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March 2019
March 4, 2019

CUT COSTS THROUGH OUTSOURCING TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES

With the burden of healthcare reform putting constant new pressures on clinics and hospitals, cost-cutting has become a constant necessary practice. It may seem a little superfluous to explain why cutting costs are important – after all, cut costs are always good news, right? However, cost cutting can potentially lead to a loss in quality – unless you’re smart about it.

Hospitals that want to survive the reforms and the economic slowdown that 2008 and beyond has caused, have to use their ingenuity and technological changes to come up with ways to both save money and introduce higher quality in their services – a monumental task for most clinics and hospitals, especially with the juggling act it suggests.

But one way to cut costs without sacrificing quality is through the trend of outsourcing, and offshoring. The question is – are these practices relevant to the healthcare industry? Furthermore, how can they be implemented? And what do they do? As a specific example, we’ll take one of the more mundane yet absolutely essential components of a functioning healthcare facility – transcription services.

Saving Money Through Low-Cost Human Capital

Entrepreneurs know what it means to regularly outsource – a startup may outsource most of its needs, in an attempt to build a business without a dedicated team. Larger established players in the field, like hospitals, use outsourcing to cut costs – and transcription services are an excellent example of how well it works. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, outsourcing is becoming more common in the medical transcriptionist profession, alongside tech advances changing the landscape of transcription services.

Medical transcription work is specialized work, but it can still be outsourced to companies and services that build their teams through low-cost educated human capital. This is especially true in countries with a lower cost of living, where competitive rates ensure that professionals retain a high degree of capability and quality without the kind of cost associated with similarly skilled professionals on the home front. A hospital or clinic is, in the first line, a private business – keeping costs low and the bottom line healthy is what counts.

 Saving on Unused Equipment

Hospitals typically have an outdated infrastructure – even when it comes to transcription services, outsourcing to a quality company will net you a higher level of quality in the end product, than running transcription services through in-house equipment.

In turn, that equipment can be sold off. The same can be seen in hospitals and clinics that digitally outsource their billing, thus saving money on printers, printing ink, and a number of other costs such as in-house delivery services and collection. Aside from money, all these things also cost a lot of time – time better spent tending to patients, especially considering the epidemic of understaffing among hospitals nationwide.

Web-based transcription is the way to go, and medical transcription services know that. Not many hospitals and clinics are equipped with Internet-based data systems, however. While there is a lot data on how “intelligent infrastructure” can benefit hospitals, only the more upscale healthcare facilities can afford to equip themselves with updated IT. Sadly, this also leads to an immense loss of revenue and wasted resources – according to the WHO, that wasted sector amounts to 40 percent of all resources used by hospitals.

Doctors, physicians, and practitioners can still receive their transcriptions on their own computers for data compilation, over a secured network.

Saving Money Through Redirected/Reduced Staff

Outsourcing doesn’t just reduce costs by being cheaper to finance and oversee than in-house production – it also saves you unnecessary manpower. Through outsourcing services like pain management transcription through quality companies like Eyered Transcription, your fixed costs become variable costs – since you’re not paying for the salaries of an outsourced service, but rather the service itself based on each individual order, you can utilize these savings to instead raise your nurse-to-patient ratio, or save costs even further by updating crucial IT infrastructure and cutting some of the $8 billion wasted annually in the healthcare industry due to an outdated infrastructure, according to a Ponemon Institute survey reported about on USA Today.

These costs include the expenses of inefficiency, such as the time it takes nurses to respond to calls, inquire on the nature of the calls, leave, and return with the requested drug, doctor or item. A better system would allow patients to send detailed requests directly to a nurse through web-based applications and a dedicated private hospital server while making it easier for doctors to access patient files through encrypted servers rather than keeping them largely in paper form.

Smart Outsourcing Consistently Produces Success

As Forbes points out, outsourcing is good for more than just cutting costs – it allows you to tap outside of local talent, and access global talent through online companies that specialize in your outsourced service. Outsourcing helps you focus on the core task of your hospital or clinic while leaving the more mundane but necessary aspects of running a healthcare facility in the hands of capable professional companies in competitive global markets – all while reducing your overhead.

By: Anna williams Category: blog
March 4, 2019

THE ARGUMENT FOR OUTSOURCED PULMONARY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES

To outsource, or not to outsource? For some clinics, practices, and hospitals, outsourcing can be either a boon or a legal complication waiting to happen. Some are worried about the implications of having third parties be responsible for individual components within a medical event – billing companies, for example, or in our case, transcription services.

But the argument for outsourcing things such as transcription is compelling – very compelling in the face of the facts. The fact is, hospitals and clinics are in need of updated practices. Many are also in need of better budgets and money-saving opportunities. Money is a big problem among hospitals, and outsourcing is an excellent solution – but that’s not all.

Hospitals Are Understaffed As It Is

Take a respiratory clinic, for example. Pulmonary transcription requires people to be there and do the writing, the cataloging, and the systemization of reports and data in a way that makes them accessible in the future. Eyered Transcription puts an emphasis on quality and precision, but in the hectic environment of a clinic or hospital, nurses and staff tasked with transcription work could make better use of their time elsewhere in the building, increasing staff efficiency and cutting down on some of the overtime medical professionals are constantly subjected to.

Understaffing isn’t an old problem – it’s present, it’s troublesome, and it carries strong statistical risks. As the Scientific American points out, studies show that higher nurse-to-patient ratios correlate to lower patient deaths – and the reverse is true as well. The New York Times reported that a study by the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research showed that if the working conditions of every hospital in the country were raised to the top quarter of the nation’s healthcare centers, then over 40,000 lives would be saved annually.

Understaffing is a serious issue, and delegating some of a clinic or hospital’s responsibility to professional, quality third-party services would alleviate some serious pressure from hospitals that suffer under the current shortage in nurses and other staff.

THE EQUIPMENT IS EXPENSIVE AND UNNECESSARY

It isn’t just a question of manpower, however. There’s more to the dilemma than a lack of hands-on-deck – there’s a serious budgetary issue, as well. Many hospitals are not aging very gracefully, being instead stuck in the past with fax machines and inefficient paper-based filing systems – and, of course, printers and old computers used for transcription services and billing. By eliminating the need to finance and regulate these services in-house through expensive equipment and staff, hospitals save money and get a greater return on investment through their contract with a professional transcription service.

Money saved from selling old equipment may also be used to invest in newer infrastructure, which could help decrease readmission rates, save more lives, and bring in a better revenue in hospitals that are desperate for a slight loosening of the purse strings. A huge tech overhaul would greatly benefit hospitals looking to make their work more efficient and safe – but despite the diagnosis being written on the wall, it’s taking some time for the patient to be sent into the OR.

THE TRANSCRIPTION GAME HAS CHANGED

Another reason why outsourcing a transcription service is hugely beneficial is the fact that transcription isn’t what it used to be. Today, voice recognition software can essentially do the bulk of the average work – that is, turn what’s being said into printed words. So transcription services have had to innovate, find ways to create a better service and compete with the rapid technology evolving around them.

Good transcription services are relying on quality to outperform automation. Great transcription services are working with technological advances to produce better data, better organization, easier and simpler transcription methods, and a focus on system efficiency and safer data practices. A qualitative third-party service can ensure reliability in the sector of transcription, saving hospitals a lot of grief and money.

IN THE END, ALL THIS TRANSLATES TO WHAT?

Hospitals are understaffed, faced with enormous pressure, and surrounded by a world that’s rapidly evolving with technology, in contrast to the 90s infrastructure still used by many lower-budget facilities.

Making the jump to outsourcing can help a clinic with a tightened belt let loose a little, and spend time and money on an updated infrastructure to better serve patients and save lives. Equipment used to perform tasks that can be reliably outsourced to local or international third-party companies can be sold off or auctioned off for an extra influx of revenue.

And finally, third-party services are competitive enough to ensure ease-of-use – Eyered Transcription, for example, allows seamless transcription services over the phone or internet, at an accurate rate with guaranteed quality control and access to the file securely over encryption, to ensure patient confidentiality and medical discretion.

By: Anna williams Category: blog
March 4, 2019

BENEFITS OF USING ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS TRANSCRIPTION

The current age of digital technology has drastically changed our daily lives and the way we interact today. So why not in the field of medicine which is primarily an information-rich field, and electronic medical records (EMR) allow a greater and smoother flow of data within the healthcare field. With the help of EMR transcriptions individuals and organizations, both can easily avail information whenever and wherever required. Besides the physical difference between the two, there are many other features of EMR which are highly advantageous, making the conversion of paper records to secure cloud storage very appealing.

Saving Costs

Though one may need to pay initially for availing EMR transcription service, the cost of maintaining records over time will decrease significantly. While paper records require more staff to manage, maintain and organize endless documents, an EMR system requires less staff, time and storage space, eventually savings costs over time.

Storage Space

Paper records have been taking up a lot of space of various healthcare facilities for ages now, besides taking up a lot of space these records are not environment-friendly and also difficult to maintain in terms of quality over a long period of time. EMR transcriptions help overcome all the challenges as they are stored digitally taking up no physical space and can be used easily as and when the need arises

Reduced Security Issues

Though paper and electronic records both are prone to security issues; electronic records can be more easily secured to a certain extent. In case of paper records generally only one copy is kept by a facility, loss of that record can mean it is gone forever, and a natural calamity or a loss of the record due to individual’s mistake also result in complete loss of the record. But in the case of electronic records various copies can easily be created and to ensure the security of the digital documents an established and compliant managed hosting provider and secure cloud storage offers the security of the documents to a greater degree than paper records.

Easier Access

While dealing with paper records any information required by an organization or individual requires to be first sourced from the storehouse then mailed or scanned, making it a lengthy and time-consuming process. Use of medical records helps providers instantly scan the documents without any time delay and patients are treated in a timely manner. While dealing with electronic records data can be accessed anytime anywhere; improving patient care substantially.

 Increased Accuracy

Sometimes the physician’s style of writing may be difficult to comprehend in the case of paper records; moreover, lack of space may also be encountered during penning down all the necessary information. Shifting to electronic records helps remove these hindrances as the data is generally written in a standardized typeface and terminology leaving very little room for any uncertainty and increase readability and accuracy to a great degree.

Patient Safety and Privacy

Foremost concern while designing the software is the safety of the EMR keeping in mind patient analysis and security of information shared. EMR transcriptions have led to a substantial reduction on medical errors resulting in advantages both to the patient and doctor.  Electronic records reduce ambiguous sharing of information with the elimination of handwritten errors; also removing challenges like lost of misplacing patient files.

This results in a visible increase in the health-related safety of patients and their welfare, along with also restricting the type of information available to the end user. All in all, this helps in increasing the personal security of a patient and meeting their privacy concerns.

TRANSITIONING TO ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS TRANSCRIPTIONS

Why wait when it is obvious that EMR transcription provides all the various aspects which help work effectively to form a functioning system that not only cares for patients but also benefits the medical practice.

The only disadvantage of EMR lies not in the utilization but the normal challenges faced during the investment, preparation, and training of staff while changing from paper records, but these get more than covered in the future with the reduction in staff costs. While transitioning from paper records to EMR Transcription organization needs to help staff feel as comfortable as possible, by providing training in updating computer skills, to bring everyone up to date with the current technology.

By: Anna williams Category: blog
March 4, 2019

ENHANCING PATIENT CARE WITH SPECIALIZED MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES

Medical transcriptions and EMRs (electronic medical records) go hand in hand, though when compared with each other medical transcription has various benefits, for example, transcription services make it easier and faster for a doctor to utilize electronic records system. Medical transcription services have enhanced the use of EMRs and helped physicians save time, by transferring the data-entry, clerical tasks to transcribers instead of documenting it themselves.

Medical transcription outsourcing makes things even simpler as all the requirements like managing staff, records, HIPAA compliance, technology, equipment maintenance, turnaround time and other variables linked to medical transcription services are also outsourced. Various organizations have enhanced patient care by outsourcing medical transcription services to specialized organizations. Some of the benefits acquired by outsourcing the medical transcription services are-

INCREASED TIME FOR PATIENTS

Dictation is a speedy way of completing clinical documentation and medical transcriptionists can easily find any errors and look into the quality of the documentation. In this case, the physician’s workflow and productivity are not affected and in fact gets enhanced further, giving them more time to focus on their patients and giving their full attention on patient problems without needing to worry about documentation.

ENHANCED CLINICAL PERFORMANCE

With audio records converted into medical transcriptions in a timely manner with medical transcription outsourcing, it becomes very easy for the doctors to enhance the care process, in turn also helping in handling risk management and accounts receivables more effectively. Easy to use technology and accurate medical records help doctors in sharing relevant data with other medical staff improving overall treatment of the patients.

Timely data also assist doctors in utilizing specified modes of delivery of documents to other healthcare facilities. Hence good documentation goes a long way in guaranteeing healthcare innovations and overall enhancing clinical performance to a great extent.

REDUCED EXPENSES

Outsourcing medical transcription services rather than doing the in-house help substantially reduce many in-house expenses and increase the profitability of a clinic. The reduction of expenses include lower direct labor costs, reduced training area expenses, lowered HR and administrative costs and most importantly elimination of annual maintenance costs for maintenance of digital and transcription equipment, hence proving to be highly cost-effective for the doctor’s clinic.

SKILLED AND EXPERIENCED STAFF

By outsourcing the services clients benefit from the significant industry experience that the medical transcriptionists have acquired due to working with so many varied customers. By specializing in medical transcriptions they are updating their knowledge constantly, hence producing superior medical records of high accuracy.

HIGH QUALITY AND ACCURATE MEDICAL RECORDS

Due to working with so many medical records the medical transcription service providers are constantly updated and adhere to the globally standardized, HIPAA Compliant Medical Transcription Process and also ensure that all the multi-level QA procedures have been followed. The QA procedures generally keep in mind- editing, proofreading and reviewing of the finished records. To increase efficiency the transcription service providers are constantly measuring performance and imposing penalties on the transcriptionists to ensure that the turnaround times and quality levels are met.

INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT LESSENED

Investment in expensive medical transcription equipment can be avoided by outsourcing the process to a specialized firm. Operating a full-fledged medical transcription service requires, blocking a certain amount of funds to invest into high-end dictation equipment, along with updated software for transmission, downloading, typing and submitting dictations. This amount saved can also be utilized in enhancing the treatment infrastructure further.

AVOIDING HIGH ATTRITION RATES

With the medical transcription industry highly characterized by high attrition rates, outsourcing the service greatly helps in averting the challenge to an external entity. In this way, the hospitals and clinics remained unaffected by high employee turnover levels.
Seasonal Fluctuations in Staffing

Winter seasons witness a rise in patient consultations and the holiday seasons healthcare organizations tend to be highly short-staffed, hence a major advantage of outsourcing is that these seasonal fluctuations and patient capacity do not let the workflow and productivity of the organization get affected.

HIRING, TRAINING AND ADMINISTRATION ACTIVITIES REDUCED

Medical transcription services are needed across all sections 24* 7, including the emergency room procedures. By outsourcing their transcription services healthcare facilities and hospitals can substantially reduce time, resources and effort spent on hiring, training and maintaining medical transcription staff on their payroll. Hence, a sizable staff requirement is completely eliminated with the process outsourced.

By: Anna williams Category: blog
March 4, 2019

METHODICAL CONSIDERATION FOR INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Interview transcription is an integral component of several qualitative research studies. While the role of transcription is not seen beyond “a behind-the-scenes task”, it is without a doubt a powerful act of representation.  Although transcription can be carried out in varied forms, there is further need for methodical consideration which is often guided by the core value and goal of the research itself.

Typically, transcription is performed under the purview of naturalized transcription where no detail or utterance is left out and denaturalized transcription that only focuses on rectifying grammar, removing noise and indistinct characters.  But as a newbie researcher, what are the standards of transcription one must ascribe to? To explore the answer to this question is the exact premise of this write-up.

Attentive listening

In order to facilitate the organization of verbal data, attentive listening is highly important.  The researcher may adopt the approach of naturalized transcription and pay close attention to every detail of the verbal texts. Repeated listening of the audio files, also gives the researcher insight and critique into their own work. In qualitative research, the way the researcher interacts with their participants, without mixing his or her own opinion and beliefs are important. By listening to the tapes, the researcher defines new standards for himself/herself which eventually becomes the core of the research.

Giving shape to the Data

Listening to the data setting a standard of conduction interview is just one aspect of transcription. How the researcher shapes and presents the data is the next big consideration.   This is when the approach of denaturalized transcription becomes relevant. While conducting an interview, both the participant and researcher may make grammatical errors, use slang, abbreviated language etc.   The researcher may also use code notes or number. Decoding these data and presenting them in a coherent manner for academic use is the next big step. The key is to present the data in such a manner which is well structured and readable.

Communicating with the Data

Establishing communication with the talking data involves interpreting the data in a sound and methodological fashion. The details of your talking data or recorded files can help you draw your hypothesis and the future course of your qualitative research. Here the principles of naturalized and denaturalized transcription come in handy.  It depends on the researcher, how he or she will communicate with the talking data. For example, denaturalized transcription helps in data structuring, but by adhering to the principles of naturalized transcription the data is more realistic, authentic and highly representative.  So, it depends upon the discretion of the research which principles of transcription would he or she wishes to give importance to during the course of the research.

Establishing Data Authenticity

When conducting empirical qualitative research, establishing data credibility is very important. This essentially involves taking feedback from the participants of the research. This is referred to “validation interview” as a way of initiating “a dialogue between [research participants] and [researcher] intended to confirm, substantiate verify or correct researcher [‟s] findings”.

Doing an interview transcription is a very mundane and repetitive task. Because of this many researchers engage professional Transcription providers such as Eyered. Hiring a professional transcriptionist is cost effective, but most importantly helps you save on time, thus allowing you to focus on other important aspects of your academic research.  Most transcription providers have highly trained and skilled transcriptionists, therefore accuracy of the work in not much of a concern. However, before outsourcing the task of interview transcription to an agency, if it best to let them know your requirement to reduce the complexity of the task.

By: Anna williams Category: blog