MT India Newsletter

To subscribe, send an email to:

MTIndia-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

21 Aug 2004

********************************************************

Career prospects as an MT...

********************************************************

Dear Friends,

The Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor, is a recognized source of career
information in the US, designed to provide valuable assistance to
individuals making decisions about their future work lives. The Handbook
describes what workers do on the job, working conditions, the training and
education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of
occupations. Here are experts from the section on medical transcriptionists:

<With experience, medical transcriptionists can advance to supervisory
positions, home-based work, editing, consulting, or teaching. With
additional education or training, some become medical records and health
information technicians, medical coders, or medical records and health
information administrators.>

<Job opportunities will be good. Employment of medical transcriptionists is
projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2012.
Demand for medical transcription services will be spurred by a growing and
aging population. Older age groups receive proportionately greater numbers
of medical tests, treatments, and procedures that require documentation. A
high level of demand for transcription services also will be sustained by
the continued need for electronic documentation that can be easily shared
among providers, third-party payers, regulators, and consumers. Growing
numbers of medical transcriptionists will be needed to amend patients'
records, edit for grammar, and identify discrepancies in medical records.

Contracting out transcription work overseas and advancements in speech
recognition technology are not expected to significantly reduce the need for
well-trained medical transcriptionists domestically. Contracting out
transcription work abroad-to countries such as India-has grown more popular
as transmitting confidential health information over the Internet has become
more secure; however, the demand for overseas transcription services is
expected to supplement the demand for well-trained domestic medical
transcriptionists.>

See the full report:
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos271.htm

Ciao!

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

***********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
----------------------
We are a four year old company and are currently executing more than
half a million lines per month from our production unit at Nagpur.

We are looking to expand our operations and require experienced Home
Based Medical Transcriptionists. Work is available for both night/day
shifts.
MT's should have a minimum work experience of 6 months in a live
production environment. MT's with established infrastructure and capable of
transcribing 250+ lines per day may please write to us at
info@... .

Rate/line will depend on quality and will meet industry standards.

Opportunity also exists for Trained Medical Transcriptionists/Editors
willing to relocate to Nagpur. Incumbents should be able to deliver client
satisfactory quality and have a minimum experience of 6 months in a live
production environment at the above posts.

I can also be reached on my cell number 0712 311 3763 ( Reliance) or
98222 24047.

Ajay Kapoor,
President & Managing Director

***********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
------------------------
1) CBay To Ramp Up Hyderabad Ops; Eyes Acquisitions

Encouraged by increased demand for medical transcription (MT) contracts from
the US, CBay Systems has decided to increase manpower at its Hyderabad
facility. The company, a leading player in the MT industry, is also setting
up a new facility at Vijayawada.

The company is also looking out for companies which have over 100
professionals for possible acquisitions, said director, CKar Systems, MS
Ramakrishna. CKar is CBay's Hyderabad operations. Speaking to eFE, Mr
Ramakrishna said the company has decided to add another 500 MT professionals
during the fiscal, including 200 at its new facility in Vijayawada, which
would be operational by month-end.

The manpower expansion has been due to the strong revival of the MT business
in the US, which has been estimated at $16 billion and is growing at 10 per
cent annually.
"CBay is one of the four major MT companies in the US and has set a target
of achieving $100 million turnover by the end of 2005 as against $35 million
now," he said.

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=66210

2) American Association for Medical Transcription Calls for New Standards to
Ensure Quality and Privacy of Health Care Records

With the growth in patient health information and increased push for
electronic medical records, the American Association of Medical
Transcription is launching a new initiative to protect confidentiality and
establish benchmarks to ensure quality and accuracy of patient health
information. At the AAMT's annual convention later this month in Atlanta,
Georgia, industry leaders and professionals will evaluate current
transcription practices and outline objective quality assurance measures.

This year's convention will examine new challenges facing the medical
transcription industry, including the need for mandatory credentialing for
transcription professionals and the importance of full disclosure of billing
methods and location of services. Industry experts will also debate
globalization and protection of health records, as well as the future of
transcription in an electronic health care environment. AAMT will promote
several new programs designed to meet changing industry needs, including a
curriculum review and approval process, an externship program designed to
bridge the gap for new medical transcriptionists between graduation and
employment, and a Future's Group to research and address emerging, complex
topics, including electronic medical records and compensation issues.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/08-16-200\
4/0002232501&EDATE

3) Outsourcing med records

A flap in England over sending medical transcription work to India, reported
by the Evening Standard, shows that the outsourcing issue is hardly confined
to these shores.

Michael Fiennes, of the Association of Medical Secretaries, said he had
heard of many examples of mistakes creeping into letters, some so serious
that they could lead to patients being given the wrong dose of medication.
...

In one example, the drug "Lansoprazole", used to treat stomach ulcers, was
transcribed as the popular holiday resort "Lanzarote". In another case
"phlebitis (vein inflammation) left leg" was changed to "flea bite his left
leg". And a "below knee amputation" was transcribed as "baloney amputation",
according to Mr Fiennes.
But he said that, while these might seem amusing, mistakes could also occur
by changing the dosage of a drug given, for example from 5mg to 50mg.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/buzz/archives/003220.html

4) Indian Typing Service 'Threat to NHS Patients'

Patients' lives are being put at risk because letters from hospital doctors
to GPs are being sent to India to be typed, it was claimed today. Eight
hospitals in London are using the services of Omnimedical to clear a backlog
of letters needing to be transcribed, to make up for secretary shortages and
to free staff to help deal with patient care.

But the Association of Medical Secretaries warned that the use of staff in
India increased the chances of mistakes slipping in, with potentially fatal
consequences.

St George's said that there were rigorous safeguards in place to ensure that
letters were accurate. But Michael Fiennes, of the Association of Medical
Secretaries, said he had heard of many examples of mistakes creeping into
letters, some so serious that they could lead to patients being given the
wrong dose of medication. Medical secretaries should be properly trained,
but they are appallingly badly paid for the work they do and that is why the
work is being sent abroad.

A medical secretary is paid an average of £14,000 a year in the NHS after
undergoing training lasting, in some cases, two years.

A spokesman for St George's Hospital, which has been using the service for
about two months, said: "The bottom line is that the transcription service
is better for patients, better for GPs and better for medical secretaries.

"GPs now receive timely information about the care given to their patients,
while medical secretaries have been freed up to provide better support to
consultants and the patients they see.

"The transcription service is secure and confidential, and there are
rigorous safeguards in place to ensure the accuracy of letters before they
are sent."

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3364412

5) Hospital board OKs outsourcing

Sixteen medical transcriptionists were casualties of the Ector County
Hospital District Board budget process Tuesday. The service will be
outsourced to a company called JGL effective today. Barbara Dingman,
director of compliance and director of health information management at
Medical Center Hospital, said JGL already has a contract with Arrendale
Associates Inc., the hospital's medical transcription software provider.

Dingman said JGL will meet with each transcriptionist today and offer them a
chance to work with the company. The expense to the hospital will be
$267,500, saving the hospital $399,436.

Medical Center Chief Executive Officer William Webster said he recommended
the outsourcing. "We regret we have to propose this, but with the budget
situation we're facing, the hospital had to seriously consider it." Board
President Mary Thompson expressed concern for the employees and said she was
not comfortable with the situation but recognized that the board would have
to do some things that are unpleasant. Some transcriptionists attending the
meeting left with tears in their eyes. "The way it was handled was not very
professional," medical transcriptionist Nancy Barnes said. "We had no
official notice until today."

http://www.oaoa.com/news/nw081804c.htm

6) British gripe over outsourcing to India

Outsourcing of jobs to India has come under renewed fire, especially with
the British government allowing 200 of its own jobs to be shipped out and
doubts emerging over data protection standards outside Europe.

Even as concerns were expressed that outsourcing medical transcription work
to India may put British lives at risk due to potential mistakes in
interpretation, a customer of banking major Lloyds launched a legal
challenge on data security.

The customer, an unnamed woman, said India does not have the same standards
of data protection as in Britain and claimed European laws prevented
sensitive personal information from being transferred outside without
consent.

Her legal challenge, the first of its kind, could have an impact on other
high street banks planning to save money by outsourcing. She is backed by
Bindmans solicitors and the Lloyds TSB Group Union, which says the safety of
customer data is "a far more serious issue than directory and rail enquiries
going offshore".

Security experts have warned that criminals could bribe low-paid workers for
secrets of customers' accounts. The data security issue emerged even as the
Tony Blair government came under attack for a plan of the state-owned
National Savings and Investments to shift part of its operation to India in
the next six months.

http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=45173
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
P. S. Would you like to share this newsletter with your friends
or post it on your site? Please do! But also be sure to read
below:

All original content of this newsletter is © Copyright 1998-2004
Mediweb Infotech Pvt. Ltd. All cited articles are copyright of
their authors and/or respective publications. Please feel free to
share this newsletter with your friends or post it on your site
as long as it is left intact with all links unchanged and this
notice.

Thank you for your interest in MT India!

The MTIndia Team
----------------------------------------------------------------
Please DO NOT reply to this mail id to unsubscribe