Medical Transcription - Quality or Cost?

Two vital factors of medical transcription are safety of patients and integrity of patient records. While clinicians and hospitals are directly responsible to patient care, Medical Transcription companies are responsible for accuracy and safety of records. With margins getting thinner and thinner and possibility of another recession looming large over its head, hiring organizations are sometimes found choosing low cost transcription services that do not contribute to value. Cost considerations are very much relevant but a low cost has no meaning with a patient record that lacks integrity. How Prepared are Medical Transcription Companies Today most of the medical transcription companies have its own quality assurance processes. These include audit of transcribed work, counseling, reward system etc. These companies are aware of the dangers of misspelling of the name of a drug or the one of the symptoms of a disease. Today they are a motivated lot because accuracy of output is critical to integrity of medical records and patient safety. That is one of the reasons why despite being HIPAA compliant, these companies have Quality Assurance (QA) programs that ensure error free transcription process. Entry of speech recognition has spurred Medical Transcription firms to focus more on medical knowledge. According to Kathy Martin, owner of online OAK Horizons Medical Transcription Curriculum, even if there is a mistake at the program level, transcribers should be able to identify it, be it the name of a medicine or a disease. What is implied here is the use of correct terminology. It applies to traditional dictation practices too. Role of QA is paramount whether it is speech recognition or traditional dictation both for hiring organizations and transcription service providers. Best Medical transcription companies always have a large clientele and that shows the vast range of services they can offer and their capability to deliver better quality at competitive prices. These companies use secure web based platforms as they consider real-time access to transcribed reports as most vital. There are occasions where time is the essence and there is no other better route than a closed replica of a web site for obtaining a patient record with no time lost. Most of them have the customer service personnel available on toll free numbers to deal with problems and queries. All these factors contribute to better turn-around time for delivery of work thus saving in costs to the hiring organizations. Added to this is the assured quality and security of data that positively impacts the hiring organizations’ capital expenditure on infrastructure. Vital Areas – Quality and Accuracy Therefore, while choosing a Medical Transcription service provider what hospitals and clinicians should look for are parameters like proper quality control programs, transcribers’ training modules, levels of customer service it delivers, spectrum of its services, etc. Transcription companies operating outside these parameters could offer cheap prices but without value. Hospitals and doctors should be clear about what they expect from a Medical Transcription company before getting on with the process and it will definitely help them to improve their bottom lines. Thus Medical Transcription service providers too can help healthcare providers to concentrate more on their core activity i.e., patient care.