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11 Sept 2004

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I cannot understand the AAMT...

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Dear Friends,

BBC Hindi Service is running a program on the career prospects and job
opportunities for MTs in India. The second episode was broadcast on Saturday
at 6.30 am, in the program 'Aaj ke din'.

For those who missed the program, you will find it uploaded here:
http://www.mtindia.org/bbc

Back to basics, to quote an AAMT press release dated Sept 07:

<Increased production pressures from healthcare purchasers, greater scrutiny
from regulatory agencies, and formidable competition from overseas
transcription companies forged a renewed commitment to raise professional
standards among the American Association for Medical Transcription's (AAMT)
members at its 26th Annual Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, last week.

Setting historic precedent in the profession and at the annual convention,
the AAMT Board of Directors and House of Delegates approved the following
initiatives to:

* Lobby for legislative initiatives that will encourage greater
utilization of domestic labor in the U.S. medical transcription marketplace>

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/09-07-200\
4/0002245408&EDATE>

This, I consider to be contrary to the "Joint Position Statement" issued by
AAMT, MTIA, CHIA, & AHIMA; I quote:

<It would be counter-productive and harmful to health care organizations if
new state laws are established that make it impractical for national
outsourcing companies to do business within a particular state. Further,
many health care systems operate in a number of states. Therefore, we urge
legislators to think about national and global business structures when
addressing issues relating to health information. This is no longer a local
issue.

The joint position statement is available at:
http://www.ahima.org/dc/positions/PositionStatement31604.cfm>

Are we in synchronicity, here?

Ciao!

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) "Minnesota Health Care: Making the best of a bad bargain."

As evidence, the report points effectively to what Hatch calls "nontreatment
professionals." These are the groups making money off of the existing system
but that don't provide medical care. He lists about 80 of them, ranging from
the American College of Medical Quality to the Medical Transcription
Industry Alliance.

Hatch believes cutting most of these 80 or so groups - not to mention
others - out of the medical loop will yield a more efficient system and
provide the money to cover the report's four big changes.

http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D84VL3F00

2) RP barely scratching potentials offered by medical transcriptions

The high demand for skilled medical transcriptionists around the world,
estimated at 150,000 a year, could provide much-needed job opportunities for
Filipinos. Yet medical transcription educational provider MTC Academy
president Eugenio G. Gonzalez said there is still a need to educate the
market about employment opportunities in the medical transcription industry.

The Philippines hopes to take a fraction of the jobs available in the
industry. Right now, it is not even in the 1,000 to 2,000 a year level. "If
you fill in the gap, that's big," he said in a press conference Monday.

The medical transcription industry is estimated to be worth as much as
$20-billion worldwide with an annual growth rate of 13 percent.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=Business&OID=58980

3) Medical transcription industry calls but few could answer

US legislations, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
(HIPAA) and electronic medical records laws, have pushed US medical
institutes to have their records digitized. Over half of the total number of
hospitals and clinics have yet to comply with the laws, which could equate
to a tremendous market for the medical transcription business in the
Philippines.

And yet the country, with its mushrooming medical transcription business,
would still take several more years to even take 10 percent of the US
requirements, estimated to be 20 billion US dollars by the end of the year,
with annual growth rate pegged at 13 percent.

One of the factors for the country's slower than expected requirement
fill-in is the lack of medical transcriptionists in the Philippines.

Medical Transcription Academy Inc. (MTC) President Eugenio Gonzalez said
very few graduates are familiar with the medical transcription industry,
adding that many graduates still favor going to a call center company.

"What the MT industry needs to do is a major awareness program. We have so
many graduates that enter the call center industry but they are unaware that
another high-paying career is waiting for them," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez noted that among the reasons graduates stay away from the MT
industry is the misconception that MT firms only hire people with medical
backgrounds, such as nurses or biology graduates.

"The MT industry saw this problem so it's developing ways to make sure that
MT schools have programs to accommodate enrolees with zero-background on
medicine. These are basic courses on medicine just to familiarize them with
common terms," Gonzalez said.

Regardless of the lack of skilled workers, Gonzalez is optimistic that the
Philippines will be able to secure a major role in the demand for medical
transcription services in the US, even as the local industry is just
scratching the surface.

"Right now, the Philippines is just accommodating one percent or less of the
total industry demand, which is between 8 and 20 billion US dollars. We
still have a long way to go," Gonzalez said.

And despite anti-outsourcing calls from some US camps, he said the medical
transcription industry would not be severely affected.

"It's a US requirement to make medical institutions digitize their records
and that alone ensures the existence and continued growth of the medical
transcription business. All we have to do is to fill in some of that
requirement."

http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=9593

4) Small companies lead Bay State out of software's hiring doldrums

In the past year, Needham-based eScription Inc. doubled its head count to
50, with 10 additional jobs open now and another 10 or 20 expected to be
added in the next year.

The medical transcription technology company's growth is emblematic of
smaller companies leading the way in adding jobs to the current
Massachusetts economy, experts said. Still, eScription's rapid growth is an
exception, as most companies are planning incremental growth and management
teams are cautious about growth, local CEOs said.

"The amount of good talent is getting reduced," said eScription's Chigier.
"We still are able to find people, but we don't have as many choices as we
did a year ago," Chigier said. And the job-seekers do not seem as desperate,
his co-CEO Egerman said.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5964124/

5) ZyDoc Offers Hurricane Disaster Transcription Support

ZyDoc, announced free emergency transcription and medical record support for
healthcare workers and organizations affected by the Frances hurricane
disaster. In view of the severity of the hurricane and widespread outage of
electricity and phone service, ZyDoc recognizes the need to fulfill the
requirements of healthcare providers for medical transcription and
documentation management. With many hospitals in Florida temporally closed
or operating with limited services on generator power only, the
infrastructure for ongoing medical records will be severely limited. Coupled
with the anticipated increase in medical services secondary to the disaster,
and difficulties for healthcare providers and transcriptionists to travel or
perform their duties, ZyDoc anticipates that there maybe an immediate need
to offer transcription services and secure Internet based medical records to
the medical community.

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/9/emw156089.htm

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The MTIndia Team
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