2Ascribe Inc. developed out of physicians increasingly turning to technology to support their practice management services in the early 2000’s. Before that time, few physicians’ offices had Internet access, and most office dictation was done using micro- and mini-cassettes. The challenge with cassettes were that they stretched, broke and, most of the time, the physician’s administrative staff didn’t know what was on any given tape unless they listened to it. Telephone-style dictation was generally reserved for hospital dictation, primarily for surgical and radiology reports.
Few services were available that allowed physicians good choices on how they wanted to dictate – either to a recorder (now digital) or the telephone. And a key concern for many was ensuring patient privacy and information security.
2Ascribe’s founder and President, Sheila Campbell, saw a need to provide a better solution to medical transcription in physicians’ offices, clinics and hospital departments. Outsourcing their medical transcription to 2Ascribe provided them with reliable, cost-effective, quality and timely transcription. Physicians no longer had to be worried about staffing issues, peak periods, and medical office staff no longer had to search to find which tape had that urgent dictation on it.
Having medical records, consult letters and reports transcribed, also addressed the issue of poorly understood or completely illegible medical records. It ensured an efficient work flow for the office or clinic, and freed administrative staff to perform those necessary tasks that could only be done onsite. And the security that is the backbone of 2Ascribe’s transcription system addresses (meets or exceeds) all federal (PIPEDA) and provincial privacy and security legislation.
Listening to clients’ needs, 2Ascribe introduced WEBscribe in 2012. This secure online client portal allows physicians to edit their documents online, digitally sign them and fax or email them securely to colleagues and other health care providers. It offers an efficient workflow process.
Following the successful adoption of WEBscribe by many of their clients, they then looked at adding additional efficiencies and cost-savings. Canada Post, raising the cost of a stamp to $1.00 in 2014, spurred the development of a cost-effective and efficient way to deliver letters and reports in a timelier fashion. For offices who mailed reports to referring physicians, they could now implement AUTOfax, saving the envelope and the stamp, and even not having to print every document. Once the physician signed off on a document (having dictated the referring physician’s name and fax number), the document is securely faxed, saving time and money, with administrative staff no longer having to spend time at the fax machine.
2Ascribe continues to work with clients to develop better, more efficient and cost-effective, document management services.
