TRUSTED BY THOUSANDS OF HAPPY CLIENTS SINCE 1999

March 2019
March 4, 2019

THE ROLE OF MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION IN EHR IMPLEMENTATION

ED or emergency department visit is on the rise in the US.  Health experts attribute this change to health reforms, in particular, the Affordable Health Act that stands for universal health coverage, enabling average Americans to seek health care facility.  As per a whitepaper titled “Physician’s Guide to Achieving Excellence in the ED” the following changes in the emergency department across the United States have come to light:

  • Nearly 124 million people visited the emergency department in 2008.
  • There was a14% increase in emergency department visits from 2007 to 2010.
  • Almost 90% of emergency physicians expect a further increase in patient numbers in the coming years.

Many physicians feel that the increase in the number of a patient visit has impacted the efficiency of emergency rooms and there is an urgent need to fix this problem through EHR or electronic health record system.  However, several industry experts are of the opinion that nearly 50% to 80% of EHR implementation is a failure.  This has retorted health care provider to go back to traditional paperwork making EHR system a farfetched thought. The attempt of this write-up is to examine the role of medical transcription in leveraging EHR systems in hospitals that would lead to better patient care and emergency room efficiency.

ASSISTANCE IN DIGITAL DOCUMENTATION OF ALL DATA

With the assistance of medical transcription service providers, all pre-existing data related to hospital records, patients can be converted into digital format facilitating EHR adoption. This, in turn, would bring in a standardized health documentation process and allow an exchange of all information in a secured manner.  This will also enable generation of quick reports and access to patient data within a short time.

ASSISTANCE INACCURATE DOCUMENTATION OF DATA

Medical transcriptionists are highly trained professional and adhere to strict practices so as to produce very accurate documents.  Most professional agencies offering medical and audio transcription service assure up to 98% accuracy as well as quick turnaround time.

TAKING THE ONUS OF EHR IMPLEMENTATION

As the health care industry is warming up to the idea of EHR technologies to procure, collect and document health data, some medical transcription agencies are offering end to end solutions, without the hospitals having to implement a full-blown EHR systems themselves. This is an excellent way for hospitals and individual physicians to get hold of accurate and digitized data without having to spend an enormous amount of money in the adoption and maintenance of EHR software. This practice takes away the burden of paperwork and lets health care agencies to focus on their core-competency which is to provide patient care.

PERFECT FOR CONVERTING AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION INTO A STANDARDIZED DOCUMENT

Doctors and physicians have been recording patient consultation and reports in audio files.  It is estimated that nearly 1.2 billion clinical documentation is produced in the US every year, and of that, nearly 60% of the data are dictated documents. Historically, dictation has proven to be an efficient format to create patient data, as it ensures accurate representation of data and information. With the assistance of audio transcription services, all dictated documents can be transcribed into standardized files.

Transcribed files containing patient data are valuable documents. A well-transcribed file only allows physicians to render proper treatment and care plan to the patients, but the latter can also use them for health insurance claims. Standardized documents are piled in a safe and secure manner and are extremely critical for coordinated care which can take place across health departments in a hospital.  They are also important for assessment and documentation of all reports. The medical transcription agency in the likes of Eyered perambulates highest standards to maintain the quality of their work which can ensure efficiency across different departments, in particular, the emergency department of a hospital.

By: Anna williams Category: blog
March 4, 2019

ACQUIRING MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES ONLINE

With many healthcare centers and hospitals preferring to outsource their transcription services to professionals; many may also consider online medical transcription services.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Doctors are provided with 24/7 secure online access and generally, the systems are set up for free along with free training and easy-to-use materials. Certain companies provide a dedicated account manager who can provide continuous support to help procure the most advantageous experience with skilled transcriptionists and online system.

Innovative software helps manage all documents which are saved online indefinitely and can be accessed anytime. The best advantage is that rather than a turnaround time transcriptionists are available 24/7 to meet practice’s demands.

GETTING TO KNOW THE PROCESS

  • Submission of data – as in conventional medical transcription services, practice’s need to provide dictation of the patient information using the type of method they are familiar with to a secure site. Generally the transcription company with offer how to upload the files, like if the dictation is done with a recorder then how to transfer the same. If another method has been used for dictation the company lists the best way of uploading the information
  • Transcribe- the transcriptionists are provided an updated online platform with various scenes that help provide efficient systems that guarantee fast and accurate service
  • Audit and Review- this process is also done more quickly as the online system is able to automatically send the transcribed files between the transcriptionist and reviewer
  • Online Access- the files can be accessed within a short time a time span as 24 hours and on review, if the physician is unsatisfied then they are quickly returned with the required changes; so that transcriptionists can take immediate action.

Online transcription services also provide benefits like a complete reporting capabilities system which helps manage information like productivity, costs, and turnaround times.

Few of the things companies need to ensure to enhance doctor’s satisfaction during online transcription-

  • Providing solutions at the most economical rate possible
  • Maintaining strict standards of quality service and client satisfaction by work process management and feedback mechanism
  • Adopting innovative technologies and efficient work process management techniques

BENEFITS OF ONLINE TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES

  • Helps decrease capital investments, expenses, and overheads, resulting in significant savings and increased profitability
  • Specialized skills due to manpower proficient in the required area, assures better quality and results
  • Healthcare units are free to focus on their core business activities
  • Helps avoid the need for recruitment of a dedicated team to carry out transcription activities, saving on time, efforts and resources
  • Other benefits like 24 x7 x 365 customer care support and rapid turnaround time

Transcription outsourcing has become an inseparable component of a healthcare unit today; the benefit lies in acquiring the best transcription service in the industry whether online or conventional transcription services.

By: Anna williams Category: blog
March 4, 2019

BENEFITTING FROM CERTIFIED MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES

There used to be a time when medical office and hospitals only relied on paperwork to store a patient’s treatment and data. There was a great room for error with the chance of illegible handwriting incorrectly read by the nurses, billing staff and insurance companies leading to very costly mistakes.

Due to medical transcription services and electronic filing, medical documentation has evolved drastically; making it to a large extent very easy for doctors in private practices and hospitals, to procure efficiency in data management and prevent those unnecessary errors. But rather than handling the transcription process in-house; a majority of doctors prefer to get the work outsourced where a certified medical transcriptionist can solely concentrate on their data requirements.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF USING CERTIFIED MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES:

EASIER DOCUMENTATION

With various options available in the market today a healthcare specialist while dictating medical notes can easily use handheld digital recorders or smartphone applications to quickly narrate details about the patient. There is a lot of time saved on paperwork along with great savings on administration costs. By hiring a transcription service; the physician after dictating his notes only needs to send the dictation forward to them and does not need to worry about any paperwork post dictation, due to which he has more time saved to see a higher number of patients or utilize the time in concentrating on healthcare requirements for patients.

By outsourcing to a professional service the physician can rest assured that the data is managed by a certified transcriptionist will be typed out and proofread for any errors thoroughly. Documentation becomes very easy this way as the typed data is sent to the physician within 24 hours which can be filed safely into the required system. This way the doctor also does not need to worry about lost files or understanding badly written hand-typed notes, making it highly useful to use a transcription service.

IMPROVED QUALITY

A certified transcriptionist will always apply several levels of quality control to make sure there are no typos, misspelled words or incorrect medical terms. Some transcriptionists even obtain specific training in a specialized field of medicine like dermatology, neurology or cardiology to assist the physician’s office according to the required specialization requirements.

This ensures 100 percent accuracy and high-quality data and various transcription companies also employ professional editors and clinicians to proofread documents, if done in-house it would be rather difficult to match that level of accuracy and would probably require hiring several in-house employees to obtain similar quality and accuracy.

SAVE TIME

Outsourcing dictation to a certified transcriptionist does not only assure accuracy it gives the physicians more time to spend with their patients and on other activities; rather than in front of the computer for hours after work to catch up on the charting. The time saved is a big advantage for the physicians.

 INCREASED SAVING  

If medical transcription is done in-house the physician would need to look into various components like the salary, health insurance, payroll and unemployment tax for every transcriptionist that is hired. As the costs related to hiring a full-time transcriptionist is high it may be much more cost effective to outsource medical transcription services to professionals and in turn, save much more money.

WHAT IS THE ADDED ADVANTAGE OF HIRING A CERTIFIED MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTIONIST?

Eventually, Insurance companies have rather stringent rules and do not make it easy at all on the clinic to process claims; a forgotten dot on I or not crossing a T may also lead to denied claims. In this case, certified and specialist transcriptionists with the sole task of concentrating on your account will have the time to keenly look into all these details. With years of experience they will be able to keep chart notes in first-rate order due to which processing insurance claims will go smoothly and in fact by helping the doctor’s clinic quickly receive claims from insurance companies; may even end up paying for themselves in a way.

CERTIFIED MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTIONIST

To get a certification the transcriptionist needs to pass an examination by the Association for Healthcare Documentary Integrity (AHDI) which used to be the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT), depicting a high level of knowledge of an individual possessing the medical transcription certification and therefore a valuable asset.

Moreover, a certification exam can be taken by all individuals but is generally taken by those who have some prior experience hence further representing a high level of expertise. The certification ensures that they are well updated with medical terminology, principles of healthcare documentation and human body systems which are all essential skills in ensuring the accurate translation of medical records.

The certification involves a 75-hour training program, hence a certification shows that an individual has good knowledge and dedication towards the medical transcription field.

Currently, there are various transcription services which fit almost every need, whichever mode of dictation you may choose. Various companies even offer scalable options and can customize for practices of any size; or if you just need a one-time help to catch up on your charting.

Our certified medical transcriptionists understand all the above requirements and with years of experience in transcription, we can help transform unstructured notes into tidy medical reports, constantly working towards making charting much easier for physicians.

By: Anna williams Category: blog
March 4, 2019

ADVANCED MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION – HOW OUTSOURCING ENSURES SAVINGS

With increasing compliances and laws the healthcare industry has to deal with today, and along with increasing demand for their core services physicians have very little time left to handle medical transcription. Hence rather than keeping it in-house many physicians are opting for outsourcing their records to advanced medical transcription services which helps them avoid managing the staff involved in transcriptions, records, turnaround time, HIPAA compliance, technology, maintenance of equipment, and all the other verticals related to completing medical transcription services.

This has resulted in much more efficient systems and higher savings for various hospitals and healthcare centers, making simpler the process of healthcare for these physicians. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits physicians outsourcing transcription services are currently managing to take advantage of-

Economy of cost

The main advantage of outsourcing advanced medical transcription services is the cost-effectiveness procured as the transcription partner being a specialist is able to offer much more cost-effective rates as compared to getting it done in-house. The built-in cost benefits entail reduced training, administration, and HR costs along with shredding off the responsibility of annual maintenance of digital and transcription equipment.

Leverages Industry Experience

Advanced medical transcription companies have vast experience of working on an array of medical records and then the transcriptionists cross leverage their industry experience across various customers to provide high-quality superior records to all its customers.

Lowering of Investment

Healthcare center benefits from not blocking their investments towards investing in high-end dictation as well as technologically updated software for transmission, downloading, typing and submission of dictations; which is very essential during the medical transcription process. The investment requirement is hence lowered and money saved can be utilized in other activities of the healthcare center.

Staff & Administrative Responsibility

With advanced medical transcription services required in all the areas of the hospital or healthcare centers by outsourcing the entire process the healthcare center benefits greatly not only in reducing costs but also HR responsibility and administrative workload. Staff hiring involves expenditure on hiring, training and retaining the staff which is completely eliminated in the transcription area due to outsourcing.

Maintaining Accuracy  

Accuracy is one of the most important factors in the medical transcription industry and it is vital for patients’ welfare. Medical transcriptionists need to adhere to globally standardized, HIPAA compliant Medical transcription process and follow through with stringent multi-level QA procedures.

Advanced medical transcription services ensure all this is completely taken care of by looking into the editing, proofreading, and review of all the records. With timely quality checks and penalties, the service ensures complete accuracy which is maintained constantly.

Easily accessible reports

Outsourced transcribed reports being maintained on the service provider’s secure servers for two years are available easily to the physicians, through a secure and password-protected manner. When needed physicians can view and print or even distribute the reports for a second opinion to different locations, keeping in mind patient confidentiality.

Reduced IT Responsibility

Outsourcing transcription services also greatly relieve the burden of the IT department. While in-house the department is expected to manage and troubleshoot along with maintaining the various medical transcription areas. The IT department is also required to keep updated with latest technological demands; hence by outsourcing the department is freed of a huge and tiresome task and hence able to work on more important things, along with increasing tons of space on the server.

OUTSOURCED ADVANCED MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES

All in all outsourcing Advanced Medical Transcription Services adds up to a more efficient, productive in-house team which can concentrate on other administrative tasks more accurately, while the physicians can solely looking into patient welfare.

Many healthcare units have seen their bottom line grow when they made the decision to outsource. This is mainly because with the increased time in hand the front office could schedule more appointments; with doctors able to see new and more patients. Moreover by getting increased time patient satisfaction too increased in turn increasing bottom-line and eventually resulting in higher savings.

By: Anna williams Category: blog
March 4, 2019

WHY OUTSOURCING UROLOGY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES MAKE SENSE?

Urology is a vast field including surgical and non-surgical procedures and hence requires knowledge of internal medicine, nephrology, gynecology, andrology, and oncology. While outsourcing a team of trained urology transcriptionists who are trained in the terminology specific to urology transcription reports becomes vital. Specialized urology transcriptionists are trained on looking into every report for high quality and as quickly as possible. Urology transcription specialists can document various reports like clinic notes, patient reports, consultation reports, procedures and follow up notes, lab reports, health reports, etc.

Why avail urology transcription services?

  • Enhanced Quality: Specialized transcription companies ensure a 3 level quality check before submission and the transcriptionists generally have a lot of experience in the urology specialty to ascertain that the medical terminologies are correctly documented. Double-checking of the data ensures a high level of quality and accuracy
  • Reduced Error Rate: Since most of the transcription work is done by specialists and not by an employee bogged down with numerous clinical tasks, neither by any speech recognition software, there is a high turnout of error-free transcripts with a very low error rate.
  • 100% HIPAA Compliance: Outsourced medical transcription companies ensure that each member undergoes regular HIPAA training. This ensures complete security and confidentiality of the data.
  • Affordable services: With a highly competitive market, the specialist also offer highly competitive rates today which are not only affordable but also highly rated in terms of customer satisfaction
  • Increased Savings: Urology transcriptionists require long hours of training and finding, outsourcing to specialists helps provide high savings to the healthcare practice
  • Quick turnaround time: Specialists by concentrating solely on providing transcription services are able to deliver in a speedy manner and process documents within required and quick turnaround times
  • Tide easily through emergency situations: quick and accurate transcriptions help urologists to easily make it through emergency situations in a successful manner

Specialized medical transcriptionists are experienced in proofreading and editing common urological problems, terminology, procedures, and related drugs; allowing quick and accurate delivery of transcripts for patient reports. This leaves urologists to stress-free regarding the documentation of their reports resulting in highly improved patient care

Blending state-of-the-art technologies, the latest software and professional experience, specialists can provide accurate transcripts for urologists in the specified format to meet stringent deadlines.

We understand all the above qualities and with years of experience in Urology transcription, we can help meet all your goals effectively.

By: Anna williams Category: blog