The U.S. healthcare system is expected to have a national electronic health record (EHR) system by 2014 to exchange health information and support personal health records of all citizens. The implementation of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) has, however, raised questions about the survival of the medical transcription industry. But these fears are unfounded as medical transcription services can actually complement EMRs. Here’s how:
- Medical transcription saves time: Most clinicians are not used to entering data into an electronic system. For them, this can be a time consuming process that detracts from patient care. Outsourcing their documentation tasks to a professional medical transcription company is therefore the best option when it comes to obtaining accurate documentation in minimum turnaround time.
- Helps maintain office efficiency and revenue: As entering into the EMR is time consuming, it would allow physicians to see only fewer patients. Focusing more on clinical documentation will affect office efficiency, and ultimately, revenue. Medical transcription services can help them resolve such crises and focus on better patient care.
- Medical transcription integrates to EMR: With the integration of medical transcription to EMR, healthcare organizations don’t have to worry about compliance with standards. The transcribed content is entered into the proper fields, freeing physician from tedious data entry duties.
- Helps to maintain accuracy: Free-text typing into EMR can results in high error rates. Professional medical transcription is done by trained experts and can ensure top quality documentation.
- Helps in producing meaningful notes: Medical transcription creates good narrative information when compared to EMR.
The goal of the healthcare system is quality patient care. Medical transcription makes this possible by complementing EMRs and enhancing their ease of use. Further, medical transcription is a valuable documentation tool that can offer more comprehensive coverage of patient encounters that EMRs can.
