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.

National Medical Transcription Week

In 1985, then President Ronald Reagan gave a proclamation that the week of May 20 through May 26 would be set aside as National Medical Transcription Week. The following is an excerpt from that proclamation:

"A century ago, physicians knew many of the patients from birth, knew all their ailments, and provided all their medical care. Today, with medical specialization and greater mobility among people, many skilled physicians may treat the average American during a lifetime. Using transcribed medical records, each physician can easily and quickly review a patient's medical history even if the physician has never seen the patient before. Because of the work done by trained medical transcriptionists, patients can be assured that the history of their medical care is portrayed accurately and legibly. Medical transcriptionists have therefore become a vital link between the physician and the patient.

It is appropriate for our Nation to recognize the contributions of medical transcriptionists. We should encourage hospitals, allied health education programs, and community colleges to provide appropriate courses of instruction recognizing the high standards that must be met by medical transcriptionists and the vital function they perform."For more about medical transcription visit this link Medical transcription services

Medical transcription: Establishing a process for continuous quality improvement

The importance of documenting the patient encounter is manifold as it helps in many aspects that contribute to the smooth running of healthcare facilities, besides being a statutory necessity. As healthcare services are critical it is important that the process of documenting the patient- healthcare professional encounter be subject to certain norms. The patient – healthcare professional encounter can be documented by various means, one of the most preferred being medical transcription; a process which converts dictation to text.

As medical transcription has an important supporting role to play in the process of healthcare, a best practices guide titled “Healthcare Documentation Quality Assessment and Management Best Practices” has been jointly created by AHDI, MTIA and AHIMA. One of the highlights of this manual is alignment with the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle.

Each stage of the process is vital to ensure that the process of healthcare is documented keeping in mind that maintaining the highest standards of quality is a continuous process. The goal of this quality assessment program is to ensure that healthcare documentation is clear, consistent, accurate, complete and timely.

Act: Continuous quality improvement

As quality is a key word in the medical transcription process, the process of improving quality should be proactive rather than reactive. That is the quality improvement program should aim at preventing errors from occurring rather than correct errors after they occur. To this end the key steps in a quality improvement program should be:

·                                 Review

·                                 Revise

·                                 Communicate

·                                 Monitor 

The quality improvement program for medical transcription services should focus on all aspects of medical transcription including: 

Dictation devices: The quality of audio is a major contributor to the quality of medical transcription. It is important to address this issue by studying in detail all types of dictation devices to determine which one produces optimum output. It is also important to have a clear idea of the working of the device so as to avoid audio problems like clipped words, garbled words etc

Author education: As the healthcare professional is the originator of the transcript by providing a narration of the patient encounter, it is important to educate the author on dictation best practices.  These could include:

1.                               Choosing the right dictation device

2.                               Knowing the equipment

3.                               Importance of choosing a noise free environment for dictation

4.                               Practice of specifying type of report etc at the beginning of dictation

5.                               Using the right pace of dictation

It is also important to establish a forum for feedback that flows both ways between the healthcare professional and medical transcriptionists

Medical transcriptionists: The responsibility of transcribing the dictation into transcripts rests for the most part on the medical transcriptionist. It is important to provide medical transcriptionists with the means to produce quality medical transcription. These could include:

1.                               Provide training

2.                               Provide resources

3.                               Provide feedback

4.                               Use feedback as learning opportunities

5.                               Distribute samples for difficult authors

6.                               Provide formats/ templates/ macros/ normal

7.                               Assign mentors for new medical transcriptionists

8.                               Provide incentives for quality

Account specific: This would address the issues specific to particular accounts making it easy for medical transcriptionists to produce quality. These could include:

1.                               Easy to use account specification sheets

2.                               Constantly update the information on account specification sheets

3.                               Maintain up to date lists of healthcare professionals etc specific to the account

Medical transcription outsourcing: Leads to flexibility

In today’s situation healthcare facilities have to maintain a delicate balance between providing quality healthcare and still maintaining profits. The demands made on the limited resources available to a healthcare facility are numerous. In such a situation it is important for healthcare facilities to have maximum flexibility so that they can adapt themselves quickly to the changing demands placed on them. Outsourcing medical transcription can help healthcare facilities remain flexible!

How does outsourcing medical transcription help the healthcare facilities remain flexible?

Though medical transcription is an important contributor to the healthcare process it is not part of the core competencies of the healthcare facilities. The key to maintaining flexibility is to concentrate on the core competencies and outsource all the other activities.

Outsourcing medical transcription helps the healthcare facility remain flexible by the following means: 

o                              By offering a price structure based on fee for services rendered: Outsourced medical transcription service providers normally quote prices that are based on the services used by the healthcare facilities, that is based on variables like number of lines, number of reports, number of pages etc., instead of a flat rate. This ensures that healthcare facilities incur expenses limited to the usage of services.

o                              By helping transform fixed costs to variable costs: By outsourcing medical transcription the healthcare facility can convert the fixed cost incurred for in-house transcription to variable costs. Fixed costs like real estate, salaries etc can be avoided.

o                              Enabling increased flexibility in resource management: Outsourcing medical transcription frees up several valuable resources. The healthcare facility is then in a position to utilize these resources for other purposes.

o                              Helping reduce response time to outside changes: In a changing atmosphere it is important for healthcare facilities to be able to respond to changes in a speedy manner. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that valuable resources are free for the healthcare facilities to use while responding to outside changes.

o                              Increase focus on core activities: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the healthcare facilities can focus on their core activity of providing quality care rather than on other associated activities like medical transcription.

o                              Freeing up key employees: Outsourcing medical transcription not only benefits the healthcare professionals but also key employees of the healthcare facility like the support staff, the management staff and the information technology staff to focus on the core business of the healthcare facility.

o                              Increasing speed: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the patient medical records are available to the healthcare professionals and support staff on time. This ensures that the speed of service is also more efficient.

o                              By helping avoid bottlenecks to quicker reimbursements: Outsourcing medical transcription not only reduces direct and indirect costs but also removes bottlenecks that hinder the cash flow. Medical transcription is the first step in the receivables cycle; timely medical transcription ensures that the process of reimbursement can start on time.

However the process of outsourcing medical transcription needs to be approached with caution. Apart from evaluating the medical transcription service provider on the basis of criteria like accuracy, turnaround time and technology used, healthcare facilities need to evaluate the medical transcription service provider on the following additional points: 

1.                             Billing methodology

2.                             Ability to deliver quality by checking on training methods and levels of quality checks used.

3.                             HIPAA/HITECH compliance

4.                             Experience of the medical transcription service provider by checking on references

5.                             Actual capability of the medical transcription service provider by availing a free trial

6.                             Availability of open channels of communication.

Once the medical transcription service provider has been evaluated on all these criteria the healthcare facility can enjoy

immaculate services, which lets them enjoy the benefit of being flexible in an ever-changing competitive environment.

The Medical Transcription Team

In any average sized medical transcription unit one will come across a team of people executing the project. The common hierarchies of people who form the medical transcription team include,

• The Transcriptionist
• Quality Editors (QA)
• Project Administrators

The medical transcriptionist is the front liner, working at the very first stage of making of the transcript. What does the medical transcriptionist do? Well it is his job to listen to the audio tapes and the physician's dictations, type them up, make a transcript and check out its contents. No wonder one of the most preferred skill a transcriptionist should have is the active listening skill besides the knowledge to understand all the technical details that is being talked about. All major flaws, if any, have to be identified at this stage itself. The quality of a professional medical transcriptionist is graded based on the on the quantity/quality of transcript produced by him.

The work is now passed on by the transcriptionist to the next level that consists of quality editors. What do the quality editors do? Well as the name suggests, the quality editors have to edit the medical transcript, which means, looking out for finer errors (such as spelling mistakes, incorrect words and proper formatting). The QA has to make sure that the transcript is ready for release to the client via the Project leaders/administrator.

Medical transcription outsourcing: Supporting information management

Information has become the key to success for most businesses today. Healthcare is no different; the process depends on correct and timely information to be able to provide vital services.  In fact the healthcare process starts with collection of data from patients, which includes both demographical, and health related inputs. This data needs to be processed to be converted into usable information for various purposes like clinical decision-making, receivable management and risk management.

Medical transcription is one of the methods that help convert the data collected by healthcare professionals and other support staff into information in a textual format. Due to the way medical transcription functions intuitively to support healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities, it has been found to be one of the most preferred methods of documenting the care process. As medical transcription is a specialized process requiring the right team, the right technology and the right process to meet the required standards, outsourcing transcription to a professional medical transcription company has been found to be a viable option.

Outsourcing medical transcription is not only a viable option in economic terms as it results in cost savings but also aids in information management. Given below are some of the information management areas that outsourcing transcription services aid in:

Data collection: The process of medical transcription starts with the collection of data from the patients. Outsourced medical transcription service providers aid in this by allowing healthcare professionals and other support staff to retain dictation as a means of collecting data and further help them by allowing them to use dictation devices of their choice.

Processing the data into usable information: This data is transmitted for transcription by expert medical transcriptionists using multiple quality checks to ensure maximum accuracy. Medical transcription companies use  well-trained teams and stringent quality processes to ensure quality.

Improving quality of information: Medical transcription companies also help in improving the quality of information to acceptable levels when healthcare professionals use speech recognition software as means of recording their findings on the patient encounter by providing editing and proofreading services.

Information distribution:  Once the patient medical records are transcribed with maximum accuracy and within the promised turnaround time, this information is transmitted to the healthcare facility using HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels to ensure security. Transcripts are delivered in the manner specified by the healthcare professional for maximum convenience with options like electronic signature, delivery to specific folders, remote printing & faxing, delivery to multiple healthcare professionals etc. for maximum convenience.

Information management: Medical transcription service providers help in managing information by archiving these records on a periodical basis and enabling search of older transcripts using various criteria. Transcription providers also aid in adoption of EMR/ EHR using HL7 interface.

Outsourcing medical transcription to a professional and technologically savvy medical transcription company can help healthcare facilities in various aspects of information management.