Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Medical Transcription outsourcing: Can improve the receivables cycle of a healthcare facility.

Timely Medical Transcription could actually accelerate the flow of receivables of a healthcare facility!

At the end of the day it is the goal of every enterprise whether in the healthcare business or otherwise to shorten the flow of payments cycle and receive payments sooner. In the case of a healthcare facility this becomes imperative for survival.

Once the patient has visited, diagnosed and treated or further references/tests ordered, essentially the healthcare part of the visit ends and the business side starts. Records have to be created of the whole process so that it can be further processed for coding and billing and finally for insurance claims.

The receivable cycle begins with the creation of timely and accurate records. This is where the outsourcing of medical transcription can really speed up the process. By handing over the medical transcription process to a service provider who is an expert in the process, more time and resources are freed up, which can be used to concentrate on the core business of healthcare.

Not only does medical transcription play an important role in the receivables cycle, it also plays an important role in other areas such as:

Patient treatment: The information transcribed from the initial patient-healthcare professional encounter forms a foundation for future treatment, This forms the basis of any follow-up healthcare, has references to the drugs prescribed, allergies and other pertinent information.

Statutory requirements: The information regarding a patient needs to be maintained for a period of 5 years.

Evidence in litigation: In case of malpractice suits medical records form a part of the evidence.

Referrals: In case further treatment is needed based on the present diagnosis these records form the basis of referrals to specialists for further treatment.


The medical transcription service provider needs to be assessed on the basis of the following:

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 service provider being outsourced to should be HIPAA/HITECH compliant. The medical transcription service provider 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

Technology: The technology used by the medical transcription service provider should not only secure but should also be easy to use, without having to require extensive training.

Once a medical transcription service provider has been evaluated on all these characteristics, the healthcare facility can finalize on a company offering all the benefits and rest easy on the first stage of its’ receivables cycle.

TransDyne offers all the above benefits of outsourcing the medical transcription needs. To avail the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne, click here

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