What is meant by fully loaded costs
when comparing in-house transcription to outsourced medical transcription?
Fully loaded costs refer to total expenses, including both direct and indirect costs.
- Salaries, benefits, taxes (federal, FICA, unemployment, etc.), and workers compensation insurance.
- Ongoing training.
- Management and administrative costs.
- Human resources for recruiting and handling turnover.
- Office space, utilities.
- Equipment and software, including acquisition, upgrades,
depreciation, and maintenance.
- Technical support.
Some of these are typically overlooked when calculating the true cost of in-house transcriptionists. Comparing to these true costs generally makes a strong case for outsourcing medical transcription with cost savings typically estimated to be in the 20-40% range.
Back to Top
Is US MedTrans HIPAA compliant?
US MedTrans meets all HIPAA privacy and security requirements.
It is verified on the Internet with Verisign®.
File transmission uses 128 bit triple-DES encryption over an SSL connection.
Every modification and access of the report is tracked.
(See also, our HIPAA discussion.)
What is a Business Associate Agreement?
A medical transcription service provider such as US MedTrans is a
Business Associate (BA) of its clients.
Our client, the healthcare organization, is called a Covered Entity (CE).
The Business Associate Agreement is a contract specifying, amongst other things,
the privacy requirements that a BA must meet.
Naturally, the BA must ensure that all sub-contractors and employees abide by the agreement.
Why should I care about HIPAA?
Assuming you represent a healthcare organization that handles anything electronically, even one bill, you have no choice.
It's required by law.
Having said that, the general concept of preserving patient privacy and ensuring the secure retention of records is undoubtedly the right thing to do.
The movement to electronic records that HIPAA strives to encourage and protect, offers other benefits as well.
These include making it easier for physicians to access patient information and making it easier to track activities for insurance and litigation purposes.
Back to Top
How long are files stored?
Voice dictation files are stored for 30 days. Transcribed files are available and stored on-line for two years and are stored off-line for an additional eight years.
How are archived files accessed?
On-line transcribed files are accessed using the standard US MedTrans software. Off-line, archived files can be requested by contacting customer support.
Back to Top
Can I get help getting started?
Absolutely.
Although we have designed our software to be intuitive, we understand that
sometimes there are a few surprises and we're here to ensure a smooth transition. We can help with installation and training.
We can also help if you have any difficulties setting up your digital recorder.
We are a service oriented organization and we want our
medical transcription service to be extremely easy and trouble free for our clients.
What does the US MedTrans Customer Support staff do?
Our friendly, service-oriented professionals are there to assist you with account activation, software installation, and technical and support questions. We understand that sending and retrieving transcribed reports is critical to daily operations, and are there to help quickly resolve any technical and functional issues that may arise.
Back to Top
