Medical transcription: A case study for outsourcing

Dr.Williams, 37, was based in New Jersey in an upscale neighborhood. He was a general physician and had a well-established practice. He had a small clinic right next to his home, a staff of two, a nurse and a receptionist cum secretary. He also had a part time accountant who took care of filing reimbursement forms, bank work and tax filing.

The nurse, Sarah would help him with initial information collection like patient name, social security number, details of the healthcare plan, demographics and assisted him while examining patients, administering injections, checking blood pressure etc. The receptionist/secretary Jane was in charge of scheduling patients, handling patients when they came in and transcribing the doctors notes once he had finished dictating his notes.  

Dr.Williams found that he was constantly juggling things, and he could never find the information he wanted on time. He could not actually find fault with Jane as she seemed to be overloaded with work. She constantly seemed to be juggling phone calls, people in the reception, typing out files and maintaining the filing system. He was also informed by Robert the accountant that his fund flow was low, as filing for claims seemed to take an inordinate time, owing to the fact that he could never find information on time.

Dr.Williams would observe whenever there was an additional influx of patients he would receive reports as late as seven days including for those patients for whom he had ordered further tests. This would hinder him from making the appropriate treatment plans. He would find himself relying on scribbled notes, his own memory and the inputs provided by his nurse. And one day he was stunned to observe a patient craning her neck to try and read from the computer trying to view what Jane had typed. When he looked at the screen himself, he was flabbergasted to observe it was a file about a well-known patient of his who was having some rather embarrassing health problems.

He would also find that he had lesser time to spend with his family due to the fact that an inordinate amount of his time was spent looking for information in the patient records and then correcting wrong entries. He would question Jane about it only to be told that she only had so much time to do everything. Sometimes he would find that whole tapes of his recordings had been misplaced and therefore big chunks of information would be missing from Patient records, sometimes entire files would be missing.

He tried to outsource the excess work of transcription to an independent contractor (IC) and soon found that the rates were high and he had to spend a lot of time explaining to the IC what he ‘actually’ wanted. He also was not assured of uninterrupted services during weekends and Holidays. In addition, more time was spent on coordinating the files transcribed by his secretary and those transcribed by the IC.

And when claims were filed for reimbursement, he would find that it was very difficult to bill the patient for the rejected amount of the claim as too much time had passed since the patient’s visit.

One day he got in touch with TransDyne (www.transdyne.com), a full service medical transcription provider. The people at TransDyne heard his office woes and offered to take care of his medical transcription needs. He was not sure but decided to listen to their offer. TransDyne offered him a medical transcription plan with the following benefits:

·       He could retain his current mode of dictation

·    Transcribed files would be returned with a turnaround time of 24 hours. If he required STAT files sooner, they could be returned within 4-12 hours.

·       The files would have a guaranteed accuracy of above 99%

·       All his weekend and holiday transcription work would be covered.

·       He would be provided with the benefits of an online system, which would help him trace his dictations and transcribed documents easily. His dictations would be uploaded automatically and he would have the options of printing finished documents automatically, if required

·       The information would be completely secure

·       The cost per line of transcription would be 10 cents per 65-character line

·       Any specific formats and templates he wanted could be incorporated

·       Medical transcriptionists who were specifically trained in his specialty would transcribe his files

·     TransDyne had the ability to transmit information from the transcribed files into an EMR system if required

·       TransDyne would offer him a free trial period to enjoy their services before deciding to sign with them

·       He could talk to TransDyne’s customers who had benefited from similar services

Dr.Williams checked with a couple of satisfied customers and decided to avail a free trial of TransDyne’s medical transcription services. He was pleasantly surprised at how easy and convenient it was.  In case he or his staff had any queries TransDyne would attend to them immediately. He was thrilled to see that his medical transcription costs had come down by nearly 50%. Information was available on time and was captured accurately. The technology features offered by TransDyne made life easier, by making it easy to locate any information. He was also happy to observe that the entire process was secure. Dr. Williams decided to sign a contract with TransDyne to avail their services

In the next few weeks, Robert informed him that his funds flow had improved and reimbursements were happening faster because they were now able to file claims much sooner than they were doing earlier.

To avail the advantages of outsourced medical transcription services by TransDyne click here. 

Medical transcription: Understanding cost

Medical transcription is the process of converting audio files of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. These records form a part of the permanent patient record and are used for various purposes, including coding and billing for the purpose of reimbursements. Medical records are a valuable resource to the healthcare professional for providing quality healthcare on a timely basis.

In spite of being an important part of the healthcare process and an accelerant of the receivables cycle, medical transcription is one of the cost factors. To understand the cost of medical transcription it is important to evaluate all options available for availing medical transcription and evaluate the cost components of each method.  A healthcare facility can avail medical transcription services by the following means:

By having an in-house transcription team: To calculate the cost per line of transcription under this method, the healthcare facility needs to include indirect costs like cost of real estate, overheads, utilities, managerial/supervisory costs, cost of training, cost of repairs & maintenance, cost of weekend & holiday transcription, cost of IT along with the direct costs like Salaries and benefits paid to the medical transcriptionists. Factors like cost of overtime and loss of productivity during slack hours also need to be added to arrive at realistic costs.

By having independent contractors working for them: To calculate the costs under this method, apart from the cost per line of transcription, factors like cost of coordination of transcription activities, cost of in-house IT towards medical transcription, server costs for upload & download of files, cost of equipment & software provided to the Independent contractors, cost of security measures, needs to be added to arrive at the actual cost per line of transcription.

By outsourcing to a professional medical transcription service provider: Under this option the cost per line of medical transcription is clearly defined by the service provider. However the medical transcription service provider needs to evaluate on the accuracy, turnaround time, security, technology used and the billing method before arriving at the final costs.

By having a combination of the above methods: Using more than one source to meet medical transcription needs can lead to complexities like different methods of billing, different methods of calculating accuracy, different technology used by different providers, cost of coordination and the additional cost of ensuring security of data. This method could probably create confusion and additional work.

In conclusion, it can safely be said that outsourcing to a professionally managed medical transcription company can help the healthcare facility curb costs and limit it to the cost per line of transcription. However while doing so, care needs to be taken to evaluate the medical transcription service provider on the following:

·       Billing method

·       Security measures taken by the medical transcription service provider

·       Quality measures to obtain accuracy

·       Turnaround time

·       Technology

TransDyne is a professionally managed medical transcription service provider.

Fair and transparent method of billing: TransDyne uses the character line method of billing. This method is measurable, verifiable, definable, consistent and fair & honest. TransDyne takes care to explain the billing method in detail at the very beginning so that both parties understand all the components of cost.

Secure medical transcription: TransDyne ensures security of confidential patient data by securing technology, infrastructure and people & processes. The methods used by TransDyne to ensure security of data not only meet HIPAA standards but also exceed them.

 

Accuracy of above 99%: TransDyne ensures accuracy levels by training their medical transcriptionists in one or two specialties making them domain experts enabling to transcribe at top quality. TransDyne further adopts a four level quality check method to attain maximum accuracy.

Turnaround time of 24 hours: TransDyne ensures turnaround time using the right technology, the right training method and the right people.

Technology that is advanced but easy to use: TransDyne believes in using the latest technology with features like automatic uploads & downloads, archiving and HL7 integration that is easy to use. 

To know more about low cost quality medical transcription services by TransDyne click here.

Medical transcription: Psychiatry

Psychiatry is a medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatric assessment typically starts with a mental status examination and the compilation of a case history. Psychological tests and physical examination may be conducted and on occasion may require the use of neuroimaging or other neurophysiological techniques Psychiatric treatment applies a variety of modalities, including medication, psychotherapy and a wide range of other techniques such a transcranial magnetic stimulation. Treatment may be as inpatient or outpatient, according to severity of function impairment /the disorder in question.

Psychiatry is a vast field offering a vast array of treatments and therapies, using many techniques, therapies and medication. Psychiatry also involves research conducted on an interdisciplinary basis, sourcing an array of sub-specialties and theoretical approaches. Medical transcription services for healthcare facilities providing psychiatry services needs to be specialized to be efficient and effective.

Realizing that medical transcription for Psychiatry needs to be specialized, TransDyne has developed a team of medical transcriptionists who are handpicked based on their aptitude. This team is then given specialty training to make them experts in psychiatry medical transcription.

How does specialized training in psychiatry medical transcription affect accuracy?

The accuracy level of the final transcripts depends on the knowledge of the medical transcriptionists regarding the specialty and their familiarity with the techniques, therapies and the medication used for psychiatry. Accuracy levels can be maintained at high levels by training the medical transcriptionists on the “language” of psychiatry. TransDyne also takes care to keep their specialty team updated on the latest developments in the field of psychiatry to make sure that their team is familiar with the latest developments in the field.

How does specialized training in psychiatry medical transcription affect turnaround time?

Specialized training in psychiatry not only ensures accuracy, but also enables the medical transcriptionist to meet turnaround time commitments. They require less time to research and are familiar with formats required for various reports in this specialty thus reducing turnaround time.

How does specialized training in psychiatry medical transcription affect pricing?

By providing specialty training in psychiatry to their medical transcriptionists, TransDyne strives to maintain not only accuracy levels and turnaround time, but also increase the productivity of the medical transcriptionists. This in turn reduces the need for multilevel quality checks; all these factors help bring down the cost per line of transcription.

Psychiatry medical transcription from TransDyne not only has the benefits of accuracy above 99%, turnaround time of 24 hours and reasonable prices, it has other benefits like:

• Security: One of the main concerns that healthcare facilities have is regarding the security of data. During the medical transcription process, data is transmitted back & forth; the protection of data during this process is vital. TransDyne ensures security of data by taking on a three pronged approach, which involves security measures with regard to technology, people and processes. This ensures the confidentiality of data is protected at all stages.

• Flexible modes of dictation: Realizing that time is a precious commodity for healthcare professionals, TransDyne has made it possible for them to retain familiar modes of dictation enabling to manage their time for maximum productivity. 

• Benefits of advanced technology: TransDyne offers healthcare facilities the benefit of advanced technological features like automatic uploads of dictation; automatic downloads of finished transcripts, remote printing & faxing, power archiving facilities and HL7 integration etc at no extra costs.

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

Medical transcription: Radiology

Radiology is the branch of specialty medicine that deals with the study and application of imaging technology like X-ray and radiation for diagnosing and treating disease. Radiologists direct an array of imaging technologies such as ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose or treat disease.

 

Scope of radiology also covers:

• Mammography radiology
• Cardiac radiology
• Musculoskeletal radiology
• Neuroradiology
• Pediatric Radiology
• Nuclear radiology 

Medical transcription is the process of converting the audio records of healthcare professional-patient encounter into text format, which then forms a permanent part of the patient’s health record. This ensures the continuity of care by ensuring the patient’s detailed health history is available as reference.

Medical transcription for Radiology requires the skill level of medical transcriptionists to be high. The medical transcriptionists need to be well versed in the terminology, techniques and procedures that form part of radiology.

TransDyne acknowledges that the field of medicine is vast and has many specialties; therefore medical transcription for a particular specialty requires the team providing medical transcription support to have in-depth knowledge about the specialty. This ensures that the audio records dictated by the specialists are fully understood by the medical transcriptionists and the records are transcribed with maximum accuracy and within the requisite turnaround time.

TransDyne has a team of specially trained medical transcriptionists working on radiology medical transcription. This team has been extensively trained on the terminology, techniques and procedures related to radiology.

How does specialty training in Radiology in medical transcription affect accuracy?

Specialist training in radiology medical transcription ensures that the teams working on the transcripts are domain experts. This ensures familiarity with the “language” used by the radiologists and reduces errors dramatically.

How does specialty training in Radiology in medical transcription affect turnaround time?

Turnaround time of the finished transcripts is dependent on the skill level of the medical transcriptionists. Specialty training in radiology transcription helps develops the skill level of the medical transcriptionists, thus enabling them to meet turnaround time commitments.

How does specialty training in Radiology in medical transcription affect pricing?

Specialist training in radiology increases the productivity of medical transcriptionists and also minimizes errors. Both these factors help bring down the cost per line of transcription.

TransDyne gives healthcare professionals in radiology the benefit of specialist transcription maintaining high levels of accuracy, turnaround time and reasonable prices..

Not only that, availing medical transcription services from TransDyne has the following benefits:

Data Security: 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. TransDyne also ensures data security by ensuring that the data doesn’t leave their premises physically. To ensure secure medical transcription all the transcription is done in the company’s own premises and the premises are secured through appropriate security measures. TransDyne meets and exceeds all HIPAA regulations that apply to electronic exchange of information.

Technology: Considering that time is one of the most precious commodities for healthcare professionals, TransDyne believes in using technology that provides multiple features with ease of use. 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 can be 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 form 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. 

To know more about Radiology medical transcription services by TransDyne click here.

Medical transcription:Cardiology

Medical transcription is a back office function that assists healthcare professionals in creating accurate and speedy records of patient visits. Medicine is a vast and complex field having various specialties. The terminology, treatment procedures and the drugs used in each specialty are different. That is why healthcare professionals train for a particular specialty to become  specialists in that field.

Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart and blood vessels. The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary heart disease and electrophysiology. Physicians specializing in this field are called Cardiologists. And physicians specializing in surgery related to cardiology are called Cardiac surgeons.

Medical transcription for cardiology services require medical transcriptionists to be well versed in the terminology and familiar with the treatment modes and drugs used. Recognizing the need for professional and skilled medical transcriptionists to transcribe records dictated by cardiology specialists, TransDyne has created a team of medical transcriptionists specializing in Cardiology.

Medical transcriptionists are hand picked during the training period and trained to learn in detail, the terminology, procedures and drugs associated with cardiology.

How does specialty training in Cardiology transcription affect accuracy?

Training a medical transcriptionist in cardiology transcription helps increase accuracy of the finished transcript, by familiarizing the medical transcriptionist with all the terminology and procedures associated with Cardiology. This ensures that the medical transcriptionist does not misspell or misunderstand any of the terms used by the healthcare professionals. The medical transcriptionist is able to produce accurate records from the very beginning without leaving room for guesswork.

How does specialty training in Cardiology transcription affect turnaround time?

Turnaround time refers to the time taken to revert the transcribed report to the healthcare facility. By familiarizing the medical transcriptionist with all the terminology used in cardiology, the turnaround time can be maintained due to the familiarity of the medical transcriptionist with the associated terms and cutting down time spent on research. Moreover the time spent on multi level quality checks would also reduce, reducing the turnaround time.

How does specialty training in Cardiology transcription affect pricing?

Specialty training in Cardiology transcription can help bring down cost per line of transcription, by increasing the productivity of the medical transcriptionist. Moreover due to the increased accuracy of the transcripts the cost of several level quality checks can be reduced.

Apart from offering accurate, timely and reasonably priced cardiology transcription, TransDyne also offers the following:

Data Security: TransDyne ensures Data security 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.

TransDyne further ensures data security by ensuring that data doesn’t leave it’s premises physically. To ensure secure Medical Transcription all the transcription is done in TransDyne’s premises and the premises are secured through appropriate security measures. TransDyne meets and exceeds all the HIPAA regulations.

Technology: TransDyne believes that the technology used for medical transcription like uploading dictation and downloading finished transcripts should be advanced to ensure reliability, but very easy to use requiring very less or no training. TransDyne also has a system with powerful archival features enabling the healthcare professional to easily trace old records. TransDyne also facilitates HL7 interface for interacting with other systems.

To know more about Cardiology medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription: Process for outsourcing

Having seen the strategic advantages of outsourcing medical transcription, a healthcare facility needs to adopt a strategy for outsourcing medical transcription that enables them to avail all the advantages.

The process for outsourcing should include the following:

• Selection of appropriate vendor for medical transcription, based on: 

a)    Long-term experience of the medical transcription service provider: While outsourcing services as vital as medical transcription it pays to be cautious while picking out the provider. History of the provider is providing similar services are vital. This shows that the medical transcription service provider is prepared in every way to deliver the right solution.

b)    Availability of skilled people with the service provider: The quality/ accuracy and the timeliness of the records transcribed are vital for providing quality healthcare and have other uses like the forming the basis of coding & billing and as evidence in case of litigation. The accuracy of the transcripts and the turnaround time are dependent on the skill level of the medical transcriptionists. Therefore it is important that the medical transcription company has a team of expert medical transcriptionists.

c)    Technical infrastructure available with the service provider: The technological capabilities affects the turnaround time, security of data and the ease of use.  Factors like flexible modes of dictation, automatic upload of audio files and download of transcribed records, archiving facilities and HL7 integration are important factors to be analyzed.

d)    Pricing: Pricing in medical transcription can be as easy or as complex as the billing method used by the medical transcription service provider. Often prices are discussed without properly qualifying the billable units or the billing method. This leaves room for manipulation and ambiguities. The billing method needs to be verifiable, measurable, definable, consistent and fair& honest.

e)     Integration capabilities: The systems/technology used by the service provider needs to easily integrate with the systems of the healthcare facilities. This ensures access to information in an easy and workable manner.

f)      Security measures taken by the medical transcription service provider: Patient data is confidential and needs to be protected at every stage. Because the medical transcription process involves the transmission of data through electronic channels and is exposed to medical transcriptionists during the process of transcription, it is highly vulnerable to misuse. Security measures taken by the medical transcription service provider needs to cover technology, process and people to ensure total confidentiality.

g)    Investment required for availing the services: One of the main reasons for outsourcing medical transcription is to curb capital investment towards non-healthcare related areas in a healthcare facility. While outsourcing medical transcription, the healthcare facility needs to ensure that no further capital investment is required.

h)    Adaptability of service provider to varying demands: The demands of healthcare professionals may vary according to many factors like their specialty, influx of patients and other factors. While choosing a medical transcription service provider it is important to choose one that has experience servicing varied requirements.

i)       Customer service channels: Transition from in-house medical transcription to outsourced medical transcription requires a certain period of handholding to make the process smooth. Even after the transition process is complete, there may be numerous instances where instant turnaround on queries is required. An open channel of communication is essential while outsourcing.

• Verifying testimonials: Success stories of clients who have availed of similar services need to be checked before finalizing the outsourced medical transcription service provider.

• Free trial period: Availing a free trial period will ensure that the service provider is capable of delivering services as per the promised criteria.

• The contact: The actual contract needs to be studied and all the requisite parameters required should be included, in a clear and unambiguous manner. 

TransDyne a leading provider of medical transcription services offers medical transcription services that include all the above criteria. TransDyne:

• Has been providing outsourced medical transcription services for over a decade
• Has a large team of expertly trained medical transcriptionists, ensuring accuracy and turnaround time
• Uses technology that is advanced and easy to use
• Uses the “character method” of billing to ensure fair pricing,
• Has the technological capability to integrate with the healthcare facilities’ systems.
• Is HIPAA compliant with regard to technology, processes, infrastructure and people
• Requires zero investment to avail their services.
• Can adapt their services to the needs of the clients.
• Has open channels of communication available 24/7.
• Has some of the success stories available on their website
• Offers a free trial period without obligatory sign up
• Is ready to work on the contract as per the needs of the client. 

To avail the strategic advantages of outsourced medical transcription by TransDyne, click here.