Friday, October 21, 2011

Medical transcription outsourcing: What everybody ought to know about it

The changing healthcare documentation scenario has increased the focus of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities on different methods of documenting the care encounter so as to adopt EMR/ EHR and achieve meaningful use. With healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals preparing to move towards a wired healthcare system, there has been a lot of discussion about the role of medical transcription services in this changing scenario.

Though medical transcription services have been around for a long time; evolving with the changing needs of healthcare sector, these services have not received the credit due to them.

Given below are some facts that everybody ought to know about medical transcription services:

Quality medical transcription services can be delivered from remote locations: Medical transcription services are an important part of healthcare documentation - playing a vital role in delivery of care, risk management and receivables management. However it is not necessary for healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals to have an in-house medical transcription department to meet all the quality criteria of accuracy, timely transcription etc. Outsourcing medical transcription enables healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals to enjoy quality services from specialized medical transcription companies

Outsourcing medical transcription can reduce direct and indirect costs: Outsourcing medical transcription additionally results in huge savings in terms of cost – both direct and indirect. The actual cost per line of transcription can be reduced by as much as 40% and fixed costs of medical transcription can be converted to variable costs as medical transcription companies charge for services based on the actual volume of transcription

Medical transcription services can help in adopting EMR/ EHR: Medical transcription companies are experts at adapting services, processes and technology to meet the changing needs of the healthcare sector. This expertise enables them to aid in the process of adopting EMR/ EHR with services like structured dictation, structured transcription, discrete reportable transcription and HL7 interface. Using medical transcription services for EMR/ EHR adoption has the further advantage of allowing healthcare professionals to retain the narrative portion as part of the patient medical record and maximizing productivity of healthcare professionals by allowing them to focus on patients rather than on the documentation process.

Medical transcription provides much needed support for healthcare professionals using speech recognition software: Many healthcare professionals have started using speech recognition software to document the care process. However the accuracy of patient medical records created using this software does not meet acceptable levels. Medical transcription companies have stepped into the breach by providing editing and proofreading services for transcripts created by speech recognition software ensuring that the accuracy standards are met with.

Concerns regarding HIPAA and HITECH can be mitigated while outsourcing medical transcription: As medical transcription companies have vast experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector they are aware of the importance of maintaining HIPAA and HITECH compliance in all aspects. A multi pronged approach securing people, processes, technology and infrastructure helps medical transcription companies maintain HIPAA and HITECH compliance at all levels.

Outsourcing medical transcription can improve the healthcare operations: Apart from the obvious benefits of savings on cost, outsourcing medical transcription also helps in improving the operations of the healthcare facility in terms of eliminating the tasks related to medical transcription like recruitment & training of medical transcriptionists, managing transcription etc. Outsourcing medical transcription also helps in better resource utilization by eliminating the need to allot resources like real estate, computers, utilities etc for medical transcription.

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.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Medical transcription outsourcing: In 3 easy steps

The changing healthcare documentation scenario has had many healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities making changes in the way care encounters are documented to meet the meaningful use criteria. Apart from this it has also become important to ensure that the care process is documented in its entirety to ensure proper communication with patients, appropriate coding & billing and for meeting risk management aspects. Medical transcription is one of the services that have provided support to healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities in fulfilling these objectives. Outsourcing medical transcription has ensured that healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities have access to uninterrupted transcription services that meet all the quality criteria and help in lowering costs.

With the proposed move to adoption of EMR/ EHR, medical transcription companies have evolved to meet the changing needs by providing services like structured dictation, structured transcription, discrete reportable transcription, HL7 interface and editing services for speech recognition software. All these additional features of outsourced transcription services help healthcare professionals focus completely on the patient during the care process and leave the documentation process to expert medical transcription companies. However to maximize the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription it is important partner with the right medical transcription company.

Following these three simple steps can ensure the success of the medical transcription outsourcing process:

Step 1

Defining the objectives: Defining the objectives of outsourcing clearly is an important step as it defines in exact terms as to what is the expected outcome of the outsourcing decision. It should include:

Acceptable accuracy levels
Expected turnaround time
Dictation modes
Document delivery modes
Assistance for adopting EMR/ EHR
Expected savings on cost
HIPAA and HITECH compliance

Step 2

Finding the right match: With information virtually a click away finding medical transcription companies has become very easy. However on the flip side this has resulted in excess of information resulting in confusion. To overcome this, medical transcription companies need to be evaluated on certain criteria to ensure that the transcription company can deliver on the services as promised. This includes:

· Accuracy: Evaluating ability to meet accuracy levels by evaluating the training process and the quality process of the medical transcription company

· Turnaround time: Ability to meet turnaround time can be assessed by evaluating the technology used and the ready availability of trained & skilled medical transcriptionists

· Dictation modes: The ability of the medical transcription company’s transcription interface to accept different dictation modes need to be assessed

· Document delivery modes: The ability of the medical transcription company’s transcription interface to deliver transcripts according to the healthcare professionals preference needs to evaluated

· Assistance for EMR/ EHR adoption: The capability of the medical transcription company to provide additional facilities for adoption of EMR/ EHR like structured dictation, structured transcription, discrete reportable transcription, HL7 interface and editing services for speech recognition software needs to be evaluated.

· Savings on cost: The billing method used by the medical transcription company needs to be evaluated to ensure that the healthcare facility / healthcare professional actually saves on cost of transcription

· HIPAA and HITECH compliance: This can be evaluated by assessing the HIPAA compliant measures taken by the medical transcription company to ensure security in terms of securing people, processes, technology and infrastructure

Step 3

Testing the transcription services and signing contract: After defining the objectives and evaluating the medical transcription company it is important to follow these two steps before signing the contract:

Check on references
Avail free trial

Following these 3 easy steps for outsourcing medical transcription can ensure that the healthcare facility is assured of a long-term partner for their changing transcription needs.

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

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Medical transcription outsourcing: Free trial makes the process easier

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

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

However as medical transcription is not only essential for meeting the process of care, receivables management and risk management aspects but also plays a vital role in transitioning to EMR/ EHR. One of the factors that make outsourcing easy is the actual evaluation of the services provided by the medical transcription company by availing a free trial of their services.

The process of outsourcing medical transcription needs a proper evaluation of the below given factors:

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

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

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

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

Can the service provider provide testimonials?

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

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

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

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

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

What is turnaround time guaranteed by the service provider?

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

What is pricing method used by the service provider?

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

What is the technology used by the service provider?

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

Does the service provider offer a free trial?

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

Asking the service provider all the above questions and availing a free trial of their services can help healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals ease the process of outsourcing medical transcription.

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

Monday, October 17, 2011

Reduced productivity? – Outsource medical transcription

There are numerous reasons for the productivity of healthcare professionals and other support staff to fall. It could be related to the actual care process or due to administrative hassles. Among the administrative hassles faced by healthcare facilities one of the areas that has an impact on the overall productivity of healthcare facilities is healthcare documentation. Medical transcription is an important component of healthcare documentation, being the support service that helps document the care process in its entirety by converting the dictation of the healthcare professionals into text format.

As medical transcription is a process that requires inputs like skilled medical transcriptionists, the right processes and technology to produce quality documentation, outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription company produces the right results. Outsourcing medical transcription not only ensures quality transcription but helps increase productivity.

Given below are the areas that outsourced medical transcription services aid in improving productivity:

Planning: One of areas that outsourced medical transcription services aid in is strategic planning in areas like planning for volume of transcription, adding on specialties, quickening reimbursements and risk management. Outsourcing medical transcription streamlines the process of creating patient medical records in terms of quality, security, price and turnaround time ensuring better planning

Communication: Patient medical records form the basis of communication between healthcare professionals, support staff, patients and other departments in the healthcare facility. By creating legible, clear, accurate patient medical records including the narrative of healthcare professionals, medical transcription services help in better communication within the healthcare facility and even with outside entities like public health services, pharmaceuticals etc

Help facilitate uninterrupted workflows: Outsourcing medical transcription not only ensure timely creation of patient medical records it also ensures smoother transcription flows in terms of dictation- by allowing healthcare professionals to use dictation modes of choice, delivery of transcripts through preferred modes and providing a interface for transcription which enables easy monitoring

Help delegate non-core tasks: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that many of the non-core tasks of the healthcare facility like recruitment & training of medical transcriptionists, arranging medical transcription equipment, organizing medical transcription workflow are all delegated to the medical transcription company resulting in better efficiencies

Enables smart use of space and tools: Outsourcing medical transcription frees up valuable resources like space and various equipment, which can be used for the core business resulting in smarter results

Provides resourceful technological support: With the current move towards adoption of EMR/ EHR, medical transcription services can offer valuable support in this aspect while still enabling healthcare professionals to retain familiar methods of documenting the care process. Technologically savvy medical transcription companies offer options like editing & proofreading services for speech recognition software, HL7 interface, structured dictation, structured transcription and discrete reportable transcription for easy adoption of EMR/ EHR

It can be concluded that outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider can help healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals improve their productivity to a large extent

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

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Medical transcription outsourcing: Offering solutions for adopting EMR/ EHR

As healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have started the process of adopting EMR/ EHR it has become obvious that for the goals of the adoption of this technology, like improved patient care and decreased healthcare costs to be attained there needs to be more support. Quality of information and management of this information needs to be more streamlined. One of the services that aid in this process is medical transcription. Medical transcription, the process of creating patient medical records from the dictation of healthcare professionals is a service that has been supporting healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities improve the quality of healthcare documentation, control costs and improve patient safety especially when outsourced.

Outsourced medical transcription services not only provide healthcare documentation support they also offer options to healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals for easier adoption of EMR/ EHR, which include:

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.

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

Friday, October 14, 2011

Medical transcription outsourcing: Reduce cost of medical transcription by 40%!

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. However medical transcription is one of the methods of documenting the care process that is convenient, accurate and provides services with integrity. As in-house medical transcription can prove to be a time consuming and expensive service it is important to look for options that help reduce cost of transcription while meeting all the quality criteria for healthcare documentation. Outsourcing transcription to a professional medical transcription company has proven to be a prudent option to meet all these criteria.

Outsourcing medical transcription has many benefits the most obvious being that of saving on transcription costs. While analyzing transcription costs healthcare facilities tend to overlook many important cost heads hence the comparison between the price per line given by the outsourcing company and the current cost per line is not accurate.

What should be included while calculating cost on medical transcription in-house?

Direct costs

· Direct transcriptionist staff salaries: This comprises the salary paid to in-house transcriptionists.

· Cost of training: The cost of training new transcriptionists to enable them to execute work as per the healthcare facility’s requirements.

· Supplies used for transcription: The stationery cost and the cost of other supplies used for transcription would have an impact on the cost per line.

· Cost of overflow work that is outsourced: Sometimes when the in-house transcriptionists are not able to keep up with excess workflow the work needs to be outsourced and this adds to the cost.

Indirect costs

Depreciation of transcription equipment: Over time the transcription equipment would have some wear and tear, this depreciation cost will have to be added to the cost of transcription

Apportioning salaries of management and administrative staff: The salaries of managerial and administrative staff contributing to the transcription process will have to be apportioned and added accordingly.

Benefits given to employees other than the salary: Benefits given to transcription staff like health insurance, dental care etc will have to be added in the category of indirect costs.

Taxes: Having transcription staff on rolls would mean taxes would have to be paid.

Cost of space used for in-house transcription: Apportionment of cost of real estate cost would have to be made according to the space utilization.

Cost of employee turnover: This would include fees paid to consultants, signing bonuses, cost of training new employees and the cost of advertising for new employees.

Cost of technology: The cost of technology used for medical transcription and the cost of integrating this with the hospital’s system needs to be added.

Apart from the direct and indirect costs of medical transcription in-house the other factors that need to considered are:

No of days taken for transcription
Quality of reports
Physician satisfaction
HIPAA compliance
Report generation and distribution
Easy availability of qualified staff for transcription

Given below is a table of typical expenses of transcription in-house:

Item	Cost in US $ per annum
Salary	30000
Benefits	8000
Real estate	2000
Furniture	1000
Computer	2000
Management	5000
Consumables	1000
Utilities	500
Miscellaneous	500
Total cost	50000

Given below is the productivity of a medical transcriptionist

Production
Number of lines per 8 hour day	1250
Work hours per year	1920
Lines per year	300000
Downtime in %	10
Actual lines produced in a year	270000
Cost per line	18.5

After calculating the costs of all these factors one can arrive at the cost per line of transcription.

Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription company can help reduce transcription costs dramatically.

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. TransDyne offers competitive prices as low as 10 cents per 65-character line resulting in savings ranging from 20% to 50%.

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

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Here is an easy way to outsource medical transcription with least risk

As the deadline for the adoption of EMR/ EHR, healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals are looking for ways to meet the deadline for meaningful use while still retaining the option for complete and narrative documentation. Medical transcription is one service that can help in the adoption of EMR/ EHR while fulfilling the goal of complete documentation. Medical transcription, especially when outsourced has the benefit of retaining the narrative portion of the patient medical record using various methods like backend speech recognition software, structured transcription, structured dictation, discrete reportable transcription and HL7 interface.

However outsourcing medical transcription has some inherent risks like quality issues, security concerns and poor customization.

Here is an easy way to outsource medical transcription with the least amount of risk:

Check for experience: It is important to check for the experience of the medical transcription company in terms of their ability to serve the needs of various healthcare facilities. This ensures that the process of transition to outsourced services becomes easier in terms of the ability to deliver quality on time at reasonable costs.

Check for training practices: The training practices of the medical transcription company indicate their expertise in developing the right skill in medical transcriptionists to ensure that they have the ability to provide expert services for all specialties.

Check for technology: Technology has an important role to play in the delivery of quality services with maximum benefits while maintaining security. To minimize the risks of outsourcing medical transcription it is important to evaluate the technological capabilities of the medical transcription company from the dictation level to the document delivery level to ensure that the productivity of healthcare professionals is unhindered.

Check for references: It is important to talk to the existing customers of the medical transcription company to evaluate whether the medical transcription company can deliver quality services as promised. This one of the vital factors to be checked to minimize the risk of outsourcing.

Check for flexibility of services and willingness to customize: Apart from checking all the above important points it is also important to check whether the medical transcription company can deliver flexible services like editing & proofreading services for backend speech recognition software, structured transcription, structured dictation, discrete reportable transcription and HL7 interface etc as per the preference of the healthcare professional/ healthcare facility

A thorough analysis of the above given points will not only minimize the risk of outsourcing medical transcription, it will also ensure that the transition to outsourcing transcription services is seamless. Moreover undergoing a thorough process of evaluation will also ensure that all the expected outcomes from the outsourcing decision like savings on cost, streamlining transcription flow, flexible options for adopting EMR/ EHR etc will be met with.

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