Peer Reviews, Impartial Examinations, Independent Medical Assessments, Vocational Assessments, Functional Capacity Evaluations, Impairment Ratings, Second Opinions, Return To Work Evaluations, Fitness For Duty Exams, File Reviews, etc.

We’ve been doing IME transcribing for 20+ years, and we’ve seen clients come to us after a bad experience when they chose the cheapest provider without carefully evaluating the vendor’s qualifications. The following are the five (5) most important areas to evaluate when making your vendor selection.

1. Experience

Minimum of three (3) years’ experience transcribing for disability insurance, third-party administrator companies, legal and workers’ compensation entities. Fluency in the spelling AND meaning of diagnostic testing, multi-specialty medical and legal terminology. Also, be sure your vendor has extensive experience building and utilizing the types of templates used in IME reports for easy readability and consistency. An IME report which is not properly formatted is very difficult to read and is of little value to the client.

2. Secure Internal and External Controls

Encrypted dictation/transcription portal, secure email, secure fax, secure file sharing ability and any other necessary HIPAA compliance controls. These safeguards help to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of PHI. Employees and transcriptionists are trained regarding information pertaining to security, privacy, and confidentiality.

3. Completed Security Forms

Your vendor should have completed security forms that can be provided to you if you so require, e.g. SIG (Security Information Gathering report), SSAE 16 certification related to the dictation/transcription portal utilized, Detail Security report by Securityscorecard.com, Vendor Authentication and Encryption reports, CSS Tier 2 Assessment, WISP report, and the Pentest report.

4. U.S. Based and Operated Team

Here in the U.S., we have the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as well as a host of state privacy rights; whereas transcribers in other countries may not comply with our privacy and patient confidentiality laws. These transcriptionists may not even know what standards of privacy are required.

Many foreign transcriptionists, who can speak English, are not familiar with American expressions and/or the colloquial sayings doctors often use, and can be unfamiliar with American names and places; or specific medical jargon. For example, “subarachnoid hemorrhage” may be transcribed as “subarachnoid hemorrhoids.”

5. On Time, Every Time

Claims and IME referral management have pre-determined timelines. Ensure that your dictation/transcription platform is available 24/7 and that you have the ability to track statuses in real-time. If your vendor is indeed experienced in the field of IME transcription, they should be able to guarantee on-time delivery.

We hope that this list helps you in vetting your current transcription vendor or selecting a new one.

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The problem with unstructured data

The healthcare industry is known for its vast amount of medical information that has been transcribed and stored as free-text. The problem with free-text, or unstructured data, is that large and significant portions of the information cannot be highlighted or sorted and therefore, valuable information remains locked inside the EHR database. To solve this problem, software companies have developed Natural Language Processing (NLP) software specifically designed for the healthcare industry.

NLP technology has become a powerful tool to unlocking vital clinical data and turning it into information that can be analyzed and acted upon while remaining HIPAA compliant. Proper natural language processing allows vast amounts of detailed information to be mined from patient notes and analyzed without a single human having access to private information.

Create structured data that can be used for many purposes

Natural language processing of transcribed medical records creates structured databases that can be used for search, coding, indexing, XML exporting, and integration by multiple end users. By using a natural language processing system, healthcare professionals can now extract Clinical Quality Measures and Core Measures to monitor and improve the way your providers treat their patients. Most significantly, natural language processing will increase patient safety by generating information based on a sophisticated text analysis, thus decreasing the margin for human error. In addition to enhancing patient care, NLP improves a healthcare organization’s bottom line by properly identifying diagnoses and billable codes in the clinical narrative.

Mine big data to drive medical research and scientific breakthroughs

Finally, NLP allows scientists to look at “big data” in order to identify common factors between symptoms, diseases, geographic locations, and patient genes or characteristics so that they can better understand the causes of common and not-so-common medical conditions and diseases.

Taken together, natural language processing of medical information helps the healthcare industry on both a micro and a macro level by creating searchable information that can be utilized to enhance patient care, increase profitability, and drive medical advances so that healthcare providers can better treat the patients they serve.

For more information on NLP for the healthcare industry and HIPAA compliant medical transcription services, give us a call.

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While attention has been focused on the security (HIPAA violation) risks posed by laptops, smartphones, flashdrives and more sophisticated electronic devices, humble office photocopiers have been quietly accumulating personal data on hard drives most of us didn’t know were there.  A CBS News investigation reveals the ease with which clever identity thieves can access reams of data for the price of a used copier.

For the report, CBS’s team purchased four used copiers for about $300 each from a New Jersey warehouse.   With the help of John Juntunen of  Digital Copier Security, which markets scrubbing software called “INFOSWEEP,” each copier’s hard drive was removed in 30 minutes, then scanned using free forensic software downloaded online.  Within 12 hours, the hard drives yielded highly sensitive documents including criminal investigations, financial and payroll records, real estate development documents, and 300 pages of individual medical records, including prescriptions, blood test results and diagnoses.

Modern copiers use digital scanning technology that is stored to hard drives. Most businesses would not sell or dispose of used computers without taking steps to render any remaining data inaccessible (at least we hope so).  The same caution should be taken with copiers.

Just last week at Brown & Meyers we had to put our wonderful Matilda to rest (our Konica MFD photocopier).  She had been a great asset to us for nearly 10 years and we hated to see her go.  But you bet your bottom dollar that before she went out that door, we removed the hard drive and had it destroyed.

She is no longer with us but will forever remain in our hearts.  RIP, Matilda!!

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If you are a company that is looking to outsource digital conversion to a document scanning company, then you have a lot more important decisions to make.  Unfortunately, it is more than just a plain old Google search.

First, you should think about what kind of records you’re going to be scanning.  What IS your business?  Are you an insurance company, a medical practice, a hospital, a veterinarian office, a law firm, accounting firm, etc?  Any reputable company should be able to professionally scan any type of paper documents IF they have state-of-the-art equipment and software, and most importantly expertise and experience.

With that being said, when picking a scanning company, if you have too many options, it may be overwhelming.  Find a company that you can trust.  If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.  A company should be able to examine your documents, provide you with a quote, and explain everything about what their plan is for converting your documents.  If there are any “let me find out” answers to your questions, you’re not talking to the right company.

How secure a company keeps your documents should be discussed in the first meeting.  If you’re handing over your office’s medical records, then you’re going to want to ensure that they’re as secure as they can be, e.g. are they familiar with PHI and HIPAA terminology and safeguards, do they lock down the Internet in production areas, etc.  Ask questions, see examples, and ask for a tour, does the company have reference letters they are willing to provide?

A clear sign of the right company is a company that takes the stress out of the process for you.  All you should ever have to do is sign on the dotted line, and pay.  The company you choose to scan your images should arrange a pickup, boxing services (if necessary), job configurations, deadline adherence and of course the scanning, indexing and reassembly (again, if necessary).  You should be able to request to be kept as up to date as possible during the scanning process without an eye-roll or hesitation from the company.  Another good feature to ask about in scan-on-demand.  Does the company you’re looking at offer a service for scanning records you need access to while they have them?  Are they going to charge you for it, essentially meaning you’ll pay twice for those records?  Be sure to read the fine print!

As much as this process should be about business, it should also be about trust.  You can choose the company with the lowest prices, but can you trust that they’re going to do a good job?  Can you trust that you’ll get your documents in the turnaround time they promised?  Does the company want your business, or do they want your money?  Silly question, yes, but think about it – have you ever made a financial decision out of pressure?  Who benefited from that?  You’ll know the right fit when you find a company that can put you at ease, don’t settle on the first one, and don’t be afraid to say no!

If I can offer one last piece of advice, it is this: remember that you get what you pay for.

Let me know what your experiences have been with scanning companies.  Have you ever felt taken advantage of?  Have you had a bad experience?  Or, have you had a great experience, only to make you wonder why you didn’t go digital sooner?  I’d love to hear from you!

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