What is Osteopath Medical Transcription?

There is a rising demand for preventive healthcare and a holistic approach to medicine in the world today. But, often we find that there is still confusion in understanding the difference between allopathic, osteopathic and chiropractic practices of medicine. Actually Osteopathic medicine is an American medical care system that was started in 1874 by Andrew Taylor Still, M.D., D.O. This form of healthcare has its emphasis on the role of musculoskeletal system in health and disease. Take a look at the website of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) http://www.osteopathic.org/index.cfm

In the United States, an osteopath (or an osteopathic physician) must be a graduate of one of the nation's osteopathic medical schools. Each school is accredited by the AOA and has recognition by the U.S. Department of Education. Thus Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.s) are fully licensed medical physicians and surgeons and do practice all clinical specialties along with their M.D. colleagues. However, they are trained to be generalists first, and specialists second. Osteopaths being one of the fastest growing segments of healthcare professionals in the United States, it is estimated that, by 2020 at least 100,000 osteopathic physicians will be in active medical practice.No wonder more and more medical transcription professionals are specializing in the field of Osteopathy medical transcription.

Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is practiced by osteopathic physicians and involves the use of hands to diagnose illness and injury and encourages the body's natural tendency toward good health. Along with all other available medical options, Osteopathy physicians are able to offer the most comprehensive care available in medicine today.

Here is a list of all the different osteopathic associations: http://www.osteopathic.org/index.cfm?PageID=lcl_assoc

Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is a US based medical transcription company that offers professional services in medical coding, medical billing and osteopathy medical transcription services.

TASP and Medical Transcription

TASP stands for Transcription Application Service Providers.

Medical Transcription is not a cottage industry anymore as it used to be a few years ago. Digitization in this sector has changed the scenario and work environment. Earlier, I remember the days when Medical Transcriptionists (MT) had to take trips every week to their client offices for audio tape pickups and delivery of their work. Today there are many web based application service provider platforms that caters to different types of large, medium, small and also individual home based MTSOs (Medical Transcription Service Organizations).

The TASP type of files routing system is very efficient. It manages the entire process or life cycle of the document, right from the time of dictation at the hospital / physician's location to sending it for transcription/editing to the MT and back to the medical professional. This type of system does save a lot of time and money when compared to the earlier transcription methods. There are dial in systems that take dictations. Playback happens when the residing codec (analog to digital converter) creates a digital sound file that the medical transcriptionist can playback and transcribe.

What are the benefits of going for such a digital technology for these transcription companies? Well it includes,

• Encrypted document
• No capital investment
• Lower telephone costs
• Better work distribution
• Fully functional work pool module
• Prompt feedback
• Higher accuracy
• Prompt feedback
• Shorter turnaround time
• High security of documents
• Hassle-free document delivery

For professional outsourcing solutions in medical billing /coding and medical transcription please contact the Oklahoma based medical transcription company OSI (Outsource Strategies International).

The "Registered Medical Transcriptionist" Credential

What is RMT? It is a voluntary lower/entry level "Registered Medical Transcriptionist" credential offered by AHDI. The advanced level credential is the CMT or the Certified Medical Transcriptionist. What was the purpose of having such an examination and credential? The RMT exam was developed to assure consumers and employers that successful candidates are qualified to practice medical transcription and based on the skills and knowledge described in the AHDI Model Job Description Level 1 MT and the competencies outlined in the AHDI Model Curriculum.

The RMT credential is maintained upon the successful completion of a required online course, including a final exam, and payment of a renewal fee. The AHDI also offers different training programs beside these credentials. Who is eligible for this exam?

• Recent Graduates
• MTs with less than 2 years experience
• MTs practicing any single medical specialty

The testing process consists of testing of both medical transcription-related knowledge items and also transcription performance items. The exam is taken from any of the Thomson Prometric test centers that are located worldwide.

The RMT credential is given immediately after passing of the examination at the testing center. The credential is valid for three years only. Renewal is done after taking an exam and by paying a renewal fee. More details are available at, https://www.aamt.org/scriptcontent/rhub.cfm

Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is a US based medical transcription company that offers professional services in medical billing, medical coding and medical transcription services for clients in the US States world wide.

Medical Transcription Tools and Equipment

Medical transcription has evolved over the years and has always made use of the cutting edge technologies. Many different tools/equipment get used during the medical transcription process. Here is a list of the different tools/ software and equipment that are used either during home based medical transcription or at a bigger work unit that may consist of transcriptionists, editors, Quality Assurance, leaders etc. This list of equipment and tools is not exhaustive.

• MP3 playback software
• Document processor software (like LYX)
• Version Control software
• Time markers
• Bud microphone
• Digital voice recorder
• Headphone
• Computer with Internet/Printer
• Desk and comfortable chair
• AAMT Book of Style
• Encryption software
• File/Documents management software
• Blue Cross/ Shield Directory
• Electronic Medical Dictionary
• Fax machine
• Document shredder
• Word processing program
• Audio playback software
• Anti virus program/
• Thesaurus/dictionary for windows
• System recovery software
• Drug/pharmaceutical reference guide
• Foot pedal
• Ad blocker
• Medical specialty books
• Google toolbar
• Spyware removal Utility
• Monthly newsletter
• Telephone line
• Editing software
• Conference recorder
• Voice recognition software
• Dictation recording equipment
• Text counting software (for home based work)

Voice recognition is one technology area that is being actively researched upon and one can expect a near perfect voice recognition software in the future that will make the transcriptionist's job much easier.

Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is a US based medical transcription company that offers outsourcing solutions in medical transcription, medical billing and medical coding for clients in the US and outside.

The Medical Transcription Team

In any average sized medical transcription unit one will come across a team of people executing the project. The common hierarchies of people who form the transcription team include,

• The Transcriptionist
• Quality Editors (QA)
• Project Administrators

The medical transcriptionist is the front liner, working at the very first stage of making of the transcript. What does the medical transcriptionist do? Well it is his job to listen to the audio tapes and the physician's dictations, type them up, make a transcript and check out its contents. No wonder one of the most preferred skill a transcriptionist should have is the active listening skill besides the knowledge to understand all the technical details that is being talked about. All major flaws, if any, have to be identified at this stage itself. The quality of a professional medical transcriptionist is graded based on the on the quantity/quality of transcript produced by him.

The work is now passed on by the transcriptionist to the next level that consists of quality editors. What do the quality editors do? Well as the name suggests, the quality editors have to edit the transcript, which means, looking out for finer errors (such as spelling mistakes, incorrect words and proper formatting). The QA has to make sure that the transcript is ready for release to the client via the Project leaders/administrator.

Call OSI (Outsource Strategies International) the Oklahoma based medical transcription company for domestic and offshore solutions in medical coding and medical transcription outsourcing.

Medical Transcription Book of Style 2008 Edition

The 3rd edition of "The Book of Style for Medical Transcription" will be released in March 2008 by AHDI (Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity). It has been the standard manual for the medical transcription industry and maintains a superior data capture and documentation quality.

The AHDI site says that this third edition will deliver a streamlined and strategically reorganized flow of critical data, enhanced explanation of standards and practical application, robust examples taken from clinical medicine settings.

The book can be preordered at https://www.ahdionline.org/scriptcontent/bos3epreorder.cfm

What is going to be new in this edition? Well here is the list:

• Reorganization of all content into topical sections and chapter
• A detailed content index at the beginning of each chapter
• A professionally drafted content index at the end of text
• Foreword written by John H. Dirckx, MD
• A "What's New in This Edition" preface that provides a detailed list of all changes in standards of style addressed in the text for ease of reference
• Completely redrafted content sections throughout the text, particularly in Section 2: General standards of Style
• More detailed, comprehensive content explanations and rationale for standards and style recommendations
• More and better style application examples taken from a clinical medicine context
• A complete chapter dedicated to medical record types and formats, including a new section addressing turn-around times (TATs)
• A complete chapter dedicated to medical record privacy, security, and integrity, including all standards and recommendations previously housed in AHDI's HIPAA for MTs paper
• A complete chapter dedicated to amending and modifying the patient record
• Trend Notes included throughout the text that alert the reader to the current and/or potential impact of emerging technologies (EHR/EMR, speech recognition, etc.) on a particular standard of style
• An entire section of chapters addressing trends and drivers in the industry, including:
• Chapter 25-ASTM Standards for Healthcare Document Formats
• Chapter 26-CDA for Common Document Types (CDA4CDT)
• Chapter 27-Standardized Nomenclature for Medicine (SNOMED)
• Chapter 28-Speech Recognition and SR Editing
• Medical specialty chapters with organized standards, including many new classification systems not included in the 2nd edition
• Cross-referencing throughout the text to redirect users to related information and standards Duplication of specific standards, where appropriate, in more than one chapter in anticipation of where users will most likely look for information

Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is an Oklahoma based medical transcription company offering professional yet affordable medical billing, coding and medical transcription services world wide.

Medical Transcription Security

Everyone realizes that medical transcription projects are being increasingly outsourced to low wage countries like India and the Philippines. This is mainly because these Asian countries are in a position to deliver the goods with good quality at a much lower rate than is made available within the US. But, what happens to the confidentiality of online personal / patient information? How safe is transmission over the Internet? What if someone with vested interests tries to access it? Without some assurance of the confidentiality of the data it would be futile to take the risk of outsourcing. Well HIPAA is here to take care.

So what is HIPAA? It stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1996. This act regulates the exchange of all patient information using electronic methods. Patients are protected from unlawful disclosure. Thus we see that companies must be HIPAA compliant. Only then will the doctors be sure that all their valuable patient data and dictations are safe and never get into wrong hands.

What are the different requirements of HIPAA compliance for any medical transcription company? Thes include,

• Maintain traceable trail of all personnel who handle specific data
• Password protection
• Encryption of data
• Compliance officers must be appointed

What is the purpose of encryption? Encryption and password protection is essential to protect patient data and one can be sure that no one will be able to access the sensitive information without an authorization. Data encryption makes sure that even if some one else happens to get access to the file he will no able to understand/ decipher whatever is written. Therefore, all digital voice recordings/dictations that are sent via the Internet for transcription must be encrypted. Thus the different requirements include,

• Secure FTP (file transfer)
• Physical protection /security
• Login codes for employees
• Filters
• Firewall
• Encrypted e-mail
• Monitor each desktop
• Backup of tapes
• Be prepared for natural disasters

Outsource Strategies International (OSI) is a US based medical transcription company that offers affordable services in medical billing, medical coding and medical transcription services for clients across the USA.