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The Challenge 
West Texas Medical Associates is a busy multi-specialty clinic located in San Angelo, Texas. With 42 physicians, five mid-level providers, and a large number of medical professionals providing service to the community, the organization found itself looking to streamline processes and costs, as many medical facilities do. One practical solution presented itself in the simple economics of outsourcing their in-house transcription.
The facility had a strict and precise set of objectives in the search for an outsourced medical transcription provider, including a proven track record of quality work with consistent turnaround time, a “physician-friendly” process with seamless transition capabilities, the ability to choose the dictation method (handheld versus telephone), and easy access to uploaded voice files throughout the entire process. It was also important that the database be secure with “hands-on” access to the actual database content and the ability to search, correct and resend data to their current electronic medical records system quickly if needed. In addition to the main criteria, West Texas Medical Associates wanted assurance that the solution would be HIPAA-compliant while also accommodating the existing workplace and its ever-growing needs.
In evaluating the rising internal costs for the existing in-house medical transcription process, Donna Stone, the Director of Health Information Management, used actual monthly and year-to-date costs from departmental expense reports to make a recommendation. Because they were handling all transcription internally at the time, the decision to outsource was a huge one, and her numbers had to prove that any decision was sound and productive. Her goal was to make a future-forward decision while keeping West Texas’ medical transcription flexible and working at optimum efficiency.
The Solution
After carefully applying a formula to convert minutes to lines and determining the estimated Acusis cost for current volumes in comparison to in-house costs, Stone was convinced that Acusis ® should be included as one of three medical transcription providers to further interview and research. While cost savings were apparent with all of the companies interviewed, several details stood out about Acusis. Acusis would be able to easily interface with their electronic medical records system, and their physicians would not be required to drastically change current dictation habits or upgrade to expensive or more complicated recorders.
As the field narrowed in terms of making a decision, Acusis became the obvious choice, especially at the next level of evaluation. Not only did Acusis fit and even exceed expectations on all points on West Texas’ strict and precise list of criteria,
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the company could also build an interface around the facility’s current system with no additional stress related to major changes and little cost for additional programming. Positive and honest discussions with some of Acusis’ current customers clinched the decision, and West Texas decided that Acusis was the best fit and most capable of meeting the facility’s complex needs.
The Benefits
“I was concerned about relying entirely on an outsourced medical transcription provider,” said Donna Stone. “The whole process was new to us – something we had never done. I was tasked with selecting and recommending an outsourced medical transcription provider, and it was critical that the transition go smoothly and successfully.”
West Texas needed to implement the new process very quickly. According to Stone, “Acusis defined a clear ‘ramp up’ process” and remained accommodating throughout that process, never deviating from what was agreed to. Her expectations remained clear as well – smooth transition, consistent turnaround time once up and running, quality work with an ability to handle fluctuating volume and decreased cost. She was not disappointed.
In fact, in the months since Acusis has been a valued partner, Stone has been able to report the following encouraging statistics: a 45% average cost savings when compared to previous in-house expenses and the ability to downsize from 4.5 FTEs to .5 FTE, who simply manages & coordinates the Acusis transcription database.
West Texas made some fairly large front-end requests of Acusis, including adjustments unique to their own workflow, which included the creation of some custom templates. “Acusis was very responsive to our requests and worked hard to meet our needs,” said Stone. “The weekly conference calls to discuss progress, plans and any issues or questions were extremely responsive and helpful.” Also appealing and helpful was the fact that project leaders, assigned specifically to the West Texas account, were available at any time of the day outside of the scheduled conference calls, something that gave Stone and the West Texas team a great deal of confidence in their new outsourced medical transcription provider.
“The transition was smooth,” says Stone. “There were some technical hurdles to cross, which are to be expected with any project, and Acusis made sure that these hurdles were short-lived and handled very well.” As a result of the tenacity to make this new solution work, West Texas Medical Associates is now enjoying the promised consistent turnaround time, quality work, maintenance of the fluctuating volume and a significant decrease in cost. According to Stone, “Our confidence in Acusis’ ability to handle situations and challenges and listen and respond to our needs would be – on a scale of 1 to 10 – a 10.”
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