Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing quality services with integrity

Healthcare facilities of every kind are looking for ways to lessen the burden on the scarce resources at their disposal while not compromising on the quality of services provided. It is important for healthcare facilities to concentrate on the process of providing quality healthcare, by outsourcing all tasks that are not part of the core business. This enables them to not only retain control over their business in terms of delivering quality healthcare in a timely manner it also enables them to minimize expenses.

Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional service provider benefits the healthcare facilities in the following areas:

  • Helping the process of healthcare by creating patient records on time
  • Helping quicken the process of reimbursement by creating patient records on time
  • Provides protection against litigation by creating records by capturing details of the patient- healthcare professional encounter accurately
  • Protect against HIPAA/HITECH violation
  • Reducing direct and indirect cost of transcription
To avail the maximum advantages out of the outsourcing option it is important to source a service provider who can provide quality services with integrity.

What is meant by providing quality medical transcription services with integrity?
Quality medical transcription services can be defined as:

Accurate: The information captured in the patient records is vital for providing continuing treatment as well as for coding and billing purposes. A medical transcription service provider providing quality services would ensure that all the information is captured as accurately as possible, by using the right team and the right process.

Timely: To meet the standards of quality medical transcription it is important for the patient- healthcare professional encounter to not only be captured accurately but also to be available on time. The medical transcription service provider would meet turnaround time requirements using the right team and the right technology.

Medical transcription services with integrity can be defined as:
HIPAA/ HITECH compliant : Patient information is sacrosanct and it is important to provide for the security of this information at every level. A medical transcription service provider providing medical transcription services with integrity would ensure that patient information is protected at every level.

Reasonably priced: Lowered cost of transcription is probably one of the main benefits expected from the outsourcing option. A medical transcription service provider providing services with integrity would ensure fair and reasonable price by using a billing method, which is measurable, definable, verifiable, consistent, fair and honest.

Complete technical support for medical transcription : Medical transcription has moved into the digital era and has evolved into a service that extends beyond just record creation by providing technology that adds a lot of value. A medical transcription service provider providing services with integrity would ensure that technology would be advanced to ensure maximum benefit to the healthcare facility/ healthcare professional and still being easy to use.

TransDyne, a leader in outsourced medical transcription industry provides quality services with integrity. 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.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Offering effective solutions

Much has been said about healthcare, one often ignored factor about healthcare is that, it is a business in spite of being a life & death/ quality of life improving service. Like any other business the goals of healthcare facilities are straightforward; to be able to provide quality healthcare services while still maintaining a healthy bottom-line. In order to achieve these goals it is important for healthcare facilities to concentrate on their core activities and outsource all other activities that are not part of the core.

Outsourcing non-core activities will have an impact on the following:

  • Improved focus on the core business of providing quality healthcare
  • Reducing allocation of limited resources on non-core activities
The healthcare process is a complex one, drawing inputs from numerous sources to complete the process of providing quality healthcare. One such input that contributes significantly to the healthcare process is the information captured in patient records. Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records by transcribing the audio files of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. Patient records are not only vital for providing continued care to patients they also play a vital role in the process of reimbursement.

However medical transcription is a process that requires the right combination of people, processes and technology to be able to be accurate, timely, secure and cost effective. To be able to produce medical transcription that meets all these criteria, the healthcare facility has to dedicate a substantial portion of its resources in terms of investment, manpower, time and other resources to the process of medical transcription.

Outsourcing medical transcription has proven to be an effective solution for the medical transcription needs of healthcare facilities without compromising quality and security standards. In fact outsourcing medical transcription has proven to curb both direct and indirect expenses incurred for in-house medical transcription.

How does outsourcing medical transcription offer effective solutions?
The word effective has been defined as producing or capable of producing an intended result. By this definition outsourced medical transcription services are effective. They meet the criteria used to evaluate medical transcription:

Accuracy: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that patient records are created with maximum accuracy. The medical transcription service provider would ensure accuracy by having a well-trained team of medical transcriptionists working the transcripts and by having an effective quality process to ensure errors are minimized.

Turnaround time: Outsourcing medical transcription would ensure timely creation of patient records by using the right technology, the right process and the right team. Meeting turnaround time standards would ensure that the process of providing healthcare is unhindered and also ensure that the process of reimbursement takes place on time.

Security: Preserving the confidentiality of patient records is an important consideration for healthcare facilities. By outsourcing medical transcription the onus of providing for the security of patient information during the transcription process is on the service provider. Security of patient information would effectively ensured by the medical transcription service provider by securing processes, technology and the team.

Lowering costs: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that not only is the cost per line of transcription reduced by 40%-50% but is also restricted to the cost per line of transcription. All indirect and overhead expenses are eliminated

Other benefits: Apart from being accurate, timely, secure and cost effective, outsourced medical transcription offers other benefits incurring from the technology used, like:

  1. Retaining familiar modes of dictation
  2. Flexible modes of document delivery
  3. Remote printing and faxing
TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers complete medical transcription solutions. 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 effective medical transcription solutions from TransDyne, click here.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Playing an important role

Patient records are a vital element in the healthcare process. They are essential for not only patient care but play an important role in the commercial, statutory and medico legal aspects. Medical transcription is the process by which patient records are created. Medical transcriptionists are the scribes who faithfully transform the narration of the healthcare professionals into text format, making it available to healthcare professionals and other staff.

Outsourcing medical transcription has been found to be not only economical, but also efficient and effective in terms of accuracy, turnaround time, security and technology. In recent past there have been many arguments over the role of the medical transcriptionists/medical transcription service providers in the process of patient record creation. It is important to enumerate the reasons why medical transcription is so important to the healthcare process. Given below are the reasons that highlight the importance of the role played by medical transcription:

Quantity: Outsourced medical transcription services are essential to the process of record creation because of the sheer volume of records to be created. The number of people seeking healthcare services has dramatically increased due to various reasons like the aging population, lifestyle changes, increased stress levels etc. It is impossible for healthcare professionals or support staff to cope with the huge volumes transcription requirements, while still continuing to provide quality care.

Preference: Medical transcription has been proven to be the preference of healthcare professionals for creation of patient records. Healthcare professionals are starved for time and like the convenience of being able to dictate notes in the time available to them. Moreover outsourced medical transcription service providers offer the options to healthcare professionals to retain their familiar modes of dictation. Outsourced medical transcription also offers added benefits like different document delivery modes as per the preference of the healthcare professionals

Detailed: Medical transcription allows the healthcare professionals to capture maximum information in a patient record. This comes in handy in many circumstances, by allowing the healthcare professional to ponder over the health conditions of the patient and arrive at the correct diagnosis, helps in continued care after a time lag and many other situations where maximum information can aid the treatment process.

Increasing productivity: By outsourcing medical transcription the healthcare professionals are able to maximize their productive hours by concentrating on what they specialize in- providing quality healthcare

Understanding the process: Medical transcription service providers understand the process of healthcare and can tailor their services to suit the needs of healthcare professionals. They are familiar with the requirements of each specialty and are can serve the needs of healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals in the best possible way

Aids risk management: Detailed patient records play an important role in case of litigation. These provide detailed evidence about the process and quality of care provided to the patient

Applying context: Medical transcription service provider have teams of trained and experienced medical transcriptionists who can apply context to garbled/confusing audio to create accurate records

Maintaining standards: Outsourcing medical transcription helps maintain the standards of patient records. Medical transcription service providers would not only aid in maintaining standards of accuracy, turnaround time and security, they would also ensure reports are created in the formats/ templates required

Helping provide hands on care: Outsourced medical transcription services help the healthcare professionals make the most of their limited time resources and help them focus on what they do best – providing hands on quality healthcare to patients.

Apart from aiding healthcare facilities/healthcare professionals in the process of providing quality healthcare, medical transcription service providers also aid them in the commercial aspects in two ways:

  • By reducing cost of transcription dramatically
  • By quickening the receivables cycle
Considering the vital role played by medical transcription services, it is important to choose the right service provider.

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 outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Medical transcription: Steps for easy transition to outsourced services

The role of medical transcription in both the operational and commercial aspects of healthcare is undeniable. Outsourcing medical transcription has been found to be an easy, economical, efficient and effective to the process of medical records creation. However the process of choosing the right medical transcription service provider needs a certain process so that it can result in a fruitful and long-term association.
The steps leading to successful outsourcing of medical transcription are:

Defining the purpose of outsourcing medical transcription: This part of the outsourcing process is very important and often overlooked. Overlooking this step in the process of outsourcing can result in:
  1. Unrealistic expectations: Outsourcing medical transcription can help the healthcare facility in many aspects. But focusing only on factors like reduced cost and ignoring quality can result in outsourcing expectations not being met.
  2. Inadequate customization: Healthcare professionals of different specialties may have specific requirements. These may not be included while customizing services if the purpose of outsourcing is not clearly defined
  3. Loss of productivity: Not defining the purpose of outsourcing medical transcription can result in certain tasks being overlooked and resulting in loss of productivity
Consulting the people involved in or affected by outsourcing medical transcription: Outsourcing medical transcription affects personnel of several departments of the healthcare facility. It is important to involve all the people in the process of outsourcing to ensure success. It is important to not only consult the healthcare professionals and support staff, but is also vital to include the inputs of the Information technology, administrative, management and finance departments to gain maximum from outsourcing medical transcription

Defining the desired outcome from outsourcing medical transcription:

  1. Reducing cost of medical transcription
  2. Accuracy levels
  3. Desired turnaround time
  4. Formals/templates/fonts
  5. Document delivery modes
  6. HIPAA/HITECH compliant transcription
  7. Adoption of EMR/EHR
Designating key people for implementation: Transition for outsourced medical transcription services can require some adjustments. To ensure smooth transition it is important to designate key people who can coordinate with the medical transcription service provider staff to ensure seamless transition.

Starting the process of outsourcing: To actually start the process of outsourcing medical transcription it is important to undertake the following steps:
  • Technology adjustment
  • Familiarizing healthcare professionals and support staff with uploading dictation and downloading finished transcripts
  • Establishing open channels of communication with the medical transcription service provider.
Outsourcing medical transcription is an important decision and following the due process can result in satisfactory outcome for all the parties concerned.

TransDyne is a leading provider of outsourced medical transcription services, having served healthcare facilities of all types. TransDyne understands the needs of the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals and provides complete solutions to the varied needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities.

TransDyne offers 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.

Outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne offers additional advantages like:

  • Volume flexibility
  • Medical transcriptionists trained in specialties
  • Customized reports/formats/templates
  • Facility to integrate with EMR/EHR
  • Option to retain flexible modes of dictation
  • Remote printing and faxing options
To avail outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Friday, September 24, 2010

Medical transcription services: Creating patient records

Medical transcription can simplistically be defined as the process of creating patient records, however medical transcription adds value to the healthcare process by providing numerous benefits. The inputs for the medical transcription process come from the audio recordings of the healthcare professionals. Once the patient visit is over, the healthcare professional records the details of the patient-healthcare professional encounter in audio format. Medical transcription is the process of conversion of these audio files into text format.

The patient records created by the medical transcription process have an important role to play in the healthcare process. Patient records have an important role to play in the following:

  • Provide continuity of care
  • Basis for planning patient care
  • Assist in protecting legal interests
  • Form the base for coding and billing
  • Form the basis for education and research
  • Fulfill statutory requirements
What are the details recorded in patient records?
Patient records contain details regarding the following:

  • Medical history
  • Symptoms
  • Examination results
  • Diagnostic tests
  • Treatment methods
And a record of all other information collected by healthcare professional/healthcare facilities

Considering the vital role information from patient records play in the healthcare process, it is important to assure medical records are made available for the use of healthcare professionals/ healthcare facilities ensuring maximum quality, security and accessibility. The process of medical transcription requires not only the right skills, the right team, the right technology and the right process, but also substantial investment in terms of capital and time.

The easy fix to ensure that medical records are created within the parameters required is to outsource the process to a professional medical transcription service provider. This not only ensures quality, security and accessibility, it also ensures that cost of transcription is reduced by as much as 40%-50%.

How does outsourcing medical transcription ensure quality?
By outsourcing medical transcription to a professional service provider, quality can be ensured because:

  1. The medical transcription service provider would have the right team: Medical transcription is the core business of the service provider. Hence recruiting the right talent and training them to be experts would be an ongoing process ensuring that the service provider has the team to process any medical transcription requirements as required. The right team would not only ensure accuracy but also ensure that the transcripts are created within the required turnaround time.
  2. The medical transcription service provider would have the right procedure: To ensure that quality patient records are created on time, the medical transcription service provider would have a procedure to ensure that each transcript is checked thoroughly through a stringent quality process. This would ensure that records are accurate and timely.
  3. The medical transcription service provider would have the right technology: The right technology would help in quickening the process of collecting and transmitting the audio files for transcription. It would also help in the process of delivering finished transcripts to the healthcare professionals through various modes.
How does outsourcing medical transcription ensure security?
The medical transcription service provider would provide for security of confidential patient information by having measures in place to secure people, processes, infrastructure and technology

How does outsourcing medical transcription ensure accessibility?
The medical transcription service provider would ensure accessibility by having the right technology. The technology used by the service provider would not only ensure flexible modes of uploading dictation and offer multiple modes of document delivery, it would also ensure make sure that the technology is easy to use.

While outsourcing medical transcription healthcare facilities have to ensure that the medical transcription service providers are carefully evaluated on the criteria of being accurate, timely, secure, cost effective and flexible to ensure seamless 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 outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Leads to flexibility

In today’s situation healthcare facilities have to maintain a delicate balance between providing quality healthcare and still maintaining profits. The demands made on the limited resources available to a healthcare facility are numerous. In such a situation it is important for healthcare facilities to have maximum flexibility so that they can adapt themselves quickly to the changing demands placed on them. Outsourcing medical transcription can help healthcare facilities remain flexible!

How does outsourcing medical transcription help the healthcare facilities remain flexible?
Though medical transcription is an important contributor to the healthcare process it is not part of the core competencies of the healthcare facilities. The key to maintaining flexibility is to concentrate on the core competencies and outsource all the other activities.

Outsourcing medical transcription helps the healthcare facility remain flexible by the following means:

By offering a price structure based on fee for services rendered: Outsourced medical transcription service providers normally quote prices that are based on the services used by the healthcare facilities, that is based on variables like number of lines, number of reports, number of pages etc., instead of a flat rate. This ensures that healthcare facilities incur expenses limited to the usage of services.

By helping transform fixed costs to variable costs: By outsourcing medical transcription the healthcare facility can convert the fixed cost incurred for in-house transcription to variable costs. Fixed costs like real estate, salaries etc can be avoided.

Enabling increased flexibility in resource management: Outsourcing medical transcription frees up several valuable resources. The healthcare facility is then in a position to utilize these resources for other purposes.

Helping reduce response time to outside changes: In a changing atmosphere it is important for healthcare facilities to be able to respond to changes in a speedy manner. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that valuable resources are free for the healthcare facilities to use while responding to outside changes.

Increase focus on core activities: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the healthcare facilities can focus on their core activity of providing quality care rather than on other associated activities like medical transcription.

Freeing up key employees: Outsourcing medical transcription not only benefits the healthcare professionals but also key employees of the healthcare facility like the support staff, the management staff and the information technology staff to focus on the core business of the healthcare facility.

Increasing speed: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the patient medical records are available to the healthcare professionals and support staff on time. This ensures that the speed of service is also more efficient.

By helping avoid bottlenecks to quicker reimbursements: Outsourcing medical transcription not only reduces direct and indirect costs but also removes bottlenecks that hinder the cash flow. Medical transcription is the first step in the receivables cycle; timely medical transcription ensures that the process of reimbursement can start on time.

However the process of outsourcing medical transcription needs to be approached with caution. Apart from evaluating the medical transcription service provider on the basis of criteria like accuracy, turnaround time and technology used, healthcare facilities need to evaluate the medical transcription service provider on the following additional points:

  1. Billing methodology
  2. Ability to deliver quality by checking on training methods and levels of quality checks used.
  3. HIPAA/HITECH compliance
  4. Experience of the medical transcription service provider by checking on references
  5. Actual capability of the medical transcription service provider by availing a free trial
  6. Availability of open channels of communication.
Once the medical transcription service provider has been evaluated on all these criteria the healthcare facility can enjoy immaculate services, which lets them enjoy the benefit of being flexible in an ever-changing competitive environment.

TransDyne,a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers complete medical transcription solutions. 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 complete medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Points to be considered during outsourcing

Outsourcing medical transcription is a prudent business decision and helps the healthcare facility focus totally on their core business while providing the right support. However the outsourcing decision is not one to be taken lightly and needs a thorough analysis of what the healthcare facility hopes to gain from the outsourcing decision. To make sure that everybody in the healthcare facility is comfortable with the outsourcing decision it is important for the healthcare facility to ask itself some questions:

  • Is medical transcription part of the core business of the healthcare facility? Medical transcription is not part of the core business of a healthcare facility though it does play an important role in the operational and commercial aspects of a healthcare facility. Medical transcription is a specialized skill requiring a combination of the right team, the right technology and process to be able to meet the criteria of being accurate, timely, secure and cost effective.
  • How much is medical transcription costing currently? Having medical transcription in-house could be costing the healthcare facility more than what they originally would have estimated. While calculating cost of in-house medical transcription factors like these should be taken into consideration:
  1. Overheads
  2. Allocation of management & administration staff for managing medical transcription in house
  3. Wastage of resources during slack times
  4. Overtime pay during excess inflow of work
  5. Extra pay for weekend and holiday transcription
  • What are the other resources being used for in house medical transcription? In-house medical transcription could also involve usage of resources like secretaries, Information Technology staff, capital equipment etc. for medical transcription.
  • What are the accuracy levels and turnaround time of transcripts? In-house medical transcription could result in varied levels of accuracy due to the varying volumes of transcription. The accuracy levels could be high when volumes are low and low when volumes are high. The turnaround time could also similarly vary depending on the volume of transcription. The turnaround time being shorter during slack periods and vice versa during periods with high volumes.
  • Is it important to retain medical transcription in-house? There are certain factors like concerns for security of the data that could be a hurdle to the outsourcing decision. Choosing a service provider with measures in place to secure people, processes and technology can eliminate security concerns and remove any hurdles to the outsourcing process.
  • What are the alternate options available? Healthcare facilities have the option of outsourcing their overflow transcription needs to a combination of independent contractors or medical transcription service providers. This could however result in the healthcare facility having to put in more efforts to coordinate medical transcription from various resources. The easy fix to ensure that transcripts are created in a timely, accurate, secure and cost effective manner is to outsource medical transcription on a turnkey basis to a professional medical transcription service provider
  • What is the cost of outsourcing medical transcription? Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the cost of transcription is restricted to the cost per line of transcription. Initially the healthcare facility may have to have a minimum outlay towards finalizing the service provider and adapting to the technology used by the service provider.
  • What are pitfalls of outsourcing medical transcription? The common pitfalls while outsourcing a function as vital as medical transcription is the fear of poor quality and security concerns. Another major concern is that the price quoted by the service provider may have hidden costs. Both these concerns can be overcome by choosing a service provider who has the right team in place to meet quality concerns, has adequate measures in place to ensure total security and uses a billing method that is measurable, verifiable, definable, consistent and fair& honest.
  • What is the value addition in outsourcing medical transcription? Outsourcing medical transcription provides the healthcare facility with many value added services like technology that offers multiple benefits like different modes of document delivery, archives making it easy to trace transcripts in different stages, specialty medical transcription etc.
  • What about the transition to outsourced medical transcription services? Transition from in-house transcription to outsourced services can be eased when the medical transcription service provider has open channels for customer service. This would enable the service provider to solve minor issues as and when they crop up.
  • What about existing investments in EMR? Existing investments is EMR/EHR can be protected if the medical transcription service provider has the capability for HL7 interface enabling data to be transmitted to the EMR/EHR system.
  • What are the options available to capture dictation? This is a main concern for time starved healthcare professionals, this concern can be overcome by choosing a service provider who allows the healthcare professionals to retain their familiar modes for capturing dictation.
The process of outsourcing medical transcription can become easier by choosing a medical transcription service provider who alleviates these fears/doubts that may rise during the outsourcing process.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers complete medical transcription solutions. 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 complete medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing enterprising solutions

Medical transcription has been a part of healthcare from the very beginning. After all medical transcription is the scribe that faithfully creates patient records from the details provided by the healthcare professionals of their encounter with patients. Though medical transcription has been around almost as long as healthcare services, it has evolved a long way from the original primitive version of hand written notes to the current version of creating patient records on the computer.

It is recognized that medical transcription is a specialized skill requiring the right combination of team, technology and process and it has been acknowledged that the efficient, effective and economic fix to create patient records is to outsource medical transcription. Outsourced medical transcription services have the advantage of providing enterprising solutions to the changing needs of healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals.

How does outsourced medical transcription provide enterprising solutions for the documentation needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities?
Outsourced medical transcription has always strived to provide services that meet the changing needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities by taking initiative, using imagination and undertaking to customize technology to provide safe, accurate, speedy and cost effective medical transcription services.

To understand how outsourced medical transcription provides enterprising services it is important to study how the medical transcription service has evolved to meet the challenges/ needs of the healthcare sector.

Given below are some of the milestones that medical transcription has achieved:
Providing remote medical transcription services: Medical transcription has evolved from a service requiring the physical presence of the medical transcriptionist to a service, which can be availed from remote locations. Medical transcription service providers have used the Internet enterprisingly to help healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities avail the best quality service without having to incur any overheads.

This ensures that the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals can avail the requisite medical transcription services having to pay only for the quantity used. Factors like overtime pay, wastage during slack times, arrangements for weekend & holiday transcription are all covered by the medical transcription service provider without compromising accuracy, turnaround time and security

Making provisions for flexible modes of dictation: Outsourced medical transcription services have ensured that healthcare professionals can capture the details of the patient-healthcare professional encounter without having to change their style of dictation or having to waste time by allowing them to use familiar and flexible methods of dictation. Medical transcription service provider have enterprisingly used technology to help healthcare professionals in optimizing their limited time resources

Aiding adoption of EMR/EHR: Investment in EMR/EHR systems requires a huge capital outlay. Medical transcription service providers have provided HL7 interface to enable adoption of EMR/EHR systems

Editing services for Speech recognition transcription: Some healthcare professionals have invested in voice recognition/speech recognition software. Though this software has the ability to convert speech to text, the accuracy levels have been found to be unacceptable. Medical transcription service providers have enterprisingly provided editing and quality control services for such transcripts.

Specialty medical transcription: Healthcare is a vast field having many specialties. The medical transcriptionists working on medical transcription for specialties need to be familiar with the language of the specialty to provide services of the required accuracy and turnaround time. Medical transcription service providers have enterprisingly provided for specialty transcription by training medical transcriptionists to be domain experts in one or two specialties ensuring quality work from the very beginning

Archives: One of the requirements of healthcare facilities, especially those generating substantial quantities of transcription work, is to be able to keep tabs on the audio files, work-in-progress and finished transcripts. They also need a system through which can trace patient files easily. Medical transcription service providers have enterprisingly provided archives to enable all these functions

Choices for document delivery: All patient records are vital to the healthcare process, but some require more priority than others. It is important for the medical transcription service provider to have various means to deliver the document to the healthcare professionals in a secure and quick manner. Outsourced medical transcription service providers have provided for this by enabling multiple modes of document delivery

TransDyne is a leading provider of outsourced medical transcription services, having served healthcare facilities of all types. TransDyne understands the needs of the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals and provides enterprising solutions to the varied needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities.

TransDyne offers 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.

Outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne offers additional advantages like:

  • Volume flexibility
  • Medical transcriptionists trained in specialties
  • Customized reports/formats/templates
  • Facility to integrate with EMR/EHR
  • Option to retain flexible modes of dictation
  • Remote printing and faxing options
To avail enterprising medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Monday, September 20, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing unique solutions

Medical transcription is an important link in the chain delivering quality healthcare. Medical transcription adds value to the healthcare process by creating patient records from the audio of the patient-healthcare professional encounter. However medical transcription requires skills, commitment and investment from the healthcare facility to be accurate and timely. Investing valuable resources may dilute the focus of the healthcare facilities from their core objective of providing quality healthcare.

One easy fix to ensure that creation of patient records takes place in a timely, accurate, secure and cost effective manner is to outsource medical transcription to a qualified and professional medical transcription service provider. This not only ensures timely, accurate, secure and cost effective creation of patient records, but also enables the healthcare facility to avail unique solutions to their specific transcription needs.

What are unique solutions for medical transcription needs?
It is commonly understood that the healthcare facilities differ not only in terms of the number of healthcare professionals, the size of the facility, the services offered but also in other variables like:

Specialties: Medicine is a vast field having various specialties. Healthcare facilities could offer one or a combination of more than one specialty. Each specialty has its own language. A medical transcription service provider offering unique medical transcription solutions would take this into consideration while designing solutions for the healthcare facilities. Factors like turnaround time; templates/formats etc could be affected by the specialty transcribed for.

Expansion plans: While outsourcing medical transcription, healthcare facilities need to seek out service providers who can not only service current needs but also have the capacity to service future needs. The medical transcription service provider should have the manpower and technical backup to be able to cope with expanding needs for transcription

Technical support level required: The technical support required from the medical transcription service provider could vary according to the needs and aptitude of the healthcare professionals. To provide unique solutions medical transcription service provider should have technology to support the varying needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities

Formats/templates of reports: The requirement of different healthcare professionals for report formats/ templates and even fonts could vary. The medical transcription service provider needs to have the capacity to serve the unique needs of healthcare professionals/healthcare facilities

Adoption of EMR: EMR requires a substantial investment from the healthcare facilities. The medical transcription service provider needs to be able to support EMR adoption by having the capacity to interface through HL7 integration

Speech recognition transcription: Some healthcare professionals/healthcare facilities would even require the medical transcription service providers to provide editing services for speech recognition transcription. The medical transcription service provider needs to support this facility

Turnaround time required: The turnaround time requirements of different healthcare professionals under different circumstances could vary. The medical transcription service provider needs to accommodate the turnaround time requirements of different healthcare professionals

Archiving facilities: Healthcare facilities with a large number of healthcare professionals would require a system to trace dictations, work-in-progress and transcripts

Dictation modes: The medical transcription service provider needs to accommodate the unique modes of dictation used by healthcare professionals to enable them to make optimum use of their limited time

Support levels required: Transition to outsourced medical transcription could be made easier by having the right kind of support to answer/solve any queries/issues as they arise

Document delivery modes: The medical transcription service provider needs to have the technology to accommodate the unique document delivery modes required by healthcare professionals

Multi user access: Certain transcripts may require multiple users access; the medical transcription service provider needs to enable this in the transcription system.

It is important that the service provider should create unique solutions that are specifically formulated taking into consideration the requirements of the healthcare professionals/healthcare facilities.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers unique transcription solutions. 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 unique medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Frequently asked questions

Outsourcing medical transcription is an important decision and needs careful consideration of the healthcare facility’s specific needs and the right “fit” from the medical transcription service provider. Medical transcription is a vital link in the chain leading to the delivery of quality healthcare. Medical transcription is the process by which patient records are created, and these records are used by healthcare professionals as well as other support staff.

While outsourcing medical transcription it is natural for healthcare professionals and the support staff to have some doubts regarding the outsourcing decision. Some frequently expressed questions/concerns are answered below:

Do I need to change my mode/style of dictation?
This is a genuine concern among healthcare professionals who are qualified professionals for whom time is a scarce commodity. It is important for the medical transcription service provider to accommodate flexible and familiar modes of dictation to enable healthcare professionals to make optimum use of their time.

Do I need to get involved in the actual upload of dictation?
Healthcare professionals are qualified in the field of medicine and may not necessarily want to get involved in the technicalities of uploading audio files for transcription. It is important for the medical transcription service provider to have a system in place that enables automatic upload of audio files at frequent intervals.

Do I need to get involved in the actual download of transcripts?
Once the dictation of the patient-healthcare professional encounter is done the healthcare professional would like that the patient record be made available to him/her automatically. The outsourced medical transcription service provider needs to have a system to enable delivery of transcripts.

Is there a provision of faxing/printing the transcripts from the medical transcription service provider’s office?
In certain cases it would be necessary for the transcript to be made available to the healthcare professional by fax/printed form. The outsourced medical transcription service provider should have provisions in their system to enable this.

What is the turnaround time? What is the turnaround time for STAT files?
The information in the patient medical records is vital for the continuity of care. It is important that the patient records are made available on time. In some cases the turnaround time would have to be very quick. The medical transcription service provider should have the team and technology in place to enable this.

What is the level of accuracy?
Patient records are not only important for continued patient care they also form the basis for coding and billing leading to reimbursements. Patient records also provide evidence in case of litigation. It is important for the data to be captured accurately. The outsourced medical transcription service provider needs to have the right team in place with the requisite training to enable this.

Does outsourcing medical transcription mean that I have to get tech-savvy?
Healthcare professionals are starved for time; they may not want to use very complicated technology requiring a lengthy learning process. The medical transcription service provider needs to use technology that not only provides all functions, but also easy to use.

What is the cost per line of transcription?
One of the main benefits expected from the outsourcing is reduced cost of transcription. It is important for the medical transcription service provider to define costs clearly using a billing method that is definable, verifiable, measurable, consistent, fair and honest.

Is the cost per line of transcription less than our existing costs?
It is important to determine whether there are any hidden costs while outsourcing medical transcription.

How about integration with EMR?
The EMR system requires a substantial amount of investment. It is important to determine whether the medical transcription service provider will be able to integrate with existing EMR via HL7 interface protecting existing investments.

What is the system for tracing dictation, transcribed files etc?
Most healthcare facilities would have a huge number of files in every stage of transcription. It is important for the medical transcription service provider to have an archival system to enable tracing of files at every stage of transcription.

What if I have any doubts regarding the medical transcription process?
The medical transcription service provider needs to have open channels of communication to enable the healthcare facility personnel to clarify any doubts regarding the medical transcription process.

What about HIPAA/HITECH concerns?
The protection of confidential patient information is one of the concerns of healthcare professionals and other staff. It is important for the service provider to be HIPAA/HITECH compliant at every level.

What is the experience of the medical transcription service provider in providing similar services?
This can be ascertained by checking on the references provided by the medical transcription service provider for their existing clients.

TransDyne, a leader in the medical transcription industry provides customized solutions to suit the 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 medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Creation of patient records

Patient records are an essential part of the smooth running of a healthcare facility. They contribute to the actual process of healthcare as well as aid in the reimbursement process. Medical transcription is the process of creating medical records, by converting the audio records as dictated by the healthcare professional into text format. Medical transcription is a specialized service that requires the right team, the right process and the right technology.

Outsourcing medical transcription aids the healthcare facilities to concentrate on providing quality healthcare, by creating medical records in an accurate, speedy, secure and cost effective manner. Not only this outsourcing medical transcription also helps healthcare facilities to curb indirect expenses that they may incur by medical transcription in-house.

What are patient medical records and why are they important?
Patient medical records are the systematic documentation of patient’s individual medical history and care. Patient records consist of the following details:

  • Name, date of birth, address, emergency contact numbers, sex, blood type etc.
  • Date of last physical exam
  • Dates and results of tests and screening
  • Major illnesses & surgeries with dates
  • List of medication, dosages and duration of prescription
  • Allergies
  • Chronic diseases
  • History of illness in the family
Patient medical records provide medical history. It is a longitudinal record chronicling disease, major & minor illnesses as well as growth landmarks. It gives the healthcare professionals a feel for what happened in the past to the patient. It also provides clues about current illness. Medical records can prove to be invaluable as an aid in arriving at the right diagnosis.

The information in medical records aid in the following:

  • Continuity of care
  • Basis for planning present and future care
  • Assist in protecting legal interests
  • Are the base for billing and coding
  • For education and research purposes
  • Fulfilling statutory obligations
It can be concluded that patient medical records are invaluable in the process of healthcare. And as medical transcription is the process of creating patient records, it is vital that healthcare facilities should evaluate the service provider carefully before outsourcing medical transcription.

The criteria for evaluating a medical transcription service provider are as follows:
Accuracy: This means the percentage of accuracy of the completed transcripts vis-à-vis what was dictated. A minimum of 99% and above would be acceptable.

Turnaround time: Turnaround time refers to the time taken to revert the transcribed report to the healthcare facility. A turnaround time of not more than 24 hours for normal reports and 4-12 hours for STAT reports would be considered ideal.

Data security: The service provider being outsourced to should be HIPAA and HITECH compliant. The medical transcription service provider has to have adequate security measures to ensure that the confidential data transmitted back and forth is safe and secure.

Pricing: Reduced costs are one of the main benefits that a healthcare facility hopes to have, from the outsourcing option. Pricing should be fair and reasonable for the services rendered. Pricing method should also be transparent and simple so that both parties can verify the same at any stage of the process

Technology: The technology used by the medical transcription service provider should not only be secure but should also be easy to use, without having to require extensive training.

Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider can help the healthcare facility not only in terms of efficient, effective and economical creation of patient records; it also has other benefits like:

  1. Retaining familiar modes of dictation
  2. Integration with EMR/EHR
  3. Specialty transcription
  4. Automated upload of dictation and download of transcripts
  5. Archiving facility
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.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing and health information management

Modern day healthcare depends on the input from various sources to be effective and profitable. One such aspect that plays a vital role in healthcare is health information management. Health information management is the practice of maintenance and care of health records. Health information professional have been described to play a critical role in the delivery of healthcare. They focus on collection, maintenance and the use of quality healthcare data to support the information intensive and information reliant healthcare system.

One important aspect of health information management is medical transcription. Medical transcription is the process of documenting the patient-healthcare professional encounter. Medical transcription is a specialized process requiring the optimum combination of people skills, processes and technology Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that patient records are created in a professional manner making the process efficient, effective and economical. Patient records need to fit a certain criteria to be useful in the healthcare process.

The medical transcription service provider needs to be evaluated based on the criteria used to evaluate data characteristics:

Accuracy: Medical records of patients are vital to the process of healthcare. They provide continuity, basis for planning future care, assist in case of litigation and can be used for education and research. Therefore the accuracy of the data captured during the process of medical transcription should be as close to 100% as possible

Accessibility: To provide quality healthcare it is important that information is easily accessible. It not only helps healthcare professionals and support staff provide quality care but also organize their time better. Outsourcing medical transcription can help in this aspect by providing archiving facilities, which make it easier to trace files

Comprehensive: Patient records need to encompass all the details of the patient’s medical history. This aids healthcare professionals in making the right treatment plan. The medical transcription service provider needs to ensure that all the details are comprehensively captured during the transcription process

Consistency: Healthcare is a complex field and it is important that the value of the data should be reliable and standard across various applications. This is the responsibility of the medical transcriptionists who actually transcribe the records. It is important that their training program encompasses all the details of the specialty they are transcribing for

Currency: The patient records should reflect current data. Creating timely records is an important duty of the medical transcription service provider

Definition: This means that the data should be clearly defined with no room for misunderstanding. This requires the medical transcription service provider team to have in-depth knowledge of medical terms and definitions

Granularity: This means the attributes and value of data should be defined at the correct level of detail

Precision: The details in the medical record, documenting the essentials so that no details are missed but unnecessary data is not included

Relevancy: The data captured in the medical records should be relevant.

Timeliness: The medical records need to be created with all the above given attributes within a reasonable time frame. The optimum turnaround time would aid both quality healthcare and quicker reimbursements.

Outsourcing to a professional medical transcription service provider like TransDyne ensures that medical records are created with all the attributes. 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.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing expert services

The focus of healthcare facilities is to provide quality healthcare while still maintaining profitability. Healthcare is a process, which requires many expert inputs whether it is the contribution of skilled healthcare professionals, technicians, nursing staff, support staff, laboratory services or information from patient records. It becomes imperative for healthcare facilities to focus on their core competence and outsource the other activities to expert service providers.

The process of medical transcription, which aids in creating patient records, is one such activity. The best solution to ensure accurate, timely, secure and cost effective creation of patient records is to outsource to an expert medical transcription service provider.

Expert Medical transcription services
What is meant by expert medical transcription services?
The word "expert" has been defined as having, involving or demonstrating great skill, dexterity or knowledge as the result of training and experience.

By this definition outsourced medical transcription services can be described as expert services. Medical transcription is the culmination of right team, the right process and the right technology.

The right team: The accuracy and the turnaround time required for expert medical transcription is the result of the right team. To meet the quality standards required in medical transcription, the medical transcriptionists need knowledge of medical terminology, good English, typing skills, good listening skills, Internet savvy and multi tasking abilities. This requires an extensive training program to make the medical transcriptionists experts. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that expert medical transcriptionists undertake creation of patient records, no matter what the specialty or the volume of transcription.

The right process: Medical transcription is not a one-time service; it is a continuous process. The process of medical transcription continues as long as there are patients requiring healthcare. Medical transcription needs to follow the right process to ensure that the patient records are created within the acceptable time without compromising the quality or security. To cope with the varying demands medical transcription service providers have a process in place that ensures that patient records are created not only on time, but all the details of the patient-healthcare professional encounter are captured accurately.

The right technology: Technology has a significant role to play in the process of medical transcription. It not only ensure speed and security but also adds value to the process by making it easy of healthcare professionals and other support to use, but also by providing benefits like archives, familiar modes of dictation, remote printing & faxing, adoption of EMR etc.

By using the right combination of people, processes and technology outsourced medical transcription services definitely qualifies as an expert service. Speedy, secure, low-cost, accurate and technologically savvy medical transcription is the result of skill, training and experience.

TransDyne offers expert 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 expert outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Medical transcription outsourcing: How to get the most out of it?

Outsourcing medical transcription is a crucial business decision for healthcare facilities, one that would have required considerable thought and analysis. Having gone through the process of identifying the deliverables expected from the outsourcing process it is important to get the maximum benefits from the outsourcing medical transcription decision.

How can healthcare facilities maximize benefits of the outsourcing medical transcription decision?
Choosing the right medical transcription service provider: Sourcing the right service provider has become much easier because information about medical transcription service providers are easily available on the Internet. But on the flip side availability of huge amount of information can be very confusing. To choose the right service provider, healthcare facilities need to concentrate on certain points, which can help narrow down the search for the right service provider. Healthcare facilities need to ask the following questions:

  • What are the credentials of the service provider? How long have they been in business?
  • Who are their clients? Can they provide references?
  • Does the service provider use sub-contractors?
  • Does the service provider offer a free trial?
  • Does the service provider have open channels of communication?
Getting the right price: Savings on cost of medical transcription is probably one of the main objectives of outsourcing. However pricing in medical transcription is a very complicated matter. It is important for healthcare facilities not to be guided by price alone. Unrealistically low prices could mean that either quality of work could be compromised or the method of billing used could leave room for manipulation. The method of billing used by the medical transcription service provider should be measurable, verifiable, definable, consistent and fair & honest. Care should be taken to understand the components of cost and the method of billing to ensure that the price quoted really benefits the healthcare facility

Setting standards of quality: Patient records are vital for the running of healthcare facilities, therefore it is important to thoroughly study the medical transcription service provider to assess their ability to meet accuracy levels and turnaround time guarantees. The training methods used, the quality check methodology used and the technology used by the service provider are indicators of the medical transcription service provider's ability to meet quality standards of maximum accuracy and speedy turnaround times

Ensuring HIPAA/HITECH compliance: HIPAA/HITECH compliance is very important when it comes to medical transcription. The ability of the medical transcription service provider to meet HIPAA/HITECH standards can be assessed by the measures used by the service provider to secure people, processes, infrastructure and technology

Leveraging on the software and tools used by the service provider: Technology plays a significant role in the medical transcription process. The outsourcing process can become very advantageous by leveraging on the technology used by the medical transcription service provider. It can provide value added benefits like flexible modes of dictation; automatic uploads & downloads, archives, remote printing & faxing, and integration with EMR. This eases the life of healthcare professionals and support staff enabling them to concentrate on providing quality healthcare

Outsourcing to the right medical transcription service provider could help healthcare facilities concentrate on their core business, save on costs, accelerate reimbursements and benefit from the technology used by the medical transcription service provider.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry:
  • Has been providing outsourced medical transcription services to some of leaders in the healthcare industry for over a decade
  • Has testimonials of their satisfied customers
  • TransDyne believes it is their privilege to serve their customers themselves rather than dilute the focus by using subcontractors
  • TransDyne offers a free trial of their services for a limited time period
  • TransDyne believes in being available to their customers 24/7
Apart  from the above mentioned benefits, TransDyne also 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  outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here