Medical transcription is the process of creating patient records by converting audio files dictated by the healthcare professional of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. Patient medical records are an important ingredient of the healthcare process providing inputs for the operational as well as commercial aspects of healthcare.
However as the process of creating patient medical records is a specialized skill that requires the right blend of people skills & expertise, the right equipment and the optimum process to meet the criteria of being accurate, speedy, safe and easy to use.
One easy fixes to ensure that patient records are accurately, speedily and safely created, while still containing costs is to outsource the documentation process to an experienced service provider. By outsourcing healthcare facilities can leverage on the service provider's experience and expertise.
How does outsourcing help healthcare facilities leverage on the transcription vendor's experience and expertise?
To understand this, it is vital to understand what are the components of accurate, timely, safe and cost effective medical transcription.
The components are:
· People: The quality of transcripts is dependent on the quality of the team to a large extent. Building up the right team would essentially involve the following activities:
a) Recruitment: Sourcing and recruiting the right talent
b) Training: Developing the talent to deliver the best quality work
c) Allocation of work: Work allocation to transcriptionists should be based on the specialties they have been trained on, to ensure optimum accuracy and turnaround time
By outsourcing, healthcare facilities essentially have access to the right people without actually having to through the process of sourcing, recruiting, training transcriptionists. Healthcare facilities can leverage on the human resource development skills and expertise of the transcription vendor.
· Technology: Technology plays a vital role by speeding up the process, securing the data during the transcription process and saving time of the healthcare professionals and support staff. The role of technology includes:
a) Dictation: Capturing the narration of the healthcare professionals by various means
b) Uploading: Uploading dictation files for transmission to the service provider
c) Downloading: Downloading finished transcripts
d) Distribution: Distribution of patient records to healthcare professionals
e) Archives: Retrieving old files from the system
f) Additional benefits: Features like electronic signature, remote printing & faxing, HL7 interface etc
g) Security: Features like encryption, virus protection, firewalls etc
h) Speed: To ensure fast turnaround time
Availing specialty services from a professional transcription vendor allows healthcare facilities to leverage on the software and tools developed by the service provider to avail benefits like speed, safety and ease of use.
· Processes: Medical transcription needs to follow a certain process to be quick, accurate, safe and cost effective. The processes involved include:
a) Quality processes: To attain the desired accuracy levels transcripts have to be checked at several levels like proofreader, editor and quality assurance team.
b) Security: To protect confidential patient information, the service provider has to have processes in place to ensure total security.
Availing specialty services from a professional transcription vendor enables healthcare facilities to benefit from the processes refined by the service provider through their experience in serving the needs of healthcare facilities
· Infrastructure: The infrastructure required include:
a) Real estate: Space allocated
b) Transcription equipment: Computers, servers, foot pedals, headphones and software are required for transcription.
c) Furniture & utilities: Tables, chairs and utilities like power etc.
It can be concluded that by outsourcing medical transcription, healthcare facilities can leverage on the expertise and experience of the service provider. This helps healthcare facilities in limiting the cost of medical transcription to the cost per line of transcription. Not only this they would also save as much as 40% to 60% on the cost of in-house transcription. To leverage the maximum benefits of it is important to source the right service provider, based on criteria like accuracy, turnaround time, security, cost and technology.
Author Resource:
Renee Kelly has written numerous articles on transcription , which has served as an amazing resource for healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals seeking to outsource medical transcription .
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")