Medical transcription has always played an important role in the process leading to quality healthcare, by creating medical records of patients that are accurate, timely and secure. To meet this criteria of being accurate, timely and secure, the transcription process needs to have inputs like the right team, the right process and the right technology.
Though medical transcription plays an important role in the healthcare process, it is not part of the core business of the healthcare facility. Focusing on this activity would dilute the focus of the healthcare facility not only in terms of resources, but also in terms of time and efforts of the administrative, management, information technology and support staff. Outsourcing this process to a professional service provider not only ensures speedy, accurate, secure and cost effective creation of patient records, but also saving on efforts.
How does outsourcing help healthcare facilities save on efforts?
The numerous savings in terms of efforts and investment that occur due to this can be summed up as follows:
Sourcing and training transcriptionists: The quality of patient medical records is largely dependent on the caliber of the transcriptionists. Recruiting and training the right talent is a continuous process. Outsourcing saves on the effort having to source and train the right team.
Sourcing and maintaining equipment: The process of creating patient medical records requires equipment like computers, earphones, foot pedals, furniture etc.. Availing these services from an outside entity saves on the effort of sourcing and maintaining the equipment required in the transcription process.
Collecting and uploading audio files for transcription: There would be a process in place by which the dictation of healthcare professionals would automatically be transmitted to the service provider for the transcription process. This not only saves on the efforts of the support staff, it also ensures that speedy turnaround time.
Creating a system for medical transcription: The creation of patient medical records needs to follow a certain process to ensure automatic creation of medical records, which would require a system for uploading dictation and downloading transcripts. Outsourcing ensures saving on the efforts of creating systems required for this purpose
Following up for work status:The transcription vendor would automatically provide job summaries of the audio files uploaded, the work in progress and finished transcripts, saving the efforts of the support staff.
Ensuring accuracy and turnaround time: The efforts needed to ensure the highest level of accuracy and tight turnaround times would be saved by availing services from professional vendor
Document delivery: Different healthcare professionals require different modes of document delivery depending on the situation. Entrusting this process to a professional vendor ensures that transcripts are delivered as per the modes specified by the healthcare professionals.
Ensuring HIPAA/HITECH compliance during the transcription process: This is a process where confidential data is transmitted back and forth, outsourcing would ensure that the service provider would have secure technology, secure processes, secure infrastructure and enlightened team to ensure HIPAA/HITECH compliance.
Managing the entire process: The entire process of creating patient medical records requires constant efforts to ensure quality standards are met with, to which end it is important to manage all the aspects that contribute to the process. Outsourcing ensures that the effort of managing entire transcription process professionally, is the onus of the service provider.
Continuous upgrading of systems: The software and tools required for medical transcription need constant upgrades to be secure and efficient. When the transcription process is outsourced the service provider upgrades the system on a regular basis keeping it up to date.
One can see that outsourcing medical transcription to a professional service provider saves the efforts of the healthcare facility staff in numerous ways.