ED or emergency department visit is on the rise in the US.  Health experts attribute this change to health reforms, in particular, the Affordable Health Act that stands for universal health coverage, enabling average Americans to seek health care facility.  As per a whitepaper titled “Physician’s Guide to Achieving Excellence in the ED” the following changes in the emergency department across the United States have come to light:

• Nearly 124 million people visited the emergency department in 2008.
• There was a14% increase in emergency department visits from 2007 to 2010.
• Almost 90% of emergency physicians expect a further increase in patient numbers in the coming years.

Many physicians feel that the increase in the number of a patient visit has impacted the efficiency of emergency rooms and there is an urgent need to fix this problem through EHR or electronic health record system.  However, several industry experts are of the opinion that nearly 50% to 80% of EHR implementation is a failure.  This has retorted health care provider to go back to traditional paperwork making EHR system a farfetched thought. The attempt of this write-up is to examine the role of medical transcription in leveraging EHR systems in hospitals that would lead to better patient care and emergency room efficiency.

ASSISTANCE IN DIGITAL DOCUMENTATION OF ALL DATA

With the assistance of medical transcription service providers, all pre-existing data related to hospital records, patients can be converted into digital format facilitating EHR adoption. This, in turn, would bring in a standardized health documentation process and allow an exchange of all information in a secured manner.  This will also enable generation of quick reports and access to patient data within a short time.

ASSISTANCE INACCURATE DOCUMENTATION OF DATA

Medical transcriptionists are highly trained professional and adhere to strict practices so as to produce very accurate documents.  Most professional agencies offering medical and audio transcription service assure up to 98% accuracy as well as quick turnaround time.

TAKING THE ONUS OF EHR IMPLEMENTATION

As the health care industry is warming up to the idea of EHR technologies to procure, collect and document health data, some medical transcription agencies are offering end to end solutions, without the hospitals having to implement a full-blown EHR systems themselves. This is an excellent way for hospitals and individual physicians to get hold of accurate and digitized data without having to spend an enormous amount of money in the adoption and maintenance of EHR software. This practice takes away the burden of paperwork and lets health care agencies to focus on their core-competency which is to provide patient care.

PERFECT FOR CONVERTING AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION INTO A STANDARDIZED DOCUMENT

Doctors and physicians have been recording patient consultation and reports in audio files.  It is estimated that nearly 1.2 billion clinical documentation is produced in the US every year, and of that, nearly 60% of the data are dictated documents. Historically, dictation has proven to be an efficient format to create patient data, as it ensures accurate representation of data and information. With the assistance of audio transcription services, all dictated documents can be transcribed into standardized files.

Transcribed files containing patient data are valuable documents. A well-transcribed file only allows physicians to render proper treatment and care plan to the patients, but the latter can also use them for health insurance claims. Standardized documents are piled in a safe and secure manner and are extremely critical for coordinated care which can take place across health departments in a hospital.  They are also important for assessment and documentation of all reports. The medical transcription agency in the likes of Eyered perambulates highest standards to maintain the quality of their work which can ensure efficiency across different departments, in particular, the emergency department of a hospital.