As soon as you are ready to find medical transcription job opportunities, volunteer your time, effort and resources to establish your professionalism. Seek out and join a local chapter of the American Association of Medical Transcriptionists (AAMT) in your area, and ask how you may be of help to your local chapter. Volunteers are always needed and will be welcomed with open arms. This is a terrific way to brand yourself as a person who is serious about the medical transcription career. Veteran medical transcriptionists will take notice of you, and that will open the doors to medical transcription job opportunities in the future.
When seeking medical transcription job opportunities, market yourself to local medical transcription agencies. Set up an appointment or interview, if possible. Expand your network by talking to everyone you can in the medical transcription field and let them know that you are willing to do whatever it takes, including volunteer work, to get your foot in the door. Do not forget to thank those who have helped you along the way.
Unique strategies are sometimes required to locate medical transcription job opportunities. Look for unusual local situations. For instance, in the 1990s Orange County, California, declared bankruptcy. On a hunch, I called the Sheriff-Coroner's Office to see if they needed help. I was told that all but one full-time medical transcriptionist had been laid off, and there was a nine- month backlog of autopsy reports. Nine months! After interviewing there and being welcomed with open arms, I worked there every Saturday for almost a year. I received a wonderful education in Pathology terminology, and I must say it was the most rewarding experience I ever had. Additionally, the sole medical transcriptionist was nearing retirement which put me in a great position to receive a job offer once she retired.
In your quest for medical transcription job opportunities, ask your MT instructors if they might need help with transcribing classroom assignments. As an MT student, I can clearly remember how bad the assignment copies were. After I completed the medical transcription courses, I word processed the assignments, corrected the mistakes that had been in them, and then took them to a print shop for reprinting and binding. Then I sent these to my medical transcription instructor; it was my way of thanking her for all she had done for me. I also helped my medical terminology instructor, who was writing a book. I word processed the medical reports for her medical terminology book. In case you are wondering, I was working full time as a medical transcription and word processor all the while.
Volunteering is a wonderful way to find medical transcription job opportunities that are not advertised. It is something that most people do not think of doing. Even if you do not get immediate results from doing volunteer medical transcription work, people will have good things to say about you. The word will get out that you are looking for medical transcription job opportunities, and it will just be a matter of time before you get the chance to prove yourself as a medical transcriptionist.
Sphere: Related Content
Showing posts with label outsourcing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label outsourcing. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Medical transcriptionists now among RP's highest-paid
Medical transcriptionists are now the second highest-paid workers in the health sector after medical doctors, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) disclosed over the weekend.
Citing the results of the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics' latest Occupational Wages Survey, TUCP spokesperson Alex Aguilar said medical transcriptionists are now earning substantially higher compensation income compared to medical technologists, nurses and even dentists.
According to survey, medical transcriptionists get an average of PhP10,757 in monthly wages.
This rate is P1,462 or 16 percent higher than the average of P9,295 received by medical technologists; P1,813 or 20 percent higher than the P8,944 received by nurses; and PhP3,722 or 53 percent higher than the PhP7,035 received by dentists.
Medical doctors receive an average of P18,134 in monthly wages.
The survey covered only compensation income earners in medical, dental and other health jobs as opposed to those earning professional fees.
Aguilar said employment growth in outsourced medical transcription services is expected to outpace considerably the 25-percent annual job expansion in the country's booming contact centers.
He said medical transcription jobs are projected to increase at an average annual rate of 90 percent through 2010.
"The growth of medical transcription services is assured as long as we have enough supply of capable human resources," he pointed out.
Aguilar said fresh graduates of nursing, pharmacy, medical technology, public health, physical therapy and other allied medical courses should be encouraged to consider transcription work while they are waiting for higher-paying employment opportunities here or abroad.
"Nursing graduates, for instance, can work part-time or full-time as transcriptionists while reviewing for the licensure examination or while waiting for an overseas job placement," he said.
The local medical transcription industry is seen to generate US$ 238 million in revenues this year; US$ 476 million in 2008; US$ 952 million in 2009; and US$ 1.71 billion by 2010.
The industry now employs more than 17,000 medical transcriptionists.
This workforce is expected to hit 34,000 by 2008; 68,000 by 2009; and 122,000 by 2010, according to the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines Inc.
Medical transcription is the process of transforming voice-recorded or hand-written medical reports, such as dictation of physicians and hospital records, to text matter that may be stored as printed or electronic data.
In developed countries, electronic medical records have become the preferred means of data storage, giving medical professionals ready access to information regardless of location.
Aguilar said the United States medical transcription services market alone is worth US$ 25 billion annually and more jobs there are being entrusted to the Philippines which has ample supply of cost-effective, English-speaking human resources. Sphere: Related Content
Citing the results of the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics' latest Occupational Wages Survey, TUCP spokesperson Alex Aguilar said medical transcriptionists are now earning substantially higher compensation income compared to medical technologists, nurses and even dentists.
According to survey, medical transcriptionists get an average of PhP10,757 in monthly wages.
This rate is P1,462 or 16 percent higher than the average of P9,295 received by medical technologists; P1,813 or 20 percent higher than the P8,944 received by nurses; and PhP3,722 or 53 percent higher than the PhP7,035 received by dentists.
Medical doctors receive an average of P18,134 in monthly wages.
The survey covered only compensation income earners in medical, dental and other health jobs as opposed to those earning professional fees.
Aguilar said employment growth in outsourced medical transcription services is expected to outpace considerably the 25-percent annual job expansion in the country's booming contact centers.
He said medical transcription jobs are projected to increase at an average annual rate of 90 percent through 2010.
"The growth of medical transcription services is assured as long as we have enough supply of capable human resources," he pointed out.
Aguilar said fresh graduates of nursing, pharmacy, medical technology, public health, physical therapy and other allied medical courses should be encouraged to consider transcription work while they are waiting for higher-paying employment opportunities here or abroad.
"Nursing graduates, for instance, can work part-time or full-time as transcriptionists while reviewing for the licensure examination or while waiting for an overseas job placement," he said.
The local medical transcription industry is seen to generate US$ 238 million in revenues this year; US$ 476 million in 2008; US$ 952 million in 2009; and US$ 1.71 billion by 2010.
The industry now employs more than 17,000 medical transcriptionists.
This workforce is expected to hit 34,000 by 2008; 68,000 by 2009; and 122,000 by 2010, according to the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines Inc.
Medical transcription is the process of transforming voice-recorded or hand-written medical reports, such as dictation of physicians and hospital records, to text matter that may be stored as printed or electronic data.
In developed countries, electronic medical records have become the preferred means of data storage, giving medical professionals ready access to information regardless of location.
Aguilar said the United States medical transcription services market alone is worth US$ 25 billion annually and more jobs there are being entrusted to the Philippines which has ample supply of cost-effective, English-speaking human resources. Sphere: Related Content
Outsourcing Transcription - How to Get the Best Deal
There are many transcription services available but sometimes an affordable transcription service can seem hard to find. Transcription is not cheap, because it is a lot more involved than copy typing, but that doesn't mean you can't find a good deal with a transcription service, and what's more, by providing good quality recordings you can make the transcription more affordable, as it will take less time to complete.
When pricing up your options the most important thing to remember is that it's just not possible to type as fast as you speak. Even an experienced transcriptionist will be able to average four times as long for a good, clear one-to-one interview - so an hour of recording will take an average of four hours to transcribe. (Industry standards obtained from the Industry Production Standards Guide (1998), published by OBC, Columbus, OH, USA). But a poor quality recording will take much longer. So how can you make sure that your transcript is clear, in order to get an affordable transcription price? Basically, the easier you make the transcription for the transcriptionist, the more likely they are to be able to give you an affordable transcription quote.
First of all, use the best transcription equipment you can afford, and make sure it's right for your needs. This means that for interviews you should have a recorded with an external microphone rather than one built into the recorder, which is only designed to pick up dictation. For focus groups you should have several microphones so that all participants are audible, and for conferences the speakers should have good microphones and there should also be people in the audience with 'roving' microphones to take around to any audience members wanting to ask a question.
Always try to make sure that you are recording in a quiet environment. Open windows can cause big problems unless you have a 'noise cancelling' microphone, which many digital ones are these days. So can air conditioning, so if you do have an air conditioning unit in the room try to ensure your speakers are not situated close to it. If conducting interviews by phone, and assuming that you have arranged these in advance (and asked permission to record, of course) then it's helpful to ask your interviewee to try to make sure they're in a quiet environment too!
If you are interviewing and you want the names included then it is helpful to spell out your interviewee's name at the beginning of the recording, before starting the interview, and speak out any information you would like on the transcript header e.g. the date, the job title of your interviewee etc. For conferences a speaker list and also a delegate list, if there will be audience questions, can save the transcriptionist a lot of time in trying to work out names and organisations.
During the interview, unless you need to interrupt in order to take back control of the interview, try not to speak over your interviewee. Often in a normal conversation we say 'yeah, yeah, yeah' or 'right' or 'OK' more to indicate we're listening than for any other reason. Every time you say that you are likely to be obscuring a much more important word or group of words spoken by your interviewee. And in conferences or panel discussions, if one speaker is giving a talk (i.e. without interruptions, not a discussion) make sure everyone else's microphones are turned off. I have, in the past, had to mark whole sentences or even paragraphs of a talk as inaudible, because all I could hear were two panel members chatting about their holidays or little Jonny's operation, and not the speaker!
Most transcriptionists work in a standard format, whether that be tabular, tabbed, interviews shown as initials or full names etc. Again most are happy to work to your specifications, but the standard format might well be cheaper, so think carefully about whether you need something different or not. Find out what the standard format is in advance if it concerns you, and you may be able to adapt it to your needs.
Finally, give some serious thought to whether or not you need a verbatim transcription. Verbatim transcription includes every repeated word, every 'um' and 'erm', all those 'filler' phrases like 'you know' and 'know what I mean' that may be repeated a hundred times in one interview, and can also include pauses, coughs, throat clearing etc. if required. Needless to say, this takes longer. If the transcriptionist can filter out all this stuff the transcript is quicker. In my company the cheapest level is what we call 'intelligent verbatim' which cuts out all these fillers but leaves the rest exactly as it's spoken. Different transcriptionists work this differently though, so always check when you're phoning for your quote. You can find detailed information about our editing levels on our website.
There are, of course, occasions when verbatim is required - depending on your topic it might be required for legal reasons, or you might be studying the language. But if you really don't need it, don't end up paying for it!
And finally, remember that the cheapest transcription quote might not be the most affordable one in the end. There is an oft-quoted phrase: if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Will it really be cost-effective to send your hard-won interviews to the cheapest service if what comes back is gobbledygook and you have to go through the whole thing correcting every other word? How much time will you then waste that could have been spent more productively? Recommendation is always the ideal way to find a service, but if no one you know can recommend a transcription service then look for testimonials. A good company with a strong track record should always be able to provide these. If you're still not sure, ask questions and base your decision on the quality of the answers. Things you might like to ask are: turnaround time (when will you get the transcripts), confidentiality procedures, whether they have experience in your field, what the standard format is etc. Sphere: Related Content
When pricing up your options the most important thing to remember is that it's just not possible to type as fast as you speak. Even an experienced transcriptionist will be able to average four times as long for a good, clear one-to-one interview - so an hour of recording will take an average of four hours to transcribe. (Industry standards obtained from the Industry Production Standards Guide (1998), published by OBC, Columbus, OH, USA). But a poor quality recording will take much longer. So how can you make sure that your transcript is clear, in order to get an affordable transcription price? Basically, the easier you make the transcription for the transcriptionist, the more likely they are to be able to give you an affordable transcription quote.
First of all, use the best transcription equipment you can afford, and make sure it's right for your needs. This means that for interviews you should have a recorded with an external microphone rather than one built into the recorder, which is only designed to pick up dictation. For focus groups you should have several microphones so that all participants are audible, and for conferences the speakers should have good microphones and there should also be people in the audience with 'roving' microphones to take around to any audience members wanting to ask a question.
Always try to make sure that you are recording in a quiet environment. Open windows can cause big problems unless you have a 'noise cancelling' microphone, which many digital ones are these days. So can air conditioning, so if you do have an air conditioning unit in the room try to ensure your speakers are not situated close to it. If conducting interviews by phone, and assuming that you have arranged these in advance (and asked permission to record, of course) then it's helpful to ask your interviewee to try to make sure they're in a quiet environment too!
If you are interviewing and you want the names included then it is helpful to spell out your interviewee's name at the beginning of the recording, before starting the interview, and speak out any information you would like on the transcript header e.g. the date, the job title of your interviewee etc. For conferences a speaker list and also a delegate list, if there will be audience questions, can save the transcriptionist a lot of time in trying to work out names and organisations.
During the interview, unless you need to interrupt in order to take back control of the interview, try not to speak over your interviewee. Often in a normal conversation we say 'yeah, yeah, yeah' or 'right' or 'OK' more to indicate we're listening than for any other reason. Every time you say that you are likely to be obscuring a much more important word or group of words spoken by your interviewee. And in conferences or panel discussions, if one speaker is giving a talk (i.e. without interruptions, not a discussion) make sure everyone else's microphones are turned off. I have, in the past, had to mark whole sentences or even paragraphs of a talk as inaudible, because all I could hear were two panel members chatting about their holidays or little Jonny's operation, and not the speaker!
Most transcriptionists work in a standard format, whether that be tabular, tabbed, interviews shown as initials or full names etc. Again most are happy to work to your specifications, but the standard format might well be cheaper, so think carefully about whether you need something different or not. Find out what the standard format is in advance if it concerns you, and you may be able to adapt it to your needs.
Finally, give some serious thought to whether or not you need a verbatim transcription. Verbatim transcription includes every repeated word, every 'um' and 'erm', all those 'filler' phrases like 'you know' and 'know what I mean' that may be repeated a hundred times in one interview, and can also include pauses, coughs, throat clearing etc. if required. Needless to say, this takes longer. If the transcriptionist can filter out all this stuff the transcript is quicker. In my company the cheapest level is what we call 'intelligent verbatim' which cuts out all these fillers but leaves the rest exactly as it's spoken. Different transcriptionists work this differently though, so always check when you're phoning for your quote. You can find detailed information about our editing levels on our website.
There are, of course, occasions when verbatim is required - depending on your topic it might be required for legal reasons, or you might be studying the language. But if you really don't need it, don't end up paying for it!
And finally, remember that the cheapest transcription quote might not be the most affordable one in the end. There is an oft-quoted phrase: if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Will it really be cost-effective to send your hard-won interviews to the cheapest service if what comes back is gobbledygook and you have to go through the whole thing correcting every other word? How much time will you then waste that could have been spent more productively? Recommendation is always the ideal way to find a service, but if no one you know can recommend a transcription service then look for testimonials. A good company with a strong track record should always be able to provide these. If you're still not sure, ask questions and base your decision on the quality of the answers. Things you might like to ask are: turnaround time (when will you get the transcripts), confidentiality procedures, whether they have experience in your field, what the standard format is etc. Sphere: Related Content
Medical Transcription sector to boom despite recession: report
Despite global economic downtrend, the Medical Transcription (MT) industry is looking for a further growth buoyed by a report of the NASSCOM stating that recession has not hit the healthcare industry.
Reverse is the trend in medical transcription outsourcing in the US, which is witnessing agonising attrition in large scale in IT, financial, manufacturing and other sectors.
As per a NASSCOM report, the MT industry will be worth Rs 40 billion by 2010 and could employ as many as 50,000 people. It predicts that this industry is here to stay for at least 10 years.
It estimated the size of the US MT industry, which is in the range of around $ 12 million in 2005, would reach $ 16.8 billion by 2010. The work offshored was expected to be in the region of $ 860 million in 2010, of which India is expected to capture $ 647 million. India remained a preferred offshore destination primarily due to availability of manpower and industry maturity.
The report also expected the employee strength of 18,000 in 2006 in India-based MT vendors would reach 52,000 by 2010. For an industry that witnessed too much crowding, too fast in India, a report conducted by US-based Stevens International Consulting expected the value of MT outsourcing in the US to double by 2005 to $ 4 billion. India could take as much as two-thirds of that increase, providing work to 45,000 transcribers. Sphere: Related Content
Reverse is the trend in medical transcription outsourcing in the US, which is witnessing agonising attrition in large scale in IT, financial, manufacturing and other sectors.
As per a NASSCOM report, the MT industry will be worth Rs 40 billion by 2010 and could employ as many as 50,000 people. It predicts that this industry is here to stay for at least 10 years.
It estimated the size of the US MT industry, which is in the range of around $ 12 million in 2005, would reach $ 16.8 billion by 2010. The work offshored was expected to be in the region of $ 860 million in 2010, of which India is expected to capture $ 647 million. India remained a preferred offshore destination primarily due to availability of manpower and industry maturity.
The report also expected the employee strength of 18,000 in 2006 in India-based MT vendors would reach 52,000 by 2010. For an industry that witnessed too much crowding, too fast in India, a report conducted by US-based Stevens International Consulting expected the value of MT outsourcing in the US to double by 2005 to $ 4 billion. India could take as much as two-thirds of that increase, providing work to 45,000 transcribers. Sphere: Related Content
What do I think about taking a free medical transcription course
Quite often I have people asking me if I know of a good free medical transcription course. Quite frankly, I have no idea why anyone would want to take free classes to become an MT. The old saying stands “you get what you pay for”. If you are truly interested in becoming a medical transcriptionist and beginning a new career then you want the very best education you can get.
Anyone offering a free medical transcription course is not going to pay very well. Why would they, they had to educate you first. The reason they offer free medical transcription training is so that they can pay you very little and so that you will have to stay working for them. You will not be able to take that free training and go work for anyone else as the education will be limited to their company format only. It is not worth it!
Many of the top medical transcription schools offer payment plans if money is a worry, and if you don’t want to pay for your education then you cannot be very serious about becoming an MT. This job is not just a typing job. This job is a part of the medical industry. Maintaining completely accurate health care records is a must and there are many factors that you need to learn to create those health care records. Medical terminology, grammar and proper formatting of reports as well as the HIPPA rules are just a few.
Bottom line, if you want a real, legitimate career in medical transcription forget about anyone offering a free medical transcription course. Get your medical transcription training from one of the recommended medical transcription courses by AHDI and you will be able get a legitimate medical transcription job after you graduate and be paid what you are worth.
Sphere: Related ContentWill advances in technology affect the future of the medical transcription profession?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions I see. Unfortunately, there are so many naysayers out there spreading their negativity and convincing people, who otherwise would have found a wonderful career, not to pursue it. I was very happy to see this question asked of David Clegg, Deputy Chairman of the Employment Security Commission in NC.
I had thought about becoming a medical transcriptionist, but I think they might be a dying breed due to technology advances. Do you agree? – Betty Normandin, Pinehurst
The health industry is going to be one of the most robust sectors of the economy. Medical transcription will be expected to grow as an occupational category but it is going to be one that will have to adapt to quickly changing technology. ESC data show that the occupation will grow about 2 percent a year. The average wage for that job now is around $35,000.
As I have been saying for the last few years, technology is not perfect but medical reports do have to be perfect. There is just too much that computers cannot take into account such as the many different accents, editing of grammar, proper formatting, etc. MTSO’s as well as medical transcriptionists will definitely have to adapt to new technology and we are. Things cannot, will not and should not stay the same. We are always evolving and those of us who can accept that and adapt to it, instead of fear it, will succeed.
Thanks so much to Betty Normandin for asking the question and to David Clegg for answering it so honestly.
Sphere: Related ContentOutsourcing Transcription Work - White Paper
Transcription is basically defined as any typing of oral recordings (intelligent verbatim transcription) – these days on a digital recorder, often supplied by a company called Olympus and recorded onto a CD or digital file.
The file is then sent to a transcriber (typist) who uses software to turn the recorded work into a manuscript. This is the transcript and hence we get the word transcription.
Transcription has become fairly big business and a lot of companies and firms are experimenting with outsourcing transcription work.
General Dictation
There are two sorts of outsourced transcription work, the first being day to day, general dictation by managers, fee earners and professionals and these tend to be mainly letters, memos and reports. There are big enterprises in the UK and the USA that outsource the typing work to call centre operations in India and South Africa. These operations can be running many hundreds of thousands of recordings at any one time and the turnaround rate is usually within hours.
The cost of outsourcing day to day transcription work is usually very good and can safe companies considerably, though not as one much as one would expect. Firstly, a secretary on site can often be handling lots of different things at any one time, including enquiries, telephone calls and some junior fee earning managerial tasks. A secretary offshore in India can simply type a letter.
Recordings – Interviews & Research
The second sort of transcription is the longer recordings of interviews, reports, consultations and conferences.
These tend to be bulk orders and will be a number of tapes, CDs or digital files recorded of discussions, meetings or straightforward one to one interviews - the transcription is simply a full record of the recording.
Court transcription services are a good example of this, although most courts have their own select list of transcribers who will simply do court work and nothing else on a set contract with their machinery in the courtrooms.
The second type of recording (ie: conferences and meetings) tends to be very time consuming, and often companies & organisations will look to outsource this so that they can free up staff internally to deal with other work.
A good example of this is solicitors firms where a police station interview needs transcribing; usually a secretary would have to do it. However a secretary transcribing a 30 minute police station interview requires about four hours of time. Four hours of a secretary’s day would be very costly to a solicitor when the secretary is also taking telephone calls, general typing and admin work.
Another example would be a company who had an employment tribunal hearing and need a recording of a disciplinary meeting transcribing. The cost of transcribing a disciplinary meeting again can be measured in terms of the time it would take someone from a department to sit down and type out the whole meeting. This means that for every 20 minutes of recording, somebody has got to sit for probably in the region of about three hours to transcribe. Three hours of somebody’s time to do this is often too expensive for the company and usually somebody volunteers to do it, realises how hard the work is within about five minutes and says they won’t do it with the work being outsourced at that stage!
These are the reasons why transcription has become so popular to be outsourced – it frees up staff time and also gets rid of a very unpopular task that can be turned around quickly and effectively offsite by experienced transcribers.
TRANSDYNE Transcription Services is an online cost-effective outsourcing operation that is cost effective for companies and organisations to have work transcribed, whether for small or large orders. The company regularly deals with universities, plc’s and SME’s across the US. Sphere: Related ContentOutsourcing vs. In-house Medical Transcription
Effectively, outsourcing is the modern day progression of an idea that has always existed in trade, but has found new application with the advancement and adoption of new technologies.
Applied to the area of medical services, as healthcare organizations and providers grow in size and operations, it becomes imperative that their focus be directed to their core activities (patient care) while non-core functions (like transcription and billing) are contracted out or outsourced to organizations which specialize in that particular function. This allows medical providers to do things a lot more efficiently and enables them to do more with less.
With the daily challenges of managing patient information and stringent regulations, managing a full medical transcription staff also puts a strain on the time and resources of a medical organization. Outsourcing medical transcription work in such a scenario is not only immensely beneficial, but also comes with a few other advantages that are not possible with in-house transcription. Listed below are a few of these benefits.
1 Lower Capital Investment & Equipment Expenses
When you outsource your medical transcription requirements, you no longer have to own or maintain a dictation system, a typing platform or worry about upgrading your equipment. Your capital expenses on maintenance with the average maintenance agreement can cost upwards of 10% of equipment costs, annually. Maintaining an in-house transcription team also places certain office equipment and space expenses which are removed by outsourcing.
2 Turnaround time guarantees & Volume fluctuations
While the number of documents generated by a healthcare organization averages out across months, on a daily basis document volume can fluctuate heavily because of dictation frequency and patient volume. This not only increases management overhead but also delays transcription more often than not. With a medical transcription vendor, you are provided with guarantees on turnaround time so that patient documents are never delayed. This removes the need for you to set document priority based on the criticality and urgency of a document and ensures that all documents are available when you need them.
3 Reduced management overheads
The amount of time needed to manage medical transcription in-house can be a large overhead when you consider tasks like managing dictations, allocating transcription work, setting document priority and maintaining archives of audio and documents. Outsourcing reduces these overheads effectively improving efficiency in other areas.
4 Benefits from economies of scale
Transcription firms usually handle dictations from several hundreds and sometimes thousands of medical professionals on a daily basis. Because of the volumes they handle, transcription of documents is streamlined with the implementation of commercial workflow systems, set workflow practices and quality assurance processes. These practices improve quality while reducing costs. More often than not, these cost benefits are passed on to customers reducing your transcription expense while improving quality.
5 Online Documents and Archives
The advent of online medical transcription and associated document management systems, in the last few years has resulted in a number of web based tools that simplify organization and management of documents. In-house transcription requires a painstaking system of distributing and archiving reports generated on a daily basis. Shifting to an outsourced transcription solution usually comes with a free online document management system that removes a number of these document management overheads. These free systems provide a simple a number of secure document management features in an easy-to-use interface. Apart from removing the IT costs associated with owning and maintaining such systems, they result in a number of staff efficiency gains.
6 Lower direct labor costs
Hiring transcribers as full time employees adds to your direct labor costs in terms of salaries, payroll benefits and payroll taxes, increasing the total cost of running your organization. Outsourcing removes a large number of these costs.
We have gone over the efficiency and quality benefits that accompany outsourced medical transcription solutions. We also touched on the broad cost benefits associated with medical transcription outsourcing. Let us now break down some of these expenses to get a clearer picture. The actual amounts spent on each of the below expenses vary from organization to organization.
If you have done the calculation above, it becomes apparent that if you do your medical transcription within the organization, wages constitute only a percentage of your total cost.
When you outsource your transcription the rest of the overheads mentioned above are managed by the transcription provider who takes advantage of economies of scale.
Other bonuses like web-based document management systems and support for a number of features and options, contribute towards making medical transcription outsourcing an invaluable and essential tool that helps a focused Medical Service Organization devote its time to its core function, that of Patient Care.
Sphere: Related ContentMonday, February 23, 2009
Outsourcing Transcription: What Are the Driving Forces?
Medical transcription is accelerating rapidly in virtually every area. Volume, line count, productivity demands, investment costs, managerial requirements, industry regulations, staffing pressures, physician expectations, process complexity—all these burdens are increasing at an overwhelming pace. For these reasons and more, a growing number of medical facilities are transferring their transcription services to external companies.
The driving forces behind outsourcing can be divided into three basic areas: turnaround, technology, and management.
Turnaround
The most clear-cut reason for outsourcing is increasing productivity and turnaround time (TAT). Not too many years ago, a TAT of 48 to 72 hours was common and acceptable. Those days are gone. In the modern world, physicians and patients expect complete medical records to be available within hours of dictation. Healthcare facilities also have a strong financial motivation to ensure quick TATs due to the billing cycle’s dependency on completed transcription. In addition, JCAHO requirements and other regulations have also added pressure to increase TAT.
The ability to meet strict TAT demands is increasingly difficult for even the largest hospital chains. The primary reason is staffing. The number of qualified medical transcriptionists (MTs) entering the job market in the United States is decreasing every year. In fact, there are more MTs retiring than who are joining the profession. Add growing demands to a shrinking workforce and it makes for an extremely difficult situation.
Assuming a healthcare facility is able to recruit an adequate number of MTs, there is the problem of fluctuating volume. The maximum capacity MTs can accommodate remains constant, but the number of transcription files can vary dramatically. Many hospitals find themselves paying massive overtime during busy periods while still failing to meet TAT requirements. Meanwhile, the same hospitals are paying MTs to remain idle during slow periods.
By outsourcing transcription work to a large medical transcription service organization (MTSO), a facility will be reasonably assured of steady productivity and a consistent TAT on all transcription files regardless of any fluctuations in volume. Furthermore, pricing is based on the number of lines transcribed. Rates will not increase with volume, nor will you pay for any MTs not actively working on your files.
Technology
In addition to MT salaries (and the salaries of their supervisors), healthcare facilities must also account for the cost of transcription technology. Having the right hardware and software is critical for optimizing productivity, but identifying the “best” technology is an extraordinarily difficult process—especially considering it is a perpetually moving target. Which new applications and upgrades are worth investing in? The answer varies from hospital to hospital, doctor to doctor, and worktype to worktype.
Speech recognition can be a valuable tool in some areas—radiology, for example—but it produces limited results in others. Some doctors will benefit from handheld PDA dictation capability that automatically matches patient schedule and/or admission, discharge, transfer to the dictation file, while others will be more comfortable using more traditional dictation methods. Some facilities will use the full range of capabilities allowed by their transcription software, while others require only a small number of its resources. Uncertainty leads many facilities to pay for unnecessary technology.
Avoiding obsolescence is another major concern. Rapid advancements in software increase the risk that an expensive new application will be quickly outdated, and the life span of new hardware seems to shrink every year. Also, system maintenance can consume a great deal of time and capital.
Maintaining top-of-the-line equipment and software for every step of the transcription process would be cost prohibitive for almost any medical facility, even assuming the IT staff has the expertise to select and maintain the ideal technologies. An MTSO, however, is able to take advantage of industry expertise and economies of scale to consistently identify and incorporate the best, new technology.
Partnering with an MTSO usually ensures that transcription services will be performed on state-of-the-art hardware and software. Plus, a facility will be able to pick and choose which technological capabilities are right for its needs and budget, rather than being forced to install a complete system with capabilities it will never use.
Management
Medical transcription is a complex and unique area of expertise within the healthcare industry. The process, protocols, and technology involved are highly specialized to the task. With 24/7 service being the norm for medical transcription, healthcare facilities are finding it difficult to keep qualified MT supervisors on the job around the clock.
Transcription requires active management and strict quality assurance. It is necessary to have managers with a thorough understanding of the medical transcription field. Managers must oversee MT training, develop appropriate compensation packages, monitor transcription quality levels, evaluate process problems and improvements, and other specialized tasks. This is in addition to standard human resources concerns such as recruitment, sick days, turnover, etc.
Too often these responsibilities fall on the health information professional, a position that has grown increasingly challenging as job responsibilities continue to grow. Without the necessary transcription background or time required to properly manage an MT workforce, productivity and efficiency may suffer. MTSOs specialize in the transcription process and are able to alleviate the burden of MT management from facility administrators.
Conclusion
In the past, healthcare facilities have been concerned about instability and interruptions in the flow of transcription files when dealing with an outside company. Today, transcription outsourcing is an established industry with proven leaders. As healthcare administrators seek new solutions to their transcription needs, the advantages of outsourcing become increasingly apparent.
Growing volume is making it increasingly difficult for healthcare facilities to achieve aggressive turnaround times on their own—especially as the MT workforce continues to shrink. Furthermore, advances in transcription technology require capital investments that many healthcare facilities are unwilling to make because of costs and uncertainty. In addition, managing the MT staff requires a level of expertise that is often impossible for administrators who are in the business of overall patient care, not transcription alone.
These forces are driving modern medical facilities to seek partnerships with outsourcing companies that specialize in and optimize the transcription process.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Virtual Transcription Services
Digital transcription is fast becoming the norm now that digital equipment has made it possible for transcription companies to provide online dictation and transcription services, delivering completed transcripts to clients located anywhere across the globe in record time. The process of transcription online (virtual transcription) means that transcription companies can rapidly and easily transcribe all kinds of standard and non-standard recordings (digital sound transcription, multimedia transcription, CD transcription, VHS and cassette tape transcription, mini and micro cassette transcription etc.), providing clients with accurate transcripts in the hard copy format of their choice.
Transdyne has resolved any security issues associated with online transcription by uploading files to secure websites. Clients send us their sound (or visual) files online in wav or any other compatible format, and we will deliver the completed transcripts via FTP, True Share, secure email, and, of course, courier, fax or regular mail. Our audio transcription services include converting your files into the optimal quality digital format to process.
Our online transcription service is equipped with state-of-the-art digital equipment, and offers superior, efficient and complete solutions to the process of transcription - from the initial dictation phase to the final phases of document management, production, distribution and storage.
Transdyne is a leading national outsourcer of transcription services. To provide superior quality online transcription services, we employ both highly experienced transcriptionists AND information technology experts who ensure that your dictations and recorded material are efficiently converted into data before being sent to the transcribers.
Internet transcription is useful in all the specialized areas of transcription. Online medical transcription is a rapidly growing sector of outsourced transcription, for example, and online medical transcription is fast becoming one of the major specializations of Transdyne online transcription services.
Transdyne is not a specialized transcription company. We provide general transcription services, as well as a complete range of specialized professional transcription services, including:
- Academic Transcription
- Legal Transcription (Court Transcription, Interview Transcription …)
- Corporate Transcription (Conference Transcription, Meeting Transcription, Insurance Transcription …)
- Multi-media transcription (Video Transcription, Podcast Transcription, Cassette Transcription …)
- Medical Transcription (Hospital Transcription, Medical Record Transcription …)
- Dictation Services
- Typing Services, and much more
A major advantage of online transcription is that it makes it possible for us to offer first-rate accurate transcription at unbeatable rates. Clients also appreciate virtual transcription services because they are fast, efficient - and simple to work with. In addition, clients no longer need to worry about such considerations as time zones, geographical location or business hours.
Sphere: Related ContentOutsourcing vs. In-house Medical Transcription
Effectively, outsourcing is the modern day progression of an idea that has always existed in trade, but has found new application with the advancement and adoption of new technologies.
Applied to the area of medical services, as healthcare organizations and providers grow in size and operations, it becomes imperative that their focus be directed to their core activities (patient care) while non-core functions (like transcription and billing) are contracted out or outsourced to organizations which specialize in that particular function. This allows medical providers to do things a lot more efficiently and enables them to do more with less.
With the daily challenges of managing patient information and stringent regulations, managing a full medical transcription staff also puts a strain on the time and resources of a medical organization. Outsourcing medical transcription work in such a scenario is not only immensely beneficial, but also comes with a few other advantages that are not possible with in-house transcription. Listed below are a few of these benefits.
1 Lower Capital Investment & Equipment Expenses
When you outsource your medical transcription requirements, you no longer have to own or maintain a dictation system, a typing platform or worry about upgrading your equipment. Your capital expenses on maintenance with the average maintenance agreement can cost upwards of 10% of equipment costs, annually.
Maintaining an in-house transcription team also places certain office equipment and space expenses which are removed by outsourcing.
2 Turnaround time guarantees & Volume fluctuations
While the number of documents generated by a healthcare organization averages out across months, on a daily basis document volume can fluctuate heavily because of dictation frequency and patient volume. This not only increases management overhead but also delays transcription more often than not.
With a medical transcription vendor, you are provided with guarantees on turnaround time so that patient documents are never delayed. This removes the need for you to set document priority based on the criticality and urgency of a document and ensures that all documents are available when you need them.
3 Reduced management overheads
The amount of time needed to manage medical transcription in-house can be a large overhead when you consider tasks like managing dictations, allocating transcription work, setting document priority and maintaining archives of audio and documents. Outsourcing reduces these overheads effectively improving efficiency in other areas.
4 Benefits from economies of scale
Transcription firms usually handle dictations from several hundreds and sometimes thousands of medical professionals on a daily basis. Because of the volumes they handle, transcription of documents is streamlined with the implementation of commercial workflow systems, set workflow practices and quality assurance processes. These practices improve quality while reducing costs. More often than not, these cost benefits are passed on to customers reducing your transcription expense while improving quality.
5 Online Documents and Archives
The advent of online medical transcription and associated document management systems, in the last few years has resulted in a number of web based tools that simplify organization and management of documents.
In-house transcription requires a painstaking system of distributing and archiving reports generated on a daily basis. Shifting to an outsourced transcription solution usually comes with a free online document management system that removes a number of these document management overheads.
These free systems provide a simple a number of secure document management features in an easy-to-use interface.
Apart from removing the IT costs associated with owning and maintaining such systems, they result in a number of staff efficiency gains.
6 Lower direct labor costs
Hiring transcribers as full time employees adds to your direct labor costs in terms of salaries, payroll benefits and payroll taxes, increasing the total cost of running your organization. Outsourcing removes a large number of these costs.
We have gone over the efficiency and quality benefits that accompany outsourced medical transcription solutions. We also touched on the broad cost benefits associated with medical transcription outsourcing. Let us now break down some of these expenses to get a clearer picture. The actual amounts spent on each of the below expenses vary from organization to organization.
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday, February 3, 2009
Gain The Medical Transcription Wages You Deserve
Do you want to know what a great medical transcription wages is and how to get there fast? All transcriptionists want to know this.
That really is only natural after all - what is the point in learning the medical terminology skills if the rewards are not there?
The first thing you need to note is that MT wages vary considerably. They increase with both your competence and experience.
According to the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, in May 2007 the mean hourly medical transcription wage was US$15.44. The mean annual wage was US$32,120.
As you read on you will see how you can far surpass these medical transcription wages.
Industries with the highest levels of employment were General Medical and Surgical Hospitals, and wages rates were highest in Medical and Diagnostic Laboratories.
The top paying industries for a medical transcription salary were in Agencies, Brokerages and Other Insurance Related Activities.
In the US the highest concentration of workers was in South Dakota, where the hourly mean wage was $13.28 and the annual mean wage was $27,620. The top paying state was California with their hourly mean medical transcription wages of $19.15 and an annual mean wage of $39840.
In May 2002 a survey was conducted by the AHDI that reported an average medical transcriptionists salary to be US$31,400.
A survey conducted towards the end of 2002 by the magazine Advance for Health Information Professionals revealed that certified medical transcriptionists earned more than their non-certified counterparts.
The average medical transcriptionists salary was US$29732 with the CMT’s earning an average of US$36,225 annually.
Medical Transcription Wages Per Line Rates
The number of lines you can produce on a daily basis is an important factor and often the medical transcription wages you earn are determined by this production. This is especially so for those employed by a medical transcription services company or as an independent contractor.
Medical transcription pay rates vary on the number of lines and the price you are being paid per line.
To give you an idea, a medical transcriptionist typing
800 lines/day @ 8 cents per line = annual income US$16,640
1500 lines @ 6 cents per line = annual income US$23,400
1500 lines @ 10 cents per line = annual income US$39,000
1500 lines @ 14 cents per line = annual income US$54,600
2000 lines @ 6 cents per line = annual income US$31,200
2000 lines @ 12 cents per line = annual income US$62,400
As you can see from these figures two important factors in your income are your ability to negotiate the best package, and your productivity. Remember you also need the accuracy.
A positive self image and good people skills helps when negotiating.
An average annual income for full-time entry-level medical transcriptionists typing hospital reports is in the range from US$20,000 to US$35000, depending on your location and competence.
As you gain experience, and if you chose to become an independent contractor, you are in a position to increase your earnings. Overheads need to be deducted from your income when you are a contractor.
The average production based medical transcription wages are between 6 cents and 10 cents per line. As your speed and proficiency increase and you gain your own clients, you can bill 10 cents to 16 cents per line.
Primary Factors Affecting Medical Transcription Salary Income
1. Competence
2. Area of Specialty
3. Experience
4. Whether you are a Contractor or Employee
5. Speed and Efficiency
6. Flexibility
7. Geographic Location (this is becoming less important with technology changes)
Those specializing in areas of health like acute care, multi specialty clinic ER, Oncology and Radiology are in demand and this increases the rates paid to the competent transcriptionist.
When looking for the best position consider the medical transcription jobs employee benefits that go along with the job.
Summing it all up to achieve the best medical transcription wages you need to:
• Become certified
• Specialize in an in demand field that you enjoy
• Get your speed and accuracy up
Then as your experience increases, you WILL be in demand! Sphere: Related Content
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