Thursday, June 10, 2010

Medical transcription: Turnaround time

Medical transcription is the process of converting the audio records of a patient-healthcare professional encounter into a typed format, which is then stored as part of the patient’s permanent health record. This record could be stored in paper format or as a soft copy. This ensures that information is available for the continued care of the patient. Moreover this record is also essential to initiate the process of reimbursement.

The quality of medical transcription services is evaluated on the basis of accuracy, turnaround time, pricing and security. The added benefit of medical transcription comes from the technology used by the medical transcription service provider, providing additional features that add value to the service.

As with any other service the value of the service comes from being available on time. In case of medical transcription this becomes even more important as it involves healthcare where having the right information can make a huge difference to the quality of healthcare. Having records on hand takes away the need to depend on memory or guesswork.

Turnaround time denotes the time between uploading the audio files to when the finished transcripts are made available to the healthcare professional. Most service providers guarantee turnaround time. The decision making process for choosing the right provider means that they should be evaluated on their ability to meet their commitment.

A healthcare facility needs to carefully evaluate the turnaround time guaranteed by the service provider. There are certain criteria that can be used to evaluate whether the guaranteed turnaround time will be delivered. Given below are some of the factors, which indicate the ability of the service provider to deliver on their guaranteed turnaround time:

Technology: Apart from convenience and security, technology used by the medical transcription service provider plays a significant role in meeting turnaround time guarantee. Convenient features like automatic upload for dictation, downloading finished transcripts, and backup systems can cut down the turnaround time. This would make work at both the healthcare facility and medical transcription service provider’s ends fast, safe and convenient.

Executing medical transcription work in-house: When a service provider executes all the medical transcription work outsourced to them, in-house, this not only ensures accuracy and security, but also cuts down the turnaround time. Factors like system failure, absenteeism and power failures at the subcontractors’ end can cause a lot of delays. Moreover subcontractors would treat work as just another job and not have the commitment to meet the turnaround time offered by the service provider.

Training methods used: As medical transcription work is totally dependent on the skill set of the people working on it, the training method used by the medical transcription service provider can fine-tune the turnaround time. Medical transcriptionists trained to be domain specialists could be able to execute accurate work at optimum speed from the very beginning.

Service provider’s experience in dealing with varied customer needs: The experience of the medical transcription service provider in dealing with healthcare facilities of all types would give them the experience to have tried and tested methods in place to produce quality work within the turnaround time promised.

Standardized quality check procedures: Having a standard method in place for producing work of accuracy levels promised can ensure that the turnaround time guarantee is met with.

TransDyne offers a turnaround time guarantee of 24 hours with an option of 4-12 hours for STAT reports. TransDyne meets the turnaround time commitment by using the latest technology, executing all medical transcription work in-house, training medical transcriptionists to be domain specialists, have experience in dealing with healthcare facilities with varied needs and has in place standardized quality check procedures.

Not only guaranteed turnaround time, TransDyne also offers medical transcription with an accuracy of above 99%, at fair and reasonable prices, through secure channels and with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

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

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