Today, the medical transcription industry is a global industry and is one of the few domains of the health care industry that has been constantly on the rise. If you take a look at the growth pattern of medical transcription services across the globe, you will realize that the last two decades have been indeed noteworthy for the medical transcription industry! This accelerated growth pattern can be attributed to the integration and implementation of digitized health care systems and automated reporting services.

Digitizing health care systems has led to a substantial growth of various health care domains and the same is true for medical transcription services as well! Technology has not only been advantageous in reducing process costs but it has also been advantageous in improving accuracy, portability and security of the medical transcription services. So let’s discuss further in detail as to how technology has revolutionized the services of medical transcription industry?

• Increased and Flexible communication – Technological advancements dawned it’s very first revolutionary transformation on our modes of communication. This was clearly seen with the advent of smart cell phones, application software’s like team viewer, skype and zoom conference calls that made virtual team meetings a reality! These technological advancements profoundly influenced our style of communication and revolutionized the medical transcription services industry in 2 ways – First being, there has been an improvement and increment of accuracy between physician’s and medical transcriptionist’s communication and the second being, since there is now flexibility in the way we communicate, the frequency of effective communication within the medical transcription industry has increased very rapidly. These changes have had a very positive impact on the medical transcription services because now, the medical transcription service provider can communicate more effectively and precisely with the doctor.
• Flexible Communications lead to Flexible Solutions – The second revolutionary transformation that the medical transcription services industry has observed is that now service providers can offer their clients flexible solutions. With the various technological solutions that are available today, it is possible for doctors and physicians to conduct medical dictations anywhere and at any point of time. Following are some of the ways that a medical transcription service company can offer flexible solutions:
  • A Medical transcription service company can offer app’s which accept the medical dictation by the doctor directly. So, all the physician or the doctor will need to do is install the app on their smart phone and simply record and conduct the medical dictation into the app. The medical dictation will then be transferred to the medical transcription company’s servers and here, they will be stored securely which can then be accessed by the medical transcriptionist.  
  • Another way that the service provider can offer flexible solutions to their clients is offering a toll-free number. Here, the doctor can simply call the toll free number, follow instructions as laid down by the automate messages and then simply record the medical dictations over the phone.
• Employing Speech Recognition Technology – Speech recognition software’s use algorithms to convert voice messages into digitized texts and they have been very helpful to medical transcription service providers as well as doctors and physicians. Although, there has been some debate on employing speech recognition technology within the medical transcription service industry, they have proven to be successful in saving time! Speech recognition technologies can surely convert the medical dictations into digitized texts but there are chances that the dictation may not be 100% accurate especially if the medical dictations include complex terminologies. One of the best ways to deliver high quality flawless reports is to have a certified medical transcriptionist review and edit the transcribed reports that have been generated by the software. Even though, speech recognition technology has limitations in terms of delivering an absolutely accurate report, it can be employed in simpler dictations or in conjunction because speech recognition software’s have an added advantage of generating reports within a short time frame.
• High Security Solutions to Protect Patient Health Information – Another added advantage of technology within the medical transcription services industry has been that now, advanced technology can be used to build sophisticated software’s that are capable of providing high security solutions to protect patient data. Outsourcing health care services has always been a cause of concern among health care practitioners for various reasons – There has always been the risk of data leakage or data compromise but premium medical transcription services understand these challenges and they are today, incorporating high end security solutions and sophisticated encryption technologies to protect patient health information. Technology has provided support to medical transcription service industry so that they can provide a high level of security and protect all the details that are transmitted by the doctor or the physician to themselves. 
• A Digitized Filing System through Electronic Health Records (EHR’s) or Electronic Medical Records (EMR’s) – Ever since the advent of health care entities, it was always crucial to maintain patient health information and any medical records in a systematic manner that is easily accessed but secured. For many decades, health care organizations stored patient data as physical files in locked cabinets. Although this filing system has been effective for many and is still practiced today, it continues to be a cumbersome process. Also, there is always a risk of theft or damage to patient data but technology has now provided the health care system with an alternative! Today, health care organization can use a digitized filing system that is known as EHR and EMR. EHR’s and EMR’s are increasingly being employed across the globe – They provide an easy access to patient’s medical data from anywhere across the world and with the right security systems, they follow the health care compliances. But how can EHR or EMR revolutionize the medical transcription services industry? Well, If a medical transcription company has the means to invest in a high end technology, they can send the transcribed document in the required format to file it digitally and directly into the EMR or EHR system.     

These are some of the few ways in how the technology has revolutionized the services of medical transcription industry! Eyered medical transcription services is always evolving towards employing high end technologies so that we can offer premium services to our health care providers.

Today, the health care industry is one of the most booming industries of the world but it is also one of the few industries across the globe that is heavily regulated and is required to follow strict adherence to the compliances! If you are wondering why is that the case? Well, it is primarily because health care and medical processes have a direct impact on the patient’s well being and for this particular reason, health care industries are heavily regulated and it is of the utmost importance that the health care professionals strictly follow the compliances that have been laid down according to the industry.

In addition to following the compliances and regulations, it is also critical for any health care professional to ensure that the patient data is protected at all times – It is extremely crucial that the patient health information is not shared to any other than the concerned personnel and that the patient data is used very discreetly at all times.

Now, most of the times when health care professionals discuss how to protect patient’s medical information, it’s the HIPAA term that comes to the mind and while that is a critical compliance to follow, it is also important to understand the concepts of confidentiality, privacy and security. These three concepts may seem intertwined but they are very often interchangeably employed however; each of these is fundamentally different from one another! So let’s understand the whys and what’s of each of these concepts:

Confidentiality: The term confidentiality within the health care industry means that the health care professionals have a legal obligation towards keeping patient’s medical information confidential. This is also very clearly stated in the privacy rule of HIPAA! HIPAA terms that it is extremely crucial that health care professionals protect patient’s medical information at all times and do not disclose it to unauthorized professionals. HIPAA terms also state that any health care professional accessing the patient’s data must take all the reasonable steps to ensure that the confidentiality of patient data is not compromised!  

Privacy: The next term that health care professionals must understand is privacy which is very distinct from confidentiality. Privacy too safe guards’ the information but privacy is viewed as the individual’s right to keep their personal information to themselves. As a health care professional, one must understand that privacy of a patient means that they have rights to withhold or share their personal information. Just like the term confidentiality is governed by the privacy rules of HIPAA terms, the tern privacy is also very clearly explained here! The main aim of the privacy rule of HIPAA terms is to ensure that the health and medical information of each and every patient is protected at all times and under all circumstances.

Security: The last term that health care professionals must be aware of is the term security! Security literally means protection and within health care organizations, it specifically means protecting the privacy of health care information. Security also refers to providing support to health care professionals who are protecting this information i.e. they are fulfilling their duties of maintaining confidentiality. Security has always been an integral part of the health care system. Ever since the advent of professional health care entities and clinics, securities have been implemented to protect the patient data. For instance: Filing of medical records in a locked cabinet is one such example or the maintenance of confidential health care data in a locked room that is accessible only to authorized personnel through finger print is another such example. The overall goal of security is to provide protection so that the patient data is safely secured within the organization! Just like the way Privacy and confidentiality are governed by HIPAA terms, Security is also governed by the terms of HIPAA. To maintain the security within health care organizations, there is a specific security rule stated by HIPAA. You can find this security rule at subparts A and C of Part 164 and 45 CFR, Part 160. HIPAA terms dictate that when it comes to protecting patient’s personal information and medical health records, there should be a standardized procedure to do so. Hence, the HIPAA security rule states that there will be national standards to secure any patient information that is electronically stored. All the personal health information that is received or created needs to be maintained in a covered entity. In addition the security rules of HIPAA terms that all the information needs to be safeguarded both ways, technically and physically to ensure confidentiality of the patient data. The security rules also require the health care entities to allocate appropriate administrative resources to ensure that the patient data is not tampered with and maintained well.    

The terms privacy, confidentiality and security may seem extremely intertwined but they all have a very unique role in the health care industry. As a health care professional, one must understand that HIPAA terms not only incorporate but regulate the important concepts of confidentiality, security and privacy! It is also important to note that it is possible to have security without privacy and confidentiality but it is not possible to have this the other way round. In other terms, any health care organization must secure confidential information to maintain privacy of the patient data! 

In order to protect patient information, one must not only be aware of the HIPAA terms but they must also be aware of how confidentiality, privacy and security should be maintained according to HIPAA privacy and security rules so that patient data is not compromised under any circumstances. When it comes to following compliances and protecting the patient’s medical information, it is these three concepts along with the HIPAA terms that form the three stable legs of the health care system!

Before discussing radiology transcription, One needs to know about radiology first. Here we are with a brief discussion about radiology and radiology transcription:

What is Radiology?
Basically, radiology denotes a branch of medicine that works with radiant energy in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

This field can be splitted into two broad parts:
1) Diagnostic Radiology

2) Interventional Radiology.
The physicians who specialize in radiology are called Radiologists.

The result of the imaging study doesn’t count on the indication or the standard of its technical execution. Diagnostic radiology specialists shows the last link in the diagnostic chain,  as they search for the pertinent image information to assess and finally support a sound diagnosis.

History of Radiology:
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen while working in a darker laboratory in Wurzberg in germany in 1895, noticed that a screen painted with a fluorescent material, but at a feet away from the cathode ray tube it had energized and made lightproof, began to fluoresce.
 Rontgen noticed that the screen was responding to the nearby production of an unknown rays transmitted invisibly through the room which he called “X-Rays”. The radiographic images started to be created, beginning as a burst of ionizing radiation and causing a contrast image on a piece of film.

 For such a huge discovery, Rontgen was honored with the NOBEL Prize in Physics in 1901. In the early years the radiologists were not concerned about the negative effects of X-rays, thus the protective measures were not introduced until 1904 after the death of Clarence Dally ( the assistant of Thomas Edison in X-ray manufacturer and testing ).

Benefits of Clinical Radiology:
The flying growth in clinical radiology technology and theory has dramatically improved the diagnosis and treatment of injuries and illness.

Clinical Radiology has brought so many benefits for the patients:

• It can banish the need for investigational surgery,

• It is used to determine when a patient needs surgery

• It is used to screening the diseases such as breast cancer (mammography)

• It helps in Cancer diagnosis and also an effective treatment for cancer and other treatments.

Different radiological procedures have different advantages:

MRI ( Magnetic Resonance Imaging ) Scans:- It creates 3-dimensional images of soft tissues such as organs and muscles that don’t appear on X-rays. It uses powerful magnets and radio waves to create pictures of the body.

Ultrasound:-Imaging doesn’t require any radiation and is very safe, easy to perform, and quick. Generally, it’s used in pregnancy to monitor the baby’s development. 3-D ultrasound produces a static 3-D image of the baby, while 4-D ultrasound produces a moving image.

Nuclear Medicines Scans:
Nuclear medicine scans are used in diagnosis and to get to know how the internal organs are functioning.

CT (Computed Tomography) Scans:- It shows the inside of the body in detail and also can eliminate the requirement of the exploratory surgery. CT makes use of a computer-processed combination of many X-rays image taken from different angles to produce a cross-sectional image. CT scans are considered accurate, painless, and fast.

PET ( Positron Emission Tomography ) Scan: It’s a nuclear medicine imaging test which includes injecting a small amount of liquid radioactive material inside the body. It can detect cancer in the body in the early stage than CT or MRI scans.
X-Rays:-X-rays are also known as the plain radiography and it has been used in the diagnostic for over 100 years. It’s painless, fast, and non-invasive. It’s used to diagnose the bone and joint-related conditions such as fractures and dislocations.

Radiology transcription is a very essential part of the medical diagnosis. We, Eyered Transcription Services, understand that accurate and timely reports are utmost important. Our reliable medical transcription company can provide any hospital, clinic, or individual provider with the reports of radiologists from imaging, scans, or tests.

  At Eyered Transcription Services, we know that producing accurate radiology transcription reports can be very time consuming, especially for busy radiologists. Outsourcing radiology transcription service can reduce the amount of work for radiologists and it will reduce their costs too. You can access your reports from any remote place. Thanks to our HIPAA-compliant online platform that makes the file transfer easily from one place to another place.

READ MORE:- THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RADIOLOGY TRANSCRIPTION

Radiology Transcription Services include:

– CT (Computer Tomography),

– X-Rays

– Nuclear Medicine

– Position Emission Tomography

– MRI

– Bone Scans

– Consultation and Progress Notes

– Mammograms

We, Eyered Transcription Services, operate on a pay as you go system, we never require contracts. You only pay for the transcription services you use with no monthly minimum or extra fees.

Radiology Transcription Services We Offer:

Our medical transcriptionists are very experienced and are very knowledgeable in terminologies and procedures associated with radiology, our transcriptionists have 20 years of relevant experience in operative reports or procedure notes for a wide variety of imaging techniques including:

– Ultrasounds,

– Computed Tomography (CT),

– Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI),

– Positron Emission Tomography (PET),

– Nuclear Medicine,

– X-Ray Radiography.

Why Our Radiology Transcription Service is Special:

– Very Experienced and Passionate Medical Transcriptionist,

– Interface with EMR/EHR system,

– 99% accurate transcripts with good audio,

– Flexible Dictation Modes,

– Secure File Transfer,

– Faster turnaround time including STAT support.

Today, medical transcription is one of the most booming domains of the health care industry and every doctor or physician seeks to hire an experienced and skilled medical transcriptionist for their health care practice and in today’s article, we will focus specifically on the requirement of medical transcription services for psychiatrists.

Let’s discuss and address why psychiatrists need transcription services? And what exactly are their requirements?

Psychiatric doctors focus on how to diagnose, treat and prevent any type of mental disorder and they generally keep a track of all this clinical information through psychiatric notes. So let’s discuss what exactly is a psychiatric note? A Psychiatric note enlists all the information that the psychiatrist garners from the patient while they are being treated and they are undergoing their interview sessions with their psychiatrist. These psychiatric notes include clinical information that ranges from the current mental condition of the patient to their previous and current medical records, diagnostic reports, clinical symptoms and the course of treatment. Basically, these psychiatry notes enlist all the necessary information that is not only helpful for their future references but it is also helpful for other medical professionals or when seeking for a second opinion from other psychiatric consultants.

These psychiatric notes are absolutely essential and they require a specialized set of skill to transcribe them! Transcription services for the psychiatry domain are more specialized than the rest of the medical transcription services. This is basically because the requirements for the psychiatry domain are generally distinct and they require a specialized set of professionals to carry out the transcription service.

The descriptive and terminology of psychiatry notes vary greatly from the other medical domains. The descriptive of psychiatry notes are unlike the descriptive of its allied health care domains’, for instance: surgery or cardiology reports generally have descriptive that is usually standard because they use similar medical terminology to describe the techniques employed, the procedure of the surgery and the underlying conditions. Since psychiatric doctors’ deal with their patient’s on a regular basis and discuss with them their mental health and history, there are instances when the narratives are exceptionally lengthy because they include every detail discussed with the patient which is not the case with other health care domains. Other domains simply list the typical medical terms. Psychiatry notes are also very diverse in their description and many times include slangs which is generally not the case with other allied health care domains. Also, at times it becomes very difficult for the psychiatrist to see the patients and write the reports at the same time because of which the descriptions recorded for the notes can be very brief. These are some of the primary reasons why psychiatrists’ need specialized medical transcription services!

In addition to the reasons mentioned above, there are various other ways a specialized transcription service can help the psychiatrists – Psychiatric transcription services are extremely beneficial in developing psychiatrists’ notes so they can be effectively used for an accurate treatment of the patient in the future. They are also helpful to the psychiatrist in case of any denials during the billing process – They can be used to claim insurances in cases of denials with the insurance company. In addition, psychiatric transcriptions are also extremely beneficial in medico-legal matters. Since the transcribed report enlists the patient’s behavioral patterns that in certain cases may be violent or suicidal; these reports can be extremely beneficial for at-risk patients.

If you are seeking to hire a psychiatric transcription service company, we recommend that your transcription service provider offers you the following services so that you receive the best value for your transcribed report:

• They should be able to provide you the transcribed report within a quick turnaround time (TAT). If the transcriptionist or the service provider is experienced, they will be able to deliver an accurate transcribed report within a short period of time.

• The psychiatric transcription service provider should perform a thorough review and quality checks! Performing quality checks increases the accuracy of the transcribed report which is why they should have stringent systems to perform thorough quality checks.

• The medical transcription service company that you hire should be proficient with the medical jargon. They should be trained and experienced to understand the various medical terminologies. More specifically, they should be well versed with the psychiatric terminologies as well as the terminologies of the various sub-specialties of the psychiatric field like child psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, learning disability, addiction psychiatry, military psychiatry, etc.

• The outsourcing provider you choose to transcribe your report with must be HIPAA compliant. It is absolutely essential that the transcription service provider adheres to all the compliances and ensures that your patient data is secure.

• Your transcription service provider must give you periodical updates about the progress of the project. These updates can be daily or weekly – A periodical update ensures that your transcription service provider is in sync with you and your project requirements. In addition, they should assign a point of contact so that you can connect with them instantly in case of any query.

• You should be able to connect with them for any tailored services. Most of the times, transcription service providers offer customized services to their clients so in case you have any special requirements regarding transcription services for your project, you should be able to connect them regarding such requirements.

These details can be ensured by hiring an experienced and reliable transcription service provider like Eyered Transcription Services. A transcription service provider who is skilled and experienced in transcribing psychiatric reports does not just deliver an accurate medical report to the client i.e. the psychiatrist but they also help to develop the psychiatric notes for future references so that they can be effectively employed for the treatment of patients in the future.

As a physician or a doctor, you would often require an experienced medical transcriptionist to transcribe your voice reports into digital texts. This particular requirement has revolutionized the medical transcription service industry and as a result, it has evolved to be one of the most booming domains of the health care industries! This has also resulted in the rise of various medical transcription service providers all across the globe – Most of these providers offer high-quality transcription services at a low cost but how do you know that the pricing for transcribing your voice reports is indeed competitive pricing?
If you are a health care practitioner who constantly requires medical transcription services, you will often wonder the same and in order to determine the competitive pricing for a transcription report, you must take into consideration the various factors that generally influence the pricing of the transcribed report.

Following are some pointers to keep in mind when you are seeking to outsource your voice recordings for transcription into digitized texts:

• Skill level of Medical Transcription Professionals: The very first factor that influences the medical transcription rates is the professional themselves! Medical transcription is a high skill process that requires the medical transcriptionist to first astutely listen to the voice recordings and then assimilate the context of the discussion. If required, the transcriptionist may even perform research on the subject and then accurately transcribe the voice recordings into texts. It is absolutely essential that you are not only getting the best value of medical transcription services but you are also getting the best service for your business! This is a key constituent that must be considered while determining competitive medical transcription rates. Very often, you may be attracted towards the low pricing by various transcription service providers but it is essential to examine and understand the skill level of these professionals so that your transcribed report is not compromised of the expected quality.
• Quality Control and Review Checks: Medical transcription service provider can charge in a variety of ways – It could be either by the minute or through a pre-determined per line transcribed rate. Whatever pattern you choose, you as a health care practitioner must ensure that along with a transcription of your voice recordings into digitized texts, you are also receiving your transcribed reports after thorough quality checks! A professional transcription service provider generally does 2 rounds of quality check to ensure that every detail has been documented for and that the document is spell checked as well as free of grammatical errors. If quality control is skipped or not carried out, it is quite possible that the turned out report may be inaccurate and have some errors. Thus, it is absolutely essential to ensure that the service provider you choose performs thorough quality checks!

• Speech Minutes: The next factor that greatly influences the medical transcription rates is the minutes of the speech! It is crucial to note that though there this is an average speech rate; the speech minute rate is not always equal. The average speech rate is generally 130 words a minute and may go typically up to 170 words a minute but there are times when this average rate fluctuates’ dramatically. If the voice recording is not clear or the speaker’s accent is heavy or difficult to understand, then the medical transcriptionist may take a longer time to transcribe the voice recordings. Similarly, if a speaker is slow with their speech, there is a possibility that the word count may be significantly low. In such cases, the medical transcription rates can often be significantly different than the general quote.
• TAT (Turnaround Time): Medical transcription rates also vary by the expected TAT of the report! If you have chosen a standard turnaround time, then the medical transcription rates will be nominal as opposed to urgent or relaxed delivery.

• Speed of the Medical Transcriptionist: Another factor that influences the medical transcription rates is the speed of the medical transcriptionist. Like the speech minutes, speed of the medical transcriptionist has an average value but it may vary depending upon the context of the recording and the expertise of the medical transcriptionist themselves. Typically, a transcriptionist can type up to 100 words a minute but this should not be used solely to calculate the medical transcription rates. The speed of the medical transcriptionist is often intertwined with the skill level of the professional because a professional medical transcriptionist will not simply document the voice recording into the text but they will stop in between the recordings to conduct research, verify any acronyms or medical terminologies. This can lower their speed but the report delivered to you will be of the highest quality! Thus, if any medical transcription service provider or a freelancer promises an unusually high amount of words per minute, then there are chances that they may deliver the report to you at a low cost but the report may not be of the highest quality.
Although the process of calculating the medical transcription rates may vary from provider to provider but in order to receive the best service at competitive pricing, one must pay attention to the underlying factors that determine the medical transcription rates.

READ MORE:- HOW TO CALCULATE MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION PAY RATES

In addition to the above factors, it is also important that you as a health care provider take into consideration the following details to know the competitive medical transcription rates for your practice:

It is important to analyze the pattern of your health care practice’s workflow and then choose a service provider.
• Though this may seem arduous, It is equally important to also analyze each and every detail of the contract.
• Your service providers’ software’s must be compatible with your practice management’ software’s.
• If you are hesitant about outsourcing right away, you can opt for a short-term contract or a monthly subscription.
The pointers mentioned above will not only help you determine competitive pricing in the industry but they will also help you to analyze and adopt the best transcription service for your practice!