Outsourcing medical transcription is a prudent business decision and helps the healthcare facility focus totally on their core business while providing the right support. However the outsourcing decision is not one to be taken lightly and needs a thorough analysis of what the healthcare facility hopes to gain from the outsourcing decision. To make sure that everybody in the healthcare facility is comfortable with the outsourcing decision it is important for the healthcare facility to ask itself some questions:
1. Is this activity part of the core business of the healthcare facility? Creating patient medical records is not part of the core business of a healthcare facility though it does play an important role in the operational and commercial aspects of a healthcare facility. It is a specialized skill requiring a combination of the right team, the right technology and process to be able to meet the criteria of being accurate, timely, secure and cost effective.
2. How much is it costing currently? Having this activity in-house could be costing the healthcare facility more than what they originally would have estimated. While calculating cost of in-house transcription factors like these should be taken into consideration:
* Overheads
* Allocation of management & administration staff for managing in house creation of patient transcripts
* Wastage of resources during slack times
* Overtime pay during excess inflow of work
* Extra pay for weekend and holiday transcription
3. What are the other resources being used? In-house medical transcription could also involve usage of resources like secretaries, Information Technology staff, capital equipment etc.
4. What are the accuracy levels and turnaround time of transcripts? In-house creation of patient medical records could result in varied levels of accuracy due to the varying volumes of transcription. The accuracy levels could be high when volumes are low and low when volumes are high. The turnaround time could also similarly vary depending on the volume of transcription. The turnaround time being shorter during slack periods and vice versa during periods with high volumes.
5. Is it important to retain this activity in-house? There are certain factors like concerns for security of the data that could be a hurdle to the outsourcing decision. Choosing a service provider with measures in place to secure people, processes and technology can eliminate security concerns and remove any hurdles to the outsourcing process.
6. What are the alternate options available? Healthcare facilities have the option of outsourcing their overflow transcription needs to a combination of independent contractors or professional transcription vendors. This could however result in the healthcare facility having to put in more efforts to coordinate this function from various resources. The easy fix to ensure that transcripts are created in a timely, accurate, secure and cost effective manner is to outsource the whole activity on a turnkey basis to a professional service provider
7. What is the cost of outsourcing? Outsourcing ensures that the cost of transcription is restricted to the cost per line of transcription. Initially the healthcare facility may have to have a minimum outlay towards finalizing the service provider and adapting to the technology used by the service provider.
8. What are pitfalls of outsourcing medical transcription? The common pitfalls while outsourcing a function as vital as this is the fear of poor quality and security concerns. Another major concern is that the price quoted by the service provider may have hidden costs. Both these concerns can be overcome by choosing a service provider who has the right team in place to meet quality concerns, has adequate measures in place to ensure total security and uses a billing method that is measurable, verifiable, definable, consistent and fair& honest.
9. What is the value addition in outsourcing? Outsourcing medical transcription provides the healthcare facility with many value added services like technology that offers multiple benefits like different modes of document delivery, archives making it easy to trace transcripts in different stages, specialty medical transcription etc.
10. What about the transition to outsourced services? Transition from in-house transcription to outsourced services can be eased when the service provider has open channels for customer service. This would enable the service provider to solve minor issues as and when they crop up.
11. What about existing investments in EMR? Existing investments is EMR/EHR can be protected if the medical transcription service provider has the capability for HL7 interface enabling data to be transmitted to the EMR/EHR system.
12. What are the options available to capture dictation? This is a main concern for time starved healthcare professionals, this concern can be overcome by choosing a service provider who allows the healthcare professionals to retain their familiar modes for capturing dictation.
The process of outsourcing medical transcription can become easier by choosing a service provider who alleviates these fears/doubts that may rise during the outsourcing process.
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Showing posts with label medical transcription outsourcing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medical transcription outsourcing. Show all posts
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Future of Medical Transcription
With the demand for quality medical transcription services rising, medical transcription (MT) outsourcing jobs seem to have a bright and secure future. Medical transcription is the most outsourced job in the healthcare industry and is provided with the aim of reducing both time and cost factors involved in the daily documenting of patient details. As the healthcare industry in the United States is closely associated with insurance firms, time-bound processing of patient records is essential for the smooth functioning of both healthcare and insurance firms.
Almost all US based healthcare facilities find medical transcription outsourcing to be highly beneficial and these services have now become an integral part of their daily functioning. By outsourcing these jobs, healthcare providers can concentrate more on providing better infrastructure and facilities for patients and have to worry less about hiring and training medical transcriptionists. With most transcription facilities functioning according to HIPAA regulations, all patient records remain secure, confident and safe.
To produce good quality patient records, most of these healthcare firms have employed highly skilled and experienced professionals in medical transcription, and their skills and knowledge play a key role in the success of these transcription firms. For new recruits, professional training is being given to achieve higher accuracy levels demanded by the industry. With the help of in-house language experts and proofreaders, most processed patient documents maintain high accuracy levels of up to 99%.
Now both established as well as new entrants in the healthcare industry including hospitals, clinics and private practitioners are aware of the benefits of medical transcription outsourcing and hence are moving towards these services. Most MT providers offer related services such as medical coding and medical billing for their healthcare clients.
India and Philippines are two emerging powers in the medical transcription field and are set to become the hub of future medical transcription jobs. The availability of a vast pool of graduates who are computer-literate and fluent in English and the turnaround time of 24 hrs for submitting assignments, are factors working in favor of the growth of medical transcription firms in these countries.
Right from its initial stages, the medical transcription industry has been undergoing revolutionary changes regarding the equipments and technologies used. From the initial typewriters and Dictaphone transcribers to high end computers, the medical transcription industry is always moving with the latest trends in technology. The quality in operations and the flexibility of the industry in adopting new technologies all ensure that the medical transcription community will have a long and bright future.
Read more..
Almost all US based healthcare facilities find medical transcription outsourcing to be highly beneficial and these services have now become an integral part of their daily functioning. By outsourcing these jobs, healthcare providers can concentrate more on providing better infrastructure and facilities for patients and have to worry less about hiring and training medical transcriptionists. With most transcription facilities functioning according to HIPAA regulations, all patient records remain secure, confident and safe.
To produce good quality patient records, most of these healthcare firms have employed highly skilled and experienced professionals in medical transcription, and their skills and knowledge play a key role in the success of these transcription firms. For new recruits, professional training is being given to achieve higher accuracy levels demanded by the industry. With the help of in-house language experts and proofreaders, most processed patient documents maintain high accuracy levels of up to 99%.
Now both established as well as new entrants in the healthcare industry including hospitals, clinics and private practitioners are aware of the benefits of medical transcription outsourcing and hence are moving towards these services. Most MT providers offer related services such as medical coding and medical billing for their healthcare clients.
India and Philippines are two emerging powers in the medical transcription field and are set to become the hub of future medical transcription jobs. The availability of a vast pool of graduates who are computer-literate and fluent in English and the turnaround time of 24 hrs for submitting assignments, are factors working in favor of the growth of medical transcription firms in these countries.
Right from its initial stages, the medical transcription industry has been undergoing revolutionary changes regarding the equipments and technologies used. From the initial typewriters and Dictaphone transcribers to high end computers, the medical transcription industry is always moving with the latest trends in technology. The quality in operations and the flexibility of the industry in adopting new technologies all ensure that the medical transcription community will have a long and bright future.
Read more..
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Medical Transcription Outsourcing Benefits
Medical transcription is one of the most widely outsourced jobs in the healthcare industry and is adopted as a part of easing the tedious process of medical records documentation. Processing of medical transcription jobs in-house means medical care providers have to invest a lot in terms of time and money for selecting and training the right manpower, apart from installing and maintaining costly infrastructure such as dictation equipments and computers. To keep operating costs low, outsourcing of medical transcription is the preferred choice for most healthcare firms operating in the US and UK.
A key factor that persuades developed economies such as the US to outsource their medical transcription jobs to developing countries such as India and the Philippines is the availability of cheap and qualified labor in these countries. The medical transcription firms in these countries have better infrastructures with backups for labor and internet and are thus capable of providing round-the-clock uninterrupted transcription services. The skills of medical transcriptionists in these countries include a better understanding of the spoken English language. The majority of these professionals have excellent academic qualifications and in-depth awareness of the subject.
Experienced trainers including doctors and language experts serving in medical transcription firms ensure that all their professionals are well trained in understanding medical terminologies including foreign dialects and medical terms. The intensive training provided at these outsourcing companies guarantees quality and speed. To ensure maximum accuracy in transcription jobs, all these transcription facilities have experienced editors and proofreaders. These firms also take special effort to update the knowledge base of their employees so that they are aware of the latest advanced medical treatments and medicines available in the market.
Another major benefit of outsourcing these medical transcription jobs is that backup copies of patient records are always available at the servers of these outsourcing companies and hence it is easier to search and access patient records which are years old. Moreover, these documents can be sent across multiple destinations through the internet so that doctors, regardless of their location can keep in touch with their patients and their medical treatments.
With affordable services being provided in a time-bound manner, all healthcare firms including hospitals, outpatient clinics, long term care facilities, nursing facilities, and individual physicians can now rely on these firms for smooth functioning. Today, most medical transcription providers make available other related services such as medical coding and patient bill processing. Thus with these medical transcription service providers ensuring flexible, fast and economic transcription services, medical care providers can concentrate on their core services and serve the needs of patients much better.
Read more..
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A key factor that persuades developed economies such as the US to outsource their medical transcription jobs to developing countries such as India and the Philippines is the availability of cheap and qualified labor in these countries. The medical transcription firms in these countries have better infrastructures with backups for labor and internet and are thus capable of providing round-the-clock uninterrupted transcription services. The skills of medical transcriptionists in these countries include a better understanding of the spoken English language. The majority of these professionals have excellent academic qualifications and in-depth awareness of the subject.
Experienced trainers including doctors and language experts serving in medical transcription firms ensure that all their professionals are well trained in understanding medical terminologies including foreign dialects and medical terms. The intensive training provided at these outsourcing companies guarantees quality and speed. To ensure maximum accuracy in transcription jobs, all these transcription facilities have experienced editors and proofreaders. These firms also take special effort to update the knowledge base of their employees so that they are aware of the latest advanced medical treatments and medicines available in the market.
Another major benefit of outsourcing these medical transcription jobs is that backup copies of patient records are always available at the servers of these outsourcing companies and hence it is easier to search and access patient records which are years old. Moreover, these documents can be sent across multiple destinations through the internet so that doctors, regardless of their location can keep in touch with their patients and their medical treatments.
With affordable services being provided in a time-bound manner, all healthcare firms including hospitals, outpatient clinics, long term care facilities, nursing facilities, and individual physicians can now rely on these firms for smooth functioning. Today, most medical transcription providers make available other related services such as medical coding and patient bill processing. Thus with these medical transcription service providers ensuring flexible, fast and economic transcription services, medical care providers can concentrate on their core services and serve the needs of patients much better.
Read more..
TSDW5KFT7VPS
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