Showing posts with label HIPAA compliance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HIPAA compliance. Show all posts

Thursday, February 26, 2009

What do I think about taking a free medical transcription course

Quite often I have people asking me if I know of a good free medical transcription course. Quite frankly, I have no idea why anyone would want to take free classes to become an MT. The old saying stands “you get what you pay for”. If you are truly interested in becoming a medical transcriptionist and beginning a new career then you want the very best education you can get.

Anyone offering a free medical transcription course is not going to pay very well. Why would they, they had to educate you first. The reason they offer free medical transcription training is so that they can pay you very little and so that you will have to stay working for them. You will not be able to take that free training and go work for anyone else as the education will be limited to their company format only. It is not worth it!

Many of the top medical transcription schools offer payment plans if money is a worry, and if you don’t want to pay for your education then you cannot be very serious about becoming an MT. This job is not just a typing job. This job is a part of the medical industry. Maintaining completely accurate health care records is a must and there are many factors that you need to learn to create those health care records. Medical terminology, grammar and proper formatting of reports as well as the HIPPA rules are just a few.

Bottom line, if you want a real, legitimate career in medical transcription forget about anyone offering a free medical transcription course. Get your medical transcription training from one of the recommended medical transcription courses by AHDI and you will be able get a legitimate medical transcription job after you graduate and be paid what you are worth.

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Thursday, February 5, 2009

Key Benefits Of Medical Transcription Software

The increasing demand for skilled medical billing and coding specialists can be attributed to the growing use of medical transcription software for healthcare organizations around the globe. Medical transcription software has slowly replaced the need for manual transcription services that could take up to a week to turnaround a dictation; today’s innovative software and technologies are designed to automate the dictation-to-reporting process so that the final product can be retrieved within 24-48 hours.

Many medical transcription companies now use medical transcription software to capture the dictation and turn it into an accurate report. Coding specialists must be trained to use the this specialized software, and these programs offer several benefits for any data processing agent.

Some of the key benefits of medical transcription software include:

  1. Easy voice capture and speech recognition capabilities. This makes it easier for the medical transcriptionist to capture the doctor’s dictation with utmost accuracy. Doctors can submit their dictation via phone or other recording device to make the audio file available to the coding specialist, and the voice capture technologies can make this process more accurate than conventional methods.

  2. Medical spell checking and dictionaries. Since a coding specialist may not understand medical terminology and phrases, a medical spellchecking function may be incorporated into the medical transcription software. This also makes the data capture more accurate and can save time in the grammar and spellcheck process.

  3. Easy document distribution. After the report has passed quality control and is ready for submission, medical transcription software can make documents available in a variety of formats. The report can be synchronized to a doctor’s handheld deviceor computer, or simply sent in electronic form for easy printing.

  4. Supports a variety of audio and video formats. Medical transcription software has been designed to support several audio and video formats so that doctors using different types of technology can benefit from the services. With fewer limitations, more healthcare organizations can begin to use medical transcription services with ease.

  5. Quick and simple editing interface. If errors are present or a medical transcriptionist needs to go back and edit certain areas of a document, the software allows for simple editing with a text editing tool and keyboard short cuts. This reduces turnaround time and improves the accuracy of all reports.

  6. Time code stamp functions. Medical billing and coding specialists can make use of time stamp functions on all their data with a touch of a button. This also reduces turnaround time and provides better, more accurate data for the doctor.

  7. Integration with many healthcare systems and programs. Doctors and physicians can access data easily with today’s innovative medical transcription software and platforms. This reduces time for finding and retrieving data so that reports are readily available, at their fingertips.
Medical transcription software used by transcriptionists today offers several benefits for healthcare organizations of all sizes. With accurate reports and efficient turnaround times, the software can make the entire dictation-to-reporting process very simple. Quality control also ensures that all reports are HIPAA-compliant and free of errors so that your healthcare organization can benefit from consistent reporting for the long-term. Sphere: Related Content

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A FINE QUALITY MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION COMPANY

We offer a fine quality transcription service product at cost competitive rates. Our medical transcription accuracy is better than 99.60% and the turn around time is 4-6 hours for standard transcription service.

Our experienced transcriptionists are knowledgeable in all areas of medicine and have an average of over 15 years experience. Our transcription work is superior and completely accurate and of legal quality. Our transcriptionists are the best and the work is not sent overseas to off-shore companies.

Our clients include: Intensive Care Units, Radiologists,Urology Depts, Neurologists, General Medicine, Research, Pathology, Oncology, Pharmacology from some of the most prestigious hospitals in New York and other States.

Transcription services for every aspect of medical communication, from everyday SOAP or follow-up notes, diagnostic procedure notes, letters to referring physicians, complete medical history and physicals, insurance related correspondence including IME's and peer reviews.

We will transmit finished reports to you by secure encrypted e-mail, secure FTP (file transfer protocol) fax, secure Internet sites, direct modem and hard copy delivery. We meet and exceed HIPAA rules and regulations.

A Standard 4- 6 hour hour turn-around time is our norm, we also provide STAT services.

Place your digital voice files directly on our computer (FTP) from physician digital recorders units (Sony, Olympus, Dictaphone, Sanyo, Radio Shack etc.), we will set up a secure Internet FTP (file transfer protocol) address for you for your uploads and downloads (no charge), or use our toll free 866 phone numbers.

All systems available 24/7 365 days per year.

Why should you consider transdyne.com? We believe in doing a high tech, state of the art, professional job with a friendly, low stress, and neighborly approach to our clients and employees.

Excellent medical transcription and a great deal of other services.

Digital dictation with toll-free 866 # telephone service, with unique user ID.
Completed work sent back via secure and encrypted email or secure FTP directly to you .
No investment in training medical transcriptionists
Contract can be negotiated for long term and high volume accounts
Clients use their telephone for dictation or digital recorders.
No geographical limitations.
Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Detailed usage reports
No lease, no service contracts, no risk of falling behind in technology

All employees have gone through security screening and HIPAA training.


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Thursday, November 27, 2008

Global Medical Transcription is in High Demand

Medical transcription outsourcing in the United States will remain in high demand due to new initiatives around the electronic patient record, as well as HIPAA regulations that demand that certain health records do not make their way overseas.Ultimately, hospitals and other healthcare providers need transcription information to be integrated into hospital systems so it feeds the overall information systems. Therefore, transcription companies need to embrace technologies (Web-based and otherwise) that will allow their customers to do so.

The benefits of being a medical transcriber are high pay, and relatively acceptable working hours. Since transcription only requires the voice recording, there is less need for graveyard shifts, unlike call center employees who have to match the work schedules of their offshore clients. The work also provides good working experience to those who are in the medical profession, as it serves as a means for them to learn more about their field even while working. Indeed, a major requirement for medical transcribers is basic medical knowledge.

Like never before, global medical transcription is in a strong period of growth. Opportunities abound for those who understand what is happening and are prepared to put the work in to make it happen.The medical transcription profession has opened up with work in many countries increasing.

There are still many countries around the world that do not utilize the advantages of using a national secure computerized system for health care.This is likely to change and as more countries develop systems, demand for the medical transcriptionist is likely to grow further.

Medical Transcription Canada is developed and one of the most popular places for transcriptionists. It is one of the most experienced countries in transcription work and one of the best places to gain the knowledge.

Medical transcription India is another county that is very popular as there is much work transcription with great opportunity to build your own business or gain the experience to some day have your own business.

Medical transcription India is a country that has immersed itself in technology and in the opportunity. Medical transcription services companies have popped up across the country.

There is a great opportunity to gain experience and in the future to have your own business.

USA medical transcription is by far the largest place in the world to perfect your transcription skills. There is so much opportunity in this country for the medical transcriptionist. Take a good look at the regions as pay rates vary greatly from one region to another.

Medical transcription Australia is a growing market with the government moving to a national computerized system for healthcare.

If you are interested in traveling around the world and working, medical transcription UK and Philippine medical transcription are other places with rising medical transcription.

Technology means everything can be learned from anywhere as long as you are prepared to study hard and have a broadband Internet connection.

You don’t have to have any experience if you really want to go places in global medical transcription. This fantastic industry will give you the life and freedom you are searching for! Sphere: Related Content

Monday, November 24, 2008

When Is Outsourced Transcription A Good Choice?

Quality of patient information and records should be paramount and that is the reason why many hospitals, clinics and doctor offices are outsourcing medical transcription services. There are a number of benefits to outsourcing transcription work, whether you are looking for services full-time, part-time or just on an overflow or emergency basis.

Outsourced transcription services are quickly becoming the preferred method of workflow management and control of medical billing and coding needs, thanks to the advances in technology and improved communication and data transmission options available. More and more healthcare organizations are turning to medical transcription service providers offsite because they can provide a more reliable product, more accurate reporting, and offer a number of benefits for physicians and other medical professionals who need to access reports and other information easily.

Reducing your Costs

Cost minimization is by far the most logical and popular reason why many medical facilities outsource their transcription needs. First of all, the cost of hiring, training and managing employees in transcription is eliminated. You have no salaries to pay, benefits to offer or vacation or sick days to juggle to ensure that all the transcription duties are taken care of.

Because the need for transcription ebbs and flows, you are essentially losing money on an employee whose sole purpose is transcription if there is little work for them. In a similar vein, by outsourcing, you are freeing up some employees who have other duties that they should be concentrating on. Outsourcing medical transcription services makes sense for so many reasons.

Outsourcing Options

You can choose to hand off all of your transcription projects off to the outsourced company of your choice and free up your budget and allocate leftover resources to better serve your patients. Or, you could consider outsourcing on a part-time basis. This is advantageous for those medical offices which have employees allocated for transcription but also fulfill other duties as well. When overflow becomes a problem, you can then outsource the transcription to pick up the slack.

If you are pleased with your in-house transcription employees but feel that you need a contingency plan in the event that your computer networks break down or some other disaster, an outsourcing medical transcription company is a logical choice. Regardless of your needs, outsourcing medical transcription services makes sense both financially and security-wise.


If you’ve been considering outsourcing your medical billing and coding projects to another company, there are a few key questions to ask and consider:

Can I count on HIPAA compliance from my current administrative staff and workforce?

Reliable medical transcription service providers will provide a guarantee of HIPAA compliance, and this ensures all work received and submitted is checked for quality control and accuracy. Most medical transcription companies will run each report through a series of data control and management centers to ensure compliance every step of the way. This can save you time on insurance and legal costs, and ensure that all the information transmitted is secure.


Do I have a secure data management and storage system in process?

Secure data management and documentation are just a few benefits of working with an outsourced medical transcription company; this ensures HIPAA compliance, and also makes document management much more efficient. Medical professionals in your company will have secure access to a data-encrypted site to retrieve data, and this will be monitored by the transcription company to prevent a security breach.

These are just a few of the most important factors to consider when you are choosing to outsource your transcription services. From secure data management to quality reporting, it’s important to consider a variety of factors for managing your transcription projects. Outsourced transcription companies offer several benefits for healthcare organizations of all sizes and budgets, and you can count on reliable, professional transcriptionists to provide you with a quality product every step of the way.

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Thursday, November 20, 2008

Top Ten Reasons to Outsource Medical Transcription

Less money. Less time. Less resources.

In these challenging times of tight budgets, compressed deadlines, exploding amounts of information, and stringent compliance regulations, managing medical transcription yourself can cost you in more ways than one. That’s why outsourcing medical tanscription has become such an attractive solution for so many.

While outsourcing medical transcription is not a new concept, it might be new to you. And when done correctly, it’s a pain-free process that gives you the freedom to focus on more important things, like patient care. Please take a few minutes to read the Top 10 Reasons why it can help you now to outsource medical transcription — and in the long run.

Reason 1: Eliminate Capital Investment with Medical Transcription Outsourcing

When you outsource your entire medical transcription process, you no longer have to own a dictation system or invest in a typing platform or worry about upgrading to the very latest equipment.

In fact, all your capital expenses for supporting dictation and transcription are greatly reduced because you no longer have to own or maintain them. And maintaining these systems and varying equipment can really cost you, with the average maintenance agreement costing upwards of 17% of equipment costs, annually. Even if you only partially outsource your medical transcription, you can still reduce your expenses and make your budget work harder for you.

Reason 2: With Medical Transcription Outsourcing, Manage Report Volume and Staffing Fluctuations

There are some things you just can’t control, no matter how hard you try. Report volume and staffing are just two of them, as these variables fluctuate without warning. Having to react to these challenges at a moment’s notice can bring your day, department, and transcription process to a screeching halt.

Not to mention how these gyrations can negatively affect your budget. By outsourcing all of your medical transcription — or even just the overflow — you can cost-effectively manage sharp increases in report volume or a shortage in staffing without having it impact your turnaround time, workflow, quality, or compliance.

Reason3: Outsource Medical Transcription and Reduce Management Expenses

Whether you’re a CFO, Health Information Manager, or head your own physician practice, managing medical transcription in-house can be a costly proposition. With so many vast, overlapping layers to manage — from dictation and routing to transcription and archiving — there are variables at every turn, eager to steal your time, attention, and budget dollars. By outsourcing all or part of your transcription process, you are free to concentrate on more important priorities and leave all the headaches and stringent demands to your outsourcing partner. Outsourcing also reduces the need for robust in-house staffing which results in additional cost savings for you.

Reason 4: Reduce Direct Labor Costs

If you are managing your medical transcription process in-house, then most likely you are also carrying direct labor costs that are putting a strain on your already tight budget. As an integral part of document creation, transcriptionists and coding specialists are imperative to the success of your medical transcription process. Yet, hiring such staff as Full-Time Employees (FTEs) means not only having to pay their salaries, but also having to provide them with benefits. By outsourcing all or part of your medical transcription process, you can gain greater control, streamline your staff, and greatly reduce or eliminate these expenses.

Reason 5: Improve Report Accessibility and Distribution with Medical Transcription Outsourcing

A major benefit of outsourcing your medical transcription is finding a solution that’s web-based. Through a secure, password-protected process, one can log-on to a user-friendly interface, search, view, edit, and print reports — from any computer with Internet capabilities. You can also distribute documents to multiple destinations with the touch of a button. Older technologies, such as dictaphones and tape, do not give you that kind of easy, immediate accessibility. And because the solution is web-based, it comes with powerful keyword search capabilities so you can easily retrieve what you want, when you want it. You’ll also have access to an entire year’s worth of records, not just the last month or so by outsourcing your medical transcription.

Reason 6: Reduce IT Responsibility

When you manage medical transcription in-house, it greatly impacts your IT department. Not only are they expected to manage and troubleshoot the various medical transcription platforms and technologies you own, but they often inherit the maintenance of your onsite equipment. In addition, they’re expected to keep up with the latest technology demands and updates to keep the system running to the best of its abilities. By outsourcing your medical transcription, you not only free up your IT team to work on more important things, but you also rescue a vast amount of space on the server that was once dedicated to supporting your dictation system. It all adds up to a more efficient, productive IT team and a faster, leaner server.

Reason 7: Eliminate HR Transcription Staff Recruitment

It’s no secret there’s a domestic shortage of qualified, certified medical transcriptionists. And maintaining a pool of dependable prospects you can call at a moment’s notice puts a definite strain on any already burdened Human Resources (HR) department. With so few qualified medical transcriptionists to choose from and the constant need to fill the hospital’s pipeline with new prospects, HR is caught in a losing proposition — trying to fulfill constant requests from the HIMs and looking at a shallow prospect pool. By outsourcing your medical transcription, you eliminate the constant cycle of unsuccessful recruitment efforts and the inefficiencies and lost man-hours they incur.

Reason 8: Improve Report Accuracy and Turnaround Time

When you manage your own medical transcription process, you are ultimately responsible for the accuracy and turnaround time. Are you able to stringently measure performance and impose penalties if quality levels are not met? You can if you outsource your medical transcription process. Outsourcing medical transcription services regularly document their accuracy and turnaround time rate, making sure they have metrics that prove they’re meeting Quality Assurance levels. Many outsourcing services also provide performance guarantees right in their contracts, which range from productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness to quality, turnaround time, and resource utilization.

Reason 9: Shorten Account Receivable Cycle

One of the easiest ways to shorten the accounts receivable cycle is to streamline your medical transcription process. If you manage your own medical transcription, you are managing people, records, medical coding, HIPAA compliance, technology, turnaround time, and all the possible variables that come with it. By outsourcing your medical transcription, you greatly simplify workflow. What was once ten steps can be reduced to five. This allows you to better meet 24-hour and even 12-hour turnaround time, but also realize soft cost savings that can be very meaningful. And ultimately, shorten your accounts receivable cycle.

Reason 10: Take Advantage of a Single-source Medical Transcription Solution

When you have to piece together your own medical transcription process, the entire weight of the solution is on your shoulders. Researching the right technology, platform, equipment, and recruits. Working closely with IT, accounts receivable, and HR. Squeezing every penny in your budget. Struggling with HIPAA compliance. And dealing with the day-to-day problems, cost surprises, and emergencies that constantly crop up.

By outsourcing your medical transcription process to a single source, you free yourself of the burden, save substantial money by consolidating all your services with one provider, and still maintain complete control of the process — while ensuring all necessary standards of quality, turnaround time, and HIPAA compliance are met.

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Friday, October 31, 2008

Traits Of Quality Transcription Services

Various transcription services from a medical transcription company can help your healthcare organization improve internal workflow and data management, enabling physicians and doctors to obtain high quality reports in a short period of time. Today’s transcription services range from dictation capture to web data management, so that your healthcare organization can retrieve accurate, timely data at a touch of a button. Finding the right medical transcription company to work with may take some time, but there are some distinguishing qualities to look for during your search. Here are some key traits of quality transcription services:

1. Guarantee of HIPAA-compliance. Ensuring that all patient data is archived and stored in a secure place is an essential part of the medical coding process, but not all companies can guarantee that their service are HIPAA-compliant. All transcription services must comply with today’s healthcare laws and regulations that govern data management; find out if the prospective medical transcription company has made HIPAA-compliance a top priority.

2. Dedication to fast turnaround times. Today’s doctors and healthcare professionals need accurate information quickly; medical transcription software now makes it easier than ever for coding specialists to capture the data and convert into the appropriate format within a few short hours. Most transcription services can be complete within a 24-48 hour time frame, so learn more about anticipated turnaround times.

3. Customer service and support. A medical transcription company that offers customer service and technical support can provide you with dependable services and make it easier to keep up with your projects throughout the week. If you’re having technical difficulties with transmitting data to the company, or simply retrieving files after the reports are made available for download, the customer service and technical support centers can help you fix any issues that may arise; this results in improved efficiency overall.

4. Competitive rates. Some medical transcription companies charge per line, while others may charge by project depending on the types of services you need. Outsourcing transcription services overall can be a cost-effective way to manage your budget, and a transcription service provider should be able to extend a quote to you during the initial consultation.

5. 24/7 availability. When you are working with outsourced medical transcription company, you can count on immediate customer service. Since many doctors work around the clock, they may need help with specific documents and custom reports at a moment’s notice; outsourced medical transcription services provide more flexibility for the round-the-clock schedules you can receive quality, well-formatted reports quickly and easily.

6. Efficient downloading and document retrieval options. In most cases, the final reports can be downloaded immediately after completion through an e-mail client or dashboard interface set up for your healthcare organization. Some medical transcription companies also make it easy for doctors and healthcare professionals to receive transmissions of reports on a handheld device or directly to their computer station. Having different options available can help you find the right match for your organizations’ needs.

Transcription services available from a medical transcription company can make the entire dictation-to-reporting process smooth and efficient. Choosing a company with these six key traits can lead you to a dependable and reliable business to manage all your needs for the long-term.

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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Different Types Of Medical Transcription Services

The field of medical transcription has been on the rise in recent years, providing high-quality health records to hospitals, clinics, and other medical facilities. There are several accredited service providers in existence that aid medical organizations in maintaining and creating their health records.

Before searching for the best medical transcription service, companies or individuals need to make sure that the service is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA was established in 1996 to set a national standard for anyone involved in with health records. The act also promotes security and privacy of all health data and strives to improve the proper use of electronic data. It is extremely important that any medical transcription service provider is compliant with HIPAA standards, which is required through the Department of Health and Human Services.

There are a variety of services available, which all offer unique skills and expertise for medical transcription. Transdyne has been a leading service provider of medical transcription since its small start in 1999. With offices in New York and India, Transdyne has been able to establish a system that allows for speedy turnaround and high-quality service. Transdyne employs well-trained medical transcriptionists (MTs) and systems professionals who work seven days a week and are all well-trained and highly proficient in the medical transcription industry. Transdyne is HIPAA compliant and employs over 300 transcriptionists all over the U.S. According to Transdyne website, the company meets any transcription needs imaginable and customizes each job according to the individual’s needs. The company claims that it is one of the most cost effective providers, mostly due to the quick turnaround. Transdyne MTs work with the most modern technology that includes dictation systems, HL-7 interfaces, automated printing and organizing services, and much more.

VIVA is another HIPAA compliant medical transcription service provider that is based in California and caters to medical professionals in the U.S. and Canada. Some of the services offered by VIVA are quality transcriptions delivered in one business day, strict compliance with HIPAA, and high-tech security provided by GeoTrust, which protects over 100,000 companies all over the world. Since VIVA is a web-based company, clients can access their files from virtually anywhere. VIVA boasts a state-of-the-art online filing system that opens up office space and allows for all files to be accessed from a computer through a system called VIVA-Locate, which allows individuals to search their records in a fraction of the time.

MxSecure is another popular provider. According to the website, MxSecure is the number one medical transcription service in the U.S. The company works with over 500 organizations nationwide to provide the best medical transcription services to clinics, physicians, and hospitals and offers two different options for service to comply with nearly any group. MxTranscribe Express offers digital dictation, easily downloaded software, access to files 24/7, and unlimited customer support. MxTranscribe EHR offers everything from Express with the additional perks of EMR integration, STAT capabilities, unlimited file storage and backup, and HIPAA compliant e-mail. There are also no long-term contracts required for either service. TransHealth is a good option for someone looking for a smaller and more personal organization. The Nashville-based company is one of the fastest growing providers of medical transcription, specializing in serving hospitals and outpatient clinics. TransHealth prides itself on the ability to establish long-term relationships with clients. The company’s most well-known clients are Community Health Systems, Inc., Health Management Associates, and VHA Southwest. TransHealth requires a minimum of three years experience in the medical transcription field for all employees, securing high-quality work. Although these services are the most popular and well-known, there are many others that provide the same services, often for less money. There are websites available that offer free searches and price quotes for medical transcription service providers. BuyerZone is a popular site that offers searches in a variety of medical transcription areas such as primary care, hospitals, and clinics.

There are so many different types of service relationships that can be established through these various organizations, and it is easy to find one that fits any organization. Each service offers different perks and benefits, but all of them offer high-quality medical transcription. Not only are these services helping medical professionals build a more efficient and productive business, but they are also working hard to establish safer and more secure health records all over the world.

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Saturday, October 18, 2008

HIPAA Works to Protect Patient Info

As part of the promise to give patients the highest quality of health care, we have always kept information about their health confidential, sharing it only with people who need the information to do their jobs.

This law, the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 or “HIPAA” for short, makes them a federal mandate for the first time.One of the major problems that is going on right now is medical identity theft. HIPAA is the perfect way to prevent this, so whenever you are dealing with a medical transcriptionist or anyone who will be dealing with your medical documents, it`s a good idea to ensure that they are HIPAA compliant.

Medical identity theft can be terribly dangerous for your patients. Imagine someone has an allergy to a commonly used medication such as penicillin and the records are changed due to someone else using their identity? It could end up being a deadly mistake.
There are many reasons that identity theft for medical reasons is bad, but you will find that you can keep this problem at bay by choosing to work only with HIPAA compliant blogs. This is the best way to keep your patients safe and secure.

Whenever you are looking to work with a medical transcription service, check their policy. Ensure that they really are HIPAA compliant before using them, even for a free trial.
Transdyne works with industry groups to ensure that its products and services meet or exceed industry standards with respect to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"). Varian’s products and services are specifically designed to include features that help our customers comply with HIPAA. Transdyne uses a relational database that employs a secure login process requiring a user name and password. Transdyne supports role-based access. That is, users are assigned to groups, each with certain access rights, which may include the ability to edit and add data or may limit access to data. When a user adds or modifies data within the database, a record is made that includes which data were changed, the user ID, and the date and time the changes were made. This establishes an audit trail that can be examined by authorized system administrators.

HIPAA requires health care providers to enter into "business associate" contracts with certain businesses to which they disclose patient health information. These business associate contracts generally require the recipients of such information to use appropriate safeguards to protect the patient health information they receive. To perform certain service and support functions, Transdyne personnel may need access to patient health information maintained by its customers. As a result, Transdyne may be considered a "business associate" of customers to whom it provides such services. Transdyne will be providing its customers with a new standard business associate agreement that complies with HIPAA requirements. Sphere: Related Content

Friday, October 17, 2008

How Medical Transcription Works

Medical transcription has evolved from simple dictation-to-type processes to innovative, dictation-to-web reporting services. As more healthcare organizations and medical professionals shift toward outsourced transcription services, demand for these types of services is steadily on the rise. The entire process of capturing the dictation and formatting into a report for the doctor or healthcare organization can take time, but working with a reliable medical transcription company can increase the efficiency of this process and reduce turnaround time substantially.

What is Medical Transcription?

Medical transcription is the process of converting voice recorded information into text in the form of a report. Medical transcriptionists are professionals who have been trained to type via dictation, and accurately transcribe all notes and related information into a specific format. Many of today’s innovative transcription service providers now use web-based programs to capture data, convert it into text, and make it available in the form of electronic reports and other reporting documents. The entire process has become more efficient and accurate, but still requires the work of certified medical transcriptionists to capture the data.

What Does a Medical Transcription Company Do?

A medical transcription company may hire a team of certified medical transcriptionists to complete various projects, or work with home based medical transcription service providers. Outsourced medical transcription companies offer many advantages and benefits over utilizing in-house support staff such as secretaries and administrative assistants, and most work with a guarantee of HIPAA compliance and high standards of accuracy.

The Process of Medical Transcription

There are three main entities involved with the medical transcription process: the provider (a doctor, physician, or healthcare organization manager who has captured a conversation or speech on an electronic device); the transcriptionist; and the transcription service company. The provider dictates the information directly into a digital recorder, phone, or other electronic device and submits the information to the transcriptionist. Today, this may be in the form of a secure FTP server or other secure communication channel such as a file attachment.

The transcriptionist then transcribes this information into a document and sends it to the quality control center or department for review. If the information meets all quality standards and is accurate, it may be forwarded to another division of the transcription company for final review. When the document meets all standards and is free of errors, it may be converted once more into a document that the provider can review.

This entire process can be smooth and seamless when you are working with a technologically advanced transcription service company, and many now offer a variety of options for providers to submit the necessary information. Dial-in phone services, digital recordings, and even web-based delivery are the key ways to submit the information to the transcriptionist, and the vehicle of transmission must be completed with security in mind.

The total transcription process and delivery time may vary depending on the medical transcription service provider you have chosen to work with, and the volume of work submitted. Still, many transcriptionists work with consistency and can turnaround projects at a relatively steady rate.

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