What is the importance of accurate medical transcription in providing quality health care to patients?

Medical professionals are responsible for many patients on an average day. Accurately documenting their notes in medical charts and insurance claims is crucial to delivering quality care.

Most healthcare practitioners dictate their notes in an audio recording, which is then transcribed into a written document – and the importance of this transcription process can’t be overstated. Transcribed documents not only influence a patient’s case history, diagnosis, and treatment options, but also affects reimbursement for healthcare facilities & physicians. Medical transcription errors can result in serious consequences, putting all parties involved at great risk, while also causing delays in collection.

Here are four steps your facility can take to ensure accurate medical transcription.

Encourage high-quality recordings.

Poor audio not only makes a transcriptionist’s job difficult, it increases the risk of errors. Dictate in a quiet room with no background noise and speak clearly and directly into the microphone.

Dictate quickly.

Dictate patient notes immediately after an appointment to make sure you don’t forget any pertinent information. Dictating Operative Reports directly after surgery will also help to speed up the revenue cycle process.

Trust experienced transcriptionists.

Whether you have an in-house transcriptionist or you outsource the reports to a transcription company, you need to know you can rely on the quality of the work. Medical transcription requires a high level of skill, training, and experience, so vet your providers thoroughly.

Utilize effective and intuitive technology.

Clunky recording equipment or software can hinder the dictation and transcription process. Adopt a system that is easy and intuitive for physicians to use. MedTek provides a state-of-the-art mobile app that allows physicians to securely track, dictate, review, edit, and e-sign documents in one location, minimizing delays and improving overall accuracy and efficiency.

Learn more about MedTek’s transcription services.

Why Does My Practice Need A Medical Transcription Service?

Medical professionals are some of the most skilled, educated and dedicated people in the world. Their days are filled with patients, research and paperwork, with little to no time to take a break. While speaking with a patient, physicians are required to take extremely detailed notes. These notes are extensive and time-consuming—and typically have to be re-edited afterward—leaving physicians even less time to be with their patients.

Practices that take advantage of skilled medical transcriptionists save their physicians precious time by cutting out the lengthy paperwork, allowing them to focus on what really matters—their patients.

While some smaller practices have in-house medical transcriptionists, they are few and far between. Finding a professionally skilled medical transcriptionist can be difficult, especially once your practice starts growing.

Outsourcing your practice’s medical transcription service can benefit your practice in multiple ways.

Here are four important reasons why your practice needs medical transcription:

Protect the health of your physicians

Physician burnout is a real issue that detrimentally affects medical professionals every day. Physician burnout is the result of excessive stress classified as a cycle of negative emotions, paralysis, and withdrawal. It is the mental, emotional, often physical exhaustion that eventually leads to total disengagement.

All of the daily administrative work that physicians have to complete largely contributes to burnout. Medical professionals are not trained to fill out lengthy documents and paperwork—they’re trained to take the best possible care of their patients. After all, helping people is the reason physicians chose this career path in the first place! Tedious amounts of paperwork prevent doctors from devoting their time and care to their patients. Hiring a medical transcription service gives your physicians the time to give patients their undivided attention once again.

Medical transcriptionists alleviate physician burnout by taking care of the administrative work for them. Physicians will no longer be bogged down by paperwork, and can finally get back to providing the life-changing patient care they are passionate about.

For more information on Mitigating Physician Burnout, download our guide.

Save your practice time and money

Physicians are always lacking time. So when a team of medical transcriptionists are completing the paperwork, your physicians get their time back! Gifting time back to your physicians and medical professionals will result in a stronger and more efficient work environment. Doctors will have the time to focus on diagnosis, nurses will benefit from a smoother intake process and patients will feel like they are receiving every ounce of your physician’s attention.

Hiring a medical transcription service can actually save your practice money, too. By spending less money on administrative tasks, your practice will have a greater budget to spend on patient care. Plus, outsourcing medical transcription is much more affordable than keeping it in-house. Once you factor in the salary of a full-time scribe, it’s easier to see how hiring a medical transcription service is more cost effective.

More accurate and consistent medical records

Your physicians will have peace of mind knowing they have a team of highly skilled transcriptionists combing through and entering data into your electronic health record (EHR) system. Why? These transcriptionists understand medical terms and “jargon”, so they know how to effectively transcribe medical information. Medical scribes are 100% focused on taking notes and capturing key details, resulting in accurate and efficient records.

Hiring a medical transcription service also results in consistent EHR. When physicians are constantly writing and editing paperwork, some things can get lost in translation. However, transcriptionists will create records that are clear and easy to understand, no matter what member of your team is reading them.

When you have accurate and consistent medical records, you make it easy for nurses and other doctors to pick up where another may have left off with a patient. Not only will this make the patient feel more confident in the care they are receiving, but also your medical staff in the care they are giving. Physicians will be able to take more time with their patients, to learn about who they are and what kind of care they need—and your practice will reap the benefits.

Restore comfort to patients

Practices who opt towards having an in-house scribe could unintentionally make patients uncomfortable. More often than not, the transcriptionist will need to be in the exam room while the patient is discussing personal and delicate medical information.

This is when it benefits to have a virtual scribe. Virtual scribes will listen to what the patient and doctor discuss without actually being in the room. This not only restores confidence to the patient, but also allows the physician to give their patient undivided attention during the conversation.

Why A Medical Transcription Service Is The Best Choice

Some practices believe that using a voice recognition software (VRS) will provide the same benefits to their medical teams. Eventually, those same practices begin to realize the software didn’t translate correctly, or couldn’t understand what was being said. This forces the physician to go back and make necessary edits—resulting in even more lost time.

This happens because VRS lacks one, crucial element: humanity.

A human touch for EHR

When your practice hires a medical transcription service, you have a real person interpreting and transcribing medical records, not a machine. Unlike voice recognition systems, a medical scribe can understand medical terms and human nuances. Because of this, your medical team will have accurate, effective and consistent electronic health records.

While we know technology is the future, some things need a human touch—especially when it comes to medical records. Your EHRs should not suffer due to technology. A medical scribe will be devoted to your practice and its patients just as much as you are, and that will show in the records.

Time to think it over?

You may not have considered the idea of hiring a medical transcription service before, and that’s okay. Maybe you have a smaller practice, or your physicians haven’t mentioned the need for an outside service. Taking the time to weigh the benefits of a medical transcription service will only help your practice in the long run.

If you are considering a medical transcription service to manage your records, ask yourself:

• How important are accurate and consistent medical records to my practice?
• Would my physicians benefit from more time and less paperwork?
• Do I value the benefit of a human medical scribe?
• How would more money spent on patient care help my practice grow?

If your practice is ready to explore the benefits of a medical transcription service, we want to help talk you through it.

A medical scribe can benefit any practice, no matter how large or small. Saving your physicians’ time and your practice’s money will allow your practice to grow. Smoother and more efficient communication between team members will guarantee patients the care they deserve. Most importantly, physicians get more one-on-one time with their patients—reminding them why they chose to be a doctor in the first place.

To learn more about how outsourcing medical transcription services can help your practice, download our free guide, How To Optimize Clinical Productivity Through Outsourcing.

Why is medical transcription important to our society?

Do you believe that medical transcription helps the healthcare service providers to improve their service Why?

What are some of the responsibilities of a medical transcriptionist that could affect the care of a patient?

Which is the most crucial element of medical transcription services?