Realities of Outsourcing Medical Transcription

Senior VP and managing partner of Outsourcing Solutions Inc., Tony Incardona,  recently wrote an article for ADVANCE for Health Information Professionals, entitled, Outsourcing: The Realities of Reorganization.

In his article, Mr. Incardona discussed some of the pros and cons of medical transcription outsourcing, saying: “The decision to outsource transcription should not be limited to cost-savings alone. Transcription volume, staff on-hand and your facility’s needs all play vital roles in the process.”

Click here to read the entire article on ADVANCE’s web site: Outsourcing: The Realities of Reorganization.

MTSOs Get a Bad Rap

The medical transcription factoring specialists at PRN Funding were curious if our medical transcription blog readers saw the featured article on ADVANCE for Health Information Professional’s web site: The Dark Side of Medical Transcription.

If you haven’t read it already, it’s definitely an article you should read, as it affects everyone in the medical transcription industry.  For the convenience of our medical transcription readers, PRN Funding has included the article’s highlights below:

The article opens with one medical transcriptionist’s story on how she went to work for what she thought was a reputable medical transcription service organization (MTSO) that started breaking promises in the very beginning, failing to issue direct deposits, never covering its MTs with health insurance, forbidding its MTs from contacting one another, displaying discrepancies in line counts, and finally bouncing a slew of payroll checks.

Another medical transcriptionist shared her story of the dangers of going into business with someone whom you do not know very well, which inevitably led to the closing of her medical transcription service. She was contacted years later by the IRS because the business owed a slew of back taxes, and her business partner was no where to be found.

The last bit of the article came more in the form of advice from an experienced MT. She shared a handful  of medical transcription industry tips with ADVANCE, from detailing what makes a good transcriptionist to taking the time to research medical transcription schools and then exceling in your program. She even discussed some of the benefits of continuing your medical transcription education even after graduation.

Click here to read the entire article: The Dark Side of Medical Transcription.

Medical Transcription Association Starts Facebook Group

The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) recently announced the launch of its active Facebook group, AHDI Members on Facebook. At 218 members and growing, the AHDI Facebook page promotes the same overall mission of AHDI: “To promote the integrity of healthcare documentation through development of an educated, prepared workforce in clinical documentation.”

The active Facebook group offers recent medical transcrition industry news as well as a lively discussion board, lists upcoming events, displays member photos and encourages “wall” conversations. The AHDI Members on Facebook is open to everyone.

Sign into your Facebook account for more details.

Updates on the MedQuist Class Action Settlement

Medical transcriptionists who transcribed work for MedQuist at any time during the period from November 29, 1998 to August 11, 2008 and were paid on a line-based unit of measure for their work are a part of the class action settlement concerning MedQuist’s breach-of-contract.

According to the official MedQuist settlement page, “the case asserts that MedQuist manipulated its computer systems to underpay its medical transcriptionists for their per-line medical transcription work. MedQuist denies that it did anything wrong.”

The bulk of the $1.5 million settlement payment will go to the Association for Healthcare Documentation (AHDI). These funds will be “used to fund programs for the general benefit of medical transcriptionists and the medical transcription industry. In addition, qualifying class members will be eligible to participate in certain AHDI programs free of charge. No payments will be made directly to any individuals.”

If you have further questions/concerns about this settlement, click here to view AHDI’s FAQs about the MedQuist Class Action Settlement.

3M Earns Top Ranking for Medical Transcription and Medical Coding Software

According to BCAdvantage’s Web site, 3M Health Information Systems was recognized by KLAS for leading the market in three software solution categories: Other Dictation and Transcription Solutions, Medical Records Coding, and Medical Records–Other.

In its annual report, the 2008 Top 20 Best in KLAS: Software & Professional Services, KLAS, an independent healthcare IT vendor research firm, also ranked 3M Health Information Systems as the second highest-performing software vendor across all market segments.

KLAS Ranks Transcend #1

KLAS, a research firm that specializes in monitoring and reporting the performance of healthcare’s information technology (HIT) vendors, announced that the third largest medical transcription provider, Transcend Services, Inc., as the #1 Medical Transcription Service Organization in the healthcare industry.

“We are extremely pleased that our customers have again ranked us number one,” stated Sue McGrogan, Chief Operating Officer of Transcend. “We believe that being in the best in our industry requires more than maintaining a relentless focus on providing high quality reports on time to our customers, as important as that is. It also requires that people in every area of our organization are available and responsive to our customers’ needs. I am extremely proud of our operational team for consistently going the extra mile to provide excellent service to each and every customer.”

Click here to read the press release on MSN: Transcend Ranked #1 Medical Transcription Company by KLAS for 2008.

MTIA and AHDI Seeking Feedback on Speech Recognition

The Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) and the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) are conducting a survey to gather meaningful data around the adoption, integration, and use of speech recognition technologies (both front-end and back-end). The goal of the survey is for MTIA and its partners to analyze the data from the survey and report trends and best practices back to the medical transcription sector in the very near future.

For you convenience, we’ve included a link to the Speech Recognition Survey.

Outsourcing Solutions for MTSOs

Barbara Ziccardi (manager of AlphaStaff) wrote a brief yet informative article in the December 2008 edition of Health Data Matrix about MTSOs benefiting from outsourcing their human resources department.

Zaccardi listed some of the amazing benefits a medical transcription service owner can expect to receive by simply utilizing the services of a human resources outsourcing (HRO) partner:

  • Obtain access to benefits programs that wouldn’t otherwise be available to small or mid-sized companies on their own
  • Streamline time and attendance for payroll, including time record data flow for payroll processing and capturing line counts to hours worked through entry or data import
  • Access to subject matter experts that will proactively develop handbooks, provide on-site and webinar training and assist with liability insurance
  • Receive assistance with filing taxes and handling worker’s comp issues

Ziccardi wrote: “Many [medical transcription] companies are being confronted with challenges that have little to do with their core business–which is exactly why outsourcing has become such an attractive option.”

The medical transcription factoring specialists at PRN Funding couldn’t agree more with this statement! By outsourcing their receivables to PRN Funding, MTSOs can stop worrying about their cash flow and focus on more important things–like growing their medical transcription service.

Ways to Get Paid Quicker in a Bad Economy

Scott Love of RecruitingMastery.com, wrote an excellent article in Net-Temps Recruiters e-newsletter that gave recruiters tips on how to get quick-paying clients.  More specifically, he advised recruiters to use “fear of loss” as a motivator.  Translated to healthcare vendors like medical staffing agencies and medical transcription services, threatening to pull your nurses or ceasing your transcription services until until a check is received is a good attention-grabber and lets the medical facility know that you mean business.

Love also highly recommends putting your terms directly on your invoices, which is something Phil Cohen (president of PRN Funding, LLC) suggested to temporary nurse staffing business owners in part two of his article series: How Nurse Staffing Agencies Can Get Paid Quicker.

Not to mention, another way for business owners to get paid quicker during a bad economy is to utilize invoice funding.  Selling your invoices to a factoring company is a great way for you turn your receivables into cash immediately.