Healthcare providers outsource medical transcription to save costs and to meet staffing challenges. However, they face many concerns when making the decision to outsource. The truth is that many of these concerns are unwarranted.
- Outsourcing companies do not care about accuracy – This is untrue. In fact, outsourcing can contribute to higher levels of accuracy in transcription. A business process company offering medical transcription services has qualified and experienced staff on the job. Well-versed in medical lingo and various medical procedures, these experts work with advanced software and hardware to ensure quality transcripts. Periodical training sessions are conducted to keep the staff well-informed. A reliable company would also have stringent quality checks to ensure transcripts with accuracy levels as high as 99%.
- Outsourcing companies are not aware of HIPAA rules – Security concerns loom large when healthcare information and patient data are outsourced. HIPAA rules and regulations were instituted in 2003 to ensure the confidentiality of personal health information. HIPAA-compliant medical transcription services are available. A reliable outsourcing company would strictly adhere to the contract to maintain the confidentiality of medical information. Its staff would be fully trained on the latest HIPAA guidelines. The company would also have a secure work environment, including password protected workstations, to ensure that the confidentiality of healthcare data is not compromised. No home-based transcription service is ever used.
- Transcripts are not delivered on time: This is not an issue if you outsource your work to a professional medical transcription company. A competent service provider can deliver your transcripts in customized turnaround (TAT) time. The factors that typically affect TAT are volume of work, transcription requirements, and availability of experienced staff. A professional transcription service would have all the resources necessary to meet their clients’ TAT requirements.
- Outsourcing medical transcription is expensive – Actually, it’s quite the opposite. If you were to do transcription in-house, you would have to incur huge costs for hiring additional staff, training them, setting up the entire infrastructure, and so on. Outsourcing helps avoid such expenses. In fact, professional outsourcing companies strive to offer services at affordable costs, even saving their clients up to 30-40% on operational. They even offer attractive discounts for volume jobs.
