» 2010 » January Medical Transcription, Transcription Services Blog

Medical transcription outsourcing: Helps make the organization structure leaner

31. January 2010 Catagory Medical Transcription | 0 comment »

Medical transcription is the process of creating records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter. It is a non-profit making but essential part of the healthcare process. It is considered to be one of the cost heads.

The aim of most healthcare facilities is to reduce the cost of medical transcription as much as possible. Outsourcing medical transcription helps reduce costs both directly and indirectly.

How does outsourcing medical transcription reduce direct costs?
Outsourcing medical transcription reduces direct costs by reducing the following cost heads:

· Reduce the cost of medical transcriptionist staff on the rolls: One of the main contributors to the cost of medical transcription in-house is the need to maintain the manpower to execute the work. Outsourcing medical transcription needs can bring down not only the salaries paid to the medical transcriptionist but also bring down other costs like taxes, benefits like insurance, down time when work is slow, overtime payments, the cost of weekend and holiday transcription etc.

· Bring down the cost per line of transcription: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the healthcare facility ends up paying very less per line of transcription due to benefits like economies of scale, lower cost of living at the outsourcing company location, and the benefits of best practices adopted by the service provider.

· Reduce the cost of medical transcription equipment: For medical transcription to be executed in-house the healthcare facility has to invest in medical transcription equipment like computers, servers, earphones, foot pedals etc. These expenses are eliminated with the outsourcing option.

How does outsourcing medical transcription reduce indirect costs?
Outsourcing medical transcription reduces indirect costs by reducing the following cost heads:

· Reduce the cost of management resources: Managing medical transcription in-house would involve allocation of management staff for activities like recruitment, training, supervision of medical transcription work. By outsourcing medical transcription, management expenses towards managing medical transcription in-house would be dramatically reduced.

· Reduce the cost of utilities: Utilities like power, water, stationery, consumables etc. add to the cost of medical transcription in-house. Outsourcing medical transcription would eliminate all these costs.

· Reduce the cost of real estate: Executing medical transcription in-house would mean allocating space for this purpose. This cost of real estate would add to the cost of transcription. Outsourcing medical transcription would totally eliminate this cost head.

Outsourcing medical transcription needs would make the organization structure leaner by eliminating the need to maintain a huge staff on the rolls, while at the same time bringing down the cost of transcription dramatically. It allows the healthcare facility to take advantage of opportunity costs which would have been lost by allocating essential resources to in-house transcription like investments in capital equipment, space allocation, management resources etc.

Outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne helps not only eliminate direct and indirect costs of in-house transcription, it also offers advantages like:

· Accuracy level of above 99%
· Turnaround time of 24 hours, with an option of 4-12 hours turnaround time for STAT reports
· Data transmission through secure, HIPAA compliant channels.
· Technology that enables easy uploads and downloads, and offers powerful archival facilities.
· Familiar and flexible modes of dictation.
· HL7 integration, which allows for interface with EMR systems.

To know more about the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne, please click here

Medical transcription: Code of ethics

29. January 2010 Catagory Medical Transcription | 0 comment »

Healthcare is an essential service along with the other basic necessities like air, water, food, clothing and housing. Therefore the practice of healthcare requires that healthcare professionals and other entities associated with healthcare come under a strict code of ethics.

Medical transcription is a profession closely associated with the healthcare industry in both the commercial and operational aspects by documenting the patient-healthcare professional encounter.

The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) has come up with the guidelines for code of conduct for healthcare documentation professionals. The code of ethics for medical transcription professionals are as follows:

1. Maintain confidentiality of all patient information including but not limited to peer reviews, quality improvement and risk management protocols with special effort to maintain data security in electronic communications.

2. Implement and maintain standards of professional transcription practice. Respect the rights and dignity of all individuals.

3. Continue professional growth enhancing knowledge and skills, including continuing education, networking with colleagues, professional reading and certification.

4. Strive to provide accurate and timely information

5. Exercise integrity in professional practices including work or professional experience, credentials, affiliations, productivity reporting, billing charges and payment practices.

6. Comply with all laws, regulations and standards governing the practice of patient documentation.

7. Foster environments of emplyment that facilitate integrity, professionalism and protection of patient information.

8. Strive to advance the goals and purposes of the Association and work for the advancement and good of the profession.

These are code of ethics laid by the AHDI for the members of the association as guidelines. But these code of ethics can be used as guidelines by all entities who are in the business of medical transcription.

TransDyne a leading name in the medical transcription has based the process of transcription based on the code of ethics, which covers all aspects.

· Maintaining confidentiality of patient information: TransDyne believes in maintaining the confidentiality of patient information at all levels. The confidentiality of the data is maintained at all the stages, during transmission, during usage and during storage using the following means:

a) The use of 128-bit data encryption, multi-tiered application architecture, design level security safeguards, firewall protected networks, sterilized e-mail servers, denial of access procedures and multi-modal alerts safeguards data when it is at rest and when data is in motion

b) Use of processes like company owned & managed facilities, not engaging any sub-contractors, employing manned security at the entry/exit points, round-the-clock video surveillance and the lack of removable storage media protect the data in use. The other measures taken for ensuring security of data in use are limiting the access to the application by User ID and an encrypted password

c) Educating people on the importance and procedures for HIPAA compliance gives them a professional outlook. Having them give a commitment in writing further ensures HIPAA compliancy. This protects the data in all stages

· Implementing and maintaining professional standards of transcription: TransDyne maintains and implements professional standards of transcription by training the medical transcriptionists rigorously in one or two specialities enabling them to meet standards of accuracy and turnaround time .

· Continuously enhancing the skills of medical transcriptionists through education: TransDyne educates all its’ team of medical transcriptionists constantly updating their knowledge base on the latest developments in the field of medicine and updating them on the rules of HIPAA compliance

· Provide timely information: Timely information is provided by TransDyne by keeping up turanround time committed by them

 Exercising integrity in billing practices: TransDyne uses the character method of billing which fulfills all the billing method principles of being verifiable, measurable, definable, consistent and fair & honest.

· Complying with the laws of patient documentation: TransDyne complies with all the laws that apply to patient documentation by maintaining HIPAA standards of security

· Foster the right atmosphere for professionalism and ethics: TransDyne creates a atmosphere which enables an atmosphere of professionalism.

TransDyne offers Medical Transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert Medical Transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA compliant channels, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

To know more about TransDyne, please click here.

Outsourcing medical transcription; getting started with TransDyne

28. January 2010 Catagory Medical Transcription | 0 comment »

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: Incase 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.

To get started on superior medical transcription services by TransDyne, please click here

Availing medical transcription services

27. January 2010 Catagory Medical Transcription | 0 comment »

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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

2. 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

Medical transcription: What makes good services exceptional?

26. January 2010 Catagory Medical Transcription | 0 comment »

Outsourcing medical transcription can be a mind-boggling exercise. It not only involves extensive analysis of the healthcare facility, but once this is done it also entails careful and detailed examination of the options available. On the face of it this could seem like fairly simple and straightforward exercise.

The process of analyzing the options available becomes complicated due to the following reasons:

· Varying needs of a healthcare facility could comprise of the following:

1. Different specialties requiring different report formats, turnaround time etc
2. Unpredictable inflow of patients, causing medical transcription needs to vary
3. Weekend and holiday medical transcription requirements
4. Flexible options required for expansion plans
5. Integration with existing systems
6. Healthcare professionals wanting to retain their current dictation modes
7. EMR adoption

· A medical transcription service provider needs to be evaluated on the following:

1. Quality/Accuracy: The quality of the transcribed document refers to the percentage of accuracy in the transcribed document viz. a viz. the audio files.

2. Turnaround time: Turnaround time is the duration between uploading dictation to the server and when the final transcribed document is made available to the healthcare facility

3. Price: Pricing refers to the price per line of transcription

4. Security: Security refers to the means by which the medical transcription company protects confidential patient data during transmission and during the transcription process.

However these are just the basic criteria for evaluating a medical transcription company, a healthcare facility needs to look for qualities that make a medical transcription company exceptional.

The qualities that make a good medical transcription service exceptional are as follows:

· Billing method used: Billing methods used by the medical transcription service provider have a direct effect on the bottom line of the healthcare facility. Billing methods vary from charging for a page, a gross line a report or that of a character line. The billing method used by the medical transcription company needs to verifiable, measurable, definable, consistent and fair & honest.

TransDyne uses the 65-character line method of billing, which is approved by the AHDI. Care is taken to explain the billing methodology at the beginning so that there is no ambiguity.

· Quality assessment methods used: The quality of the transcribed document is measured by the percentage of accuracy of information transcribed. Minimum or zero error means that the records of patients reflect the correct information. This is critical for the ability to give quality care. A medical transcription company needs to be assessed by the methods used for achieving accuracy to assess its’ ability to achieve promised accuracy levels

TransDyne offers transcription with accuracy of 99% or above. TransDyne ensures quality by adopting a four level quality check of Medical Transcriptionist, language proofreader, unit in charge and finally by Quality Assurance team which tries to minimize errors before returning the finished reports.

· Training methods used: Training methods used by the medical transcription company has an effect on both the accuracy and the turnaround time.

TransDyne believes that it takes a specialist to take care of special needs. That is why medical transcriptionists here are trained on one or two areas of specialty. This makes them domain experts. This reduces the learning curve and enables them to meet stringent accuracy standards from the very beginning, and they are also able to meet the turnaround time guarantees.

· Technology used: Technology used by the medical transcription company has its impact on ease of use as well as the security of data. Because medical transcription involves the transmission of data, care has to be taken to make that appropriate security measures are in place. Technology can save a lot of time for healthcare professional by including features like flexible modes of dictation, easy upload and download of finished transcripts.

TransDyne ensures 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’s system has features like Smart Upload, Smart Delivery and allows for flexible modes of dictation. TransDyne also offers a web delivery system, which offers archiving facilities. TransDyne has HL7 interface for easy integration with EMR

· Flexibility in services: Considering that the needs of healthcare facilities can vary due to various factors, it is important that the medical transcription service provider is flexible and adapts itself to suit varying needs.

TransDyne has experience serving all types of healthcare facilities by offering services that are tailor made to suit their unique needs

· Free trial without obligatory sign up: A free trial of services is very important to assess the services of a medical transcription company before signing up with them.

TransDyne offers the opportunity to have the benefit of their services for a limited period for free. This enables the healthcare facility to understand the advantages of partnering with TransDyne for their Medical Transcription needs

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

Medical transcription: Strategies for outsourcing

25. January 2010 Catagory Medical Transcription | 0 comment »

Medical transcription: Strategies for outsourcing
What is the strategy to be adopted for outsourcing medical transcription?

1. Identify healthcare process: This will show the healthcare facility the flow of work and identify processes that can be outsourced and those, which are to be retained in-house.

The typical workflow for healthcare would be as follows:

· Appointment by patient to visit doctor/emergency visit
· Filling up of demo forms
· Doctor visit
· Dictation of notes
· Medical transcription
· Medical coding
· Medical billing
· Insurance claims processing
· Re-imbursement
· Follow up of payment over and above insurance re-imbursement.

This flow clearly shows that the first four tasks cannot be outsourced but other tasks like medical transcription can be outsourced.

2. Assess the feasibility of outsourcing medical transcription

a. Can medical transcription be executed outside the healthcare facility premises?
With the advent of Internet, it is possible for medical transcription to be executed outside the physical premises of the healthcare facility.

b. Are there any security implications to outsourcing medical transcription?
Security of confidential patient health information has to be ensured. Care has to be taken to make sure that the medical transcription service provider is HIPAA complaint and covered under a business associate agreement.

c. Can medical transcription be tailor made to match the requirements of the healthcare facility?
The needs of different healthcare facilities is different, care has to be taken to source a medical transcription service provider who can cater to different volumes, formats and specialties and according to the turnaround time specified.

d. Can the medical transcription service provider’s performance be monitored?
The performance of a medical transcription service provider can be monitored in terms of accuracy and turnaround time.

3. Sourcing the right medical transcription service provider: What are the criteria?
a. Cost:
This is perhaps one of the most criteria for outsourcing, Care has to be taken that the cost per line of transcription parameters are understood completely before comparing quotes.

b. Turnaround time: Turnaround time is an important factor that affects both the healthcare and profitability aspect of the healthcare facility.

c. Availability of talent pool: To make sure that a service provider can provide continuous and consistent service it is important to evaluate the talent pool available to the service provider.

d. Risks: This refers both to the risk of poor quality as well as security of information. To mitigate this assurances of quality level and the security measures taken by the service provider need to be evaluated

4. What is the value proposition of outsourcing medical transcription?
a. Speed: Outsourcing medical transcription ensures the speedy creation of medical records under all circumstances.

b. Profit increase: Outsourcing medical transcription brings down the cost per line of transcription and improves the bottom line. It also helps increase profits by shortening the receivables cycle.

c. Increased process efficiency: Outsourcing medical transcription increases the efficiency of the healthcare process by making information available to the healthcare professionals on time.

d. Improved Management focus: Outsourcing medical transcription improves the management focus by freeing up valuable resources like real estate, supervisory staff, capital investment etc.

TransDyne is a professionally managed medical transcription service provider that offers quality Medical Transcription at reasonable prices, done by expert Medical Transcriptionists with a very quick turnaround time executed through secure HIPAA compliant channels, with very high levels of accuracy and all this with technology that is advanced but easy to use!

For more details about how to use TransDyne’s superior outsourced medical transcription service please Click here.

Quality medical transcription at low costs

24. January 2010 Catagory Medical Transcription | 0 comment »

There is a saying that goes something like this “You get what you pay for”. It implies that one can get quality products/services only if the price is high. But this is not the case with medical transcription; it is possible to get great quality at very low rates. Sounds counterintuitive but it is true.

These are times when healthcare facilities are tightening their belts as much as possible, it makes business sense to keep the organizational structure lean and avail of outsourcing services for non-core activities.

Medical transcription plays an important role in the delivery of quality healthcare. To this end it is important to source a medical transcription service provider, who can deliver both quality and reasonable prices.

What is quality of medical transcription?

Quality/ accuracy in medical transcription refers to the accuracy of the final transcript viz. a viz. the audio file.

How to evaluate methods used for ensuring quality?

The methods used for ensuring quality can be evaluated on the following criteria:

· Careful selection of medical transcriptionists: Since medical transcription is a manpower-based process, the quality of medical transcriptionists has a direct impact on the accuracy of reports. It is important to focus on a company that selects its employees through a stringent screening process.

· Training methods used: Training plays an important role in preparing the medical transcriptionists to produce transcripts of the highest accuracy. A company, which focuses on training their medical transcriptionist in one or two specialties of medicine rather than generic training, would be preferable. This would ensure that the quality of transcripts produced would be high from the very beginning.

· Quality control process: Check the method used by the service provider to provide accurate transcripts. An intense process involving checks at every level would ensure that errors are minimized.

· In house medical transcription: To ensure that quality transcripts are delivered, it is vital to ensure that the service provider executes the work in-house not through vendors. This would ensure that the service provider has total control over the quality control process.

What is low cost?

Low cost of transcription means that the cost per line of transcription should be lower than the current cost. Cost per line should be defined clearly with no additional or hidden costs

How can low cost be ensured?

· Fair billing method: The billing method used by the service provider can have a direct impact on the cost per line. The definition of cost should be verifiable, definable, measurable, consistent, fair and honest.

· Economies of scale: The service provider being a specialist in medical transcription can pass on the benefits of economies of scale, which the healthcare facility may not have doing the medical transcription in-house.

· Use of technology: The use of advanced technology by the service provider can cut down logistics cost making it possible for them to deliver excellent service at low costs.

TransDyne is a medical transcription service provider, which believes in ensuring quality by recruiting the best talent through rigorous screening, training them to be domain specialists, applying a four level quality check process and executing all the medical transcription work in-house.

TransDyne ensures low cost per line of transcription using a fair and easy method of billing, passing on the benefits of economies of scale to the customers and uses technology that makes the medical transcription process easy and cost effective.

To know more about the superior medical transcription services by TransDyne please click here

Choose a medical transcription company that thinks like their customers

21. January 2010 Catagory Medical Transcription | 0 comment »

What gives TransDyne the edge over others in the field of medical transcription?

TransDyne is the new standard in medical transcription that provides excellent services by using their extensive background in software to develop systems which provide advanced technology with ease of use

Beyond that what sets TransDyne apart is the mindset of the company towards its’ customers. TransDyne has actually put itself into the shoes of their customers i.e. healthcare facilities to anticipate any questions, doubts or issues they may have with the outsourcing decision and addressed them all.

Typically the decision to outsource lies in the hands of the individual/team who looks after the administration of the healthcare facility. They would be responsible for the business end of the healthcare facility including medical transcription and record keeping among their many other responsibilities.

What questions/ doubts / issues would healthcare facility administrator/s have regarding medical transcription?

· How important is medical transcription to the running of the healthcare facility?
Medical transcription is vital for the smooth running of a healthcare facility. The finished transcripts are used for:
1. Patient treatment
2. Permanent Patient records
3. Referrals to other doctors
4. Evidence in case of malpractice suits
5. Coding, billing and insurance claims
6. Satisfaction of regulatory norms.

TransDyne offers Quality Transcription with accuracy of 99% or above by applying four level quality checks

· How much is the cost per line of medical transcription currently?
Depending on whether an in-house employee or an independent contractor is doing the medical transcription work, it could cost anywhere between 18-35 cents.

TransDyne offers prices as low as 10 cents for a 65-character line that is subject to verification from both ends through a transparent billing method.

· Is medical transcription a part of the healthcare facility’s core business?
Medical transcription is not part of the core business but does play an important role in providing quality healthcare and improving the bottom line of the healthcare facility.

TransDyne is a professional company whose core business is medical transcription

· What are the opportunity costs of medical transcription activity in-house?
Apart from the direct costs involved in medical transcription in-house there are numerous opportunity costs lost like management resources, space allocated for medical transcription, information technology investment etc.

By outsourcing the medical transcription needs of a healthcare facility to TransDyne one can not only save on cost per line of transcription but also save on opportunity costs like management, human resource development, space management etc.

· Are volume fluctuations in medical transcription due to holidays/staff shortage/weekends being met?
Normally it is difficult to anticipate the fluctuations in the volumes of transcription and staffing fluctuations and thereby it is very difficult to plan medical transcription volumes accordingly.

TransDyne can provide medical transcription according to the volume fluctuations and any holiday/weekend needs due to the availability of a
large pool of trained medical transcriptionists.

· What are the concerns with regard to outsourcing medical transcription?
The concerns for outsourcing are mainly the accuracy, turnaround time hidden costs and data security.

TransDyne offers medical transcription with an accuracy of above 99%, turnaround time of 24 hours, with a 4-12 hours turnaround time for stat reports, with a fair and simple billing method and data transmission through secure channels to ensure HIPAA compliancy.

· Is further investment in technology required to make the transition to outsourcing?
No! There are no investments to be made in technology or software for outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne

· Is the transition difficult for doctors in terms of dictation methods and equipments?
The transition to outsourced medical transcription can be made simple by using the existing modes of dictation.

TransDyne believes that the doctors’ time is precious that is why they offer flexible modes of dictation. Doctors can dictate using their existing dictation devices, use digital reorders or even use mobile phones to record their dictation into our toll free number.

Will the medical transcription company be available at all times in case of doubts and clarifications?
TransDyne believes in being available to the customer 24/7 so that any doubts/clarifications are sorted out at the earliest.

· What are the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription to TransDyne?
Pricing: TransDyne offer fair and verifiable pricing for the services rendered.

Zero investment: Medical transcription with TransDyne requires no investment.

No opportunity costs lost: TransDyne offers total solutions for the medical transcription process thereby no opportunity costs are lost.

Focus on core business: Once a professional company like TransDyne meets the medical transcription needs, it leaves the administrator of the healthcare facility free to focus on the core business of health care.

Turnaround time: TransDyne guarantees a turnaround time of 24 hours and 4-12 hours for STAT reports, hence the quality of care improves and the receivables cycle is reduced.

Fluctuation in volumes managed: TransDyne is geared to take on the fluctuating volumes of medical transcription needs by having huge pool of trained transcriptionists available at all times.

These are just a few advantages of outsourcing to a professional medical transcription company like TransDyne, to know more click here.

Outsourcing medical transcription: The right solution for healthcare facilities to cope with expansion plans

20. January 2010 Catagory Medical Transcription | 0 comment »

In today’s world change is the one thing, which is constant. Change has never been more relevant than when it comes to healthcare. A healthcare facility has to cope up with the latest developments in healthcare, all the while stretching their budgets to the limit. The latest equipment, the latest techniques, adding on new specialties to the existing practice, all this can put a strain on limited resources.

As the scope of operations of a healthcare facility keep expanding their back office requirements like medical transcription and medical billing needs also expand accordingly. As this happens the first reaction of the healthcare facility is to add on more staff to cope up with increasing medical transcription needs or alternately outsource the overflow of transcription requirements to independent contractors or to a medical transcription service provider or a combination of all three.

This move provides a solution albeit temporarily. But as time passes there could be serious discrepancies in terms of the following:

· Quality of reports: The accuracy level or the quality of the finished transcripts depends totally on the quality of people working on it. Use of varied sources to cope with medical transcription needs can dilute the quality control. This could have an impact on the quality of healthcare.

· Turnaround time: Having varied turnaround time would mean that all the data needed to make an informed decision would not be available to the healthcare professional at the right time, which can affect the timeliness of the care imparted.

· Cost per line of transcription: Having transcription done by various sources would mean that the cost per line of transcription would increase.

· Systems/media used for transcription: The technology used for transcribing would be diverse given the different sources, all these would mean additional costs for integration with the healthcare facility systems.

· Serious issues with HIPAA compliancy: HIPAA compliancy would be difficult to monitor given the numerous entities involved in the process.

· Delays in processing for the accounts receivable cycle: Medical transcription is the first stage of the accounts receivable cycle; delay in medical transcription would mean delays in the rest of the reimbursement process.

· Time spent coordinating various sources of medical transcription increases: Report distribution and signing of finished transcripts would be delayed due to the various sources of medical transcription work.

· Manpower dealing with medical transcription providers would increase: The healthcare facility would have to appoint extra people to coordinate the varied sources of transcription to ensure a smooth workflow.

All these factors can have a serious impact on both the quality of healthcare and the bottom-line of the healthcare facility.

What is the most economical and efficient solution to cope with expanding needs of a healthcare facility?

Outsourcing medical transcription needs to TransDyne would provide a one-stop solution for all the medical transcription needs of a healthcare facility no matter what their expansion plans.

How does TransDyne provide a one-stop solution to the medical transcription needs of a healthcare facility?

TransDyne provides superior solutions for medical transcription needs by having:

· Right people: TransDyne has a large team of well-trained medical transcriptionists in place. TransDyne believes that training should be slanted in such a way as to provide maximum expertise in minimum time. That is why medical transcriptionists in TransDyne have been trained in one or two areas of specialty making them domain experts. This means that the team at TransDyne can cope with the varying volumes of transcription without affecting the accuracy or the turnaround time.

· Right process: TransDyne has the right processes in place that ensure not only quality and turnaround time but also HIPAA compliancy. All the transcription work is executed in-house and not through sub contractors, this ensures better control over quality and safety of information. Quality of final transcripts is ensured through a four level check involving medical transcriptionist, proofreader, unit-in-charge and the quality assurance team.

· Right technology: TransDyne uses the latest technology to ensure:

1. Easy upload, by allowing the healthcare professionals to retain familiar and flexible modes of dictation
2. Safety during transmission through the use of encryption, firewalls and password protected access.
3. Easy download of file to enable distribution of finished transcripts.
4. A system which ensures ease of tracking dictations, finished transcripts and archiving facilities that can be customized to the healthcare facility’s needs

By having the right people, right processes and right technology in place TransDyne offers

· Medical transcription at the right price – at least 40% lower than current costs incurred by the healthcare facility.
· Accuracy of above 99%
· Turnaround time of 24 hours with an option of 4-12 hours for STAT reports.
· HIPAA compliant medical transcription
· Fair billing methods to ensure that cost per line of transcription is understood clearly.
· Systems that integrate with that of the healthcare facility without any additional investment on their part.

For more information on how TransDyne can help with outsourced medical transcription services please click here.

Medical transcription: What are the methods of quality assessment?

19. January 2010 Catagory Medical Transcription | 0 comment »

Quality is an important criterion in any decision making process. Assessing quality becomes even more important when it comes to availing service as critical as medical transcription. Medical transcription is the process of converting audio records of a patient- healthcare professional encounter into a text format.

This accuracy/quality of medical transcription critical as this forms the basis of:

· Permanent patient history
· Present and future treatment plan and basis for monitoring progress of the patient
· Referrals/tests/procedure
· Statutory requirements
· Evidence in case of disputes/litigation
· Accounts receivable processing

It is important that records that play such an essential role be of the highest accuracy/quality possible. While making the decision to outsource medical transcription needs it is vital to ensure that the medical transcription service provider has HPI guidelines in place for assessment of quality.

What are HPI guidelines?

The concept of Quality Assessment (QA) began in 1990 when a format was developed by Judy Hinickle to assess quality of transcription. This was followed by presentations made to thousands of transcription supervisors and educators around the country by Health Professional Institute (HPI), American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT), American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), and Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA).

Health Professions Institute then adapted and promoted this for its standard-setting SUM program for medical transcription. This QA method is the basis of most programs and is of most thorough and effective nature, embracing true Continuous Quality Improvement concepts.

TransDyne executes medical transcription using quality guidelines by HPI

What do HPI guidelines consist of?

HPI guidelines consist of quality check parameters and computing system for quality satisfaction and highest accuracy levels. HPI guidelines are categorized as follows:

Error 1. Medical Word misuse-Point 1.00
This is considered one of the most serious errors as it can affect every aspect of treatment administered to the patient. Even billing information is affected by this error. Guesswork or making up of words when dictation is not understood is also included in this error category.

Error 2. Omission- Point 1.00
This is also considered an equally serious type of error as it reflects on the ability and professionalism of the medical transcriptionist.

Error 3. Medical word misspelling- Point 0.75
This is the incorrect spelling of medical terminology.

Error 4. English word misspelling or Misuse -Point 0.75
This includes misspelling of English words nouns, verbs, qualifying adverbs etc, which could have a serious consequence.

Error 5. Inappropriate blanks- Point 0.75
These refer to blanks that are left unfilled, and those, which could be filled up by extensive research by the medical transcriptionist.

Error 6. Grammar errors- Point 0.5
Grammar errors include incorrect use of medical abbreviations, misuse of words, misuse of parts of speech, misuse of subject-verb, singular/plural misuse, etc.

Error 7. Punctuation errors- Point 0.5
Include errors with regard to punctuation like coma, colon, semi colon etc that change the meaning of the sentence if misused.

Error 8. Typographical errors- Point 0.25
Minor grammar, punctuation or capitalization errors.

Error 9. Formatting errors- Point 0.25
This error refers to the prevailing departmental/physician guidelines for placement of certain information within the document. E.g. Headers, Footers, templates as defined by the client.

Having these quality guidelines in place ensures that everybody in the TransDyne team is guided by the same principles. TransDyne offers Quality Transcription with accuracy of 99% or above. TransDyne ensures quality by adopting a four level quality check of Medical Transcriptionist, language proofreader, unit in charge and finally by the quality assurance team which tries to minimize errors before returning the finished reports.

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