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Welcome to OSI's blog section, where experts share medical, legal, media, business transcription, and search engine optimization news and views on industry developments. Readers can add feedback to the posts by clicking the "comments" link under the post you want to comment on. |
Friday, December 14, 2007
Medical Coding AHIMA Seminar
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) will conduct a two day seminar called "Achieving Coding Excellence" at Colorado Springs, CO, on February 28-29, 2008.
The meeting is focused at Coding professionals, Managers of coding, Coding Consultants and others involved in the reporting or use of coded data in hospital settings including both long term care and acute care.
Here is the meet's agenda http://www.ahima.org/coding/documents/Agendaforwebsite11.30.07.pdf
By attending the conference one can,
- Gain appreciation for how the consistency of coded data and the role of data quality in measuring compliance and quality of care reporting.
- Understand the impact of the new MCC/CC codes, documentation requirements, and query opportunities
- What's new in the ICD-10-CM classification system
- Apply coding guidelines and expand clinical knowledge for coding specific challenges.
- Awareness of the coder's role in emerging clinical terminologies and classification systems in electronic health record.
Registration details are available at http://www.ahima.org/coding/2008CCRegistration.asp
Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is a US based medical transcription company that offers professional services in medical billing, medical coding and medical transcription.Labels: AHIMA, Coding Seminar 2008, medical billing, Medical Coding, medical transcriptionist
posted by Outsource Strategies International @ 8:53 PM
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Thursday, December 13, 2007
Outsourcing Medical Work
Outsourcing is the process where a third party (who may be located domestically or in a offshore country) is used to perform a company's in-house work. Outsourcing has many benefits and may involve many different types of activities.
Medical outsourcing of health sector back office processes like transcription, coding, and billing is growing by the day. Medical outsourcing work groups in offshore Asian countries like India and the Philippines are constantly trained to be conversant in US guidelines and standards and services like medical transcription is delivered on a daily or even a few hours turnaround basis.
In recent years medical outsourcing has taken a different path where people are seen taking flights out of the US to get surgeries done. Expensive heart or spine surgeries from cheaper countries mean savings in tens of thousands of dollars. Look at this 2006 Time magazine article titled "Outsourcing Your Heart" at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1196429,00.html
One of the main reasons for the high cost of medical expenses in the US has been due to the lack of competition. Countries like India are planning and focusing on their medical tourism industry where patients from around the world will come for getting high quality health services at competitive rates. As India is a developing country development growth in this type of surgery outsourcing has to develop gradually. But when it comes to processes like medical transcription or medical billing India and the Philippines have already become the world's favorite destinations.
Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is a US based medical transcription company that offers total outsourcing solutions in all specialities of medical transcription, medical billing, and medical coding.Labels: medical billing, medical outsourcing, medical transcription, medical transcription company
posted by Outsource Strategies International @ 6:36 PM
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Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Medical Billing Career
Medical billing is the process of submitting claims to insurance companies and following up to receive the payment for various speciality health services rendered by a health care provider. Medical billing is in itself a specialty area of work and professional medical billers are real experts at claim reimbursements.
Now if you are thinking of becoming a medical billing person, the foremost thing to do is to try and know a bit about the profession, the required skills and abilities and also determine which medical speciality area is preferable to you. It is also essential to know about medical transcription and the medical billing software.
All billing work can be outsourced to professional medical billers who will coordinate between the patient and the health providers/ doctors anytime during the claims process. Transcription work is usually outsourced to some third party who will be from a different location. It is the billing software that links the actual billing and the electronic documents and transcripts that are transcribed from audio recordings by the medical transcriptionist. All health service aspects have specific medical codes. The medical billing personnel must be familiar and also an expert in record keeping. He must also familiarize himself with the various medical codes besides being at ease with various other healthcare standards and certifications.
Medical billing professional can take the CMRS (Certified Medical Reimbursement Specialists) exam which is a voluntary, national credential for the medical billing profession. The CMRS designation is awarded by the Certifying Board of the American Medical Billing Association.For more details go to the AMBA (American Medical Billing Association ) website at, http://www.ambanet.net/AMBA.htm
Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is a US based medical transcription company that offers professional yet affordable services in medical billing, medical transcription and medical coding.Labels: AMBA, CMRS, medical billing, medical outsourcing, medical transcription
posted by Outsource Strategies International @ 10:21 PM
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Medical Transcription and Drug Reference
Medicines and drugs are an integral part of mainstream western allopathic medicines that are consumed around the world. A medical transcription professional who daily transcribes the physician's or any specialist doctor's dictations may come across prescription of drugs both old and new. A medical transcriptionist has to be aware of the latest drugs introduced in the concerned market and this can be done with the following pharmacology (drug) reference books which should always be a part of his library.
- Physician's Desk Reference (PDR)
- American Drug Index (ADI)
- Saunders Pharmaceutical Word Book
- Understanding Pharmacology
Whenever a transcriptionist comes across a new drug name he must know how to search for it and become familiar with the drugs, their indications and dosages. Being up to date can save a lot of search time. Remember, good productivity in transcription is a critical factor as payment is usually made on a per line basis.
While a drug's trade name or brand name is selected for its appeal to prescribing physicians, the generic drug can have several trade names, each copyrighted by different manufacturers. While transcribing drug names these are some of the main factors that should be kept in mind by the transcriptionist.
- Generic names are always in lower case
- Trade names start in capitals and can have internal caps as well
- PDR (Physicians' Desk Reference) is for prescribed drugs
- Separate publication for non prescribed drugs
- Drugs can sound similar but be totally different in spelling and usage
- Do not capitalize words like tablet / capsule / solution / cream etc.
Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is a US based medical transcription company that offers professional yet affordable outsourcing services in medical transcription, medical coding and medical billing.Labels: coding, medical billing, medical outsourcing, medical transcription, MT, PDR
posted by Outsource Strategies International @ 8:51 PM
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Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Medical Outsourcing Services
In the US outsourcing is a popular term and so is globalization. After the popular term BPO (business process outsourcing) it is medical transcription, medical billing and other types of medical outsourcing that are the major outsourcing areas. Outsourcing of non core areas of a business is very beneficial and allows one more time to focus on the more important and core aspects of the business.
Medical outsourcing services offshoring to Asian countries like India has become very convenient for the medical practitioners and professionals. Not only are they free from a lot of hassles but also can save time and money.
What are the assured advantages with medical outsourcing?
- Reduction in cost
- No cutting of services to current clients
- More time for essential work
- Professional/accurate service
- Low turnaround time
- Saving precious time
- Reliable work on time
Medical transcription is a process to translate into digital text the voce dictated patient histories and medical treatment records they receive from medical firms requiring good listening skills.
Developing countries like India, and then Philippines have the advantage of having a large pool of English speaking graduates who can deliver consistent service with high accuracy levels. Besides medical transcription, some of the other services are billing, claims processing, and coding, as well as remote medical and medical help desk services and amount to two hundred billion dollars a year globally.
Further the advantageous time difference and low wages in these countries make the services very attractive to the average American. Many companies even establish a company branch in the chosen Asian country to get good qualified and inexpensive workers.
A more recent development of medical outsourcing is seen in the area of drug testing where major pharmaceutical companies chose to test their drugs in India because of the availability of enough educated doctors and patient volunteers.
Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is a US based medical transcription outsourcing service provider offering cost effective services in medical transcription, medical billing and medical coding.Labels: coding, medical billing, medical outsourcing, medical transcription, MT, MT Outsourcing
posted by Outsource Strategies International @ 10:32 PM
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Monday, December 10, 2007
Medical Transcription Courses on the Internet
Medical transcription is a vast subject and requires equally varied courses. It is of great convenience today that online transcription schools are offering all types of transcription courses that can be taken from the comfort of one's house itself.
Courses offered by these transcription schools do give a certificate upon the successful completion of the course. They usually have affiliation to a higher university/body. Finding a good online medical transcription school first requires the person to just browse the Internet and go to the various online sites and choose the right course. Like the regular offline colleges these online schools also offer training in the same subjects like,
- Medical terminology
- Physiology
- Ethics
- Anatomy
Certain MT schools offer practical lab tests and medical procedure orientation programs. A professional MT should be able to transcribe from the audio recordings and should be familiar with all medical terms. This is what these online schools strive to achieve. Even though much depends on the commitment and the motivation of the student, online schools do teach all what is in their syllabus and also assist in immediate job placements for the successful students.
Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is a US based medical transcription outsourcing service provider offering professional yet cost effective services in medical transcription, medical billing and coding, medical transcription in Philippine, medical record coding and advanced medical coding.Labels: Internet medical transcription, medical transcription course, medical transcription online, MT industry, MT schools
posted by Outsource Strategies International @ 10:19 PM
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Medical Transcription Training
What are the different learning options available today for the MT profession aspirants? Well there are two clear choices available. They are,
- Learn from an offline academic center
- Join an online MT school
I must confess that most of the learning trend today is in going for the online virtual courses. This is because there is no real need to study MT the traditional way. Moreover joining an online school can have certain advantages. These include facts like,
- Online training is cheaper
- Flexibility in taking the course possible
- Can study from home
For a small list of online and offline course go to http://www.mtcareerz.com/medical-transcription-course.php
What is it that is taught in an MT school? They include being familiar with all medical terminology, the study of the medical root word along with its different suffixes and prefixes. A study of the human anatomy and physiology is very essential and so is knowledge about the various diseases, and the different systems of the body like the digestive, nervous, lymphatic, endocrine, and genitourinary systems.
Other major study areas include, pharmacology, different medical abbreviations, awareness about the different diagnostic tests and procedures used in the medical profession. Special emphasis is also given to the preparation and layout of various medical reports and documents using the right terms that will be handled during transcription.
Needless to say it would be ideal to join a course that can assure a job opening after successful completion of the Medical transcription course and becoming a certified professional.. The title of Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT) can be got by passing a certification examination conducted solely by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), formerly the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT).
Call Outsource Strategies International (OSI) a US based medical transcription company offering professional services in outsourced and domestic medical billing, coding, and total medical transcription solution.Labels: AAMT, certified medical transcriptionist, CMT, medical transcription company, MT industry
posted by Outsource Strategies International @ 8:50 PM
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The Medical Transcription Industry and Organisations
Medical transcription has been evolving since the 1960s. With the mushrooming of companies at all levels there has always been a constant demand for the professional medical transcriptionist. In the US it is only from March 7, 2006, that the MT occupation became an eligible U.S. Department of Labor Apprenticeship.
The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) which was formerly the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT) was established in 1978 to obtain recognition for their contributions toward patient safety and more accurate medical records. The AHDI is an organization to join for validation and protection as an MT. The association offers many resources that are of use to those in the MT industry and it takes pride in following the latest and modern trends. Services include giving of advice, networking, and job opportunities to those who joins the organization. Advances in digital technology have made it possible for many medical transcriptionists to even work from the privacy of their homes.
One other organization that promotes the MT industry is the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) which is a non-profit trade association that represents the companies, vendors, and health professionals. Working alongside AHDI, the association has greatly helped to improve the medical transcription industry and maintain health records world wide. MTIA services include,
- Access to thousands of vendor suppliers through a transcription service finder
- Sponsoring events and conferences annually
- Networking through its website.
- Providing cutting edge technology know-how to MTs
One good website that gives access to all MT companies in the US is MT daily and it list all the MT companies according to the state in which they are located. To see the list go to http://www.mtdaily.com/mtcos.html
Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is a US based medical transcription company that offers professional medical transcription outsourcing services in all the specialty areas. Other related services offered include affordable medical billing and advanced medical coding.Labels: AAMT, AHDI, medical transcription company, medical transcription organizations, MT industry, MTIA
posted by Outsource Strategies International @ 6:52 PM
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Sunday, December 09, 2007
The Growing Need for Medical Transcription Outsourcing
Why it is that medical transcription outsourcing has become a big business today? Well it is just because one thing leads to other. In the earlier days medical secretaries just had to type out the reports dictated by the doctor after the rush time. Now it is different. For one so much more documentation is required and that too in such less time that a secretary will have time for nothing else. It has become mandatory for hospitals to keep digital records of all the patient details. Why?
Because every time a medical bill is being made there is the possibility that some insurance company is actually paying the bill. So unless we have perfect documentation of the disease the process of diagnosis medicines etc how can the billing be done? And with so much of growth in the volume of health care clients and hospitals /specialties, either a full time transcription team has to be arranged within the hospital premise or the transcription work has to be outsourced. Work is being sent to offshore locations for purely economic and turnaround time reasons. Thus today we have the fully evolved transcription outsourcing industry.
According the United States department of Labor, the world wide demand for medical transcription is set to reach 20 billion dollars. So if looking out for a career in Medical transcription now is a good time. What are basic requirements to become a good medical transcription professional? It is actually quite simple. One must have,
- A good knowledge of basic to advanced medical terminologies.
- Good verbal communication and memory skills.
- Ability to be accurate with numbers
- Skill in office equipment/computer.
- Good listening skills
- Good verbal and written comprehension.
- Ability to maintain records
- Above-average typing skills.
- Good grammar/punctuation skill
- Proficiency in certain or multiple medical specialties
For availing of cost effective and highly professional medical transcription outsourcing services, do contact Outsource Strategies International (OSI) a US based company and BPO leader offering services in medical transcription, medical billing and coding.Labels: medical outsourcing, medical transcription company, Medical Transcription Company. Medical transcription Services, MT Outsourcing
posted by Outsource Strategies International @ 11:04 PM
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Medical Transcription and Services
Today medical transcription has almost become a popular term among the health professionals. What is Medical transcription? It is the extensive procedure of transcribing voice-recorded reports done by doctors and healthcare professionals into text format. A medical transcriptionist's job primarily involves converting significant, confidential, and up-to-date data into written text. This text is printed and included in the patients' records, archived and retained as electronic medical records.
Transcriptionists can work either from inside the hospital premises or from any distant location. Electronic storing of medical records is preferred by modern medical institutions because of the huge volume of patient data being accumulated. Also, it makes it very easy to incorporate all details including the medicine, diseases details and other diagnostic information. Maintaining of this type of records is primarily to facilitate the patient's healthcare and also to use it as a general use data bank while still maintaining confidentiality of patient data.
What is the actual MT process comprised of? It generally includes,
- Typing of documents
- Active listening
- Information formatting
- Editing/proofreading
- Checks for compliance with medico-legal policies and procedures
There is a recent increased trend seen in the usage and dependence on voice recognition software even though the technology is not yet perfected. If the document is not well looked into and edited by human intervention it can give irrelevant and wrong translations. Thus the regular transcription can be depended upon to be around for some time into the future and the fear of automatic voice transcription taking over the transcriptionist's job is only a myth as of today. And of course, transcription documentation of medical bills for the insurance benefits on worker's compensation is also required by law.
Outsource Strategies International (OSI ) is a US based medical transcription company that offers specialized services in all the medical areas including hematology, surgery, immunology, internal medicine medical review, nephrology, neurology, nursing, neurosurgery, obstetrics, oncology, anesthesiology, anesthesiology, medical coding, toxicology, medical coding, sports medicine, plastic surgery, nuclear medicine, osteopath, ophthalmology, orthopedics, otolaryngology, pathology, pain management, podiatry, psychiatry, pulmonary, physical medicine and rehabilitation, physical therapy, occupational therapy, radiation oncology, radiology, rehab medicine, rheumatology, rheumatology medical coding , urology, vascular, allergy and sleep medicine, oral and infectious diseases, general surgery, family practice, occupational medicine , behavioral medicine, critical care and microbiology.Labels: insurance documentation, medical billing, Medical Transcription Company. Medical transcription Services
posted by Outsource Strategies International @ 9:29 PM
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Philippine Medical Transcription Industry gets Big US Deal
The Philippines MT Industry bagged $1.4 million/year worth of Medical transcription deal after the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines, Inc. (MTIAPI) participated in the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) exhibition and conference in Philadelphia. AHIMA represents the educated health information management professionals from the health care industry.
There is no hiding the US affinity to the Philippines work ethics. Yes India is still leading the MT offshoring scenario but Philippine is now also supported by Britain as recently it was cited by the National Outsourcing Association (NOA) of the United Kingdom that the Philippines is the Best Offshoring Destination of the year. Philippines have been busy preparing itself to become the global sourcing destination for health information management services and it has paid off.
What are the main attractions with the Philippine MT companies? Well MT service providers like Spheris and Medquist who visited AHIMA say they are mainly attracted by its,
- Low turnaround time only (3 to 6 hours in emergency cases)
- Work quality
- Client data security
One thing is for sure! With the increasing aged population, US healthcare spending is on the rise and loads and loads of complex documentation requirements have to be met as demanded by the Accountability Act (HIPAA) directive.
If looking out to offshore MT work to the Philippines or India just call Outsource Strategies International (OSI) a medical transcription company and a BPO pioneer based in Oklahoma.Labels: Medical Transcription Company. Medical transcription Services, Offshore MT services, Philippines Medical transcription
posted by Outsource Strategies International @ 7:36 PM
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