The primary goal of every healthcare facility is to maximize profits while providing quality healthcare. Achieving this goal would require a three-pronged approach:

· Increase focus on quality healthcare
· Decrease expenses towards activities that are not part of the core process
· Accelerate cash flow

Outsourced medical transcription has a role to play in all the three steps involved in achieving the goal of the healthcare facility.

What role does medical transcription play in increasing focus on quality healthcare?
Apart from the qualification and expertise of the healthcare professional, one of the main inputs for quality healthcare is accurate information. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the medical records are created accurately and on time by expert medical transcriptionists who are well versed in the language related to the specialty of the healthcare professional. This ensures that all the details of the patient-healthcare professional encounter are captured completely and accurately.

The information captured in patient records aids the healthcare professional by providing information on the following:

· A brief about the patient history and physical examination
· Existing health conditions if any
· Information on the current medication used and allergies if any
· Past symptoms and diagnosis
· Drugs/procedures/tests/therapies prescribed
· Results of tests
· Progress made by the patient

What role does medical transcription play in decreasing expenses towards non-core activities?
One of the main benefits of outsourcing medical transcription is that it not only reduces the cost per line of medical transcription, it also allows the healthcare facility to maximize focus towards providing quality healthcare. Resources like cost of direct employees, management staff, real estate, capital expenses for transcription equipment, cost of utilities for in-house transcription, Information technology (IT) for in-house transcription, and working capital requirements for transcription in-house can be redirected for other uses.

What role does medical transcription play in accelerating cash flow?
Medical transcription is the first step in the receivables cycle. By outsourcing medical transcription, patient records are created accurately and on time. Speedy creation of records ensures that the process of reimbursement is speeded up, leading to shortening of the receivables cycle. This helps accelerate the cash flow.

It can be concluded that outsourcing medical transcription helps the healthcare facility focus on providing quality healthcare; helps reduce expenses and speeds up the reimbursement process. To reap maximum benefits of outsourcing medical transcription, a healthcare facility needs to evaluate the medical transcription service provider based on the following criteria:

· Accuracy: This means the percentage of accuracy of the completed transcripts vis-à-vis what was dictated. A minimum of 99% and above would be acceptable.

· Turnaround time: Turnaround time refers to the time taken to revert the transcribed report to the healthcare facility. A Turnaround time of not more than 24 hours for normal reports and 4-12 hours for STAT reports would be considered ideal.

· Data security: The Company being outsourced to should be HIPAA/HITECH compliant. The medical transcription company has to have adequate security measures to ensure that the confidential data transmitted back and forth is safe and secure.

· Pricing: This is one of the main benefits that a healthcare facility hopes to have, from the outsourcing option. Pricing should be fair and reasonable for the services rendered. Pricing method should also be transparent and simple so that both parties can verify the same at any stage of the process

· Technology: The technology used by the medical transcription company should not only secure but should also be easy to use, without having to require extensive training.

TransDyne is a leading medical transcription service provider, providing medical transcription services that helps a healthcare facility focus on providing quality healthcare, helps them save on costs of medical transcription and helps accelerate the receivables cycle. TransDyne offers 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.

To avail medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Medical transcription is a service that supports the healthcare profession, creating records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter by transcribing audio files into text format. When it comes to outsourcing medical transcription it is important to partner with the right service provider who can provide the right service. Because medical transcription is a service rather than a tangible product it is important to understand what comprises great service.

What comprises great service?
Great service would comprise of the following features:

· Service should be timely
· Service should be continuous
· Service should be flexible to meet varying demands
· Service should be of good quality consistently
· Service should be reasonably priced
· Service should maintain confidentiality
· Service should be easy to avail
· Service should lessen the burden of the user/s significantly

All the above criteria apply to outsourced medical transcription services. It is important to understand the significance of each criterion while evaluating medical transcription services.

Timely service: Medical transcription is an important component of both the operational and commercial aspects of healthcare, by creating records and by accelerating the receivable cycle. Therefore it is important that the medical transcription service provider have a timeline for delivery of services. Turnaround time of finished transcripts committed by the service provider plays a significant role in evaluating the service provider.

Continuous service: Medical transcription services need to be a continuous process, as inflow of patients is not a one-time occurrence but a continuous process and records need to be created on a continuous basis.

Flexible service: Though the inflow of patients availing healthcare services is continuous, it is not consistent. The inflow could vary based on many factors that cannot be predicted or planned for. Therefore medical transcription services need to be flexible to meet the varying needs of healthcare facilities based on the influx.

Quality services: Patient records are part of the healthcare process, having varied uses like the basis of further treatment/referrals etc., evidence for litigation, part of permanent record, forming the basis for coding and billing. It is important that these records contain information that is accurate. Therefore while outsourcing medical transcription, evaluating the quality of services is one of the most important factors.

Reasonably priced: One of the main benefits of outsourcing medical transcription is to avail the cost saving benefits. It is important to examine the quote offered by the service provider, in detail while outsourcing medical transcription, taking into consideration the billing method used by the provider.

Secure : While outsourcing medical transcription it is important to evaluate the service provider on the basis of the measures taken by the medical transcription service provider to secure confidential patient information. It is important to evaluate the measures taken to secure technology, infrastructure, processes and the people used for transcription.

Easy to use services: Medical transcription services are used by the healthcare professionals for whom time is a precious commodity. It is important to choose a medical transcription service provider who uses the right technology to provide multiple benefits and easy usage.

Investment free service: Healthcare facilities are constantly trying to juggle limited resources to meet multiple demands. In such a scenario it is important that outsourcing medical transcription services should ease the burden of healthcare facilities by eliminating expenses like Information technology, real estate, utilities, equipments etc., related to medical transcription.

TransDyne is a leading medical transcription service provider, providing medical transcription services that meet all the above criteria. TransDyne offers 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.

To avail medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Medical transcription plays a vital part in the healthcare process, by documenting the patient-healthcare professional encounter. The medical records play an important role in the following areas:

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

As medical transcription is not part of the core activities of the healthcare facility, an easy and cost effective fix is to outsource the medical transcription requirements to a professional medical transcription service provider. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that the patient records are created in an easy, accurate, timely, secure and cost effective manner.

However while outsourcing medical transcription, care needs to be taken to ensure that the right service provider is chosen so as to reap long-term benefits.

What are the guidelines for outsourcing medical transcription?

The Dos:

· Check for experience of the service provider: While outsourcing medical transcription it is important to check the credentials of the service provider. To ensure that the service provider is capable of providing services as promised the following questions need to be asked:

a) How long has the service provider been in the business providing outsourced medical transcription services?
b) Who are their customers?
c) What is the range of medical transcription services?
d) Can they provide testimonials?
e) Do they offer a free trial of their services?

· Check for quality measures: It is important to ascertain that the medical transcription service provider has measures in place to provide accurate medical transcription as promised. To ascertain that the service provider can deliver quality/accuracy as promised the following questions need to be asked:

a) What are the quality check levels? Does more than one person listen to the audio before transmitting the transcript back to the healthcare professional?
b) What is the training method used by the service provider?
c) Does the service provider use subcontractors to execute the work?

· Check the billing methodology: Pricing in medical transcription is a complex issue with numerous variables. Comparing quotes can be very difficult as the components of what consists cost may vary vastly. This also leaves a huge scope for manipulation in the billing. To ensure that the price quoted is reasonable, one needs to check the billing methodology used by the medical transcription service provider. The billing method needs to be verifiable, definable, measurable, consistent, fair and honest

· Check the transcription flow: Checking the flow from the dictation stage to when the final transcript is made available to the healthcare professional ensures the use of the right technology. The right technology in turn ensures that turnaround time commitments will be met with, and the time of the support staff and healthcare professionals is not wasted tracking dictation files and finished transcripts through a complex system.

· Check the HIPAA/HITECH compliance measures: While outsourcing medical transcription one of the main concerns is that of maintaining the security of confidential patient information. To evaluate whether a service provider has adequate measures in place to be HIPAA/HITECH complaint, one needs to check for adequate measures for:

a) Technology: To ensure security during transmission
b) Processes: To ensure security during transcription
c) People and infrastructure: To ensure security during every stage

· Check for customer service channels: It is important that the healthcare facility have channels of open communication at their disposal for contacting the service provider. This ensures that any issues are sorted out at the earliest to ensure smooth transition

· Check the website: Website of the service provider can be a valuable source of information. It is important to go through the website of the service provider to get maximum information

The Don’ts

· Look at price only: Though reduced cost is one of the foremost benefits of outsourcing medical transcription, it is important to analyze the cost components thoroughly and to look at the capabilities of the service provider before making finalizing the service provider

· Ignore the contract: Though the service provider meets all the criteria for successful outsourcing it is important to look at the contract agreement in depth before signing on for the services

· Opt for complicated technology: It is very easy to be taken in by the “bells and whistles” in the technology used by the service provider, without actually considering the utility. As time is a limited commodity for healthcare professionals it is important that the technology used by the service provider serves all the needs and at the same time is easy

TransDyne offers 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.

To avail transcription services from TransDyne, click here

When it comes to provision of quality healthcare there are many associated activities that contribute to the process. Medical transcription is one such activity that plays an important part in ensuring provision of quality care and strengthening the bottom-line of the healthcare facility. It is important for the healthcare facility to ensure that the medical transcription process is efficient and cost effective, without diluting focus on the core business. Outsourcing medical transcription is an easy fix to make it efficient and cost effective.

Outsourcing medical transcription can help the healthcare facility increase productivity.

Productivity has simply been defined as the positive outcome of quality output plus quantity output divided by quality input plus quantity input.

How does outsourcing medical transcription help healthcare facilities increase productivity?

· Increasing productivity of healthcare professionals: Outsourcing medical transcription helps enhance the productivity of healthcare professionals in the following areas:

1. Allowing them optimum use of their time by retaining familiar and flexible modes of dictation
2. Helping with the decision making process about patients’ treatment plans, by providing them with accurate and timely patient records

· Increasing productivity of support staff: Outsourcing medical transcription helps enhance the productivity of support staff like nurses and technicians by providing them with a system to keep track of work in progress, powerful archives for tracing old records and facilities like remote printing & faxing

· Increasing productivity of administrative staff: Outsourcing medical transcription reduces the burden of the administrative staff by allowing them to focus all resources like space, utilities and other resources on the core business of the healthcare facility instead of on associated activities like medical transcription

· Increasing productivity of Information technology (IT) staff: Outsourcing medical transcription can help reduce the burden on the IT staff, by providing software and tools to facilitate upload of dictation, download of files and distribution of patient records to the relevant healthcare professionals

· Increasing productivity of management staff: The burden of the management staff towards activities like recruitment, training and coordination of medical transcriptionists are eased when medical transcription is outsourced.

In conclusion it is obvious that outsourcing medical transcription increases the quality and quantity of output, i.e. increased productivity resulting in provision of quality care, decreasing direct & indirect costs of medical transcription and quickening the receivables process. To get the desired increase in productivity by outsourcing medical transcription, care has to be taken to evaluate the medical transcription service provider on the following criteria:

a. Accuracy: Needs to be above 99%
b. Turnaround time: Needs to be within 24 hours
c. Price: Needs to be reasonable and fair
d. Security: Has to cover all aspects, i.e. technology, infrastructure, people and processes.
e. Technology: Needs to be easy to use and provide maximum benefits.

TransDyne a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers customized solutions that help healthcare facilities enhance their productivity. TransDyne offers 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.

To avail medical transcription services from TransDyne, click here

Obstetrics and gynecology (often abbreviated to OB/GYN, OBG, O&G or Obs & Gynae) are the two surgical specialties dealing with the female reproductive organs, and as such are often combined to form a single medical specialty and postgraduate training program. This combined training prepares the practicing OB/GYN to be adept at the surgical management of the entire scope of clinical pathology involving female reproductive organs, and to provide care for both pregnant and non-pregnant patients.

OB/GYN is a medical specialty that requires the healthcare professional practicing it to have the requisite training and qualification. Similarly transcribing the audio records of Obstetricians/Gynecologists requires that the medical transcriptionists working on it possesses the requisite training and knowledge to be able to provide transcription services with the required accuracy and turnaround time from the very beginning.

Recognizing the need for specialist medical transcriptionists to take care of a specialist’s needs, TransDyne has created a team of medical transcriptionists, proofreaders and editors specializing in OB/GYN transcription.

How does specialist training in OB/GYN transcription affect accuracy levels?
Medical transcriptionists, proofreaders and editors are familiar with all the requisite terminology, procedures and the drugs used in OB/GYN due to the training program aimed at familiarizing the medical transcriptionists with this specialty. This ensures that the error rates in transcripts are drastically reduced and the accuracy levels are high. The team is able to produce high quality reports from the very beginning.

How does specialist training in OB/GYN transcription affect turnaround time?
Due to the training methods used the medical transcriptionists are very familiar with the specific terminology used and are able to produce transcripts with requisite accuracy within optimum turnaround time.

How does specialist training in OB/GYN transcription affect cost per line of transcription?
Due to the reduced error rate and reduced turnaround time the need for multi level quality checks is reduced and the productivity of the medical transcriptionist is enhanced this helps keep the cost of production under control and the benefits of this are passed on the healthcare facility.

TransDyne provides OB/GYN medical transcription that is cost efficient, speedy and accurate. Moreover Obstetricians/Gynecologists can benefit from the other features of medical transcription services by TransDyne like:

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/HITECH  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 avail OB/GYN medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription is an important contributor to the smooth running of a healthcare facility by creating patient records efficiently. However many healthcare facilities tend to overlook the role that medical transcription can play in smoothing out the operations of the healthcare facility. Often times it has been noticed that healthcare facilities avail medical transcription from a mix of in-house employees, Independent contractors and medical transcription service providers.

As the need for medical transcription grows it has been found that availing medical transcription services from different sources can result in the following deficiencies:

· Missing files: Entire files of dictation by healthcare professionals could be misplaced due to the lack of a single source service provider It also becomes very difficult to trace the status of the finished transcripts. The same healthcare professional’s files could be transcribed by various sources causing confusion about factors like formats, turnaround time etc

· Duplicating efforts: When medical transcription work is executed through disparate sources, the process of allocating audio files, follow-up of work-in-progress and archiving of transcribed files could be duplicated

· Improperly assigned work: Work allocation to the various sources of transcription could be confusing, resulting in work assignments getting mixed up. People not well versed with the templates/formatting requirements of the healthcare professional could produce work of less than desirable standards

· Constant strain on resources: Getting medical transcription work executed through varied sources would place a constant strain on the resources of the healthcare facility, like the administrative, managerial and Information Technology staff

· Difficulty in computing costs: When varied sources are used for executing medical transcription work it is very difficult to ascertain the actual cost per line of transcription. A lot of time would be wasted on reconciling the costs

· Other factors: Factors like poor connectivity, lack of proper systems/infrastructure, lack of skills in the particular specialty could result in substandard quality of work

Outsourcing the medical transcription needs to a professional medical transcription service provider can help the healthcare facility have a fix on not only the cost of medical transcription but also all other factors.

Some of the advantages of outsourcing medical transcription are as follows:

· Increased efficiency: Outsourcing to a single source, increases the efficiency of the healthcare facility staff. The specific needs of the healthcare professionals are taken into consideration by the medical transcription service provider while customizing solutions. This ensures that the process of transcription is more efficient. Moreover the billing method is standard, ensuring that the cost per line of transcription is clearly defined, this ensures that every one is on the same page with regard to cost

· Reduced errors: Factors like standard formats/templates, medical transcriptionists trained in different specialties, use of advanced technology, multiple level quality checks, quality guidelines ensure that the error rates are dramatically reduced. The integrity of the information is preserved

· Consistent process: The system for uploading dictations, and downloading finished transcripts is configured to ensure that no time is wasted on searching for files. The staff can also keep tabs on the files at every stage of the work-in-progress. Features like archiving also make the process of tracing and retrieving old files very easy

· Robust reporting capability: Outsourcing to a professional medical transcription service provider ensures that the reports are of optimum quality, available within the promised turnaround time and features like remote printing and faxing also add to the quality of reports

· Reduced strain on internal resources: By outsourcing medical transcription, the strain on internal resources is dramatically reduced, in terms of both people as well as resources like real estate, utilities and working capital

TransDyne is a leading medical transcription service provider, offers medical transcription services that helps a healthcare facility focus on providing quality healthcare, helps them save on costs of medical transcription and helps accelerate the receivables cycle. TransDyne offers 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.

To know more outsourced medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here

The role of medical transcription in the healthcare process cannot be overlooked. Medical transcription plays an important role in the creation of medical records of patients by converting audio files of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into a text format. Combining expertise of the service provider and appropriate technology, creation of medical records is done with maximum accuracy & security, minimum turnaround time and at reasonable prices.

Creation of medical records plays an important role in the following areas of the healthcare facility:

· Patient care
· Referrals/ tests/procedures/ therapies
· Risk management by providing record of allergies, interaction of drugs
· Statutory requirements
· Evidence in case of litigation
· Coding and billing for reimbursement purposes
· Research
· Providing preventive care

An easy and cost-effective of ensuring the creation of accurate and timely medical records is to outsource medical transcription. However while outsourcing medical transcription it is important to ensure that the medical transcription service provider is reliable.

What is meant by reliable medical transcription services?

The word “reliable” has been defined as an entity that can be relied upon for being consistent, dependable and trustworthy. A reliable medical transcription service provider would have to meet the same criteria of being consistent, dependable and trustworthy.

What is meant by consistent medical transcription services?

· Accuracy: Accuracy of the information captured in the patient records is very important for both the operational as well as the commercial aspects of the healthcare facility. Accuracy needs to be consistently maintained at very high levels, using skilled specialist medical transcriptionists and multiple level quality checks to ensure consistent quality

· Billing methods: The billing methods used by the medical transcription service provider influences the pricing of services. It is important for the service provider to define the components of pricing and consistently use the same methodology, ensuring everyone is on the same page

What is meant by dependable medical transcription services?

· Turnaround time: To be considered dependable, medical transcription services need to meet the turnaround time commitments given by them. Along with accuracy of the data, turnaround time plays a very important role in providing quality healthcare and speeding up the receivables cycle

· Technology: Technology is an important component of dependable medical transcription. Technology is important both for maintaining turnaround time commitments as well as securing confidential patient data during the medical transcription process

What is meant by trustworthy medical transcription services?

· HIPAA/HITECH compliancy: While outsourcing medical transcription it is important for the healthcare facility to determine the capability of the medical transcription service provider in maintaining HIPAA/HITECH compliancy. To determine whether a medical transcription service provider is trustworthy, the service provider needs to be evaluated on the measures taken to ensure HIPAA and HITECH compliancy with regard to technology, processes, infrastructure and people

While outsourcing medical transcription it is important to take the time to assess the reliability of the medical transcription service provider.

TransDyne is a reliable medical transcription service provider that meets all the criteria of being consistent, dependable and trustworthy. TransDyne offers:

· Accuracy of above 99%
· Low costs by using the “character method” of billing
· Turnaround time of 24 hours, with an option of 4-12 hours for STAT files
· Advanced technology that is easy to use
· Secure HIPAA and HITECH compliant medical transcription by securing technology, processes, infrastructure and people

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

Health Information Technology for Economy and Clinical Health (HITECH) act providing for privacy and security of patient health information was enacted on 17th February 2009, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. (ARRA). The HITECH act has become effective on 17th February 2010. HITECH has improved and expanded on the concerns and issues addressed by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). HITECH has added new requirements concerning privacy and security for health information that materially and directly affects many entities, businesses, and individuals in ways more diverse than HIPAA

How does HITECH affect medical transcription service providers?
HITECH has added as ‘Business Associates’, organizations that transmit protected Health Information and require access on a regular basis to such information. Medical transcription is the process of converting audio records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. The process of medical transcription is made efficient and cost effective when outsourced to a professional medical transcription service provider. Medical transcription service providers come under the purview of HITECH as business associates, as they have access to patient health information and are involved in the process of transmitting this data back and forth during the process of transcription.

What are the steps to be taken by a medical transcription service provider to ensure compliancy with the HITECH act?
To be compliant with the HITECH act, the medical transcription service provider needs to implement the following:

· Identify the compliance requirements specific to their organization

· Carry out a risk analysis that includes the total flow of Patient Health Information (PHI) during the process of transcription. This needs to include the beginning of the process, all the steps in between up to the conclusion of the process, namely:
a) Collection of dictation
b) Transmission of audio files
c) Distribution of audio files for transcription
d) Shared access for quality checks
e) Transmission of transcripts back to the healthcare professionals
f) Archiving

· Identify the high-risk areas and look at the current risk containment measures. Revise the measures to ensure that they are in tandem with current requirements and latest technology, making sure there are no loopholes to allow for breaches

· Ensure that employees and any third parties having access to PHI are fully trained on the privacy and security requirements. Make them aware of their role in protecting PHI

· Review existing relationships between covered entities and develop a continuing compliance strategy

· Develop a strategy to minimize breaches, an early detection plan for identifying breaches and an action plan for quick responses to contain breaches, if any

While outsourcing medical transcription, it has become important for healthcare facilities to ensure that the service provider is fully aware of the requirement to protect the PHI under the HITECH act and have measures in place to ensure compliance.

TransDyne a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry has always understood the importance of securing and protecting confidential patient health information during the process of medical transcription. Measures have been taken to ensure that PHI is protected at all levels. The measures taken by TransDyne to be HIPAA/HITECH complaint include:

Securing people and processes: People and processes are secured by implementing the following:

1. No sub-contractors: Work outsourced to TransDyne is executed in-house and no subcontractors are used.
2. Educating the team: The transcription team, i.e. medical transcriptionists, proof readers, language editors and the quality assurance team have been educated on the importance of protecting and securing PHI
3. Inbuilt security routines: All applications and processes have inbuilt security measures like password changes, access audits and related exercises.
4. Joint access: Most confidential databases can only be accessed by a combination of passwords of a minimum of two individuals.
5. Restricted Internet and Email access: Unlimited access to Internet can lead to security breaches. Access is limited to a few limited sites.
6. Legal Declarations: Declarations are signed by employees undertaking to maintain the security of data.
7. Security audits: Frequent audits are carried out to ensure that all procedures are followed and are effective
8. Disabling ports for removable media: Ports for using removable media have been disabled to eliminate misuse of PHI

Securing Infrastructure: Infrastructure is secured by the following means:

1. Company owned and managed facilities
2. Manned security
3. Video surveillance

Securing Technology: Technology has been secured by use of security features like

1. All medical transcription related software applications are built in-house.
2. Database based systems.
3. 128-bit data encryption
4. Multi-tiered application architecture
5. Design level security safeguards
6. Firewall protected networks
7. Sterilized e-mail servers
8. Denial of access procedures and
9. Multi-modal alerts

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

Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. While famous for aesthetic surgery, plastic surgery also included many types of reconstructive surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery and the treatment of burns. Healthcare professionals specializing in plastic surgery are known as plastic surgeons.

Plastic surgery medical transcription involves the transcription of audio records dictated by plastic surgeons’ and other related healthcare professionals’ encounter with patients. To be able to provide medical transcription services of optimum accuracy and turnaround time, the medical transcriptionists working on the audio files need to be familiar with the procedures, terminology and drugs used in Plastic surgery.

Acknowledging that medicine is a vast field having numerous specialties, and the transcription of each specialty requires a familiarity with the language associated with this specialty, TransDyne has decided to create specialty medical transcriptionists. This means that medical transcriptionists are trained in the transcription of one or two specialties enabling them to serve the transcription needs of the specialists better.

How does specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription affect accuracy levels?
Specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription helps the medical transcriptionists produce quality work from the very beginning. The medical transcriptionists are familiar with the terminology, tests, procedures and drugs related to Plastic surgery. Due to the specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription the medical transcriptionists are able to achieve accuracy of above 99% maintaining the integrity of information captured.

How does specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription affect turnaround time?
Specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription enables the medical transcriptionists to produce high quality transcripts within the turnaround time guaranteed. Due to the familiarity with the language of Plastic surgery, the medical transcriptionist need not spend much time researching difficult terms in the Internet. Due to the higher levels of accuracy the number of quality checks required are less thus reducing turnaround time.

How does specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription affect pricing?
Specialty training in Plastic surgery medical transcription increases the productivity of the medical transcriptionists and decreases the time required for frequent quality checks thus bringing down the cost per line of transcription. The healthcare facility benefits from the economies of scale.

Plastic surgery 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 know more about superb Plastic surgery medical transcription services by TransDyne, click here.

Medical transcription plays an important part in the healthcare process, creating records of the patient-healthcare professional encounter by converting audio files of the healthcare professional into a text format. Though this is the main service provided by medical transcription, there are a large number of benefits to be derived from quality medical transcription.

By creating accurate, timely and secure records, medical transcription additionally helps healthcare facilities in two main areas:

· Speeding up the revenue cycle: The revenue cycle of a healthcare facility typically follows the following stages:

Ø Patient visit/Emergency visit
Ø Collection of patient demographic data
Ø Treatment /test/procedures/referrals
Ø Dictation of the patient visit by the healthcare professional
Ø Medical transcription
Ø Coding and billing
Ø Claims processing
Ø Reimbursement of claimable amount.

It is evident that timely and accurate medical transcription can help speed up the revenue cycle, as it forms the base of information about the patient’s visit and all other relevant details. This information is then used to start the process of reimbursement.

· Risk management:. Risk management is the process of assuring that covered persons receive all of the health care services they need, to which they are entitled under the contract, no more and no less at the most cost effective level possible by reducing or eliminating untoward incidents that might lead to injury or illness of patients.

In an increasingly litigious environment it is important that healthcare facilities are adequately covered against risk of litigation by keeping accurate records of the whole treatment procedure covering all the details. Medical transcription aids in the process of risk management by capturing every nuance of the treatment process as narrated by the healthcare professional, in an accurate and timely manner.

Another potential litigation risk that healthcare facilities face is due to the leakage of confidential patient information, namely a HIPAA/HITECH violation, during the process of medical transcription. The data becomes vulnerable to exposure during the process of medical transcription by being transmitted back and forth. A service provider providing quality medical transcription would ensure adequate measures are taken to protect the data, pertaining to technology, processes, people and infrastructure.

As medical transcription plays such an important role in different aspects of the healthcare process, it is important to stringently evaluate the medical transcription service provider on various aspects.

What are the criteria for evaluating a medical transcription service provider?

Ø Quality/accuracy: As the information captured in the medical record plays such an important role in various aspects of the healthcare facility operations, it is important to evaluate the medical transcription service provider on the basis of the accuracy levels guaranteed. Apart from the accuracy level guaranteed by the service provider, it is important to evaluate the service provider’s ability to meet quality standards. This can be ascertained by evaluating:

a) The number of quality checks used to achieve accuracy
b) The training methods used
c) The quality guidelines adopted by the service provider
d) Ascertaining whether the service provider executes all the transcription work in-house or by using subcontractors.

Ø Turnaround time: Timely delivery of finished reports is an important aspect of ensuring that the reimbursement process takes place on time. It is important to evaluate whether a service provider will be able to meet turnaround time guarantees. This can be ascertained by evaluating:

a) Availability of skilled medical transcriptionists
b) Skill level of the medical transcriptionists
c) The technology used for transcription

Ø HIPAA/HITECH compliance: As maintaining the security of confidential patient data is of absolute importance, it is important to evaluate the service provider on the basis of HIPAA/HITECH compliance. The service provider needs to be evaluated on the following:

a) Steps taken to protect technology
b) Steps taken to protect processes and people
c) Steps taken to secure Infrastructure

Ø Cost of transcription: The reduced cost of transcription is perhaps one of the most important benefits of outsourcing medical transcription. It is important that the price quoted by the medical transcription service provider be evaluated to ascertain that it is fair and reasonable to the services rendered. This can be evaluated based on the billing methodology used by the service provider.

Ø Track record: Ascertaining the track record of the service provider in providing similar services is an important aspect of evaluating the capability of the medical transcription service provider. This can be evaluated by verifying the testimonials of satisfied customers.

Ø Technology: Technology used by the medical transcription service provider plays an important part in three vital areas, namely:

a) Turnaround time
b) HIPAA/HITECH compliance
c) Ease of use

Evaluating a medical transcription service provider based on all these aspects would ensure efficient, effective, secure and economical medical transcription services.

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.

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