In order to make accurate diagnoses, a healthcare provider needs as much relevant information about their patients as possible. This information, also known as data, is collected from various sources. We refer to the input of this information into a computerized system as medical data entry.
Medical data entry involves taking a patient’s medical information from various sources and entering it into a computer system. This information can then help a medical doctor in making diagnoses and determining treatments. This information may also be shared with other healthcare professionals. For example, tests taken at a general practitioner’s practice may be shared with a surgeon or specialist.
Medical data entry usually includes the following information:
The information gained due to medical data entry is vital for the smooth running of a medical practice. It gives you, as the healthcare provider, valuable insights into not only a patient’s health history but serves as a recording of all protocols initiated to help with a patient’s recovery or the management of any health conditions. It is thus important that any medical data entry on a patient’s file is kept up-to-date.
Medical data entry, however, is time-consuming. It is also expensive to hire someone in your practice to keep up with this important task. And if you do not have a designated person to take on this important job, you may see your office staff struggling to keep up with these important patient records while trying to stay on top of their other administrative tasks. This can lead not only to mistakes regarding entries on a patient’s health but also mistakes in other critical areas, such as medical billing, for example.
Outsourcing your medical data entry may help to avoid mistakes while freeing up your office staff to concentrate on their other responsibilities.
Although vital for the daily activities in any medical practice, medical data entry takes up a lot of time and could prevent your in-house staff from carrying on with other activities that promote your practice’s success.
Hiring someone to input medical data can affect your expenses. It can also take away from the resources you need to hire other needed healthcare professionals at your practice. Hiring a medical data entry virtual assistant, however, can help you save on costs while keeping all these important records up to date.
Ensuring your medical data stays up to date improves your competitive edge while, at the same time, helping to improve your patient experience – their doctor knows and understands their concerns and health issues because they have their patient’s full medical history in front of them. Happy patients ensure loyalty. Your patients may also refer family members and friends because of the trust your professional approach instills.
All the virtual assistants at Cool Blue VA have training in how to work with patients in a professional manner. They will leave your patients feeling cared for during interactions.
Hiring a virtual assistant for medical data entry saves your practice money. It costs much less than an in-house hire because you would only pay for the hours worked. At Cool Blue VA, we bill you once a month and take care of payments to your virtual hires. Also, you do not have to consider any employee benefits as you would with an in-house hire. Cool Blue VA also has that covered.
Another consideration is the savings spent on training. You may have to send an in-house hire for training as and when necessary. You do not have this responsibility when hiring a virtual medical assistant. At Cool Blue VA we make sure our virtual assistants have up-to-date training at all times.
Large practices also benefit from outsourcing medical data entry where more than one data entry specialist is needed. When considering payment, they may find that they have a lower cost per record with a virtual hire. It is also easier to control costs when outsourcing.
The information in patients’ medical records has to be 100% accurate. You cannot tolerate errors. Less experienced in-house staff may find it difficult to ensure this type of accuracy. They may, for example, not know certain medical terminology used when entering data, or they could become sidetracked due to other tasks that need completing. Mistakes can slip in.
When mistakes slip in, it may not only impact important patient medical decisions, but it could also result in coding issues or incorrect billing. Such errors could prove dangerous for patients and costly for your medical practice.
A company like Cool Blue VA specializes in medical data entry. We can help ensure the keeping of accurate records and help to avoid potentially costly mistakes. Also, the use of special software can further help reduce mistakes resulting from human error. Please do not hesitate to contact Cool Blue VA to find out more about how we can help you with this.
Correct medical data entry means the need for skilled professionals who can work accurately. Furthermore, these people work with sensitive patient information. The level of service provided by your medical data entry specialist could thus impact your patients’ well-being and safety.
Someone specifically trained in medical data entry and dedicated to ensuring the accuracy of entries helps ensure that your patient’s data is handled with the utmost care and security. The reduction in medical data entry errors will also ensure more satisfied patients who do not have to contact your office with queries.
According to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, i.e., HIPAA, all professionals connected to the medical field need to ensure the privacy and safety of their patients’ data. Cool Blue VA ensures that all our virtual assistants are HIPAA certified. Your patient data is thus protected and will only be used for the prescribed purposes.
Many people are under the impression that medical data entry is easy. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. People in the medical data entry field go through a huge amount of training. Not only must they be up-to-date with medical terminology, but need to understand how to handle sensitive data and ensure patient confidentiality as well. Deviances from protocols could severely harm your patients or your medical practice. With an in-house hire, you may be required to pay for some of this ongoing training.
However, a virtual assistant with a reputable company tasked with medical data entry is already trained in the correct terminology and the knowledge of how to promote all aspects of patient privacy and confidentiality. A professional specialist from Cool Blue VA can effortlessly transition into your practice.
The costs associated with digital data require an investment from a healthcare provider. You would have to buy software, computers, and make arrangements concerning data storage. While a virtual hire cannot ensure cost savings in all of these areas, you would not have to use your business capital to pay for the equipment needed by a virtual assistant to do their job. A medical data entry virtual assistant is already set up with the equipment they need to do the job.
Someone working in your office may not have the specialized training needed to do medical data entry. As a result, you may have incorrectly entered data or delays in the uploading of patient records into the system.
By outsourcing your medical data entry, you could reduce your operating costs while, at the same time, improving your office workflow. This allows you to invest time and money into improving other areas of your practice. You would also have the services of someone dedicated to only the correct entry of confidential client data. This results in a reduction in delays with regard to entries.
As someone in the medical industry, you strive to stay on top of the newest trends to enhance your patient experience. A medical data entry virtual assistant can help you do just that. By ensuring your patient records stay up-to-date and are accurate, you can be confident that the information before you during a consultation is 100% correct. As a result, you can focus on making the correct choices concerning further patient care and treatments.
Those in the medical field know that they form part of a highly competitive industry. They also understand that their patients expect a high level of quality service at a competitive price. As a healthcare provider, you thus need to make informed decisions about cost savings while ensuring you deliver the best service possible. This often seems easier said than done.
Outsourcing your medical data entry may help you make a difference.
By outsourcing your medical data entry to a competent company with professional virtual assistants, you can see significant cost savings in both your labor and technology expenditures. This allows you to focus your attention on other areas of your practice to further enhance patient experience.
A positive patient experience ensures comebacks as well as referrals. These promote the growth of your practice.
Hiring a Cool Blue VA medical data entry virtual assistant means you hire a qualified professional to do the job. Our virtual assistants understand the importance of accuracy and updating information as it comes in. Also, all of our virtual assistants have undergone HIPAA training and understand the need for confidentiality. Most also have some type of medical background and are well-versed in medical terminology.
If you would like to know more about or want to engage the services of a virtual assistant who specializes in medical data entry, the team at Cool Blue VA can help. Contact us today at 714-695-8000 to find out more about how we can help you make the correct choice when it comes to selecting your perfect virtual hire and the various professional virtual services we offer.
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