How to Assess Transcription Accuracy

/0 Comments/in /by Tyler Marshall

I’ve talked about transcript quality control previously and Allegis’ overall process for ensuring transcription accuracy, but now I’d like to get into how we actually calculate transcript accuracy. Making sure our customers and prospective clients have a shared understanding of how we calculate verbatim transcript accuracy is very important. Transcript scoring guidelines do vary somewhat from vendor to vendor and what I discuss here only applies to verbatim transcription. This is the style of transcription insurers typically rely on because transcripts often go to arbitration, and a having a verbatim, typed reproduction of a verbal statement can be a key part of a complete claim file. Verbatim transcripts seek to reproduce the spoken word in written form, as accurately as possible, with every “um” and “ah” intact.

Why We Created the Transcript Quality Scoring Guide

We initially created a guide for internal use, which has evolved over our nearly 20 years in business. It creates a consistent means of evaluation for our quality control (QC) team. Eventually, as Allegis brought on more customers, we encountered a need to share our scoring guide more frequently. Some customers wanted a way to evaluate our transcription accuracy and others wanted to compare Allegis’ transcripts to another vendor’s.

Not All Inaccuracies Are Equal

Without a common means of comparison, people were assigning different scores to the same transcripts. For example, a person might deduct one point for a misspelled word, as well as one point for a gross misstatement of the facts of loss. If, for example, a transcriptionist types that a claimant turned right instead of left, this mistake has the potential to substantially alter an arbitration outcome. Internally, we deduct fewer points for a misspelled word than for a misstatement that alters the meaning of what was said.  We assign one point to formatting errors, typographical errors, and other persistent minor errors.

Who Can Benefit from Using the Guide

You can put this guide to use in many different ways. You might be an existing Allegis client and want to check the accuracy of our work. Perhaps you want to evaluate another vendor’s work. Also, many insurers maintain internal or in-house teams. These teams often have an interest in benchmarking performance against industry standards.

If you use verbatim transcripts and want to check document accuracy, this is the tool for you. It is worth noting that scoring criteria does vary slightly from vendor to vendor, but with Allegis being the largest recorded statement transcription vendor on the market, our standards are widely adopted.

98% Accuracy is Nearly Perfect

As you can see based on some of the examples provided, achieving 98% or great accuracy for verbatim transcripts is a very, very high standard. Three incorrect punctuation marks would cause a transcript to fail our quality control standards.

Download Allegis’ Transcript Quality Scoring Guide for Yourself! It’s our free gift to you. Just use the button below to access the guide.

 

QC Guide Click

How to Consistently Provide Quality Transcription

/0 Comments/in /by Tyler Marshall

Quality Transcription Matters

By now you have probably noticed that most transcription vendors advertise transcript accuracy of 98% or greater. The 98% threshold is an industry standard and we thought it would be worthwhile to share how vendors consistently deliver on this promise.  Having a thorough, reliable process in place is foundational to maintaining consistent, high quality transcription.

Specific to Allegis, we know that insurance subrogation and SIU teams need to be able to confidently rely on the transcripts they utilize. A single mistake – a mistake in transcribing the facts of loss, for example – could make the difference between winning and losing in arbitration. Accuracy matters.

Performing transcript QA requires experience, a reliable process, and an overarching strategy to pull all the pieces together. It begins by hiring experienced transcriptionists, maintaining a strong QA team, and then tying it all together with solid customer service.

 

Quality Transcription Begins with Quality Transcriptionists

Highly experienced and well-trained transcriptionists with relevant industry knowledge are the starting point of a successful transcription quality control system. Vendors spend a significant amount of time recruiting qualified transcriptionists and providing extensive initial and ongoing training.

Customers frequently ask about automatic audio transcription or voice recognition software and it is worth mentioning here. This technology is rapidly improving and some transcription vendors are beginning to use the technology. Unfortunately, this approach still requires human editors, which typically means listening to the audio again and, based on Allegis’ tests so far, the benefits do not yet outweigh the costs. For now, human transcriptionists are still the best route to quality transcription.

 

Quality Assurance Team

Most reputable vendors maintain a Quality Assurance Team. The most common approach is to select and review a statistically significant sample size of completed transcripts. Having two humans listen to each and every audio file – first the transcriptionist, then the QA employee – is not necessary. This model means that the QA team selects the right amount of transcripts (a statistically significant sample) to catch any transcriptionist who might be producing subpar transcripts.

Utilizing this approach, the QA team is then able to quickly and cost-effectively focus on areas needing extra quality assurance.  The team can then place any transcriptionist in question under close supervision, who are then re-trained until they once again consistently produce quality transcripts. This process is an important application of statistics, enabling vendors to provide affordable transcription services. Having two humans listen to every audio file is neither cost effective, nor is it necessary.

 

Customer Service is Key

Customer service is a crucial — and often overlooked — part of transcript QA.  Transcription is currently a human-based business. Quality transcription is so important, yet errors – albeit minor –do occur. This makes having an effective customer service team a necessity, not a convenience. If an error makes it through a company’s QA safeguards, a vendor should provide an easy route for customers to request corrections. This is where customer service really proves valuable. Being able to have errors quickly resolved is an important final step to the QA process.

 

Quality is Intentional

98% accuracy is a high standard, but by hiring experienced transcriptions, maintaining a strong QA team, and delivering excellent customer service, these standards are achievable every day. Highly accurate recorded statement transcripts are crucial to the subrogation and SIU professional. Verbatim, insurance transcription vendors have the responsibility to deliver high quality transcripts every time.