing costs. The process of medical transcription when outsourced, reduces current cost of transcription by over 40% and also ensures that the productivity of healthcare professionals is not hindered

Falls in line with the operations and work life of healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals: Medical transcription services when outsourced to the right service provider, can be one of the most effective and unobtrusive methods of documenting the care process as medical transcription service providers possess a deep understanding of the needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities and provide services accordingly

Considering the value addition that medical transcription companies bring to the healthcare documentation process one can definitely conclude that medical transcription services are indispensable for complete and convenient healthcare documentation

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 and editing & proofreading services for adoption of EMR/ EHR 

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

Medical transcription services: An in-depth analysis

Medical transcription services have been a part of the healthcare documentation scenario, having documented the patient encounter in its entirety. This information plays a major role in various areas of operation of the healthcare facility. With the advent of technology and the Internet, medical transcription services have evolved into sophisticated services that aid healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities in performing better.

However in the recent times the role of medical transcription in the healthcare documentation has been questioned as the healthcare sector is preparing to move to adoption of EMR/ EHR system. However in spite of so many advancements in the healthcare documentation scenario like speech recognition software, point & click templates etc, the role of medical transcription and medical transcription companies continues to be very vital in the process of documenting the care process and even the move towards adopting EMR/ EHR.

At this juncture it becomes important to carry out an in-depth analysis of medical transcription services detailing the strength, weaknesses of the medical transcription industry along with the opportunities and threats faced by the industry.

Strengths of medical transcription

Experience and knowledge: The medical transcription industry has amassed an amazing amount of knowledge regarding the healthcare industry. They have an in-depth knowledge of medical terminology, drugs & formulations, procedures etc associated with healthcare. Medical transcription companies and medical transcriptionists also possess knowledge about the work life of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities and their specific requirements, which help them in customizing the services and technology used for medical transcription services accordingly

Education: Medical transcription companies educate and train their medical transcriptionists and other personnel intensively regarding the needs of the healthcare industry. This helps them rise to the challenges faced by them and provide services without compromising on the accuracy or turnaround time. 

Weaknesses of medical transcription: One of the main weaknesses of medical transcription services that is generally perceived is that the patient medical records created by the process of medical transcription cannot be used directly to populate the EMR/ EHR.

Opportunities available to medical transcription: Due to the changes in the way the healthcare process needs to be documented and with the technological advances, the medical transcription industry has many opportunities available to them for using their knowledge, education and experience.

These include:

• Discrete reportable transcription to populate EMR/ EHR
• Editing and proofreading services for backend speech recognition software
• Structured transcription to enable entry of discrete data elements into the EMR/ EHR
• Adoption of EMR/ EHR using HL7 interface

Threats faced by medical transcription: The advent of the deadline for adoption of EMR/ EHR has resulted in some healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities trying to eliminate medical transcription from their healthcare documentation process.

However after facing the practicalities of actually adopting EMR/ EHR and how it affects the productivity of healthcare professionals and patient satisfaction adversely, has made the healthcare sector become aware of the importance and continued role of medical transcription services in the healthcare documentation scenario.

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 and editing & proofreading services for adoption of EMR/ EHR 

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Ensuring better revenue flow

The purpose of any business is to make profit at the end of the day. Keeping this in mind all the operations of the business need to focus adequately on the important aspect of easing the revenue flow. Healthcare services are no different; in fact the process of ensuring revenue in healthcare becomes complicated as it is totally driven by insurance. This necessitates several additional steps like documenting the patient encounter, coding and billing to ensure proper revenue flow.

Taking into consideration the revenue flow model of healthcare facilities, documenting the patient encounter can be considered one of the vital steps in revenue generation. There are many options available for documenting the patient encounter; however medical transcription has proven not only to be one of the most healthcare professional preferred methods of documenting but also an efficient and economical method. Moreover outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the medical transcription company provides all the vital elements necessary for ensuring revenue flow.

What are the essentials for ensuring better revenue flow?

The right mode for creating patient medical records: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the onus of creating patient medical records is totally on the medical transcription company. Aspects like managing volumes, providing for weekend & holiday transcription, quality of transcription etc is the responsibility of the medical transcription company.  Another major advantage of outsourcing medical transcription is that many of the resources required for medical transcription like real estate, utilities, equipment, managerial staff are provided by the medical transcription company freeing up vital resources of the healthcare facility that can be used to concentrate on the core business.

Transcription using the services of a professional medical transcription company also aids in another aspect of revenue flow by creating patient medical records that include the narrative portion. The narrative portion of the patient medical record clearly provides the details of the treatment process providing the basis for coding and billing which is an important aspect of revenue generation

Manpower: Having the right team for transcription and ensuring the proper working of these teams to produce quality patient medical records is another aspect of revenue generation that medical transcription companies aid in.  To ensure proper revenue flow it is important for patient medical records to be created within tight turnaround times without compromising on the accuracy. Medical transcription companies ensure this by recruiting the right team, training them to be domain specialists, allocate work based on their specialization, supervising transcription and ensuring quality by putting each transcript through multiple quality check levels.

Technology: Technology continues to play an increasingly important role in the medical transcription process and thereby the revenue generation process. Technology ensures automatic upload of dictation for transcription, transmission of data through HIPAA & HITECH compliant channels; speedy & convenient document delivery, easy access to records (old & new) and adoption of new technology.

Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have access to technology without having to invest time and money. Medical transcription companies have ensured the technology used by them not only meets the needs of healthcare professionals but also remains easy to use. Medical transcription companies also aid in adoption of EMR/ EHR by using HL7 interface, providing editing & proofreading services for speech recognition software generated transcripts and providing discrete reportable transcription.

It can be concluded that medical transcription especially when outsourced has a vital role to play in ensuring revenue flow.

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.

Medical transcription and clinical documentation

The nation is poised on the verge of major change in the way healthcare encounters are documented and shared. The proposed move towards a nationwide electronic healthcare system has lead to a detailed review of the role of medical transcription in this process. This has resulted in medical transcription services being redefined as services that extend beyond mere typing services to that of being an integral part of clinical documentation.

The redefinition of medical transcription services as clinical documentation is further emphasized by the role medical transcription plays in meeting the criteria for clinical documentation.

The criteria for clinical documentation that are met with by medical transcription services are:

Creation of legible records: One of the main criteria of clinical documentation is the creation of legible records. Medical transcription companies ensure creation of neat, legible records in prescribed formats/ templates.

Complete documentation of patient encounter: Clinical documentation advocates the capture of complete information regarding the patient encounter to enable usage for all purposes. Medical transcription not only ensures that the dry facts of the patient encounter are captured but also ensures that the narrative portion of the patient encounter is also documented. This ensures that healthcare professionals and support staff have access to the entire diagnostic and thought process of the healthcare professional during the encounter even at a later date, providing a clear picture.

Clarity of information captured: Information apart from being complete and legible needs to be clear. Medical transcription companies ensure that the information in patient medical records is laid out in a clear manner for quick access and easy understanding.

Consistently defined information: The consistency of the facts of the patient encounter needs to be checked to ensure minimum errors. Medical transcription companies ensure that the consistency of information is checked by putting each transcript through multiple levels of quality checking using well-trained medical transcriptionists and proofreaders

Precise data: The data in the patient medical record needs to be transformed into useful information after eliminating all the “noise” to ensure precision. Medical transcription services ensure this using the right team of medical transcriptionists who subject each transcript to strict quality checks

Reliable: The data in the patient medical record needs to be reliable to ensure correct treatment, coding & billing and for risk management aspects. Medical transcription companies ensure this using the right combination of teams, processes and technology

Timely: Timely information is essential for efficiency and medical transcription companies ensure turnaround time using a judicious combination of technology and teams. Most medical transcription companies even offer flexible turnaround time options to ensure that the needs of healthcare professionals are met with.

It is important for patient medical records to contain information that meets the needs of all the participants in the healthcare service process. This includes healthcare professionals, support staff, patients, health plans, and governmental and accrediting agencies. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures this by meeting all the criteria of clinical documentation and also ensuring HIPAA & HITECH compliance and substantial reduction in costs.

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.

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: Services that add real value

Medical transcription has been a part of the healthcare documentation scenario since the very beginning providing services that add real value to the healthcare process. The advent of technology and the demand for better services has made medical transcription services responsive and sensitive to the changing needs of healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals. This has enabled them to evolve as a service that continues to add real value in spite of the many changes that are taking place in the healthcare documentation scenario.

Medical transcription services add real value to the healthcare process by providing services that include the following benefits:

Services with a minimum of hindrance: Medical transcription services have evolved to such an extent due to the advent in technology that it has become possible for medical transcription companies to provide these services from a remote location, which results in seamless service that does not hinder the healthcare process. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures minimum hindrance by providing:

·        Dictation as a means of capturing information ensuring total focus on patients

·        Seamless delivery of transcripts within the required turnaround time

·        Ensuring adoption of EMR/ EHR using HL7 interface

·        Ensuring quality transcription to minimize the efforts of healthcare professionals in this regard

·        Providing easy access to archives for older transcripts

Ensuring capture of complete and correct information: Unlike other methods medical transcription encourages the healthcare professionals to record not only the dry facts of the patient encounter but also the detailed diagnosis. This ensures that along with the salient facts of the encounter the thought process is also captured in the patient medical record. The medical transcription company ensures the accuracy of this information by putting each transcript through multiple levels of quality checks.

Protecting confidential patient information at all levels: One of the main requirements of a healthcare professional – patient encounter apart from the actual care process is the need for confidentiality. Medical transcription companies are aware of the legal and moral implications of maintaining HIPAA and HITECH compliance and ensure this by taking measures to protect the information at all levels of transcription.

Reducing cost and accelerating reimbursements: Another aspect of medical transcription that adds real value to the healthcare facilities is that outsourcing medical transcription results in substantial cost savings, which ultimately reflects in the bottom-line. Moreover timely and complete documentation is the foundation of the reimbursement process. Medical transcription companies ensure this by ensuring comprehensive documentation within short turnaround time periods.

Medical transcription services have always added real value and will continue to do so in the future.

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.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Useful services

The current healthcare documentation scenario calls for many changes in the way the healthcare process is documented, stored and shared. With an accelerated move towards adoption of EMR/ EHR there has been a lot of thinking and deliberation regarding the method of documenting the care process. Medical transcription has been and still remains one of the most convenient methods of documenting the care process, though medical transcription has evolved to a sophisticated process from its initial form.

With the current move towards the adoption of EMR/ EHR and with the deadline for achieving meaningful use approaching fast, it has become important to choose a method of documentation that enables adoption of EMR/ EHR without hindering the care process or the productivity of the healthcare professionals. Medical transcription, especially when outsourced has proven to be very useful in the adoption EMR/ EHR.

Useful services provided by outsourced medical transcription services:

Removing the burden of documentation from the healthcare professional: With the increased emphasis on the adoption of EMR/ EHR the onus of documenting the process is being shifted to the healthcare professional, which results in reduced productivity and less focus on patients. Using medical transcription services ensures that this does not happen. Medical transcription services ensure accurate and timely transcription without unobtrusively.

Providing many options: Among the many advantages of seeking the services of a professional medical transcription company to provide documentation support is that medical transcription service providers provide healthcare professionals with numerous options, which include:

• Dictation using convenient devices –to- transcription
• Editing and proofreading services for speech recognition software
• Discrete reportable transcription
• Structured transcription
• Structured dictation

The healthcare professionals have the options to choose the method most suitable for their particular needs for maximum speed and quality.

Providing technology support: The process of medical transcription and the adoption of EMR/ EHR require support in the form of software and tools. Medical transcription companies provide this support by creating and using software and tools like delivery of transcripts to particular folder, HL7 interface, electronic signature, automatic printing & faxing etc, while still remaining easy to use. This ensures maximum benefits of the transcription software while requiring minimum efforts and training for the healthcare professionals

Providing manpower support: Documenting the care process needs to be done with the utmost care as this information is used for various purposes. The information in patient medical records needs to be validated by skilled manpower to ensure that the right information is captured. Medical transcription companies provide well-trained and skilled medical transcriptionists who can validate the information to ensure maximum accuracy quickly while ensuring HIPAA and HITECH compliance.

It can be concluded that medical transcription services continue to be an important part of the healthcare documentation scenario by providing useful services. Outsourcing medical transcription not only ensures accuracy, turnaround time and security but also enables substantial savings on cost.

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

Medical transcription services: Changing with the times

As is true with the rest of the world healthcare and healthcare documentation are going through major changes to keep up with changing needs and evolving technologies. As a service associated with healthcare documentation, medical transcription is also constantly changing to meet the challenges presented by the changing demands of the healthcare industry.

In fact medical transcription services have always strived to modify their services as per the changing needs of the healthcare industry from the very beginning. Case in point for this is the evolution of medical transcription as a service that can operate independently from the healthcare facility even from a remote location resulting in substantial savings on cost of transcription for healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities.

Given below are some of the examples of how medical transcription services have changed to meet the challenges and needs of the healthcare sector:

The dictation challenge: Dictation is the starting point of the process for healthcare documentation. Medical transcription companies have accepted the challenge of configuring different modes of dictation as per the convenience of the healthcare professionals into the transcription interface. This has enabled healthcare professionals to dictate as per their convenience using devices of their choice. The audio files are automatically transcribed for transcription.

The turnaround time challenge: Depending on the need of the situation healthcare professionals need patient medical records transmitted to them within varied turnaround times. Medical transcription companies have risen to this challenge by providing varied turnaround time options, which can be specified by the healthcare professional as per their specific needs

The HIPAA and HITECH challenge: Securing confidential patient information is both a legal and moral requirement. Medical transcription companies have risen to the challenge of protecting this information through all the stages of transcription by securing technology, people, processes and infrastructure.

The technology challenge: The life of healthcare professionals is very hectic requiring them to manage their time judiciously and using technology that is complicated can be a challenge. Realizing this medical transcription companies have used technology for medical transcription that provide maximum benefits while still being easy to use.

The EMR/ EHR and speech recognition software challenge: With the current move towards EMR/ EHR the challenge faced by medical transcription companies is to enable adoption with minimum disruption to the work life of healthcare professionals. Medical transcription companies have dealt with this challenge by providing editing & proofreading services for speech recognition software and HL7 interface for EMR/ EHR adoption

The document delivery challenge: Once the transcription process it is imperative that the transcripts are delivered to healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities through the modes specified by them. Medical transcription companies have provided various convenient options for document delivery to choose from like delivery to a specific folder, delivery to more than one healthcare professional, automatic printing & faxing etc. Apart from this medical transcription companies also provide an interface for healthcare facility staff to keep track of transcription work.

It can be concluded that medical transcription services are constantly changing and improving services to meet the challenges of healthcare documentation without compromising on quality.

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.

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.