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Apr 09, 2005
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ADVERTISEMENT:
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Focus Infosys is coming to KOLKATA!

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We are looking forward to recruit the entire start-up team
comprising of all levels starting from MT to production manager.
HR, administration, and systems/network personnel can walk in for
the interviews too.

Date of interview: 9-Apr-05 (Saturday), 10-Apr-05 (Sunday), and
11-Apr-05 (Monday)

Time: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Venue: DBS Corporate Club, 'DBS House,' 10/2, Hungerford Street,
Kolkata - 700 017 Telephone: 033-2283-6234-39/2247-5290

Our company profile:

In the MT industry since 1999.
Presence in Bangalore and Coimbatore.
Hyderabad office opened at Banjara Hills.
Chennai office opening up in May 2005 .
550 in-house staff strength.
350+ home-based MTs and proofers.
Head office in Boston, USA.
Executing over 4 lakh lines/day.
Outsourcing business to 15 companies across the nation.
Have a 25-agent call center.
Recruiting nurses to American Hospitals.
Billing and coding operations just started.
50-employee software division.

Please visit our website www.focusmt.com to know more about our
company

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Looking to acquire MT Unit at Chennai

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Looking to acquire a Medical Transcription, Billing and Coding
Company in Chennai, ideally around 100 employees; but any unit over
35 employees can send in their profile.

Apply in confidence to:

Maj (Dr) Amit Chatterjee, SM
amit@...

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Regulations and compliance

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Dear Friends,

Data privacy and integrity concerns that relate to outsourcing are
the biggest concerns for Indian BPO's clientèle. This is especially
true in the case of businesses that have IPRs (Intellectual
Property Rights) to protect or those that must maintain the
confidentiality of their customer records.

Implementing ethical practices for client confidentiality etc. are
almost mandatory. "Consumer banking uses data about account
holders. In this case, if data is processed outside the country,
there is a chance that the BPO company fails to follow the relevant
privacy laws," said Sanjay Prasad, Head-Technology Services,
e-Serve International Ltd.

Fraud is an ever-present problem. "Strong security policies have to
be there in an ITES-BPO organisation. The issue of client
confidentiality--addresses, phone numbers, credit card information
etc.-must be addressed," said NT Arun Kumar, Senior Vice President,
Global Operations, OfficeTiger.

In terms of global certifications and standards, Indian BPOs are at
par with the rest of world. Most Indian BPO companies are BS 7799
and ISO 17799 certified.

According to the Ernst & Young (E&Y) and The Indo-American Chamber
of Commerce (IACC) Offshore Outsourcing Survey, BS 7799 and ISO
17799 security certifications are in place at 43 percent of
surveyed BPO companies.

Even after they get certified, Indian BPO companies still have to
catch up on the regulations front. The principal regulations that
affect Indian BPOs are the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, HIPAA (Healthcare
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), GLBA (Gramm Leach
Bliley Act), UK Data Protection Act, FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act) and the US-EU Safe Harbour Agreement. Most of these
relate to Indian BPO's biggest clients, i.e. The US and the UK.
Although the percentage of Indian BPO companies that are comply
with these regulations is minuscule, the majority of them are
partially compliant on the technology front. "Around 25 to 30
percent of Indian BPOs are comply with regulations. However, on the
partial compliance front, most companies are more or less there,"
said Himanshu Vaish, Chief Technology Officer, Epicenter
Technologies. .

Indian regulatory authorities haven't really got around to framing
regulations for the BPO industry. The main law or regulation that
affects BPO companies in India is the Indian IT Act 2000. Other
legal regulations that affect this sector are the Indian Penal Code
Act, Consumer Protection Act 1986, Indian Contract Act 1972,
Specific Relief Act 1963, Indian Copyright Act 2000, and the
Product Patent act 2005.

This is poor consolation as this industry is concerned about
competing globally. The likes of Nasscom are working with the
Indian government to bring regulations like the Indian IT Act 2000
to par with regulations such as the EU Data Protection Directive.

"Each regulation requires a different strategy to handle it due to
the differing levels of complexity and coverage areas. There is no
single all encompassing strategy," said Rajiv Gerela.

However, the basic strategies followed by these companies are
similar. The first strategy is to have clearly documented policies
and procedures. This helps satisfy the client and the certifying or
regulatory authority. It also helps the organisation approach new
business opportunities with a greater degree of confidence and
comfort.

Educating users through regular training programs comes next. The
knowledge of compliance policies has to percolate right down from
the top management to the operational management. Organisations can
achieve this through regular training and other means like online
training over the intranet, poster campaigns, awareness quizzes,
etc.

BPO companies emphasise data security and integrity. Extensive
security policies and proper configuration right from access level
control for data to configuring firewalls and IDS systems is
essential here. These are complemented by regular audit and review
mechanisms. Audits are done at regular intervals by the internal IT
team as well as by third party auditors. Reviews and modifications
of the policies are also done if required. This systematic approach
has made their life easier when it comes to conforming to
regulations.

Other measures include proper incidence management, and clearly
documented and tested escalation plans. When we go into the
specifics, the compliance initiatives of most BPOs basically
include the following as per Arun Kumar.

*Assessing internal controls
*Managing and optimising financial reporting processes
*Consolidating information for managing business performance
*Improving business intelligence
*Providing financial models for high-risk operations and programs
to manage risk
*Improve records management and audit trail
*Ensuring fraud detection and prevention
*Certifying authorities

Some of the main certifying authorities or agencies used by Indian
BPO organisations are:

BSI (British Standards Institute)
DNV (Det Norske Veritas)
STQC (Standardisation Testing Quality Certification), GOI
KPMG
Ernst & Young (also certifies for HIPAA)

To read more, go to:
http://www.networkmagazineindia.com/200503/coverstory02.shtml

On another front, as we well know by now, non payment by clients is
a chronic and recurrent problem for Indian MTSOs:
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Hi Amit,

Here are two companies who used our services and have not paid up
their dues:

1. Ascend Healthcare Systems, Virginia, USA represented by Jay
Jaiswal
2. Lords Infotech Inc, Virginia, USA represented by Sachin Mahajan

I would appreciate it if you can put me in touch with people who
are dealing with them currently or have dealt with them in the
past. We have to prevent other people from falling prey to such
companies.

Regards,

Rajat Singhania
rajat@...
BVS Trans Tech
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MTSOs having bad experiences with any of the above clients below
are requested to revert.

Ciao!

Maj (Dr) Amit Chatterjee, SM
Strategist / Founder ~ mailto:amit@...
MT India ~ www.mtindia.org
"The Community of MT Professionals"

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NEWS AND VIEWS :
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1) Cat Technologies plans stock split

Cat Technologies Ltd, a Hyderabad-based software services and
medical transcription company, plans to hike FII limit and is
considering stock split and a GDR offer. Dhiraj Kumar Jaiswal, MD,
said that the company has bagged an order from Al-Faisaliah Group,
a Saudi major, for both hospital automation and managing medical
records. To augment resources and expand operations, the company
plans to issue global depository receipts (GDRs) of up to Rs 30
crore in the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

It has also proposed to go in for a stock split and sub-divide the
equity shares from Rs 10 to Rs 1 each. Jaiswal said: "The company
was basing its expansion on the Saudi order which entails both
automation and services of various hospitals. "With the Saudi
Government planning to adopt new methodology for offering
healthcare services, we would locate our staff in Saudi Arabia and
provide them services. "The order is valued at about Rs 40 crore,
covering the maintenance of medical records."

http://sify.com/finance/equity/fullstory.php?id=13708881

2) EMRs still MIA?

Despite growing awareness of and (federal) support for
Electronic Medical Records, EMRs are still missing in
action in many health care settings, according to a
recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

Less than a third of the nation's hospital emergency and
outpatient departments -- and only 17% of doctors'
offices -- use EMRs.

But the future of EMRs looks brighter: Physicians under
age 50 were twice as likely as those 50 or over to use
EMRs for ordering prescriptions, the study found.

http://enews.ama-assn.org/UM/T.asp?A40.576.2207.4.287605

3) PracticeXpert Participating in EMR Road Show and TEPR Conference

PracticeXpert today announced an ambitious schedule of
participation in the EMR Road Show produced by the Medical Records
Institute. PracticeXpert's schedule includes visits to eight cities
to offer demonstrations of their latest Xpert Electronic Health
Record (EHR) system, culminating in the industry-wide TEPR
conference May 16-18 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The EMR Road Show is an opportunity for healthcare professionals to
evaluate EMR/EHR systems through demonstrations, educational
sessions, and panels addressing topics such as practice
requirements, functionality, affordability, speed, and system
integration. PracticeXpert has already participated in Road Show
events in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Portland, with
upcoming stops to include Baltimore, MD; Washington, DC; Iselin,
NJ; and Phoenix, AZ. The TEPR conference in May is a larger-scale
national conference with over 450 vendors addressing
EMR/EHR-related topics.

Commenting on the impact of the Road Shows, Mark Richards,
PracticeXpert's SVP Sales, adds: "We're clearly seeing more and
more interest related to the acquisition of EMR systems, and the
Road Show gives physicians who are not able to attend the national
show the chance for hands-on demos. In fact, the large turnout
we've been seeing in each city underscores the fact that EMR
systems are really starting to drive the market, even more than
practice management systems."

http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/?d=75653

4) Pirates attack telecom barge in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has stepped up security for contractors laying cables in
the Bay of Bengal for high-speed overseas telecom links, following
an attack by pirates, a report said yesterday. The link will enable
Bangladesh to offer outsourcing services such as call centres, data
processing and medical transcription for the first time.
The barge was targeted by pirates on Friday, the official BSS news
agency said.

"Four members of the Bangladesh coast guard equipped with firearms
were deployed on the barge to provide full-time security, " BSS
quoted a coast guard spokesman as saying.A coast guard patrol
vessel had also been sent to the area, the spokesman added.
A gang of up to 60 armed pirates stormed the vessel twice on Friday
and looted quantities of low-value goods such as rope. Crew members
refused to sail with the barge on Saturday following the attacks,
media reports said.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=32560&version=\
1&template_id=44&parent_id=24

5) Men bag it better?

Though women love to shop, research done by an international chain
of stores shows that men are better shoppers.

The study indicates that only 42 per cent of men say they have
regretted buying something on impulse.

Over 77 per cent of the women surveyed admitted to buying items on
impulse and 66 per cent of them end up regretting their purchases.

Says Sandeep B who works in a medical transcription company, "Men
are better shoppers because we look for things that have long-term
value. If I want to buy something, I identify the shops beforehand.
I would put my money only into something from which I can get
maximum value."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1070076.cms
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Mediweb Infotech Pvt. Ltd. All cited articles are copyright of
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Thank you for your interest in MT India!

The MTIndia Team
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