Medical Transcription Job

Due to the increasing demand to document medical records, other countries started to outsource the services of the medical transcriptionist. In the United States, the medical transcription business is estimated to be worth US $10 to $25 billion annually and growing 15 percent each year[citation needed]. The main reason for outsourcing is stated to be the cost advantage due to cheap labor in developing countries, and their currency rates as compared to the U.S. dollar.

It is a volatile controversy on whether work should be outsourced, mainly due to three reasons: 1) The greater majority of MTs presently work from home offices rather than actually IN Hospitals, working off-site for "National" Transcription services. It is predominantly those Nationals located in the United States who are striving to outsource work to other-than-US-based Transcriptionists. In outsourcing work to lesser-qualified and lower-paid non-US MTs, the Nationals unfortunately can strong-arm US Transcriptionists to accept lower line rates. In addition to the low line rates forced on US Transcriptionists, US MTs are often paid as ICs (Independent Contractors); thus, the Nationals save on employee insurance and benefits offered, etc. Unfortunately for the state of healthcare administrative costs in the United States, in outsourcing, the Nationals still charge the hospitals the same rate as they did in the past for highly qualified US Transcriptionists, but pay out a lesser rate to non-US MTs or strong-arm them into accepting a lower rate of pay than US MTs, pocketing the profit. This outsourcing trend serves to undermine the US worker economy and quality; it undermines and degrades the level of the quality in transcribed documents, and it produces sweatshops in foreign countries. Outsourcing is a lose/lose situation.

2) There are concerns about patient privacy, with confidential reports going from the country where the patient is located (the US) to a country where the laws about privacy and patient confidentiality may not even exist. Some of the countries that now outsource transcription work are the United States, Britain, and Australia, with work outsourced to Philippines, India, Pakistan, and Canada.

3) The lack of quality in the finished document is concerning. Many outsourced Transcriptionists simply do not have the requisite basic education to do the job with reasonable accuracy, much less additional, occupation-specific training in Medical Transcription. Many foreign MTs who can speak English are unfamiliar with American expressions and/or the slang doctors often use, are apparently unfamiliar with medical reference books, and are unfamiliar with American names and places. An MT Editor, certainly, is then responsible for all work transcribed from these countries and under these conditions. These outsourced transcriptionists often work for a fraction of what transcriptionists are paid in the United States, even with the US MTs daily accepting lower and lower rates.

A Medical transcriptionist is constantly challenged to learn in a very exciting occupation with interesting, ever-changing subject matter. There is always new medications and new procedures, previously unstudied specialties to learn, and new doctor-specific phraseology, accents and ESL to master.

Basic MT knowledge, skills and abilities

• Knowledge of basic to advanced medical terminology is essential.
• Average to above-average verbal communication and memory skills.
• Ability to sort, check, count, and verify numbers with accuracy.
• Demonstrated skill in the use and operation of basic office equipment/computer.
• Ability to follow verbal and written instructions.
• Records maintenance skills or ability.
• Average to above average typing skills.
• Knowledge and experience transcribing (from training or real report work) in the Basic Four work types.
• Knowledge of and proper application of grammar.
• Knowledge of and use of correct punctuation and capitalization rules.
• Demonstrated MT proficiencies in multiple report types and multiple specialties.

Medical transcription process
When the patient visits a doctor, the doctor spends time with the patient discussing his medical problems, including past history and/or problems. The doctor performs a physical examination and may request various laboratory or diagnostic studies; will make a diagnosis or differential diagnoses, then decides on a plan of treatment for the patient, which is discussed and explained to the patient, with instructions provided. After the patient leaves the office, the doctor uses a voice-recording device to record the information about the patient encounter. This information may be recorded into a hand-held cassette recorder or into a regular telephone, dialed into a central server located in the hospital or transcription service office, which will 'hold' the report for the Transcriptionist. This report is then accessed by a Medical Transcriptionist, received as a voice file or cassette recording, who then listens to the dictation and transcribes it into the required format for the medical record, and of which this medical record is considered a legal document. The next time the patient visits the doctor, the doctor will call for the medical record or the patient's entire chart, which will contain all reports from previous encounters. The doctor can on occasion refill the patient's medications after seeing only the medical record, although doctors prefer to not refill prescriptions without seeing the patient to establish if anything has changed. Article Source: Wikipedia