Document abstraction involves compressing a document into summaries with the key points and facts extracted. Data extraction is required mostly for legal documents, medical records, lease agreements, contract documents etc. Extracting data from documents that run 100s of pages will build up stress for the employees since their focus is diverted to jobs which are time consuming and non productive. Outsourcing abstraction work will help in saving valuable time and resources which can be used for the main business.

The outsource team should have expertise and experience in similar work and use customized software for data abstraction. Most of the abstraction work needs to be done manually and hence while choosing the provider their past experience in similar field, qualification of the team, writing skills and attention to detail has to be checked.

Data abstraction requirement will vary depending on the business. Legal firms working on workers compensation, personal injury can outsource the sorting of medical records, creating review report etc. Patient’s medical records will comprise of doctor’s first report, progress notes, laboratory reports, scan reports, rehabilitation reports, physiotherapy reports, medicine details, etc. Reviewing all the reports and summarizing the history and the procedures is a time consuming process. These cases can be outsourced to a service provider who can create clear reports that will help with the case procedures. Similarly documents which are voluminous and needs vital information to be extracted can be outsourced.

Before outsourcing the work a clear SLA should be formed and signed by both parties in order to avoid the risk of expectations and delivery. A good rapport between both companies will benefit in the long run. The risks of data security, culture, transition etc should be well discussed in advance and adequate approach should be taken by both the sides to manage any risk factor involved in the process. When this is done successfully outsourcing will be a boon.