How to Choose a Transcription Services Vendor

Steps

1. A variety of issues can be examined while selecting a transcription services vendor and broadly, one set of questions will be applicable for the evaluation of all vendors.
2. As a client, you expect-
3. Correctness-in terms of how the work to be done
4. Completeness-of all work done
5. Commitment to deadline- in work from a transcription services vendor.
6. What should be the attributes of a transcription services vendor?
7. The vendor must provide the company?s credentials in terms of past work done-providing work samples if needed.
8. The vendor must be well-versed with the kind of compliance standards your process demands and clearly understand its importance.
9. The vendor must submit a proposal detailing about how the job will be done.
10. The vendor must clearly define the roles and responsibilities-especially those related to reporting progress on the job.
11. The vendor?s proposal must state in detail the security requirements for the task to be done.

Tips

• How to choose a transcription services vendor-Tips
• Below are certain points, based on those you can access whether a transcription vendor is suitable for you or not.
• 1.Quality- Vendors should guarantee quality and should have reports or testimonials available to prove it. Quality includes process, accuracy and corrections. You must pay attention to the processes the transcription vendor follows to achieve quality. Most vendors outline their transcription processes on their websites. Enquiring about the percentage of accuracy of the documents the vendor transcribes will help you while selecting a correct vendor. Finally, the vendor should have a clear process for handling corrections.
• 2.Turnaround time- Time and cost go side by side. These two issues need to be discussed together because it can be possible for a vendor to receive reduced charges in return for longer turnaround time. While several transcription organizations offer shorter turnaround times in return for additional cost. Therefore, it is more important that the documents you get are of high quality and don?t need corrections. Pick a turnaround time that works for you rather than the shortest turnaround time at highest price.
• 3.References, if any- Do the vendors have references that can be called to crosscheck? A five-minute call can save a lot of tension in the future. Questions like-
  1. how has the vendor performed overall?
  2. how has the total turnaround time been affected?
  3. has the time from dictation to transcription increased or decreased?
  4. how accurate has the vendor?s reports?
• 4.Experience counts-A good indicator of how good a vendor is by looking at their experience. If they have been in the business for years and have a strong client base, it is a good sign that they will be there for you for years to come.
• 5.Billing methodology-There are a variety of billing methodologies used by transcription service vendors, making it very difficult to compare costs among others. Some charge by the line while defining a line as a fixed number of characters. Find out what exactly constitutes a line as defined by the transcription service provider. A number of transcription vendors also charge you based on the number of the physical lines in a document and some vendors charge by the number of words in a document.
• 6.Other hidden costs-There are some transcription companies who offer lower rates in exchange for term contracts. Try to avoid that. Some other transcription companies take charges for corrections made in the transcript. Make sure that there are no charges for these.

Warnings

• Before choosing the transcription services vendor, compare the rates, turnaround time, check references among different vendors, and select the right one. Always meet with multiple vendors to determine who offers the best mix of fair price, fast service, accuracy and strong customer service. Above all these, you must be comfortable with the vendor you select. The only way to control what you pay for is to provide specific direction on what you expect. Reliable vendors will ask you a number of job qualifying questions and will be able to provide you with a spreadsheet evaluation tool.

Sources and Citations

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription
• http://www.gmrtranscription.com/
• http://www.itsi-ca.com/

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