Thursday, January 27, 2011

Low-cost HIPAA Medical Transcription Service

Low-cost HIPAA compliant medical transcription service is in high demand in the present scenario. Medical transcription companies relieve healthcare facilities and individual physicians of the burden of managing and updating patients’ files and records. They undertake this task and provide quality-oriented digital output at low costs. Minimal turnaround time keeps the files constantly updated and easily accessible.

Earlier, hospitals and clinics were apprehensive about hiring outsourcing services fearing the breach of HIPAA rules and guidelines. As per HIPAA, it is mandatory to safeguard the patient’s medical records and respect privacy by preventing the use of personal information for any other purpose. Times have changed; stringent safety and security measures employed by the transcription companies have won the trust and confidence of all major medical institutes.

Confidentiality is maintained by using powerful security and encryption application. The staff who deals with data and information - transcriptionists, proofreaders and others - are bound by non-disclosure agreement. Secure FTP connections and browsers further enhance protection. With such measures in place, doctors can leave aside their worries and focus on patient care.

It would be a wise decision to opt for medical transcription services as the charges involved are considerably less compared to the expenditure incurred in paying in-house staff. Outsourcing of the work to offshore facilities reduces labor cost. This also helps save a lot of money and time on training and recruiting staff.

Low-cost HIPAA medical transcription service is much sought after owing to its reliable, fast and quality focused work culture. Individual requirements of clients are given due consideration and the work is processed according to priority. With the growing number of outsourcing companies out there, it should not be difficult to find one which can provide both long and short term services.

Medical Transcription for Clinics and Hospital Based Physicians

There are several medical transcription companies providing systematic and cost-effective medical transcription services for clinics and hospital based physicians. They help in managing a wide variety of records and documents such as death summaries, complete history, physicals, follow-up notes, consultation reports, referrals, laboratory summaries, medical billing, insurance related correspondence, medical coding and patient scheduling. One of the major advantages of medical transcription companies is that they provide reliable and high quality transcription services within quick turnaround time.

Specially Trained Transcribers Ensure High Accuracy Rates

The role of transcribers is vital in the process of medical transcription. It is very important that they should have a sound knowledge about medicines, diseases and treatments. Therefore medical transcription companies keep specially trained transcribers to provide transcription services to a number of specialties including orthopedics, gastroenterology, radiology, cardiology and more. Ensuring high accuracy rates, medical transcription companies maintain in-house proofreaders. Above all, it is very important to check whether a company is HIPAA compliant. The HIPAA compliant companies promise higher confidentiality on records and other personal information as per the norms of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

The Use of Advanced Technical System - Allows Easy and Safe Dictation

To meet the rising demands of the healthcare industry, medical transcription companies incorporate a range of advanced technical systems. They offer digital dictation and toll free number dictation options for easy and safe dictation. Most of the companies provide web-based transcription service. The major advantage of web-based service is that it allows online editing and reviews. Furthermore, medical transcription companies incorporate HL 7 transcription interface and document flow management software ensuring easy and safe file transfer and management.

Established medical transcription companies offer a systematic and client focused medical transcription service for clinics and hospital based physicians within customized turnaround times.

Career as Medical Transcriptionist

Occupations like medical transcription require excellent communication and organizational skills. The job of medical transcriptionist is to listen to physicians’ recording and then transcribe those recording into medical reports as advised. Since medical transcriptionists need to accurately transcribe what they listen on the recordings, they need to be quite well versed with medical terminology. Most of the times, professionals will be listening to a lot of medical jargon, short forms and other abbreviated terms used in the field of medicine and healthcare. The transcriptionist must carefully listen to all these jargon and abbreviated terms of medical science and translate them into expanded forms. The dictated recordings that medical transcriptionists listen to are sent by physicians and other healthcare professionals.

Medical transcriptionists usually listen to these medical recordings on a headset. They make use of foot pedal which can be used to pause the recording as and when required. As they listen to these recording they transcribe them on a computer into a word editor. Correction of grammar and other rectifications needs to be done by the medical transcription. Medical transcriptionists produce a variety of medical documents including medical report, operative report, physical examination report and consultation report among others. After the medical transcriptionist has transcribed the documents, the latter are sent back to the physicians.

With a few years of experience in the field, medical transcription can advance their career even more and make it more profitable. The duty of an experienced medical transcriptionist is to produce completely error free documents. Professionals need to possess capability to accurately transcribe the assessment of patients. Accurate translations and transcription guarantees superior quality patient care. Medical transcriptionists can either work in a physician’s office or from home. Working in a physician’s office requires medical transcriptionists to do a couple of other tasks like responding to mails, answering the telephone and receiving patients among others. Medical transcriptionists also need to abide by some legal and ethical requirements applicable in the medical field. Professionals must keep confidential all the patient information that they transcribe.

Educational Background, Training & Certifications
Training in medical transcription can be obtained locally, through distance learning mode or online. Multiple vocational schools and colleges provide postsecondary training to candidates. Candidates can either decide to obtain a 2-year associate degree or 1-year certifications. During their educational training, students are trained in subjects like anatomy, physiology, medical terminology and legalities involved in healthcare documentation. Sound knowledge of English grammar and punctuation is high recommended to make the most of your medical transcriptionist career. Refresher training programs are also offered for transcriptionists who have some previous experience in the medical field. Additional certifications may be required to gain advantage over others. The Association of Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) awards two certifications to transcriptionists – Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT) and Certified Medical Transcriptionist. Those who have completed graduate training programs in medical transcription are eligible to apply for the RMT certification.

Career Outlook
Job opportunities for medical transcriptionists are excellent. After completing the relevant training programs, candidates can apply for job at places like hospitals, transcription service offices, medical clinics, laboratories and other medical and healthcare facilities. Professionals can also decide to start transcription services at their home. Home-based offices are also a good option to earn from your career. Usually, medical transcriptionists work 40 hours a week. However, if you operate from a home-based office, you may need to work part time, in the evenings or at weekends. Hours can be set as per your and clients requirements. Medical transcriptionists have to sit at the computer for hours. Around 112,000 jobs for professionals are expected through the year 2012. The median annual income of a medical transcriptionist is $29,950.

Geriatrics Transcription Service

Client-focused geriatric transcription service helps in handling all types of records linked to the treatment of elders. Geriatrics transcription is available for clinic notes, histories, referrals, laboratory reports, verifications, x-ray reports and physical reports. Transcription companies offer reliable and cost-effective geriatric transcription services within customized turnaround times.

Three Levels of Quality Assurance to Ensure High Accuracy Rates

Specially trained transcribers are very essential for faultless geriatrics transcription service. This is the major advantage of hiring transcription companies for geriatrics transcription service. The companies ensure three levels of quality assurance; therefore they employ in-house proofreaders, editors and quality analysts. All these together ensure high accuracy rates in the transcription. Furthermore, the professional transcription companies are HIPAA compliant. The HIPAA compliant companies guarantee privacy of patient information as per the norms of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The advantages of geriatrics transcription services include:

• 99% accuracy rates
• specialized and trained transcribers
• HIPAA compliance
• Digital dictation machines
• Quick turnaround times
• FTP and browser based file transfer

Advanced Digital Devices and Facilities

Medical transcription companies utilize various digital devices and facilities ensuring high quality in geriatrics transcription service. Most of the transcription companies provide web-based geriatrics transcription service; therefore the clients can edit and review their files even during the transcription process. In addition to this facility, companies provide a toll free number for physicians to give dictations. The use of HL 7 transcription interface and document flow management software renders outstanding organization, management and easy transference of files.

Apart from geriatrics transcription service, professional medical transcription companies provide transcription services to a number of specialties including orthopedics, gastroenterology, radiology, cardiology and more.

Finding the Right HIPAA Compliant Medical Transcription Service

Finding the right HIPAA compliant medical transcription service to suit your work related needs is not hard anymore. A large number of hospitals and clinics have successfully made their choice by utilizing the free trial periods offered by recognized medical transcription companies. This feature helps clients assess the overall quality and standard of the transcription work and to develop an idea about the services of the firm as a whole.

HIPAA compliant companies protect the interests of the patients. However, clients must necessarily assess the type of safety and security measures they employ. HIPAA encourages the use of electronic data interchange and it is rightly adopted by all outsourcing companies. Moreover, it is the most common and convenient mode owing to its fast rate of data transfer. A search on the internet would display an extensive list of HIPAA compliant medical transcription companies for quick reference.

Apart from this, many clients who seek the services of professional transcription companies are delighted by the low rates charged by them without compromising the standard and accuracy of the processed works. The transcriptionists employed in major companies have many years of experience and with the support of editors, proofreaders and quality analysts they render quality work par excellence. Clients don’t have to spend a penny when making calls for dictation as almost each and every transcription company has the provision for toll free numbers.

The easy way of finding the right HIPAA compliant medical transcription service is to make enquiries at reputable healthcare centers that make use of such services. Some of these centers may reveal the details, but some may not. However, it is worth a try. You can also choose a quality service provider by running a search on the internet.

Cost-Effective and Reliable Medical Transcription Service

With increase in the number of patients opting for quality medical care, hospitals and clinics find it hard to maintain their medical records and reports up to date. The pragmatic solution to this problem would be to rely on cost-effective and reliable medical transcription service. A number of transcription companies have now emerged in view of the increased demand for medical transcription in the industry.

The advantages of hiring a reputable transcription company are the low turnaround time, reduced expenditure and assured security. These companies offer services to all English speaking countries such as the US, Canada, UK and Australia. Transcription services are available for all specialties such as radiology, cardiology, orthopedics and more.

Medical transcriptionists are specially selected and trained to excel in their work. These professionals make use of the latest technology and infrastructure to offer the best possible service. Clients are assured of the quality and accuracy of the processed work as every medical transcription company would necessarily have a dedicated team of quality analysts and proofreaders. Peace of mind is assured as the work is processed and sent within the stipulated time period and security protocols comply with HIPAA

Cost-effective and reliable medical transcription service substantially reduces the workload of a physician or surgeon so that they get more time to focus on their patients instead of worrying about office work. It is advisable to assess the productivity and efficiency of a medical transcription company before engaging in a long term contract. This will allow you to frame a general idea of what you can expect form them in future. It is essential to ensure that they undertake any volume of work lest you find difficultly in the later stages.

Choosing a Medical Transcription Company

When it comes to choosing a medical transcription company, ensure that you receive better benefits than those offered by other companies. In the field of healthcare, one cannot compromise on any aspect which could jeopardize the interests of patients. There are a lot of outsourcing companies which claim excellence in service but only a reputable few keep their word.

A client should decide first whether he wants his work to be processed onshore or offshore. Most outsourcing companies charge less as bulk of the work is processed abroad, where the cost of labor is considerably low.

The internet is vulnerable as such; therefore, be sure to select a medical transcription company which uses encryption software to protect the processed files before being sending them to the clients. The outsourcing company should necessarily utilize the latest technology with file management systems with interface that support all file formats. This will help you avoid the hassle of seeking alternatives in future. HIPAA compliant medical transcription companies ensure that the patient’s right to privacy is respected and there is no loss of information.

Now-a-days, almost all major MT companies provide multiple file transfer option. This feature saves valuable time. Toll free numbers help you avoid expenditure incurred for calls. Dictations via these numbers make it easy and convenient for both client and outsourcing company. Alternately, the standard practice of dictating using digital recorders can also be made use of. The service offered should focus on accuracy with the least minimum turnabout time. Seek out companies which undertake multilevel quality analysis of the processed work.

When choosing a medical transcription company to suit your needs, ascertain that the services offered are flexible and that they would offer customized services. A well established company takes pride in maintaining customer satisfaction and for prospective clients they go a step further by offering free trial service to prove that they mean business.

HIPAA Compliant Oncology Transcription Services

It is very important that healthcare professionals safeguard patient confidentiality. HIPAA compliant oncology transcription services provided by reliable companies ensure superior privacy and security for all your patient records.

Ensuring HIPAA Compliance

Established medical transcription companies in the United States offer HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) complaint oncology transcription services. Many oncology research centers, hospitals, practicing groups and clinics benefit from these services.

Consistent oncology transcription services help medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pediatric oncologists and surgical oncologists to maintain up-to-date, error-free medical records. Oncology transcription services that are HIPAA compliant ensure these specialists that all the information related to their patient’s health is safely stored as per the HIPAA norms. To ensure maximum confidentiality and protect the patient’s medical reports from unauthorized access, the medical transcription companies are equip their systems with:

• Secure user IDs and passwords
• Firewall protection
• Password-protected email and FTP sites
• File encryption software
• Regular Windows updates involving computer security

Safe transfer of the transcribed files is carried out using a secure FTP or browser-based 256 bit AES encryption system.

Quality Transcription Solutions

Medical transcription firms that deliver quality HIPAA compliant oncology transcription services are equipped with a team of skilled medical transcriptionists as well as state-of-the-art infrastructure, dictation equipment and software packages. Dictations in audio file format are efficiently transcribed into electronic documents in minimum turnaround time.

Important oncology transcription services include transcription of history and physical reports, consultation notes, psychiatric evaluations, laboratory reports, operative reports, office notes, peer reviews and discharge summaries. To ensure accuracy, the transcribed files are reviewed at three levels by proofreaders, editors and medical experts.

Range of Benefits

HIPAA compliant oncology transcription services offer a range of benefits such as:

• Accurate medical files
• Streamlined business processing
• Minimum turnaround time
• High-end security to prevent data corruptions and data loss

Cardiology Transcriptionist - Enhancing Cardiac Care

The Cardiologist after diagnosing the heart patient dictates all the clinical observations in a voice recorder. The recorded report is then transmitted over the internet as a voice file to the transcription service provider. The cardiology transcriptionist attentively listens to the voice files and types the information into the computer, to create an electronic file. The quality control department checks for any errors and an accurate file is then sent back to the cardiologist.

The transcriptionist transcribes variety of Cardiac health reports and these include:

- Discharge reports
- Cardiac Medical history
- Physical examination reports of heart patients
- Cardiac Operative reports
- Consultation reports from Cardiologist
- Diagnostic-imaging reports like ECG, MUGA scan, X-ray and Ultrasound
- Post operative cardiac progress reports
- Referral letters

The cardiology transcriptionist must be well trained in medical terminology, especially in cardiology and should have good knowledge of:

- Anatomy and physiology of heart
- Cardiac diagnostic procedures
- Pharmacology
- Cardiac Treatment assessments
- Cardiac terminology and able to translate cardiology jargon
- Standard Cardiology reference handbook

The cardiology transcriptionist should be skilled enough to spot errors in transcribed reports because these can be carried forward in the treatment and seriously harm the health of the patient. The transcriptionist should also have good transcribing speed, to shorten the turn around time, as much as possible. This helps concerned cardiologist to deliver the requisite treatment to the patient quickly and enhance patient care. HIPAA compliance norms make it necessary for the health care providers and their business associates like transcription service providers to protect confidential patient health information. It is moral duty of the cardiology transcriptionist to maintain the secrecy of the patient information as per HIPAA norms.

Medical Transcription Career from home

A home based career is a dream of educated homemakers and students. However, finding a legitimate career may be a difficult task. The ideal choice for these personalities form the most legitimate and hassle free medical transcription career. The transcription career makes a passionate and challenging one in the healthcare sector. However, to start up a medical transcription career from home, you need to train yourself to meet the requirements. You need to undergo rigorous training on medications, medical anatomy, physiology, English grammar and typing.

The transcription career requires enormous dedication and knowledge even if you are working from home. You also need to build up a strong listening comprehension, since a single error on medical terms may put you up into hassles. You may attain proper training from medical transcription schools, organizations or even from online training centers. However, choose the best training center to excel in this field. Experience is another factor that may help you to start your career from home without much difficulty.

To begin the medical transcription career from home, certain requirements are necessary for a person to posses. The most important and unavoidable element is a computer that is designed with suitable operating system. Another important element forms a speedy Internet service connection. Other requirements are medical dictionary software, grammar-checking software, drug referencing software, high fidelity headset and a user-friendly foot pedal. To set up a home based career in transcription, you need to include a file transferring protocol to easily upload and download the files. Next step is to find a legitimate transcription service provider. You may search on to the Internet or may access the help of your training center to find out a consistent service provider.

The medical transcription career is booming up to its peak with the advance of Internet and technology. Therefore, a person can choose this career without thinking twice. The flexible nature of home based career forms an advantage to all those who wish to access full comfort of their home. The remuneration for the home based transcriptionists is high with respect to transcriptionists serving an organization or hospital.

People struggling with one or more careers to meet their daily needs may access the benefit of medical transcription career from home with simple training process. Those who are pursuing par time studies may also select this career and carry out their course along with handsome remuneration. Therefore, if you possess fundamental requirements and skills necessary for this career, you may access all the benefit and enjoy your work even from your home.

Medical Transcription Work From Home

Medical Transcription work from home jobs are very easy to handle when compared to other job options available to part time job seekers and students. These jobs are paid well and require less effort when compared to many other jobs. Let us discuss on these jobs, scope and the requirements to be successful in the job.

Doctors in countries like US and UK are the clients for these jobs. Instead of writing down the prescription in a paper they convey the details over phone. This information needs to be typed down by the person practicing medical transcription. The typed data would be sent again in a document format to the hospital. The turnaround time should be very quick and quality shouldn't be compromised in medical transcription jobs.

They save a lot of effort to doctors. In some cases, the hospitals would want its data on papers to be computerized. These kind of jobs would save lot of money by organizing information in computers.

Opportunities for Medical Transcription work from home jobs are booming in developing countries like India and China. Good English knowledge of Indians do give them an edge while applying for medical transcription. Any degree from a recognized university is a sufficient qualification. Good reading and writing knowledge of English is a must. Any prior experience in medical field is always preferred in this field. However this is not an essential requirement.

There are small companies that perform medical transcription. They also offer certified training courses to the candidates. The training would cover English and terms specific to medical field.

Quality Medical Transcription Services for US Doctors

An online search would reveal a comprehensive list of companies which offer quality medical transcription services for US doctors. Intense competition among BPOs has prompted transcription companies to offer value added services to attract prospective clients. A high level of quality and standard is constantly maintained to ensure client satisfaction.

The main advantage of hiring the services of a transcription company over employing in-house staff is that you can save a considerably sum of money. With the ever increasing number of patients, it is difficult for medical entities to keep the medical records up-to-date and maintain them systematically. Medical transcription services solve the problem easily and effectively. It is a prudent option to hand over medical transcription work to professionals who are well qualified and have years of experience in the field than train new employees and pay them an exorbitant sum of money along with employee benefits.

You can request transcription of operative notes, history and physical notes, discharge summary, SOAP notes, consultation reports, preoperative notes, emergency reports and diagnostic reports. Medical transcription services offered by established transcription companies are a great relief to doctors, who would otherwise have been burdened with administrative work. The services are affordable, without any compromise being made on the standard of work.

Qualified and experienced hands employed by the outsourcing firms work round the clock to process the work. To complete the work in the given time frame, the latest software is utilized along with high end systems. Impregnable security and privacy of patient’s data is given primary importance by all HIPAA compliant firms.

Quality medical transcription services for US doctors is assured by popular firms that have been in the industry for a long time. Real time dictation using toll free numbers and 24/7 customer support are the additional advantages that clients enjoy when opting for these unparalleled services.

Outsourcing Medical Transcription Services - Less Paperwork

The main advantages of outsourcing medical transcription services are less paperwork, reduced labor cost and minimal processing time. Outsourcing allows physicians to devote more time to the patients for their treatment and care.

In the past, an increase in the number of patients invariably resulted in more administrative paperwork. Now BPO companies undertake large volume transcription work and deliver the processed files within the allotted time frame. With the use of the latest technology, transcriptionists convert the data into digital format for easy and quick accessibility for their client. This has dispensed with the need of having more storage space in hospitals and clinics. Files no longer need to be searched or systematically arranged. Chances of files being misplaced are nullified. The physician can access the health record of the patient effortlessly with the help of a computer at any given time.

HIPAA compliant medical transcription companies follow strict security protocols for all contractual dealings with clients. Customized client services are much appreciated by physicians who require versatility in services to suit individual needs. Experienced proofreaders, editors and quality analysts employed by the medical transcription companies scrutinize the work to ensure accuracy and quality. Hence, clients can expect clear, accurate and concise documentation. The files are uploaded via secure FTP connections using strong encryption software to prevent leak of information.

To ensure less paperwork, medical transcription companies provide toll free numbers so that clients can dictate the records and save valuable time. Additional client benefits include round-the-clock customer and technical support to address queries. The worth of the transcription companies is proved by the ever growing number of healthcare institutes that opt for their cost-effective services.