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Nov 19, 2005

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Just what the doc prescribed...

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Dear Friends,

Here are some excerpts, from an article in the Economic Times by
Thanuja BM:

It is actually a time of stability and consolidation for the
medical transcription (MT) industry. More business is coming in and
the sector is seeing bigger deals. The market size is currently
estimated to be between $100 and $150 million - and could grow to
$500 million by 2008.

And the main trigger for this changing scenario is the US medical
transcription market. While the market there is growing at between
10 and 15%, the capacity is declining at 5% per annum. This
translates to an immediate potential of $1-2 billion which Indian
companies can take advantage of, according to Suresh Nair, CEO &
managing director, Spheris India - formerly HealthScribe.

"The demand is huge. The problem, however, is that we can't go
after this business since we do not have enough capacities
ourselves," he rues.

T P Prabhakaran, CEO of Pradot Technologies agrees. Stating that
currently Indian MT companies have managed to bag less than 1% of
the potential, he says: "We are not getting the right kind of
financial support (banks, venture capital firms or financial
institutions) to scale up and chase the big deals. This puts
pressure on us since we have to use our own money. Expanding
becomes a problem."

Another problem that the industry in India is facing is that of
shortage of manpower, or rather quality manpower. Since most of the
MT firms are based in Bangalore, they have to use the same pool of
graduates where the more popular call centres dip into.

"We are usually left with not-so-good talent," says Prabhakaran.
"And because of the long gestation period (training) of almost two
years, we are not able to ramp up like other BPOs do," he adds.

This has prompted several companies to move into Tier II cities
like Coimbatore and Mysore. The reasoning is that these secondary
cities have talent that the ITeS firms haven't yet grabbed.

Nair adds that the average age in his organisation has gone up to
29 years from 26 years in the last 12 months. "It was a business
strategy to go after older people." He also discounts that MT firms
are still losing people to their cousins - ITeS firms. "The trend
has actually changed since lot of people have realised that MT
offers a steady and long career as opposed to call centres," Nair
says adding that Spheris' monthly intake is now 100 against 40 two
years ago.

A year ago, about 20 MT companies in Bangalore formed the Indian
Medical Transcription Industry Association (IMTIA) to benchmark
best practices for the sector, especially in training. But the
initiative of setting up one training centre for the entire sector
has come to nought since the sector is too fragmented, according to
Prabhakaran.

The MT industry offers between Rs 7-8,000 for freshers while a
three-year MT pro can get as much as Rs 20,000. Average
transcription per line ranges between 7.5 and 8 cents in India.

The sector however is optimistic about the future, and is sure that
they have left behind the woes of three years back.

To read the entire feature, go to:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1276595,curpg-1.cms

Cheers!

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) US docs prefer Filipino MTs: trainer

"MT schools are very strict because the job entails broad
understanding," Fabro said.

But even with strict standards, Fabro said the MT industry even
helps the country curbs the brain drain as MT graduates can earn
anywhere from P10,000 to P40,000 without leaving the country in
search of greener pastures.

She added the Filipino's proficiency in English as well as the time
difference here and in the US is an advantage since US doctors
reportedly prefer Filipino MTs.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/bag/2005/11/05/news/us.docs.prefer.pinoy.medica\
l.transcribers.trainer.html

2) Inc. Magazine Ranks Spheris as Fastest-Growing Healthcare IT
Company

Spheris' ranking, which will be revealed next month in the 2005
Inc. 500 edition, not only awards the medical transcription company
the top healthcare IT listing, but positions it 16th overall out of
the entire field of 500 companies.

"Being recognized as one of the fastest-growing companies in a
respected business publication like Inc. is a true testament to the
more than 5,500 dedicated Spheris professionals who work hard each
and every day to keep Spheris at the top of the medical
transcription industry," said Spheris President and CEO Steven E.
Simpson.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20051101005587&newsLang=en

3) MedQuist Names Scott Bennett as Senior VP

MedQuist Inc.announced the appointment of Scott Bennett as its new
senior vice president of Sales and Marketing. Bennett comes to the
company with more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare
technology sales and marketing field, including a proven track
record in developing and leading high performing sales and
marketing organizations. Bennett will lead a newly integrated
sales and marketing function, which MedQuist unveiled earlier this
month.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-31-200\
5/0004204394&EDATE=

4) India Inc encourages staff to find cupid at workplace

Cupid's new hunting grounds are the steel and chrome structures
that house India's white and blue-collar workforce. Lenient HR
policies, flexi-timings, young and eligible workforces have made
love a part of corporate lexicon.

Medical transcription company Spheris neither encourages nor
discourages marriages among staff. But says Gideon Jagdish,
assistant manager, HR of the company: ``Working together, a husband
and wife learn to be supportive of each other."

The flip side of having both husband and wife in the same office is
that if one quits for a better job outside the city or country, the
other too may follow suit and the company stands to lose two
employees in one go.

http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=7235

5) Skydiving helps blind man focus in life

To hear Chris Jennings tell it, diabetes cost him his eyes, but
losing his eyes helped focus his life. Strangely enough, jumping
out of an airplane helped. "It's a feeling you can't even put into
words. There's no time for fear, you're falling so fast," said
Jennings, 31, who is totally blind.

It was at the Carroll Center he learned about special computer
training offered by the Division of Blind Services in Daytona, Fla.
He left Massachusetts for Florida, where he studied for nearly four
years.

He learned medical transcription, which is typing up the notes of
doctors who tape their thoughts while working. He uses a computer
program that says out loud the letter, word or sentence he just
typed. He can make corrections when necessary.

"It's pretty interesting work, trying to understand what they're
saying," Jennings said. "Even for a person with sight it's
challenging."

Jennings said he isn't done with sky diving just yet. He wants to
go solo, and that will take another 13 to 15 jumps.

http://news.newstimeslive.com/story.php?id=76873&category=Local
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All original content of this newsletter is © Copyright 1998-2005
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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