Medical transcription: Improving communication and information sharing

The recent reforms proposed for healthcare are aimed towards the creation of an US-based health information network with the expectation that adoption of EMR/ EHR and investment in newer technology will reduce errors, bring down costs, ensure privacy and save lives. As the healthcare sector is preparing to move towards the attainment of this goal one of the key factors for the success of this that emerges, is the need for clear and secure information sharing among all the stakeholders involved in the healthcare process.

Keeping this in mind it becomes important for healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals to have proper support to ensure good results. Medical transcription has been one of the services that have supported the healthcare especially in improving communication and information sharing. The role of medical transcription in this move towards adoption of EMR/ EHR is undeniable given their vast resources of experience and expertise.

Given below are some of the stakeholders in the healthcare process that medical transcription services aid in improving communication and information sharing:

Healthcare professionals: As healthcare professionals have an important role in the healthcare process it is vital that they have access to accurate and timely information regarding patients. Medical transcription companies ensure that legible, clear and accurate patient medical records are created on a timely basis from the dictation of healthcare professionals regarding the patient encounter. This essentially ensures that all the key points of the patient encounter including the narrative portion are captured in the transcript.  Not only do medical transcription companies help in creation of patient medical records but they also ensure easy access and sharing.

Support staff at the healthcare facility: The process of care involves several people including the support staff. By creating proper records medical transcription companies ensure that timely information regarding the care instructions provided by healthcare professionals is available to the staff for administering the right care. This especially essential for long term care or during shift changes

Coders and billing staff: The record of the care process provides the base for coding and billing. By ensuring accuracy and turnaround time, medical transcription companies aid in timely and proper coding and billing

Insurance payers:  Insurance payers require the complete patient medical record to establish eligibility; quality transcription ensures that this is possible

Pharmaceutical researchers:  Experimenting with new drugs/ protocols etc require careful monitoring and record keeping to track the efficacy. Medical transcription companies ensure that the patient medical records reflect all the details

Public health officials: Detailed patient medical records are useful for keeping track of epidemics and other public health related issues. Medical transcription companies ensure that this data is easily available by creating and archiving records, which are easily searchable using various criteria

Risk managers: Risk managers require detailed information regarding the patient encounter, diagnostic and treatment process as a defense against malpractice litigation. Medical transcription companies aid in this by creating accurate and timely patient medical records that includes the narrative.

Health information manager: Medical transcription companies aid health information managers by providing software and tools for medical transcription that not only meet and exceed HIPAA and HITECH regulations and other operational aspects but also in adoption of EMR/ EHR using HL7 interface

Patients and their family: As the most important participant in the healthcare process, patients need access to their personal health records in a form that is easily understandable by them. Medical transcription companies ensure this by creating accurate reports that include the narrative.

It can be concluded that medical transcription services have a large role to play in the healthcare documentation scenario helping in communication and information sharing with all the participants.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

Among the software and tools offered by TransDyne for transcription, the smart delivery system has a large role to play in easing the path to EMR/EHR adoption The Smart Delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems.  Apart from this TransDyne also offers discounted rates for those healthcare facilities that provide demographic data entered in the EMR rather than through other modes.

Along with medical transcription services involving multiple level quality checks to ensure accuracy, the use of the right technology for ease of use, turnaround time and security, at reasonable rates, TransDyne also provides discrete reportable transcription and editing & proofreading services for adoption of EMR/ EHR 

To avail complete medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Medical transcription outsourcing: A conduit for better operations

The healthcare sector has always performed under tremendous pressure coping with the need to deliver quality healthcare while still maintaining healthy bottom-line and meeting statutory requirements. Healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have always strived to optimize their operations to meet all these requirements. With the recently proposed move towards a nation wide electronic healthcare system, healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals are under increasing pressure to streamline their operations to meet all the requirements.

Medical transcription is a service that has always been helping healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals streamline their operations by ensuring legible, detailed, accurate, timely, secure and cost effective creation of patient medical records. Medical transcription companies use the right combination of trained people, refined processes and advanced technology to ensure seamless services. Taking into consideration the need for adopting EMR/ EHR, medical transcription services can act as a conduit for better operations.

Some of the operational areas that medical transcription services can help improve on are:

Dictation: Healthcare professionals have shown a marked preference for dictation as a means of recording the details regarding the patient encounter as opposed to other methods. Medical transcription companies enable healthcare professionals to retain dictation modes of their choice to optimize their limited time. Moreover medical transcription companies have also provided for the dictation files to be transmitted for transcription automatically by configuring the transcription interface to check for audio files at regular intervals for quicker turnaround time

Transcription: Quality transcription requires resources like medical transcriptionists, the right quality process and the right equipment. Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription company ensures that healthcare facilities are relieved of this activity, by ensuring quality transcription in a secure environment to ensure accuracy and HIPAA compliance.

Distribution of transcripts: Once the transcription process is over, the delivery of transcripts to the respective healthcare professionals needs to take place in a speedy and secure manner to ensure optimum decision-making regarding the care of patients. Medical transcription companies ensure secure, quick and convenient modes of delivery by providing various options like delivery to specific folders, delivery to more than one healthcare professional, provision for automatic faxing & printing etc.

Quickening reimbursements: The timely creation of detailed and accurate patient medical records leads to quicker coding and billing, which in turn leads to quicker reimbursements. As medical transcription is the first step in the reimbursement process, by providing efficient transcription services medical transcription companies act as a conduit for this vital area of operations

Risk management: In an increasingly litigious environment risk management has become vital for the protection of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities. There are many aspects of risk management one of them being proper documentation of the care process. Medical transcription companies ensure that patient medical records are created along with the narrative to ensure that the care process is documented in full detail making it useful for risk management.

Customizing solutions for adoption of EMR/ EHR: The move towards adoption of EMR/ EHR has lead to more options for documenting the care process. Medical transcription companies have started offering customized solutions like editing & proofreading services for speech recognition software, structured dictation, structured transcription, discrete reportable transcription and HL7 interface etc to enable this.

It can be concluded that partnering with a professional and technologically savvy medical transcription company can act as a conduit for better operations.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

Among the software and tools offered by TransDyne for transcription, the smart delivery system has a large role to play in easing the path to EMR/EHR adoption The Smart Delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems.  Apart from this TransDyne also offers discounted rates for those healthcare facilities that provide demographic data entered in the EMR rather than through other modes.

Along with medical transcription services involving multiple level quality checks to ensure accuracy, the use of the right technology for ease of use, turnaround time and security, at reasonable rates, TransDyne also provides discrete reportable transcription for adoption of EMR/ EHR 

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Covering all transcription services

Documenting the care process has always been vital for healthcare services both in terms of the actual care process and for other purposes like administrative, receivables management and risk management.  Healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have many options for documenting the care process; medical transcription has been one of the most convenient methods.  Outsourced medical transcription services also help healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals curb on cost of transcription to a large extent.

Apart from ensuring accurate, timely, secure and cost effective services using the right combination of a well-trained team, technology and processes, another major advantage of outsourcing medical transcription is that it acts, as a one-stop-shop for all transcription needs, including:

Transcription for all specialties and varying volumes: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that expert services are available for all the specialties without compromising on the accuracy or turnaround time. By outsourcing medical transcription, healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities basically gain access to the vast resource of specialty trained medical transcriptionists, ensuring timely transcription for the varying volume needs of the healthcare facility without compromising on quality

Weekend and holiday transcription: Outsourcing medical transcription also ensures that the medical transcription company covers the transcription needs for weekends and holidays. By providing for transcription services during special occasions like holidays and weekends, medical transcription companies help healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals save on cost of overtime etc.  Moreover by converting the fixed cost of transcription into variable costs, medical transcription companies help healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals save on cost during slack times

Structured dictation and transcription: With the fast approaching deadline for adoption of EMR/ EHR it has become imperative to find methods of adopting this new technology. Medical transcription companies offer options like structured dictation and structured transcription that help in ensuring that patient medical records are created in a certain way for easy entry into the EMR/ EHR

Discrete reportable transcription: Discrete reportable transcription can be defined as a unique approach to adoption of EMR/ EHR, which continues to use the traditional method of transcription to create transcripts while instantly populating the EMR/ EHR with discrete data elements. Under this method once the healthcare professional has finished dictating his/her notes, transcripts are created through the usual transcription process using expert medical transcriptionists who ensure accuracy and speed.  After transcription, the transcription software automatically tags the discrete data within the document, such as lab values and medications into the appropriate fields in the EMR/ EHR, using XML coding.

HL7 interface: HL7 focuses on the interface necessities of the whole healthcare organization.  HL7 functions as a standard to ensure that critical healthcare information is made available to various sources without the meaning getting lost.

Medical transcription companies provide the resources and tools to accept HL7 based ADT (Abstract Data Types)/ order transmissions via TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)/IP (Internet Protocol), HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Server) and /or VPN (Virtual Private Network). This ensures adoption of EMR/ EHR without major changes in the work life of healthcare professionals.

It can be concluded that partnering with a professional and technologically savvy medical transcription company ensures that all the transcription needs of the healthcare facility are met with by one single entity.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

Among the software and tools offered by TransDyne for transcription, the smart delivery system has a large role to play in easing the path to EMR/EHR adoption The Smart Delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems.  Apart from this TransDyne also offers discounted rates for those healthcare facilities that provide demographic data entered in the EMR rather than through other modes.

Along with medical transcription services involving multiple level quality checks to ensure accuracy, the use of the right technology for ease of use, turnaround time and security, at reasonable rates, TransDyne also provides discrete reportable transcription for adoption of EMR/ EHR 

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Covering all transcription services

Documenting the care process has always been vital for healthcare services both in terms of the actual care process and for other purposes like administrative, receivables management and risk management.  Healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have many options for documenting the care process; medical transcription has been one of the most convenient methods.  Outsourced medical transcription services also help healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals curb on cost of transcription to a large extent.

Apart from ensuring accurate, timely, secure and cost effective services using the right combination of a well-trained team, technology and processes, another major advantage of outsourcing medical transcription is that it acts, as a one-stop-shop for all transcription needs, including:

Transcription for all specialties and varying volumes: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that expert services are available for all the specialties without compromising on the accuracy or turnaround time. By outsourcing medical transcription, healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities basically gain access to the vast resource of specialty trained medical transcriptionists, ensuring timely transcription for the varying volume needs of the healthcare facility without compromising on quality

Weekend and holiday transcription: Outsourcing medical transcription also ensures that the medical transcription company covers the transcription needs for weekends and holidays. By providing for transcription services during special occasions like holidays and weekends, medical transcription companies help healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals save on cost of overtime etc.  Moreover by converting the fixed cost of transcription into variable costs, medical transcription companies help healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals save on cost during slack times

Structured dictation and transcription: With the fast approaching deadline for adoption of EMR/ EHR it has become imperative to find methods of adopting this new technology. Medical transcription companies offer options like structured dictation and structured transcription that help in ensuring that patient medical records are created in a certain way for easy entry into the EMR/ EHR

Discrete reportable transcription: Discrete reportable transcription can be defined as a unique approach to adoption of EMR/ EHR, which continues to use the traditional method of transcription to create transcripts while instantly populating the EMR/ EHR with discrete data elements. Under this method once the healthcare professional has finished dictating his/her notes, transcripts are created through the usual transcription process using expert medical transcriptionists who ensure accuracy and speed.  After transcription, the transcription software automatically tags the discrete data within the document, such as lab values and medications into the appropriate fields in the EMR/ EHR, using XML coding.

HL7 interface: HL7 focuses on the interface necessities of the whole healthcare organization.  HL7 functions as a standard to ensure that critical healthcare information is made available to various sources without the meaning getting lost.

Medical transcription companies provide the resources and tools to accept HL7 based ADT (Abstract Data Types)/ order transmissions via TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)/IP (Internet Protocol), HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Server) and /or VPN (Virtual Private Network). This ensures adoption of EMR/ EHR without major changes in the work life of healthcare professionals.

It can be concluded that partnering with a professional and technologically savvy medical transcription company ensures that all the transcription needs of the healthcare facility are met with by one single entity.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

Among the software and tools offered by TransDyne for transcription, the smart delivery system has a large role to play in easing the path to EMR/EHR adoption The Smart Delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems.  Apart from this TransDyne also offers discounted rates for those healthcare facilities that provide demographic data entered in the EMR rather than through other modes.

Along with medical transcription services involving multiple level quality checks to ensure accuracy, the use of the right technology for ease of use, turnaround time and security, at reasonable rates, TransDyne also provides discrete reportable transcription for adoption of EMR/ EHR 

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Repeated reviews for quality

Quality has become the keyword in most businesses. Quality of products and services drive the business in terms of profitability, reputation and long-term sustenance in the market place. Quality of services in healthcare is essential as healthcare is a service that deals with one of the most precious commodities – the life and health of human beings.  Quality of healthcare services is the culmination of many factors; one of the factors that affects the quality of healthcare services is the quality of information in patient medical records

There are many options available for documenting the care process, however medical transcription is one of the easiest methods of documenting the patient encounter, as it intuitively fits into the work life of healthcare professionals. Quality medical transcription requires concentrated efforts and resources to meet quality standards. However the advent of technology and the Internet it has become easier for healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals to avail medical transcription services from specialized vendors who can deliver quality services that meet all the parameters of being accurate, timely, secure and cost effective.

 While outsourcing medical transcription one has to systematically evaluate the service provider in terms of the methods used by them to deliver quality services. Quality transcription is the result of using the right people, the right quality process and the right learning process. One of the main processes that play a role in the delivery of quality transcription services is the quality review processes.

Given below are some of the type of reviews and their advantages:

Concurrent review: Concurrent reviews occur when transcripts that have gone through the first stage of transcription by the medical transcriptionists and are subject to complete and comprehensive review. This is absolutely essential when the expertise of the medical transcriptionist has not been established or when the medical transcriptionist transcribes for a new specialty or when transcribing for a new healthcare professional. Concurrent reviews are aimed at not only improving accuracy but also the turnaround time.

Retrospective review: Though concurrent reviews are ideal for the quality process, it may not be possible to review 100% given the tight turnaround time requirements. However reviews are an essential learning tool especially for medical transcriptionists, it is important to have retrospective reviews. This allows the refinement of the training process to ensure that these findings are inculcated into the learning process

Review of flagged documents: This type of review occurs when the initial or first stage of medical transcription has flagged blanks/ error etc. It is important to review these transcripts and resolve the flagged errors before transmitting for final authentication to the healthcare professional/ healthcare facility. The refining of this type of review process ensures that the time of healthcare professionals is used for providing care and not for correcting errors that have been flagged.

Using the findings from these reviews as feedback: The purpose of these reviews is to help improve the quality and reduce errors. Therefore the findings from these reviews are used as a learning tool to improve the work of medical transcriptionists. Another important aspect of these findings is also to provide feedback to healthcare professionals. The findings can be used to educate healthcare professionals in best practices for dictation.

Periodic review of security processes: Medical transcription companies are legally and morally obligated to protect confidential patient information during the transcription process. This data becomes especially vulnerable while being transmitted back and forth. Periodical reviews of the HIPAA and HITECH compliant measures with regards to people, technology, processes and infrastructure is required to ensure security.

One can conclude that while outsourcing medical transcription it is important to choose a medical transcription company that has clear policy for reviews regarding quality and security

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

Among the software and tools offered by TransDyne for transcription, the smart delivery system has a large role to play in easing the path to EMR/EHR adoption The Smart Delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems.  Apart from this TransDyne also offers discounted rates for those healthcare facilities that provide demographic data entered in the EMR rather than through other modes.

Along with medical transcription services involving multiple level quality checks to ensure accuracy, the use of the right technology for ease of use, turnaround time and security, at reasonable rates, TransDyne also provides discrete reportable transcription for adoption of EMR/ EHR 

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Structured support for all needs

In today’s world healthcare is fast moving towards adopting an electronic healthcare system with a view to improve sharing of patient information in an easier and secure manner. Keeping this in mind all the participants in the healthcare documentation are gearing up their products, services and technology to meet this need.  Medical transcription is one of the services that have been part of the healthcare documentation scenario from the very beginning. Medical transcription companies are also evolving to meet the changing needs that have risen in the move towards adoption of EMR/ EHR.

The current scenario presents a contradiction in terms of the needs and preference of healthcare professionals to retain dictation as a means of capturing data regarding the patient encounter as against the requirements for discrete data elements in the EMR/ EHR. Medical transcription companies have reconciled these two disparate requirements by providing structured support.

Under this method medical transcription companies support the use of dictation while ensuring that the discrete data elements can be parsed from the patient medical records on to the EMR/ EHR.

Given below some of the options provided by medical transcription companies to support this:

Structured dictation: This method of dictation necessitates healthcare professionals to follow a structure pattern of dictation. This allows the medical transcription companies to create reports with all the relevant data in a certain format while still retaining the entire patient story.

Structured transcription: This method focuses on standardizing the report format based on various aspects of the specialty and other factors. Medical transcription companies provide structured transcription by training their medical transcriptionists in one or two specialties making them domain experts. Structured transcription also enables easier adoption of EMR/ EHR using HL7 interface while retaining the option to retain dictation as a mode of data collection.

Discrete reportable transcription: Discrete reportable transcription can be defined as a unique approach to adoption of EMR/ EHR, which continues to use the traditional method of transcription to create transcripts while instantly populating the EMR/ EHR with discrete data elements. Under this method once the healthcare professional has finished dictating his/her notes, transcripts are created through the usual transcription process using expert medical transcriptionists who ensure accuracy and speed.  After transcription, the transcription software automatically tags the discrete data within the document, such as lab values and medications into the appropriate fields in the EMR/ EHR, using XML coding.

Back end speech recognition software: Outsourced medical transcription service providers aid in the process of speech recognition software transcription by providing editing and proof reading services for the transcripts produced by speech recognition software to bring the accuracy levels to acceptable and usable levels. This enables the healthcare professionals to concentrate on their core activity of providing care.

It can be concluded that provide structured support for transcription needs that not only meet the changing needs of the current scenario but also help healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities save on cost.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

Among the software and tools offered by TransDyne for transcription, the smart delivery system has a large role to play in easing the path to EMR/EHR adoption The Smart Delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems.  Apart from this TransDyne also offers discounted rates for those healthcare facilities that provide demographic data entered in the EMR rather than through other modes.

Along with medical transcription services involving multiple level quality checks to ensure accuracy, the use of the right technology for ease of use, turnaround time and security, at reasonable rates, TransDyne also provides discrete reportable transcription for adoption of EMR/ EHR 

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: The changing scenario

The world is changing on a daily basis due to changes occurring at every level – economical, technological, communications and many other areas. Similarly healthcare documentation is also undergoing a transformation due to the move towards adopting an electronic healthcare system. Medical transcription services have been an important part of the healthcare documentation scenario from the very beginning.

Medical transcription services have evolved along with the changing needs of the healthcare sector from the basic typing services to specialist services that meet all the requirements of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities using a combination of people, processes and technology. With the increasing need to customize services to meet the needs of the healthcare sector and keeping in consideration the need to curb costs, outsourcing medical transcription has been found to be one of the most prudent options.

However with the current developments in the healthcare documentation scenario and considering the proposed move to adopting EMR/ EHR it is important to take stock of the changing role of medical transcription services.

Given below are some of the changes that have occurred in the healthcare documentation and the role of medical transcription in this:

Discrete reportable transcription: Under this method healthcare professionals have the advantage of dictating as per the mode they are used to, while having specialist medical transcription companies expertly and accurately transcribe the audio. After the transcription process is over discrete data elements are parsed into the relevant fields of the EMR/ EHR using XML coding. Under this method the healthcare professional benefits from expert transcription, increased focus on patients and improved productivity.

Structured transcription: Under this method the transcription of the dictation provided by healthcare professionals is transcribed in a standardized and structured manner making it conducive to be interfaced with the EMR/ EHR using HL7 interface and various other means.

Structured dictation: Structured dictation aids in the creation of structured reports by taking the healthcare professional through a structured pattern of dictation. An interactive dictation interface prompts the healthcare professional to dictate certain topic heads following a pattern. Structured dictation can be used to form the basis of structured transcription, discrete reportable transcription etc standardizing the data elements as well as a means to preserving the entire patient story including the narrative.

Speech recognition software: The use of speech recognition software has become very popular especially back end speech recognition software. Medical transcription companies have started providing editing and proofreading services for transcripts created by speech recognition software ensuring accuracy.

It can be concluded that the healthcare documentation scenario is constantly evolving mainly due to the proposed changes and the technological advancements. However the role of medical transcription services in this scenario continues to be vital though the type of services required seems to be changing.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

Among the software and tools offered by TransDyne for transcription, the smart delivery system has a large role to play in easing the path to EMR/EHR adoption The Smart Delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems.  Apart from this TransDyne also offers discounted rates for those healthcare facilities that provide demographic data entered in the EMR rather than through other modes.

Along with medical transcription services involving multiple level quality checks to ensure accuracy, the use of the right technology for ease of use, turnaround time and security, at reasonable rates, TransDyne also provides discrete reportable transcription for adoption of EMR/ EHR 

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Creating quality patient records

Healthcare services are always poised on a delicate balance, having to meet the growing demand for quality healthcare with that of contradictory demands placed on them by various sectors. The demand to provide quality services has always has been needed to be balanced against profitability and the need to meet statutory demands. One of the other factors that are vital in the delivery of healthcare services is the need to maintain the security of confidential patient information.

Due to the varied demands placed on the healthcare sector a prudent option for healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals is to concentrate on their core competence and outsource other related areas to competent service providers. One such aspect that benefits from being outsourced is medical transcription. Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records from the dictation of the patient – healthcare professional encounter. The information from these records is then used for providing patient care, receivables management and risk management.

Outsourcing medical transcription helps in creation of quality patient medical records. Some of the advantages of quality patient medical records are:

Significant improvement in quality of care: The creation of patient medical records using the services of a professional medical transcription company leads to significant improvement in quality of care by ensuring that detailed records are created on time. This ensures that the entire team of healthcare professionals and support staff involved in the care are up to date on the information required

Better clinical outcomes: Having the details of patient medical record in a narrative form, accurately transcribed by professional medical transcriptionists leads to better decision making regarding care and results in better clinical outcomes

Secure information: When the responsibility of transcription is outsourced to a professional and technologically savvy medical transcription company, the security of confidential patient information is assured throughout the transcription process. This information is protected at all levels using HIPAA and HITECH compliant measures

Increased patient satisfaction: With the creation of detailed patient medical records by the medical transcription company using a stringent process and easy to use technology, healthcare professionals are in a better position to interact with patients rather than concentrate on the documentation process. This leads to better communication and care resulting in patient satisfaction

Improved staff efficiency: The technology used by medical transcription companies ensure that the process of uploading files for transcription, following up on quality of transcription, keeping track of transcription and document delivery requires minimum efforts from healthcare professionals and other support staff, This results in improved staff efficiency

Better interaction between healthcare professionals: Medical transcription service providers provide detailed records that can be easily shared between healthcare professionals making the interaction between all the healthcare professionals involved in the care process easier.

Paving the way to adoption of new technology: With the rush towards adoption of EMR/ EHR, there has been need to adopt newer technologies. Medical transcription companies aid in this by providing editing services for speech recognition software, discrete reportable transcription and HL7 interface etc towards this end.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

Among the software and tools offered by TransDyne for transcription, the smart delivery system has a large role to play in easing the path to EMR/EHR adoption The Smart Delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems.  Apart from this TransDyne also offers discounted rates for those healthcare facilities that provide demographic data entered in the EMR rather than through other modes.

Along with medical transcription services involving multiple level quality checks to ensure accuracy, the use of the right technology for ease of use, turnaround time and security, at reasonable rates, TransDyne also provides discrete reportable transcription for adoption of EMR/ EHR 

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

Medical transcription outsourcing: Avail the best services

It is a known fact that finding the right transcription services to help with healthcare documentation needs can help curb costs. However finding the right medical transcription company can be a challenge. One needs to look security of information, quality of services and adequate connectivity. While these are genuine concerns, a deeper investigation of the capabilities of the service provider can help mitigate these concerns and provide access to a larger pool of talent that will ensure seamless services and curb costs of transcription.

There are certain aspects that need to be explored in detail while outsourcing medical transcription by posing pertinent questions:

Am I really saving on costs by outsourcing medical transcription?

Outsourcing to the right medical transcription company can attain cost savings of more than 40% on current costs. Making a detail analysis of current costs and comparing it with the costs quoted by the medical transcription company can ascertain savings on cost. An important aspect to check to ensure fair pricing is to check on the billing method used by the medical transcription company.

           

How can outsourced medical transcription really help me?

Apart from access to the vast resources of the medical transcription company in terms of people and technology, outsourcing medical transcription additionally helps save on time, ensures quality and cost savings

Does my service provider really understand the HIPAA/ HITECH implications?  What are the compliance measures taken by them?

Concerns regarding the security of confidential patient information are cited topmost as an argument against outsourcing. To minimize concerns regarding security it is important that the business associate agreement with the medical transcription company focuses on binding not only the service provider but also the employees of the service provider.

           

Check for:

1. Prevention of medical transcriptionist/s from downloading patient information
2. Restricted internet access
3. Resetting password at frequent intervals
4. Anti-virus
5. Workstation audits

HIPAA and HITECH compliant measures that cover:

• People and processes
• Infrastructure
• Technology

Who actually does the transcription work?

When outsourcing medical transcription work it is important to know who is actually transcribing the patient records. Quality and security of transcripts is dependent on the team working on it. It is important to check whether the medical transcription company is using subcontractors to execute the work. In case the transcription company is using sub contractors it is important to check whether they are bound by the same quality and security processes as the service provider.

The use of subcontractors or home-based medical transcriptionists can have serious implications on the security and quality aspects.

           

           

What is the technological capacity of the medical transcription service provider?

Check for:

1.      Capacity and bandwidth for a secure virtual private network

2.      Redundancy arrangements

3.      Connectivity

4.      Power and back up for redundancy and connectivity

5.      Initiative for disaster recovery

6.      Dictation modes

7.      Document delivery modes

8.      HL7 interface

What is their process for ensuring quality?

Accuracy or quality of documents is one of the topmost concerns of healthcare facilities looking to outsource their medical transcription work. To ensure that the medical transcription service provider can provide transcription work of acceptable accuracy, there are certain things that need to be looked at like the training process for medical transcriptionists and the quality check levels

What are the channels available for resolution of issues?

The process of outsourcing requires a certain period of hand holding to ensure that the process of transition is smooth. It is important to have a forum for addressing all concerns/ issues during the outsourcing process. Considering the location of the service provider it is imperative that customer service channels are available around the clock.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

Among the software and tools offered by TransDyne for transcription, the smart delivery system has a large role to play in easing the path to EMR/EHR adoption The Smart Delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems.  Apart from this TransDyne also offers discounted rates for those healthcare facilities that provide demographic data entered in the EMR rather than through other modes.

Along with medical transcription services involving multiple level quality checks to ensure accuracy, the use of the right technology for ease of use, turnaround time and security, at reasonable rates, TransDyne also provides discrete reportable transcription for adoption of EMR/ EHR 

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