Outsourcing medical transcription has many benefits the most obvious being that of saving on costs. While analyzing costs healthcare facilities tend to overlook many important cost heads hence the comparison between the price per line given by the outsourcing company and the current cost per line is not accurate.

What should be included while calculating cost on in-house transcription?

Direct costs

· Direct transcriptionist staff salaries: This comprises the salary paid to in-house transcriptionists.

· Cost of training: The cost of training the new team to enable them to execute work as per the healthcare facility’s requirements.

· Supplies: The stationery cost and the cost of other supplies used for transcription would have an impact on the cost per line.

· Cost of overflow work that is outsourced: Sometimes when the in-house team is not able to keep up with excess workflow the work needs to be outsourced and this adds to the cost.

Indirect costs

· Depreciation of equipment: Over time the equipment used would have some wear and tear, this depreciation cost will have to be added to the cost

· Apportioning salaries of management and administrative staff: The salaries of managerial and administrative staff contributing to the medical record creation process will have to be apportioned and added accordingly.

· Benefits given to employees other than the salary: Benefits given to staff like health insurance, dental care etc will have to be added in the category of indirect costs.

· Taxes: Having staff on rolls would mean taxes would have to be paid.

· Cost of space used: Apportionment of cost of real estate cost would have to be made according to the space utilization.

· Cost of employee turnover: This would include fees paid to consultants, signing bonuses, cost of training new employees and the cost of advertising for new employees.

· Cost of technology: The cost of technology used for medical transcription and the cost of integrating this with the hospital’s system needs to be added.

Apart from the direct and indirect costs of medical transcription in-house the other factors that need to considered are:

· No of days taken for delivery of transcripts

· Quality of reports

· Physician satisfaction

· HIPAA compliance

· Report generation and distribution

· Easy availability of qualified staff

Given below is a table of typical expenses of transcription in-house:

Item cost in US $ per annum

Salary 30000

Benefits 8000

Real estate 2000

Furniture 1000

Computers 2000

Management 5000

Consumables 1000

Utilities 500

Miscellaneous 500

Total Cost 50000

Given below is the productivity of a medical transcriptionist

Number of line per 8 hour day 1250

Work hours per year 1920

Lines per year 300000

Downtime in % 10%

Actual lines produced in a year 270000

Cost per line 18.5

After calculating the costs of all these factors one can arrive at the cost per line.

The rate offered by a typical service provider is 10 cents per 65-character line. This shows a clear saving in the cost per line. The 65-character line is calculated according to the billing method principles as per the MTIA guidelines. The method of billing used is verifiable, definable, measurable, consistent and fair & honest.

Not only that outsourcing the transcription needs of a healthcare facility to a professional service provider has benefits like:

· Accuracy of above 99%

· 24 hours turnaround time, with an option of 4-12 hours turnaround time for STAT reports.

· Software that enables smart upload by allowing flexible modes of dictation and features like smart delivery and web delivery for ease of use.

· Ensures HIPAA and HITECH compliance by using the right technology and having safety measures in place for security of people and infrastructure.