There is a fear that the EMR adoption will eliminate the need for transcription. There are many reasons why this may not be so.

1. http://www.medicaltranscriptionservicecompany.com/
1-800-670-2809
Is Medical Transcription a Dying
Profession?
According to a study published by the Annals of Family Medicine,
around 80% of family physicians will adopt EHR (Electronic
Health Record) system by the end of 2013. The HITECH (Health
Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act of
U.S Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), which offer
Medicare and Medicaid
incentives
for
eligible
health care professionals
who
use
(meeting
meaningful
use
requirements)
certified
EHR technology and strict
EHR
adoption
by
Obamacare serve as the
major impetus to the
widespread use of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). EMRs are
designed to collect and store patient data from physicians and
clinicians. With physicians entering the information directly into
the EMR software instead of dictating notes to a toll-free number
or into a digital recorder, it seems as though EMR adoption would
end the need for medical transcription services. This article
discusses the future of medical transcription in the light of these
developments.
EMR V/s Medical Transcription
EMR is supposed to allow the easy sharing of patient information
between practices and among assessment, diagnosis and treatment
sections. Clinicians can capture key information quickly and

2. http://www.medicaltranscriptionservicecompany.com/
1-800-670-2809
provide timely treatment to their patients. The system facilitates
high quality documentation with auditable, readable and organized
charts as well as records. It is expected to shorten billing cycles
and help claim the reimbursement by reducing the possibility of
errors. Moreover, this digitization of patient information makes it
possible to track mistakes easily in the case of insurance
malpractices. Unlike paper records, EMR can recover crucial
medical documents efficiently in times of a natural disaster. For
example, when tornado hit Joplin city in Missouri on May 22,
2011, wind had blown away most of the paper records in St. John’s
Regional Medical Center, Missouri, but what saved the situation
was the availability of patient electronic records. However, health
care institutions need to implement stringent security measures (for
example, password protection, imposing penalties for unauthorized
access) to maintain the confidentiality of EMRs. The cost for
storing voluminous paper-based patient records can be reduced
with the EMR system.
However, though EMR can capture and store patient details,
physicians have to take time during the patient encounter to enter
details into the system. This would mean less time spent on patient
care. It would even mean that they see a smaller number of
patients. All this would reduce productivity and revenue. Certain
EMR system makes use of speech recognition software to reduce
the time physicians need to enter patient data. But such software is
prone to errors as it may not always interpret dictation correctly.
Physicians need not be skilled in typing and this can result in
documentation errors.
On the other hand, a professional medical transcription company
would have a dedicated and skilled team on the job of transcribing
dictations to result in quality, timely medical documentation. By
outsourcing their transcription tasks to a reliable service provider,
physicians can focus on what is really important – patient

3. http://www.medicaltranscriptionservicecompany.com/
1-800-670-2809
treatment and care. With stringent quality checks in place, a
transcription firm can ensure error-free documents which are
necessary not only for enhanced care but also to ensure proper
reimbursements. HIPAA compliant medical transcription services
follow standard security guidelines to ensure the confidentiality of
patient data. These companies also offer documentation solutions
in customized turnaround time to suit the need of medical
specialists.
Blending EMR and Medical Transcription
EMR implementation poses several challenges and medical
transcription offer solutions to overcome those challenges. So
blending EMR with transcription is a viable option for healthcare
providers to create and manage patient documents in wellorganized, accurate and secure manner. Medical transcription can
accelerate EMR adoption in the following ways.
 As medical transcription facilitates electronic exchange of
documents, healthcare providers can easily incorporate
accurate transcribed documents into their EMR system. This
will reduce the time needed for data entry into EMR and
increase physician productivity.
 As conventional transcription services involve the use of
human resources to transcribe physician dictations, they are
superior to speech recognition enabled EMRs.
 By incorporating error-free documents generated by medical
transcription services into EMR system, healthcare providers
can access accurate electronic medical records quickly in
times of need.

4. http://www.medicaltranscriptionservicecompany.com/
1-800-670-2809
 Majority of physicians prefer dictations to checkbox and
templates for capturing patient data effectively. EMR along
with transcription will give the opportunity for physicians to
dictate and document patient information correctly as well as
to enjoy the benefit of automation.
To summarize, EMR with transcription enhances the quality of
reporting, reduces the risks associated with reimbursement claims,
allows quick data access and retrieval, increases productivity and
enhances revenue. Medical transcription companies can help the
healthcare institutions to maximize the potential of their EMR
systems. So we could say that medical transcription is not dying
with EMR adoption, but that it opens up new possibilities for
enhancing the usefulness of EMR.
About the Author
MTS Transcription Services (MTS) is an established medical
transcription outsourcing company in the US, offering
comprehensive transcription solutions for a wide range of clientele.
Our medical transcription services are secure and available 24/7.
Contact Us:
Headquarters:
8596E.101stStreet,SuiteH
Tulsa, OK 74133
Main:(800)6702809
Fax(877)835-5442
E-mail: info@managedoutsource.com