Medical transcription outsourcing: Helps in managing total quality

The concept of quality in healthcare services can be easily defined for each stakeholder who is involved in the healthcare business. Considering the number of stakeholders in the healthcare process the definition of quality for each segment would vary according to their role in the healthcare process.  One common indisputable thread that binds all the stakeholders in the healthcare process is that of documentation of the care process.  Quality documentation of the care process is essential to fulfill all the diverse and often contradictory demands of all stakeholders.

Medical transcription is the process of documenting the care process by converting the dictation of the patient- healthcare professional encounter into text format. As the medical transcription process requires focused resources in the form of the right team, the right process and the right technology, outsourcing medical transcription would be considered the right solution. Outsourcing medical transcription not only ensures accurate, timely, secure and cost-effective creation of patient medical records but also helps meet the quality inputs required by all the stakeholders in the care process.

Who are the stakeholders in the care process and how do outsourced medical transcription services help in managing the total quality inputs required by the various stakeholders?

The main stakeholders in the care process can be defined as:

Patients: The expectations of the patient from the care process can be summed up as:

1. Quality care
2. Low costs
3. Confidentiality

Outsourced medical transcription services aid in all these aspects by creating accurate and timely patient medical records that reflect the entire patient story. This helps healthcare professionals in clinical decision-making. Outsourced medical transcription also brings down the cost of transcription thus helping reduce costs and protects PHI throughout the entire process of medical transcription by securing technology, infrastructure, people and processes.

 

Healthcare professionals and support staff: The expectations of the healthcare professional can be summed up as:

1. Option to preserve the narrative portion of the patient encounter
2. Option to retain familiar modes of dictation
3. Customized turnaround time options
4. Reports in preferred formats/ templates
5. Delivery of transcripts through the specified modes
6. Adoption of EMR/ EHR without major changes in working style

Outsourced medical transcription services provide support using technology that provides all these benefits while still being easy to use. This helps healthcare professionals and support staff avail all the benefits of technology while still maximizing their focus and productivity. Features like archives, web based delivery, HL7 interface etc help in fulfilling the expectations of healthcare professionals

The management of the healthcare facility: The expectations of the healthcare facility management can be summed up as:

1. Reducing costs
2. Protection against litigation
3. Reduce the cost of overheads
4. Quickening reimbursements

Outsourced medical transcription services provide services that help healthcare facilities convert the fixed cost of medical transcription to variable costs thus helping them save on overheads. The detailed patient medical records created by the outsourced medical transcription service provider helps in risk management and receivables management.

 

The other stakeholders in the healthcare process like regulatory authorities, insurance companies and the pharmaceutical sector also benefit from the detailed, accurate, timely, secure and cost effective creation of patient medical records.

 

It can be seen that a professional and technologically savvy medical transcription service provider can help in managing quality at all levels.

 

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

 

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, executed by experienced and qualified medical transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

 

To avail complete medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

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Medical transcription outsourcing: Helping create usable records

The healthcare process tends to be information intensive depending on the right data to arrive at the right course of treatment to be provided. Though this is the primary purpose for documenting the care process the information in patient medical records continues to play a role in numerous aspects of the smooth operations of the healthcare facility. Healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have numerous options available to them for documenting the care process, however it is important to select a method of documentation that blends in well with the working life of healthcare professionals and helps create records that are usable for all purposes for which they are created.

The options available to healthcare professionals to document the care process range from the most primitive form to the most sophisticated means including:

• Handwritten notes
• In house medical transcription team
• Outsourced medical transcription services
• Point and click entry by the healthcare professional at the point of care
• Speech recognition software

 Availing outsourced medical transcription is the option best suited to the working style of healthcare professionals, the budgetary constraints of healthcare facilities, the varied documentation needs of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities etc as it is the method that meets all the usability criteria required of patient medical records.

 

What are the purposes of patient medical records and how do outsourced medical transcription services help meet these purposes?

 

Patient medical records are created as a means of recording the patient- healthcare professional encounter. The information from these patient medical records are used for various purposes including:

• Means of interaction: The patient medical records reflect the entire medical history of the patient and this helps in fruitful interaction with the patient and his/ her family. Medical transcription ensures that patient medical records are created with maximum detail in an accurate manner using a combination of skilled medical transcriptionists and a stringent process. Moreover outsourced medical transcription service providers encourage healthcare professionals to use dictation as a method of collecting the information. Healthcare professionals prefer dictation using familiar modes to record the patient encounter, as this helps them optimize their time and helps in recording the narrative portion of the patient record, which plays a vital role in the care process.
• Accountability: As healthcare is an important service requiring quality inputs from various healthcare professionals it is important that the patient medical record take note of this and reflect the origin of the care process as well as all the participants of the care process. Patient medical records created by the medical transcription process clearly reflect all the healthcare professionals that are part of the care process
• Legal requirements: A well-created patient medical record is not only mandatory for the care process but also fulfils statutory requirements and is a part of risk management. Medical transcription ensures that patient medical records are created by recording all the nuances of the narrative and details of the care process in a timely and accurate manner
• Quality and feedback: Patient medical records are also used as a means of assessing quality of care and providing feedback. Patient medical records created using outsourced medical transcription service providers reflect all the details required for this purpose
• Research: Often new drugs or procedures are used for which detailed records are to be maintained in an easily accessible manner. Outsourced medical transcription service providers ensure detailed medical records are created and are easily accessible by archiving records and enabling search using different criteria.
• Receivables management: Patient medical records not only aid in all above-mentioned area, but timely medical transcription can also help enhance the receivables management.

It can be concluded that outsourced medical transcription services help create patient medical records that meet usability criteria.

 

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

 

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, executed by experienced and qualified medical transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

 

To avail complete and reliable medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

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Medical transcription outsourcing: Creating synergies using operational expertise

In the modern world the importance of healthcare services is undeniable. Healthcare services are vital in life and death emergency situation and   play an important role in improving the quality of life. It becomes imperative for healthcare facilities to operate with maximum efficiency providing quality services while still maintaining profitability and meeting statutory obligations. Due to the sensitive nature of healthcare it becomes vital for healthcare facilities to focus on proper documentation for various purposes including clinical decision-making, referrals, billing, risk management, administration and statutory obligations.

The care process can be documented using various options like point and click templates by the healthcare professionals, using speech recognition software, having an in-house medical transcription department or outsourcing to a professional medical transcription service provider. As documenting the care process requires specific inputs in the form of skilled personnel, technology, efficient processes and allocation of space & other resources to meet all the quality criteria required, outsourcing medical transcription has been found to be one of the most efficient, effective and economic solutions.

Moreover outsourced medical transcription services create synergies with the healthcare facility by providing access to their considerable resources and operational expertise. This essentially provides healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals access to a wealth of resources in the form of skilled personnel and advanced technology without having to deploy massive investment outlays.

Some of the synergies that result due to medical transcription outsourcing are:

Easy volume management: One of the main impediments to the efficient running of an in-house medical transcription department is the inability to predict medical transcription needs on any given day as this is purely dependent on the influx of patients, which cannot be predicted. Outsourcing medical transcription helps healthcare facilities manage varying volumes of medical transcription requirements without adversely affecting quality or price.

Benefits of best practices established by the service provider: As medical transcription is the core business of the service provider, the service provider would have best practices in place to ensure quality transcription in terms of recruitment, training, quality assurance etc. By outsourcing medical transcription the healthcare facility and healthcare professional can enjoy the benefits of best practices established by the service provider.

Software and tools for medical transcription: The process of medical transcription has evolved into a convenient and sophisticated service using technology. By outsourcing medical transcription healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have access to software and tools used by the medical transcription service provider without having to make enormous investments in acquiring and updating the right technology

Access to other skilled personnel: Though the process of quality medical transcription is heavily dependent on quality medical transcriptionists it also requires other personnel like managerial and administrative staff to run efficiently. By outsourcing medical transcription healthcare facilities gain access to these resources too with regard to medical transcription.

Helpful in planning: Outsourcing medical transcription essentially adds to the resources and workforce of the healthcare facility without adding on substantially to the costs of the healthcare facility. Having a partner for their medical transcription needs helps healthcare facilities to plan and deploy their resources strategically to gain maximum returns.

Having the right medical transcription service provider as a strategic partner provides access to the teams and the operational expertise of the medical transcription service provider resulting in synergy that produces more than expected outcomes and efficiencies.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has used their extensive background in information technology and their experience in serving the needs of the healthcare sector to provide affordable and integrated medical transcription solutions.

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, executed by experienced and qualified medical transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA and HITECH compliant channels, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

To avail complete and reliable medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Read More