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Outsourcing Medical Transcription is a Great Alternative to In-House Transcription Staff
By: Alex De Mostafa

Want to organize physicians handwritten notes and prescriptions into electronic documents without spending a fortune? An outsourced medical transcription service is what you need.

What are the advantages of hiring a medical transcription service?
All medical institutions require computerization of medical notes for clean and compact record-keeping, insurance claims processing, easy access at a later date, conferencing and various other reasons. Hospitals and clinics have long been hiring full time transcriptionists to do the same. But this is an expensive option and not the ideal solution, especially if you have varying volume of transcription needs. Alternatively, you can give transcription duties to other clerical staff or use voice recognition software. But these solutions can be rather inaccurate, putting the health of your patients at stake. Accuracy of voice recognition is usually too low to be useful and your clerical staff may not be well trained for medical transcription. A medical transcription service provides you the best combination of expense, quality and accuracy.

How does a medical transcription service work?
* Physicians dictate their notes into a recording device, usually a hand held digital recorder or a toll-free phone line. Most medical transcription services support both these methods. Some services also accept recorded cassettes. Transcription services may accept many different sound files format but mp3 is the most commonly used format.
* The recorded information is then sent to the medical transcription service provider. It is important that the sound files are transferred securely. Your patients personal information must not be leaked at any cost. Digital recordings are submitted via Internet. This can be done using a secure web site and file transfer protocol (FTP) using custom software from the provider, or even through encrypted email. In case of a toll-free line, the information is directly recorded on the providers servers.
* The recorded notes are then transcribed and delivered to the hospital or clinic. Transcribed notes are usually returned as word files, though other formats like pdf can also be specified. Delivery methods include secure web sites, FTP, custom software, encrypted email and in some cases fax.
More comprehensive medical transcription services are also available. They offer an online system that stores both the audio files and transcripts, organizes them by date, doctor, or patient, and keeps track of progress as they're being transcribed. These services are more expensive but offer substantial benefits.

Consider the following while hiring a medical transcription service.
Accuracy: The returned work must have accuracy close to 100 per cent. Select a medical transcription service that employs experienced and skilled medical transcriptionists and quality assurance professionals who review the transcriptions before they are delivered to you. Your doctors should review and evaluate each transcript on delivery to prevent any damage to your patients health and welfare.

Turnaround Time: It refers to the maximum time within which medical transcripts will be delivered to you after you have submitted the audio recordings. Most medical transcription services offer a turnaround time of 24 to 48 hours. Most also include a STAT service that allows you to specify a turnaround time of one-, two- or four-hours at an additional cost. Different types of notes can have different turnaround times.

Security: Medical transcription services are subject to HIPAA rules about patient confidentiality. The industry standard for internet security is 128-bit SSL security. Physical security at the provider's premisis is also important. Careful employee screening and tracking is essential. Audit trails can assist in tracking employees. An audit trail keeps track of each person who accesses a given set of notes and the modifications they make.

Sound Quality: Good quality of audio recording is essential for accurate transcriptions. Digital handheld recorders provide better sound, though they carry an additional hardware cost. Some medical transcription services charge lower prices if you provide them with better quality recordings.

Location of service: Many medical transcription services use both domestic and international transcriptionists. Quality and accuracy of both the domestic and the international service is mostly identical. A service provider with teams around the globe may be in a better position to meet deadlines and have better turnaround times. You will most likely pay more for service if you insist on using medical transcriptionists located only in a developed country like the US.

How much does it cost to hire a medical transcription service?
You are charged per line of text. The industry standard is 65 characters in a single line including spaces. Some service providers however, include lesser number of characters in a single line. Price usually ranges from $.05 to $.20 per line. It is best to compare price quotes from multiple medical transcription services on a B2B marketplace.
Most medical transcription service providers offer free trial runs. Carefully evaluate the providers ability to meet deadlines, the accuracy of transcripts, and ease of interaction with the customer service representatives during the trial run. Many providers assign a dedicated team of transcriptionists and lower prices for long term contracts. Carefully evaluate your requirements, the providers and the available services before making a decision.

Article Source: http://www.affiliate-profit-masters.com/articles

Daljeet Sidhu is a serial entrepreneur and founding partner at www.TradeSeam.com, the world's first small business network, connecting customers, suppliers and service providers; all who have an interest in accelerating the growth of their business. Visit Outsourcing Medical Transcription is an Excellent Alternative to In-House Trancriptionists.

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