Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing comprehensive and economical services

The healthcare sector is dynamic with constantly changing needs, new developments, new inventions and new discoveries. It is also a sector that has to work under several constraints and strict code of ethics. The constant endeavor of most healthcare facilities is to maintain high standards of service, trying to keep the bottom-line in the black, all this while performing under a strict code of ethics.

The process of healthcare depends on various inputs to be able to deliver quality healthcare. One of the vital ingredients leading to the successful provision of quality healthcare is information from patient records. Medical transcription is the process of creating patient records from the audio records of the healthcare professional’s narration of his/her encounter with the patient. Accurate and creation of patient records is not only important for quality healthcare, but also important for receivables management and as evidence in case of litigation.

Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the healthcare facility offers comprehensive and economical solutions for its documentation needs.

How does outsourcing medical transcription provide comprehensive solutions?

Outsourcing medical transcription provides comprehensive solutions for documenting patient-healthcare professional encounters, including:

Accuracy: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the patient records are created with maximum accuracy possible. Use of medical transcriptionists trained to be domain experts and stringent quality checks involving several levels consisting of medical transcriptionists, proof readers, unit-in charges and the quality check team ensures that more than one set of qualified “ears” listen to the dictation and try to capture the maximum information possible

Turnaround time: Apart from the accuracy of information in patient records, it is also vital that the information is available to the healthcare professionals on time. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that turnaround time commitments are adhered to using the right team, right processes and the right technology

Specialty transcription: Medical transcriptionists trained to be specialists in one or two specialties ensure that as new specialties are added to the healthcare facility, there are qualified teams available to provide accurate and timely transcription

Weekend and Holiday transcription: Outsourcing medical transcription provides ensures that the service is available to the healthcare facilities round the clock, including holiday and weekend transcription requirements

Coping with varying volumes of transcription requirements: It is impossible to predict the inflow of patients. And medical transcription requirements are dependent on the inflow of patients. Therefore it is impossible to predict the medical transcription requirements. Outsourcing ensures that healthcare facilities can rest easy on coping with varying volumes of transcription

Formats/Templates: Healthcare professionals require patient records in specific formats or templates. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the specifications required by the healthcare professionals is taken into consideration

Archive: Most healthcare facilities support staff and sometimes, healthcare professionals spend an enormous amount of time tracing transcripts. Outsourcing to a professional medical transcription service provider ensures that they have archives making it easy to trace and retrieve transcripts

Flexible modes of dictation: Most healthcare professionals are starved of time, outsourcing medical transcription helps them manage time by allowing them to retain familiar modes of dictation

Managing document flow: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that healthcare professionals and support staff save on time spent on uploading dictation and downloading transcripts by having a system in place that enables all these functions

Remote printing & faxing: Outsourcing medical transcription also ensures that the healthcare professionals may avail facilities like remote faxing and printing easing their burden

HL7 Interface: Outsourcing medical transcription also ensures that healthcare facilities can protect their investments in EMR/EHR by HL7 integration

Security: Protecting confidential patient information is one of the main concerns of healthcare facilities. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures the security of this information throughout the medical transcription process by securing people, processes and infrastructure

How is outsourcing medical transcription economical?

Lowers cost by more than 40%: By outsourcing medical transcription, healthcare facilities can save more than 40% on their current costs

Restricts costs to cost per line: Outsourcing medical transcription also restricts the cost of transcription to the rate per line and ensures that additional expenses like overheads, utilities, management resources, Information technology expenses are curbed.

It can be concluded that outsourcing medical transcription provides a comprehensive and economical solution to the documentation needs of healthcare facilities.

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert 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 comprehensive and economical medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Know the service provider

Medical transcription is the process of creating records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter. Medical transcription aids healthcare professionals by providing access to relevant information about the patient’s health history. Having detailed patient records aids the healthcare professionals provide quality healthcare without having to rely on repetitive inputs from patients, handwritten notes or relying on their memory. Patient records help healthcare facilities in starting the coding and billing process leading to claims. It can be said that medical transcription is vital for both patient care as well as to ensure efficient fund flow management.

Outsourcing medical transcription has been found to be an effective solution for the documentation needs of healthcare facilities. Outsourcing medical transcription enables creation of patient records in a timely, accurate, secure and cost effective manner. By outsourcing medical transcription, the healthcare facility is essential gaining a long-term partner.

Considering that medical transcription is an important link in the chain leading to quality healthcare, it is very important to choose the right service provider. Given below are some of the details that play an important part in choosing the right medical transcription service provider:

Experience:

How long has the service provider been in the business of providing outsourced medical transcription service?

While outsourcing medical transcription it is important to source a service provider who has experience in the medical transcription business. Outsourcing to a fly-by-night operator can, not only be very costly but could also be dangerous.

Versatility:

Does the service provider have experience servicing healthcare facilities of all types?

While outsourcing it is important not only to ascertain how long the medical transcription service provider has been in business, but also whether the service provider has experience in serving the varied needs of healthcare facilities of all types

Check references:

Can the service provider provide testimonials?

While outsourcing it is important to check the experience of the service provider in providing similar services, by verifying the testimonials of customers who have already availed similar services.

Commitment to quality:

What are the measures used by the service provider to ensure accuracy?

Accuracy of information captured in the patient record is vital as it affects both the quality of healthcare as well as reimbursements. It is important to assess the service provider on the basis of their training methods and quality checks in place to gauge their ability to provide quality medical transcription.

Confidentiality:

What are the measures used by the service provider to protect patient data?

One of the major concerns while outsourcing medical transcription is the security of confidential patient data. It is important to ensure that the service provider is not just using standard FTP and Email for transferring data, as this does not support encryption. It is important to assess whether the service provider has inbuilt security measures to secure technology. The security measures used by the service provider to secure processes and people also needs to be assessed.

Prompt Services:

What is turnaround time guaranteed by the service provider?

Turnaround time of finished transcripts is another important factor to be assessed while outsourcing medical transcription. This can be evaluated based on the availability of the right team (well trained medical transcriptionists) and the right processes with the service provider.

Pricing and Pricing methods:

What is pricing method used by the service provider?

Lowered cost of transcription is one of the main benefits healthcare facilities hope to gain from the outsourcing process. It is important to not only get a quote from the service provider for medical transcription services, it is equally important to find out the components of pricing and the billing method used by the service provider.

Technology:

What is the technology used by the service provider?

The technology used by the service provider plays an important part in security, easy to use features and other benefits like interface with EMR, remote printing & faxing, archive facilities etc.

Sample of services:

Does the service provider offer a free trial?

A free trial of services provided by the medical transcription service provider gives the healthcare facility an opportunity to assess whether the service provider can deliver services as promised.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has been providing outsourced medical transcription services for over a decade with the following benefits:

• Medical transcription with an accuracy of above 99% using a team of well trained specialty medical transcriptionists and having a stringent four-level quality check method
• Meets turnaround time requirements of healthcare facilities using the right people, right processes and the right technology
• Uses the character line method of billing, which is explained to the customers in advance, so that all the components of cost are understood
• Has security measures to protect confidential information that not only meet HIPAA/HITECH standards, but exceed them
• Uses technology that is not only advanced but easy to use
• Has been providing outsourced medical transcription solutions for over a decade and has the testimonials of satisfied customers
• Has multiple channels of interaction for customer service to ensure quick resolution of any issues
• Offers free trial of services for a limited period

To avail outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Medical transcription outsourcing: Need for Secure services

Medical transcription is the process of documenting the patient-healthcare professional encounter in detail. Patient records are an important component of healthcare. Patient records play an important role in the following:

• Record of symptoms, diagnoses and treatment
• Record of pre-existing health conditions
• Record of Allergies and current medication
• Progress of treatment
• Basis for referrals
• Statutory requirement
• Evidence in case of litigation
• Basis for coding and billing

Outsourcing medical transcription has been found to be one of the most efficient, effective and economic methods for creating patient records. Time and again emphasis has been placed on the importance of ensuring security of confidential patient information. And the outsourced medical transcription service provider has an enormous responsibility in protecting patient information, as medical transcription is the process of creating these records. The process of medical transcription also involves transmission of this information back and forth during the transcription process this adds to the need for stringent security measures.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was established to protect confidential patient information. More recently HITECH has come into force and has expanded the concerns of HIPAA and enhanced the powers of HIPAA to enforce measures and standards for protection of confidential patient information.

Why is security of confidential patient information, an important component of medical transcription?

The root of protecting patient information arises from the sacrosanct patient-healthcare professional relationship. A patient-healthcare professional relationship is central to the practice of medicine and is essential for the delivery of high-quality healthcare. The quality of patient-healthcare professional relationship is important to both parties. The better the relationship in terms of mutual respect, knowledge, trust, shared values and perspective about diseases & life, the better the amount of information, enhancing accuracy of diagnosis and quality of care.

In fact the confidentiality of the information regarding the patient as provided to the healthcare professional/healthcare facility is one of the components of the foundation for the medical code of ethics

As medical transcription is a vital link in the chain for delivering quality healthcare, it is important that the medical transcription service provider understands and acknowledges the need for confidentiality and has measures in place to ensure security. Security of patient records is not only mandatory by law, but also the moral responsibility of the service provider.

What are measures to be taken by the medical transcription service provider to protect confidential patient information?

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.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourcing medical transcription industry understands the need for maintaining confidentiality of patient information and has measures in place to ensure HIPAA / HITECH compliance.

How does TransDyne ensure HIPAA/HITECH 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/HITECH compliance gives them a professional outlook. Having them give a commitment in writing further ensure HIPAA/HITECH compliance. This protects the data in all stages.

TransDyne believes in maintaining security standards that not only meet HIPAA/HITECH standards, but also exceed them. TransDyne also provides medical transcription services with accuracy levels 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 avail secure medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Leverage the provider’s experience

Medical transcription is the process of creating patient records by converting audio files dictated by the healthcare professional of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. Medical transcription is an important ingredient of the healthcare process providing inputs for the operational as well as commercial aspects of healthcare.

However medical transcription is a specialized skill that requires the right blend of people skills & expertise, the right equipment and the optimum process to meet the criteria of being accurate, speedy, safe and easy to use.

One easy fix to ensure that patient records are accurately, speedily and safely created, while still containing costs is to outsource medical transcription to an experienced medical transcription service provider. By outsourcing medical transcription to a service provider, healthcare facilities can leverage on the medical transcription service provider’s experience and expertise.

How does outsourcing medical transcription help healthcare facilities leverage on the service provider’s experience and expertise?

To understand how outsourcing helps healthcare facilities leverage on the service provider’ experience and expertise, it is vital to understand what are the components of accurate, timely, safe and cost effective medical transcription.

The components accurate, timely, safe and cost effective medical transcription are:

People: The quality of medical transcription is dependent on the quality of medical transcriptionists to a large extent. Building up the right team would essentially involve the following activities:

1. Recruitment: Sourcing and recruiting the right talent
2. Training: Developing the talent to deliver the best quality work
3. Allocation of work: Work allocation to medical transcriptionists should be based on the specialties they have been trained on, to ensure optimum accuracy and turnaround time

By outsourcing medical transcription, healthcare facilities essentially have access to the right people without actually having to go through the process of sourcing, recruiting, training medical transcriptionists. Healthcare facilities can leverage on the human resource development skills and expertise of the service provider.

Technology: Technology plays a vital role by speeding up the process, securing the data during the transcription process and saving time of the healthcare professionals and support staff. The role of technology in medical transcription includes:

1. Dictation: Capturing the narration of the healthcare professionals by various means
2. Uploading: Uploading dictation files for transmission to the service provider
3. Downloading: Downloading finished transcripts
4. Distribution: Distribution of patient records to healthcare professionals
5. Archives: Retrieving old files from the system
6. Additional benefits: Features like electronic signature, remote printing & faxing, HL7 interface etc
7. Security: Features like encryption, virus protection, firewalls etc
8. Speed: To ensure fast turnaround time

Outsourcing medical transcription allows healthcare facilities to leverage on the software and tools developed by the service provider to avail benefits like speed, safety and ease of use.

Processes: Medical transcription needs to follow a certain process to be quick, accurate, safe and cost effective. The processes involved in medical transcription include:

1. Quality processes: To attain the desired accuracy levels transcripts have to be checked at several levels like proofreader, editor and quality assurance team.
2. Security: To protect confidential patient information, the service provider has to have processes in place to ensure total security.

Outsourcing medical transcription enables healthcare facilities to benefit from the processes refined by the service provider through their experience in serving the needs of healthcare facilities

Infrastructure: Medical transcription requires infrastructure like:

1. Real estate: Space allocated for medical transcription
2. Transcription equipment: Computers, servers, foot pedals, headphones and software are required for transcription.
3. Furniture & utilities: Tables, chairs and utilities like power etc.

Outsourcing medical transcription allows healthcare facilities to avoid investment in non-medical transcription related infrastructure.

It can be concluded that by outsourcing medical transcription, healthcare facilities can leverage on the expertise and experience of the service provider. This helps healthcare facilities in limiting the cost of medical transcription to the cost per line of transcription. Not only this they would also save as much as 40% to 60% on the cost of in-house transcription. To leverage the maximum benefits of outsourcing medical transcription it is important to source the right medical transcription service provider, based on criteria like accuracy, turnaround time, security, cost and technology.

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert 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 medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription: The right process for outsourcing

The healthcare process is very specialized and requires the total focus of healthcare professionals, support staff and other associated personnel to be able to delivery quality services. It is important for healthcare facilities to examine all the inputs required for successful delivery of quality healthcare. This enables the healthcare facility administrators to concentrate on the core areas and outsource the rest.

Medical transcription is a vital component required for delivering quality healthcare. However medical transcription is not one of the core competencies of healthcare facilities, hence outsourcing medical transcription increases efficiency and reduces cost. However to maximize the benefits of outsourcing medical transcription, healthcare facilities are required to take a systematic approach to the outsourcing process.

What is the process for outsourcing?

Define the objective/s of outsourcing medical transcription

• Lowering costs: One of the main reasons for outsourcing medical transcription is that of lowering costs. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the expense of the healthcare facilities towards medical transcription is limited to the cost per line. Outsourcing helps healthcare facilities avoid fixed costs like salaries and benefits to medical transcriptionists etc.
• Redirecting or conserving the energy of the key personnel: Medical transcription is a process, which requires skills, time and efforts of personnel from various departments like administrative, management and information technology. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that these personnel can focus on the core business of the healthcare facility
• Better use of resources like capital, infrastructure, technology etc.: Medical transcription requires capital expenditure on medical transcription equipment, server, furniture etc, and other resources like real estate, infrastructure and technology. Outsourcing medical transcription enables conservation and better utilization of all these resources

The objective of most healthcare facilities for outsourcing medical transcription could be a combination of the above given objectives.

What are the precautions to be taken while outsourcing medical transcription?

• Researching the service provider: Medical transcription is an important link in the healthcare chain, it is important to thoroughly research the service provider to ensure that the service provider can deliver on the promises made. Factors like, the number of years the service provider has been in existence, the experience of the service provider is providing flexible services needs to be ascertained
• Verifying testimonials: It is important to verify the references provided by the medical transcription service provider. Testimonials of customers who have availed similar services proves that the service provider is able to deliver services as promised
• Availing a free trial: It is important to test the fit of the medical transcription service provider by availing a free trial
• Defining parameters of service: While outsourcing medical transcription it is important to set parameters for levels of service expected. Setting standards of performance for factors like accuracy levels, turnaround time expected, security standards, pricing & billing parameters eases the process of evaluation
• Checking for customer service channels: Medical transcription is a service, which is needed on a continuous basis. Therefore it is important to check whether the service provider has open channels of communication. Having open channels of communication leads to quick and efficient resolution of issues as they arise.

Following the above given process, enables healthcare facilities to find the right medical transcription service provider.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers medical transcription services with the following benefits:

• Medical transcription with an accuracy of above 99% using a team of well trained specialty medical transcriptionists and having a stringent four-level quality check method
• Meets turnaround time requirements of healthcare facilities using the right people, right processes and the right technology
• Uses the character line method of billing, which is explained to the customers in advance, so that all the components of cost are understood
• Has security measures to protect confidential information that not only meet HIPAA/HITECH standards, but exceed them
• Uses technology that is not only advanced but easy to use
• Has been providing outsourced medical transcription solutions for over a decade and has the testimonials of satisfied customers
• Has multiple channels of interaction for customer service to ensure quick resolution of any issues

To avail outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing competent services

There are some issues faced by most business enterprises today, and these issues are also relevant to the healthcare sector. The issues faced by the healthcare sector can be encapsulated into the following:

• Shrinking margins
• Slowing payments
• The need to constantly upgrade the business to meet new challenges
• The need to cut down costs
• The need to maintain high levels of service
• Increasing competition leading to pricing issues

Faced with issues like this it is important for healthcare facilities to look at their business critically and ask themselves the following questions:

What is our core competency?

The answer to this question is that the core competency of the healthcare facility lies in providing quality healthcare.

What are support functions for the healthcare process?

There are numerous support functions that contribute to making the healthcare process effective. One of the vital contributors to the process of healthcare is information in the form of patient records. Patient records provide valuable inputs regarding the patient’s past health issues, the treatments given, the results of tests, medications prescribed, allergy information, existing health conditions, procedures/therapies provided etc,

What is the cost of executing these activities in-house?

Executing medical transcription in-house has direct as well as indirect costs that add to the cost per line of transcription

Is it better to outsource these functions?

As medical transcription is not part of the core competency of the healthcare facility it is better to outsource medical transcription to make it efficient and economical.

What are risks of outsourcing these activities?

There are some risks while outsourcing medical transcription, like poor quality transcripts, delays in turnaround time and the risk of lax security during the medical transcription process.

What are precautions to be taken while outsourcing?

As there are few risks that are inherent to the outsourcing process, it is important to be cautious while outsourcing. The medical transcription service provider needs to be carefully assessed on the basis of criteria like accuracy, turnaround time, pricing, security and the technology used by the medical transcription service provider. Over and above all these criteria it is also important to verify the testimonials of the customers of the service provider, availing a free trial to ensure the right fit.

What is the cost of outsourcing?

One of the main advantages of outsourcing is the enormous cost saving benefits. It is important to ensure that the billing methodology used by the medical transcription service provider is verifiable, definable, measurable, consistent, fair and honest. It is also important to ensure that there are no hidden costs to ensure that the cost of medical transcription is restricted to the cost per line of transcription.

Medical transcription can be made efficient and economical by outsourcing to a competent medical transcription service provider. TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers competent medical transcription outsourcing solutions to suit varying need of different of different kinds of healthcare facilities. TransDyne has teams of medical transcriptionists who are trained in different specialties, making them domain experts. This ensures that TransDyne can cope with medical transcription for any specialty with an accuracy level of above 99%. TransDyne offers a turnaround time of 24 hours with an option of a turnaround time of 4-12 hours for STAT files. Timely medical transcription helps quicken the receivables cycle. TransDyne offers reasonably priced medical transcription services using the right people, process and technology.

TransDyne has the technical capabilities to integrate with the existing systems of healthcare facilities, requiring no additional investments. TransDyne offers medical transcription for weekends and holidays, and has people and systems in place to cope up with varying volumes of transcription. TransDyne has software and tools that offer additional features like archiving, remote printing & faxing among other benefits. TransDyne ensures security of confidential patient information, by securing people processes, infrastructure and technology

To avail competent medical transcription solutions from TransDyne, click here

Medical transcription: Questions to be asked before outsourcing

The healthcare process is  complex, depending on many inputs, one of which is information from patient records. And medical transcription is the process of creating patient records from the audio inputs provided by healthcare professionals of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. Since medical transcription is not part of the core business of healthcare facilities and requires considerable expenses, expertise and investment, outsourcing has proven to be an economical, effective and efficient solution. However outsourcing something as vital as medical transcription needs to be done with caution.

The process of outsourcing medical transcription raises many doubts in the minds of healthcare professionals, healthcare facilities administrative staff and the healthcare facility support staff.

Some of the frequently asked questions, while outsourcing medical transcription are:

1. 
   
   How does the medical transcription service provider ensure accuracy? Accuracy of the transcripts is probably one of the main concerns while outsourcing medical transcription, as this affects quality of care given to patients and the billing procedures.
2. 
   
   How does the medical transcription service provider measure quality? The standards set by the medical transcription service provider to measure quality ensure that everyone understands the components of quality ensuring consistent quality at all levels.
3. 
   
   What is the turnaround time and how does the service provider meet turnaround time requirements? Healthcare professionals need accurate and timely information from patient records to be able to provide quality healthcare. It is important to ensure that the medical transcription service provider can deliver quality transcripts on time. To do this the service provider has to have the right team, the right technology and the right processes.
4. 
   
   What is the method of pricing and how are the bills reconciled? One of the main objectives of outsourcing medical transcription is to enjoy the enormous cost saving benefits. However while outsourcing it is important to understand how the medical transcription service provider calculates cost and whether the service provider is willing to explain bills for services in detail.
5. 
   
   What are security measures to protect confidential patient information? The process of medical transcription involves working with and transmission of confidential patient information. It is important to find out whether the service provider understands the importance of protecting patient information and has measures in place to ensure this.
6. 
   
   Do they have a medical transcription platform that supports easy usage? Advances in technology have aided medical transcription, to the extent that it is no longer necessary for healthcare professionals and service providers to be in the same room to provide effective services. The medical transcription software platform used by the service provider not only provides benefits like speed and security but also adds value to the working life of healthcare professionals and support staff by having additional features like flexible modes of dictation, archives, remote faxing & printing among many other benefits.
7. 
   
   What is the experience of the medical transcription service provider in providing similar services? It is important to assess whether the medical transcription service provider has experience in providing complete medical transcription solutions to all sorts of healthcare facilities. This can be verified by referring to testimonials of satisfied customers.
8. 
   
   What are the channels available for customer interaction? Medical transcription is a service, which requires immediate resolution of queries/ doubts/clarifications as they arise. For this to happen the medical transcription service provider should have open channel of communication and should be available 24/7 to the healthcare facilities.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers medical transcription services with the following benefits:

• 
  
  Medical transcription with an accuracy of above 99% using a team of well trained specialty medical transcriptionists and having a stringent four-level quality check method
• 
  
  Quality guidelines to ensure that everybody is on the same page as regards quality
• 
  
  Meets turnaround time requirements of healthcare facilities using the right people, right processes and the right technology
• 
  
  Uses the character line method of billing, which is explained to the customers in advance, so that all the components of cost are understood
• 
  
  Has security measures to protect confidential information that not only meet HIPAA/HITECH standards, but exceed them
• 
  
  Uses technology that is not only advanced but easy to use
• 
  
  Has been providing outsourced medical transcription solutions for over a decade and has the testimonials of satisfied customers
• 
  
  Has multiple channels of interaction for customer service to ensure quick resolution of any issues

To avail outsourced medical transcription service from TransDyne, click here

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing focused services

The process of providing quality healthcare is aided by many inputs, including the experience, education, skill sets of healthcare professional & support staff, various diagnostic equipments, tests/procedures, drugs/formulations and information from patient records. Medical transcription is the process of creating patient records from the dictation of healthcare professionals’ encounter with patients.

Medical transcription is essentially the scribe that records all the nuances of the process of patient care, including all details like patient demographics, the symptoms, the diagnosis, treatment prescribed and the progress made by the patient. However medical transcription is not part of the core activities of the healthcare facility, hence it is more effective and economical for the healthcare facility to outsource medical transcription.

Outsourcing medical transcription enables the healthcare facility to focus on its core activity of providing quality healthcare. Outsourcing medical transcription also helps the healthcare facility obtain services that are tailored to their specific needs without having to allocate internal resources to this process.

Outsourcing medical transcription is not only prudent but also necessary. Medical transcription is a process, which requires the right inputs in the form of the right process, right team and the right technology. As medical transcription is the core business of the service provider, the service provider is likely to have the right resources in place to provide medical transcription with the optimum accuracy, within a reasonable turnaround time, through secure channels, using the right technology and at reasonable prices.

By outsourcing medical transcription the healthcare facility is essentially outsourcing all the steps required to create quality patient records.

What are the steps required to create quality, timely, secure and cost-effective patient records?

The right team: One of the major components of quality medical transcription is the skill of the medical transcriptionists. Creating a team of skilled medical transcriptionists is a long drawn process involving recruitment of and training the right talent and honing their skills to make them domain experts. By outsourcing medical transcription, this responsibility is essentially passed on to the service provider

The right infrastructure: The transcription process requires the right infrastructural support like the computers, headphones, servers, and foot pedals, real estate that is secure and software for the transcription process. By outsourcing medical transcription the healthcare facility is essentially eliminating a major portion of the infrastructure needed for in-house medical transcription

The right process: To meet the quality requirements of being timely secure and accurate, medical transcription needs to follow a certain process of having quality guidelines, quality check methods, security measures to ensure HIPAA/HITECH compliance and having medical transcriptionists available around the clock to take care of medical transcription needs. Outsourcing medical transcription essentially frees up the healthcare facility’s management from this responsibility

The right technology: The transcription process requires the right technology to make it speedy and secure. Moreover having the right technology enables the healthcare professionals and the support staff to save on time and efforts by providing additional benefits like flexible modes of dictations, automatic downloads & uploads, remote faxing & printing etc.

Outsourcing medical transcription to the right medical transcription service provider has benefits beyond just cost saving on medical transcription costs. Therefore it becomes essential to source the right service provider so that healthcare facilities can benefit from the outsourcing process.

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert 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 quality medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing secure solutions

The relationship between the patient and the healthcare professional is considered sacrosanct; this is essential because availing healthcare requires the patient to reveal personal details to the healthcare professional to obtain the correct treatment to his/her ailments, assuming that this information would be kept confidential. Therefore one of the concerns for healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities is to maintain the confidentiality of patient information. This is not only necessary but also mandatory under the law.

HIPAA (Health Information Portability and accessibility Act) has provisions for protection of confidential patient information. There have been additional safeguards added to HIPAA with the provisions under the HITECH Act. The HITECH act empowers HIPAA making it more stringent, helping protect confidential patient information.

However the process of healthcare is the culmination of inputs from various sources to be effective. It becomes important to protect patient information at every level in the healthcare process. One such contributor to the process of healthcare is medical transcription, by creating patient records. And outsourcing medical transcription has proven to be one of the most efficient, effective and economic ways to create patient records.

However while outsourcing medical transcription one of the main concerns is protection of confidential patient information. The process of medical transcription involves several steps and confidential data needs to be protected at each stage by the medical transcription service provider during this process.

What are the steps involved in the medical transcription process?

• Collection of dictation from healthcare professionals
• Transmission of audio files to the medical transcription service provider
• Distribution of audio files for transcription
• The actual transcription process
• Transmission of finished transcripts to the healthcare facility to be distributed to the relevant healthcare professionals

At each step of the process the data is vulnerable to misuse. While outsourcing medical transcription it is important that the security measures taken by the medical transcription service provider at every level should be assessed to ensure that the data is protected. The security measures taken by the medical transcription service provider should not only extend to the technology but also cover the people involved in the transcription process and the process and premises used for medical transcription.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry is aware of the importance of providing medical transcription services with total security. The steps taken by TransDyne to be HIPAA/HITECH compliant include:

1st stage: Collection of dictation

• Firewall protected server that stores all dictation files
• Communication between the healthcare facility server and TransDyne server is encrypted
• Virus protection is also provided
• The access to this data requires password authentication

2nd stage: Transmission of audio files to TransDyne

• 128 bit encryption
• Secure socket layer connections

3rd stage: Distribution of audio files for transcription

• All medical transcription related software is designed and created in house
• Limited access, access is limited to only one dictation at a time
• Multi tiered application architecture ensuring that even if there is unauthorized access to network, access to databases is only possible after authentication at several levels
• Denial of access and multi modal alerts, this ensures that any unauthorized access triggers of a warning immediately
• Limited Email access ensuring that there is no misuse of patient data

4th stage: The actual transcription process: At this stage of medical transcription, TransDyne has provided for the safety of patient data, by securing people, processes and infrastructure along with protecting technology

• No subcontractors are used, all work outsourced to TransDyne is executed in-house
• Medical transcription in company owned premises
• Manned security and surveillance
• No removable media
• Educating medical transcriptionists on the importance of HIPAA/HITECH compliance
• Background checking for employees
• Security routines
• Joint access
• Regular security audits

5th stage: Transmission of finished transcripts to the healthcare facility. This stage involves the same procedure and technology as the 1st and 2nd stage.

Not only does TransDyne provide secure medical transcription solutions, TransDyne also offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert medical transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

To avail secure outsourced medical transcription solutions from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing quality services

The primary goal of a healthcare facility, no matter how big or small is to deliver quality healthcare, profitably. To provide quality healthcare, healthcare facilities depend on a lot inputs like the right manpower- qualified, experienced, skilled healthcare professionals and support staff, the right equipment – laboratories, scanners, surgical equipments etc and information. Information in case of the healthcare process is available in the form of patient records. To be profitable, a healthcare facility needs to concentrate on reducing cost and quickening the cash flow, by accelerating the reimbursement process.

Medical transcription is the process by which patient records are created by transcribing the audio records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. However medical transcription requires inputs like capital investment in transcription equipment, training, allocation of real estate, use of information technology resources and other valuable resources.

Outsourcing medical transcription is an effective, efficient and economic fix for creation of patient records, thus helping in providing quality healthcare. Not only this medical transcription also helps in achieving the other goals of the healthcare facility by reducing costs and accelerating the receivables cycle.

How does outsourcing medical transcription help healthcare facilities achieve their goals of providing healthcare profitably?

Providing quality healthcare: Outsourcing medical transcription contributes to the achievement of this goal through the following means:

1. Maintaining accuracy: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that expertly trained medical transcriptionists create the patient records, thus capturing complete and accurate information that can aid the healthcare professional in the treatment process. Accuracy is maintained by medical transcriptionists who are not only well trained to be familiar with the language of the specialty they are transcribing, but are also updated constantly with the latest developments in the specialty. Moreover the finished transcripts are transmitted to the healthcare professionals only after undergoing a stringent quality check to ensure errors are minimized.
2. Maintaining turnaround time: For healthcare professionals to take the right decisions regarding the treatment plan for the patient it is important that not only should the information be captured accurately, but also be available on time. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that tight turnaround times are maintained using the right people, the right processes and the right technology.
3. Using technology: Outsourcing medical transcription can make tracing patient records easier to retrieve when required through powerful archiving facilities. This can be invaluable to healthcare professionals during the treatment process.

Profitability: Outsourcing medical transcription contributes to the achievement of this goal through the following means:

1. Reducing costs: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that healthcare facilities benefit by way of enormous cost savings in transcription costs. Outsourcing medical transcription helps reduce cost by the service provider using a verifiable, measurable, definable, consistent, fair and honest billing method. Healthcare facilities also benefit from the economies of scale that come about due to the experience of the medical transcription service provider and the best practices established by the service provider
2. Restricting cost: Outsourcing medical transcription not only ensures substantial reduction in the cost of medical transcription, it also restricts the cost of transcription to the cost per line, eliminating all indirect costs and overheads.
3. Quickening the receivables cycle: Medical transcription is the first step in the receivables cycle providing the basis for coding and billing leading to claims and reimbursement. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that patient records are created on time, thus laying the foundation for a quicker receivables cycle.

Outsourcing medical transcription to the medical transcription service provider can not only help in creation of quality patient records, but also help healthcare facilities achieve their goals.

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert 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 quality medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing and healthcare

Healthcare is an essential service that has to be patient-centric to be effective. To be patient centric healthcare services need to be

• Transparent
• Individualized
• Respectful
• Preserving the dignity of the individual
• Offering choices to matters related to the treatment of one’s person, within reason
• Confidential

Healthcare facilities draw inputs from various sources to achieve this end. There are many contributors to making the healthcare process successful and profitable. One of the elements that contribute to the success of the healthcare process is information. Information that is in the form of patient records including:

• Demographics
• Pre-existing health conditions
• Current medication
• Medical allergies
• Family health history
• Habits that affect health
• Details of previous encounters
• Progress
• Test/x-ray/scan results
• Physical symptoms

The above information helps healthcare professionals in making informed decisions regarding the patient’s health and in formulating treatment plans. Medical transcription aids in the process of creating patient records by transcribing the audio records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter as narrated by the healthcare professionals into text format.

However medical transcription is a specialized skill requiring a lot of resources, focus and competence. Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription service provider is one of the most effective, efficient and economical methods of creating patient records.

Outsourcing of medical transcription services should be done after a process involving the careful selection of a medical transcription service provider who can tailor their services to the specific needs of the healthcare facility. Once the right service provider has been chosen, there are numerous advantages of outsourcing medical transcription including:

Accuracy: It is very important to document the patient-healthcare professional encounter as accurately as possible. Outsourcing medical transcription maintains the accuracy level of the patient records due to the following factors:

1. Multi level quality checks: A professional medical transcription would try and maintain the accuracy of the transcripts by having stringent quality checks to ensure minimum error rate
2. Trained medical transcriptionists: A professional medical transcription service provider would have a continuous process of recruiting and training medical transcriptionists. Moreover specialized training techniques like training in one or two specialties helps enhance the accuracy level in the transcripts

Speed: Information in the patient records not only needs to be accurate, but also needs to be available on a timely basis. Outsourcing ensures that patient records are transcribed within an optimum turnaround time. The service provider can maintain turnaround time due to the following factors:

1. Enormous pool of medical transcriptionists: A professional medical transcription service provider would have a large pool of well-trained medical transcriptionists available on a regular basis. Due to this the turnaround time of transcripts would be unaffected by factors like absenteeism, shift changes etc.
2. Technology: Use of the right technology by the service provider can speed up the process of transcription by having features like flexible modes of dictation, automatic upload and download etc. speeding up the process of transcription
3. Total focus: Medical transcription is the core activity of the service provider, this means that all the resources of the medical transcription service provider are focused on providing timely and accurate medical transcription services

Savings on cost: One of the main benefits of outsourcing medical transcription is that of huge savings on cost of transcription to the healthcare facility. The cost of transcription is reduced by at least 40% and is limited to the cost per line of transcription. This is possible due to the following factors:

1. Economies of scale: The medical transcription service provider deals with huge quantities of medical transcription work, thus is able to optimize the production process reducing costs. The benefits of this are passed on to the healthcare facility
2. Billing methodology: The billing method used by the medical transcription service provider can make a lot of difference to the cost of transcription. The billing method used should be measurable, verifiable, definable consistent, fair and honest
3. Savings on idle capacity/overtime: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the healthcare facility pays only the price per line. Factors like extra expenses on overtime for weekend and holiday transcription, and wastage due to idle capacity are eliminated

Technology: Technology plays a huge part in the process of medical transcription by providing the following benefits:

1. Multiple utility: Technology adds to the medical transcription service by having many time saving utilities that ease the life of healthcare professionals and support staff
2. Easy to use: The use of the right technology ensures that not only do healthcare professionals get multiple benefits but also ease of use
3. Security: Technology has a large role in securing confidential patient information during the medical transcription process

Security: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that confidential patient information is secure during the process by securing the following:

1. People
2. Processes
3. Technology

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers outsourced medical transcription services that support the healthcare process. TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert 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 total medical transcription solutions from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Value added services

The process of healthcare depends on several inputs to be effective and economical. One of the ingredients that add to the successful delivery of healthcare is accurate and timely information in the form of patient records. Patient records are a culmination of patient details including the health and treatment history of the patient, test results, X-rays, medication prescribed, allergies, pre-existing health conditions, progress on treatment availed among other details.

It is important for healthcare professionals to have this information to draw on, for formulating an effective treatment plan. Medical transcription is the process of creating patient records converting audio files of the patient- healthcare professional encounter as narrated by the healthcare professional into text format.

Outsourcing medical transcription has not only proven to be effective, efficient and economical, but also provides value added services.

What is the value addition to be gained by outsourcing medical transcription services?

Specialty medical transcription: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the needs of different specialties are recognized and taken care of. Each specialty of medicine has its’ own specific language, terminology, drugs, procedures, therapies, formats and templates. Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional service provider ensures that the needs of specialists are taken care of by medical transcriptionists who are domain experts in that specialty, delivering transcripts with optimum accuracy and within the turnaround time required

Technology: Technology has become an important part of the transcription process both for the healthcare professionals and the service provider. One of the added benefits of outsourcing medical transcription is the benefit gained by the use of technology used by the service provider. The value added to the medical transcription process by technology include:

1. Flexible modes of dictation
2. Automatic upload of dictation
3. Safe transmission of audio files to the service provider
4. Automatic delivery of transcripts through speedy and secure means
5. Added benefits like remote printing and faxing
6. Powerful archiving features enabling easy tracking of dictation and transcripts
7. Integration with EMR systems

HIPAA/HITECH compliance: Securing confidential patient information is one of the main concerns of healthcare facilities. This information is especially vulnerable during the process of medical transcription. Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider ensures that this data is protected at every stage of transcription by taking adequate measures securing technology, people, processes and infrastructure.

Medical transcription requirements for holiday and weekend requirements at no extra costs: Outsourcing medical transcription has the added benefit of taking care of all the transcription needs of the healthcare facility including holiday and weekend requirements. The healthcare facility benefits from the outsourcing arrangement in terms of no wastage on idle capacity and savings on extra costs for holiday and weekend transcription

Quickening the receivables cycle: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the process of reimbursement takes place on time. Medical transcription is the first step in the reimbursement process. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that patient records are created on time, thus laying the foundation for coding and billing leading to claims processing and reimbursement

It can be said that outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider can provide  value added services to the healthcare facility.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers value added outsourced medical transcription services. TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert 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 value added medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing economical solutions

Quality healthcare is based on the foundation of the qualification, skills, experience of healthcare professionals, appropriate equipment, the right drugs and information regarding the patient’s health condition. Medical transcription plays an important role in the process of healthcare by creating patient records converting the audio files of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format.

Patient records act as reference points in the following areas:

• Providing demographic details of the patient
• Past and present symptoms exhibited by the patient
• Details of past examinations/tests/ procedures
• Past diagnosis/ treatments
• Drugs prescribed
• Allergy information
• Pre existing conditions

It is vital that patient records be created on a timely basis, capturing maximum information accurately. Medical transcription is the process of patient record creation. Though playing such a vital role in the healthcare process, medical transcription adds to the costs. Considering this, it is important for healthcare facilities to contain the costs of medical transcription to the maximum extent possible without compromising quality, security or turnaround time.

How can medical transcription be made economical?

Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional service provider can not only help the healthcare facility reduce cost per line of transcription, but also reduce overheads that would be incurred by having medical transcription in-house.

How is outsourcing medical transcription economical?

To find out whether outsourcing medical transcription is really economical it is important to understand the meaning of the word economical. The word economical has been defined as using the minimum of time or resources necessary for effectiveness.

Outsourcing medical transcription is an economical solution for the documentation needs of a healthcare facility. Outsourcing medical transcription helps the healthcare facility economize in the following areas:

1. Helps reduce cost per line of transcription: Outsourcing medical transcription helps reduce the cost per line of transcription by as much as 40%-60%. Apart from that outsourcing medical transcription also helps the healthcare facility contain costs to the extent the service is used. Extra expenses like overtime payment for high volumes or wastage due to idle capacity are avoided.
2. Helps reduce indirect cost of in-house medical transcription: Medical transcription requires deployment of resources like medical transcriptionist recruitment & training expenses, real estate costs, cost of transcription equipment, cost of utilities, cost of working capital, cost of IT and management resources etc. By outsourcing medical transcription all these expenses can be avoided.
3. Saves the time of healthcare professionals: Outsourcing medical transcription helps save time of healthcare professionals by allowing automatic uploads of dictation and automatic downloads of transcripts by using efficient technology and having options for integration with EMR/EHR
4. Having a transparent and well defined billing methodology: Making it easier to reconcile accounts
5. Saves the time of other support staff: Outsourcing medical transcription helps save the time of support staff by providing the following benefits:

• Powerful archiving facilities
• Having HIPAA/HITECH compliant measures in place to ensure security of data

 It can be concluded that outsourcing medical transcription is an economical solution to the documentation needs of a healthcare facility.

TransDyne is a leading provider of outsourced medical transcription services that are economical, efficient and effective. TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert 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 economical medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: How it improves the operations of healthcare facilities

Medical transcription has a vital role to play in the process of delivering quality healthcare. Medical transcription is the process of creating permanent patient records from the audio recordings of the patient-healthcare professional encounter. A healthcare facility is faced with various options for availing this service. Medical transcription can be a part of the healthcare facility’s operations; can be availed from independent contractors or by outsourcing to a professional medical transcription service provider, or a combination of any of the methods. Though having medical transcription in –house and executed through independent contractors has a few advantages, outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription service provider has been found to be the most beneficial.

What are advantages of outsourcing medical transcription?

Increases operational efficiency: Outsourcing medical transcription not only helps improve the efficiency of the healthcare professionals, but also has the advantage of reducing the burden of several departments within the healthcare facility. The creation of patient records is automatic, without interrupting the workflow of the healthcare professionals and other support staff

Helps strategize resources: By outsourcing medical transcription, a healthcare facility would be able to deploy its limited resources to reap maximum benefits. Resources like management, Information technology, real estate etc are freed up when medical transcription is outsourced. This results in better utilization of limited resources

Improves quality of service: Outsourcing medical transcription helps improve quality of healthcare services by providing timely and accurate information and also enabling the healthcare professionals and other support staff to focus on the healthcare process by allowing them to use their limited time in the best way possible

Improves finances: Outsourcing medical transcription helps increase cash flow by reducing costs and accelerating the receivables cycle

Increases access to information: The information contained in patient records is utilized by various healthcare professionals as well as support staff, throughout the course of a patient’s treatment. Outsourcing medical transcription allows healthcare professionals as well as associated staff easy access to information by using the right technology

Helps with budgeting: Outsourcing medical transcription helps the administration of healthcare facilities cope with tight resources by allowing them to get rid of indirect expenses that they would incur by executing medical transcription in-house

Improves turnaround time: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the turnaround time between the dictation and the time when the patient records are accessible is streamlined. This is possible by the medical transcription service provider using the right team, the right processes, and the right technology

Improves coordination between various departments: The information in the patient records provides inputs for usage by various departments. Outsourcing medical transcription helps different departments like the support staff, the coding and billing department and the finance department to have access to patient records through archiving features

Keeps records up to date: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that patient records are maintained up to date, as all the information is updated into the patient records automatically

Improves quality of information: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the patient-healthcare professional encounter is captured in a descriptive form without missing any vital information. A medical transcription service provider would have a process in place to ensure this by having more than one ear listen to the dictation and having a quality check process is in place to ensure maximum accuracy

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry provides outsourced medical transcription with all the benefits. TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert 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 medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.