MT India Newsletter - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MTIndia

22 Feb 2003
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NEWS FLASH
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The "All India Industrial Exhibition Society" has conferred the
Second Prize for Best Export Performance in Nontraditional Exports
for the year 2002 upon WORLDTECH for its entry "Medical
Transcription Services and Software." The award was given away by
the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, H.E. Surjit Singh Barnala.

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The Rocket Principle

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Dear Friends,

The principle "Ready... Fire... Aim" didn't go down well with many
of you - the repartee being, "Ready... Aim... Fire!" should be the
perfectionist's approach to business. Despite a sequence that seems
perfectly logical, "Ready... Aim... Fire!" never works effectively
for the simple reason that conditions are never perfect!

People who think that everything should be exactly right before
attempting to launch their venture, fall for the same trap that
prevents most people ever achieving anything in life. If you never
take a risk you'll never make a mistake, but then you'll never move
forward!

True leaders are characterized by their ability and willingness to
make decisions. Ordinary people are drawn to those who are
decisive, even when the decisions made are sometimes incorrect.
They'll usually allow them the chance to fix those mistakes.

The fact is, most people are followers. They're scared witless by
the prospect of having to assume responsibility for anything -
especially for other people. They don't want to be leaders. They
feel reassured and protected when in their "comfort zones" (ruts),
doing what they feel confident doing (avoiding risk, most of the
time).

If we wish to become real leaders, we have to do the right things
for the right reasons. Then we're dependable. The problem, always,
is where to start. There's an old saying that applies to this
situation: "Begin... the rest is easy!"

Set yourself a goal, write down a simple plan of action, marshal
some basic resources, then ACT. Let me relate two true stories that
taught me this principle very well.

Story No. 1

My cousin, on his first flight to the US found himself seated on
the plane next to one of America's Silicon Valley success stories.
He recognized the man immediately and was very excited at the
prospect of getting a few tips. Alas, the businessman made it clear
he was only interested in catching up on some much-needed sleep.

But my cousin, freshly out of IIT, was determined, so he leaned
over and, after introducing himself, said "excuse me, Mr. ___, I
don't like to disturb you, but I'd really appreciate knowing the
secret of your success."

Without opening his eyes, the businessman replied "Two words...
make decisions!".

My cousin mulled these words over. Finally, unable to decipher the
mystery, he disturbed his companion again. "Sorry, but how on earth
do you know how to make the right decisions?"

The reply was immediate. "One word... experience!"

Once again, my cousin turned the idea over until he could no longer
resist: "I'm sorry, sir, but you have me intrigued. How do you gain
the experience needed to make those right decisions?"

"Two words... wrong decisions!"

Story No. 2

Over a decade ago, I served under a very astute Commandant who
taught me more lessons than any other boss I ever worked for. One
day, early in our relationship, he called me to his office and said
"Captain, get the lead out! I want decisions from you on these
three matters by the end of today, without fail."

All of 22 years, I was appalled. These were complex matters that
required a lot of research, study and evaluation. These decisions
would affect 2,000 lives: weather conditions being -50 degrees
Centigrade (-58 degrees Fahrenheit, for our American readers), 30
feet snowfall in the last three days and wind speeds which our
primitive machines couldn't even record. I told him so. He was
unimpressed.

"Get those decisions made by the end of the day or I'll make them
for you!" This was ludicrous. He knew even less about these issues
than I did! I was foolhardy enough in telling him so. He was
patient in explaining:

"If we don't make those decisions today, we'll lose the opportunity
to make them at all. Someone else at Command HQ will make them for
us, and we'll all have to live with the consequences of their
decisions - and I'm not willing to hand over my command
responsibility to someone else."

"But what if the decisions I make are wrong?" I protested. "It
doesn't matter," he replied.

I was dumbfounded. "Close your mouth - you look stupid," he
quipped, before continuing, "The fact is, the Army pays you well
for your expertise and you are the man on ground, so you've got a
better-than-even chance that your decisions will be right. If so,
there's no problem, and we can begin moving. If any of the
decisions are wrong, we'll know by tomorrow - and we can fix them,
because we'll still be in control. But we have to make those
decisions NOW."

I began to see his point. Then came the clincher. "Put it this
way... if your decisions aren't on my desk by four o'clock, I'll
make them for you by five o'clock. And the first decision I'll make
is that I don't need you here!"

It was plainly a case of fire - or be fired!

I made the decisions. I don't recall any of them being wrong. After
the decisions I made that day, future Commanding Officers would
always refer to me as the one who had a "rocket up his a**!":)

Be a rocketeer!

Get that rocket off the ground! Then monitor and adjust your course
as you head toward your target.

Get as much information as you reasonably need, then go for it,
fixing any unforeseen problems as you go. Often, the sheer momentum
you create will roll right over them!

Study the words of two great World War II leaders:

"Paralysis is spelt a-n-a-l-y-s-i-s!" (Winston Churchill)

"A good plan, vigorously executed this week, will always be better
than a perfect plan executed next week." (General George Patton)

"Ready... Fire... Aim!" Be responsible to make decisions, and take
the consequences.

Cheers!!! And the BUCK stops here!!

Maj (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) Work @ home

Vatsala Bhatt, a nutritionist in a well-known health club in
Bangalore, quit her job two years ago when she had a baby. Unable
to move out, she started looking for a home-based career. She found
the perfect option - medical transcription. It worked out well for
Vatsala, who now works for about six hours at home and makes Rs
10,000 per month or so. She also gets time to spend with her
daughter.

It makes a lot of sense for companies to allow employees to work
from home. According to Sreekumar, programme co-ordinator of
Spryance, "Greater quality control is possible with home
transcriptionists."

According to Anand Sanjeev, location head of Acusis Software, this
model works well: "After the initial non-refundable deposit, we
don't charge for software renewals."

Hari Das, who paid Rs.10, 000 deposit, has no regrets. "I got my
money back well within two months," he says. Radha says she now
earns about Rs. 20,000 a month; more than what she used to earn
earlier. According to Nasscom, medical transcription is projected
as the India's fourth largest foreign exchange earners in about
five years.

http://www.rediff.com/search/2003/feb/05work.htm

2) Pills to bills, it's time for facelift

It's been almost three years since medical transcription dropped
out of the 'high-growth potential' bracket of the $1.5 bn
IT-enabled services matrix. From over a hundred MT companies which
mushroomed at the time of the boom, the segment has whittled down
to at best 4-5 large, serious players. Post-consolidation, the
survivors have moved on from plain, vanilla MT services to either
niche, high-value offerings or end-to-end healthcare-related
services.

Nittany Decision Services was a pioneer in the MT sector having set
up shop as early as 1994. However, in a few short years, the
business became unviable with the sector seeing a glut. Nittany's
promoters saw the end coming and exited the transcription business
three years ago. Today Nittany offers medical billing for doctors
and insurance adjudication among other services.

"The MT business is only the entry point for the much larger sector
which can be called Health Information System (HIS). The skill set
of the workforce is largely common with the skill set required for
other HIS services like data warehousing and datamining, a $200 bn
opportunity," says Shrikant Inamdar, director, Spryance.

"We're looking at what other kind of healthcare back-office work we
can provide to our clients," says Suresh Nair, CEO, Max
HealthScribe. "Over a period of time, we will be able to offer
hospitals end-to-end services," Mr Nair said.

The shift towards healthcare services has also begun to spawn a new
category of BPO start-ups, keen to cash in on the emerging
opportunity. Mumbai MedusInd Solutions, founded by former venture
capitalists Sandeep Singhal (eVentures India) and Rajiv Sahney
(Antfactory), does back-end transaction services for medical
insurance companies in the US.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow
?artid=35706007

3) Six Sigma quality approach in MT - a Case Study

On a Wednesday morning Mr. PTT, the MD of Xtel Technologies (names
changed), a Medical Transcription company based in India with
customers in the US, had walked into his office at 9 AM. As usual
he glanced over yesterday's performance:

"The incoming load was heavy...that is good for revenues. But the
deliveries were late again." He was about to call in his bleary
eyed staff for a rerun of their often repeated discussion on
dispatch schedules -- absenteeism, tough doctors, too much load,
etc. -- when the phone rang. Answering the long distance caller's
query about his company's performance in meeting their needs, he
remembered noticing the e-mail entitled "Breakthrough Improvements
in Business Performance" a couple of days ago and, yes, he was
interested in finding out how it could apply to his business.

Two weeks, a meeting, and a presentation later the dice were cast.
Xtel Industries committed itself to trying the Six Sigma quality
approach and measuring the return for his business.

http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c030203a.asp

4) Hyderabad rides high on ITES tides

The City is riding high on the latest wave of Information
Technology Enabled Services (ITES). Market research, database
development, telemarketing, relationship and account management,
complaint handling, product support, insurance claims, credit card
processing, medical transcription, data digitisation and many
others are encompassed under the fold of ITES.

There are projections that ITES will scale up to US $17 billion in
India and to US $ 142 billion globally by 2008. Experts assert that
back office operations, education, health, banking, insurance,
tourism, research among others will open a plethora of
opportunities in days to come.

http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEA20030130121621&Title
=Southern+News+-+Andhra+Pradesh&rLink=0

5) Acusis Changes the Way You Think About Outsourced Transcription
Service

Accurate transcription, delivered on time, in total confidentiality
at a competitive price is the sole mission of Acusis, a Pittsburgh,
PA-based medical transcription service provider and first time
exhibitor at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems
Society (HIMSS), located in Booth 5411.

David Iwinski Jr., CEO of Acusis, believes the HIMSS Conference is
a unique opportunity to address an extremely knowledgeable audience
of healthcare professionals about the services the company has to
offer. "The Acusis reputation is growing throughout the country,
driven by a highly experienced medical transcription team that
understands the value of providing guaranteed quality and
consistent turnaround time at an affordable price," said Iwinski.

Using its proprietary software, AcuSuite(SM), Acusis delivers
high-quality transcription services at very competitive prices by
using teams of transcriptionists, editors and quality assurance
associates located in the U.S. and in 4 locations in India. The
geographic distribution of Acusis teams ensures 365/24/7 coverage
for all transcription customers and processes.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030207/phf001_1.html

6) A4 Health Systems Announces Surge in Demand for Electronic
Medical Records (EMRs)

The 2002 Modern Physician/PricewaterhouseCoopers information
technology survey reported that an estimated 42 percent of
executives and healthcare IT professionals plan to invest in an EMR
over the next 12-24 months. Improving business performance,
clinical quality improvement, managing practice growth and payer
demands are the primary motivators for EMRs, according to the
study.

"With looming HIPAA regulations, reduced reimbursements and soaring
insurance premiums, physicians can't afford not to install an EMR
because of the many financial and clinical benefits the system
delivers," stated David Bond, vice president, Ambulatory Division,
A4. "Physician practices have come to realize that attractive
financing options, tax write-offs and reduced malpractice premiums
make EMRs extremely affordable, even for a one-physician practice."
HealthMatics EMR provides caregivers the necessary tools for
comprehensive documentation and to electronically manage
prescriptions, lab orders and results, referral letters and email
through Microsoft® Outlook integration. "The clinical benefits and
financial savings are tremendous with an EMR, including medical
error prevention, elimination of transcription and overhead costs,
improved coding and time-savings," commented John McConnell,
chairman and CEO, A4.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030219/chw010_1.html

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The MTIndia Team
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