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Tag: IME Transcription
April 12, 2019

What Is IME Transcription? Some DO’s and DON’Ts Of an IME Report


IME Transcription stands for Independent Medical Evolution transcription. It is a comprehensive review of the medical report of a patient performed by a doctor not earlier involved in the patient’s care.
     It is usually performed for a legal purpose, such as evaluating eligibility for the worker’s compensation or benefits or disability benefits related to an accident or an injury. The qualified medical evolution is the same thing as an IME.

IME transcription covers the following topics:
– Entire description of the patient’s medical treatment including a full review of available records,
– Physical examination,
– Consider the additional report reported by the private investigator,

– Determining as to whether the patient is going through the permanent disability or it’s nature and degree.

The format of IME report is very different than any other report type. It becomes very essential to obtain a model report or template to use as a starting point, even though the sections dictated may vary.
If we talk in brief that what is the exact process through which it goes. It includes the following sections:
1) Introduction:
The first that an IME does is to mention the full name of the patient, the exact date of injury or the onset of the report, and the purpose of the report. If it is related to any insurance or disability claim, a case number is given.
Re: Patient, Unfortunate
DOB: DD/MM/YEAR
Case#: 12345678
Date of Injury: DD/MM/YEAR
Date of Checkup: DD/MM/YEAR
The first paragraph of the report compiles the purpose of the report.
2) History and Current Complaints:
The case history can be given in the single large section titled history or be classified in the subheadings. It provides detail about who the patient is and how he reached to be in his current situation. If the injury is employment related, it will definitely include the work history going back for years.
   There are many subheading used in the history portion including past medical and surgical history, family history, and social habits. Each and every encounter with the medical transcription provider may be listed by date and time.
 When the compensation is sought for the disability, a great deal of attention is focused on the patient’s physical and mental capabilities before and after the incident.
Almost anything can be included, if the requestor hired a private investigator to follow the patient around the watch.
If anyone has the slightest doubt about a word or phrase, can flag it for the dictator review.

3) Physical Findings:
IME is purely based on the review of the records, but many times  there’s an in-person examination as well. This exam is limited to body parts/systems related to the reason for IME but can go on to detail, resulting like Hand grip strength, circumferential measurements of both upper extremities showed left arm, left forearm, right arm, and right forearm.

4) Diagnostic Studies:
The examiner reviews and comments on the results of laboratory tests, MRIs, and other diagnostic studies. This discussion may be under such kinds of headings or also can be incorporated into another section.

5) Medical Records Review:
An IME often includes the documents that the examiner reviews as a part of the evaluation. Such documents contains the reports from workplace visit, treatments, and diagnostic procedures the
patient received. The record list may be dictated near the starting of the report as part of the introduction or just before the examiner renders the conclusion.

Conclusion:
This is the place where IME reports get widely divergent. The resulting conclusion consist one of three formats.
– Simple Yes/No
– A series of answers to specific questions
– A series of subheading related to rating degree of disability.

Physician Certification:
A report that is specially created for legal use often concludes with a physician certification. It consists of a few lines that explain the examiner’s credentials, followed by a place for the examiner to date and sign the report and attest to its accuracy. It can be added to the document after the transcription or as part of the transcription.

An Independent Medical Evaluation (IME) reports doesn’t come only with a lot of pressure, it also requires meticulousness. While we want to serve our clients. it’s never a good idea to sacrifice the integrity of your IME report by making mistakes.



Here are some of the DO’s and DON’Ts of a good IME Transcription report.
5 DO’s Of A Good IME Report:
1)Make Your Report concise and uncomplicated:
While you feel yourself dealing with a very complicated situation, your report must remain clear in all aspects. Keep your words always clear, and your conclusion brief.

Doing IME Transcription WIth Mobile

2) Define Terms properly for Non-Medical Personnel
The IME report contains so many typical and technical words used in medical, shorthand, abbreviations etc. When you don’t find the simpler words for such kinds of words, you should define them at the first time. It will all help to make your report more clear and accessible.

3) Focus on Quality over All:
The most important thing, in the client servicing, is customer satisfaction. You should start from a professional IME templates to make it easier to create consistent, high-quality reports.

4) Back Up Your Statements With Facts and Documentations:
Many times, everyone is not able to understand some of the information you present. To avoid ambiguity and misunderstandings, you should always include the supporting documents.


5) Strive For A Measured and Objective Tone:
Keep your report out from emotion or aggressive language. If your report veers into that kind of languages, readers will view it as biased and it won’t be a good sign for your business.

5 DON’Ts Of A Good IME Transcription Report:
1) Do Not Sacrifice Your Credibility:
If IME transcription brings a good source of income for you, it’s very essential you remain credible and professional with reporting. Clear and concise language makes it easier for the transcriptionists to finish the job with no errors in the copy.

2) Don’t Use Absolutes Or Contradictions In Report:
If an examiner makes an easy mistake to pepper their statement with absolutes. You should only use absolute phrase at that place where there is only one answer. Rarely is something applicable to all people at all times.
 This also applies to contradictions. You may think to do it to add some clarity, but it only adds confusion. If anyone finds just one example where your absolute statement isn’t so absolute, it can invalidate your statement altogether.

3) Don’t Add Any Kind Of Prejudice in Your Report:
The IME report should not contain any types of non-medical opinions or personal feelings on the situation. It should not show your own belief or lifestyle. You must remain impartial in each and every way.


4) Don’t Add Anything Extra To Your Report:
The independent medical examination serves a purpose. Don’t deviate from the topic. Always keep yourself focused. Never try to add in irrelevant data from unrelated things.

5) Don’t Use Uncertain, Vague, Ambiguous terms:
The IME report must show confidence. You should avoid the statement that sounds like you are making a guess. Always try to keep your report states what is and what’s known. Your report should not contain statements that contain uncertainty.

You can always contact Eyered Transcription for EMR Transcription and all types of transcriptions for transparent and satisfactory services. We have been doing this for 20 years and we have more than 100 satisfied clients. You are always welcome here with your every type of queries through our email or call.

Know the Pitfalls in IME Transcriptions and How to Avoid Them

How do you determine that your medical transcription company’s IME Transcription Solutions are optimum?

One of the most thriving domains of the health care industry is the medical transcription industry! Along with a few other allied health care services, the last two decades have observed the rise and shine of medical transcription services as well all across the globe. Services provided by the medical transcription company are a core requirement of various health care professionals especially, the doctors and physicians. Outsourcing medical transcription services saves a lot of time and cuts costs but while you seek to outsource for medical transcription, you must ensure that your medical transcription company is also capable of providing you with optimum IME transcription solutions as well! This is absolutely essential because IME is an integral process and not every medical transcription company can provide optimum solutions for IME transcription. Thus, IME transcription should be outsourced to a medical transcription company that has skilled and experienced professionals but before we get into the details of the parameters that can help you determine whether IME transcription solutions that are offered by your medical transcription company are optimum or not, let’s first understand what IME transcription is?

IME, commonly abbreviated for independent medical evaluation is the process of reviewing an individual’s past and current medical history. It
is a time-consuming process that requires the physician to conduct a detailed medical evaluation of an individual which is why the physician has to dedicate a considerable amount of time to ensure that the IME reports are accurate to the core! We know this process as IME and this particular process is known as IME transcription.

Now that we understand what IME transcription solutions are, let’s understand the parameters that determine whether the medical transcription company you seek to hire is offering you with optimum IME solutions:

  • Effective Communication: The medical transcription company you hire for IME transcription solutions should have a team of medical transcriptionist professionals that have effective communication skill. This is a key requirement because the transcriptionist will need to communicate with the physicians on a regular basis. They will need to procure all the data from the medical dictation and medical records to create an IME report which is why it is absolutely essential that the medical transcription company you seek to hire for independent medical evaluation transcription services should have transcriptionists with expert communication skills, especially in the English language. 
  • Customized Formats: Offering customized services to clients is an essential element of any business is it any category! Let’s explore how does it apply to the medical transcription company in terms of IME solutions? Well, IME transcriptions are highly specialized and very often, the physicians require that the transcriptionist creates the report according to their format. Thus, it becomes absolutely essential that the transcriptionist is able to create and customize the final IME report in the required format. It is possible that the sections of IME may vary. That is why skilled professionals should handle this because the final formatted report cannot be anything less than accurate.
  • Experienced and Skilled Professionals: This goes without saying but for me transcription solutions to be optimally processed, it is absolutely essential that your reports are being dealt with experienced and skilled professionals. They should not only be thorough with the medical terminologies but they should have an inkling of medico-legal and insurance processes as well. They should not only be well versed with medical terminologies but they should be able to understand the legal and insurance data as well in order to deliver an IME report of the highest quality. If the transcriptionist of your medical transcription company is inexperienced, then the IME report may lack consistency with the risk of being inaccurate. 
  • HIPAA Compliance: One of the most important factors to pay attention to while hiring for IME solutions is that your medical transcription company follows HIPAA compliance. It is absolutely crucial that the services provided to you are HIPAA secured and all the medical transcriptionist professionals adhere to HIPAA guidelines. They should at all times have all the means to ensure that the patient data is safe and secure. 
  • Quick TAT: IME reports are often time-bound and they need to be submitted within the specified deadline. This is because the submission of IME reports is often pre-determined with a deadline. Hence; to ensure that the workflow pattern is always smooth, the transcriptionist should deliver the final report within the specified timeline. If a medical transcription company is focused on providing the best IME transcription solutions, they will ensure that they are able to deliver impeccable IME reports within a quick turnaround time!
  • Extra IME Transcription Services: Not every medical transcription company offers additional IME transcription services like iPhone dictation apps and electronic signatures but if your company does offer these kinds of services, it is an added advantage!
  • Dedicated Account Managers: A Medical transcription company that focuses on providing you with the best IME solutions will not hesitate to dedicate an account manager so that you communicate with them in real-time and discuss each and every detail of your project with them.

While looking for optimum IME solutions in a medical transcription company, it is absolutely essential that you consider the above mentioned factors! These factors that have been listed above set some parameters to narrow down a medical transcription company that is focused in providing optimum solutions for IME Transcription Services.

We, at EyeRed transcription services, are very focused on providing you with both of these solutions! We understand that independent medical evaluation reports require specialized services and a skilled workforce. At Eyered, our professionals are experienced and skilled experienced! They have also dedicated professionals that are focused on carrying out IME transcription services so that you always receive a high-quality medical report.

Electronic Health Records have truly transformed Medical Transcription and the Transcriptionists Role! Let’s discover how?






By: Anna williams Category: blog
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November 29, 2018

Know the Pitfalls in IME Transcriptions and How to Avoid Them

IME medical transcription can sometimes become faulty if errors occur during the transcribing process. Irrespective of how prudent you are, human errors are inevitable. Even the best of IME transcription providers could confuse with certain medical terms. For better understanding, here we have listed below some of the common medical transcription errors that could prove costly.

Words that may sound similar: A proper medical treatment can be given only if the diagnosis is proper. A proper diagnose can be at stake due to certain words that may sound similar. It happens many times that doctors leave their patients in the hands of their juniors for collecting medical information from the patient. If the physician addresses hypertension as hypotension, it could lead to the wrong transcription, leaving the patient to a cure that he/she may never need.

Grammar and Spelling Mistakes: Even if the physician doesn’t make any mistakes in pronunciation of words, however, if the knowledge of the transcribers is not dependable, similar sounding words may be misspelt. There can be grammar mistakes as well. It can lead to treatment that a patient may not need.

Numbering Errors: Another common IME transcription error is the mix up of numerical values. These values are important when the doctor starts a treatment. The problem is that every patient needs a different treatment pattern. A doctor may prescribe medicine and dosage on the basis of a patient’s medical condition. For instance, if a doctor dictates 50 and the transcribers write 5 or vice versa, the effects could be life-threatening.

  1. Mishearing: You use the incorrect word because you heard the word incorrectly. However, mishearing can cause trouble to the patient.
  2. Atomic Typos: An atomic is a small one letter word. You type one wrong letter and type a word that exists, but it is not similar to the intended word. A one-letter mistake can change the entire meaning of a sentence. The sad part is that if you type a word that exists, then even a spellchecker would not be able to catch the mistake. Here are some of the examples of such words;
  • Accept Vs. Except
  • Nuclear Vs. Unclear
  • Peace Vs. Piece

Lab Errors: Physicians may sometimes talk too loudly or fast or fail to pursue while dictating their prescription which can often cause problems for medical transcriptionists. Often times, medical transcriptionists are left to guess only, which can lead to mistakes.

How to Avoid Transcription Mistakes?

Making mistakes can prove fatal especially if it is related to medical transcription. Here are some steps that you can take to avoid transcription errors:

  • Get rid of background noise
  • Educate your clients about the importance of high qualitative medical recordings
  • Check resource materials along with references. Look up for any words with which you are not familiar with. Make use of reliable resources while doing research.
  • If you don’t know the spelling of certain words even after researching, ask your client about the spelling or flag the term.
  • Even if you are using spell-check or another tool, make sure that you proofread the text.
  • Proofread all the medical transcripts once you have completed them. It is the only way through which you can find typing errors, inconsistencies of words that don’t make complete sense.
  • Ask the other person to proofread your content
  • While checking the transcript, listen to the complete recording
  • Pay due attention, use logic and think about the recording content

Conclusion

IME transcription errors could prove extremely expensive. A lot of patients around the world have had fatalities due to errors in medical transcription. A simple typo error can adversely impact the course of treatment and people have to pay for these errors with their lives. No matter how efficient medical transcriber is, life is nothing with which risks can be taken.

By: harry Naik Category: blog
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