With health care reform and the need to deliver excellent patient care as well as ensure compliance with ever-changing industry regulations, healthcare practitioners need to maintain accurate and timely documentation. Even with electronic health records (EHR) being implemented at a rapid pace, medical transcription solutions that integrate with EHR have become indispensable when it comes to ensuring efficiency. Partnering with the right transcription company can boost practice productivity, improve the quality of care, and reduce physician stress. Here are steps involved in choosing a medical transcription service provider:
The healthcare scenario is changing at a rapid pace. According to a survey conducted by American Health Information Management Association and the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity, new speech and language processing technologies have set the stage for a fundamental transformation in the way transcriptionists work. It is important that the medical transcription company you partner with offers the flexibility to deal with these changes. As Lynne Thomas Gordon, chief executive officer of AHIMA remarked, “The skills of a transcriptionist – to listen and be detailed - and research-oriented, with a familiarity of medical terminology and disease process – are still in critical need in HIM departments during this time of healthcare transformation.”
- Perform thorough online research. There are innumerable medical transcription companies and choosing the right one can be quite challenging. It would be a good idea to go by references from others who have used the services of a particular company. This will tell you if it is dedicated to keeping its promises. Whichever firm you choose, make sure it can meet your specific needs.
- The experience of the company in question should be checked. It is highly advisable to choose one with adequate experience and a good track record.
- Accuracy and timeliness are the most important things when it comes to medical documentation. Make sure the company has a trained, professional team on the job. If you are a specialist, ensure they have experience in transcribing reports for your specialty. Professional companies have multi-level quality checks in place. They can deliver the completed transcripts within the specified turnaround time which may be 12-hours and 4–6 hours.
- HIPAA compliance is mandatory. Ensure that the company has implemented privacy measures to ensure the security of the patient information they are entrusted with.
- Last not but not least, see the services are competitively priced.
The healthcare scenario is changing at a rapid pace. According to a survey conducted by American Health Information Management Association and the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity, new speech and language processing technologies have set the stage for a fundamental transformation in the way transcriptionists work. It is important that the medical transcription company you partner with offers the flexibility to deal with these changes. As Lynne Thomas Gordon, chief executive officer of AHIMA remarked, “The skills of a transcriptionist – to listen and be detailed - and research-oriented, with a familiarity of medical terminology and disease process – are still in critical need in HIM departments during this time of healthcare transformation.”
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