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09 Aug 2003
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Four years ago...

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Dear Friends,

On 26 July, 2003, MTIndia quietly completed 4 years online! To
celebrate our coming of kindergarten age, we have launched a new
homepage for a limited period. Enjoy! :o)

Four years ago, on 09 Aug the first MTIndia Newsletter was
published and distributed to exactly 11 members. Going through our
archives, I just picked out a few excerpts from our initial
editions, which might be food for thought:

09 Aug, 1999:

<The mayhem continues. Industry reports say that over 250 companies
are presently operational in India, and the number is expected to
double by Mar 2000. "Anybody can start this business.
All you need is a cousin in the US who can talk with the hospitals
and get you projects and a PC with proper communication links,"
says an enlightened soul. "The other advantage is the fact that
even among the Asians, Indians top the list in the medical
profession in the US. Even a fraction of their documentation being
done by their fellow-countrymen would throw current business
projections in MT haywire," another points out. That is all very
well, and I must have met over fifty industrialists each planning
to employ over 2000 MTs within the year, yet everybody is quite mum
on how they plan to 'manufacture' hoards of 'quality' MTs
overnight. So with some business strategies yet beyond my meager
comprehension, I stand on the sidelines pleading ignorance.>

08th Dec, 1999:

<INNOSOFT, a division of Innovations International Exim Ltd, in a
joint venture with Czerenda Consulting Inc, has started outsourcing
medical transcription work by deploying ``Stentura-Aided
Transcription (SCAT) technology.'' Considered an alternative to
typing voluminous amounts of dictation, reports and data, the new
SCAT technology allows people with machine shorthand writing skills
to input data at ``lightning-fast speeds'' directly into any
Windows applications. The SCAT technology can facilitate transfer
of spoken word into the written word in real-time. Mr. Czerenda
said writing speeds on the Stentura vary from 120 words per minute
with early transcriptionists producing 1,000 lines per day to 250
words per minute with experienced transcriptionists producing 5,000
lines per day. This is much more in comparison with the QWERTY
keyboardist where speeds vary between 25 wpm to 50 wpm with the an
output ranging from 250 to 800 lines per day. I really would like
to see this working.>

16th Feb 2000:

<There is a lot of hype being attached to MT being an IT enabled
service in India. To quote Mr Dertouzos(MIT), it's akin to calling
accounting as pencil-enabled services. This classification has
somehow propagated the misconception that MT is basically a data
entry job.

''It is critical that every MT company establishes a clear path to
attracting customers before doing anything else.'' says RamDas
Singh Khalsa, Project Manager Health ScribeIndia in an exclusive
interview to MT India.>

Sounds familiar? The more things change...

Cheers!!!

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

"Medical Transcription Made Easy" by Alok Jha & Priyanka Arora
~ A Macmillan India Publication

for details, see:
http://www.mtindia.org/mtme.htm

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NEWS AND VIEWS :
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1) Going Global: Is It Good for the Transcription Business?

Does an offshore workforce pose a threat, or does it promise to
save the medical transcription industry? Pittsburgh-based Acusis is
an example of a company that considers both pricing and technology
as part of its competitive global business model. And as more
services consider the global picture, the concept of an
international partner has begun to take off. Spryance,
headquartered in Maynard, MA, is one such MTSO partner.

"As transcription needs grow, many U.S. transcription service
companies are too small to handle the sizeable volume created by
large health systems," Delbert L. Arrendale, president and CEO of
Arrendale Associates, likewise observed. "One solution to the MT
shortage is to provide 'back office' transcription support from the
global community."

Addressing quality concerns, Arrendale is quick to defend the back
office. "Indian transcription companies utilize the largest
English-educated and qualified middle class in the world," he
pointed out. "The successful Indian services employ highly trained
staff, with the majority being physicians, nurses and other
college-educated professionals."

http://www.advanceforhim.com/common/editorialsearch/viewer.aspx?FN=
03jul7_hip16a.html&AD=7/7/2003

2) Many HIPAA Wrinkles for At-Home, Offshore Business Associates

It is a growing trend to outsource medical transcription and
billing work, and some of it is going offshore to places as far
away as India and Pakistan. Even large established transcription
vendors use offshore resources with English competency.

Since most offshore companies are chartered outside the U.S., the
BA contract or other U.S. privacy law may be difficult to police
and therefore enforce.

http://www.imakenews.com/health-itworld/e_article000159662.cfm?x=a1
PSwKf,a17TK8JV

3) Conmen tap into BPO start-ups

Call it the great Indian wire trick. If you're a start-up,
sputtering and wriggling in the BPO jungle, you're bound to get
noticed. Watching your every move is the omnipresent 'consultant,'
with a line-up of 'customers.'

The popularity of business process outsourcing has given birth to a
new breed of conmen. Here's the trail: Often, entrepreneurs
starting a BPO are faced with a major handicap - the lack of
customers. The reason customers do not want to give work to a
start-up is because they only want to outsource to a company with a
track record of handling their work. This chicken-and-egg situation
has left a number of call centres and BPO companies struggling for
that first big assignment. The phenomenon is so widespread that a
new breed of consultants has emerged to 'solve' these problems.

The modus operandi is multi-pronged. Typically, the consultants
offer a large project with a job potential of a 1,000 to 2,000
agents in a call centre. All the entrepreneur has to do is open a
letter of credit (L/C) in the name of the consultant as a deposit
in order to begin the project.

Another method is for the consultant to suggest that the
entrepreneur begin a pilot project with, say, 50 seats, to be
followed by a larger contract. Again, an upfront payment to the
consultant has to kick off the process. The consultant naturally
wants upfront fees before 'introducing' the MNC company. Another
variant of this is the medical transcription scam, which has been
on for some time.

Though these scams have become common, industry bodies such as the
National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom)
are yet to take up the issue.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow
?msid=112792

4) Don't fear HIPAA police if rules deadline is missed

Federal enforcers won't scour the nation in search of physicians
who fail to comply with new electronic transaction standards by the
Oct. 16 deadline, government officials said at a recent meeting.
"We're not going to be out looking for you," said Leslie Norwalk,
deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services. CMS is the agency responsible for enforcing the rule.

Instead, CMS will deal with noncompliance on a case-by-case basis,
she said. "We have no authority to do safe harbors, so you're not
going to see a blanket exception." She admitted that the agency
does not really have the resources to proactively seek out those
who have not complied with the regulation. Enforcement efforts will
be based on complaints from members of the medical community.

When CMS receives a complaint about a covered entity, such as a
physician, it will notify the entity in writing that a grievance
has been filed, the HHS guidance states. After notification, the
entity will have the opportunity to demonstrate compliance,
document its good-faith efforts to meet the standards and/or submit
a corrective action plan.

While the priority is to work with doctors to get them up to speed,
the flexible and understanding approach to enforcement will lessen
with time, Norwalk warned.

http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/amnews/pick_03/gvsa0811.htm

5) Dilbert looks at outsourcing

http://dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert20030801306
73.jpg
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The MTIndia Team
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