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.

Sphere: Related Content

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.

Sphere: Related Content

Future of Medical Transcription

With the demand for quality medical transcription services rising, medical transcription (MT) outsourcing jobs seem to have a bright and secure future. Medical transcription is the most outsourced job in the healthcare industry and is provided with the aim of reducing both time and cost factors involved in the daily documenting of patient details. As the healthcare industry in the United States is closely associated with insurance firms, time-bound processing of patient records is essential for the smooth functioning of both healthcare and insurance firms.

Almost all US based healthcare facilities find medical transcription outsourcing to be highly beneficial and these services have now become an integral part of their daily functioning. By outsourcing these jobs, healthcare providers can concentrate more on providing better infrastructure and facilities for patients and have to worry less about hiring and training medical transcriptionists. With most transcription facilities functioning according to HIPAA regulations, all patient records remain secure, confident and safe.

To produce good quality patient records, most of these healthcare firms have employed highly skilled and experienced professionals in healthcare documentation, and their skills and knowledge play a key role in the success of these transcription firms. For new recruits, professional training is being given to achieve higher accuracy levels demanded by the industry. With the help of in-house language experts and proofreaders, most processed patient documents maintain high accuracy levels of up to 99%.

Now both established as well as new entrants in the healthcare industry including hospitals, clinics and private practitioners are aware of the benefits of medical transcription outsourcing and hence are moving towards these services. Most MT providers offer related services such as medical coding and medical billing for their healthcare clients.

India and Philippines are two emerging powers in the medical transcription field and are set to become the hub of future healthcare documentation jobs. The availability of a vast pool of graduates who are computer-literate and fluent in English and the turnaround time of 24 hrs for submitting assignments, are factors working in favor of the growth of healthcare transcription firms in these countries.

Right from its initial stages, the medical transcription industry has been undergoing revolutionary changes regarding the equipments and technologies used. From the initial typewriters and Dictaphone transcribers to high end computers, the healthcare documentation industry is always moving with the latest trends in technology. The quality in operations and the flexibility of the industry in adopting new technologies all ensure that the medical transcription community will have a long and bright future.

Sphere: Related Content

Starting a Medical Transcription Service Business

Medical transcription is the process of transcribing, or typing an audio version of doctors’ notes and other medical records. You may have noticed at some of your doctor’s appointments the doctor will take out a small voice recorder and record verbal notes of your symptoms, diagnosis, and what type of follow up care will take place. A medical transcriptionist will listen to these audio files and type the information into a report, which will be placed in your medical records.

The first step to starting a medical transcription business would be to complete a medical transcription course at your local college or online. In the course, among other things, you will learn medical terminology, which will be essential for understanding what the doctor is saying.

A good medical transcriptionist will need to be a fast, accurate typist. You may be paid per line or per hour, and if you are being paid by line, the more you type, the more you will earn. Being able to sit for long periods of time is also required.

In addition to those skills, you’ll also need a computer with high speed internet access. You will be receiving audio files, which can be quite large. If you only have dial-up internet, it could take quite a long time to receive the files. Depending on who you work for, you may also be asked to download some software to your computer which will allow you to type the reports. There is also software available that will slow down the audio files you are listening to, enabling you to better understand what the doctor is saying.

Many doctors outsource their medical transcription business to agencies that specialize in hiring MTs that work from home. You can find these companies by searching online. Another option is to approach doctors locally and offer your services to them.

The pay rate will vary depending on who you work for and how much experience you have. As someone who is brand new, you can expect to earn around $10 - $12 per hour. Once you have gained a year or two of experience, you can earn as much as $19 or more per hour.

The Benefits of Starting a Medical Transcription Service Business

Low start up costs - Your biggest investment may be in your education and even that’s reasonable for the return you can make on your investment. Other than that you won’t require much money and your overhead and supplies will be minimal.

Set your own hours - Work evenings, mornings, or during the day. As long as you meet your turn-around-times, it’s up to you when you work.

Low Advertisement Costs - A medical transcription business will grow through word-of-mouth marketing and is also easily marketed with simple flyers and business cards.

Great Earning Potential - A successful medical transcription service can earn anywhere from $20,000 per year (for a part time one person service) to over $200,000 per year for a full medical transcription service. How much you’ll earn will be dependent on a number of factors, but there is potential for a decent income.

Flexibility - Expand and grow the business when you like, hire people to help you, work from home, work mainly online or locally - this business allows you a lot of flexibility and choice.

Exciting Career - You’ll learn medical terms and get a better understanding of how the human body works. You’ll regularly transcribe a variety of reports and learn about diseases, cures, and medical findings. An added benefit for many MTs is that when they go visit their family doctor they feel more able to communicate and understand what all those medical terms mean…this gives you a great sense of empowerment when it comes to your own health.

Prestigious Career - You’ll make great contacts and often become friends with many physicians. This usually comes with many extra perks such as great holiday bonuses. You’ll learn a valuable career skill for life and a lucrative profession you can feel proud of.

Sphere: Related Content

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.

Sphere: Related Content