Outsourcing medical transcription has several advantages when done right. It is an important decision that is bound to have a long-term impact on the working of healthcare facilities. Medical transcription is the process of creating patient records from the audio files of the patient-healthcare professional encounter. It is not a one-time service, but a continuous process that supports both operational and commercial aspects of healthcare.
Considering the role of medical transcription in the smooth running of healthcare facilities it is vital for healthcare facilities to choose the right medical transcription service provider to partner them in their documentation needs. The process of choosing the right medical transcription service provider would involve two stages:
Analyzing the current scenario:
Current source of medical transcription: This could consist of in-house medical transcriptionists or independent contractors or a combination of both
Current turnaround time: Turnaround time could vary depending on the source of transcription as well as the patient inflow at any given time
No of medical transcriptionists employed: This would depend on the expected medical transcription requirements
Overheads for medical transcription: The overheads required for in-house medical transcription would comprise of:
- Real estate
- Computers, furniture and equipments
- Utilities, like electricity, Internet charges etc.
- Consumables
- Taxes and benefits for employees
- Management, human resource, Information technology and other assorted staff
- Working capital
Cost per line of transcription: The cost per line of transcription needs to be calculated including the apportionment of the above listed overheads used for medical transcription
System for handling overflow/holiday/weekend transcription requirements: Considering that the volume of medical transcription required cannot be predicted due to the varied inflow of patients, the idle capacity during slack times and the overtime paid during busy times needs to be calculated
Once healthcare facilities have taken a look at the current scenario regarding medical transcription, the next step would be,
Listing out the expectations from the outsourcing decision:
Minimum or no investment: Outsourcing medical transcription should require very little investment so that healthcare facilities can optimize their limited resources to develop their core business
Saving on cost of medical transcription: One of the main expectations from the outsourcing decision is the enormous savings on cost that healthcare facilities hope to make, in terms of both direct and indirect cost of medical transcription
Minimum resources required: Outsourcing medical transcription should ensure minimum requirement of resources like management staff, administrative staff, support staff etc.
Good quality accurate medical transcription: The accuracy of the information captured in the patient records needs to be as close to 100% as possible to enable healthcare professionals to provide quality healthcare
Fast and efficient turnaround time: Healthcare professionals depend on information from patient records to make healthcare plans and the information from patient records is also vital for billing and coding, therefore the turnaround time commitments provided by the medical transcription service provider should suit the specific needs of healthcare facilities
Secure Medical Transcription: Security of confidential patient information is one of the major concerns that arise during the outsourcing process. It is vital for the service provider to have adequate measures with regards to people, processes and technology
Minimum training: Healthcare professionals and support staff are starved of time, the systems used by the medical transcription service provider should take this into consideration, so that the systems used for medical transcription should be configured so as to require minimal training
Allowing flexible modes of dictation: One of the desired outcomes of the medical transcription outsourcing process is that of healthcare professionals being allowed to retain familiar modes of dictation allowing them optimum use of their limited time
Reports in specified formats/templates: Different specialties/healthcare professionals require patient records to be created in specified templates/formats, it is important to source a medical transcription service provider that can create patient records as per specification
TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry provides customized solutions to the medical transcription 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
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