Online Transcription Forum | LinkedIn

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qualitytranscript

qualitytranscript

Transcription service for interview recordings

Transcription service for interview recordings

quality transcription service

quality transcription service

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Benefits of Medical Transcription Services

Medical transcription services are provided by different companies working online and also by the online medical transcriptionist working individually. These services have manifold advantages.

Management Side Benefits

A hospital, when hires these outsourcing medical transcription services, avoids its managerial workload and also the labour. It takes a lot of effort and resources to train and orient a large number of people for transcribing the doctor’s conversations with his different patients throughout the day. These services save an institute almost fifty percent of these costs as they don’t have to train and accommodate the employees. It saves a lot of place also on which patient’s rooms and wards can be built and the place which would have been used as office can be used to generate income.

Increased Efficiency of Doctors

These services increase the efficiency of a doctor as he has more time for his patient. If a doctor has to write each and every word of his conversation with the patient how would he concentrate on the symptoms and the diagnosis of the problems of his patient? Moreover, doctors can recheck their treatment plan for a particular patient. They do not have to take stress of remembering each and everything about all patients.
The management of the healthcare centers can serve his clients more efficiently by using this electronically stored data. Patients can review their conversation and treatment plans set by the doctors. The history of the patients and the problems they may face in problems can be analyzed easily. These Medical transcription services are the best way to save your precious time and capital if you are running a healthcare unit.

Affordable Medical Transcription Service

An increase in the demand for medical transcription has led to a corresponding increase in the number of service providers offering affordable medical transcription services. These medical transcription companies are a great help to individual physicians, outpatient clinics, group practitioners, hospitals and healthcare centers. They guarantee excellent transcription services with unique, reliable and complete solutions ranging from dictation capture to document distribution and storage.

High Accuracy Rates and Minimum Turnaround:

Reputable medical transcription companies keep trained and experienced transcribers providing services to a number of specialties including orthopedics, gastroenterology, radiology, cardiology and more. One of the major advantages of medical transcription companies is that they provide digitalized documentation service converting voice recorded files into text format. Ensuring perfect accuracy in transcription services, these companies maintain in-house proofreaders, quality analysts and editors to give clients three levels of quality assurance. Besides ensuring 99% accuracy rates, the recognized medical transcription companies complete all projects within minimum turnaround time.

Ensured Confidentiality and Privacy:

Medical transcription companies are perfectly optimized with advanced technological devices to meet various demands of the healthcare industry. They use convenient dictation methods for a total medical transcription solution. Most of the companies offer web-based transcription service providing various advantages to the clients. In addition to this, medical transcription companies provide toll free numbers making it easy for physicians to convey dictations using telephones.

When planning to outsource your medical transcription jobs, it is important to verify whether the affordable medical transcription service is HIPAA compliant. HIPAA compliant companies guarantee high confidentiality and privacy in their services following various rules and regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Popular medical transcription companies provide affordable and secure medical transcription service using the latest document flow management software and advanced digital systems. Depending on the requirements of the clients they provide short term and long term services.

Speech Transcription is Essential For the Medical Transcription Industry

As the demand for Health Care consistently grows, so too is the demand for medical transcription services. Companies that want to be successful must be able to produce large volumes of output quickly and accurately. Patient files are becoming more and more complex as the population grows older and many people are undergoing more procedures and receiving more varieties of medicine. In order for a medical transcription company to compete they must use speech transcription as part of a complete software platform.

Speech transcription technology is not actually that new. Like so many other kinds of technology, it has been enhanced in incremental ways for years. At one point it was capable only of understanding numbers that were dictated into the system and it moved forward from there. Now, the best speech transcription software can handle files that are submitted in an audio format and create a text document with very few errors.

The most sophisticated speech transcription software can not only convert speech to text, but it can also do a very good job of inserting the necessary punctuation to make it readable. It takes a lot of programming to understand where sentence breaks would occur and the best software will not come cheap. It is a good value however, and the amount of time that it can save a medical transcriptionist when they receive a file that is already in readable form will make them significantly more productive.

It is now possible for screech transcription software platforms to take an audio file that is submitted by a client and process it on a remote server. The medical transcriptionist will then receive a file that is ready to be reviewed. If the system is one of the better ones, the transcriptionist will have an interface that allows them to move around the document quickly and move on to the next project.

It is also important for speech transcription software to have additional functionality like a word expander and a medical spell check dictionary. Regular speech recognition technology will not suffice for the medical transcription industry because of the vast number of medical terms that are used by medical practitioners. It takes complicated software that can be updated on a regular basis to maintain all of the necessary medical terms.

Most speech transcription software comes as part of a platform that is used by medical transcription company. It will do much more than simply convert speech to text; companies can find a software platform that will manage their workflow for them, help with billing and even assist with payroll functions. Instead of piecing together a number of different software programs to do this, it makes much more sense to find one that can do it all in an integrated fashion.

Those companies that have the most current speech transcription software will have medical transcriptionists that are far more productive than their counterparts in the industry. The companies that use the software will also likely experience lower turnover and higher employee satisfaction because their tools are easier to use.

Speech transcription software has made the medical transcription companies more productive. Reports can now be delivered more accurately and in less time. Learn more about what the best speech transcription software can do.

Best way to handling corrections revision of the Patient Record

The rules to modifying the Patient Record should be strong foundation for the enterprise seeking to develop policies and procedures. In order to ensure the admissibility of the medical record as evidence, the enterprise must first establish policies and procedures that address

• Author authentication
• Medical record access control
• Medical record archiving and retention
• Medical record security
• Medical record disaster recovery policies and procedures

By establishing controls over the creation of medical records, enterprises can ensure the nonrepudiation of corrections, revisions, additions, and addenda made in the normal course of business.

Ultimately, by controlling the how, who, where, and when of creating the medical record, the enterprise establishes the methodology for performing valid corrections, revisions, additions, and addenda.

The best practices of a healthcare enterprise can develop an effective and valid policy and procedure for the correction, revision, addition, and addenda of health information contained within the medical record.

The key characteristics of an effective policy and procedure include

• Author authentication and accountability
• Clear indication of correction or amendment date and time
• Policies and procedures that prevent unauthorized alteration of documents
• Clear delineation of parent document
• Clear delineation of corrected or amended document
• Notification of health information recipients when amendments and corrections occur
• Retention of the parent document for historical reference 

Though it is true that no single rule that addresses medical record transcription and amendment exists, enough guidance is available to allow healthcare providers to develop a workable policy and procedure to address the creation of valid medical record corrections and amendments
Medical transcription companies

Outsourcing Medical Transcription Services

Medical Transcription is the process of converting voice transcription into a permanent written record utilizing word processing equipment and software. Medical transcription is necessary process in medical industry as all medical institutions require computerization of medical notes for clean and compact record-keeping, insurance claims processing, quick reference, conferencing and various other reasons.

Today medical transcription services has almost become a popular term among the health professionals and services are available for all medical specialties. A medical transcriptionist's job primarily involves converting significant and confidential data into written text. This text is printed and included in the patients' records, archived and retained as an electronic medical record.

Before some time staff of skilled medical transcriptionists was working in the medical records department of the hospital has accomplished the work of transcribing medical records. But now a days for any hospital; it is very difficult to afford staff of medical transcriptionists so for that outsourcing is the best option available to save their valuable amount of time and money. By outsourcing their medical transcription related requirements to outsourcing firm they can reduce their burden.

While you are choosing your offshore partner to outsource your needs, you have to be very careful as it requires an attention to detail and an ability to recognize and understand technical terminology.

Medical Transcription Industry back in action ????

It was almost a cottage industry in the 90s, only to lose steam in 2000. 

But if you thought the medical transcription (MT) industry in India is history, think again. 
Latest studies reveal that it is raring to take off yet again. And this time, the future is well chalked out. 

When it took off in the 90s, anyone with a little space and enterprise opened an unit in their living room. 

Unfortunately, the boom didn't last and hit rock bottom in 2001. The reason: Too many entrants, lack of entrepreneural skills and knowledge of industry and security issues. Many small players opted out. 

But since 2004, the sector has slowly but steadily worked its way up. Now, it generates revenues worth $195 million. The figure is expected to go upto $647 million by 2010, according to ValueNotes study. 

In fact, the study found that at present, India-based MT vendors employ around 18,000; by 2010, the numbers will go up to 52,000. A Nasscom study released last month too confirms this northward move of the Indian MT industry. It says India has 120 to 150 Medical transcription companies which earn an annual income of $220 to $240 million. 

According to experts the industry will witness further consolidation with large American medical transcription service organizations eyeing smaller Indian offshore vendors 

Experts say there has been a systematic ramp-up and a steady flow of business from the US to India which is our largest market. 

If things go this way, the industry will see good times again.

Medical Transcription Record Keeping

A medical transcriptionist has to keep track of the number of lines, words, pages, etc., that they type on a daily basis. Sometimes they are required to keep records of patient names, tape numbers, etc. 

You need good record keeping in case of missing dictations in a patient's file. Hospitals and clinics are very busy all of the time and sometimes you will have to send them a copy of a dictation that you did in the past. I have to do this fairly often. Sometimes it will be for a medical transcription I did weeks or months ago. It is your job as an MT to keep track of all transcriptions that you do. 

You can use a data base on your computer to store this information. A spiral notebook can be used for keeping track of your line and word count if you are not provided with forms to use by the healthcare provider.

Keeping good records is a part of the job, so set up the system you will be using as you are setting up your office. 

Medical transcription services

Medical transcription outsourcing: Helps save on efforts

Medical transcription has always played an important role in the process leading to quality healthcare, by creating medical records of patients  that are  accurate, timely and secure. To meet these criteria of being accurate, timely and secure, the transcription process needs to have inputs like the right team, the right process and the right technology. 

Though medical transcription plays an important role in the healthcare process, it is not part of the core business of the healthcare facility. Focusing on medical transcription would dilute the focus of the healthcare facility not only in terms of resources, but also in terms of time and efforts of the administrative, management, information technology and support staff. Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional service provider not only ensures speedy, accurate, secure and cost effective creation of patient records, but also saving on efforts.

How does outsourcing medical transcription help healthcare facilities save on efforts?

·                     Saving on effort for sourcing and training medical transcriptionists: The quality of medical transcription is largely dependent on the caliber of the transcriptionists. Recruiting and training the right talent is a continuous process. Outsourcing saves on the effort having to source and train the right team.

·                     Saving on effort of sourcing and maintaining equipment for medical transcription: Medical transcription requires equipment like computers, earphones, foot pedals, furniture etc. Outsourcing medical transcription saves on the effort of sourcing and maintaining the equipment required the transcription process.

·                     Saving on effort of collecting and uploading audio files for transcription:Outsourced medical transcription service providers would have a process by which the dictation of healthcare professionals would automatically be transmitted to the service provider for the transcription process. This not only saves on the efforts of the support staff, it also ensures that speedy turnaround time.

·                     Saving on efforts for creating a system for medical transcription: Medical transcription needs to follow a certain process to ensure automatic creation of medical records, which would require a system for uploading dictation and downloading transcripts. Outsourcing ensures saving on the efforts of creating systems required for medical transcription

·                     Saving on efforts for following up for medical transcription work status: The outsourced medical transcription service provider would automatically provide job summaries of the audio files uploaded, the work in progress and finished transcripts, saving the efforts of the support staff.

·                     Saving on effort for ensuring accuracy and turnaround time: The efforts needed to ensure the highest level of accuracy and tight turnaround times would be saved by outsourcing medical transcription.

·                     Saving on efforts for document delivery: Different healthcare professionals require different modes of document delivery depending on the situation. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that transcripts are delivered as per the modes specified by the healthcare professionals.

·                     Saving on efforts for ensuring HIPAA/ HITECH compliance during the medical transcription process: Medical transcription is a process where confidential data is transmitted back and forth, outsourcing would ensure that the service provider would have secure technology, secure processes, secure infrastructure and enlightened team to ensure HIPAA / HITECH compliance.

·                     Saving on efforts for managing the medical transcription process: The entire medical transcription process requires constant efforts to ensure quality standards are met with, to which end it is important to manage all the aspects that contribute to the process. Outsourcing ensures that the effort of managing entire transcription process professionally is the onus of the service provider.

·                     Saving on efforts for continuously upgrading systems: The software and tools required for medical transcription services need constant upgrades to be secure and efficient. When the transcription process is outsourced the service provider upgrades the system on a regular basis keeping it up to date.

TASP and Medical Transcription

TASP stands for Transcription Application Service Providers.

Medical Transcription is not a cottage industry anymore as it used to be a few years ago. Digitization in this sector has changed the scenario and work environment. Earlier, I remember the days when Medical Transcriptionists (MT) had to take trips every week to their client offices for audio tape pickups and delivery of their work. Today there are many web based application service provider platforms that caters to different types of large, medium, small and also individual home based MTSOs (Medical Transcription Service Organizations).

The TASP type of files routing system is very efficient. It manages the entire process or life cycle of the document, right from the time of dictation at the hospital / physician's location to sending it for transcription/editing to the MT and back to the medical professional. This type of system does save a lot of time and money when compared to the earlier transcription methods. There are dial in systems that take dictations. Playback happens when the residing codec (analog to digital converter) creates a digital sound file that the medical transcriptionist can playback and transcribe.

What are the benefits of going for such a digital technology for these medical transcription companies? Well it includes,

• Encrypted document
• No capital investment
• Lower telephone costs
• Better work distribution
• Fully functional work pool module
• Prompt feedback
• Higher accuracy
• Prompt feedback
• Shorter turnaround time
• High security of documents
• Hassle-free document delivery

Medical transcription outsourcing: Provides multiple benefits

In a constantly changing business scenario it is important for all business enterprises to constantly upgrade the services provided by them. To this end it is important to ensure that the quality of inputs used by the business process not only meets the highest quality standards to provide quality services, but also are also optimally priced to ensure commercial viability. In case of vital services like healthcare the quality of inputs are of absolute importance considering the nature of the services and the cost of inputs also play a vital role considering the pressures on the healthcare sector.

Taking this challenging scenario into consideration, it becomes important for healthcare facilities to carefully consider the cost and quality of inputs that aid in the healthcare process. One such important input is information from patient medical records; this plays an important role in several aspects of the successful running of healthcare facility including the healthcare, the commercial and operational aspects. 

Healthcare facilities have several options available to them for the creation of patient medical records including having an in- house medical transcription department, using independent contractors, documentation by healthcare professionals at the point of care using point and click templates, front end speech recognition software, back end speech recognition software and outsourcing the medical transcription process to a professional medical transcription service provider.

Weighing the pros and cons of all the documentation methods it can be said that outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription service provider can provide multiple benefits.

What are the benefits of outsourcing medical transcription?Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription company provides multiple benefits including:

Quality: One of the aspects that is most benefited by the experience and expertise of the medical transcription service provider is the quality of services. Quality in medical transcription can be defined by the accuracy levels and the ability to meet turnaround time commitments. Using a combination of the right team, the right process and the right technology, outsourced medical transcription services ensure maximum accuracy and meet the turnaround time specified.

Flexibility: Another notable advantage of outsourcing medical transcription is the flexibility of services. This would positively impact several aspects including:

1.                              Quantity: It is impossible for healthcare facilities to predict their transcription requirements, as this would depend on the patient inflow, which is impossible to predict. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that healthcare facilities are assured of quality services regardless of the volumes without having to employ extra staff for transcription or deal with idle capacity

2.                              Modes of dictation: Outsourced medical transcription service providers also allow healthcare professionals to use dictation devices they are comfortable with. This ensures savings on investment for new dictation devices and optimization of time for healthcare professionals

3.                              Modes of delivery: Outsourced medical transcription service providers also provide flexibility in the modes of document delivery. This ensures that healthcare professionals can receive transcripts through the modes specified by them include delivery to multiple users, remote faxing/printing etc.

4.                              Holiday and weekend transcription: Outsourcing medical transcription also ensures seamless transcription services for weekend and holiday needs.

Convenience: Outsourced medical transcription service providers have not only used technology to provide multiple benefits but also have made it very convenient for healthcare professionals and other support staff to use. Whether it is uploading audio files or downloading transcripts or access to archives or job summaries depicting status of work, outsourced medical transcription service providers have made it very convenient to access and use.

Economical: Outsourcing medical transcription has a definite and positive impact on cost. Outsourced medical transcription services help save as much 40% and above on costs, limit the cost to cost per line and convert the fixed cost of medical transcription to variable costs by charging on the volume of transcription rather than charging a fixed amount.

Secure: Another important aspect of medical transcription is the need for maintaining confidentiality and security of the patient information. Medical transcription service providers are aware of the legal and moral obligations of maintaining HIPAA and HITECH compliance and ensure this by securing technology, processes, people and infrastructure.

It can be concluded that outsourcing medical transcription to a professional medical transcription service provider can have multiple benefits.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Providing information rich services

Healthcare is a service that is vital in today’s world both in terms of providing services that save lives and services that help improve quality of life. Information has a huge to role to play in the delivery of quality healthcare. The process of healthcare starts with information collection and is enhanced by having this information made available to them in an easy to use format at the right time. Medical transcription has a large role to play in transforming the data collected during the patient encounter into information that is legible, clear, accurate and in a convenient format.

The process of medical transcription converts the dictation of the patient – healthcare professional encounter into textual format using a combination of skilled medical transcriptionists, the right process and the right technology. This ensures that the patient medical records are accurate, available on a timely basis, transmitted through secure channels and at a reasonable price. Considering the inputs required for managing a complex and variable process like medical transcription, outsourcing medical transcription to a capable and reliable medical transcription company has been found to be one of the best options.  Creating patient medical records using medical transcription services results in information rich transcripts

Some of features of information rich medical transcription services are:

·                     Using dictation as a means of capturing information: Using dictation as a means of capturing data at the point of care is one of the most preferred methods by healthcare professionals as opposed to entering data themselves or editing back speech recognition software.  Outsourced transcription services allow healthcare professionals to use dictation devices of their choice. This enables them to concentrate on the patients during the visit and record the details later. This has the double benefit of increasing productivity and quality reports

·                     Capturing the entire patient story: Using the services of a professional medical transcription service provider ensures that healthcare professionals have the freedom to capture the entire patient story including the narrative portion. Capturing the narrative portion helps in providing better care and also offers protection against litigation by providing an information rich narrative of the care process.

·                     Providing access to this information for future use: The process of care could continue over time and healthcare professionals may need to access information after a period of time. Reports created by medical transcription companies would have information rich content ensuring that healthcare professionals and support staff do not have to entirely on their memory or patient themselves to recall the details of patient medical history. Moreover outsourced medical transcription service providers also archive these records on a periodical basis and these are easy to access using various search criteria. 

Apart from the above advantages of outsourcing medical transcription, transcription services also provide services with advantages like:

·                     Timely transcription ensuring specified turnaround time

·                     Easy to use technology for transcription, which lower the burden of healthcare professionals and support staff

·                     Editing and proofreading services for transcripts created by speech recognition software

·                     Adoption of EMR/. EHR using HL7 interface

Medical transcription: Tips for successful outsourcing

Healthcare services have been recognized as not only essential for improving the quality of life they have also been recognized as an essential indicator of the economic growth of the nation. The healthcare sector has always had to face numerous challenges towards the path to providing quality healthcare while still maintaining a healthy bottom line. One of the main ingredients that contribute to the delivery of quality healthcare and maintaining a healthy bottom line among numerous other factors is the information from patient medical records.]

There are numerous methods of creating patient medical records including direct entry into EMR/EHR system, speech recognition software, having an in-house medical transcription team, using independent contractors and outsourcing medical transcription to a professionally managed medical transcription service provider. Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional service provider has been found to be one of the most efficient and cost effective methods of patient medical record creation.

However healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have numerous concerns about outsourcing a vital function like medical transcription. While it is important to assess the medical transcription service provider based on criteria like accuracy, turnaround time, cost security and the software & technology used for medical transcription, it is also important to focus on a service provider who can be more like a long term partner rather than vendor.

Given below are a few tips to ensure successful transition to outsourced services:

Communication: It is imperative that the healthcare facility and the medical transcription service provider have effective communication channels. Having easy access to the service provider can help solve any queries, provide timely support, improve services etc

Flexibility: Medicine is a huge field and the needs of this field vary vastly based on numerous factors. The medical transcription needs of a healthcare facility could vary based on various factors like the specialty being transcribed, the patient influx, the need/ preference of the healthcare professional and numerous other factors. One of the basic foundations for the successful outsourcing of medical transcription is to source a medical transcription service provider who can provide flexible services based on the need of the hour, without compromising quality.

Develop effective two-way feedback system: The quality of the patient medical record depends both on the originator of the document (the healthcare professional) as well as the medical transcriptionist. It is important for healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals to give and accept feedback from medical transcription service providers regarding measures to improve quality of dictation

Growing together: The documentation needs of the healthcare sector are dynamic, it becomes imperative to choose a medical transcription service provider who can keep up with the changing needs of the healthcare facility, This could involve keeping up with changes in healthcare, technology and statutory requirements.

There are numerous factors that make the outsourcing process successful, some of the main being clearly defining the objectives of outsourcing medical transcription and communicating the same to the medical transcription service provider. It is also important to have two-way communication with the service provider. Having all these measures in place would bring about successful transition to outsourced medical transcription services.

Medical Transcription Outsourcing - A Profitable Option

Medical transcription companies have become very sought after these days as the healthcare units are struggling to maintain the increasing number of medical reports on a regular basis. Besides providing superior quality service, the transcription providers have kept the rates very competitive. This makes medical transcription outsourcing a profitable optionfor most healthcare providers.

Low Cost Medical Transcription Service Providers

The medical transcription companies offer very competitive rates. They save the medical professionals other expenditures in terms of recruitment of extra staff for maintaining the daily medical records, investment on office resources and generally increasing the size of the office. They also help the medical professionals in preventing backlog and loss of medical reports due to piling up of work. These providers also give flexible dictation options to the medical professionals through digital machines provided by them or through toll free phone numbers. These companies have advanced technology and software which ensures superior quality of work.

Other Benefits of Outsourcing Medical Transcription Work

Apart from being a cost saving option, there are several other benefits that come with outsourcing the transcription work to reliable providers. These are:

* Quick turnaround time which can be customized according to need
* Multi-level checks for greater accuracy of all documents
* Documents are 99% accurate
* File Transfer Protocol for delivering files in a secure manner
* Experts work for you and ensure high quality of work
* 24x7 customer support service

With all these benefits provided by the medical transcription companies, it's small wonder that almost all healthcare units and medical professionals are outsourcing their transcription work. Most associated people look at medical transcription outsourcing as a profitable option -- a boon that has made life much easier.

Medical transcription outsourcing: The constantly evolving services

The role of healthcare services in today's world is expanding, given the penchant of the people to not only eliminate sickness but also propagate good health. This has created an increasing demand for healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals. This increased demand for quality care has resulted in an increasing pressure on the healthcare professionals to provide holistic care on a continued basis. This has increased the emphasis on proper and detailed documentation. In this scenario the role of healthcare documentation, the role of medical transcriptionists- healthcare documentation specialists becomes vital

Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records from the dictation of healthcare professionals' encounter with patients. Medical transcriptionists are documentation experts who are trained to listen to the audio and transcribe patient medical records using their vast store of knowledge, expertise and research skills to create patient medical records that are detailed, accurate, concise and easy to access. As medical transcription requires concentrated focus on acquiring and developing the right team, having a rigorous quality assurance process and the right technology to produce desirable results, outsourcing medical transcription to an expert medical transcription service provider has been found to be the right solution

Apart from producing accurate, timely, secure records and cost-effective patient medical records, outsourcing medical transcription services also have the added advantage of constantly evolving to suit the changing needs of the healthcare sector.

Given below are some of the ways medical transcription services have evolved over the years to provide quality services:

Remote services: Outsourced medical transcription services have essentially moved away from the physical premises of the healthcare facility/ healthcare professional. This has resulted in better focus on the patient, better utilization of resources and the elimination of several overhead costs towards medical transcription.

Data collection: Having moved away physically from the healthcare facility/ healthcare professional's premises, outsourced medical transcription service providers have also eased the process of collecting and transmitting data for transcription. They have created systems and applications that enable healthcare professionals to use dictation devices of their choice. They have also enabled transmission of this data through secure modes for the process of transcription ensuring least amount of delays. Medical transcription services have evolved into editing and proofreading services for transcripts created by speech recognition software to ensure acceptable accuracy levels

Document delivery: The modes of document delivery have evolved over time to such an extent that the mode of delivery can be customized to suit the specific needs of the healthcare professional. In fact document delivery has been customized to ensure that the healthcare professional can view and sign off on the transcript electronically without having to wait for the hard copy. Delivery of transcripts to multiple locations in case the care process involves more than one healthcare professional has also been customized

Specialty based support: Acknowledging that healthcare is a vast field having multiple specialties, outsourced medical transcription service providers provide specialty based support in terms of specially trained medical transcriptionists, specific report formats/ templates and even turnaround time options

Turnaround time support: The urgency of turnaround time for the patient medical record depends on many factors. Taking this into consideration outsourced medical transcription service providers provide various turnaround time options based on the needs of healthcare professionals

Adoption of EMR/EHR: With the mandate towards nationwide adoption of an electronic healthcare system, healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have been urged to adopt EMR/EHR. Outsourced medical transcription service providers offer support in this process by having HL7 interface.

Medical transcription: Steps for easy transition to outsourced services

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

The steps leading to successful outsourcing of medical transcription are:

Defining the purpose of outsourcing medical transcription: This part of the outsourcing process is very important and often overlooked. Overlooking this step in the process of outsourcing can result in:

1.                             Unrealistic expectations: Outsourcing medical transcription can help the healthcare facility in many aspects. But focusing only on factors like reduced cost and ignoring quality can result in outsourcing expectations not being met.

2.                             Inadequate customization: Healthcare professionals of different specialties may have specific requirements. These may not be included while customizing services if the purpose of outsourcing is not clearly defined

3.                             Loss of productivity: Not defining the purpose of outsourcing medical transcription can result in certain tasks being overlooked and resulting in loss of productivity

Consulting the people involved in or affected by outsourcing medical transcription: Outsourcing medical transcription affects personnel of several departments of the healthcare facility. It is important to involve all the people in the process of outsourcing to ensure success. It is important to not only consult the healthcare professionals and support staff, but is also vital to include the inputs of the Information technology, administrative, management and finance departments to gain maximum from outsourcing medical transcription

 Defining the desired outcome from outsourcing medical transcription:

1.                             Reducing cost of medical transcription

2.                             Accuracy levels

3.                             Desired turnaround time

4.                             Formals/templates/fonts

5.                             Document delivery modes

6.                             HIPAA/HITECH compliant transcription

7.                             Adoption of EMR/EHR

Designating key people for implementation: Transition for outsourced medical transcription services can require some adjustments. To ensure smooth transition it is important to designate key people who can coordinate with the medical transcription service provider staff to ensure seamless transition.

Starting the process of outsourcing: To actually start the process of outsourcing medical transcription it is important to undertake the following steps:

1.                              Technology adjustment

2.                             Familiarizing healthcare professionals and support staff with uploading dictation and downloading finished transcripts

3.                             Establishing open channels of communication with the medical transcription service provider.

Outsourcing medical transcription is an important decision and following the due process can result in satisfactory outcome for all the parties concerned.