Medical Transcription Outsourcing: Providing Comprehensive and Economical Services
The healthcare sector is dynamic with constantly changing needs, new developments, new inventions and new discoveries. It is also a sector that has to work under several constraints and strict code of ethics. The constant endeavor of most healthcare facilities is to maintain high standards of service, trying to keep the bottom-line in the black, all this while performing under a strict code of ethics.
The process of healthcare depends on various inputs to be able to deliver quality healthcare. One of the vital ingredients leading to the successful provision of quality healthcare is information from patient records. Medical transcription is the process of creating patient records from the audio records of the healthcare professional’s narration of his/her encounter with the patient. Accurate and timely creation of patient records is not only important for quality healthcare, but also important for receivables management and as evidence in case of litigation.
Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the healthcare facility offers comprehensive and economical solutions for its documentation needs.
How does outsourcing provide comprehensive solutions? Outsourcing medical transcription provides comprehensive solutions for documenting patient-healthcare professional encounters, including:
- Accuracy: It ensures that the patient records are created with maximum accuracy possible. Use of transcriptionists trained to be domain experts and stringent quality checks involving several levels consisting of transcriptionists, proof readers, unit-in charges and the quality check team ensures that more than one set of qualified “ears” listen to the dictation and try to capture the maximum information possible
- Turnaround time: Apart from the accuracy of information in patient records, it is also vital that the information is available to the healthcare professionals on time. Turnaround time commitments are adhered to using the right team, right processes and the right technology
- Specialty transcription: Transcriptionists trained to be specialists in one or two specialties ensure that as new specialties are added to the healthcare facility, there are qualified teams available to provide accurate and timely transcription
- Weekend and Holiday transcription: This ensures that the service is available to the healthcare facilities round the clock, including holiday and weekend requirements
- Coping with varying volumes of transcription requirements: It is impossible to predict the inflow of patients. And documentation requirements are dependent on the inflow of patients. Therefore it is impossible to predict these requirements. Outsourcing ensures that healthcare facilities can rest easy on coping with varying volumes of transcription
- Formats/Templates: Healthcare professionals require patient records in specific formats or templates. Availing specialty services from a professional transcription vendor ensures that the specifications required by the healthcare professionals is taken into consideration
- Archive: Most healthcare facilities support staff and sometimes, healthcare professionals spend an enormous amount of time tracing transcripts. Outsourcing ensures that the transcription provider have archives making it easy to trace and retrieve transcripts
- Flexible modes of dictation: Most healthcare professionals are starved of time, allowing them to retain familiar modes of dictation helps them manage their time better
- Managing document flow: Availing the services of a professional transcription vendor ensures that healthcare professionals and support staff save on time spent on uploading dictation and downloading transcripts by having a system in place that enables all these functions
- Remote printing & faxing: By availing this option also ensures that the healthcare professionals may avail facilities like remote faxing and printing easing their burden
- HL7 Interface: Outsourcing medical transcription also ensures that healthcare facilities can protect their investments in EMR/EHR by HL7 integration
- Security: Protecting confidential patient information is one of the main concerns of healthcare facilities. Availing the services of a HIPAA compliant vendor ensures the security of this information is assured throughout the process by securing people, processes and infrastructure
How is outsourcing economical?
- Lowers cost by more than 40%: Availing this option allows healthcare facilities can save more than 40% on their current costs
- Restricts costs to cost per line: Outsourcing medical transcription also restricts the cost of transcription to the rate per line and ensures that additional expenses like overheads, utilities, management resources, Information technology expenses are curbed.
It can be concluded that outsourcing medical transcription provides a comprehensive and economical solution to the documentation needs of healthcare facilities.
