The need for medical transcription service is on the rise nowadays. In order to provide the best possible service, doctors, and other healthcare institutions have to secure accurate documentation of the cases they have handled.
But what is the so-called medical transcription and why is it given an utmost importance in the healthcare industry? By definition, a medical transcription is a document in text format containing the medical reports dictated by physicians, nurses, and other healthcare practitioners. This is primarily used to ensure a proper monitoring of a patient’s health, history, and care.
A significant document in the healthcare industry
A transcription can be used in different ways by various healthcare practitioners for a number of reasons.
Through this document, doctors can take a quick assessment of a patient’s current physical condition and come up with an appropriate treatment plan and correct follow-up measures. Similarly, nurses and other support staff can use it as a reference on administering the right kind and dosage of medication, watching out for warning signs, taking correct samples for further testing, et cetera.
Its purpose is not only limited to an in-house use. Medical transcriptions also matter in the interdisciplinary treatment of patients. Patient records contained in this document enables a smooth flow of medical information from one healthcare practitioner to the next. Through this, they can arrive at the best possible diagnosis and treatment plans.
Furthermore, the hospital’s billing and coding staff also use transcriptions as a crucial source of information to bill insurance companies for claims and reimbursements. In case of a legal conflict, it can be used as an important piece of document to help with the dispute resolution process.
It pays to be accurate
Recording and documenting each medical procedure is not the only thing that matters with medical transcription. Each transcript has to be a hundred percent accurate, be it a simple or a complex case, in addition to a fast turnaround time. It means that the finished document must be free from any misspelling, incorrect grammar, and technical errors.
But why does accuracy matters a lot? It was mentioned earlier that healthcare practitioners use this type of document to devise appropriate treatment procedures. That means even a small error could bring a fatal effect on the health of a patient. Not only life is at stake due to a simple mistake but the reputation of the institution as well. It is also equally important in making claims and reimbursements.
To ensure that an accurate medical transcript is delivered within the fastest possible time, a medical transcriptionist should have a comprehensive knowledge of medical terminologies. It matters because healthcare practitioners may use a number of jargons and abbreviations during the process of recording a patient’s case. It will be extremely difficult to produce a report without any knowledge on the material being transcribed and may end up writing an entirely different terminology.  Therefore, it is important that the transcriptionist underwent a formal training process.
Aside from accuracy, it also pays to document it in an easily comprehensible language. That way, those who will take a look at it can grasp its message effortlessly and correctly.
Make things easier
Although there are many voice recognition software available in the market today that can help healthcare professionals with the transcription, it is still better to outsource this job from an actual person.
These kinds of software still has a long way to go. With all the background noises, abbreviations, various accents, hard-to-decipher lingo, and other similar elements, a voice recognition software tend to make a lot of mistakes. Thus, human oversight is still needed. In worst case scenarios, correcting the errors it has made may require additional work.
Most healthcare institutions often choose to hire a third-party medical transcription service provider from offshore companies because it makes things easier for them. With this, they do not have to allocate internal resources to this kind of task but they can still be guaranteed of quality transcriptions that can provide a great deal of assistance to their medical practice. Outsourcing also helps them improve the flow of their patient narratives and speed up their revenue cycle.
Of course, choosing the right medical transcription service provider is crucial. Apart from the cost, they must also consider the turnaround time because they probably need it immediately. Layers of oversight — the number of people who will take a look at the transcribed record — must also be considered. The greater the number who will do it, the lesser the chance to commit mistakes. Finally, healthcare institutions must take into account whether the offshore company providing this service follows the international medical transcription standards to ensure high-quality transcriptions.
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