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May 07, 2005

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Quiz Contest 2005 - Last chance to enter the finals!

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Dear Friends,

This is the LAST qualifying round for the Finals, and the Prizes
below...

One 1st Prize - Trophy & Cash Prize of INR 2000
Two 2nd Prizes - Certificate of Merit and Cash Prizes of INR 500
each
Three 3rd Prizes - Certificate of Merit and Cash Prizes of INR 300
each

Certificate of Participation for all Final Round Qualifiers

To participate, go to:
http://www.mtindia.org/mtweek/

Entries to Preliminary Round III must reach us before 1700 hrs, May
10th. The Final Round will commence on May 14th. Have fun!

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) Back to basics

In two short years, medical transcription firm Spheris has
transformed itself from a $19 million company focused on larger
clinics to one that's on track to top $200 million in sales this
year with a balanced offering.

Much of that rapid growth came courtesy of acquisitions, which gave
President and CEO Steve Simpson a hospital-based book of business
and global operations. Now, with Spheris and No. 1 MedQuist Inc.
towering over a $12 billion industry teeming with small shops,
Simpson's team is shifting gears toward operations.

"It's going to be refreshing to dig into the core business," says
Simpson, a WebMD and HCA alum who joined what was then still Total
eMed in 2002.

This year, Spheris plans to add a service for smaller clinics who
in the past have relied on small IT shops. It also may begin
offering a voice recognition tool through a deal with another
technology firm. And Simpson will work his human resources people
hard this year. He plans to hire 2,000 domestic medical
transcriptionists, who will work from home, securely connected to
Spheris through a virtual private network.

As Spheris has grown, industry leader MedQuist (Pink Sheets: MEDQ)
has stumbled. The company has failed to report earnings in 18
months and has said its earlier financials can't be relied upon.
One industry analyst who asked not to be named said there's talk of
hospital clients leaving the New Jersey-based company over concerns
they were being overcharged

http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2005/05/02/story3.html

2) Medical transcription still hot

The medical transcription industry in the country is on a high with
the big three viz. Spryance, CBay and HealthScribe getting ready to
increase the number of medical transcriptionists under their fold.

As per Nasscom estimates, medical transcription (MT) is set to
become the fourth largest forex earner for India over the next five
years. Considering that India currently has a share of only $110
million of the $12 billion industry worldwide, it still has a long
way to go. Industry estimates put the number of people employed in
the industry to be around 1,60,000 by 2008.

But surprisingly, MT was also significant as it was the field that
provided maximum employment opportunities to women. And that too
from the comfort of their homes. The profession of Home Medical
Transcriptionists (HMTs) is the in-thing in the industry now.

According to Rajiv Shetye, vice president - operations, Spryance
India, the company is looking at increasing its number of HMTs from
1,200 to 2,200 this year. ''Educated women need to spend roughly an
hour of their time and all they need is a PC at home. Apart from
this, knowledge of English, ability to understand accents,
knowledge of medical terminology and rules of medical transcription
are needed.''

However, the candidate has to undergo a six-eight week mentoring
with our team before he/she can start MT. This ensures that they
follow the strict HIPAA norms which are now mandatory for MT, adds
Shetye.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEB20050505011609&Topic=0&Title=Busi\
ness&Page=B

3) Gillette Group to manage MT centre

The Gillette Group of Companies has taken over the management of
THA $9.5 million Medical Transcription Centre at Signal Hill.

The company has also given the assurance that at least 130
Tobagonians would secure jobs in the new call centre. This is in
addition to the employment of 65 full time medical
transcriptionists employed at the centre.

Gillette told guests at the signing ceremony at the centre that his
Group operated three facilities in Trinidad, at Chaguaramas,
Chaguanas and Port of Spain employing 1,200 persons. "Our initial
target was 1,000. Our growth has been nothing short of phenomenal
and now with today's signing we bring the newest facility that will
be managed and operated by the Gillette Group in partnership with
the Tobago House of Assembly online," Gillette added.

Finance and Planning Secretary Dr Anslem London who has
responsibility for the centre fell noted that it was an important
day for Tobago, which had to move into a new domain. He said this
was the first step in making Tobago an "I island".

Chief Secretary Orville London congratulated Dr London for the way
in which he had conducted the negotiations with the Group.

He said there were important lessons to be learnt from the
exercise, one of them being partnering with people. "We have to
explore meaningful; partnerships," he stressed.

http://www.thetobagonews.com/index.pl/article?id=2584089

4) Clinical BPOs: Aussies woo India

Now it's Australian doctors outsourcing medical transcription
services to India. From his room in the Royal North Shore Hospital
in Sydney, Dr Phillip Cremer, specialist neurologist and
neuro-otologist, sends his digital voice recordings of patient
notes to India, where they are transcribed and returned within 48
hours as Microsoft Word files under his letterhead.

Dr Cremer, who has availed many Australian-based transcription
services during his 20-year career claims, "None were of this high
quality and efficiency. In the past, I have used a whole range of
medical secretaries and the system was insufficient. Sometimes
there was a backlog of up to six to eight weeks for letters to be
sent to GPs, which in medical practice is unacceptable. I have to
write 120 letters a week and the new patient letters take a long
time."

"I perceived a real need to improve patient care by facilitating
timely correspondence between the medical professionals. I knew
that availability of highly skilled and educated workforce in India
was something that Australian firms cannot afford to ignore and my
initiative has paid off. We process 10,000 files per week and it is
growing every day all through word of mouth", says PTS founder and
director, Chennai-born IT Security Planning Consultant Raji
Swaminathan, who was prompted to start the service after attending
the first Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.

PTS has transcription centres in Chennai and Calcutta, employing 56
transcribers. The clientele includes medical and surgical
specialists in orthopaedics, endocrinology, rheumatology,
cardiology, dermatology, ophthalmology and neurology. All clients
and their nominated staff have 24/7 data access to a secure on-line
system enabling fast retrieval of patient data.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1349179,001300460000.htm

5) 'MT offers high career growth'

K B Anand, COO, Acusis.

Q: What is the estimated market of medical transcription services
in the US? What is the market strategy of Acusis and its future
plans?

A: The estimated market of MT services in the US is $12 billion.
There is no single company that has achieved $1 billion market. The
turnover of Acusis LLC last year was $5 million. We are expected to
grow more than 100% this year. Our strategy is to continue our
focus on the US market and deliver quality services.

Q: What is the scenario of MT services in India?

A: At HR front, we still lack quality manpower in India. There is a
need for the industry to focus on producing quality manpower.
However, ICT infrastructure in India is growing. With the
government trying to provide Internet and Telecom facility at
village, I see a great advantage there. Following this, many tier-2
cities in the country are expected to become ideal locations for MT
operations.

http://sify.com/news/thethursdayinterview/fullstory.php?id=13734853

6) Spryance receives $6m third round funding

Spryance, a world bank funded healthcare BPO, has received third
round funding of $six million from Beecken Petty O'Keefe & Company.
The company intends to use this fund to fuel further expansion in
India. The company plans to almost double its headcount in India
and ramp-up its existing channel structure. It is also looking at
acquisitions in the US in the medical transcription space in the
range of $five million.

Spryance CEO and president Raj Malhotra said, "India is a very
strategic market for us and medical transcription is one of the
growing sector in the BPO segment today. This investment would
enable us to further strengthen our core team in India."

Spryance currently has around 1,200 people working in India. Around
230 people are working in its three centers located in Mumbai,
Chennai and Pune and the rest work as home-based medical
transcription agents. The company plans to increase its headcount
to 2,200 by the end of this year.

The company has around 20 channel partners is the US. These channel
partners, who operate as the front-end for the company, deal with
around 125 clients of the company. The company is looking at more
strategic partnerships with them wherein these channel partners
would do co-marketing for Spryance as well.

The company intends to add another 100 clients over the next few
years and is also looking at a growth of around 30 percent
year-on-year. The company has grown by 20 percent consecutively in
the last 16 quarters.

Headquartered in Maynard, MA, Spryance, is a privately-held company
funded by the World Bank's private investment arm, the
International Finance Corporation (IFC). Spryance began servicing
the US transcription market in 2000 and delivers more than 10
million lines of transcription a month.

http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2005/105050301.asp
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The MTIndia Team
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