Medical transcription outsourcing allows hospitals and doctors to send their work to transcriptionists who work from home. This saves money and time, but outsourcing abroad can pose risks to patient confidentiality. Doctors should ensure that their transcriber is in their country and edit and approve their work.
Medical transcription outsourcing occurs when hospitals and doctor’s offices send their medical transcription work rather than transcriptionists writing it in-house. Medical transcribers prepare doctor’s notes in official formats such as discharge summaries and emergency room reports. Most of the medical transcriptionists prefer to have outsourced work as they can work online from their homes. This is also convenient for doctors and hospitals as the transcript turnaround time is often 24 hours. Medical transcription outsourcing is also beneficial for medical professionals as it eliminates overhead costs and saves them money on their day-to-day transcription needs.
Outsourcing medical transcription can save doctors and hospitals up to 60 percent of what they would have to spend to have on-site transcriptionists. Medical transcription companies also save on their overheads since they can do business online and submit the transcribed work through secure systems over the Internet. They can hire qualified medical transcriptionists to work from their own homes. Medical transcription work at home has become very popular among women who are also parents, as it allows them to earn an income while at home with their children. However, the parent must be able to have enough time to focus and produce good quality work or a successful career in online medical transcription is not likely.
Training to become a medical transcriptionist often takes less than a year, and the best transcription programs on the internet allow the student to work for online medical transcription outsourcing companies as part of their degree requirements. A medical transcriptionist can start his own business after a year or two doing online transcriptions for other companies. Medical transcribers are trained in anatomy, laboratory procedures, and many other medical subjects. They must have excellent grammar and typing skills, as well as comply with laws and ethics in terms of confidentiality of medical records.
While medical transcription outsourcing has great benefits for doctors and hospitals facing budget cuts, as well as for transcriptionists and transcription services who need to earn an income, there are some disadvantages when work is outsourced to abroad. India is a popular place to outsource medical transcription, but transcriptionists in their own countries are losing jobs. Many medical experts warn against outsourcing not only for this reason, but patient confidentiality can be at risk. Laws affecting patient privacy of medical records are difficult to enforce overseas.
Doctors and hospitals should be aware of who their transcriber is and ensure that the medical transcription outsourcing company subcontracts with transcribers in their country. Physicians must edit the transcriber’s work and approve it with an online signature. When considering ethics, online medical transcription outsourcing can work well for everyone.
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