Medical transcription outsourcing: Maximizing the value of patient records

The role of healthcare in modern times is undeniable given factors like the aging population, the increasingly sedentary and stressed lifestyle among many other factors. This has made the healthcare sector an important vehicle for managing the health of the people. Taking this into consideration, ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) or Economic Stimulus bill was introduced in February 2009, aimed at spurring economic growth across multiple industries through Government spending along with $ 19 billion aimed at the healthcare Industry by way of incentives for meaningful adoption and implementation of EHR (Electronic Health Record) also known as EMR (Electronic Medical Record).

Taking into consideration the deadline for meeting EMR/ EHR adoption and the penalties for not doing so there has been the introduction of many new methods of documenting the care process; some of which, requires the healthcare professional to simultaneously document the care process during the patient encounter. This has resulted in some deficiencies in the documentation, which include:

• Lack of narrative information
• Dilution of healthcare professionals’ focus on the patient during the care process
• Lack of quality checks in the patient medical record leading to errors
• Repetitive and similar sounding documents due to lack of choices in the drop down menus
• Adverse effect on the productivity of healthcare professionals
• Incomplete information due to the lack of time 

The process of healthcare documentation needs to be balanced to provide patient medical records with maximum value without compromising on the costs.

Medical transcription is one such option for documenting the care process that helps maximize the value of patient medical records. Outsourcing medical transcription not only enables the creation of patient medical records using the services of expert medical transcriptionists who meet all the parameters of accuracy, turnaround time and HIPAA compliance but also enables healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals to save on costs substantially.

Given below are some of the ways that outsourcing medical transcription helps maximize the value of patient medical records:

Enabling dictation and preserving narration: One of the main advantages of outsourcing medical transcription is that it encourages healthcare professionals to use dictation as a mode of collecting information. This not only encourages healthcare professionals to optimize their time but also allows them to include the narrative portion of the patient story as part of the patient medical record. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the time of healthcare professionals is used in the best possible way – concentrating on providing care to patients rather than documentation

Minimizing errors: The use of medical transcription companies to document the care process ensures that the accuracy in transcripts is the highest possible, even when the healthcare professional uses speech recognition software to create the transcripts. Medical transcription companies have not only established a stringent quality policy for normal transcripts they also provide editing and proofreading services for speech recognition software transcripts.

Timely availability of information: Using the services of professional and expert medical transcription companies also ensure that there is minimum lag in creation of patient medical records. A combination of trained medical transcriptionists, expert processes and latest technology ensures desired turnaround time.

Technology to support all needs: The role of technology in medical transcription is very significant. Technology is used in medical transcription not only for convenience, speed and HIPAA compliance it also encompasses numerous other factors, including:

1. Dictation modes
2. Document delivery modes
3. Transcription interface for tracking and management
4. HIPAA and HITECH compliance
5. Structured dictation
6. Structured transcription
7. Discrete reportable transcription
8. HL 7 interface

Cost reduction: Another important contribution of medical transcription in maximizing the value of patient medical records is that of reducing the cost of transcription. This not only helps the healthcare facility save on costs but also allows them to focus their key resources on the process of care.

It can be seen that outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription company can maximize the value of patient medical records.

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: Cost benefit analysis

Any business decision needs a good look at the options available and a detailed cost-benefit analysis to be successful and profitable. A healthcare facility faces numerous decisions to be made on a daily basis. Some of these are pertaining to the core business and some are towards services that support the core business. Generally these additional services do not directly contribute to the bottom line, but play an important role in the acceleration or slowing down of the revenue flow.

One such service is medical transcription, it does not directly contribute to the income stream of the healthcare facility, but efficient medical transcription can accelerate the receivables cycle and reduce costs. Therefore it is important to analyze the costs and benefits of in-house medical transcription versus the costs and benefits of outsourcing medical transcription.

Cost benefit analysis for in-house medical transcription:

Costs of in-house medical transcription	Benefits of in-house medical transcription
Salaries of medical transcriptionists Real estate costs Management expenses Cost of utilities Cost of in-house information technology (IT) Cost of overflow medical transcription Costs incurred due to delay in medical transcription. Cost of equipment Cost of training Consumables	Single level of communication Familiarity of the medical transcriptionists with the healthcare professionals. Security

It can be seen from the above table that in-house medical transcription has hidden costs that dilute focus from the core business. And being dependent on in-house transcriptionists can create additional hassles for weekend and holiday medical transcription requirements. Any delay in medical transcription can in turn can affect both the quality of care and the receivables cycle.

Cost benefit analysis for outsourced medical transcription:

Cost of outsourced medical transcription

Benefits of outsourced medical transcription

Cost of sourcing the right service provider, like the evaluation process and travel Cost per line of transcription Minor expenses for upgrading the healthcare facility systems to work in tandem with the service provider’s systems

Cost of transcription is restricted to the cost per line of transcription Holiday and weekend requirements are covered automatically Guaranteed turnaround time Accuracy of above 99% Security measures as regards to technology, processes and manpower are taken care of by the service provider during the medical transcription process. There are added benefits like freeing up of resources like real estate, management and utilities Training of medical transcriptionists are undertaken to cover the specialties of the healthcare professionals. Automatic integration with the EMR/EHR systems is the possible. Flexible and familiar modes of dictation can be retained Information Technology needs is taken care of by the service provider.

Outsourcing medical transcription can help the healthcare facility in saving cost per line of transcription, quickening the receivables cycle, providing quality health care and freeing up of important resources, which can then be used of other purposes. However to avail all the benefits of outsourced medical transcription it is important to have a careful process of qualification and evaluation. The payoff from the lengthy selection process would have long-term benefits.

Outsourcing to a company like TransDyne, which is a leader in the medical transcription arena provides numerous benefits like medical transcription services with 99% accuracy, a guaranteed turnaround time of 24 hours with an option of 4-12 hours for STAT reports, technology that is advanced but easy to use and transcription through secure channels to ensure HIPAA compliance.

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

Medical transcription: What is meant by HIPAA compliant systems?

HIPAA protects the health insurance coverage of workers when they lose employment or change their employers. HIPAA also covers the privacy of identifiable health information (PHI- Personal Health Information) regardless of the format in which it exists, including electronic, written or verbal.

 HIPAA applies to:

• Health care providers
• Health plans
• Health care clearinghouses 
• Any such third parties that perform services involving PHI or exchange electronic data on behalf of the healthcare facility.

Under the last category HIPAA applies to medical transcription service providers, as they are involved in providing a service that involves the electronic transmission of PHI.

HIPAA and outsourced medical transcription

As already stated HIPAA applies to medical transcription because medical transcription is the process of creating records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter.  And the process of outsourcing medical transcription to a medical transcription service provider would involve:

• Uploading audio files  (narration of patient-healthcare professional encounter) to the server
• Transmission of audio files
• Downloading the audio files
• Transcribing the audio files
• Transmission of the finished transcripts
• Downloading the finished transcripts by the healthcare facility.

Considering the procedure involved security of data is applicable at all stages:

1. When Data is at rest: This would be safety of data when it is stored prior to transmission to the medical transcription service provider and when the finished transcripts are stored before transmitting back to the healthcare facility.

2. When Data is in motion: This would include safety of data during uploading audio files, transmission of audio files, downloading audio files and transmission of finished transcripts

3. When Data is in use:  This would involve safety of data when the audio files are being transcribed.

4. When Data is disposed:  This would involve safely disposing of defunct files in such a way to ensure that they are completely destroyed and cannot be accessed by unauthorized entities.

How does TransDyne ensure HIPAA compliance?

·       Use of the right systems and software: The use of 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers, denial of access procedures and multi-modal alerts safeguards data when it is at rest and when data is in motion.

·       Use of processes: Use of processes like company owned & managed facilities, not engaging any sub-contractors, employing manned security at the entry/exit points, round-the-clock video surveillance and the lack of removable storage media protect the data in use. The other measures taken for ensuring security of data in use are limiting the access to the application by User ID and an encrypted password. Access to files is limited based on the user's role. Once a user is logged in, if no activity is performed for certain time, the user is automatically logged out of the system. This ensures that there is complete security of data when it in use.

·       Educating people: Educating people on the importance and procedures for HIPAA compliance gives them a professional outlook. Having them give a commitment in writing further ensure HIPAA compliancy. This protects the data in all stages.

TransDyne believes in maintaining security standards that not only meet HIPAA standards, but also exceed them.  Not only HIPAA compliance of outsourced medical transcription services, TransDyne ensures accuracy of above 99%, guaranteed turnaround time of 24 hours with an option of 4-12 hour turnaround time for STAT reports at a very reasonable price!

To know more about the total TransDyne advantage please click here

Software and tools for medical transcription

What is the role of software and tools in the medical transcription process?

The process of medical transcription has evolved a long way from where it started. Gone are the days of sending records/ tapes through courier and receiving the finished transcripts in a similar manner. It is the digital age and technological advances have made it possible for the whole process to be fast and safe.

Time is a resource which is scarce for health care professionals therefore it becomes important that the medical transcription company chosen to take care of transcription needs should utilize technology which is advanced and secure and also simple to use.

The role of software and technology in the transcription process is as follows:

• Dictation: Doctors need to have flexible options for dictating their notes so as to utilize their time in the best way possible.

• Upload of documents: The dictated records then need to uploaded so that the process of transcription can take place

• Delivery of finished transcripts: Once the audio records have been transcribed these need to be made available to the doctors for further use.

• Archives:  Medical records play an important part in many ways like further treatment, referrals, statutory requirements, billing and as evidence in case of litigation. Therefore it becomes important that the records are easily accessible.

• HL7: Healthcare information may need to be further transmitted to various sources; the medical transcription company needs to have HL7 integration to make this possible. HL7 is a protocol developed for communication of health data to various entities without the meaning getting lost. 

TransDyne a leading name in medical transcription believes that technology needs to be advanced so that the service provided is of the best standard, but should be simple to enable ease of use for healthcare professionals.

Some of the features of the software and tools used by TransDyne are as follows:

• Smart upload: TransDyne offers doctors the choice of using modes of dictation they are already comfortable with. Then these files can be uploaded to the servers to be made available for transcription. Smart upload enables transfer of dictation files from the healthcare facility’s server to TransDyne’s server by checking for new dictations at pre-fixed intervals.

• Web Delivery: TransDyne’s web delivery system tackles all issues related with tracking dictations, receiving documents and finding old files form the archives.

• Smart Delivery: Smart delivery is an automated program that addresses the automatic downloads, saving files and printing needs of a healthcare facility.

• HL7 integration: TransDyne can configure and send healthcare information as HL7 messages to the client’s EMR with no additional costs.

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert Medical Transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA compliant channels, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use. 

To know more about the superior medical transcription services provided TransDyne click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Going the HITECH way!

Health Information Technology for Economy and Clinical Health (HITECH) act providing for privacy and security of patient health information was enacted on 17^th February 2009, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. (ARRA). The HITECH act has become effective on 17^th February 2010.

HITECH has improved and expanded on the concerns and issues addressed by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). HITECH has added new requirements concerning privacy and security for health information that materially and directly affects many entities, businesses, and individuals in ways more diverse than HIPAA

How does HITECH affect medical transcription service providers?

HITECH has added as ‘Business Associates’, organizations that transmit protected Health Information and require access on a regular basis to such information.

Medical transcription is the process of converting audio records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. The process of medical transcription is made efficient and cost effective when outsourced to a professional medical transcription service provider. Medical transcription service providers come under the purview of HITECH as business associates, as they have access to patient health information and are involved in the process of transmitting this data back and forth during the process of transcription.

What are the steps to be taken by a medical transcription company to ensure compliance with the HITECH act?

To be compliant with the HITECH act, the medical transcription service provider needs to implement the following:

Identify the compliance requirements specific to their organization

Carry out a risk analysis that includes the total flow of Patient Health Information (PHI) during the process of transcription. This needs to include the beginning of the process, all the steps in between up to the conclusion of the process, namely:

1. Collection of dictation
2. Transmission of audio files
3.  Distribution of audio files for transcription
4. Shared access for quality checks
5.  Transmission of transcripts back to the healthcare professionals
6. Archiving

Identify the high-risk areas and look at the current risk containment measures. Revise the measures to ensure that they are in tandem with current requirements and latest technology, making sure there are no loopholes to allow for breaches

Ensure that employees and any third parties having access to PHI are fully trained on the privacy and security requirements. Make them aware of their role in protecting PHI

Review existing relationships between covered entities and develop a continuing compliance strategy

Develop a strategy to minimize breaches, an early detection plan for identifying breaches and an action plan for quick responses to contain breaches, if any

While outsourcing medical transcription, it has become important for healthcare facilities to ensure that the service provider is fully aware of the requirement to protect the PHI under the HITECH act and have measures in place to ensure compliance.

TransDyne a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has always understood the importance of securing and protecting confidential patient health information during the process of medical transcription. Measures have been taken to ensure that PHI is protected at all levels. The measures taken by TransDyne to be HITECH compliant include:

Securing people and processes:  People and processes are secured by implementing the following:

1.     No sub-contractors: Work outsourced to TransDyne is executed in-house and no subcontractors are used.

2.     Educating the team: The transcription team, i.e. medical transcriptionists, proof readers, language editors and the quality assurance team have been educated on the importance of protecting and securing PHI

3.     Inbuilt security routines: All applications and processes have inbuilt security measures like password changes, access audits and related exercises.

4.     Joint access: Most confidential databases can only be accessed by a combination of passwords of a minimum of two individuals.

5.     Restricted Internet and Email access: Unlimited access to Internet can lead to security breaches. Access is limited to a few limited sites.

6.     Legal Declarations: Declarations are signed by employees undertaking to maintain the security of data.

7.     Security audits: Frequent audits are carried out to ensure that all procedures are followed and are effective

8.     Disabling ports for removable media: Ports for using removable media have been disabled to eliminate misuse of PHI

Securing Infrastructure:  Infrastructure is secured by the following means:

Company owned and managed facilities

1.     Manned security

2.     Video surveillance

Securing Technology: Technology has been secured by use of security features like

1. All medical transcription related software applications are built in-house. 
2. Database based systems.
3. 128-bit data encryption
4. Multi-tiered application architecture
5. Design level security safeguards
6. Firewall protected networks
7. Sterilized e-mail servers
8. Denial of access procedures and
9. Multi-modal alerts

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: Understanding cost

Medical transcription is the process of converting audio files of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. These records form a part of the permanent patient record and are used for various purposes, including coding and billing for the purpose of reimbursements. Medical records are a valuable resource to the healthcare professional for providing quality healthcare on a timely basis.

In spite of being an important part of the healthcare process and an accelerant of the receivables cycle, medical transcription is one of the cost factors. To understand the cost of medical transcription it is important to evaluate all options available for availing medical transcription and evaluate the cost components of each method.  A healthcare facility can avail medical transcription services by the following means:

By having an in-house transcription team: To calculate the cost per line of transcription under this method, the healthcare facility needs to include indirect costs like cost of real estate, overheads, utilities, managerial/supervisory costs, cost of training, cost of repairs & maintenance, cost of weekend & holiday transcription, cost of IT along with the direct costs like Salaries and benefits paid to the medical transcriptionists. Factors like cost of overtime and loss of productivity during slack hours also need to be added to arrive at realistic costs.

By having independent contractors working for them: To calculate the costs under this method, apart from the cost per line of transcription, factors like cost of coordination of transcription activities, cost of in-house IT towards medical transcription, server costs for upload & download of files, cost of equipment & software provided to the Independent contractors, cost of security measures, needs to be added to arrive at the actual cost per line of transcription.

By outsourcing to a professional medical transcription service provider: Under this option the cost per line of medical transcription is clearly defined by the service provider. However the medical transcription service provider needs to evaluate on the accuracy, turnaround time, security, technology used and the billing method before arriving at the final costs.

By having a combination of the above methods: Using more than one source to meet medical transcription needs can lead to complexities like different methods of billing, different methods of calculating accuracy, different technology used by different providers, cost of coordination and the additional cost of ensuring security of data. This method could probably create confusion and additional work.

In conclusion, it can safely be said that outsourcing to a professionally managed medical transcription company can help the healthcare facility curb costs and limit it to the cost per line of transcription. However while doing so, care needs to be taken to evaluate the medical transcription service provider on the following:

·       Billing method

·       Security measures taken by the medical transcription service provider

·       Quality measures to obtain accuracy

·       Turnaround time

·       Technology

TransDyne is a professionally managed medical transcription service provider.

Fair and transparent method of billing: TransDyne uses the character line method of billing. This method is measurable, verifiable, definable, consistent and fair & honest. TransDyne takes care to explain the billing method in detail at the very beginning so that both parties understand all the components of cost.

Secure medical transcription: TransDyne ensures security of confidential patient data by securing technology, infrastructure and people & processes. The methods used by TransDyne to ensure security of data not only meet HIPAA standards but also exceed them.

 

Accuracy of above 99%: TransDyne ensures accuracy levels by training their medical transcriptionists in one or two specialties making them domain experts enabling to transcribe at top quality. TransDyne further adopts a four level quality check method to attain maximum accuracy.

Turnaround time of 24 hours: TransDyne ensures turnaround time using the right technology, the right training method and the right people.

Technology that is advanced but easy to use: TransDyne believes in using the latest technology with features like automatic uploads & downloads, archiving and HL7 integration that is easy to use. 

To know more about low cost quality medical transcription services by TransDyne click here.

Medical transcription:Cardiology

Medical transcription is a back office function that assists healthcare professionals in creating accurate and speedy records of patient visits. Medicine is a vast and complex field having various specialties. The terminology, treatment procedures and the drugs used in each specialty are different. That is why healthcare professionals train for a particular specialty to become  specialists in that field.

Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart and blood vessels. The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary heart disease and electrophysiology. Physicians specializing in this field are called Cardiologists. And physicians specializing in surgery related to cardiology are called Cardiac surgeons.

Medical transcription for cardiology services require medical transcriptionists to be well versed in the terminology and familiar with the treatment modes and drugs used. Recognizing the need for professional and skilled medical transcriptionists to transcribe records dictated by cardiology specialists, TransDyne has created a team of medical transcriptionists specializing in Cardiology.

Medical transcriptionists are hand picked during the training period and trained to learn in detail, the terminology, procedures and drugs associated with cardiology.

How does specialty training in Cardiology transcription affect accuracy?

Training a medical transcriptionist in cardiology transcription helps increase accuracy of the finished transcript, by familiarizing the medical transcriptionist with all the terminology and procedures associated with Cardiology. This ensures that the medical transcriptionist does not misspell or misunderstand any of the terms used by the healthcare professionals. The medical transcriptionist is able to produce accurate records from the very beginning without leaving room for guesswork.

How does specialty training in Cardiology transcription affect turnaround time?

Turnaround time refers to the time taken to revert the transcribed report to the healthcare facility. By familiarizing the medical transcriptionist with all the terminology used in cardiology, the turnaround time can be maintained due to the familiarity of the medical transcriptionist with the associated terms and cutting down time spent on research. Moreover the time spent on multi level quality checks would also reduce, reducing the turnaround time.

How does specialty training in Cardiology transcription affect pricing?

Specialty training in Cardiology transcription can help bring down cost per line of transcription, by increasing the productivity of the medical transcriptionist. Moreover due to the increased accuracy of the transcripts the cost of several level quality checks can be reduced.

Apart from offering accurate, timely and reasonably priced cardiology transcription, TransDyne also offers the following:

Data Security: TransDyne ensures Data security by incorporating security measures like 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security, safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers, denial of access procedure and multi modal alerts.

TransDyne further ensures data security by ensuring that data doesn’t leave it’s premises physically. To ensure secure Medical Transcription all the transcription is done in TransDyne’s premises and the premises are secured through appropriate security measures. TransDyne meets and exceeds all the HIPAA regulations.

Technology: TransDyne believes that the technology used for medical transcription like uploading dictation and downloading finished transcripts should be advanced to ensure reliability, but very easy to use requiring very less or no training. TransDyne also has a system with powerful archival features enabling the healthcare professional to easily trace old records. TransDyne also facilitates HL7 interface for interacting with other systems.

To know more about Cardiology medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here.