Physical Therapy Transcription Services

Of course, you knew when you started training as a physical therapist that keeping patient records would be part of the daily routine. But what many don’t fully understand is just how much work that entails. Good documentation, including up-to-date patient records, is part of good patient care – no question there. But many physical therapists begin to wonder who the real client is: their patient or their medical record.

HIPAA-Compliant Clerical Solutions that Save You Time and Earn You Money

If you are one of the half-million or so physical therapists in the United States overwhelmed by documentation and other tasks related to maintaining patient records, take a closer look at how physical therapy transcription services can help you:

• Manage your patient records more efficiently
• Free up more time to focus on your patients/clients
• Convert more of that freed-up time to billable hours, seeing more clients
• Relieve some of the stress and anxiety around maintaining patient records

Physical therapy transcription services are HIPAA-Compliant clerical solutions that save you time and earn you money. They allow you to do more of what you do best and leave more of the administrative tasks to the documentation professionals.

How Physical Therapy Transcription Services Can Help You

The amount that physical therapy transcription services can help really depends on what your practice entails. As with many healthcare specialties, there isn’t a “typical day” that covers the whole profession. But for illustrative purposes, let’s take the example of a physical therapist working in a clinic, as described in this Case Study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

This physical therapist arrives in the morning, reviews her patient load, catches up with emails, and checks her calendar for meetings, etc. She spends an hour with her first patient, then spends 15 minutes writing up patient notes. She repeats similar clinical visits three more times, including a group therapy session for five patients. Each time, she spends 15 minutes per patient writing out notes and/or updating patient records. Her day also includes meetings and lunch before leaving at 5:30 after a 10-hour day.

Now, what’s interesting is that UNC states quite explicitly that documentation can take up 20-30% of your day. That’s true, sort of. However, when you compare that time only to hours spent directly with patients, that number can soar. In the example above, this physical therapist saw eight patients total (including five in the group session) for a total of four clinical hours. But she spent two additional hours – 15 minutes per patient – writing patient notes. That adds 50% more time to her clinical hours doing administrative tasks!

This is where physical therapy transcription services can help. It’s a tempting thought experiment to imagine that we can erase all documentation hours. That may not be realistic. But let’s say you can reduce them by half. That gives the physical therapist in the example above one extra hour per day. What does that mean for her?

• She can boost her clinical hours by an hour. If she is getting paid by the patient, she boosts her income by 25% (one extra hour on top of four clinical hours).
• The clinic can boost its income by 25%. If the clinician is on salary, the clinic increases her productivity by taking away some of her clerical duties. She can use her skills for what she was trained to do while professional physical therapy transcription services take care of typing out notes – faster and more efficiently.
• She can leave an hour early, at 4:30 instead of 5:30, giving her more time at home for herself and her family. This reduces stress and burnout and improves work/life balance.
• A combination of the above over the course of a week or month.

There are likely other advantages that you can think of as well. The point is, providing her with clerical support (i.e., physical therapy transcription services) generates more time, more money, or both. That leads to greater efficiencies in the office for a happier, more productive work environment.

The Key to Good Physical Therapy Transcription Services: Recorded Notes

So how do patient notes get “written” if they’re not written? The answer is: you dictate them.

Digital recorders provide an easy way to record notes, but today’s smartphones have some great apps for doing the same. By dictating notes, physical therapists can:

• Record notes on the fly when they are fresh in the head, making it less likely to forget details when writing up notes later – sometimes more than an hour later
• Record patient interactions faster – for the vast majority of people, speaking is faster than writing
• Record during the session rather than spending 15 minutes after – you can slide right into your next appointment
• Improve patient interactions (see next paragraph)
• Provide richer, fuller notes in some cases

This approach also improves patient interactions by reinforcing diagnosis, progress, and treatment plan with the client/patient since, inevitably, your patients will hear you recording notes. Many clinicians report that this can prompt more questions from patients. They are also likely to speak up with corrections if the clinician misspeaks. These interactions also mean that patients get more involved with their treatments, which, as we all know, can result in better compliance and, in turn, better outcomes.

More time, better patient interactions, and a boost in income. It’s amazing what a little clerical help can do for busy clinicians.

Contact iMedat for Professional Physical Therapy Transcription Services

The quality of your physical therapy transcription services obviously depends on the transcription company you choose – and not all are created equally. iMedat has decades of experience in all aspects of medical transcription, including working with allied health professionals such as physical therapists. With outstanding customer service, above-average accuracy, and fast turnaround times, our services are designed to fit your workflows for smooth integration with your patient record system.

Call 888-779-5888 or contact us using our online email form. Find out how our physical therapy transcription services can save you time and help you boost your income.