Medical transcription: Checklist for outsourcing

Medical transcription services have aided the healthcare process by creating accurate, timely and secure patient medical records of the patient– healthcare professional encounter. The information from patient medical records provides valuable support in various aspects of the healthcare facility operations including clinical decision making, risk management and managing the receivables cycle. As medical transcription requires concentrated inputs in the form of the right teams, the right technology and a stringent process to produce optimum results, outsourcing the entire medical transcription process has been found to be an effective solution.

Outsourcing medical transcription has the additional advantage of bringing down the cost of transcription substantially and the healthcare facilities & healthcare professionals benefit from the software and tools used by the medical transcription service provider. However considering that medical transcription services are not a one-time occurrence but are required on a continuous basis, the process for outsourcing medical transcription needs to be approached with concern.

The first step of outsourcing medical transcription would be to source medical transcription service providers and assess them on basic criteria like

• Experience
• References
• HIPAA compliance
• Use of subcontractors

The next step would be to assess the medical transcription service provider on the basis of their capacity to meet the following criteria:

• Accuracy
• Turnaround time
• Easy to use technology
• Pricing

Once the medical transcription service provider has been evaluated on these criteria, the next step would be to avail a free trial of services and make a checklist elaborating the scope of services, this should include:

• Modes of dictation
• Provision for upload of audio files
• Steps involved in transcription including quality processes
• The formats/ templates used
• Guidelines specifying transcription style
• Policy for blanks
• System for monitoring work in progress
• Modes of document delivery
• Provision for delivery to specified folder
• Provision for delivery of reports to more than one healthcare professional
• Provision for electronic signature
• HL7 interface

Making a checklist of the expectations from the outsourcing process can help the make the transition to using outsourced medical transcription services seamless. Actually having the expectations listed out makes the actual services easier to assess.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has been providing medical transcription services to some of the leaders in the healthcare sector for over a decade. TransDyne:

• Can provide the references of their customers
• Has provisions in place that ensure that confidential patient information is protected throughout the entire transcription process
• Believes in executing all medical transcription work in-house
• Offers services with an accuracy of above 99% using specialty trained medical transcriptionists and a rigorous quality assurance process.
• Offers a turnaround time of 24 hours, along with other flexible turnaround time options for STAT files
• Has technology that provides maximum benefits while still being easy to use
• Offers reasonable price using a verifiable, measurable, definable, consistent, fair and honest billing method
• The software and tools used by TransDyne offer numerous benefits that ease the working life of healthcare professionals and other support staff at the healthcare facility.

To avail complete medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here