Benefits of Medical Transcription Outsourcing
Aman Goyal
August 24, 2009
Undertaking medical transcription in-house would imply that the healthcare facility has to manage people, records, HIPAA compliance, technology, maintenance of equipment, turnaround time and all other variables associated with the medical transcription services besides its core business of health care. Medical transcription outsourcing makes things immensely simpler and hospitals and healthcare centers in the U.S. and UK are increasingly outsourcing medical transcription work to offshore locations. Some of the benefits of are:
1. Cost Effective
One of the main advantages of outsourcing to offshore locations is that comparable services are offered in these countries at highly competitive rates as compared to the industry standards prevalent in the U.S. Besides the built-in cost benefits are many:
Lower per line rate
Lower direct labor costs
Lower costs in HR, administrative and training areas
Lower annual maintenance costs for maintenance of digital and transcription equipment
2. Leverages Industry Experience
These service providers have had substantial experience working on an array of medical records such as:
Operative Note
Discharge Summary
Progress Note
Emergency Room Procedure etc.
One of the benefits of outsourcing is that service providers cross-leverage their industry experience across customers producing superior records of high accuracy.
3. Leverage Time Zone Differentials of Offshoring Locations
The time zone differential between the U.S. and India works to the advantage of clients as medical records are downloaded, transcribed and transmitted back overnight for access by health practitioners in the U.S., the following working day. This ensures the fastest turnaround time in the industry.
4. High Quality and Accurate Medical Records
Service providers adhere to globally standardized, HIPAA compliant Medical Transcription Process and follow through with stringent multi-level QA procedures. The QA procedures involve:
The QA procedures involve:
Editing
Proofreading
Reviewing of completed records
5. Reduced Infrastructure Investment
Running a full-fledged medical transcription services involves investing in high end dictation equipment as well as state-of-the-art software for transmission, downloading, typing and submitting dictations. Health facilities in the U.S. stand to benefit from outsourcing as they do not have to block investments in expensive medical transcription equipment.
6. Reduced HR Responsibility in Hiring, Training and Administration
Human Resources departments of healthcare facilities and hospitals can substantially reduce time, resources and effort spent on hiring, training and maintaining medical transcription staff on their payroll. Medical transcription is required across all departments and functionalities, 24x7 including on-call and emergency room procedures. This means a fairly intensive staff requirement which entails sizeable hiring, payroll processing and administrative responsibilities, all of which are dispensed with if the process is outsourced.
7. Overcome High Attrition Rates in the U.S. Transcription Industry
The medical transcription services sector in the U.S., and anywhere else in the world, are characterized by high attrition rates. One of the benefits of outsourcing is that hospitals remain unaffected by high employee turnover levels.
8. Manage Seasonal Fluctuations in Staffing
The workflow in medical transcription services in the U.S. is affected by seasonal fluctuations. In winter patient consultations are generally on the rise and during holiday seasons such as Christmas and Thanksgiving hospitals are grossly understaffed. One of the advantages of outsourcing to offshore locations is that these seasonal fluctuations in staffing and patient capacity need not affect workflows and productivity.
9. Improved Report Accessibility
Transcribed patient reports remain available on the service provider's secure servers for two years. A significant advantage of outsourcing is that it allows secure, password-protected users to access and search old medical records with powerful key word tools. They can view and print or distribute medical documents to multiple destinations through the internet, ensuring high levels of patient confidentiality at each stage.
1. Cost Effective
One of the main advantages of outsourcing to offshore locations is that comparable services are offered in these countries at highly competitive rates as compared to the industry standards prevalent in the U.S. Besides the built-in cost benefits are many:
Lower per line rate
Lower direct labor costs
Lower costs in HR, administrative and training areas
Lower annual maintenance costs for maintenance of digital and transcription equipment
2. Leverages Industry Experience
These service providers have had substantial experience working on an array of medical records such as:
Operative Note
Discharge Summary
Progress Note
Emergency Room Procedure etc.
One of the benefits of outsourcing is that service providers cross-leverage their industry experience across customers producing superior records of high accuracy.
3. Leverage Time Zone Differentials of Offshoring Locations
The time zone differential between the U.S. and India works to the advantage of clients as medical records are downloaded, transcribed and transmitted back overnight for access by health practitioners in the U.S., the following working day. This ensures the fastest turnaround time in the industry.
4. High Quality and Accurate Medical Records
Service providers adhere to globally standardized, HIPAA compliant Medical Transcription Process and follow through with stringent multi-level QA procedures. The QA procedures involve:
The QA procedures involve:
Editing
Proofreading
Reviewing of completed records
5. Reduced Infrastructure Investment
Running a full-fledged medical transcription services involves investing in high end dictation equipment as well as state-of-the-art software for transmission, downloading, typing and submitting dictations. Health facilities in the U.S. stand to benefit from outsourcing as they do not have to block investments in expensive medical transcription equipment.
6. Reduced HR Responsibility in Hiring, Training and Administration
Human Resources departments of healthcare facilities and hospitals can substantially reduce time, resources and effort spent on hiring, training and maintaining medical transcription staff on their payroll. Medical transcription is required across all departments and functionalities, 24x7 including on-call and emergency room procedures. This means a fairly intensive staff requirement which entails sizeable hiring, payroll processing and administrative responsibilities, all of which are dispensed with if the process is outsourced.
7. Overcome High Attrition Rates in the U.S. Transcription Industry
The medical transcription services sector in the U.S., and anywhere else in the world, are characterized by high attrition rates. One of the benefits of outsourcing is that hospitals remain unaffected by high employee turnover levels.
8. Manage Seasonal Fluctuations in Staffing
The workflow in medical transcription services in the U.S. is affected by seasonal fluctuations. In winter patient consultations are generally on the rise and during holiday seasons such as Christmas and Thanksgiving hospitals are grossly understaffed. One of the advantages of outsourcing to offshore locations is that these seasonal fluctuations in staffing and patient capacity need not affect workflows and productivity.
9. Improved Report Accessibility
Transcribed patient reports remain available on the service provider's secure servers for two years. A significant advantage of outsourcing is that it allows secure, password-protected users to access and search old medical records with powerful key word tools. They can view and print or distribute medical documents to multiple destinations through the internet, ensuring high levels of patient confidentiality at each stage.
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