Medical Transcription and EMR - the Perfect Pair
We can't tell you how many times we've heard from our clients, "I thought I had to give up medical transcription services when I implemented my electronic medical record/electronic health record!" What most physicians don't realize about the push to switch to electronic health records is that medical transcription and EMR actually make a perfect pair.
For years, providers have heard that in order to justify the expense of implementing EMRs, they could eliminate medical transcription and the monthly expensive by using a "point and click" system. Some physician practices believed this was the only solution. However, if the medical office had been given the option to continue their medical transcription service and have it seamlessly integrated into their new EMR they could have accelerated their adoption rates, increased productivity and ultimately reduced overall costs.
Medical Transcription and EMR work together and help physician practices improve the clinical documentation processes. Integrating medical transcription and EMRs is a fairly simple process, and in fact, maximizes a health care provider's investment in the technology. Doctors who are already familiar with medical transcription can continue to dictate as they have been doing for years and instead of using point and click EMR technology, they can simply dictate into a recorder. The medical transcription service provider will transcribe the voice file and seamlessly integrate it into their EMR.
A major advantage of medical transcription and EMR is the improved patient and provider interaction. Medical Transcription allows the doctor to focus on the patient, not the electronic documentation process. How does this process work? The patient and doctor communicate and either at the conclusion of the office visit or at the end of the day the doctor dictates into a digital recorder or toll free telephone line. They will then upload the voice file to their medical transcription company who transcribes the file. Once the medical transcription is complete (and depending on the integration process) it is automatically uploaded to the patient's electronic chart.
We know that EHR adoption rates for physician practices are slow. The main reason is loss of productivity. There are some doctors who are so frustrated with point and click EMRs that they have hired medical scribers who will sit in the room during the visit and point and click the information to the electronic chart per the provider's instructions. This process is expensive and time consuming as you need to train the scriber on the software and essentially look over their shoulder as they point and click the report for you. When Medical transcription and EMR are integrated, the doctor's direct words are transcribed and put into an electronic format; a provider no longer needs to sit with their back to the patient.
Medical transcription and EHR can transform the clinical documentation process. No allergy information or prescribed medications are overlooked. It's a safer, more efficient process. Doctors are not required to learn a new system.
The narrative structure is central to diagnosing a patient. Point and click categories do not tell the whole story. Only a verbal description of a doctor can do that. Yet by implementing medical transcription and EHR, doctors can improve the efficiency of their patient narratives, as the technology takes their exact words and records it electronically in a way that can be uniformly accessed by the entire team of the patient's health care providers.
Medical Transcription and EHR should not complicate your staff's medical recording practices. By integrating medical transcription and EMR, you get the best of both worlds- productivity enhancing medical transcription and EMR in an electronic format. You are also starting the first step to meet requirements of the HITECH Act in which eligible providers will receive federal stimulus funds starting in 2011.
You receive government funding incentives, easier technology and universal knowledge of a patient's healthcare information that is confidentiality secure. Let medical transcription and EMR streamline the clinical documentation process and improve physician satisfaction. Technology shouldn't be a step back, but a leap forward in convenience and improved services.
That's why transcription and EHR is the perfect pair. By allowing physicians to keep their familiar dictation routine they can spend more time with patients, not other administrative tasks, a win-win for all.
About the Author:
Craig Mercure is VP of Sales & Marketing at MxSecure, the fastest growing provider of medical transcription services to physicians, medical practices, multi-specialty clinics and community health centers. Learn more about medical transcription and EHR - visit our site.
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