Title: Medical transcription outsourcing and internet-enabling services

Authors: Digvijay Bista, David C. Yen, Hsin-Ginn Hwang, Binshan Lin

Addresses: Department of DSC & MIS, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA. Department of DSC & MIS, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA. Department of Information Management, National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan. Department of Management & Marketing, LSU-Shreveport, Shreveport, LA 71115, USA

Abstract: Medical transcription is a process to convert dictated information into a standard text format for inclusion on a patient|s permanent medical records. Due to the US federal requirement, a declining number of transcribers in the USA, the advent of data communication, the internet and other technological innovations, the transcription process has developed to become a sophisticated function. The increasing medical transcription need in the USA has been unfulfilled by domestic medical transcription providers. Hence, the abundance of competent medical transcription service providers available at an extremely economical rate in countries outside the USA is becoming the solution to meeting increasing transcription needs. This paper first evaluates a prospect for establishing a medical transcription provider in overseas countries who will provide a transcription service to medical providers in the USA. Pros and cons will be illustrated from the perspectives of the medical service providers who are expecting to outsource the medical transcription tasks. Furthermore, an analytic framework will be presented from the perspectives of medical transcription providers in other countries. Finally, medical transcriptions in US and Taiwan are discussed comparatively. The discussion indicates the government regulations and industrial intuition that influence the decision to outsource medical providers.

Keywords: information technology enabled service; medical transcription (MT); patient records integration; outsource.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2002.002420

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2002 Vol.4 No.5, pp.394-410

Published online: 18 Jul 2003 *

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