Monday, January 10, 2011

Medical transcription outsourcing: Improves turnaround time and report accuracy

Outsourcing medical transcription has numerous benefits like reduction in the cost per line of transcription, shortening the accounts receivables cycle, decreasing management expenses and improving utilization of resources that otherwise would have been utilized for medical transcription. But the main benefit of outsourcing medical transcription is that of increasing the accuracy of medical reports and decreasing turnaround time.

How does outsourcing medical transcription affect the accuracy of medical reports?
  • Core business: Medical transcription is the core business of the medical transcription service provider. This helps improve the accuracy level of the finished transcripts because all the resources of the medical transcription service provider are focused towards medical transcription unlike healthcare facilities whose core business is that of providing quality healthcare and medical transcription is just a support service.

  • Superior recruiting and training: The accuracy of the finished transcripts is totally dependent on the caliber of medical transcriptionists. A medical transcription service provider would have a process by which the best talent in the business would constantly be recruited and trained. The medical transcriptionists would not only be trained in the process of general medical transcription, they would also be given specialist training enabling them to become domain experts.  This ensures accuracy of the finished transcripts from the very beginning.

  • Multilevel quality checks: A medical transcription service provider would have several levels of quality checks in place to ensure accuracy of the final transcripts. This would mean that the medical record would be subjected to quality checks by several sets of qualified “eyes and ears” to make sure that errors are minimized.

How does outsourcing medical transcription affect the turnaround time of finished transcripts?

  • Large pool of qualified medical transcriptionists: A medical transcription service provider would have a large pool of trained and qualified personnel who would be able to cope with the varying requirements of healthcare facilities. This would ensure that the turnaround time guarantee is met with in spite of factors like shift changes, absenteeism, weekend & holiday transcription requirements.

  • Use of technology: A professional medical transcription service provider would use advanced technology to meet both the turnaround time and security requirements. This would mean that the healthcare facility could benefit from this technology through improved turnaround time and security without having to make any additional investments.

It can be seen that by outsourcing medical transcription to a professionally managed medical transcription service provider a healthcare facility can benefit not only in terms of cost saving but also through increased accuracy and reduced turnaround time.

TransDyne is a professional medical transcription service provider that guarantees an accuracy level of above 99%. TransDyne focuses on the recruitment of quality medical transcriptionists and provides them with specialty training enabling them to provide quality transcription from the very beginning. TransDyne ensures accuracy by adopting a four level quality check of medical transcriptionist, language proofreader, unit in charge and finally by the Quality Assurance (QA) team which tries to minimize errors before returning the finished reports

TransDyne assures a turnaround time of 24 hours from the time of receipt of the audio. STAT reports have a turnaround time of 4-12 hours.  TransDyne offers fast medical transcription and maintains their turnaround time by maintaining a large pool medical transcriptionists who are trained to their stringent standards. TransDyne has a technologically advanced system that has features like automatic uploads and downloads. These features enable the audio files to be uploaded automatically for transcription and also enable the finished transcripts to be made available automatically, improving turnaround time.
                       
To avail quality medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Medical transcription: Outsourcing the right way!

Outsourcing medical transcription need not be a traumatic and difficult process. The transition to outsourcing can be made easy by the simple process of matching the needs of the healthcare facility to the services provided by the medical transcription service provider.

When it comes to any service there are certain common factors that are absolutely vital. The same criteria can be applied to outsourcing medical transcription services. Normally any service is evaluated based on the following:
  • Quality: In case of medical transcription quality of service denoted the accuracy of the transcribed document in comparison to the audio records
  • Speed: The speed of service in case of medical transcription refers to the turnaround time. The turnaround time required can vary according to the type of services provided by the healthcare facility
  • Consistency: Consistency of service with reference to medical transcription refers to the ability of the medical transcription service provider to provide consistent service no matter what the volumes.
  • Convenience: Convenience in medical transcription services refers to the technology used.  As time is a sparse commodity for healthcare professionals, the technology used for medical transcription should be easy to use without compromising the utility.
  • Flexibility: Flexibility of services in medical transcription refers to both the volumes as well as the modes of dictation.
  • Safety: Safety in medical transcription services refers to the security of confidential patient data at all stages of transcription. For medical transcription services to provide the requisite security care has to be taken to secure people, processes and technology.
  • Location of service: Location of service has lost all importance in this digital era. Medical transcription services can be availed from any location as long as the services meet all standards of accuracy, turnaround time, reasonable costs and security.
  • Investment: Availing services like medical transcription could mean additional investment in certain equipment. Care has to be taken to choose a service provider who can start the services with minimum investment.
  • Cost saving: One of the main benefits that a healthcare facility hopes to have from outsourcing medical transcription is that of enormous cost saving. Pricing has to be studied based on the parameters to make sure that there are no hidden costs.
Once a medical transcription service provider has been evaluated on the following criteria the next stage would involve:
  • Check references: This will provide an additional assurance on the capabilities of the medical transcription service provider to deliver the services as promised.
  • Avail free trial: Availing a free trial period for the services will help healthcare facility experience the service firsthand.
  • Check channels for communication: Any service needs to be backed up by good channels for communication so that any doubts that arise can be clarified instantly. 
TransDyne is a medical transcription service provider having vast experience in medical transcription. TransDyne provides medical transcription with an accuracy level of above 99%, a turnaround time of 24 hours and an option for 4-12 hours for STAT reports, at fair and reasonable prices, through secure channels, all these services are provided with technology that is advanced but easy to use.

TransDyne proudly displays the success stories of some their clients on their website, offers a free trial period for availing their services and has open channels for communication enabling their customers to be in touch with them all the time.

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

Friday, January 7, 2011

Medical transcription outsourcing: What are the qualities of a good medical transcriptionist?

When making the decision to outsource medical transcription needs, obviously recruitment and training requirements (with regard to medical transcriptionists) are also being outsourced to the medical transcription service provider

The quality of the transcripts depends entirely on the quality of transcriptionists. And this will be determined by the selection process and the training provided by the medical transcription service provider that the healthcare facility chooses.


What are the qualities that a good medical transcriptionist should have?

  • Ability to multitask: Transcription is a skill that requires that a person be able to listen and type at the same time. They also have to be able to use the start/pause/stop function of the audio device. Being able to multitask is an important skill for a medical transcriptionist.
  • Comfortable with the Internet: Audio files of the healthcare professional’s encounter with the patient are uploaded into server, these need to be downloaded by the medical transcriptionist and then the finished records need to uploaded to be transmitted to the healthcare facilities. The medical transcriptionist needs to search for difficult terms, words etc in the Internet.  All these activities entail that the medical transcriptionist should be Internet savvy.
  • Research abilities: A medical transcriptionist needs to be adept at research whether it is on the Internet or in research books. This is important to ensure that gaps in the report are minimized.
  • Speedy typing skills: Not only does a medical transcriptionist have to be accurate, he also has to have the ability to type reasonably fast to ensure that turnaround time guaranteed is met with.
  • Good computer skills: Nowadays all medical transcription reports are created on the computer. Different formats are required to be used and headers & footers are required to be added for certain type of reports. Good computer skills are essential for a medical transcriptionist.
  • Knowledge of medical terminology: Medical terminology is complex and not generally known to the layman. A good grasp of medical terminology is one of the main qualifications for a medical transcriptionist.
  • Above average knowledge of English Grammar, punctuation and usage:  A medical transcriptionist needs to have good language skills along with all the other skills to be able to produce quality transcripts. Wrong usage of words, punctuation errors or any other grammatical errors could totally change the meaning of the report.
  • Ability to concentrate filtering outside disturbances etc.:  A medical transcriptionist needs to be able to concentrate on the audio recording and filter out any extra noises in the tape, as well as external noises, in order to be able to produce accurate documents.
  • Commitment to confidentiality:  A medical transcriptionist needs to understand that the work entrusted to him needs to be kept confidential as it pertains to private and important data. A serious commitment to maintaining confidentiality is an essential quality for a medical transcriptionist.
  • Disciplined: It takes discipline and commitment on the part of the medical transcriptionist to produce accurate records in a timely manner, while maintaining confidentiality.
  • An eye for details: To capture all the information and to make sure that it is done accurately, a medical transcriptionist needs to have an eye for details.
  • Perfectionist attitude: An attitude of following through on all the difficult words/ terms and making sure that the accuracy of the finished transcript is as close to 100% requires that a medical transcriptionist needs to have a perfectionist attitude.
  • Working well under constraints: A medical transcriptionist has to understand the importance of producing quality transcripts in a timely manner while tuning out external disturbances. An ability to work well under constraints is an important quality for a medical transcriptionist.
  • Having a sense of Responsibility, Work Ethics, Integrity and Professional Attitude
TransDyne believes in recruiting people with the right attitude towards perfection, commitment, and attention to detail, responsibility, commitment to confidentiality etc and developing their inherent aptitude to produce medical transcriptionists of immaculate quality who can provide accurate and timely transcription.

TransDyne believes in developing their aptitude even further by training them in one or two areas of medicine making them domain experts. This helps serve their clients even better.

TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert 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. Not only that they are proud to share their success stories with prospective clients.

To avail superior outsourced medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Medical transcription: The decision making process for outsourcing

There are several reasons to outsource medical transcription; one of the main reasons is to reduce the burden of non-healthcare related work for everybody involved in the running of the healthcare facility.

The decision making process becomes comparatively difficult when the purchase decision involves availing services rather than a tangible physical product. But is the process of evaluation so different?

What are the usual criteria for evaluation for any major purchase and how does it apply while evaluating medical transcription?

  • Quality: Quality is perhaps the most important aspect that is evaluated during the purchase process. This becomes very critical while evaluating services as important as medical transcription.
  • Quantity: This criterion covers two aspects. The quantity that is required and whether the required quantity can be supplied. Again this aspect is vital to a healthcare facility, as in this case the required quantity cannot be predicted and the medical transcription service provider has to be able to cope with varying needs.
  • Right price: Apart from quality and quantity, getting the right price is very important. In case of a healthcare facility looking to outsource medical transcription needs, cost is perhaps the main driver for the outsourcing decision.
  • Reliability: In any purchase decision the product/service needs to be reliable. This could mean that the company providing the product/ service should be well established and have the right technology and the right processes in place to provide reliable services.
  • Safety: Safety features of the product need to be evaluated before making the final decision. In case of a healthcare facility maintaining safety or security of confidential patient information is mandatory.
  • Guarantee: Guarantee for the performance of the product again plays a very important role in the buying decision. In case of a service like medical transcription the guarantee could be both for turnaround time as well the accuracy levels.
  • Ease of use: Nobody likes to buy a product that is difficult to use. This applies very much to a healthcare facility looking to outsource medical transcription. Using this service should be made as easy as possible without affecting the security and performance features.
  • Robust technology: Technology plays a major role in most products/ services. Technology needs to be robust and consistent to ensure the continuity of services.
  • After sales service: This is an oft-ignored factor, which turns out to be a glitch after one has availed of products/services. Continued customer care is a vital factor for smooth transition to outsourced medical transcription.
  • Track record: A good track record/reputation of the company with customers who have purchased the products or availed of the services can provide an additional comfort level.
  •  Well-developed web site: A well developed website could pretty much cover all these factors. When a healthcare facility looks for options to outsource medical transcription, a well-developed web site can cover all these points and also provide additional information regarding the benefits of availing the services from the service provider.
It can be seen that any purchasing decision tends to follow the same procedure, in case of outsourcing services only the evaluation criteria differs. Medical transcription is a critical function for a healthcare facility and it affects both profitability and the core business of providing quality healthcare. Care should be taken to select a company, which fulfils all these criteria.

TransDyne is leading provider of medical transcription, given below is the analysis that shows that TransDyne more than fulfills all the above criteria:

  • Quality: TransDyne offers transcription with an accuracy level of above 99%. 
  • Quantity: TransDyne has a large pool of qualified and well-trained medical transcriptionists, who can deal with varying volumes of transcription without compromising quality or turnaround time.
  • Right price: TransDyne offers medical transcription at reasonable and fair prices using transparent billing method
  • Reliability: TransDyne medical transcription service is reliable and consistent. It covers even holiday and weekend requirements.
  • Safety: Security of data is ensured at TransDyne by the use of right technology, right process and right infrastructure. TransDyne has educated its’ team on HIPAA regulations to ensure total confidentiality.
  • Guarantee: TransDyne offers a guaranteed turnaround time of 24 hours, with an option of 4-12 hours turnaround time for STAT reports. Accuracy levels are guaranteed at 99%
  • Ease of use: TransDyne believes that technology should be advanced, but easy to use. That is why it offers flexible modes of dictation, easy upload and web delivery systems that require minimum or no training.
  • Robust technology: TransDyne uses robust technology like 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security safeguards, firewall protected networks etc.
  • After sales service: TransDyne is available to its customers 24/7 to provide support.
  • Track record: TransDyne has an excellent track record of their performance with healthcare facilities of all types. The testimonials of some of these success stories are available at their web site.
  • Well-developed web site: TransDyne has a web site, which offers comprehensive information about the company, services and methodology etc.
 To avail superior medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Medical transcription outsourcing: Helps reduce information technology burden of the healthcare facility

The success of any organization lies in being able to concentrate on the core business and outsource all other activities that are not part of the core business. The core business of a healthcare facility is that of providing quality healthcare. All other activities are support functions. They play an important role in achieving the core objective, but may not be part of the core competency of the healthcare facility.

One such activity is medical transcription. Medical transcription is the process of documenting the patient-healthcare professional encounter.

What is the importance of medical transcription in the healthcare process?
Medical transcription plays an important part in the following:

  • Patient treatment
  • Permanent Patient records
  • Referrals to other doctors
  • Evidence in case of malpractice suits
  • Coding, billing and insurance claims
  • Satisfaction of regulatory norms
One can see that medical transcription plays a very important role in major areas of healthcare like quality of care, diagnosis and in the receivables cycle.

What role does Information Technology (IT) play in Medical transcription?
With the evolution of medical transcription from the manual to the virtual world, Information Technology plays a very important role at every stage of medical transcription like:

  • Collections of patient-healthcare professional encounter data.
  • Transmission of data to the medical transcriptionists
  • The transcription process
  • Transmission of transcribed files to the healthcare professionals
  • Archiving of files for future reference
  • Integration with EMR systems.
The whole process of medical transcription needs Information technology at every stage to make the process quicker and secure. Executing medical transcription in-house would require that the healthcare facility have massive investment in Information technology to enable all these functions. It would involve investments in servers for uploading dictation, secure file transfer protocols to distribute work to and collect work from medical transcriptionists, distribution network for report distribution and powerful archiving to trace dictations, work-in-progress and finished transcripts.

The simple step of outsourcing medical transcription needs to a technology savvy medical transcription service provider can eliminate the total burden of investment in Information technology towards medical transcription. These valuable resources could then be put to better use.

TransDyne a leading name in medical transcription believes that technology needs to be advanced so that the service provided is of the best standard, but should be simple to enable ease of use for healthcare professionals.

Some of the features of the software and tools used by TransDyne are as follows:

  • Smart upload: TransDyne offers doctors the choice of using modes of dictation they are already comfortable with. Then these files are uploaded to the servers to be made available for transcription. Smart upload enables transfer of dictation files from the healthcare facility’s server to TransDyne’s server by checking for new dictations at pre-fixed intervals.
  • Web Delivery: TransDyne’s web delivery system tackles all issues related with tracking dictations, receiving documents and finding old files from the archives.
  • Smart Delivery: Smart delivery is an automated program that addresses the automatic downloads, saving files and printing needs of a healthcare facility.
  • HL7 integration: TransDyne can configure and send healthcare information as HL7 messages to the client’s EMR with no additional costs.
By using the right technology TransDyne provides medical transcription with benefits like:

  • Accuracy of above 99%
  • Turnaround time of 24 hours with an option of 4-12 hours for STAT files.
  • Secure channels for data transmission, ensuring HIPAA compliance.
  • Fair and verifiable pricing
To know more about the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne, click here










Monday, January 3, 2011

Medical transcription: Availing outsourced services

Medical transcription is a service; thereby the usual criteria of evaluation for making a purchase are not sufficient. Usually a purchase decision would involve evaluating criteria like Product/service, price, channels of availability and the promotional offers available along with purchase. Let us evaluate how they apply to availing medical transcription services:

  • Service: In case of services like medical transcription the dimensions of the service would be defined by:

    1. Flexibility of service: TransDyne offers medical transcription solutions that are tailor made to suit the need of every healthcare facility, be it a single doctor practice or a huge hospital offering numerous specialties.
    1. Security of the service: TransDyne realizes that the security of confidential patient information is an important aspect of medical transcription services. Measures are taken to ensure that processes, people and infrastructure are HIPAA compliant.

    1. Turnaround time of the service: TransDyne understands that medical transcription is a critical service both for providing quality care as well as speeding up the receivables cycle, that is why TransDyne offers a guaranteed turnaround time of 24 hours, with an option of 4-12 hours for STAT reports.

  • Price: Defining the price of services is a really tricky issue and would involve defining the measurement parameters of service. In case of medical transcription it the measurement parameters for the service could be defined in terms of

    1. Minute
    2. Page
    3. Report
    4. Gross lines
    5. Character line
    6. Visible black character

TransDyne uses the character line method of billing, which ensures that the healthcare facility gets a fair and reasonable price for the services rendered.
  • Channels of availability: In case of a service like medical transcription this would mean sources providing transcription like in-house employees, independent contractors, or a medical transcription service provider

TransDyne is professional medical transcription service provider that specializes in providing medical transcription services.

  • Promotion: Promotional offers that add to medical transcription services like free recorders etc. also affect the purchase decision

TransDyne offers promotional offers from time to time, which are extremely attractive and add value to the service provided.

The above criteria are generally considered adequate for the purchase decision involving a physical product. However while evaluating a service like medical transcription further assessment is needed based on the following criteria:

  • Process: The quality of medical transcription service also needs to be assessed on the basis of the process used for providing the service. In case of medical transcription it could involve assessing the process on the basis of:

    1. Quality process: TransDyne ensures quality by adopting a four level quality check of medical transcriptionist, language proofreader, unit in charge and finally by our Quality Assurance (QA) team which tries to minimize errors before returning the finished reports.

    1. Security measures taken to ensure HIPAA compliance: TransDyne ensures Data security of Medical Transcription by incorporating security measures like 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security, safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers, denial of access procedure and multi modal alerts.

  • People: In any service, and particularly a service as crucial as medical transcription, the quality of the people providing the service play a very important part in the quality of service. Evaluating the people involved in the service of medical transcription can be done by evaluating:

    1. Training methods: TransDyne goes through a rigorous process of selection to recruit the best talent. Then the medical transcriptionists are trained on one or two areas of specialty ensuring that they are domain experts. This ensures the quality and turnaround time are maintained at the highest levels.
    2. Whether transcription is done in-house or through other means: TransDyne believes in executing all the medical transcription work in-house.

  • Physical evidence: There is no better method of assessing a service than by experiencing a sample of the service before signing the contract.

TransDyne offers a free trial of their services for a limited time period.

In order to make the right decision regarding medical transcription services and to know more about TransDyne advantages, click here

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Medical transcription outsourcing; Getting started with TransDyne

Once the process of evaluating and selecting a medical transcription service provider is over, the next step is the transition from the current mode of transcription to that of using the services of the service provider. Getting started on a new mode of transcription can be complicated and time consuming unless the service provider has a simple process for integration.
TransDyne has made transition to outsourced services an easy and stress-free process allowing the healthcare facility to start using their services without having to make any major adjustments. The process of transition to TransDyne medical transcription services would involve:
  • Identifying the right solution: TransDyne believes that the needs of each and every customer are different. That is why TransDyne does not offer a “vanilla” product. Rather, TransDyne believes in having discussions with the healthcare facilities on the various aspects of the service needed and customizing their products to suit that of their clients. This ensures that the healthcare facility and TransDyne are on the same page from the very beginning.
Identifying the right solution for medical transcription needs of the healthcare facility would be done taking into consideration the following factors:
  1. Number of doctors at the facility: This would have an impact on the volume, the formats required and the turnaround time of the reports
  2. The specialties of the doctors: TransDyne believes in catering to the needs of doctors based on their specialization. Specially trained medical transcriptionists would be assigned according to the specialties
  3. The volume of transcription: This would help plan the kind of system integration required and planning for holidays and weekend requirements
  4. The types of reports: The type of reports required would help configure the systems.
  5. Turnaround time required: Turnaround time would vary according to the type of report and these needs to be considered while customizing solutions for the client.
  6. Dictation modes: The dictation modes used by the healthcare professionals need to be configured into the system
  7. EMR integration required: In case of integration with EMR is required then HL7 integration needs to be provided.
  8. Additional features like remote printing and faxing: These features need to be incorporated on the basis of the needs.
  9. Electronic signature: This feature also needs to be integrated into the system.
  10. Archiving requirements: Each client has specific archiving requirements, which need to be customized accordingly.
  11. Preferred billing method: There are different billing methods based on minute of transcription, gross line, page, report, and character line method of billing. The method of billing needs to be agreed upon to commence services.
  12. Access levels to different users: The healthcare facility may want to give different levels of access to reports on the system this needs to be ascertained beforehand.
  13. Expansion plans of the healthcare facility: This will determine what could be the future medical transcription requirements
  • Agreement: This stage involves formalizing the solutions that have been identified into the agreement. TransDyne has a standard business agreement, which is provided to the client for scrutiny by their legal team. Efforts are made to incorporate any changes required by the clients on this.
  • Gathering the right information: At this stage details like formats, macros and templates will be gathered for inclusion in the reports produced. The individual needs of the healthcare professionals are taken into consideration.
  • Shipping hardware and software: This next stage involves shipping the necessary software and hardware required for starting the transcription process. It could be as minimal as digital recorders considering that TransDyne believes in using simple and effective technology
  • Technical integration: The integration of the systems with that of the healthcare facilities’ system is done at this stage. Any other requirements by the clients in this regard are also taken care at this stage.
  • Training: The teams at the healthcare facility are provided orientation to work with the system to enable easy usage
  • Using the service: At this stage the healthcare facility can start using the services by uploading dictation files on the TransDyne systems. The transcribed reports will be made available to the healthcare facility as per the turnaround time guaranteed.
  • TransDyne offers quality medical transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert medical transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time and 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 get started on superior medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here