The world is going digital, and the medical sector doesn’t plan to get left behind. However, this change comes with an ever-growing volume of medical data from patient records, medical trials, etc., which has led many healthcare facilities to seek alternative ways, such as medical transcription companies, to ease the burden of administrative tasks. However, with the increasing use of AI in different fields, many question where medical transcription’s future is headed. Will humans stay on top, or will AI take their jobs? 

In this article, you’ll learn how:

• Human medical transcriptionists can maintain accuracy rates of 99%, while AI can only do 61.92% at best. Medical transcription will stay within human territory. 

• EHRs or electronic health record systems will be integrated to streamline information sharing, including medical transcripts, and improve overall data management within healthcare facilities.
• Although speech recognition can’t be trusted with medical transcriptions due to its poor accuracy, it can be used for basic administrative tasks like appointment scheduling. 

What’s the Point of Medical Transcription?

Medical transcription converts audio or video content related to the healthcare field into accurate text. As such, a medical transcriptionist’s job is to be a doctor’s ears and fingers. 

Transcriptionists listen to recordings of patient consultations that cover medical history, symptoms, and diagnosis. Furthermore, notes about surgeries, medical evaluations, and all the essential details could also be dictated. Then, with typing skills, good spelling, and a good grasp of medical vocabulary, they convert those voice reports into accurate medical documentation. It’s one of the most essential jobs in the healthcare field. 

That said, a transcriber’s job isn’t just listening and typing—it’s decoding doctors’ dictations fluently so other medical staff can carry them out.

Application of Medical Transcription

Before we tackle the future of medical transcriptions, here’s a quick glance at some cases where they are desperately needed.

Case	Importance
Doctor-Patient Consultations	Dictated chart notes from physicians for their patient’s medical histories, symptoms, diagnoses, treatment plans, etc.
Medical Lectures and Seminars	Educational sessions where medical professionals discuss various medical topics, research findings, case studies, etc.
Radiology Reports	Findings from imaging studies like X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans.
Lab And Pathology Reports	Lab work analysis, such as tissue samples with pathologist diagnoses.
Emergency Room Visits	Records of patient visits to the emergency room. Includes symptoms, treatments, observations, etc.
Physical Therapy Sessions	Physical therapy session notes outlining patient progress, exercises, treatment plans, etc.
Clinical Trial Discussions	Documentation of findings during clinical trials. Includes patient responses and data analysis.

What Does The Future Hold For Medical Transcription?

We can’t really pinpoint the future of medical transcription. However, if you’ve been in the game long enough, like (since 2010), you’ll have a vague idea about where the sector’s going. 

Electronic Health Records Synchronization

EHR integration of medical transcripts isn’t precisely a future trend, as it’s already unfolding in some healthcare organizations. However, we expect to see more of these innovations in the medical transcription.

One of the healthcare facilities that works with us invested in EHR integration to allow access to patient information across all departments. And, of course, for a more sophisticated utilization of medical transcripts and overall data management (yes, we provide EHR-compatible medical transcriptions). 

Humans Will Still Rule Medical Transcription

We can’t argue that AI has become pretty good at doing some tasks. However, in my experience as a medical transcription provider, AI gets “tongue-tied “with jargon that professional transcriptionists can easily handle. 

Here’s one: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. That’s a pretty serious lung condition, and I’m sure no automatic transcription software will ever get it right. Worse yet, the healthcare space is filled with similar terms that are extremely ambiguous to the untrained ears.

Another reason medical transcription will remain within human territory is that AI transcriptions are only 61.92% accurate. Voice recognition software stumbles over heavy accents or background noise, which a professional transcriber can easily overcome with the right headphones and resources.

However, humans’ real edge over AI is our contextual understanding of medical terms like pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism or small details that can make everything go wrong when neglected. 

Or, forget everything I wrote. Consider the risks involved in medical documentation, and you’ll agree that having a professional transcriptionist who knows the medical field is much preferable to having automated transcription software.

Digital Documentation Gets a Makeover

I’m afraid that the infamous chicken scratch… I mean, the doctor’s penmanship is going the way of the dodo. 

Many hospitals and doctors are now utilizing prescription printers. Some are now printing doctor’s notes with personalized formats. And so, we hear a collective sigh of relief for everyone who needed to decipher a doctor’s handwriting, including nurses and medical transcriptionists. 

Apart from healthcare organizations switching digital, medical transcription companies, like Ditto Transcripts, are also investing in digital systems that’ll make old-school methods look like stone tablets. One example is switching between three different specialty templates while handling a certain medical case—something like that wasn’t possible several years ago. Medical transcriptionists can also easily access medical databases to instantly verify terms or cross-reference conditions. 

Better Security in the Digital Era

Medical transcription companies should expect more stringent security requirements from future healthcare laws, especially in the West. I’m talking about Fort Knox–level security, but instead of the gold bars, it’s confidential patient information.

And, if you noticed, I mentioned “West.” Let me explain. From 2009 to 2023, U.S. healthcare organizations reported over 5,000 data breaches affecting 500+ records each, which compromised nearly 520 million healthcare records. However, the daily breach rate doubled from 1 in 2018 to 2 in 2023, with an average of 364,000 records exposed daily in 2023. 

These data breaches are the ultimate reminders for the government, healthcare organizations, and even medical transcription companies like ours to invest heavily in digital security systems. 

Some of the security protocols you should expect from medical transcription companies are:

• End-to-end encryption with minimum 256-bit AES standards for all data
• Multi-factor authentication with biometric verification for system access
• Zero-trust architecture requiring continuous validation of every user
• AI-powered real-time threat detection and automated incident response
• Regular third-party security audits and penetration testing

However, aside from unplugging the power cord, there’s no such thing as “absolute security”. “Reliable” security systems must facilitate real-time monitoring of suspicious activities, automatic backups, disaster recovery protocols, etc. 

The Importance Of Professional Medical Transcription In Healthcare

Here are some of the most significant advantages of enlisting the help of reliable medical transcribers instead of AI.

Time Savings

Doctors spend an inordinate amount of time manually recording patient histories, consultation notes, lab data, and various records by hand. Administrative staff also spend hours organizing details, assigning codes, filling forms, and handling other record-keeping tasks. 

Transcription services eliminate the need for manual documentation by reducing time spent doing essential, pesky paperwork. Doctors, nurses, and other support staff can provide verbal accounts and recordings, and a professional medical transcriptionist who understands medical terminology can take over the process and provide accurate transcription. It doesn’t end with clinical documentation and patient records, though. 

Cost Efficiency

Hiring in-house medical transcriptionists can become very expensive. Hiring costs, salaries and benefits, equipment, and office space expenses can cost as much as $100,000 per year per transcriptionist. 

Outsourcing your transcription to a reliable medical transcription provider lets you reduce in-house costs by as much as 60%. Medical facilities looking to streamline their documentation process will be hard-pressed to find a more cost-effective way than outsourced transcription solutions. 

Accuracy

Medical providers are well aware of the headaches of paperwork and documentation. Documentation of medical records is a difficult multi-step process, and any issue can negatively affect the whole procedure. Thankfully, any concern with documentation can be addressed with one solution: accuracy. 

One of the most valued advantages of medical transcription is its accuracy guarantees. Medical transcription teams work on the audio files, produce the most accurate transcripts possible, and ensure that grammar and spelling are all correct and that every nugget of information is taken down and placed in its proper field. 

While new and relatively popular, there are better options for accurate medical transcription than AI. 

Again, AI transcription is proven to be only 61.92% accurate under normal conditions, while manual transcription providers like Ditto can achieve more than 99% accuracy for all projects. 

Consistency in Documentation

Consistent medical transcription from quality providers can help improve record standardization procedures outside EMR/EHR systems. Uniform records take the guesswork out of paperwork, enhance readability, and improve data structure so doctors and other private health professionals can peruse records with little fuss. 

In this case, healthcare industry members are encouraged to enlist the services of a reliable transcription company, like Ditto Transcripts, to handle their medical data. 

Compatibility With EHR/EMR

EHR and EMR systems require medical staff to input patient information into designated boxes. It should make things faster, but only some know the process. 

Reliable outsourced medical transcription providers like Ditto Transcripts can interface with almost every EHR system on the market. We can take the burden of documentation out of your hands. Physicians can take more time to focus on their patients and can live more outside work.

Here’s how we do it. 

1. Doctors, nurses, and medical staff dictate patient information, chart notes, histories, treatment plans, medication, and other relevant EHR data.
2. Audio recordings are sent to us via our secure cloud interface.
3. We assign a skilled medical transcriptionist to produce and proofread the transcripts. Transcribed dictations are converted into PDFs, RTFs, or other text file formats as required.
4. We send the completed work back to you. The transcripts, formatted into structured EHR templates, allow your system to read and auto-populate proper text fields using an HL7 interface. 

What’s more, you don’t need to worry about regulatory issues. Ditto Transcripts complies with all HIPAA requirements, processes, and protocols to ensure your data is safe and secure. 

Outsource Your Medical Record And Transcription Needs To Ditto

Here at Ditto Transcripts, we believe that the future of medical transcription remains in the territory of professional humans, and 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.