Medical Transcription in India and Recession in the USA

The Indian rupee has steadily increased in value vis-à-vis the US dollar over the last five years. The dollar, which was worth almost 48 Indian rupees five years ago, is now worth less than 40. The question is whether this appreciation in the value of the rupee has made outsourcing unattractive for businesses wanting to cut costs.

One of the industries outsourced to India from the USA in order to cut costs is medical transcription. The outsourcing saga was driven by a lot of factors:

• High labor costs in the USA - the average annual wage for a US medical transcriptionist is about $30,000 (www.bls.gov) while that of an Indian medical transcriptionist is about one-fourth that amount.
• The unappealing nature of the profession - the average American would find it difficult to manage a family on a medical transcriptionist's salary.
• An aging workforce - the average American medical transcriptionist is 50-plus years of age while the average Indian medical transcriptionist is around 25 years of age.
• The turnaround time factor - medical transcriptionists working in Indian companies work around the clock in three shifts, and there is no shortage of qualified manpower. A physician can expect to sign his report within a couple of hours of having dictated it.
• The Indian government encouraged companies to start medical transcription services and gave them tax holidays.
• The US government was trying to cut costs on healthcare.
• India had a skilled workforce with the largest English-speaking population in the world.
  

Fourteen years ago, that record was held by the USA. India's English-speaking population is more than the total population of the UK and the USA combined. English has a special status in India - in parliament, courts, broadcasting, the media, and schools.

What is the situation today? The dollar is sinking and the rupee is rising. Will outsourcing medical transcription to India still remain a viable cost-effective alternative?

Industry insiders opine that cost is not the only motivating factor for outsourcing, although it might be one of the main factors. A large number of young and energetic potential medical transcriptionists willing to work in shifts round the clock in a US company's offshore facility would ease training issues for any particular client. The regulated milieu of an offshore center would also help towards achieving high quality benchmarks and turnaround time.

The outsourcing trend continues unabated. While some people state that 20% of all medical transcription work is outsourced, others put the figure as high as 50%. Some companies based in the US even claim to have the work done onshore and surreptitiously outsource their work without admitting it publicly.

Jargon such as narrowing exchange rates may sound confusing, but ultimately, the sinking dollar combined with the rising rupee may possibly mean higher wage bills and lesser profits for companies that are outsourcing jobs to India. While the appreciation of the rupee can affect business operations in India, companies can still be competitive because India has developed a very strong medical transcription industry during the last ten years or so. In the present scenario, we have Indian companies transcribing even for British and Australian hospitals.

For bigger players in the medical transcription industry, these currency exchange fluctuations do not matter. They have found their talent pools and nurtured them. These companies encourage their brightest medical transcriptionists to take the CMT examination from the Thomson Prometric centers available near their centers and reimburse the fees. New research and development initiatives are constantly being undertaken in these companies. These bigger players are also discovering that the Indian work ethic is far superior to the American one.

The labor situation in the US is also a cause for alarm. While the American medical transcription industry's workload is increasing annually, manpower is also decreasing annually, raising questions about who will make up for the shortfall. In the 1980s, medical transcription was an attractive proposition and prospective employers received many job applications, but today the situation is different because many Americans think that medical transcription is not an attractive proposition anymore. This worries a lot of companies that have not outsourced their work so far.

Recognizing the shortage of medical transcriptionists nationwide, the Department of Labor declared medical transcription as an apprenticeable profession as a prelude to establishing a national apprenticeship program. The Medical Transcription Industry Association and the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity applied for apprenticeability determination for qualifying graduates of selected medical transcription training programs, and it is learned that the US Department of Labor (DOL) approved this application (www.mtia.com).

Although it is hoped that many will participate in these programs, the lack of American talent may lead to a Catch-22 situation for most companies who do not prefer outsourcing medical transcription to India or other countries.

Most large medical transcription companies who use overseas workers also offer US-based transcription because a number of healthcare providers still prefer working with American transcriptionists. This may be due to a misconception that American medical transcriptionists are better than Indian ones, but most well-established vendors in India have now proved that Indian medical transcriptionists are as good as if not better than their American counterparts, especially when handling dictators who are not native English speakers.

Larger transcription providers are making the outsourcing story work, the rise of the rupee notwithstanding. For example, large companies have proved that they can hold their own and yet be profitably managed while maintaining the highest quality standards. No client would outsource to India just to save a few dollars if the quality were to be bad.

As clients expect faster turnaround times, excellent quality, and reduced overheads, the scenario of the future may well be an amalgam of onshore and offshore medical transcription, especially with the labor shortage in the US.

Last but not least, HIPAA regulations would be better served by outsourcing medical transcription. A medical transcriptionist in a foreign country would not be curious about who a patient is or what his or her condition is. The patient would be just another faceless person; the job to be done would be just another file to be transcribed. Confidentiality of the medical record would be automatically assured. Somebody named Venkatanarasimhalakshmiraju, for instance, who transcribes a medical report in Hyderabad would not care or be bothered about a Jane Doe's pregnancy or a John Doe's prostate.

An unknown person in one corner of the world transcribing your medical records as a matter of routine would be better at protecting your privacy than somebody in the neighborhood inquisitive about why you appear sick and haven't turned up for work.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

Medical Transcription Profession

An individual who performs medical transcription is known as a medical transcriptionist, or less frequently and incorrectly, a medical transcriber. A medical transcriptionist is the one responsible for documenting patient medical records. The term medical transcriber may also refer to an electronic equipment used to perform medical transcription.

There are no formal educational requirements for MTs. Education in medical transcription may be obtained through traditional schooling, certificate or diploma programs, distance learning, and/or on-the-job training. But some countries require 18 months to 2 years of specialized MT training. An MT profession requires mastery in medical terminology, adroitness in editing, and the ability to type while listening.

Medical transcription does not require registration or certification. However, some do seek registration or certification for personal or professional reasons. It is important to note that obtaining a certificate from a medical transcription training program does not entitle an MT to use the title of Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT). The CMT credential is only earned by passing a certification examination conducted by The American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT). The AAMT also offers the credential of Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT). According to the AAMT, the RMT is a lower-level credential than the CMT.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required

• Knowledge of medical terminology
• Transcription skills.
• Ability to sort, check, count, and verify numbers.
• Skill in the use of operating basic office equipment.
• Ability to follow routine verbal and written instructions.
• Ability to document work in progress.
• Records maintenance skills.
  

MT Duties and Responsibilities

• Transcribes and edits recorded or written material, including operative reports, discharge summaries, patient history and examinations, physician letters and notes, and pharmacy, rehabilitation, autopsy, and x-ray reports.
• Verifies accuracy of patient information such as name and identification number; verifies accuracy of transcription for correct punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
• Maintains logs of medical procedures, incoming dictation, and transcription records.
• Sorts, copies, prepare, assemble, and files records and charts.
• Distributes and collects dictation and transcribed reports; follows up on physicians’ missing and/or late dictation.
• Performs quality assurance documentation.
• May maintain disk and disk back up system; may order supplies and report equipment operational problems.
• May collect, tabulate, and generate reports on statistical data, as appropriate.
• May assist with telephone coverage.
• May take minutes of transcription department meetings.
• Performs miscellaneous job-related duties as assigned.
  

Distinguishing Characteristics

Position requires: a) Transcription, verification, and editing of various recorded and/or manuscripted medical reports, documents, and correspondence. b) Maintenance of multiple logs and records. c) Sorting, filing, copying, and preparation of files, records, and charts. d) Collection and distribution of dictation, to include followup of missing and/or late dictation. e) Quality assurance of dictation output.

source: wikipedia.org,

Does Voicemail-to-text Service Need Expensive Transcriptionists?

Recent press headlines have highlighted the fact that text messaging is increasingly dominating personal communications. That includes both person-to-person contacts via email and Instant Messaging, as well as business process applications that deliver information or important, time-critical notifications to people.

In fact, two recent federal government initiatives will only reinforce the trend towards text messaging and the need for the flexibility of UC and UM.

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Some Useful Tips For Transcription System

Follow these tips to ensure a smooth, accurate, and cost-effective transcription process.

When recording material for transcription:

• Check the recorder each time to ensure that it is working properly.
• Replace batteries periodically. Weak batteries cause fluctuation in recording speed and volume.
• Record at the recorder’s highest volume.
• Spell our participants’ and company names when applicable.
• During interviews or conferences, balance microphones between speakers or directly in front of each participant so all voices are heard by the transcriptionist.
• When recording on micro cassettes, record on the 2.5 speed for best quality.
• By not rewinding tapes once you have finished recording, we know at a glance how long each tape is, allowing us to schedule your work promptly and keep production moving.
• Tell us what the outcome of your project is so we won’t spend time and money transcribing any information that is not required.
  

Source : http://www.andersontypefast.com/

Gibraltar launches electronic transcription application

The Gibraltar Health Authority (GHA) has launched a new prescription transcribing and dispensing application, incorporating First DataBank Europe’s (FDBE) Multilex Drug Data File.

The application will enable Gibraltar’s public GP clinics and pharmacies to store and share patient medication information in a central web-based system.

Using a combination of unique prescription IDs and unique patient IDs – issued as part of the combined Gibraltar National Health Card and European Health Insurance Card (E111) they carry on them - the application will provide a safe and secure means of dispensing.

The GP transcribes the prescription which, once allocated a unique reference number, is electronically sent to a central system. The patient can then take their prescription to the most convenient pharmacy for dispensing.

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Transcription Tips

If you are thinking of a telecommunicating career then probably the first one that comes on your mind is transcription service. So many people think the profession of a transcription as a very complex and hard one and most of them don’t understand the word transcription in a better way as well.

However, both the meaning of transcription and the profession of transcription are quite simple. Transcription is nothing but the art of converting recorded audio or video signals into a text format. It is just the ability of hearing the audio version quite perfectly and converting into written form in a consistent manner. Looks simple, right!!

However, the most important qualities that any body who is looking to take transcription as a profession should posses are:

• Great listening ability
• Good typing skills (55 WPM or better)
• Reliable computer
• Good head phones
• Perfect internet connection and
• Sometimes a good phone
  

If you have all these with you and if you are excited of making your bread with the profession of transcription then you should just start providing these services. However, it is always better to undergo a bit of training from good training institutes before you take up transcription service providing as your profession.

People go for transcription services in two ways: as full time job and as a freelancing job. But mostly transcription comes as a regular work rather than as a freelancing job. However, it is also a better idea to take up transcription as your full time day time job and a freelancing job at home or in weekends. This helps you in not only getting a variety of jobs at work place but will also provide good amount of income.

Transcription services are of many kinds. There are generic transcription services where you don’t need any specialized background. Mainly transcriptions of presentations and class room discussions come under this category. However, there are quite a few types of services which need a specialized background. The two main types of those transcription services are medial transcription service and legal transcription service.

If you have a good legal background and if you are excited of these types of transcription services then you should go about this profession. It is always a better idea to join an established company before you start your own, may be at home. These services are normally not outsourced to low cost countries. Hence, this can be an exciting opportunity for young legal people in developed countries.

Medical transcription also requires a solid medical background. Currently, developing countries like India, China are getting great opportunities in this sector.

Source : http://www.transcriptiontips.co.uk/

Building world-class MT service

MEDICAL transcription (MT) simply means converting a doctor's voice recordings into electronic text form.

A medical transcriptionist's (MTs) job is to encode, format and proofread these dictated medical reports, which will eventually become part of the patients' permanent files, ready to be retrieved by the hospital for insurance and research purposes.

"In most Western countries, particularly the United States, there is an increasing demand for transcribed clinical documentation. Given their doctors'--as well as other medical professionals'--busy schedule and number of patients they have to deal with, they definitely need the assistance of MTs whether in their home country or elsewhere in the world," explains Ryan Herrera, operations manager of InnovaQuest, a leading firm in the Philippines that provides such offshore medical transcription services.

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Medical transcription in Mindanao remains vibrant

HOPE springs for medical and non-medical professionals in Mindanao to pursue a career in medical transcription as investors are now eyeing at expanding medical transcription business in key cities outside Metro Manila.

In its Mindanao-wide consultation meeting held last April 11 in Davao City, the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines (MTIAP) revealed that medical transcription industry players are poised for business expansion in Mindanao's "next-wave cities" such as Davao, General Santos, Butuan, Zamboanga and Tacurong which offer cheap occupation rentals while at the same time reach jobseekers in the provinces who can't afford for a medical transcription career in Manila.

"We are barely scratching the US market," said Myla Rose Mundo-Reyes, president of the MTIAP while referring to the Philippines' share in the global medical industry.

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What Makes a Good Medical Billing and Transcription Company

Companies that provide medical billing and medical transcription services are booming. The question now is, how do you look for the right firm for you? Read the article for a list of traits every good medical transcription and medical billing company must posses.

"In the recent years, the outsourcing industry has expanded to include not just call centers but also companies that provide administration support such as medical billing and medical transcription services. Their promise of lower costs and greater convenience means that more and more health care professionals and organizations are outsourcing some of their back office needs. More than half of transcription needs in fact, are outsourced to offshore companies in countries like the Philippines and India.

With the increasing popularity of outsourcing these allied health professions (it is estimated that more than half of these jobs are outsourced), more and more companies offering medical transcription and medical billing services have started to sprout.

The question now is, how do you find the right outsourcing company for you? What traits do you look for in a company to ensure that you get only the high-value service you expect?

Here is a list of the different traits every good medical transcription and billing company should possess:

§ An effective medical transcription company should have a quick turn around period. Ideally, they should be able to finish a project within 24-72 hours.

§ It should be able to guarantee your privacy and the safety of the information you send them.

§ A good transcription company and billing company should provide nothing short of high-quality work. They should have keen attention to detail and be able to provide accurate transcriptions.

§ Its workforce should be composed entirely of experienced professionals with extensive knowledge of medical terms and technology. The medical transcriptionists should also be able to decipher and understand different accents to ensure greater proficiency and a more accurate output.

§ A good medical billing and transcription company should be able to provide you with 24-hour customer service. They should have capable and knowledgeable customer service agents able and willing to answer your questions any time of the day.

§ To be able to claim that it is able to consistently provide good-quality work, a company must be supported by stable and reliable technology. It must have the capacity to efficiently download and play everything from cassette recordings to digital audio recordings.

§ One of the main reasons (if not the sole purpose) why companies outsource is to cut costs, so a good medical billing and transcription company should be able to provide you with good-quality output without burning a hole in your wallet. Superior service at low costs--- this is what you should get (and expect) from the outsourcing company you plan to hire.

Not all outsourcing companies are created equal, so some will definitely provide better service than others. Look for these different traits when you’re planning to search for an offshore company that can provide you with the medical transcription and medical billing services you need and always get reliable and good-quality service.

Maraya Mullen is a copywriter affiliated with All Medical Resources Company, a provider of medical billing and medical transcription services. Visit their site about more information about this medical transcription and medical billing company.

Source : http://www.buzzle.com/

Using Home-Based Medical Transcription Providers – Is It Legal?

Outsourcing medical transcription services is a rapidly growing trend in the healthcare industry, and has become a valuable way for many healthcare businesses to manage large-scale transcription projects. Medical transcription providers around the world are readily available with the skill set and knowledge to turn around projects with ease, but are medical transcription services legal? Many healthcare professionals are hesitant to take advantage of these services because of legal issues, but few realize that working with a transcription company that is compliant with HIPAA rules and regulations can be a very valuable business decision.

How Medical Transcription Service Providers Work

Medical transcription providers are employed either on a full-time or part-time basis, or contractors for hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, and other health organizations who require medical coding. Service providers develop relationships with different companies to provide ongoing transcription services, and are certified by the American Health Information Management Association (AHMA) or the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC). Some medical transcriptionists who work from home also work as employees of medical billing service companies and hospitals.

Home based medical transcription service providers typically complete a formal training program from a college, university, or other online certification program. These programs require all candidates to invest in up to date medical transcription equipment and software, and most will complete all training modules to become certified at various levels. Medical transcription companies employ these individuals, or work with them on an independent contractor basis to complete projects for different
organizations.

Since medical transcription requires electronic storage of patient information, all work completed must meet the objectives of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Following these rules ensures that various measures are taken to guarantee the security and privacy of all health and medical information managed during the transcription process.

The Rules and Regulations Behind Using Medical Transcription Services

Physicians, clinics, hospitals and other health organizations all utilize medical transcription services on a regular basis, and these are both legal, and compliant with HIPAA laws. HIPAA laws require medical transcription to be free of errors and that all information is kept confidential. Working with a well-established medical transcription company means you can avoid criminal penalties and fines, reduce the amount of workflow in your office, and reduce the risk of mishandling customer and client information.

Certified medical transcription service providers ensure that all materials are checked for accuracy and comply with all HIPAA laws. Information security reduces the risk of fraud and criminal activities, and medical transcriptionists must adhere to a strict code of ethics and guidelines to maintain their certification credentials.

Medical transcription services are one of the best ways to outsource your transcription needs and reduce overall costs for each project. Working with a reliable medical transcription company means you can count on completing the project that is HIPAA compliant, and protects both your organization and the clients involved. As more home based medical transcription providers earn their certification and training through formal programs, your organization can benefit from highly skilled professionals and outsource any and all of your medical coding and billing needs with ease

Source : http://www.discoveryarticles.com/

RP seen needing 32000 medical transcription workers by 2010

The country's medical transcription industry needs to increase its workforce threefold to increase its share of the total offshore market valued at around $18 billion.

According to the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines (MTIAPI), local companies have missed out on lucrative contracts from US outsourcers due to a lack of capacity.

MTIAPI is composed of around 80 medical transcription or MT service providers, mostly small companies with 50 or fewer seats.

"Until a critical capacity of qualified workforce is established, the country will have a hard time attracting interests from big US clients," said MTIAPI president Myla Rose Mundo-Reyes.

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5 steps to effectively tap online Medical Transcription projects

Medical Transcription involves the work of getting medical dictations and recordings converted to text. While this service has always been required by hospitals and medical centers across the world, it was like an appendage to the support staff and administration. Now-a-days, with the growing reach of the internet, medical transcription has become an outsourced business entity. The price difference in services between US and low cost nations, convenient time gap between US and low cost nations and the ample availability of skilled manpower in low cost nations has made outsourcing of medical transcription a norm in today’s globalized world.

A medical transcriptionist should be the owner of a website to garner online inquiries. Online medical transcription is easily the most sought after among all medical transcription service paradigms. Clients search for the required service keywords in popular search engines like google, yahoo, msn etc. The sites that rank for these keywords will be visited by potential visitors and the respective orders shall be placed. The best part is that one need not know complex codes and softwares to create a neat looking website. You simply have to work on easy-to-use tools to create a basic website. The rules to be followed while creating a website are:

1. Build a neat looking site making use of tools like Easy website builder. Make sure to include all major service categories and also make the site’s content marketing oriented.
   
2. Choose a domain name that’s catchy. Else go for one that includes some word/phrase related to medical transcription.
   
3. Choose a hosting service that’s reliable and cost-effective. Also choose one that provides email option. Avoid using free hosting service.
   
4. Go for a website that’s simple, displays all you’re your deliverable wares and is easy to navigate. 5. Promote your website in the internet to ensure it ranks high on search engines.

Source : http://losangeles.dbusinessnews.com/

Medical Transcription Training Tips

Medical Transcription still remains one of the best Home-Based Businesses today. There are plenty of job opportunities in this field yet there is still a huge shortage of experienced MTs in the world. The reason for this shortage is because employers look for MTs who have some experience as an MT or some form of Medical Transcription Training from a vocational school, college, or online certificate degree program. If you do not have any experience or any formal training, you better hope you have some good contacts on the inside.

The #1 reason why most people want to get into this field is because this is a professional career where you can make good money at home. MT jobs are readily available with most employers who offer work from home jobs as self-employed independent contractors. The benefits to securing transcription work from the comfort of a home office far outweigh the corporate world of rigid hours, expensive commuting, little flexibility with time off, and the sometimes annoying co-workers, etc. If you wish to have a fighting chance in this industry, I recommend a few Medical Transcription Training Tips to land an MT job.

Medical Transcriptionist Jobs

First of all you want to work with a company that has been around for awhile and knows what they are doing. This can easily be done by calling your local Better Business Bureau to confirm they didn’t just start their business a few months ago. Second, you want to work with a medical transcription training school that has first class mentoring from people that have actually worked as medical transcriptionists before. Third, look for MT schools that have some form of employment assistance with medical transcriptionist jobs; including employer lists, resume tips, job searching techniques, and a school with good employer alliances.

The students who take their medical transcription training seriously and study diligently are the students who get jobs before other students. It doesn’t matter what medical transcriptionist course you take if you don’t get good grades. The reason for this is because nearly all potential employers will test students before they will hire them. If you cannot pass their sometimes difficult test with proficient accuracy, they simply will not hire you. So if your like many other people wanting to get into the Health care industry and dictate medical records as a medical transcriptionist, I would apply these simple tips to secure those appealing work from home jobs.

If you decide to increase your marketability and further your education we recommend visiting Future MT for more information.


Source : Future Medical Transcriptionist Inc

New data centre to create 150 jobs in N.B.

An Ontario-based information technology company is setting up a new data centre in New Brunswick that is expected to create 150 jobs in the province.

Prudential Consulting Inc. and the N.B. government announced on Monday that it will be creating 50 new IT jobs in Saint John and 100 home-based medical transcription positions throughout the province.

The province has given Prudential Consulting a $540,000 forgivable loan for the data centre and invested a further $260,000 toward the company's startup costs.

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RP seen needing 32,000 medical transcription workers by 2010

MANILA, Philippines -- The country's medical transcription industry needs to increase its workforce threefold to increase its share of the total offshore market valued at around $18 billion.

According to the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines (MTIAPI), local companies have missed out on lucrative contracts from US outsourcers due to a lack of capacity.

MTIAPI is composed of around 80 medical transcription or MT service providers, mostly small companies with 50 or fewer seats.

"Until a critical capacity of qualified workforce is established, the country will have a hard time attracting interests from big US clients," said MTIAPI president Myla Rose Mundo-Reyes.

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Medical transcription company to create 150 jobs in New Brunswick

SAINT JOHN, N.B. — An Ontario-based health information company is promising to create 150 jobs in New Brunswick.

Government sources say Prudential Consulting will establish a data centre in Saint John creating 50 information technology jobs and 100 home-based medical transcription positions throughout the province.

Premier Shawn Graham and company officials are expected to make the announcement today in Saint John.

Sources say the company will provide speech recognition and transcription services for health professionals in Ontario, and currently doesn’t have any clients in New Brunswick.

Details of the province’s contribution to the company have not been released.

In February, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency announced $1 million in funding for Prudential Consulting to open an office in the region.

Source : http://www.trurodaily.com/

SourcePilani - Taking medical transcription to rural hinterlands

Proud to be a BITSian Manoj Vasudevan the CEO of SourcePilani draws his inspiration from the mission statement of Dr KK Birla, the Chancellor of BITS Pilani which is one among the top ranking universities in India today - to prepare young men and women to act as leaders for the promotion of the economic and industrial development of the country and to play a creative role in service to humanity.

Urmila Maan, a 25 year old housewife from a village close to Pilani, Rajasthan begins her day at 5 am and attends to her household chores. By 8 am however, she is in pursuit of bigger dreams and works for SourcePilani - a rural business process outsourcing unit in Pilani. The Urmila Maans and the 40 other rural folk who work at SourcePilani are now the new faces of the Indian BPO industry.

'SourcePilani has added a whole new dimension to my otherwise routine life', says Urmila. 'It has not only taught me specific skills related to my job but also enhanced my self-confidence. Today I enjoy a better social status in society and it feels very nice.' At SourcePilani, Urmila services US doctors and hospitals by delivering medical transcription (conversion of medical prescriptions from audio to text format) work.

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Online Medical Transcription Training

When I began studying through the online medical transcription training course, I knew I had struck a great opportunity. Training like this doesn't come with a lot of other careers, and not everyone believes that they can change their life for the better, right here and right now. I say to them that an online medical transcription school is waiting for their email!

Learning medical transcription skills can be handled from the comfort of your own home, or on any laptop computer with a wireless connection. You can sit in your pajamas at the desk, warm and comfortable, or take a break and study at a local coffee house with an Internet connection. Take along a medical dictionary and a tape player, and you're all set!
Online Medical Transcription Training is the Answer

To what, you ask? Why, to the multitudes of problems of daily life that stifle our desire to improve ourselves in a new and more economically viable career. Our current jobs keep us afloat for so long, but if we have dreams of learning a new skill (say, a medical transcription career) our bosses are not as eager to give us days or hours off to go study. An online medical transcription training course can be done on YOUR extra time, during a schedule that YOU set, and you can graduate in 9 months or 1 year, depending on how close you set your goals.

Once you receive your certificate, you will know that you have done something great for yourself and your family. Most online courses can help you get your first job, help you build a resume, and continue to aid you in discovering and developing your skills. You will be made into a desirable freelance or staffed member of any medical business, and earn freedom and confidence in your life as well!`

Source : http://www.articleinsider.com/

Lakeshore medical transcription service hires 40, looking for 50 more

SOAP Transcription Services, Inc., recently graduated 15 transcriptionists from its new Holland training center at 370 Country Club Road and hired 25 others from another training company. With a new, very large account under negotiation, the company seeks to add another 50 positions as soon as it can fill them.

That large account is a prison system outside Michigan that is in the process of converting prisoners' medical records from paper to electronic data. SOAP already converted the records of one city-sized prison in the system, and is moving forward to land the account for the remaining prisons.

"If the prisoners have something serious and their paper chart doesn't go with them when they transfer to a new prison, the new prison's hospital has to reinvent the wheel," says Kim Naik, spokesperson for SOAP. Naik declined to name the prison system, citing confidentiality until the deal is signed.

SOAP logged a 44 percent revenue increase in 2007, and to-date is 10 percent ahead of last year's sales. Part of that growth is because SOAP chooses to keep its work stateside, compared to larger national companies that outsource 30 percent of the work offshore.

Most transcriptionists work from home, and Naik says that's a challenge because so many regions in Michigan don't have DSL or cable Internet, which is needed to do the job.

"We've tried to recruit in places where there have been large losses of employers," she says. "People want the jobs, but don't have the connectivity. You can't make Michigan into this big technology hub if the people can't get DSL or cable to make the technology work for the state."

Source: Kim Naik, SOAP Transcription Services, Inc

Nuance announce Voicemail to Text message transcription system

Nuance today announced the launch of their Voicemail to Text message transcribing service, which converts audio voicemail messages into SMS or email messages and sent on to the user. Offered through carriers rather than direct to an end user, the system uses Nuance’s Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition technology as well as a human transcription backup; it improves upon standard voicemail systems as users can more discretely monitor recorded messages and avoid having to copy down details from them such as telephone numbers, addresses or directions.

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