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There have been major structural changes in the healthcare industry over the last five years in the United States as well as countries like Canada and the United Kingdom. Many of these changes have affected the manner in which patients receive services. These changes came about in part as a result of concerns in various quarters about the high costs of health care as well as regulations. In the U.S. the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is having a major impact on patients and healthcare providers and the healthcare industry is continuing to evolve in response to these changes. The industry is moving towards electronic medical records and complying with demands for timeliness, accuracy and confidentiality.
Experience has convinced most hospitals, surgery centers, clinics, and physician groups that the cost per line of transcription is much lower when it is outsourced as compared to in-house transcription costs when the costs of recruiting, training, wages, benefits, holiday coverage, supervision, and other overheads such as space, equipment purchase and maintenance are taken into account. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are therefore increasingly resorting to outsourcing all or part of their medical transcription.
Medical documentation needs in the United States are estimated to be growing at 20% a year. Physicians today must document large amounts of information regardless of their specialty. JCAHO requires that a patient’s chart must be updated after a healthcare interaction (for example: a surgery, office visit, transfer or discharge) within a specified period of time - for many reports, within 24 hours.
These sweeping changes and their growing needs are compelling healthcare providers everywhere to look for innovative and lower cost solutions such as outsourcing all or some of their transcription requirements.
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