The goal of electronic health records (EHR) is proper healthcare documentation which, in turn, would work to improve patient care and hospital efficiency. Hospitals also have to meet EHR requirements to benefit from Medicare and Medicaid incentives. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, meaningful EHR would allow:
- Complete and accurate information for providers
- Better access to information to providers so that they can offer better patient care
- Patient empowerment by allowing them to access and share their health records, and take a more active role in their healthcare and that of their families
Accurate and timely medical transcription is the key to adopting and meeting the requirements of EHR. Transcription is a serious challenge for big hospitals with many specialty departments like Gastroenterology, Radiology, Cardiology, Pathology, Chiropractic, Family Practice, Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and more. All these departments churn out hundreds of files on a daily basis: patient interviews, follow-up notes, diagnostic procedure notes, files on medical histories and physicals, operative reports, referral letters, discharge summaries, SOAP notes, and insurance related correspondence.
Having an in-house transcription department can prove expensive and time consuming. Ensuring a smoother transition to an EHR system would be best accomplished by outsourcing to a reliable provider of medical transcription services for hospitals. Things to look for when choosing a medical transcription company:
- HIPAA compliance
- Accuracy level of up to 99%
- Choice of toll-free and digital dictation
- Secure. encrypted file transfer modes
- Customized transcription service to meet the needs of each department
- Affordable pricing that can assure cost savings of 30-40%
- Free Trial
The success of healthcare documentation will ultimately depend on the efficiency of the medical transcription company handling the job.
