Medical transcription is the process of transcribing voice recording into a text format. A report by TechNavio covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of global medical transcription market for the period 2015- 2019.
Medical transcription makes data interpretation easier. Usually, physicians record their patients’ details in audio format and the audio recordings are accurately transcribed by a medical transcriptionist. However, with the advent of new technology and advancements in the health sector, medical transcription and transcriptionists have a changed role to play now.
According to TechNavio’s analysis, the global medical transcription market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6% during the period 2014-2019. Speech recognition software has significantly changed the role of medical transcription from transcribing speech to editing text. The new software will convert speech directly into text format which will reduce the effort of physicians in recording the patient’s details and then sending the audio file to the transcriptionist. Transcription will now become more simplified and convenient while also lowering the risk of data breach.
The report states that the existing medical transcription is prone to human errors. Inaccurate entry of medical data can lead to poor quality of patient care and reimbursement and insurance coverage. The use of speech recognition will reduce the chances of errors and also minimize the duration of transcription. This will help physicians to spend more valuable time with their patients and provide them quality medical care. This new automation in medical transcription will minimize long- term expenditure and make the working pattern easy. As per the report, the market is well established. It is fragmented as well, with multiple products and services including voice recognition and transcription software being offered by many global and regional vendors. There are large numbers of competitors in the field of medical transcription who want to capture a major portion of market share. This makes it difficult for new entrants who wish to enter the market and gain more revenue and market share.
The important thing to remember though is that voice recognition cannot handle simple/complex formatting such as bold script, italics, automatically numbered/bulleted lists, tables, indents, font changes, boxes and so on. In these areas human intervention in the form of a transcriptionist may become necessary. Transcription companies with a long track record in the industry are still very much in demand and employed by healthcare entities looking for more efficient provision of patient care and more competent performance as well as speedy reimbursement. To provide high quality transcription services within minimum turnaround, these service providers offer EHR integrated medical transcription. Physicians can continue to dictate their notes if they prefer that. Professional transcriptionists will transcribe the dictations and enter the details into the relevant EHR fields promptly so that the entire documentation process is streamlined. If physicians use voice recognition along with their EHR to convert their spoken words into text, transcriptionists can still help, acting as text editors and ensuring the accuracy of the converted text.
