Outsourcing Transcription To Save Costs

With the increase in demand to keep a record of the medical documents, many developed countries have now started to outsource medical transcription work to developing countries. The profits earned through medical transcription outsourcing services are constantly increasing in the US market.It is basically to save on the costs that developed countries prefer to outsource these services. Not only is the labor in developing countries cheap but also the currency rates of these countries are cheaper as compared to the developed countries like US.

In the past medical and business transcription was performed by in house based employees. This means that the institution not only had to pay salaries, health care benefits, vacation and sick pay for their employees, they also had the expense of the physical space and equipment needs. Hospitals and other institutions have found that outsourcing of their transcription needs eliminates some of these internal management responsibilities and costs.

Looking for ways to cut costs has become a way of life in most medical offices and institutions. One very efficient way to reduce expenditures has been found to be the outsourcing of medical transcription services.Most institutions pay on an average 28 to 36 percent more for their in house transcription then they would pay for the same if it was outsourced. Studies done in the past have found that a production based transcriptionist working in her or his home has a cost of nearly 37 percent less per character than an in house transcriptionist.

Another consideration of outsourcing transcription is accuracy of work and turn around time. Even with on site transcriptionists many hospitals have physician complaints regarding the quality and accuracy of the transcription and the turn around time of their dictations. Turn around time is directly related to the productivity of the worker. It was found that on site transcriptionists have many more disruptions and a much lower production rate when compared to outsourced transcriptionists. The on site transcription production rate is around 39 percent less than production based and home based transcription production rates.

At the completion of a nearly two year study it was found that hospitals and other institutions could save as much as 33 - 38 percent a year utilizing outsourced transcriptions services.

Outsourcing will also help you improve income in your department as you save a lot on costs of medical transcriptionists. Last but not least, you also save a lot of overhead cost as you do not have to pay for any employee insurance and other such added expenses of having permanent employees. So, whether outsourcing for MT services is good or bad depends on your individual perspective more than anything else.

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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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