Converting voice documentation and dictation into a text format is an often overlooked, yet critical, component of health care. This information is used for healthcare billing and more importantly, for review within patient medical files. If you are handling these transcription services in-office, it might be time to look at the idea of outsourcing this task to a third-party service.
More Cost Effective
Hiring an outside firm to handle your medical transcription services can be more cost effective than handling these tasks in office. As you're likely aware, insurance companies have a very rigid list of requirements. For instance, with a one-hundred-line item invoice, even an issue on a single line can cause the bill to be denied, meaning you don't get paid.
Transcription professionals are more accurate than an inexperienced individual, which can yield a cost savings. Additionally, even if you have a full-time transcription professional on staff, it might be cheaper to hire a third-party source as needed rather than paying an employee's salary, health insurance, unemployment and payroll tax.
Faster Charting
Working with a medical transcription service can also make the tasks of charting faster and more efficient overall. With an in-house transcriber, this generally means there is one person responsible for the task. On a busy day when you're seeing patient after patient, this one individual might not be able to keep up, which means charting can't be completed.
With an outside service, you can literally send your dictation over right on the spot and have it processed by a team of transcribers, rather than one. With this level of access, you can have your text documents returned faster and complete charting faster.
More Accurate Results
One of the greatest benefits that a transcription service can offer is increased accuracy. In addition to billing requests, this dictation is often used as an important part of a patient's medical file. This file needs to be accurate since a variety of providers will need to access, understand and interpret this information. Any discrepancies can be costly for the patient.
Transcription services rely on well-trained, professional transcribers that will ensure accuracy with each dictation request you submit, which can keep your patients safer.
If you are not relying on a third-party service, now is a great time to consider the idea. With these professionals, you can add a higher level of efficiency to the level of care you offer, save money and operate your practice better overall.
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