Outsourcing medical transcription services can provide several benefits, including cost savings, accuracy, time-saving, document consistency, etc. However, those benefits highly depend on the reliability of your transcription provider, as not all medical transcription companies are created equal. Healthcare industry members need to consider these before choosing a service provider so that they can enjoy the advantages without any of the pitfalls.
In this article, you’ll learn how:
- Outsourcing transcription can provide benefits like cost-efficiency, accuracy, time-savings, consistency, and EHR/EMR systems integration. However, benefits depend on the reliability of the provider.
- Transcription can be used for many medical recordings, including patient histories, clinical notes, test results, operative reports, etc.
- Human transcriptionists are still superior to automated services for medical uses where high accuracy is critical, as AI solutions lack accuracy..
What is Medical Transcription Outsourcing?
Medical transcription is the process of listening to audio from healthcare professionals and accurately converting it into text.
Transcribing a long recording and ensuring that the grammar and meanings are spot on requires a lot of time and effort, which is also why hospitals often outsource to professional services instead of using their staff.
Outsourced transcription services streamline workflow, and fortunately, you can hire a transcription service company, like Ditto, to do the medical transcription for you. That way, medical practices can focus on healthcare instead of transcription.
Types of Medical Recordings That Can be Transcribed
Here are some of the most common uses for medical transcription in a healthcare setting:
| Type of Medical Recording | Description | Typical Use |
| Patient History | Patient’s medical background and history. | Diagnosis and treatment planning. |
| Clinical Notes | Notes from patient visits. | Record of patient encounters. |
| Diagnostic Test Results | Results from medical tests. | Diagnosis and treatment monitoring. |
| Operative Reports | Details of surgical procedures. | Post-operative care and reference. |
| Consultation Notes | Specialist’s opinion on a patient’s condition. | Specialist advice and diagnosis confirmation. |
| Discharge Summaries | Overview of hospital stay and treatment. | Post-discharge care instructions. |
| Pathology Reports | Analysis of tissue samples. | Disease diagnosis and treatment planning. |
| Radiology Reports | Interpretations of imaging studies. | Diagnosis and condition monitoring. |
| Progress Notes | Documentation of patient progress. | Tracking recovery and treatment response. |
| Autopsy Reports | Findings from an autopsy. | Cause of death determination and research. |
| Referral Letters | Referrals to specialists or other providers. | Coordinated care and information sharing. |
| Prescription Information | Details about prescribed medications. | Medication management and pharmacy use. |
Benefits of Outsourcing Medical Transcription Service
While it’s true that paying for a medical transcription service comes with many benefits, it’s not the same for all companies. As for Ditto Transcripts, here are the benefits that you can expect:
Cost-efficiency
Hiring costs, salaries, benefits, equipment, and office space expenses can make in-house medical transcriptionists an expensive option—potentially reaching up to $100,000 per year—when hiring for medical transcription.
So, this is why healthcare providers are looking to outsource medical transcription needs to reliable companies like Ditto. Our services can lower your transcription costs by as much as 60% compared to hiring in-house.
Accurate Transcripts
Below is a list of some of the most common issues medical professionals encounter.
- Unreadable penmanship, which includes the dreaded “doctor’s handwriting”.
- Lack of documentation, such as missing entries, treatment notes, and more.
- The time/date is not indicated on medical notes.
- There is no signature or indication as to who did the paperwork.
- Orders, prescriptions, and dosages that are difficult to understand.
- Incorrect details are encoded in a field, place, chart, or document.
I’m sure you’ve encountered more than one of these issues as a medical professional.
Medical providers know the headaches of documentation—a complex, multi-step process prone to issues that negatively impact accuracy. The good thing is that professional transcription services like Ditto value accuracy above all.
We offer 99% accuracy rates for all medical transcription projects—guaranteed.
Saves Time
According to research, healthcare professionals typically spend 5.5 hours of documentation every 8 hours with their patients. As we know, doctors don’t have time to waste. However, most of them spend a lot of time manually recording histories, consultations, lab data, and other documents, which is also true for most administrative staff for their tasks.
This is where transcription services come in handy. Medical professionals, including doctors, can provide verbal statements or audio/video recordings. Then, a professional medical transcriptionist will do their part by providing highly accurate transcription. The process may take a little longer than real-time note-taking, but error-free medical transcriptions have been proven to save time.
Consistency in Documentation
Consistent medical transcription from quality providers can standardize records outside EMR/EHR systems by removing the guesswork from paperwork. This means enhancing readability and structuring data in a way that health professionals can easily access.
Consistency is as important as accuracy when it comes to handling medical documents. Healthcare industry members should use reliable transcription services like Ditto Transcripts instead of doing the daunting paperwork themselves every day.
Compatibility with EHR/EMR
Electronic Health Records (EHR) or Electronic Medical Records (EMR) systems are used by medical staff to expedite inputting of patient information. However, only some medical staff are familiar with these systems.
Ditto Transcripts can help you with this dilemma. We can take on the burden of documentation since we can interface with almost every EHR/EMR system available on the market without a problem.
Here’s how we do it.
- First, medical staff will dictate patient information such as chart notes, histories, treatment plans, and other relevant information that will become the necessary EHR data.
- Next, the audio recording will be sent to us through our secured cloud interface.
- Then, we will assign a skilled medical transcriptionist to transcribe dictations into the required text file formats like PDFs or RTFs.
- And finally, we will send the completed transcripts back to the EHR or EMR through the secure HL7 interface. The transcripts will then automatically populate your EHR system.
This way, the medical staff can spend more time caring for their patients than manually typing details into their devices at all hours of the night.
Absolute Security For Patient Data and Medical Records
Aside from saving time and money, working with a HIPAA-compliant medical transcription service provider should also be considered, as they can protect you from the consequences of not following security protocols. At Ditto Transcripts, we implement robust HIPAA-compliant protocols to protect our client’s data, including:
- Detailed Reporting and Tracking Features
- Individually Defined User Access Levels
- Individual User Names, Passwords, and PINs (immediate deactivation upon request)
- Scaled Network Redundancy
- Virtual Private Network (VPN) Integration
- Dedicated Data Centers
- SSL 256-bit Secure Encryption
What Are The Consequences Of Failing HIPAA Guidelines?
Medical providers may question the safety of outsourced transcription due to the strict healthcare data regulations. Because of it, we meet the most rigorous requirements of HIPAA. Any medical-related businesses failing to follow HIPAA protocol could meet consequences like:
- Civil penalties range from $100 to $250,000, depending on intent and efforts to rectify the violation
- Criminal penalties range from $50,000 to $250,000
- Imprisonment of up to ten (10) years
- Paying restitution to affected parties
- Irreversible damage to reputation
- Loss of medical license or certification
Outsourcing vs In-House Medical Transcription
One of the biggest benefits of outsourcing your transcription is that it saves time and money. Searching for and hiring in-house transcriptionists could take up to 24 days and cost around $4,000. Plus, you’ll have to fork out a $60,000/year salary, plus benefits, equipment and continuous training can add more.
Outsourcing transcription removes all that burden of in-house staffing while providing the same services with even more benefits.
However, be careful when choosing the cheapest service. The lowest rates may indicate poor quality work. Instead, you should look for balanced work quality and affordability. The most suitable transcription service will offer solid output at a reasonable price.
Service providers like Ditto handle everything you need for an in-house transcriber at an affordable price.
Why Automated Transcription is Not an Option
While it’s true that automated transcriptions can save you a few bucks, they’re still too unreliable for medical uses where accuracy is everything. Current AI is only about 86% accurate at best, and AI-generated transcripts can potentially miss medically relevant terms, which means opting for automation puts patient health at risk.
Medical providers must continue relying on skilled human transcriptionists for precise documentation until automated solutions can consistently deliver 99% accuracy—which won’t likely happen anytime soon.
What To Consider When Outsourcing Medical Transcription
Many transcription companies offer medical transcription services, but it can take time to identify the best ones. Here are some of the factors that you can look for:
American-Based and HIPAA-Compliant
Look for American transcription companies that adhere to HIPAA compliance standards. American transcriptionists can easily catch slang and local accents that a foreign company can’t. HIPAA-compliant companies employ rigorous security measures to protect your patient’s data.
Near-Perfect Accuracy
Choose a medical transcription service company with a specialty for high accuracy—99% or better—to avoid lawsuits and putting your patients at risk. Most of these companies offer free trials backed by positive client reviews.
Volume Capacity
Look for a transcription provider that is ready to handle large-volume orders. Individual freelancers are good but most likely can’t meet high demand. If the transcription provider cannot meet your project’s demand, it could cause issues.
Turnaround Time
Transcription turnaround times range from a few hours to weeks and highly depend on the service provider. More experienced providers can offer faster turnaround times within 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Ditto provides healthcare professionals with more options. Our medical transcription services can deliver as fast as 4 hours or can take up to 72 hours, depending on your requirements and budget.
Cost
A single patient can generate hours of audio, meaning a high per-minute rate can become costly. Try to look for budget-friendly transcription pricing; you may need large-volume transcriptions down the line.
At Ditto, we offer the following options:
- 7 cents per line for 72-hour turnaround times
- 10 cents per line for a standard 24-hour turnaround time
- 14 cents per line for STAT files (4-hour turnaround time)
Why Should You Choose Ditto as Your Medical Transcription Service Provider
You don’t need to juggle documentation, staff morale, and patient experience. Let us handle the paperwork so you can focus on more important things.
Here at Ditto Transcripts, we guarantee 99% accuracy rates with all medical transcriptions we provide for the healthcare industry, all delivered on time, every time. We offer affordable rates, flexible options, fast turnaround times, HIPAA-compliant security, and the best customer service in the industry.
Ditto Transcripts is a HIPAA-compliant Denver, Colorado-based medical transcription services company that provides fast, accurate, and affordable transcripts for individuals and companies of all sizes. Call (720) 287-3710 today for a free quote, and ask about our free five-day trial.
