Outsourcing of medical transcription services has experienced a steady growth in the last few years as hospitals and clinics come to a greater realization of outsourcing's strategic benefits. Combined with an increased shortage of medical transcriptionists as well as the emergence of increased technical capabilities, hospitals who are deciding to outsource are seeing many overall financial and customer service advantages.
With the increased ease of entry for new transcription companies into the marketplace, many different factors will determine how each will fit within an organization. How does the medical transcription company measure quality? Do they understand the impact they have on patient safety? How do they price? How do they reconcile invoices? Can they deliver the document on the timing physicians require? What processes do they have in place to meet the security requirements for protected health information? Do they have a platform in place to accommodate speech recognition technologies? These are some of the important questions to ask while making a decision that will affect an organization's overall profitability, and below are the answers that will help you when determining what company meets your needs and helps you achieve your goals without sacrificing important factors like quality, turnaround times and customer service.
How do the Medical Transcription Service Organizations (MTSOs) differ?
The outsourced medical transcription industry is fragmented and companies vary from small, locally owned operations to large international companies. MTSOs are different based upon technology, scalability, quality approach and focus, customer service processes, executive involvement and the ability to respond to and resolve issues. As your organization is thinking about partnering with an MTSO, you will want to carefully consider organizational goals and objectives and match them to the MTSO that best meets your company's needs.
What will it cost?
You can avoid surprises by thoroughly understanding the cost and units for billing at the offset. There are two standard ways to price transcription - Visual Black Character (VBC) and standard price per line. MTSOs have appeared to move more toward VBC in the last few years, as the benefits to the business have been growing. MTSOs choose to utilize VBC pricing as it gives their customers a greater ability to audit and verify their costs. In order to determine which cost/pricing strategy works better for your organization, it should give any prospective MTSOs a package that includes the company's existing reports that may help to set the future cost standard.
How does the MTSO guard protected health information?
Whether your MTSO keeps work within the United States or sends it offshore, it is important to determine how sensitive health information will be protected and whether the company has already established processes for handling health information. How is the work audited and how are these people trained to ensure they comply with all security standards? How are quality checks performed and have any others experienced security issues? If it is an offshore home-based model, are vendors required to sign a business associate agreement?
How are MTs assigned to my work?
Try to find out how MTs are assigned work. Does the MTSO have specialists for certain work types, or is there a general pool of MTs to perform various transcription specialties? Would the account have dedicated MTs assigned specifically to certain work types, or will they differ on a regular basis? Dedicated MTs will be able to become more familiar with individual physicians, their speaking patterns and the types of reports they perform, thus eliminating language barriers and transcription errors.
What type of support structure do they provide?
What is the overall structure of their customer service process? Will your company be able to reach its personal representative at any time, or will it be directed to a general 800 number? When it does call in, whom does the call go to and how quickly? Is the IT staff educated to help with varying technical issues and are they easily accessible and timely in their response?
What type of tools/technology do they provide?
The transcription industry is in the midst of an overhaul of its technology capabilities. Staying on top of these trends and learning to differentiate between each company's capabilities will ensure that the right company is chosen to meet personal business needs. Look closely at the capabilities available to distribute, track and capture inbound dictation and outbound reports. Find out if that technology will work for the physicians at your company and where they will be able to access that information. If the MTSO is utilizing a third-party for this technology, will it affect the timeliness of resolving issues? Also, if your organization changes its scope of work, does the MTSO have the appropriate technology in place for speech recognition and electronic health records should the need arise?
How do they ensure quality?
The need for quality work continues to far surpass other transcription needs. What is the quality assurance process? How quickly will the MTSO resolve quality issues, and if the work is unacceptable and fails to meets requirements within the service agreement what processes are in place to receive timely compensation? Is the MTSO currently analyzing their quality structure and taking steps to ensure all MTs are thoroughly trained and their suppliers are regularly audited? How are MTs held accountable? What training takes place? Are MTs organized in narrow work pools by specialty?
How are bills reconciled?
Some companies are focused on pricing transparency, which will allow the organization to be continually aware of any and all charges it will be responsible for. Some companies have a system in place that allows reports to be run in real time, thus allowing their customers to reconcile bills at any time. Find out how the process works and how you will be charged.
How difficult will the MTSO processes be to implement?
Ask how easily the MTSO technology will be to integrate into the organization. Is there an implementation team? How is service maintained once the technology implementation is complete?
How do the Medical Transcription Service Organizations (MTSOs) differ?
The outsourced medical transcription industry is fragmented and companies vary from small, locally owned operations to large international companies. MTSOs are different based upon technology, scalability, quality approach and focus, customer service processes, executive involvement and the ability to respond to and resolve issues. As your organization is thinking about partnering with an MTSO, you will want to carefully consider organizational goals and objectives and match them to the MTSO that best meets your company's needs.
What will it cost?
You can avoid surprises by thoroughly understanding the cost and units for billing at the offset. There are two standard ways to price transcription - Visual Black Character (VBC) and standard price per line. MTSOs have appeared to move more toward VBC in the last few years, as the benefits to the business have been growing. MTSOs choose to utilize VBC pricing as it gives their customers a greater ability to audit and verify their costs. In order to determine which cost/pricing strategy works better for your organization, it should give any prospective MTSOs a package that includes the company's existing reports that may help to set the future cost standard.
How does the MTSO guard protected health information?
Whether your MTSO keeps work within the United States or sends it offshore, it is important to determine how sensitive health information will be protected and whether the company has already established processes for handling health information. How is the work audited and how are these people trained to ensure they comply with all security standards? How are quality checks performed and have any others experienced security issues? If it is an offshore home-based model, are vendors required to sign a business associate agreement?
How are MTs assigned to my work?
Try to find out how MTs are assigned work. Does the MTSO have specialists for certain work types, or is there a general pool of MTs to perform various transcription specialties? Would the account have dedicated MTs assigned specifically to certain work types, or will they differ on a regular basis? Dedicated MTs will be able to become more familiar with individual physicians, their speaking patterns and the types of reports they perform, thus eliminating language barriers and transcription errors.
What type of support structure do they provide?
What is the overall structure of their customer service process? Will your company be able to reach its personal representative at any time, or will it be directed to a general 800 number? When it does call in, whom does the call go to and how quickly? Is the IT staff educated to help with varying technical issues and are they easily accessible and timely in their response?
What type of tools/technology do they provide?
The transcription industry is in the midst of an overhaul of its technology capabilities. Staying on top of these trends and learning to differentiate between each company's capabilities will ensure that the right company is chosen to meet personal business needs. Look closely at the capabilities available to distribute, track and capture inbound dictation and outbound reports. Find out if that technology will work for the physicians at your company and where they will be able to access that information. If the MTSO is utilizing a third-party for this technology, will it affect the timeliness of resolving issues? Also, if your organization changes its scope of work, does the MTSO have the appropriate technology in place for speech recognition and electronic health records should the need arise?
How do they ensure quality?
The need for quality work continues to far surpass other transcription needs. What is the quality assurance process? How quickly will the MTSO resolve quality issues, and if the work is unacceptable and fails to meets requirements within the service agreement what processes are in place to receive timely compensation? Is the MTSO currently analyzing their quality structure and taking steps to ensure all MTs are thoroughly trained and their suppliers are regularly audited? How are MTs held accountable? What training takes place? Are MTs organized in narrow work pools by specialty?
How are bills reconciled?
Some companies are focused on pricing transparency, which will allow the organization to be continually aware of any and all charges it will be responsible for. Some companies have a system in place that allows reports to be run in real time, thus allowing their customers to reconcile bills at any time. Find out how the process works and how you will be charged.
How difficult will the MTSO processes be to implement?
Ask how easily the MTSO technology will be to integrate into the organization. Is there an implementation team? How is service maintained once the technology implementation is complete?
About Heartland Information Services
Heartland Information Services specializes in high-quality, full-service medical transcription providing financial and service advantages that helps its clients reach or exceed goals. Heartland provides unparalleled efficiency, reliability and management capabilities while interfacing with virtually any health information system and software. Heartland's corporate headquarters is located in Toledo, Ohio, with work centers in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi, India. Heartland Information Services can help you answer these questions.
Visit www.heartlandis.com or call 866-277-3199 to find out more about Heartland's quality transcription work and how they can help your organization reach its financial and business goals.
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/ Heartland Information Services specializes in high-quality, full-service medical transcription providing financial and service advantages that helps its clients reach or exceed goals. Heartland provides unparalleled efficiency, reliability and management capabilities while interfacing with virtually any health information system and software. Heartland's corporate headquarters is located in Toledo, Ohio, with work centers in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi, India. Heartland Information Services can help you answer these questions.
Visit www.heartlandis.com or call 866-277-3199 to find out more about Heartland's quality transcription work and how they can help your organization reach its financial and business goals.
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