Quality medical transcription at low costs

There is a saying that goes something like this “You get what you pay for”. It implies that one can get quality products/services only if the price is high. But this is not the case with medical transcription; it is possible to get great quality at very low rates. Sounds counterintuitive but it is true.

These are times when healthcare facilities are tightening their belts as much as possible, it makes business sense to keep the organizational structure lean and avail of outsourcing services for non-core activities.

Medical transcription plays an important role in the delivery of quality healthcare. To this end it is important to source a medical transcription service provider, which can deliver both quality and reasonable prices.

What is quality of medical transcription?

Quality/ accuracy in medical transcription refers to the accuracy of the final transcript viz. a viz. the audio file.

How to evaluate methods used for ensuring quality?

· Careful selection of medical transcriptionists: Since medical transcription is a manpower-based process, the quality of medical transcriptionists has a direct impact on the accuracy of reports. It is important to focus on a company that selects its employees through a stringent screening process.

· Training methods used: Training plays an important role in preparing the medical transcriptionists to produce transcripts of the highest accuracy. A company, which focuses on training their medical transcriptionist in one or two specialties of medicine rather than generic training, would be preferable. This would ensure that the quality of transcripts produced would be high from the very beginning.

· Quality control process: Check the method used by the service provider to provide accurate transcripts. An intense process involving checks at every level would ensure that errors are minimized.

· In house medical transcription: To ensure that quality transcripts are delivered, it is vital to ensure that the service provider executes the work in-house not through vendors. This would ensure that the service provider has total control over the quality control process.

What is low cost?

Low cost of transcription means that the cost per line of transcription should be lower than the current cost. Cost per line should be defined clearly with no additional or hidden costs

How can low cost be ensured?

· Fair billing method: The billing method used by the service provider can have a direct impact on the cost per line. The definition of cost should be verifiable, definable, measurable, consistent, fair and honest.

· Economies of scale: The service provider being specialist in medical transcription can pass on the benefits of economies of scale, which the healthcare facility may not have doing the medical transcription in-house.

· Use of technology: The use of advanced technology by the service provider can cut down logistics cost making it possible for them to deliver excellent service at low costs.

TransDyne is a medical transcription service provider, which believes in ensuring quality by recruiting the best talent through rigorous screening, training them to be domain specialists, applying a four level quality check process and executing all the medical transcription work in-house.

TransDyne ensures low cost per line of transcription using a fair and easy method of billing, passing on the benefits of economies of scale to the customers and uses technology that makes the medical transcription process easy and cost effective.

Medical transcription: Strategies for outsourcing

What is the strategy to be adopted for outsourcing medical transcription?

1. Identify healthcare process: This will show the healthcare facility the flow of work and identify processes that can be outsourced and those, which are to be retained in-house.

The typical workflow for healthcare would be as follows:

· Appointment by patient to visit doctor/emergency visit
· Filling up of demo forms
· Doctor visit
· Dictation of notes
· Medical transcription
· Medical coding
· Medical billing
· Insurance claims processing
· Re-imbursement
· Follow up of payment over and above insurance re-imbursement.

This flow clearly shows that the first four tasks cannot be outsourced but other tasks like medical transcription can be outsourced.

2. Assess the feasibility of outsourcing medical transcription

a. Can medical transcription be executed outside the healthcare facility premises?
With the advent of Internet, it is possible for medical transcription to be executed outside the physical premises of the healthcare facility.

b. Are there any security implications to outsourcing medical transcription?
Security of confidential patient health information has to be ensured. Care has to be taken to make sure that the medical transcription service provider is HIPAA complaint and covered under a business associate agreement.

c. Can medical transcription be tailor made to match the requirements of the healthcare facility?
The needs of different healthcare facilities is different, care has to be taken to source a medical transcription service provider who can cater to different volumes, formats and specialties and according to the turnaround time specified.

d. Can the medical transcription service provider’s performance be monitored?
The performance of a medical transcription service provider can be monitored in terms of accuracy and turnaround time.

3. Sourcing medical transcription service provider
a. Cost: This is perhaps one of the most criteria for outsourcing, Care has to be taken that the cost per line of transcription parameters are understood completely before comparing quotes.

b. Turnaround time: Turnaround time is an important factor that affects both the healthcare and profitability aspect of the healthcare facility.

c. Availability of talent pool: To make sure that a service provider can provide continuous and consistent service it is important to evaluate the talent pool available to the service provider.

d. Risks: This refers both to the risk of poor quality as well as security of information. To mitigate this,  assurances of quality level and the security measures taken by the service provider need to be evaluated

4. What is the value proposition of outsourcing medical transcription?
a. Speed: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures the speedy creation of medical records under all circumstances.

b. Profit increase: Outsourcing medical transcription brings down the cost per line of transcription and improves the bottom line. It also helps increase profits by shortening the receivables cycle.

c. Increased process efficiency: Outsourcing medical transcription increases the efficiency of the healthcare process by making information available to the healthcare professionals on time.

d. Improved Management focus: Outsourcing medical transcription improves the management focus by freeing up valuable resources like real estate, supervisory staff, capital investment etc.

Outsourcing to TransDyne can provide all the strategic advantages to the healthcare facility. TransDyne is a professionally managed medical transcription service provider that offers quality 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!

Medical transcription:A necessity or luxury?

To assess whether medical transcription is a necessity or luxury one needs to look at the history of medical transcription and the role it plays in the provision of quality care and the profitability of a healthcare facility.

· Evolution of medical transcription: Medical transcription is process of creating records of patient-healthcare professional encounter. Creation of records of the patient encounter has been around for a long time. Over time medical transcription has evolved from its’ early stages due to the advance of technology and the Internet. The various stages of evolution that medical transcription has gone through are as follows:

Ø Hand written notes
Ø Dictation-shorthand-typing on the manual typewriter
Ø Dictation- recording on tapes- transcribing on manual/electronic typewriter.
Ø Uploading dictation on the computer system, downloading, transcribing and uploading finished files and then transmission back to the healthcare professional through the use of Internet.

· Role of medical transcription: Medical transcription has always played a behind the scene role in the form of an essential support to the process of healthcare. Medical transcription plays an important role in the following:

Ø Recording the patient-healthcare professional encounter
Ø Referrals/ tests
Ø Statutory requirement
Ø Insurance re-imbursement
Ø Evidence in case of litigation
Ø As part of patient medical history.

One can see that medical transcription plays an important role in the core business of a healthcare facility and its’ profitability. It would be considered a necessary service rather than a luxury.

How can this necessary function of medical transcription be made economical and efficient?

Medical transcription can be made economical and efficient by outsourcing to a professionally managed company, which needs to be evaluated on the following:

· Quality/accuracy: Quality of the transcribed document refers to the percentage of accuracy in the transcribed document viz. a viz. the audio files. Accuracy level assured by the medical transcription service provider should be as close to 100% as possible.

· Turnaround time: Turnaround time refers to the period between uploading the audio file to the time when the finished record is made available to the healthcare professional. A turnaround time of 24 hours with quicker turnaround time options for STAT reports would be considered reasonable.

· Data security: Security of confidential patient data is an important consideration. This becomes even more critical when the data is transmitted back and forth. Any prospective medical transcription service provider needs to be critically evaluated in terms of the measures taken by them to ensure security of data.

· Price: Cost savings per line of transcription is perhaps one of most important considerations for outsourcing medical transcription needs. The pricing provided by the medical transcription service provider needs to be reasonable and the terms of pricing should be easy to understand.

· Volume flexibility: It is not possible to predict the volume of patient inflow. Therefore it is not possible to predict the volume of medical transcription work required. A medical transcription service provider needs to be evaluated on the basis of their ability to cope up with varying volumes and factors like weekend and holiday transcription requirements.

· Right use of technology: Technology plays an important part in the medical transcription process. It can make the process simpler, quicker and safer by providing easy methods of capturing dictation, uploading files, downloading completed records and even for archiving of patient records. Tracing the information required can be made easier through the use of technology. The medical transcription service provider should be evaluated on the use of technology in the medical transcription process.

· Billing methods: The billing method used by the medical transcription service provider can have a direct impact on the profitability of the healthcare facility. The billing method needs to explained at the beginning of the process. The billing method should be evaluated to ensure that it is, verifiable, definable, measurable, consistent and fair & honest.

· Success stories: Success stories or testimonials of satisfied customers can give the added comfort to the decision making process.

TransDyne offers medical transcription with an accuracy of above 99%

TransDyne assures a turnaround time of 24 hours with an option of 4-12 hours for STAT reports.

TransDyne ensures security of data by securing technology, processes and people.

TransDyne offers a reasonable and fair price by charging 10 cents per line, which is calculated by using the character line pricing method.

TransDyne maintains a large, well-trained team of medical transcriptionists, which enables them to cope with varying volumes

TransDyne offers medical transcription services by using the latest technology that is advanced and easy to use.

TransDyne uses the character line billing method that is verifiable, definable, measurable, consistent and fair & honest

TransDyne has the testimonials of their success stories available for viewing on their website.

Medical transcription outsourcing;Data security

There have been serious doubts about data security while outsourcing medical transcription. The case of Lubna Baloch from Pakistan who threatened to expose confidential data over the Internet for non-payment for services rendered has been used as an argument against outsourcing. It is understandable that situations like this are worrisome and very traumatic for all parties concerned. But can this be cited as a case against outsourcing? To answer that question one needs to look at the case in question in great detail.

 The chain of events that led to the event in question needs to be examined in detail:

 UCSF medical Center outsourced it medical transcription work to

¯

Sausalito’s Transcription Stat, who outsourced it to

¯

15 contractors throughout the country

¯

One of the 15 contractors named Sonya Newburn further subcontracted the work to

¯

Tom Spires who subcontracted to

¯

Lubna Baloch

It can clearly be seen that the healthcare facility originally outsourcing its’ medical transcription needs had no idea as to who is actually doing their work. Even the medical transcription service provider who was under contract with them had no control over the end transcriber. The lesson to be learnt from this situation is that while outsourcing the medical transcription needs of a healthcare facility, care should be taken to ensure to choose a medical transcription service provider that does not use sub contractors for executing the work. Due diligence on the working methods of the medical transcription service provider should be carried out; care should be taken at the time of drafting the contract to ensure that the “no sub contractor clause” is included.

TransDyne is one company, which believes it is their privilege to be serving their customers’ needs in the best way possible. So any work outsourced to TransDyne, is executed by their own team of trained Medical Transcriptionists, than by the use of subcontractors or home transcriptionists.

Apart from ensuring that the data never leaves the premises physically, TransDyne ensures Data security of Medical Transcription by incorporating security measures like 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security, safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers, denial of access procedure and multi modal alerts.

Further security is ensured by manned security at entry and exit points, surveillance cameras, disallowance of any removable storage devices and limited access of systems and information on a need to know basis. The people working on the transcription have also been educated on the importance of being HIPAA compliant.  Undertakings have been taken from the personnel to further ensure confidentiality.

 Choosing a professional and committed medical transcription service provider like TransDyne would ensure that the healthcare facility would enjoy not only the cost saving benefits of outsourcing and the knowledge that patient data confidentiality is maintained but also the other benefits of outsourcing like:

1.      Reducing capital investment with regards to medical transcription

2.      Managing fluctuating transcription report volumes and staffing issues for holidays and weekends.

3.      Reducing management expenses towards medical transcription

4.      Reduce human resources expenses connected to medical transcription

5.      Reduce direct labor cost

6.      Reduce It expenses

7.      Reduce real estate cost pertaining to medical transcription

8.      Improve information access

9.      Improve turnaround time

10. Shorten the receivables cycle

11. Concentrate on core business

12. Take advantage of a single source solution

 To know more about the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne click here

Medical transcription: Easy access to archives

The field of medicine is constantly evolving at all levels. There have been advances in the methods of diagnosis, the techniques used for testing as well as the drugs and treatment prescribed. One thing that has not changed over time is the need for accurate and timely information by healthcare professionals to provide quality healthcare.

Along with the evolution of healthcare field medical transcription has also evolved a long way from hand written notes to creation of medical records in an electronic form that can be accessed at the click of a button.

Outsourcing medical transcription needs can go a long way in easing the burden of making accurate information available to a healthcare professional on a timely manner.

What role does technology play in medical transcription?

Technology plays an important role in the process of medical transcription. Technology helps speed up the process at every level.

· Dictation: Technology plays a major role in providing healthcare professionals flexible options like digital recorders, mobile phones or any other method with which they are familiar with for recording their dictation, which allows them to make the best use of their time.

· Upload of audio files: Upload of audio files, which have been stored in the system, can be done automatically by having a system, which uploads these files at pre-determined intervals automatically.

· Transmission of data: Technology plays an important part in making sure that the data remains secure during transmission by use of encryption and firewalls.

· Transcription: The actual transcription process also required technology like word documents, formats etc.

· Downloading transcribed files at the healthcare facility: Once the files have been transcribed these need to downloaded at the healthcare facility end. These files are then distributed, saved and printed as per requirement.

· Archives: Archiving of records and easy access to these records is probably one of the most important use of technology. This makes the process of following up dictated files, finished files and access to archived reports very easy and timely.

Before outsourcing the medical transcription needs the medical transcription service provider also needs to be assessed on various factors like:

· Accuracy: This means the percentage of accuracy of the completed transcripts vis-à-vis what was dictated. A minimum of 99% and above would be acceptable.

· Turnaround time: Turnaround time refers to the time taken to revert the transcribed report to the healthcare facility. A Turnaround time of not more than 24 hours for normal reports and 4-12 hours for STAT reports would be considered ideal.

· Data security: The Company being outsourced to should be HIPAA compliant. The Medical Transcription Company has to have adequate security measures to ensure that the confidential data transmitted back and forth is safe and secure.

· Pricing: This is one of the main benefits that a healthcare facility hopes to have, from the outsourcing option. Pricing should be fair and reasonable for the services rendered. Pricing method should also be transparent and simple so that both parties can verify the same at any stage of the process

TransDyne has a Web Delivery System that addresses all problems associated with tracking dictations, receiving documents, and accessing old records. Some of the features offered by this system are:

· User profile: Multiple users can access this system. Access can be limited according to requirements. A single user may have access to documents of multiple providers.

· Inbox: This shows the list of documents that have been newly delivered. User may save or print these documents. Once this has been done the documents are not longer displayed here.

· QC hold: This holds the documents where some blanks have been left due to various reasons. The concerned healthcare professional may view the documents here and make the necessary changes.

· Powerful archival and search options: Once logged into the Web Delivery System the user can search for documents based on different criteria like Date of service, Date of dictation, patient name or healthcare professional name ore a combination of any these criteria. This system makes it easy to access data, which are several months old within seconds.

Medical transcription: What makes good services exceptional?

Outsourcing medical transcription can be a mind-boggling exercise. It not only involves extensive analysis of the healthcare facility, but once this is done it also entails careful and detailed examination of the options available. On the face of it this could seem like fairly simple and straightforward exercise.

The process of analyzing the options available becomes complicated due to the following reasons:

· Varying needs of a healthcare facility could comprise of the following:

1. Different specialties requiring different report formats, turnaround time etc
2. Unpredictable inflow of patients, causing medical transcription needs to vary.
3. Weekend and holiday medical transcription requirements
4. Flexible options required for expansion plans
5. Integration with existing systems.
6. Healthcare professionals wanting to retain their current dictation modes.
7. EMR adoption

· A medical transcription service provider needs to be evaluated on the following:

1. Quality/Accuracy: The quality of the transcribed document refers to the percentage of accuracy in the transcribed document viz. a viz. the audio files.

2. 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

3. Price: Pricing refers to the price per line of transcription

4. Security: Security refers to the means by which the medical transcription company protects confidential patient data during transmission and during the transcription process.

However these are just the basic criteria for evaluating a medical transcription company, a healthcare facility needs to look for qualities that make a medical transcription company exceptional.

The qualities that make a good medical transcription service exceptional are as follows:

· Billing method used: Billing methods used by the medical transcription service provider have a direct effect on the bottom line of the healthcare facility. Billing methods vary from charging for a page, a gross line a report or that of a character line. The billing method used by the medical transcription company needs to verifiable, measurable, definable, consistent and fair & honest.

TransDyne uses the 65-character line method of billing, which is approved by  AHDI. Care is taken to explain the billing methodology at the beginning so that there is no ambiguity.

· Quality assessment methods used: The quality of the transcribed document is measured by the percentage of accuracy of information transcribed. Minimum or zero error means that the records of patients reflect the correct information. This is critical for the ability to give quality care. A medical transcription company needs to be assessed by the methods used for achieving accuracy to assess its’ ability to achieve promised accuracy levels

TransDyne offers transcription with accuracy of 99% or above. TransDyne ensures quality by adopting a four level quality check of Medical Transcriptionist, language proofreader, unit in charge and finally by Quality Assurance team which tries to minimize errors before returning the finished reports.

· Training methods used: Training methods used by the medical transcription company has an effect on both the accuracy and the turnaround time.

TransDyne believes that it takes a specialist to take care of special needs. That is why medical transcriptionists here are trained on one or two areas of specialty. This makes them domain experts. This reduces the learning curve and enables them to meet stringent accuracy standards from the very beginning, and they are also able to meet the turnaround time guarantees.

· Technology used: Technology used by the medical transcription company has its impact on ease of use as well as the security of data. Because medical transcription involves the transmission of data, care has to be taken to make that appropriate security measures are in place. Technology can save a lot of time for healthcare professional by including features like flexible modes of dictation, easy upload and download of finished transcripts.

TransDyne ensures security by incorporating security measures like 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security, safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers, denial of access procedure and multi modal alerts.

TransDyne’s system has features like Smart Upload, Smart Delivery and allows for flexible modes of dictation. TransDyne also offers a web delivery system, which offers archiving facilities. TransDyne has HL7 interface for easy integration with EMR

· Flexibility in services: Considering that the needs of healthcare facilities can vary due to various factors, it is important that the medical transcription service provider is flexible and adapts itself to suit varying needs.

TransDyne has experience serving all types of healthcare facilities by offering services that are tailor made to suit their unique needs

· Free trial without obligatory sign up: This is very important to assess the services of a medical transcription company before signing up with them.

TransDyne offers the opportunity to have the benefit of their services for a limited period for free. This enables the healthcare facility to understand the advantages of partnering with TransDyne for their Medical Transcription needs.

Medical transcription: The decision making process for outsourcing

There are several reasons to outsource medical transcription; one of the main reasons is to reduce the burden of non-healthcare related work for everybody involved in the running of the healthcare facility.

The decision making process becomes comparatively difficult when the purchase decision involves availing services rather than a tangible physical product. But is the process of evaluation so different?

What are the usual criteria for evaluation for any major purchase and how does it apply while evaluating medical transcription?

· Quality: Quality is perhaps the most important aspect that is evaluated during the purchase process. This becomes very critical while evaluating services as important as medical transcription.

· Quantity: This criterion covers two aspects. The quantity that is required and whether the required quantity can be supplied. Again this aspect is vital to a healthcare facility, as in this case the required quantity cannot be predicted and the medical transcription service provider has to be able to cope with varying needs.

· Right price: Apart from quality and quantity, getting the right price is very important. In case of a healthcare facility looking to outsource medical transcription needs, cost is perhaps the main driver for the outsourcing decision.

· Reliability: In any purchase decision the product/service needs to be reliable. This could mean that the company providing the product/ service should be well established and have the right technology and the right processes in place to provide reliable services.

· Safety: Safety features of the product need to be evaluated before making the final decision. In case of a healthcare facility maintaining safety or security of confidential patient information is mandatory.

· Guarantee: Guarantee for the performance of the product again plays a very important role in the buying decision. In case of a service like medical transcription the guarantee could be both for turnaround time as well the accuracy levels.

· Ease of use: Nobody likes to buy a product that is difficult to use. This applies very much to a healthcare facility looking to outsource medical transcription. Using this service should be made as easy as possible without affecting the security and performance features.

· Robust technology: Technology plays a major role in most products/ services. Technology needs to be robust and consistent to ensure the continuity of services.

· After sales service: This is an oft-ignored factor, which turns out to be a glitch after one has availed of products/services. Continued customer care is a vital factor for smooth transition to outsourced medical transcription.

· Track record: A good track record/reputation of the company with customers who have purchased the products or availed of the services can provide an additional comfort level.

· Well-developed web site: A well developed website could pretty much cover all these factors. When a healthcare facility looks for options to outsource medical transcription, a well-developed web site can cover all these points and also provide additional information regarding the benefits of availing the services from the service provider.

It can be seen that any purchasing decision tends to follow the same procedure, in case of outsourcing services only the evaluation criteria differs. Medical transcription is a critical function for a healthcare facility and it affects both profitability and the core business of providing quality healthcare. Care should be taken to select a company, which fulfils all these criteria.

TransDyne is a leading provider of medical transcription, given below is the analysis that shows that TransDyne more than fulfils all the above criteria:

· Quality: TransDyne offers transcription with an accuracy level of above 99%.

· Quantity: TransDyne has a large pool of qualified and well-trained medical transcriptionists, who can deal with varying volumes of transcription without compromising quality or turnaround time.

· Right price: TransDyne offers medical transcription at reasonable and fair prices using transparent billing method

· Reliability: TransDyne medical transcription service is reliable and consistent. It covers even holiday and weekend requirements.

· Safety: Security of data is ensured at TransDyne by the use of right technology, right process and right infrastructure. TransDyne has educated its’ team on HIPAA regulations to ensure total confidentiality.

· Guarantee: TransDyne offers a guaranteed turnaround time of 24 hours, with an option of 4-12 hours turnaround time for STAT reports. Accuracy levels are guaranteed at 99%

· Ease of use: TransDyne believes that technology should be advanced, but easy to use. That is why it offers flexible modes of dictation, easy upload and web delivery systems that require minimum or no training.

· Robust technology: TransDyne uses robust technology like 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security safeguards, firewall protected networks etc.

· After sales service: TransDyne is available to their customers 24/7 to provide support.

· Track record: TransDyne has an excellent track record of their performance with healthcare facilities of all types. The testimonials of some of these success stories are available at their web site.

· Well-developed web site: TransDyne has a web site, which offers comprehensive information about the company, services and methodology etc.