Cardiology Transcription - Achieving Super TAT

The Cardiology transcription industry is facing tough competition from EMR and speech recognition software. These new applications make it easy for the cardiologists or cardiac surgeons to quickly enter the requisite cardiac observation of the heart patient. This speeds up the diagnosis process and helps the cardiologist to treat patients in time.

Cardiology Transcription consists of dictation, conversion of the voice file into electronic file and finally its dispatch back to the cardiologist. As more people and processes are involved the turn around time increases. In EMR the point-and-click mechanism helps for easy input of patient information into the computer while speech recognition software directly prints the spoken words into text on computer screen. Thus the access time for health information is less in EMR compared to the Cardiology transcription process.

Hence it is necessary to shorten the turnaround time of the transcribed report so that it can be integrated easily with latest technology easily. To achieve super turn around time some steps need to be taken, which are presented below:

• Provide sound training to MT.

• Create small groups of cardiology transcriptionists, with each group assigned to a specific dictator. This helps the transcriptionists to understand clearly the voice pattern and the dictation style of the dictator. The result is significant reduction in transcribed errors.

• Offer incentives to transcriptionists for reducing TAT.

• Provide toll free number to dictators because they provide you business.

• Synchronize Cardiology transcriptionists with speech recognition software to reduce TAT. Software will speed up transcription process while the trained transcriptionists will edit the errors made by software. This will increase productivity and eliminate reworking on files due to overlooked errors.

• Assign the best Cardiology transcriptionists to your biggest business provider.

• Know very well the desired TAT for your individual customers. Identify which data needs to be transcribed and sent to customer, first. In short prioritize the transcription process.

• Ensure maximum availability of transcribing staff during peak loads and streamline the file allocation process. Associate clearly, individual file allocator with a group of transcriptionist.

• Plan well, Cardiology transcription process, so that maximum numbers of transcriptionists are available to smoothly handle the peak workloads and there are no backlogs.

• Ensure maximum feedback to transcribers. The quality control department should work in tandem with Cardiology transcriptionists and train them how to improve the quality standards of their output.

• Create smooth link between dictators, file allocators and transcribers so that there is no communication gap between them and thus ensures timely completion and delivery of the transcribed reports.

The main focus is to reduce the turnaround time so that Cardiologist can receive the patient health reports in time and thus enhance the quality of patient care.

A streamlined Cardiology transcription process helps Cardiologist to deliver faster treatment to patients.

Jason Gaya

Read more on Cardiology transcription at, www.cardioscribes.com

Reducing TAT For Smoother Integration of EMR With Cardiology Transcription

The Turn around time or TAT, as it popularly known is the total time taken towards dictation of cardiac records of patient into the voice recorder, it’s conversion into electronic file and dispatch back the physician. There is no prevalent standard, which clearly defines the ideal turnaround time for the health providers and their business associates.The turn around time varies from one transcription service provider to the other.

The latest developments in the EMR and speech recognition software technology have increased the speed and ease, with which the patient health information can converted into electronic format. The Cardiology transcription consists of series of different processes,which increase the time taken to document the information. In EMR, during patient-doctor encounter, the point-and-click template method converts health information of the patient directly into electronic format. This is a quick and easy way to store huge amount of data in a cost effective way as it saves the organization money, which would have been spent towards creating and managing the records storage area.

The development of front end speech recognition software has made it easier for the physicians to directly speak into the computer and convert the voice into electronic text. The text is then edited by the doctor himself and there is no need of an editor or transcriptionist. The software is not completely accurate and there and are errors in the transcribed report.This drawback is overcome in the back-end speech recognition software because the voice file is sent along with draft to transcriptionist, who then edits it and sends back to the physician.

The emergence and acceptance of EMR has made it necessary for the transcription service providers needs to reduce the turnaround time so that the physicians can easily avail the patient information at a short notice because time is of an essence in treatment. Thus electronic medical record and speech recognition software offer better medical documentation options compared to a slow transcribed report.

This drawback in cardiology transcription can be overcome by reducing turn around time so that transcription can be smoothly integrated with electronic medical record. At same time the expertise of the transcriptionist will ensure that high level of accuracy is maintained, which is missing from speech recognition software.

A short TAT helps to integrate EMR with Cardiology transcription.

Jason Gaya

Read more on Cardiology transcription at, www.cardioscribes.com

Cardiology Transcriptionist: Enhancing Cardiac Care

The Cardiologist after diagnosing the heart patient dictates all the clinical observations in a voice recorder. The recorded report is then transmitted over the internet as a voice file to the transcription service provider. The cardiology transcriptionist attentively listens to the voice files and types the information into the computer, to create an electronic file. The quality control department checks for any errors and an accurate file is then sent back to the cardiologist.

The transcriptionist transcribes variety of Cardiac health reports and these include:

• Discharge reports.
• Cardiac Medical history.
• Physical examination reports of heart patients.
• Cardiac Operative reports.
• Consultation reports from Cardiologist.
• Diagnostic-imaging reports like ECG, MUGA scan, X-ray and Ultrasound.
• Post operative cardiac progress reports.
• Referral letters.

The cardiology transcriptionist must be well trained in medical terminology, especially in cardiology and should have good knowledge of:

• Anatomy and physiology of heart
• Cardiac diagnostic procedures.
• Pharmacology.
• Cardiac Treatment assessments.
• Cardiac terminology and able to translate cardiology jargon.
• Standard Cardiology reference handbook.

The cardiology transcriptionist should be skilled enough to spot errors in transcribed reports because these can be carried forward in the treatment and seriously harm the health of the patient. The transcriptionist should also have good transcribing speed, to shorten the turn around time, as much as possible. This helps concerned cardiologist to deliver the requisite treatment to the patient quickly and enhance patient care. HIPAA compliance norms make it necessary for the health care providers and their business associates like transcription service providers to protect confidential patient health information. It is moral duty of the cardiology transcriptionist to maintain the secrecy of the patient information as per HIPAA norms.


Cardiology Transcription enhances patient care.


Jason Gaya


Read more on Cardiology Transcription at, www.cardioscribes.com