Medical Transcription – Code of Ethics
By Renee Kelly

Healthcare is an essential service along with the other basic necessities like air, water, food, clothing and housing. Therefore the practice of healthcare requires that healthcare professionals and other entities associated with healthcare come under a strict code of ethics.

Medical transcription is a profession closely associated with the healthcare industry in both the commercial and operational aspects by documenting the patient-healthcare professional encounter.

The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) has come up with the guidelines for code of conduct for healthcare documentation professionals. The code of ethics for medical transcription professionals are as follows:

1. Maintain confidentiality of all patient information including but not limited to peer reviews, quality improvement and risk management protocols with special effort to maintain data security in electronic communications.
2. Implement and maintain standards of professional transcription practice. Respect the rights and dignity of all individuals.
3. Continue professional growth enhancing knowledge and skills, including continuing education, networking with colleagues, professional reading and certification.
4. Strive to provide accurate and timely information
5. Exercise integrity in professional practices including work or professional experience, credentials, affiliations, productivity reporting, billing charges and payment practices.
6. Comply with all laws, regulations and standards governing the practice of patient documentation.
7. Foster environments of employment that facilitate integrity, professionalism and protection of patient information.
8. Strive to advance the goals and purposes of the Association and work for the advancement and good of the profession.

These are code of ethics laid by the AHDI for the members of the association as guidelines. But these code of ethics can be used as guidelines by all entities who are in the business of medical transcription.

Based on the code of ethics a medical transcription service provider has to run its operations:

• Maintaining confidentiality of patient information: Confidentiality of patient information should be maintained at all levels. The confidentiality of the data needs to be maintained at all the stages, during transmission, during usage and during storage using appropriate measures
• Implementing and maintaining professional standards of transcription: The service provider should maintain and implement professional standards of transcription by training the transcriptionists rigorously in one or two specialities enabling them to meet standards of accuracy and turnaround time.
• Continuously enhancing the skills of medical transcriptionists through education: The service provider should educate their team of medical transcriptionists by constantly updating their knowledge base on the latest developments in the field of medicine.
• Provide timely information: Timely information should be provided by the service provider whenever required.
• Exercising integrity in billing practices: The method of billing should fulfill all the billing method principles of being verifiable, measurable, definable, consistent and fair & honest.
• Complying with the laws of patient documentation: The service provider needs to be aware of and comply with all the laws that apply to patient documentation
• Foster the right atmosphere for professionalism and ethics: The service provider needs to create an atmosphere which enables an atmosphere of professionalism.

While outsourcing medical transcription care should be taken to source a service provider who can not only provide accurate transcription services, in a timely manner, using the right technology, through secure means and at reasonable prices, but also follows the code of ethics as recommended by AHDI.

TransDyne, a leader in the outsourced medical transcription industry offers customized medical transcription solutions tailored to suit the needs of healthcare facilities. Visit http://www.transdyne.com for more details. Click http://www.transdyne.com/html/contactus.aspx to avail medical transcription services from TransDyne.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Renee_Kelly

http://EzineArticles.com/?Medical-Transcription—Code-of-Ethics&id=4176904

Outsourcing Medical Billing Creates Value For Money
By Sanjana Singh

Medical billing is a complex process which demands specialist knowledge and operational expertise in this field. It is not advisable to leave medical billing processes to untrained or semi-skilled staff. Outsourcing medical billing to an experienced and professional set up may prove to be just the strategic step one needs to flourish his/ her medical practice as it creates value for money.

According to recent healthcare reforms and coverage policies of Medicare reimbursements are going to reduce while the numbers of claims are expected to increase exponentially. This will create pressure on the administrative staff to handle excess billing volumes which are to be seriously anticipated by all healthcare units. Outsourcing organizations plan for these updates in advance and are well equipped to make sure that the provider’s reimbursement grows from time to time.

Apart from strategic savings from outsourcing, providers can also capitalize on the following advantages.

1. Resolve most Human resources issues

Skilled Manpower Shortage is the most compelling reason why provider’s need to outsource their medical billing to a specialist who provides these services. Medical Practices are often challenged by employee turnover and practice growth.

Attrition and shortage of skilled staff are no secrets in the healthcare Revenue Cycle Management industry. Once an in-house medical billing specialist leaves, the practice is forced to fill the vacant place right away or the revenue may be compromised with any level of resource capability. Each incoming resource comes in with prior experience and tries to implement his/ her practice which may or may not be acceptable to every practice. Outsourcing partners are in a better position to tackle this situation as they operate with bench strength and have set procedure to handle attrition.

“There is an 18% shortage of coders nationwide and this shortage is increasing in the upcoming years” – AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders)

Practice Growth:

As the volume of the business increases, revenues must also grow but with most in- house billing processes the claims are just not managed appropriately. In order to increase collections one has to increase the team size which adds to fixed costs and does not guarantee results. But outsourcing companies give the option of ‘pay as you earn’ linking their own income with performance.

2. Revenue Cycle Optimization:

The question that arises before any provider today is, ‘What is the current Billing cycle?’ When the answer to the above question is anything more than 60 days, it’s time to overlook your medical collection services. Outstanding revenues and a disorganized revenue cycle – these are two major factors that pull down the financial efficiency of Providers. Effective Outsourcing Partners must deliver the

• Faster revenue realization with efficient denial management.
• Constant monitoring of account receivable (AR) days.
• Get unpaid claims tracked for payments on a daily basis for regular payouts.
• Accelerate your cash flow by timely follow up with the payers and subsequently with patients for unpaid claims.

3. Better financial controls with timely reports:

Outsourcing partners usually provide detailed reports for provider reference; they provide daily, weekly and monthly reports explaining the status of collections and the efficiency of their services. Some of these reports are further segregated by provider wise, payer wise and also the monthly outstanding.

These reports help providers to take better decision and plug issues before they become messy. Some outsourcing partners also provide consultancy on payer contracts and get better negotiation for providers.

4. Leverage sophisticated technologies with inexpensive IT support:

Medical billing outsourcing gives you the freedom from dealing with costly software and hardware maintenance contracts. You don’t have to pay for or install software updates or server upgrades and also eliminates the need to back up your data each day. Depending on the size of the operation to be handled an IT support can be employed or can be called as per need. But the latest technology can be utilized by using outsourcing partner’s system as they would invest with only the best in class technology.

5. Structured and organized operations:

Outsourcing medical billing and coding processes carried out by certified and expert professionals are much more reliable. They process claims electronically but have various levels of audit before the claim reaches the final payers.

If any claims are rejected, the cost of correcting the error is borne by the outsourcing partners and they also thoroughly analyze the error to avoid such errors in the future. Rejected claims are resubmitted after correction. The speed of the claims submission is usually faster with them as the denial management report is generated almost immediately. This problem resolution ultimately results in faster reimbursement.

6. Tax benefits:

In- house staff invariably requires a lot of time, effort and resource from the practice’s end when compared to outsourced staff. The amount invested in an in-house staff member’s contribution towards insurance and welfare fund is very high.

It is now a proven fact that outsourcing is a way to reduce tax liabilities because with the expenses being incurred with the outsourcing process, the medical practice can sometimes be assessed for a lower income tax. Outsourcing medical billing services provides you the tax benefits as you don’t have to directly employ people for this process and therefore you can minimize staff expenses and maximize possible efficiency, this can prove to be a winning edge in a very competitive arena.

7. Supports the core function while enhancing growth:

The core function of a medical practice is to care for its patients and all other support functions which are just as critical to the process must be taken care of by just as much precision as the basic function. Thus partnering experts of those functions is always a viable option. Outsourcing companies understand your concerns and thus provide you with all tools to manage your finances. They provide regular reports; keep track of the financial position of the medical practice. It mainly provides advice on various areas of improvement, resulting in overall positive growth. All this at lower costs and schemes where you ‘Pay as you earn’, this surely seems like a win-win situation for both parties. Outsourcing sure creates value for all parties and truly justifies business decisions!

MedDataCarePro is a national provider of healthcare outsourcing services and healthcare data management services like medical billing, coding, transcriptions, rcm and more in the U.S. MedDataCarePro has been providing impeccable service and quality to its growing family of clients since the year 2000.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sanjana_Singh

http://EzineArticles.com/?Outsourcing-Medical-Billing-Creates-Value-For-Money&id=4239966

Medical News You and Your Family Can Finally Use!
By Dr. Joshua Fink

Welcome to Monthly Medical -News with Josh. Every month I am going to share with you some of the most talked about Medical stories and how they can affect you. For February some of the topics I will touch upon are- New Hope for Hepatitis C, Morning Sickness, Treatment for Cold Sores, and Hormone Vaccine against Breast Cancer. Enjoy Monthly Medical -News with Josh and don’t forget the Doctor is always in!

1. Hormone Vaccine against Breast Cancer?

Researchers are pursuing a vaccine that could trick your body into thinking it’s pregnant. It is well known that short-term exposure in early adulthood to the hormones of late pregnancy and to the hormones of lactation offers a life long risk reduction against breast cancer. Early in the 1700’s, Dr. Bernardo Ramazzini described breast cancer as an “occupational disease of nuns”. Even if we got rid of the “risk factors” for breast cancer, such as obesity, excess alcohol and hormone therapy, we would drop the incidence of breast cancer from 180,000 cases a year to 140,000. That’s not much! What about genetics? In a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, in a study that looked at “SNP’s”, which are changes in genes that can cause disease, these changes only elevated the risk by 1.5 fold, which is truly not much, as compared to those without single gene mutations. What is it about pregnancy that decreases risk? No one really knows, but the bet is against it being estrogen and progesterone’s.

2. Wounds that Won’t Heal: WARNING

Poorly healing wounds are a major problem, and it’s often seen in diabetics and people with poor circulation. Negative Pressure devices have been used to aid in the healing of these chronic wounds. Now, the FDA has issued a warning AGAINST these devices. Deaths have been reported, and have been associated with bleeding, infection and other problems. Negative pressure is appropriate for the right type of wound, however. Some of the problems may have arisen because most wound dressings are changed every day, but negative pressure bandages are not. These are the wounds in which Negative Pressure Devices are NOT appropriate:

1. Exposed nerves, or exposed vessels

2. Untreated infections of the bone [osteomyelitis]

3. Dead tissue present

4. Fistulas

5. Wound Infections

3. Morning Sickness Alert:

Don’t take Nzu, also sold under the names of Calabash clay, Calabar stone, Mabele, Argile, and La Craie. These are sold in health food stores for morning sickness, and have been found to contain high levels of Arsenic and Lead. My Advice: Acupuncture and Ginger.

The Long QT syndrome:

This is a genetic disease that seems to occur more commonly, maybe due to better patient education about it. The story is “a young athlete that died while training.” The family is devastated and lives are ruined. The truth is that we can screen for this. This disease affects the potassium or sodium channels in the heart. These patients may develop symptoms of fainting, tachycardia and eventually sudden death. In general, in addition to the EKG on the patient, we believe it is important to screen the first degree relatives as well, as this is a genetic disease. A “QTc” longer than 450 msec in men and 470 msec in women is considered worthy of more investigation. It is caused by 12 separate genes. WE call these “LQT 1-12″. The “causative mutation” can be seen in 70% of high-probability cases…not “100%”…so a negative gene test at this point in time does not rule out Long QT syndrome. The arrhythmia, or abnormal heart beat, is typically brought out by swimming, exercise and emotions. Those with a mutation of LQT1 are the highest risk for exercise or emotion-induced rhythm problems, and a group of medications called Beta Blockers are used to treat it. Those with mutations in LQT3 are at a higher risk of getting an arrhythmia when they are at rest or sleeping. In addition to drug therapy, certain drugs must be avoided and these can be seen at http://www.qtdrugs.org.

4.New Hope for Hepatitis C?

No vaccine. Not yet. But at least there is some drug therapy. Telaprevir [VX 950: Johnson and Johnson] is a protease inhibitor, something that emerged as a result of HIV research. When it is added to the standard drug therapy for Hepatitis C, it leads to a sustained Virological response [less virus] in those who previously failed drug therapy. This study looked at those with HCV 1 and was called the “PROVE3″ study. Another weapon in the war against Hep C has been added!

Acne: Which is Better?

Adapalene 0.1% gel or BenzaClin? In a recent study, BenzaClin won. 43% vs. a 20% response. Wow….we have been using this for years already. Keep in mind that Adapalene is a retinoid and may prevent you from having other aesthetic procedures performed!

5.New Treatment for Cold Sores?

Combining a 5% acyclovir cream, with a steroid cream can prevent recurrent herpes ulcers. This product was recently approved, but not yet named. This product, however, seems to prevent cold sore development and would be the first topical to do so.

Be in touch next month for some more medical news you and your family can use!

Dr. Fink has over 20 years of experience and he is a Fellow of the American Society for Lasers in Medicine and Surgery as well as a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians, and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary Disease.

He maintains an active clinical practice in multiple areas of specialization, including Internal Medicine and Pulmonary Diseases as well as Wound Care in both Westchester and Manhattan. He is published in peer-reviewed medical journals and he is Chief Clinical Instructor in programs that teach the proper use of Dermal Fillers, Botox and Aesthetic Lasers throughout the US, Asia, and Australia and he was recently awarded the Prestigious Clinical Instructor award that recognizes his excellence in teaching Botox, Restylane and laser technology throughout the world.

Dr. Fink is also a recognized expert in the cosmetic use of lasers and laser technology. Dr. Fink has been extensively involved in aesthetic research, acting as the Principal Investigator for numerous laser and cosmetic trials over the past several years. Dr. Fink’s Westchester’s practice is conveniently located in Mt. Kisco, NY with availability in his NYC office as well.

For more information about Dr Fink and his practice go to his web site at http://www.drjoshfink.com/. Suscribe to his blog to get great insider tips in the Aesthetics as well as the Internal and Pulmonary Medicine Industry. Sign up now at http://www.drjoshfinkblog.com/.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Joshua_Fink

http://EzineArticles.com/?Medical-News-You-and-Your-Family-Can-Finally-Use!&id=3821540