The Advantages and Risks of Outsourcing Medical Transcription

The Advantages and Risks of Outsourcing Medical Transcription

A constant increase in the world's total population has led to more patients in medical centers. Consequently, this has intensified the need for a more complex archiving system of medical histories. Hence, hospitals are hiring more health information technicians and medical transcriptionists to manage and organize the medical records of their patients.

Medical transcription, as an industry, has boomed in the market economy. In the US, the medical transcription business has reached an annual 15 percent increase, with yearly revenues ranging from US$10 billion to $25 billion. Because of this, many practitioners in the country are investing in the business and opening firms for medical transcription.

Furthermore, medical transcription has become a legitimate profession in the medical world. The licensure and certification of medical transcriptionists has led to a higher demand for salary among workers in the field. Acquiring a license for medical transcription entails expensive training and rigid education. Hence, services of medical transcriptionists come at a higher price.

In order to reduce net costs and expenditures, some hospitals and medical centers outsource medical transcription services from other countries. Presently, western centers are contracting services from India, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Australia. The total net cost of acquired services from foreign countries is significantly lower than local medical transcriptionists' rates. Therefore, hospitals and medical centers find it more practical and profitable to outsource medical transcription services from foreign medical billing companies.

Nevertheless, the cost advantage of outsourced medical transcription services accompanies risks in the quality of medical reports. Although employees in outsourced medical billing companies also have rigid training and education, language barriers can cause misinterpretation of terms and concepts. Difference of accent in American and British English can also cause misunderstanding of words, names, and terminologies. As a consequence, medical errors can occur, resulting to a poorly written medical report. An incomprehensive medical report can wreak havoc to patient's health.

Moreover, health organizations are considering the oath of privacy among doctors and medical professionals. Basically, information about a patient's medical condition is considered confidential; thus, medical reports are regarded as legal documents. Outsourcing medical transcription services means releasing confidential medical reports to other people. In some way, this can violate the confidentiality of medical information. There are advantages in outsourcing medical transcription; however, there are also risks in acquiring services from foreign medical billing companies.

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