Healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals have always had to manage varied demands on their limited time and resources to provide quality services while still maintaining a healthy bottom line. The current deadline for adopting EMR/ EHR has added a new dimension to the pressures experienced by the healthcare sector. However the medical transcription sector is one resource that healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities can draw on for support in this transition to EMR/ EHR.
Medical transcription services have always anticipated and served the healthcare documentation needs of the healthcare sector and can continue to play a vital role in this transition to EMR/ EHR. However as professional medical transcription services require expert inputs in terms of the right blend of people, processes and technology, outsourcing medical transcription is a prudent option. However transitioning to outsourced medical transcription services can mean an arduous process of selecting and an initial difficult transition period.
However the process of transitioning to outsourced medical transcription services can be made seamless by following the steps given below:
Analysis: The first step for transitioning to outsourced medical transcription services is a thorough analysis of where the healthcare facility stands right now and the future goals. A simple analysis could involve the following:
- No of healthcare professionals in the healthcare facility
- Specialties of the healthcare professionals
- Current transcription mode
- Dictation modes used currently
- Plans for adopting EMR/ EHR
- Interactions with other healthcare professionals for referrals etc
- Use of speech recognition software
- Volume of transcription required
- Special transcription needs
- Volume of transcription on weekends and holidays
- Current cost of transcription.
A thorough analysis of the current situation would really throw light on the status quo and enable proper planning for future needs.
Listing expected outcomes: This stage of the process is vital in formalizing the expectations of the healthcare facility/ healthcare professionals from the move to outsourced services. This step is vital to ensure proper selection and evaluation of the right medical transcription company as an outsourced partner.
The list of expected outcomes could include:
- Turnaround time options
- Choice of dictation modes
- Acceptable accuracy levels
- Report formats/ templates
- HIPAA and HITECH compliance
- Document delivery modes
- Reasonable pricing
- Editing and proofreading services for speech recognition software transcripts
- Options that enable adoption of EMR/ EHR like structured dictation, structured transcription, discrete reportable transcription etc
- HL7 interface
- 24/7 support.
Selection: The process for selecting a medical transcription company that provides the best fit for needs of the healthcare facility/ healthcare professionals include the following:
- Evaluating the training process: This is an indication of the caliber of the medical transcriptionists, who will be undertaking the actual transcription process. Rigorously trained medical transcriptionists would ensure quality transcription.
- Process for quality: The process adopted by the medical transcription company for ensuring accuracy of the transcripts needs to evaluated to ensure that the medical transcription company has the capacity to delver accurate transcription as promised.
- Technology: Evaluation of the technology used by the medical transcription company needs to be in terms of the benefits provided, the ease of use and the ability to ensure HIPAA & HITECH compliance. Technology support also needs to be evaluated in terms of ability to support adoption of EMR/ EHR.
- Pricing: The price quoted by the medical transcription company needs to be evaluated to ensure that the billing method is verifiable, measurable, definable, consistent fair and honest to ensure savings on cost. Care needs to be taken to ensure that there are no hidden costs.
Trial: Apart from a careful evaluation of the capabilities of the medical transcription company it is important to test the ability of the medical transcription company to deliver services as promised by availing a free trial.
Contract and outsourcing: Once the process of evaluation, selection and free trial is over it is important to evaluate the contract and start the actual process of outsourcing to ensure smooth and seamless transition.
It can be concluded that the secret to ensure smooth transition to outsourced services is to take on a systematic approach that enables proper selection of the right medical transcription company.
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.
Among the software and tools offered by TransDyne for transcription, the smart delivery system has a large role to play in easing the path to EMR/EHR adoption The Smart Delivery system, which has features like User defined folder paths to enable easy imports to EMR systems is the suggested mode of document delivery where pre-defined file saving would help import documents to EMR systems. Apart from this TransDyne also offers discounted rates for those healthcare facilities that provide demographic data entered in the EMR rather than through other modes.
Along with medical transcription services involving multiple level quality checks to ensure accuracy, the use of the right technology for ease of use, turnaround time and security, at reasonable rates, TransDyne also provides discrete reportable transcription for adoption of EMR/ EHR.
To avail complete medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.
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