Much has been said about healthcare, one often ignored factor about healthcare is that, it is a business in spite of being a life & death/ quality of life improving service. Like any other business the goals of healthcare facilities are straightforward; to be able to provide quality healthcare services while still maintaining a healthy bottom-line. In order to achieve these goals it is important for healthcare facilities to concentrate on their core activities and outsource all other activities that are not part of the core.

Outsourcing non-core activities will have an impact on the following:

· Improved focus on the core business of providing quality healthcare

· Reducing allocation of limited resources on non-core activities

The healthcare process is a complex one, drawing inputs from numerous sources to complete the process of providing quality healthcare. One such input that contributes significantly to the healthcare process is the information captured in patient records. Medical transcription is the process of creating patient medical records by transcribing the audio files of the patient-healthcare professional encounter into text format. Patient records are not only vital for providing continued care to patients they also play a vital role in the process of reimbursement.

However creation of patient medical records is a process that requires the right combination of people, processes and technology to be able to be accurate, timely, secure and cost effective. To be able to produce results that meets all these criteria, the healthcare facility has to dedicate a substantial portion of its resources in terms of investment, manpower, time and other resources to this process.

Outsourcing medical transcription has proven to be an effective solution for the documentation needs of healthcare facilities without compromising quality and security standards. In fact availing specialty services has been proven to curb both direct and indirect expenses incurred for this process

How does outsourcing medical transcription offer effective solutions?

The word effective has been defined as producing or capable of producing an intended result. By this definition these services are effective. They meet the criteria used for evaluation:

· Accuracy: Creation of patient records with maximum accuracy. Accuracy would be ensured by having a well-trained team of transcriptionists working the transcripts and by having an effective quality process to ensure errors are minimized.

· Turnaround time: Timely creation of patient records by using the right technology, the right process and the right team would be ensured. Meeting turnaround time standards would ensure that the process of providing healthcare is unhindered and also ensure that the process of reimbursement takes place on time.

· Security: Preserving the confidentiality of patient records is an important consideration for healthcare facilities. By outsourcing medical transcription the onus of providing for the security of patient information during the transcription process is on the service provider. Security of patient information would effectively ensured by securing processes, technology and the team.

· Lowering costs: This ensures that not only is the cost per line of transcription reduced by 40%-50% but is also restricted to the cost per line of transcription. All indirect and overhead expenses are eliminated

· Other benefits: Apart from being accurate, timely, secure and cost effective, other benefits from this exercise are from the technology used, like:

a) Retaining familiar modes of dictation

b) Archives

c) Flexible modes of document delivery

d) Remote printing and faxing

e) HL7 interface etc.