Choosing the wrong medical transcription provider costs months and thousands in migration. HIPAA violations risk $50K+ fines per incident. Through deploying systems like Medscribe across healthcare organizations, we've learned exactly what matters: accuracy with medical terminology, BAA agreements with all vendors, audit logging, and real-world latency under production load.
Medical professional using HIPAA-compliant AI transcription system
Provider Comparison: Deepgram, Whisper, Soniox
| Provider | Medical Accuracy | Latency | BAA Available | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deepgram Nova-2 | 96%+ | 250ms | ✓ Yes | $0.0043/min |
| OpenAI Whisper | 98%+ | 2-3s | ✓ Yes | $0.006/min |
| Soniox | 97%+ | 300ms | ✓ Yes | $0.005/min |
HIPAA Compliance Checklist
Business Associate Agreement (BAA): Signed with all AI providers (OpenAI, Deepgram, etc.)
End-to-end encryption: Audio and patient data encrypted at rest and in transit
Audit logs: Complete tracking of all access and modifications
Access controls: Role-based permissions and data minimization
Implementation Timeline & Costs
Typical Implementation: 4-6 weeks. Week 1-2: BAA agreements and compliance documentation. Week 3-4: Integration with EHR/practice management systems. Week 5-6: Testing, physician training, and production deployment. Post-launch support ensures smooth operations and handles edge cases.
Cost Structure: Transcription APIs charge $0.004-0.012 per minute of audio. For practice seeing 50 patients daily with 15-minute encounters, that's 750 minutes daily = $3-9 daily transcription costs ($90-270 monthly). Compare to traditional medical transcription at $0.10-0.15 per line or $75-150 per hour of audio. AI transcription typically costs 60-80% less than human transcription while delivering results instantly rather than 24-48 hour turnaround.
Get Expert HIPAA-Compliant AI Implementation
Zaltech AI specializes in HIPAA-compliant healthcare AI systems. We handle compliance, provider selection, and deployment. View our healthcare projects.