Medical Transcription Companies making a Marked Difference in Healthcare Sector

The demand for medical transcription services seem to have gone up tremendously since the last two decades as far as the medical professionals and establishments in the healthcare sector are concerned. The requirement for transcribing medical records, files and other important therapeutic documents is growing by the day. 

Doctors, physicians, surgeons, medical superintendents, and other healthcare professionals are not left with sufficient time to write down a patient’s medical history after check up as their job pressures have increased in the past few years. They’re given to multi-tasking these days as they not only have to check up innumerable patients and examine countless medical reports and records throughout the day but also perform other in-house duties as well. 

Indispensability of medical transcription services 

This is where a medical transcription company steps in as the medical transcription services provided by it not only save precious time of the healthcare professionals but also takes a lot of pressure off their backs. There used to be a time when doctors used to pen down the medical history of a patient in detail. All medical records of patients were kept in drawers and cabinets that took up a lot of space.  

Furthermore, writing all those prescriptions and reports meant using a lot of paper and other stationeries apart from spending precious time & manpower resource. When the patient revisited the doctor for a repeat check-up, the doctor had to take out the specific report after a relentless search. The entire procedure, needless to say, was very time-consuming. There was an imperative necessity to have a system or arrangement in place that’s help all healthcare professionals especially physicians and doctors to complete preparing patients’ medical histories quickly and conveniently. 

This led to the advent of medical transcription and the whole process has indeed evolved over the decades. Even the equipment used for medical transcription has gradually changed. Manual and electronic typewriters had given way to word processors and computers and now we have laptops or palmtops. Audio cassettes have been replaced by digital recorders. Nowadays, speech recognition technology is used extensively with medical transcriptionists, quality analyzers, and editors providing backup services.

To put it simply and without mincing words, medical transcription essentially implies the transcribing of voice recorded files read out by healthcare professionals into textual formats. Every time a patient visits a physician for consultation, he only has to click open the relevant file saved on his computer to go over the patient’s medical history.  

Always choose an accredited medical transcription company

These days, one comes across numerous medical transcription companies that claim to offer you the best in terms of medical transcription services. So how do all the stakeholders in the medical fraternity including physicians, doctors, clinics, hospitals, diagnostic centres and nursing homes pick on a medical transcription establishment that will render impeccable services and timely delivery? There are certain parameters or yardsticks by which you can review whether a specific firm enjoys goodwill in the market. These are:-

Accurate transcription and delivery of all types of medical files with quick turnarounds

HIPAA accredited e-signatures of online records

Web-based storage platform with infinite space

Compliance with current HIPAA strictures

High level security with 128-bit or 256-bit SSL encryption.

Read more ►

How to choose Medical Transcription Service Provider

Medical transcription services are progressively being employed by several verticals in the healthcare sector. Right from doctors, surgeons, GPs to self-established medical practitioners and from hospitals, nursing homes, super-specialty clinics to diagnostic centers, and medical laboratories are increasingly turning to MT companies for maintaining health records or medical histories of patients. In fact, the entire spectrum of medical transcription services encompasses a wide range of job functions. From transcribing voice or audio files in any format and of any discipline in medical science (cardiology, radiology, orthopedics et al), transcription services also includes deciphering voice files of lab reports, autopsy reports, discharge summaries, operation theatre memos, and diagnostic reports.

Yardsticks or parameters that underscore high quality level of medical transcription services
A MT firm that has been able to make its mark in the aforementioned segment of the medical industry always strives to provide services to all its clients characterized by:-

Compatibility with HIPAA standards
Delivery of Customer-oriented EMR (electronic medical record) solutions
Maintenance and customization of EMR records
complete solutions for medical transcription and dictation

So, irrespective of whether you’re running a medical establishment or having an independent practice as a medical specialist and intend to outsource your medical transcription assignments, then always settle for a company that offers all the above services. Always go for an establishment that offers your desired quality level at rates that you can afford. A professional MT organization will always pay attention to the minutest details as it’ll never want to compromise on accuracy and relevant information.

The dictations by doctors and physicians will always vary in terms of speech pattern, accent, and dialect. Furthermore, the arenas of medical sciences and technology are always in a state of flux that calls for harnessing highly specialized services to ensure exactitude and preciseness of transcription.

An efficient establishment will always have key personnel on their rolls who’ll have the competence to transcrible files in almost all segments or disciplines of medical sciences including radiology, oncology, gastronenterology, urology, OBS/GYN. They’ll also have the expertise in preparing operative room reports, H&Ps, discharge summaries, consultations, emergency care, intensive care unit reports, ICCU reports, surgical reports and so on.

Such an entity should be using a system that offers EMR solutions according to client specifications and requirements. The web base platform will do away with the need to have any costly software or hardware gadgets or appliances at your end. You’ll just need a PC or a laptop that runs on Windows. The EMR software solution provided by a reliable and accredited MT firm will allow you to make changes in your transcribed files, add notes, delete records, and fax or send the file directly from your PC.

Always outsource or contract your MT projects to a company that can deliver all your files within your required deadlines. Choose a company that gives you the facility of a ‘trial offer’ for at least a week (it should be free of charge of course) so that you can gauge the efficacy of the organisation. Finally, you should ensure that your files are accorded the highest level of security.

Clive Taylor has been working as a floor co-ordinator in DIvineMT ( a MT firm) for the last seven years and has written many articles and blogs on Medical transcription services and Medical transcription companies.

Read more ►

Evolution of medical transcription services and companies

Medical transcription services have indeed come a long way and evolved considerably since the sixties of the last century when this segment of the medical sector was in its infancy. And with the progression of medical transcription services, medical transcription companies have also come of age. The technique of transcription was originally conceptualized to aid in the production processes of sundry manufacturing entities. The method of transcription then was not versatile enough to serve the healthcare sector. 

Traditionally medical reports or records of miscellaneous patients visiting physicians in public and private hospitals, medical centers and clinics for a routine check up or undergoing an operation or surgery were either manually typed or handwritten. The medical files of patients visiting the OPD (outpatient department) of a hospital together with those convalescing at the medical setup post surgery were physically stored in filing cabinets. 

When a patient visited the hospital for a repeat consultation (as recommended by his or her physician), the specific patient’s medical dossier had to be recovered from the cabinet so that the medic could review the patient’s progress. With the passage of time, the entire system of maintaining records went in for a total overhaul as it became cumbersome to sustain and preserve the storage of a burgeoning number of patients in a physical form. 

As the equipment conventionally used for transcription changed, the methods of recording and maintenance of medical reports changed concomitantly. At the outset, manual typewriters were used, and then came electronic typewriters which gave way to word processors that were replaced by computers. The modus operandi of maintaining health reports has gone electronic. 

Nowadays, health care professionals like doctors, surgeons, and nurses when visiting hospitals record their patient checkups and operations or surgeries in a digital format. These digitalized formats are sent to medical transcription companies and transcription service providers that are processed and transcribed by medical transcriptionists or MTs. 

Speech or voice recognition softwares are also extensively used for transcription alongside MTs and Quality Analysers (QAs). The patient’s medical details that are dictated by the physician is transformed into text documents and sent back to the individual or institutional client in the specified turnaround time asked for by the client.      

The present scenario in the medical transcription industry

The realm of medical transcription as a vertical of the healthcare sector encompasses a diverse range of services including but not limited to basic MT services, Saas (Software as a Service) functionalities, medical coding, billing and collection services. Medical transcription services are highly sought after by a wide spectrum of medical establishments throughout the world. 

The need and demand for maintaining electronic or digital medical records has gone up tremendously in Europe and North America. In USA, Canada, Australia, India, EEC countries and several other countries, medical transcription is big business and a flourishing industry. In USA alone, the MT sector is approximately valued at over $30 billion annually and growing phenomenally at over 15 % every year.

Amidst such an optimistic scenario, Divine Mercy Transcription or DivineMT as it is more popularly known has been at the helm rendering fast and exceptional services to an assorted group of medical establishments in Australia, Canada, India, UK, and New Zealand. It is a MT firm with a global reputation that has been furnished transcription services in the medical disciplines of cardiology, anesthesiology, radiology, gynaecology and many other streams.         

Read more ►

The Indispensability of Medical Transcription in Today’s Healthcare Sector

As far as the healthcare or the medical sector along with all its concomitants are concerned, winds of change are blowing in all the constituent segments. One segment or division that has metamorphosed radically is the department of medical records. All medical establishments-from a large community hospital to a small private clinic or nursing home- have to maintain or uphold medical records and reports of all its indoor and outdoor patients for referential and referral purposes. 

There used to be a time not very long ago when a patient visited a doctor for his or her medical problems who made a note of the symptoms of the patient’s alleged illness in his prescription. Or, he used to dictate the same to an assistant or secretary who used to type it out. As strides were made in medical sciences including the development of medical and diagnostic equipment, the entire process of preparing a patient’s medical report became faster and more convenient. 

The impact of information technology and Internet on medical transcription

 

The advent of the Internet almost did away with the need to make handwritten notes and maintain physical records. The number of patients visiting medical establishments for their diverse needs was increasing day by day, hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics were finding it onerous to retain the records in their original form. 

Furthermore, as the responsibilities of healthcare professionals increased, they could not afford to devote much time to retrieving medical files when patients revisited them for a checkup or consultation. Finding additional space for storing the medical dossiers was another constraint. Internet technology helped mitigate these problems to a great extent. 

Doctors, surgeons and other medical professionals now could record their dictations in digital voice files that were transcribed by medical transcriptionists and sent back in the form of electronic text documents (electronic medical records). The sunrise sector of medical transcription services has indeed progressed considerably from its days of infancy.

The domain of medical transcription presently encompasses an extensive range of services

Nowadays medical transcription companies, self-established MTs, and all other service providers perform a broad and extensive variety of services that can be grouped under the realm of medical transcription. These include transcribing medical reports of various departments in a hospital like anesthesiology, addiction treatment, cardiovascular, endocrinology, and so on; medical billing and coding services; medico-legal transcription services; electronic data processing services, and so on.

The medical transcription services are either provided directly to a wide swathe of healthcare and medical institutions strictly in conformity to their requirements and specifications or to independent medical practitioners or off-hospital centers. More often, self-established medical practitioners and healthcare professionals conduct independent consultations and pre-operative examinations on behalf of insurance companies and agencies for settling disability or liability claims. MT service providers are engaged for transcribing and transforming such reports and surveys into easy-to-read and understand textual format.            

Divine Mercy Transcription based in Canada has been selflessly engaged in deploying the full range of medical transcription services since 2003. This firm is a natural choice for an extensive range of medical and non-medical entities because it has been providing and still delivers high quality medical transcription services at the best rates and with fast turnarounds that are:-

• HIPAA standards compliant
• Accurate
• Delivered within clients’ time bound requirements
• Secured through 128-bit SSL encryptions
• Compatible with any computer arrangement and does away with the need of any additional software application.

Read more ►

How to Find Medical Transcription Companies

Medical transcription companies are in huge demand these days. Healthcare organizations, hospitals and nursing homes as well as other individual health professionals rely on MT companies for the production of accurate and satisfactory medical transcription copies. This is a growing trade that benefits healthcare professionals on several contexts. But, utilize some adeptness while outsourcing medical transcription services to these companies. Only experienced and expert MT organizations can manage your medical transcriptions with appropriateness.

Finding reliable medical transcription companies

You can find medical transcription companies via the following ways.

Web: Internet is the search king and today, it’s a trend to stream over the web for information before utilizing something in practical. Advanced professionals highlight their services over the internet. Their official websites mention details of services they provide. These sites are often reviewed by consumers on review blogs. Overall, if you search over the internet for medical transcription companies, you will get sufficient sources to choose from. Visit websites of multiple MT companies, note their pricings and servicing processes so that you can compare and select the one you find capable of fulfilling your necessities.

Classifieds: Classified websites consist of buyers and seller folios. Sellers advertise their products and services and buyers stream through these listings. Alternatively, buyers may also highlight their needs and list their requirements, so that service providers can contact them with their offerings. You can choose either way to locate a good medical transcription organization through classified sites. Classified columns of regional newspapers and magazines may also do the needful.

Recommendations: If you are an individual healthcare professional or operate any healthcare organizations, hospitals, etc., you must be in contact with personnel from the same field. As MT companies are hugely demandable, hospitals and healthcare associations abundantly rely on them for medical transcription copies. So, you can just ask for information and recommendations on dependable MT companies from your workmates. Prepare a short list of such references and contact listed companies individually to know details of their services. 

Experience and reputation: Before outsourcing medical transcription services to a particular MT company, note the experience and expertise that the company personnel possess. Only a reliable and expert MT organization would be able to satisfy your MT needs sufficiently. Numerous medical transcription companies have sprung up recently, but you will have to choose ones that stand out of the rest regarding quality of services, dependency and affordability. 

You can easily find MT companies through the above mediums. Take your time in verifying the reputation and efficiency of the company so that you need not regret over your investment later on. Documented medical reports are significant and the procedure of converting audio-recorded reports into written format is complex and tough and requires high-tech digital equipments. Only expert MT professionals can execute it with accuracy. Moreover, employing in-house MT stuff may be quite expensive. Medical transcription outsourcing will free you of all related worries. All your needs will be handled by the company personnel and transcription per line costs will also be reduced due to compact service costs charged by MT companies.