CTech

Chameleon dictation platform

Workflow Management and billing

"Turnaround time is a definite competitive differentiator for a transcription service, and it requires a solid workflow management platform", insists Maini, "hence our decision to rely on Crescendo and their established expertise in the matter. Thanks to its almost unlimited routing capabilities, our integrated DigiScribe-XL and MedRite-XL platform takes transparent care of the entire documentation process, from the routing of dictation jobs per any criteria to client view and the distribution of final reports to the right recipients in the right format (i.e.: HL7, Word, ASCII, print, e-mail, fax). The Crescendo technology is extremely powerful, and it saves us enormous amount of time, not to mention headaches", comments Maini.

Last but not least, all CTech billing activities are handled through MedRite-XL, setting pay rate, count type, Work Type and more for each Transcriptionist and Client. The system also determines what should be charged to each Client (headers/footers, printing, faxing and so forth.) in a fully automated fashion.

Confidentiality first

CWAS is also a synonym for security. For any company involved in the healthcare sector, confidentiality is the other name of the game. As a secure gateway between the Transcriptionist's desktop and the central server, CWAS streams files back and forth so that no copy is ever stored locally. "Thanks to CWAS, we are confident our reports and voice files are always kept safe on the central server. Once again, Crescendo was the only vendor offering this duplication-free voice and data management platform. Not to mention the additional security layers offered by the Crescendo platform, such as encryption, hashed password protection, etc.", insists Maini.

Transcription-friendly technology

Transcriptionists are overall very pleased with their MedRite-XL Transcription interface. "Not only is it Microsoft-Word based, but it brings so many productivity tools along with it that it looks like it was designed by a Transcriptionist!" notes Maini. "The Quality Control module allows Transcriptionists to route work or flag issues to the Supervisor while allowing the latter to track potential transcription errors. This helps us deliver the level of excellence that is so critical to a transcription service." insists Maini.

Maini goes on to comment, "Besides, the import of demographic data from our various clients' information systems into MedRite-XL is handled automatically through bi-directional HL7 interfaces from Crescendo, eliminating manual data entry and thereby reducing the risk of errors significantly."

The right partnership

"In such a competitive and rapidly changing technology landscape, making the right partnering decision is critical. When we started looking into digital dictation and transcription technology back in 1998, we were already impressed with the DigiScribe and MedRite DOS platform Crescendo was offering at the time. Seven years later, we still consider Crescendo to be the best you can do in this industry", claims Maini. "We look forward to integrating their healthcare-specialized speech recognition module to our current platform".

Winning the time zone race

CTech's transcription resources are split between the US and India, so that when the US shift is over, Transcriptionists in India take over until the next American morning. Remote transcription capabilities were thereby another key drive behind the selection of Crescendo. "Even though we use the same US-based central server for both countries - the bandwidth in India still being quite expensive - we have managed to keep full control over our turnaround. Our secret lies, among other elements, in the Crescendo Wide Area Service, which we rely upon for all urgent work and remote transcription. This unique IP-based gateway allows both our Indian and home-based staff to play voice in real-time prior to complete file download, just as if they were located in the US-based office."