Medical transcription outsourcing: Make an informed choice for desired results

Outsourcing medical transcription has been acknowledged to be a sensible option for healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals looking for accurate, speedy, secure and cost effective medical transcription services. However while outsourcing a vital component of the healthcare process like medical transcription it is important to make an informed choice so as to ensure a long-term partnership.

To achieve the desired objective of outsourcing medical transcription it is imperative that the healthcare facilities follow a clear-cut process of outsourcing, consisting of the following steps:

• Identify the objective of outsourcing: While outsourcing an important aspect of the healthcare delivery chain like medical transcription it is important to identify what exactly one hopes to gain from the outsourcing decision. 

It would seem obvious that the desired outcome of outsourcing medical transcription would be to save on costs, but there could also be other objectives like expansion of           services, better time management, gaining access to a larger pool of talent &        technology etc. Identifying the desired outcome of the outsourcing decision can help in   the evaluation the medical transcription service provider based on their capability to       help achieve this objective. Focusing only on the cost saving aspect can lead to the         wrong choice.

• Identify the risks: Outsourcing medical transcription involves certain inherent risks and it is better to identify these risks; this will help in evaluating the medical transcription service provider on the basis of their capability to minimize these risks. The inherent risks involved in outsourcing medical transcription are: 

a)    The inability of the medical transcription service provider to cope with volume

               fluctuations.

b)    The risk  of pricing with hidden costs

c)     Security risk

d)    Technology mismatch risk

e)    Quality risk

• Evaluate the service provider: This step of the outsourcing process involves evaluating the medical transcription service provider to ensure that the potential risks that may arise out of outsourcing can be mitigated. 

1.     Years of experience: The number of years the medical transcription service provider has been in existence is an indication of the robustness of the service provider

2.     Relevant experience: The experience of the medical transcription service provider in having served healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals of similar types is an important aspect to be evaluated as this indicates the capability of the service provider.

3.     References: Getting feedback of the existing customers of the medical transcription service provider establishes the service provider as being capable of delivering services as promised

4.     Pricing: While outsourcing medical transcription it is important to study the cost quoted by the service provider in detail. As cost saving is one of the main objectives of outsourcing it is important to evaluate the billing method used by the service provider to ensure that the components of pricing are understood by all concerned

5.     Accuracy: As patient medical records support the operational, legal and commercial aspects of the healthcare facility it is important to ensure that the information captured in the patient records is as accurate as possible. To evaluate the capability of the medical transcription service provider to deliver accurate transcription it is important to focus on the training methods and the quality check procedure

6.     Turnaround time: Timely transcription helps in clinical decision-making and in quickening the reimbursement process. The capability of the medical transcription service provider to meet the turnaround time requirements can be evaluated by assessing the availability of trained transcriptionists  and the technology used

7.     HIPAA and HITECH compliance: Protecting confidential information is not only the moral obligation of the healthcare facility, but it is also mandated by law. As the medical transcription process requires the transmission of this data to and from the healthcare facility it is important to evaluate the measures taken by the service provider for HIPAA / HITECH compliance

8.     Technical compatibility: The technology used by the medical transcription service provider ensures speed, security and convenience. It is important to assess this to ensure compatibility with the systems of the healthcare facility to ensure that no further investments are required

9.     After sales service: Outsourcing medical transcription requires a certain period of hand holding, having multiple channels of communication  can help resolve any issues as soon as they arise. It is important to establish that the service provider possesses adequate after sales service.

10. Scalability of services: It is important to evaluate the scalability of the medical transcription service provider's services to suit future service requirements like expansion of operations, adopting EMR, providing speech recognition software editing services etc.

• Getting started with outsourced services: Once all these factors have been evaluated the next step is to sign the contract and getting started on availing outsourced medical transcription services. 

Following a systematic and scientific approach to outsourcing medical transcription can help the healthcare facility avail maximum benefits from  outsourcing option.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has been providing medical transcription services for over a decade. TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, executed by experienced and qualified 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.

Medical transcription: Outsource the right way!

Medical transcription is an important contributor to the smooth running of a healthcare facility. It is important for medical transcription be accurate, timely, reasonably priced and transmitted through secure channels. Outsourcing medical transcription to the right service provider can make this possible.

However while outsourcing such a vital function as medical transcription, care needs to be taken to prepare the groundwork for outsourcing. Preparing the groundwork for outsourcing: Outsourcing a vital part of the healthcare process to a service provider is essentially like taking on a long-term business partner. Thereby it is important that the decision to outsource

 is based on inputs from every department affected by the decision.

What are the factors to be considered before outsourcing medical transcription?

Consulting staff: The services of the medical transcription service provider are going to be used by not only healthcare professionals, but also support staff, billing department and Information technology department. It is important to get inputs from all the people who are directly or indirectly affected by medical transcription so that the right service provider is selected.

Drawing up objective criteria for evaluation: It is important to have a clear objective for the outsourcing plan; this enables the healthcare facility to evaluate the medical transcription service provider thoroughly. The criteria for outsourcing could be varied, it could be cutting costs, streamlining transcription flow, reducing turnaround time or improving quality. Sometimes it could be a combination of one or more of the objectives.

Follow up references: instead of taking the promises/claims made by the service provider it is important to check the references provided by the medical transcription company to ensure that they can deliver the promises made by them.

Analyze quoted price thoroughly: The billing methods used in medical transcription are varied and are subject to manipulation. The price quoted by the medical transcription service provider cannot be taken at face value, it is important to know the components of cost to be able to compare the prices quoted by different providers in an equitable manner.

Focus on factors beyond price: Medical transcription plays a long-term role by documenting the patient data. This information could be called upon in the future for various purposes, including litigation. It is important to weigh factors like the capability of the medical transcription service provider in providing similar services, quality of reports, the skill set of medical transcriptionists, adoption to EMR and archiving capabilities in addition to the cost factor.

Consider future requirements: It is important to choose a service provider who has the capability to grow along with the future requirements of the healthcare facility. Factors like increasing volumes, adding on new specialties will affect the level of service required. The service provider needs to be evaluated on the basis of their ability to service future requirements

Consider technological compatibility: Technology has changed the way medical transcription works. Information Technology (IT) has made the process simpler, quicker and more secure. It is important to evaluate the medical transcription company on the basis of technological capabilities and whether further investment is required on the healthcare facility’s behalf before availing the services.

Avail free trial: It is important to test the services of the medical transcription service provider before actually signing the agreement. 

Contract evaluation: The contract is the document that specifies the service level expected. It is important to study the contract carefully for clauses that are binding and consider their impact before signing.  Points like use of subcontractors, provisions for HIPAA compliance need to be included in the contract document.

TransDyne is a leading provider of outsourced medical transcription services that has anticipated the needs of healthcare facilities and designed their services accordingly. 

TransDyne offers medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert medical transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA compliant channels, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use.

To benefit from outsourced medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing quick and convenient solutions

It is acknowledged that healthcare is a complex process requiring total focus of time, attention and resources to have the desired outcome delivering quality healthcare profitably.  Healthcare draws inputs from various sources to be able to deliver quality services and be profitable. To this end it is essential for healthcare facilities to outsource specialized activities that are not part of the core business to ensure total focus on their core business.

Medical transcription is one such component of the healthcare process, which is not part of the core business of the healthcare facility. Medical transcription is the process of creating patient records converting the audio records of the patient- healthcare professional encounter into text format. Outsourcing medical transcription is a quick and convenient solution to the documentation needs of a healthcare facility.

How does outsourcing medical transcription provide a quick and convenient solution?

Medical transcription is a specialized skill, which requires the following inputs:

• Space: Having an in-house medical transcription department would require the healthcare facility to allocate space, which would incur real estate costs. Outsourcing ensures that the healthcare facility can use the space available to them for the purpose of their core business.

• Equipment: Medical transcription requires equipment like computers, headphones, servers, furniture etc. Outsourcing ensures that the healthcare facility is relieved of the task of sourcing, acquiring and maintaining equipment required for medical transcription.

• Personnel: The accuracy and turnaround time of medical transcription depends on the quality of people working on the transcription. In-house transcription would require the healthcare facility to source, recruit and train medical transcriptionists. Not only this, the healthcare facility would also have to allot management/supervisory staff to manage the medical transcription process. Outsourcing ensures that the key personnel of the healthcare facility can concentrate on the core business.

• Information technology: The medical transcription process requires information technology support throughout the whole process, starting from collection of audio files to the delivery of finished transcripts. Outsourcing ensures that information technology support for the medical transcription process would be provided by the service provider.

• Utilities and consumables: Having medical transcription in-house would require the expense of some consumables and utilities, which can be avoided by outsourcing medical transcription. 

Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the healthcare facility/ healthcare professional need not go through the process of sourcing inputs required for medical transcription and supervising the process to ensure quality medical transcription.  Not only that outsourced medical transcription services also provide numerous benefits:

• Flexibility: By outsourcing medical transcription, one of the main benefits that healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals can enjoy is the flexibility. Outsourcing basically converts the fixed cost of medical transcription to variable cost, which is restricted to cost per line of transcription depending on the volumes.

• Holiday and weekend transcription: Outsourcing medical transcription provides a package deal to healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals, which also takes care of any weekend and holiday transcription requirements seamlessly.

• Accuracy: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the audio files are transcribed by specialist medical transcriptionists and put through a stringent quality check to ensure maximum accuracy.

• Turnaround time: When transcription needs are outsourced, turnaround time of the transcripts can be tailor made as per the requirements of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities. The outsourced service provider would meet turnaround time commitments by using the right team and the right technology.

• Reduced costs: Outsourcing medical transcription results in enormous cost savings to the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals. Not only does outsourced services transform the fixed cost of medical transcription to variable costs, but also saves on cost per line by about 40% to 50%.

• Flexible modes of dictation: Outsourced medical transcription also enables the healthcare professionals to retain their familiar mode of dictation, necessitating no changes in the style of working.

• Multiple modes of document delivery: The software and tools used by the medical transcription service provider can provide healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities the benefits of secure, speedy and multiple options for document delivery.

• HIPAA and HITECH compliance: Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional service provider ensures HIPAA and HITECH compliance throughout the medical transcription process. 

Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional service provider can provide a quick and convenient solution to healthcare facilities for their documentation needs.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has been providing medical transcription services for over a decade. TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, executed by experienced and qualified 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 quick and convenient medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Choosing the right partner

The process of healthcare has always depended on adequate documentation of the patient- healthcare professional encounter to draw inputs for providing quality healthcare and to use as the basis of billing for services.  The process of documenting the patient- healthcare professional encounter has evolved from handwritten notes by the healthcare professional to exhaustive and informative reports transcribed by professional medical transcriptionists.

Medical transcription is a specialized skill requiring the right blend of people skills, processes and technology to produce accurate, speedy, secure and cost effective patient records. As medical transcription is not part of the core business of healthcare facilities the prudent option is to outsource medical transcription to a professional medical transcription service provider. The outsourcing decision is influenced by the accuracy, turnaround time, security measures and the price quoted by the service provider.  However while outsourcing, healthcare facilities have to make sure that the service provider can deliver services as promised.

A healthcare facility needs to look for factors beyond the tangible benefits offered by the medical transcription service provider to ensure that the service provider has the capacity to deliver services as promised.

What are the intangible factors that a healthcare facility needs to look for to be assured of immaculate medical transcription services?

• Accuracy: This means the percentage of accuracy of the completed transcripts vis-à-vis what was dictated. It is important for the information to be captured with maximum accuracy, as the information in the patient records is vital to the healthcare process. The ability of the service provider to deliver high quality transcripts can be ascertained by evaluating the following:
  
  

1.     Training methods: The accuracy in the transcripts is dependent on the skill of the medical transcriptionists. A medical transcription service provider that trains their medical transcriptionists to be domain experts in one or two specialties of medicine would be able to deliver on high levels of accuracy as promised.

2.     Quality check methods: The quality check method used by the medical transcription service provider is another indicator of their ability to deliver on accuracy as promised. Quality checks involving several levels would ensure quality transcripts with minimum errors.

3.     In-house transcription: It is important for the medical transcription service provider to have hands-on control over the transcription process to ensure accuracy. A service provider who believes in executing medical transcription work in-house instead of using sub contractors would be able to deliver quality transcripts.

4.     Quality Guidelines: Having quality guidelines in place would ensure that the quality of documents are unaffected by changes like shift change, employee turnover etc.

• Turnaround time: Turnaround time is the duration between uploading dictation to the server and when the final transcribed document is made available to the healthcare facility/ healthcare professional. Along with the factors that influence service provider's ability to deliver accurate transcripts, given below are some additional factors that reflect the service provider's ability to meet turnaround time commitment:

1.     Technology: The technology used by the medical transcription service provider to capture and upload audio files and the document delivery modes influence their ability to meet committed turnaround time

2.     Experience: The experience of the medical transcription service provider in having served the needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities of varied types would also be an indicator of their ability to cope with varied turnaround time requirements.

• Security: Protecting confidential information is both the legal and moral obligation of healthcare facilities, healthcare professionals and all other entities dealing with this information. The ability of the medical transcription service provider to provide for HIPAA and HITECH compliance can be judged by the measures used by them to secure:

1.     People: Educating the team about HIPAA/ HITECH, medical transcription work done in own premises, restricting Email access, legal undertakings taken from employees and conducting periodic audits to ensure that all HIPAA and HITECH standards are met with.

2.     Processes: Physically securing the premises, restricting access of sensitive information to authorized personnel, disallowance of any removable storage devices etc.

3.     Technology: Technology to be secured by use of security features like 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers, denial of access procedures and multi-modal alerts.

• Low costs: The main benefit of outsourcing medical transcription is that of enormous cost savings. Apart from all the above factors, to ensure that the medical transcription service provider would be able to deliver quality services at low prices the following factors need to assessed:

1.     Billing method: The billing method used by the service provider has an impact on the cost factor. The billing method should be verifiable, definable, measurable, consistent, fair and honest. Care should be taken to understand the components of cost to ensure that there are no hidden costs.

2.     Professional experience: The experience of the medical transcription service provider for diverse healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals would reflect on their ability to deliver professional service and reasonable costs.

• Technology: Technology is an integral part of medical transcription services; it is important to assess the technological capabilities of the medical transcription service provider to ensure seamless outsourced services. The service provider can be assessed on the following:

1.     Flexibility: The technology used by the medical transcription service provider should be flexible to accommodate the needs of healthcare professionals like flexible modes of capturing dictation, varied modes of document delivery etc.

2.     Maximum benefits: The technology used by the medical transcription service provider should provide maximum benefits to the healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals like Hl7 interface, archives, automatic upgrades, ability to be configured for multiple users, provide for secure transmission etc.

3.     Easy to use: The technology used by the medical transcription service provider should provide maximum benefits while still being easy to use.

4.     No additional investments: Outsourced medical transcription should require minimal or no additional investment in technology.

Once a medical transcription service provider has been assessed on all these factors, the healthcare facility can avail maximum benefits from the outsourcing process

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has utilized their extensive background in information technology and their experience in providing medical transcription services to come up with medical transcription solutions that help healthcare facilities save on time, money and effort. TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, executed by experienced and qualified 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.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Helping the clinical documentation process

In today's world healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals are increasingly faced with economic pressures, legal regulations while still providing quality healthcare services. The need of the hour is high quality, timely, patient-oriented documentation. This helps with all the concerns; economic, legal and quality healthcare. Clinical documentation is an important element of healthcare.

Clinical documentation is the process of recording and communicating a written record of the patient- healthcare professional encounter consisting of assessment, inputs from other experts if needed, the diagnosis, the treatment plan, treatment provided, the progress of the patient's response to treatment, discharge and discharge instructions. The criteria for high quality clinical documentation are legibility, completeness, clarity, consistency, precision, reliability and timeliness.  To meet all these criteria and to be efficient clinical documentation depends on narrative dictation, which then can be transcribed to be a part of the patient medical record. The process of converting the audio of the healthcare professionals' narration into text format is known as medical transcription.

Medical transcription is a specialized skill that requires the right combination of skilled medical transcriptionists, the right process and the right technology to ensure that it meets all the criteria of high quality clinical documentation. Outsourcing medical transcription has been found to be the most efficient, effective and economical means of documenting the patient- healthcare professional encounter.

How does outsourced medical transcription services help meet the criteria of quality clinical documentation?

The principles of quality clinical documentation are:

1. Legibility: The process of medical transcription ensures that the audio of the patient- healthcare professional encounter is neatly typed in the appropriate report format/template. This makes the record legible and easy to refer when required.

2. Completeness: The process of medical transcription follows HPI Quality Guidelines that specify that errors of omission are grave errors; hence efforts are made by trained and qualified medical transcriptionists to ensure that maximum possible details are captured. Moreover outsourced medical transcription service providers have quality check processes in place that put transcripts through stringent quality checks to ensure complete data is captured to the extent possible

3. Clarity: Transforming audio files into text format ensures that the details in the patient medical record are clear and unambiguous removing possibility of garbled and vague details

4. Consistency: Well trained and skilled medical transcriptionists ensure that the details captured in the medical record are consistent by applying their knowledge, context when needed and even highlighting inconsistencies for healthcare professionals to correct as and when required

5. Precision: The process of converting dictation to transcripts ensures that all details are captured accurately and everything is strictly defined.

6. Reliability: The process of outsourced medical transcription ensures that not only is the data captured accurately but also ensures security of this data during the transcription process increasing the reliability of data.

7. Timeliness: Outsourced medical transcription services ensure that by using the right blend of skilled medical transcriptionists, stringent processes and advanced technology the turnaround time requirements of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities are met with and information is available on a timely basis. 

Outsourcing medical transcription helps in the clinical documentation process, which is an essential component for efficient operations of the healthcare facility and for provision of quality healthcare.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has utilized their extensive background in information technology and their experience in providing medical transcription services to come up with medical transcription solutions that help healthcare facilities save on time, money and effort. TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, executed by experienced and qualified 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.

Medical transcription outsourcing : Providing high quality services

Medical transcription is an integral part of the healthcare process by creating patient records from the dictation provided by healthcare professionals of the patient- healthcare professional encounter. Patient records have a dual role to play in the smooth running of healthcare facilities supporting both the diagnostic as well as the reimbursement process. However medical transcription is not part of the core competencies of the healthcare facility; therefore outsourcing medical transcription has proven to be an efficient solution.

Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that healthcare facilities can benefit from high quality services.

How does outsourcing medical transcription provide high quality services?

Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription service provider ensures high quality services as medical transcription is the core business of the service providers and they can provide services with the following attributes:

·       Service with expertise: Medical transcription is a service which requires expertise like the right combination of people skills and technology to render services that meet the accuracy and turnaround time standards. Outsourcing to the right service provider ensures that process of creating patient records is executed with expertise.

·       Service with experience: The medical transcription requirements of each healthcare facility is diverse. The experience of the service provider in serving the diverse needs of different healthcare facilities would benefit the healthcare facility by ensuring seamless transition to outsourced services.

·       Committed service: Medical transcription is the core business of the service provider and all the resources of the service provider would be committed to ensure accurate, speedy, secure and cost effective medical transcription services. The healthcare facility can benefit by the commitment of the service provider by enjoying immaculate services that meet their specific requirements.

·       Professional services: Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription services ensures that professionally trained medical transcriptionists who are experts in the specialty they are transcribing in work on the dictation to produce high quality transcripts

·       Service with integrity: The information in patient records is vital for the treatment process; it is important that this information is captured accurately and  confidentiality of this information is ensured. Outsourcing to a professional medical transcription service provider ensures that the integrity of the information is preserved both in terms of  accuracy and security.

·       Thorough services: The patient medical record is the basis of further treatments, reference for future course of action, basis for referrals, as evidence in case of litigation and the foundation for the reimbursement process. It is important that all the details are captured thoroughly. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures this.

·       Reliable services: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the process of creating medical records is a continuous and reliable process regardless of variation in the volume of transcription or transcription for holiday and weekend medical transcription requirements.

·       Service based on technical expertise: The medical transcription process relies on technology to ensure speed and security. Moreover technology also adds to the productivity of healthcare professionals  and support staff by providing numerous easy to use  benefits like flexible modes of capturing dictation, varied modes of document delivery, archives, HL7 interface and various other features

·       Timely services: Outsourcing medical transcription  ensures that not only are transcripts created in an accurate manner but are also made available to healthcare professionals within the turnaround time required by them.

·       Cost effective services: Outsourcing medical transcription  ensures substantial cost savings to the healthcare facilities by reducing both the direct and indirect cost of transcription. 

Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription service provider provides healthcare facilities complete medical transcription solutions.

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, executed by experienced and qualified 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 high quality medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.