MT India Newsletter - http://www.MTIndia.info/

Nov 11, 2006
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Verbatim vs. Risk Management

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Dear Friends,

Responding to a growing concern among healthcare documentation
professionals about their increasingly restricted role in risk
management, the American Association for Medical Transcription has
issued a public statement opposing the growing trend among
healthcare facilities toward adopting a "verbatim" transcription
policy, one that limits medical transcriptionists (MTs) to
transcribing exactly what is dictated, regardless of error, and
flagging all discrepancies for review by the dictator.

"AAMT believes this restricted role for documentation specialists
ignores the contribution to risk management that MTs are trained
and equipped to provide. A skilled, engaged MT partners with the
dictating provider to ensure an accurate, timely, and secure
record." stated AAMT 2006 President Vallie Piloian, CMT, FAAMT.
"Healthcare providers and facilities would be well served to
recognize this contribution and empower MTs to be actively engaged
in the story-telling of the patient encounter, noting discrepancies
in grammar, style, and clinical information, and correcting those
discrepancies that fall within the scope of the MT's knowledge and
informed judgment."

The rationale behind this position stems from the concern that
restricting medical transcriptionists to a verbatim policy places
an unnecessary burden on the provider, the medical records
department, and the healthcare system. A significant delay in
document work flow from patient encounter to reimbursement results
when any record is flagged for provider review and correction. In
an environment where even minor discrepancies must be flagged for
review, the impact on turn-around time leads to backlog and delayed
billing.

Of greater concern, however, is the fact that the skill set of the
medical transcriptionist is not being fully deployed toward risk
management in verbatim settings. This trend ignores the critical
role that MTs should be engaged in where document integrity is
concerned.

While the above is a verbatim quote from the AAMT official press
release; I am not sure that MTs, irrespective of credentials, are
anyway licensed or qualified to take up the job role of "risk
management" in healthcare practice; neither are MT businesses paid
or covered for the consequences of such roles. Be careful what you
wish for! (BCWYWF)

Cheers!

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

"It takes years to become an overnight success! Inch by inch, it's
a cinch."

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NEWS AND VIEWS :
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1) Poor Medical Dictation Can Put Patients' Lives In Danger

Doctors are putting their patients in danger with medical dictation
so bad that professionals can't even understand them, according to
a Problem Solvers investigation.

Medical transcriptionists said they have been dealing with sloppy
physician records for years. A transcriptionist transcribes the
doctor's diagnosis and treatment for the patient's medical record.
Holfeld reported that sometimes, transcribing becomes an impossible
task. "We should be held accountable for quality, but it's
difficult to be held accountable for quality when the challenges on
the dictation are pretty overwhelming," medical transcriptionist
Brenda Hurley said.

Hurley is a former president of the Florida Association of Medical
Transcriptionists. She and her colleagues are joining a national
campaign to expose the potential side effects of bad dictations.
"If it takes multiple levels of quality assurance review, it's
going to take longer to get back to the patient's chart," Hurley
said.
Joyce Peck was just days away from kidney surgery when she met with
us two weeks ago. She caught a mistake before her surgery.
"Potentially they could have taken out the wrong kidney and then I
would have been left with no kidneys," Peck said. "I caught it,"
Peck said.

"One place it's left kidney and the next place it's right kidney,"
Peck said. The diagnosis of a renal malignancy -- cancer -- was
caught in a radiologist's apparent flubbed dictation. "Whew,"
Holfeld said. "What did you think at that point?" "I didn't know
what to think -- who was right?" Peck said. In fact, MRI scan
confirmed it was the right kidney and not the left. Peck is
recovering from kidney surgery. She shared her story as a personal
public warning.

http://www.local6.com/news/10286256/detail.html

2) Caught up in net

THE cost-saving initiative of out-sourcing medical notes to India
for typing is facing major problems. An internet link used to
transfer patient information from Lister Hospital to India has
failed to meet the needs of East and North Herts NHS Trust, both in
terms of speed and capacity. The Trust had hoped to save as much as
£1million by axing 15 medical secretary posts and outsourcing their
work. However, a medical secretary from Lister said: "After the
medical secretaries were made redundant it was discovered that the
NHS server for the typing to be sent over the internet to India
could not cope with this system. Medical secretaries are being told
that the typing will be kept at the Trust for us to type, as done
in the past."

Danny Mortimer, the Trust's director of human resources, said:
"Like any project of its size, there will always be initial
teething problems."

"Nationally the NHS is experiencing problems with this link, both
in terms of its speed and capacity of transfer of information
across the internet. Contingency plans are being considered locally
by the Trust, including using a separate, secure link to the
internet for the medical transcription service until the problems
affecting it are resolved nationally. The Trust has introduced the
medical transcription service because it knows that it will save
money, while at the same time providing a consistent, high-quality
service. This is proving to be the case already, although more work
remains to be done."

http://www.thecomet.net/content/comet/news/story.aspx?brand=CMTOnline&category=N\
ews&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=newscomnew&itemid=WEED09%20Nov%202006%2012%3A31%3A3\
0%3A090

3) MedQuist Announces Preliminary, Partial and Unaudited Financial
Results

MedQuist Inc. announced certain preliminary, partial and unaudited
financial results, and provided updated information regarding
previously-announced litigation and governmental investigations and
proceedings. At this time, the Company cannot estimate the total
costs of (i) the billing review, (ii) defense of the class action
matters, (iii) the SEC investigation, and (iv) compliance with the
Department of Justice investigation, all of which have been
previously disclosed in either the Company's filings with the SEC
or the Company's press releases. Accordingly, the only costs
related to the defense of these matters that have been included in
the results below are actual costs incurred through September 30,
2006 by the Company.

Three months ended
September 30, 2006 September 30, 2005
Revenues $ 90 $ 102
Operating income (loss) $ 5 $ (12)
Nine months ended
September 30, 2006 September 30, 2005
Revenues $ 280 $ 315
Operating loss $ (6) $ (20)

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20061109005904&newsLang=en

4) PLDT chairman sees three-year profit at P110B

Total profits of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) may
reach P110 billion over the next three years, company chairman
Manuel Pangilinan said.

Voice telephony and data transmission services, through the
company's ePLDT contact center, medical transcription and other
business process outsourcing ventures will also have big
income-generating roles, he added.

http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=31698

5) Who says BPOs don't have unions?

Swaminath believes IT professionals don't need a union to fight for
pay hikes and perquisites. "IT professionals negotiate salaries and
perks before they join a job. They don't need a collective
bargaining body," he says. Bangalore-based medical transcription
firm Spheris, for instance, has a forum called 'Voices' where
employees can write in with complaints. "The issues range from
salary trouble to slow desktops. Each mail is personally replied to
by the CEO," says Surya V. Ciryam, HR head, Spheris.

In a performance-oriented private industry work environment,
employees don't have time for union activities, adds Swaminath.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061105/asp/look/story_6950153.asp
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The MTIndia Team
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