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

Feb 07, 2009
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Medical Transcription sector to boom despite recession

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Dear Friends,

Here are some interesting excerpts from Business Standard -
"Medical Transcription sector to boom despite recession - report"

<Despite global economic downtrend, the Medical Transcription (MT)
industry is looking for a further growth buoyed by a report of the
NASSCOM stating that recession has not hit the healthcare industry.

Reverse is the trend in medical transcription outsourcing in the
US, which is witnessing agonising attrition in large scale in IT,
financial, manufacturing and other sectors.

As per a NASSCOM report, the MT industry will be worth Rs 40
billion by 2010 and could employ as many as 50,000 people. It
predicts that this industry is here to stay for at least 10 years.

It estimated the size of the US MT industry, which is in the range
of around $ 12 million in 2005, would reach $ 16.8 billion by 2010.
The work offshored was expected to be in the region of $ 860
million in 2010, of which India is expected to capture $ 647
million. India remained a preferred offshore destination primarily
due to availability of manpower and industry maturity.

The report also expected the employee strength of 18,000 in 2006 in
India-based MT vendors would reach 52,000 by 2010. For an industry
that witnessed too much crowding, too fast in India, a report
conducted by US-based Stevens International Consulting expected the
value of MT outsourcing in the US to double by 2005 to $ 4 billion.
India could take as much as two-thirds of that increase, providing
work to 45,000 transcribers.>

<Currently there are around 300 MT companies including training
institutes in India, employing about 50,000. Mysore houses around
25 MT firms (including Mom n Pop set ups). However, the major
companies, which provide MT services, are only two - Software
Paradigm International (SPI) and Acusis. Approximately, there are
around a thousand employees.>

<In India, MT business is 3-4 years old. Bangalore pioneered, the
Healthscribe India setting up the first MT company. In USA, where
it is a well-established industry, it is 25 years old. Low cost,
reliable telecommunication links, abundant, qualified, low cost,
human resources, second-largest English-speaking workforce in the
world, abundant supply of college graduates - 2.1 million graduates
and 0.3 million post-graduates per year, about 12 hours time zone
difference with US, less operating cost in India - 20 per cent vis
a vis the US, reliable, low cost datacom bandwidth available on
demand (for clients needing online connectivity), industry-friendly
government and labour laws provide enough job opportunities in
medical transcription.>

Unfortunately the report doesn't clarify on the exact source of
information and some errors are quite glaring. Maybe its time the
industry starts publishing its own reports.

To read the entire feature, go to:
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/medical-transcription-sector-to-boom\
-despite-recession-report/18/45/347988/

Cheers!

Dr Amit Chatterjee, SM
Strategist / Founder
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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) The Dark Side of Medical Transcription?

The Tale of the Rubber Checks

Joan Edwards (not her real name), like Trudy Schaefer Looney, got
into transcription on a whim 14 years ago. "It was sort of by
fluke," she said. "I basically trained myself. I started out with a
doctor and his wife. It was a brand new practice, and we sort of
trained each other."

Edwards worked there for 4 years until the clinic closed due to
lack of business. She moved on from there, getting her own accounts
and working directly for clinics. Everything in her MT world was
fine until she started working for a medical transcription service
organization (MTSO) 2 years ago.  The warning signs were there. The
company said it would get direct deposit for its 120 MTs
nationwide. It didn't. The promised health care coverage never
showed up. A notice was sent out by the company saying that 10
oncology MTs quit, all in the same day. And MTs were forbidden by
the company from contacting each other, even if they worked on the
same accounts. Also, a lot of times Edwards and other MTs saw
discrepancies in the line counts. They thought they typed more
lines than they were paid for, but the only way to prove it would
be to purchase the company's own line counting software, which
would cost a hefty $300.

Despite the early warning signs that the company might not have
been the best, Edwards was always paid on time--at least up until 3
months ago. She walked into the company's bank with a check, and
the teller didn't even look at the amount. "She looked at the
company name and she just shook her head. I said, 'Why are you
shaking your head?' She answered, 'There's insufficient funds,'"
Edwards recalled.

Edwards admitted she put up with the bounced checks and other
problems for too long. She liked the clinic she transcribed for,
and was familiar with the doctors. She felt resistant to change,
until it became unbearable to stick with the company. The lesson
here: don't wait around. If you're experiencing a similar
situation, it's not likely that things are going to improve. There
are good MT companies out there. Find one and don't be afraid to
make the change.

Another lesson out of Edwards' issues is to thoroughly research
before starting a job with a company. She checked on chat sites in
the MT world before starting work for the company, but didn't find
much information. Now Edwards and others who worked for the company
peruse message boards to try to help other MTs steer clear. If a
transcription company has a bad reputation, chances are that
reputation will get out on the Internet, and MTs looking for jobs
can use that resource. Another tip is to speak with MTs already
working for the company you're thinking of working for. If a
company isn't comfortable letting you speak to its MTs, that might
be a red flag.

http://health-information.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?cc=192\
551

2) MT Business Is Alive and Well!
by Jay Vance

As someone who has spent a fair amount of time over the years
perusing online MT forums, I've learned that if there's one thing
you can count on in such venues, it's the chronic naysayer. For
these folks, the glass isn't just half empty, it fell off the table
and smashed to bits. To hear them tell it, the MT field is dying,
nobody's making any money, and we all ought to pack up our bags and
git out while the gittin's good.

I have no doubt there are some sad stories to be told in our line
of work. I know these aren't the "gravy years" of the 80's some
folks like to talk about. I know speech recognition technology,
point-and-click EMRs and offshore outsourcing have had an
undeniable impact on the way we do what we do and how much we get
paid for doing it. But to paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of the
death of medical transcription have been greatly exaggerated.

he people I know in this business-service owners large and small,
ICs, production MTs who are good at what they do-are busy,
sometimes with more business than they can handle. There is plenty
of work out there. Does it pay as well as it used to? No. Do you
have to work smarter AND harder? Yes. Is this a good career field
for the faint of heart or the weary of hand? No. Does this job
cater to the lazy or the whining? NO! But from where I stand,
looking at what's happening in a lot of other industries, this has
got to be the closest thing to a recession-proof business as you
can find right now. Maybe we ought not to be too quick to jump out
of this particular frying pan....

http://community.advanceweb.com/blogs/hi_9/archive/2009/01/27/just-for-the-recor\
d-the-mt-business-is-alive-and-well.aspx

3) Great Falls Clinic lays off 42 medical transcriptionists

The Great Falls Clinic announced Wednesday that it will lay off its
42 full-time-equivalent medical transcriptionists, but those
employees will have the opportunity to apply and test for positions
with the company to which the clinic will outsource its
transcription services.

The clinic is outsourcing its medical transcription services to
Massachusetts-based Nuance Healthcare, which will decrease costs
and decrease turnaround times for medical records, according to a
clinic representative. Because of the high demand for medical
transcriptionists, Geannine Rapp Purpura, spokeswoman for the
clinic, said she is confident clinic employees will be hired by
Nuance if they apply. The decision to outsource comes after months
of research and careful consideration, according to a release from
the Great Falls Clinic.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090129/BUSINESS/901290306

4) Spheris Renews Transcription Agreement with VHA Inc.

Spheris announced that it has renewed its agreement with VHA Inc.,
the national health care alliance, to provide VHA members with a
full range of clinical documentation technologies and
industry-leading outsource services.Under the terms of the new
agreement, Spheris will be one of two VHA-preferred medical
transcription providers through December 2011.

"Spheris has provided great value in outsourced transcription to
our members for the last seven years," said Amy Anthony, senior
vice president for VHA’s supply chain services. “In the face of
economic uncertainty, it is now even more critical for our member
hospitals to uncover cost savings in their operations. Today,
Spheris is using technology – such as back-end speech recognition –
to both drive down costs and provide new tools that help ensure a
high level of quality and physician satisfaction.”

“Technology is allowing Spheris to process medical reports more
quickly, more accurately and more cost effectively, but the service
component is equally as important,” said Tony James, chief
operating officer at Spheris. “We are constantly improving the
clinical documentation process through our extensive global
resources of people, processes and technology.”

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/spheris-renews-transcription-agreement-w\
ith-vha-inc,678362.shtml

5) Azimuth Expands its Medical Transcription Operation in Chennai
and Announces Search for Best Talents

Azimuth with operations in Pondicherry and Chennai announced the
opening of a new office in Chennai Egmore and strong recruitment.
“We are hiring 50 of the best MT professionals in Chennai to join
our new Egmore center.” says Terry Leger, CEO of Azimuth. “We are
also hiring home based medical transcriptionists as many MTs are
opting to work from home now” he adds.

The company does not see a slow down in its market, despite the
tough conditions in the US. “At the contrary”, says Mr. Leger, “our
rigorous attention to quality standards is insuring strong demand
for our services and continuous growth even during this market
slow-down.”

The company has developed an efficient way to train people on
campus or online from home and hire then after. The Azimuth
opportunity to study and work from home has been usefully adopted
by many already. “Our work-from-home program is doing well and we
guarantee employment after training!” underlines Terry Leger.

http://www.businesswireindia.com/PressRelease.asp?b2mid=18025

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2009
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

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

Nov 22, 2007
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Future of Medical Transcription - An Open Forum

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Dear Friends,

IAMR, organized a seminar on the Future of Medical Transcription at
Osmania University on Monday. The seminar was aimed at providing an
open forum to MT professionals to discuss issues of common concern
to the industry.

More than 190 MT professionals from seven of the leading companies
attended the seminar. The keynote presentation from Raghu Vasu, CEO
of Transdyne threw light on recent trends in the healthcare and
healthcare documentation industry, emerging technologies, best
practices, and highlighted the challenges facing both the business
and the professionals and outlined appropriate responses. This was
followed by an open forum where a panel of CEOs consisting of Mrs.
Vijay Kumar of Vision 2K, Pydah Venkateswar Rao of Vasavi Prosoft,
Raghu Vasu of Transdyne and Ramakrishna Tummala of Worldtech
answered questions from the participants on a wide range of topics,
such as the fluctuating dollar rate, new technologies, how to
assess an employer, lack of awareness among the common people
regarding MT as a serious career choice, etc.

At a time when downsizing and pink slips are the order of the day,
the MT industry is seeing a resurgence with the consolidation and
convergence of tried and tested business models resulting in
growing business volumes and demand. This increased demand often
also results in unwise responses at all levels. With this seminar,
CEOs of the leading companies came forward to share their
knowledge, expertise and perspectives in an open forum with MT
professionals to dispel myths and create a positive understanding.

More details regarding IAMR can be found at their website
iamr.org.in.

For more on the event see:
www.mtanywhere.com

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Spheris names Daniel Kohl as new CEO

Daniel J. Kohl, most recently president and CEO of Pediatric
Services of America Inc., will take over as the top executive of
Spheris, a Franklin-based medical services provider. He replaces
Steven E. Simpson, who resigned as chief executive this week.

The change in leaders comes as Spheris is in the midst of a
transition toward developing and using more technology in its
business of taking dictation from doctors and converting it into
medical records. "The company needed a seasoned operator who will
come in and focus on effectively and efficiently running the new
business model," said Michele Peden, vice president of marketing
and communications with Spheris.

Under Simpson's leadership as CEO since 2002, Spheris saw its
annual revenues grow from about $20 million to about $200 million,
officials said. But in the past three years its revenues and
earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization have
been relatively flat as the company began to invest in its own
dictation technology.

A month ago, ratings service Standard & Poor's revised downward its
outlook on Spheris from stable to negative. The change was related
to concerns that the company wasn't showing real growth in earnings
and revenues. S&P credit analyst Alain Pelanne also cited the
potential that Spheris could violate terms of its loan agreements
because of that and face a restriction on its access to cash.

Observers said the leadership switch could have come about because
Spheris' owners, including private equity firm Warburg Pincus,
wanted better performance.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20081119/BUSINESS01/811190409/1003/RSS6004

2) FBI probes threat to expose patient records

Express Scripts Inc., the third- largest U.S. manager of drug
benefits, said it received a letter trying to extort money by
threatening to expose millions of patient records stored on the
company's computer system.

Express Scripts, based in St. Louis, said the letter received in
early October included Social Security numbers, birth dates and
prescriptions for some of the 75 patients it named, according to a
statement posted Friday on the company's Web site. The company
notified the patients and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
and began an investigation aided by "outside experts in data
security and computer forensics," Express Scripts said.

Express Scripts handles about 500 million prescriptions annually
and manages benefits for "tens of millions" of people, including
Anthem/Blue Cross members, said Steve Littlejohn, a company
spokesman. The extortion, denounced by Chief Executive Officer
George Paz as "outrageous," comes as drug benefits managers and
health insurers push doctors and consumers to move medical records
online to reduce waste and medical errors.

"We are cooperating with the FBI and are committed to doing what we
can to protect our members' personal information and to track down
the person or persons responsible for this criminal act," said Paz
in Friday's statement.

Extortionists have tried to use medical records at least once
before, said Joyce Pritts, director of the Center on Medical Record
Rights and Privacy at Georgetown University in Washington. In 2003,
an Ohio company that outsourced hospital patient records to India
for transcription was threatened by workers who said they would
post information online unless the company paid them.

"The more medical records that they put in electronic format and
they put in a large database for hackers to go after, the more
likely this type of thing is to happen," Pritts said today in a
telephone interview.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_10928561

3) ePLDT revenues up 2% to P7.6 B in 9 mos on strong peso

ePLDT, the information and communications technology arm of
telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.
(PLDT) reported service revenues of P7.6 billion in the first nine
months of 2008, a two-percent increase from the P7.4-billion
recorded in the same period last year.

SPi Technologies (SPi), ePLDT’s knowledge processing arm (business
process outsourcing or BPO), generated revenues of P3.9 billion in
the first nine months of 2008.

Officials also revealed that revenues in the publishing and medical
billing verticals were broadly in line with expectations while the
medical transcription and legal businesses continue to
underperform.

“We continue to manage the challenges faced by some of our
verticals. We have a number new contracts in our pipeline which
should support an improvement in our margins in the coming
quarters,” ePLDT president and CEO Ray Espinosa said.

http://beta.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=413673

4) TransTech Services Partners Inc. Announces Election of Dr. Ranga
C. Krishna as a Director

TransTech Services Partners Inc. announced that its Board of
Directors elected Dr. Ranga C. Krishna as a director. Krishna is a
licensed neurologist and an experienced health care entrepreneur,
having started several companies. Among them is International
Pharma Trials, Inc., a company which assists U.S. pharmaceutical
companies perform Phase II clinical trials in India. He also
co-founded Fastscribe, Inc., an internet-based medical and legal
transcription company with operations in India.

TransTech Services Partners Inc., is a Business Combination
Company(TM) formed for the purpose of acquiring, through merger,
capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase or other
similar business combination, a business in the business service
industry. TransTech initially intends to focus on one or more
small- to mid-market U.S. and/or European based operating companies
engaged in the delivery of Information Technology and Information
Technology Enabled Services, Business Process Outsourcing and/or
Knowledge Process Outsourcing, whose operations are particularly
suitable for operational and productivity improvements, which would
include leveraging delivery centers located in offshore countries,
such as India.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/TransTech-Services-Partners-Inc-Announces/\
story.aspx?guid={7BEF2223-05D3-4CEC-9B6A-1493BA39E6A9}

5) Work-from-home moms in dilemma

‘Work- from-home and earn money’ option offered by employers gave a
‘Have one’s cake and eat it too’ situation for many women who
wanted to balance their family and career, especially after having
children. But the recent unregulated power cuts is throwing the
lives of these women out of gear. Viji (40), who lives near Porur
and works for a medical transcription company, said: “I start my
work after I pack off my husband and daughter to office and school.
My day’s work starts at 8 am and goes on till 4 pm. We have power
cuts between 12 am and 2 pm, which is prime time for me because the
work tempo I have built up since morning peaks at this time.With
the power gone, my work schedule is thrown out of gear. I am not
able to keep the deadline and finish the work allotted for the
  day.” The women are paid only for the work they deliver.

The earlier ease with which I used to manage home and work is
completely gone.” Echoing her views, Viji said: “Four years ago,
when I started working from home, I was happy because the job gave
me financial independence and did wonders to my self-esteem. Today,
with these power cuts things look bleak to many of us who work from
home.” Bandi Srinivas, managing director of Bandi Informatics, a
city-based medical transcription company, which offers the
work-from-home option to its employees, said: “Work-from-home is a
great option for married women with children. But the recent
erratic power cuts in the city is definitely affecting the
individual output of the employees. If the situation is going to
continue, it will take a toll on the over all output of the
company.” Chennai has more than 200 medical transcription
companies, which provides this work-from-home option.

Women, who have opted for the option, form 90 per cent of the
workforce of the companies. Their future in the companies has now
become a question mark.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Work-from-home+moms+in+dilem\
ma&artid=0eY8jm/4sMc=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=oHSKVfNWYm0=&SectionN\
ame=rSY|6QYp3kQ=&SEO=

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2008
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
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MT India Newsletter - http://www.MTIndia.org/

Oct 11, 2008
********************************************************

Reactions to the MT Study

********************************************************
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Phone : 41313724, 25523946, 2553653
********************************************************
Dear Friends,

Here are some interesting excerpts from the article in "ADVANCE" -
Reactions to the MT Study
By Lynn Jusinski :

Quality:

<Gary David, PhD, associate professor of sociology at Bentley
College, Waltham, MA, ,after realizing no formal academic research
had ever been done on the medical transcription industry, himself
and two Bentley colleagues, Donald Chand, PhD, professor of
information and process management, and Angela Garcia, PhD,
associate professor of sociology, set out to do an in-depth study
of the industry.>

<Nearly half of MTs reported that they see how flagged errors are
resolved only rarely or never. Also, the survey showed that 59
percent of MTs transcribe for multiple physicians at multiple
hospitals and/or clinics. Dr. David's view is that if an MT isn't
told how a flagging issue was resolved, he or she may not know how
to resolve a similar issue in the future, which can affect quality.
Likewise, Dr. David noted, if an MT is transcribing for many
accounts, he or she might not be able to develop an ear for
physicians.>

Shortage:

<The work force is on the older side�77 percent of respondents are
older than 40. Dr. David commented that because there are no solid
numbers on the actual number of MTs working, there's no way to
determine if there is definitely a shortage.>

<Kathy Eberle, who works in QA,  referred to the shortage as simply
a shortage of qualified MTs, rather than of all MTs. She's noticing
that many good MTs are leaving not just their positions, but the
industry, and they're going back to school to start different
careers. "With quality MTs, we're truly lacking at the moment,"
Eberle added.>

Salary:

<One certainty in the MT industry is that wages aren't heading
upward. In the survey, MTs reported varied personal incomes, with
the majority, 72 percent, bringing home $10,000 to $50,000
annually.>

<Dr. David called the industry "one of the only places where the
laws of supply and demand don't work." There may be fewer
transcriptionists and there's a greater demand for transcription
services. "[That] should mean that [MTs] get paid more, but their
pay doesn't increase�if anything it goes down or stagnates�and so
part of it is linked to how there's just no perceived value in what
it is they do," he explained.>

Offshoring:

<Chris Hopkins, COO, Landmark Transcription, hopes the study
highlights the fact that offshoring labor is doing what he called a
"disservice to the industry." "I think if people focus on providing
a livable wage to the transcriptionists with a reasonable package
of benefits and a decent schedule, the labor pool will become
deeper and broader because more people will start to come into the
industry," he explained.>

Read more about the Reactions to the MT Study:
http://health-information.advanceweb.com/Editorial/Search/AViewer.aspx?AN=HI_08a\
ug25_hip20.html&AD=08-25-2008

Cheers!

Dr Amit Chatterjee, SM
Strategist / Founder ~ amit.chatterjee <at> mtindia.org
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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) CBaySystems in transcription services deal with Medquist

CBaySystems Holdings Ltd. said its wholly-owned company CBay
Systems & Services Inc. has entered into an agreement with MedQuist
Inc., to outsource certain medical transcription services to
CBaySystems production centres. CBaySystems recently acquired a
69.5 percent stake MedQuist, one of the world's largest medical
transcription service organizations.

http://www.hemscott.com/news/static/tfn/item.do?newsId=67010082546570

2) Spheris inks deal with Community Health

Spheris announced it has entered into an exclusive, five-year
agreement with Community Health Systems Professional Services
Corporation (CHS), a subsidiary of the nation's leading operator of
community-based hospitals, to provide medical transcription
technology and services to all of its affiliated hospitals.

Further underscoring Spheris' competitive advantage in the medical
transcription industry is CHS' decision to make an equity
investment in Spheris. As a new minority owner in the company, CHS
will assume two positions on the Spheris Board of Directors.
Effective Oct. 3, 2008, Martin G. Schweinhart and James W.
Doucette, both CHS senior executives, joined the Spheris Board of
Directors. At that same time, Wayne Smith, who had been an
independent Spheris board member for more than seven years, stepped
down from his position.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/spheris-community-health-systems-professio\
nal/story.aspx?guid={15483B4C-F5F4-46D6-87C8-9B71A6B7B1FC}&dist=hppr

3) Nuance acquires Philips speech-recognition business

Speech-recognition software vendor Nuance Communications has
acquired Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics' Speech
Recognition Systems (PSRS) unit for E66m ($96.1m) to strengthen its
presence in the European healthcare market. PSRS provides
speech-recognition applications in 25 languages, and has more than
8,000 installations and 100 integration partners worldwide. It had
170 employees and sales of E25m ($35m) in 2007. Nuance said the
acquisition will enable it to use PSRS's partner channel to offer
speech-enabled clinical documentation and communication
applications for the healthcare market.

The company expects the acquisition to add revenue of between $36m
and $39m in fiscal 2009, and its healthcare business to generate
worldwide revenue in excess of $410m. The acquisition is in line
with the company's strategy to expand its presence in the
healthcare market. In North America approximately $10 billion is
spent each year for medical transcription alone. In Europe an
estimated $2 billion is spent each year for manually processing
clinical information.

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1918856/

4) Making diversity work

"Don't we buy a Windows licence without making an issue out of it?
Corporates must also look at JAWS as a facilitator to tap a talent
pool that is readily available and long neglected," says K.C.
Anand, CEO, Healthsoft USA Llc, a Chennai-based medical
transcription company. The company aims to build a staff that
comprises at least 25 per cent of differently-abled persons. "A lot
of Venkateshes are waiting to be handpicked by companies with
opportunities," feels Venkatesh, 34, a veteran employee at
Healthsoft. Having been with the company for more than seven years
now, he says he has not felt the "seven-year-itch" yet. Content
with his employer, he is also the brand ambassador for the company.
Anand believes differently-abled people have better productivity
levels, and are sincere at their work. "They are more focused and
stable.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/life/2008/08/29/stories/2008082950020100.htm

5) Wellness Aided by Technology

Manipal Cure and Care (MCC) introduced the concept of wellness
along through its retail healthcare model, with six units at
different locations like Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Bangalore with
wellness, preventive, beauty and cosmetic care as the focus area.
MCC wanted to have an IT solution which will be utilised for
personal interactions while bringing in operational efficiency
along with enhanced customer experience.

ezEMRx allows the physicians to enter data using third party voice
recognition software. With this technology all that a physician
would do is speak through a microphone connected to the
workstation/ computer. The letters, notes are entered verbally with
words and then it gets converted into text, thus saving time. Yet
another aspect is that doctors are generally known to have bad
handwriting, so there is a possibility that while prescribing
medicines in written format the pharmacist ends up giving a wrong
drug. But when the same information is told verbally the software
has the capability to record it in text, thus avoiding prescription
errors.

http://www.expresshealthcaremgmt.com/200809/itspecial02.shtml

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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or post it on your site? Please do! But also be sure to read
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All original content of this newsletter is � Copyright 1998-2008
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
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Sep 13, 2008
********************************************************

AHIMA Vision 2016 White Paper: A Blueprint for Quality Education

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Lakesystems is a well reputed B'lore based company, into its 9th
year of successful operations. The company's Nashik endeavor has
been a huge success and is poised for further expansion this year.
With a rapidly growing client base spread across North America and
Australia, we are now embarking on an aggressive growth plan with
the intent of doubling our production capacity. We are looking to
recruit highly motivated and ambitious individuals in the following
capacities :

Proofers : Min proofing exp of 2yrs.

Medical Transcriptionists : Both In-house and Home based,
experienced and freshers welcome.

Calling allof you who have growth and prosperity foremost on your
minds..

Contact :
Lake Systems Pvt Ltd.
#159, Sarjapura Road.
Koramangala 1st Block.
B'lore-34
Email : recruitment@...
Phone : 41313724, 25523946, 2553653
********************************************************
Dear Friends,

In a study conducted in October 2007, graduates of AHDI approved
schools had an 83% pass rate on the RMT exam versus an overall pass
rate of only 60%.

Nonetheless AHDI feels that the rapid changes taking place in
healthcare documentation will ultimately require a graduate with
more applicable knowledge regarding electronic health records,
speech recognition technology, and other emerging technologies that
impact healthcare documentation (data tagging, database
warehousing, natural language processing, etc.), as well as
superior critical thinking skills that will enable them to serve
reliably as risk managers.

In concert with AHIMA's Blueprint, AHDI puts forth the following
key priorities:

KEY PRIORITIES FOR MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION EDUCATION

1. Elevate the medical transcription certificate program to an
associate degree by 2016
2. Inform and retool under-educated medical transcriptionists to
meet the needs of the changing workplace
3. Develop an advanced level degree program for healthcare
documentation experts encompassing a more technical role by 2016
4. Prepare a capable team of educators to facilitate this
transition by 2016
5. Develop a series of relevant apprenticeship programs to better
bridge the gap between education and employment
6. Work with allied health partners to create a meaningful career
lattice in healthcare that will attract the next generation
workforce and make the best use of our currently scarce resources

To read the white paper response document:
http://www.ahdionline.org/scriptcontent/Downloads/AHIMAVision2016WhitePaperAHDIR\
ESPONSE.pdf

Cheers!

Dr Amit Chatterjee, SM
Strategist / Founder ~ amit.chatterjee <at> mtindia.org
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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Acusis Receives High Growth Recognition Honor

Acusis was again recognized by the Pittsburgh Business Times as one
of the regions Pittsburgh 100 top companies. Overall the 2008
Acusis #24 ranking is the third straight year of Acusis recognition
including being in a select group of only half of the 2008 awardees
repeating from 2007. In the professional services/consulting
category Acusis ranked #11 out of 31 acknowledged companies. All
companies are significant leaders from a wide diversity of business
growth and commercialization successes in technology, products and
services markets. The 100 fastest-growing rankings in 2008 were
determined by the total percentage revenue growth between 2005 and
2007 for the greater Pittsburgh area privately owned companies.

"I am very honored that our continued high growth success is
recognized within a most select group of our regions most
successful companies," stated David Iwinski, Jr., Acusis President
and CEO. Mr. Iwinski further elaborated, "Acusis is driven by our
global employee's passion and dedication to serve each new and
existing customer as they were are only customer. Our focus and
commitment to make decisions and take actions to expand our
nationwide healthcare provider relationships will continue to
further our expansion in the health information management
transcription services market."

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/2008-pittsburgh-100--acusis-receives-high/\
story.aspx?guid={4900F424-ADF5-40F9-8569-E61737C4346A}&dist=hppr

2) Bengal Transcription unit ties up with US company

South Bengal's lone medical transcription unit has made a pact with
a leading US company to work together in the field of primary BPO
services. C-Bay Systems Incorporate, USA has tied up with Universal
Medi-Com Transcriber- South Bengal's lone medical transcription
unit here.

The US based MT major has agreed to a Rs 4.10 crore annual
off-loading of ITeS jobs in favour of UMCT that has commenced from
August itself. Mr Samrat  Chatterjee, director, UMCT said: "This
will help in generating 66,000 online working hours in one year
which incidentally will create 300 additional direct employment
opportunities every year." He added: "To help develop a sustained
skilled manpower pool we have also floated a state of the art six
months training module accommodating 200 intake per session."

According to the Nascom reports, MT is projected to be India's
fourth largest industry and job provider, though the Nascom
database has reflected a very disappointing trend with severe
dearth in supply of trained medical transcribers in the country.
According to Nascom, the outsourcing industry is apprehended to
face a shortage of 4,00,000 professionals by 2010.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=10&id=244955&usrsess=1

3) Acusis promotes Dyer to CEO

Acusis, which provides medical transcription services, promoted Ray
Dyer to CEO of the Pittsburgh company. He has been with the company
since its inception, most recently as vice president of business
development. Dyer replaces David Iwinski, who left to join a
private-equity firm in the health care industry.
Mr. Iwinski remains an investor in Acusis and will continue to
serve as an active member of its Board of Directors. "I have
enjoyed working with the talented and dedicated associates of
Acusis to deliver superior value for our customers," said Mr.
Iwinski. "The experience, capability, and dedication of the team
provide a strong foundation for the Company. I am very pleased to
have a person of such broad-based executive experience leading the
organization and believe that Ray's knowledge will be of great
value to Acusis as he guides our Company forward."
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_587183.html?source=rss\
&feed=4

4) 4-Star Stocks - Nuance Communications

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 115,000-plus investors
participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing
community, speech software provider Nuance Communications has
earned a respected four-star ranking. While five-star stocks have
been the best performers, our data has shown that four-star stocks
still outshone the market by a significant margin and shouldn't be
taken lightly; conversely, low-rated stocks have woefully lagged
the market average.

Over on CAPS, fully 1,432 of the 1,483 All-Star members who have
rated Nuance Communications - some 97% - believe the stock will
outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These All-Star bulls include
fredericch and EMG114, both of whom are ranked in the top 15% of
our community.

In mid-2006, fredericch reminded our CAPS community that Nuance
"dominates the IVR market in the U.S. and abroad. They have the
bulk of the market in dictation and voice recognition
transcription, thanks to a number of strategic and daring
acquisitions."

A more recent pitch from EMG114 in April of this year followed that
bullish line of thinking, elaborating the company's
acquisition-enhanced competitive edge:

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/08/13/4-star-stocks-poised-to-pop-nua\
nce-communications.aspx

5) Aegis BPO on prowl, eyes four companies

The Essar-owned $330-million Aegis BPO is once again on prowl. It
plans to buy four BPOs in a year. Aegis has already acquired 11
companies during last four years.

In 2007, Aegis gobbled up Gurgaon-based Global Vantedge, which
added 1,500 employees and a large collections and receivables
vertical to its kitty. The same year it bought Kolkata-based
Stesalit Infotech, which added medical transcription to its
offerings.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/ITeS/Aegis_BPO_on_prowl_eyes_four_c\
ompanies/articleshow/3464604.cms

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2008
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
----------------------------------------------------------------
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MT India Newsletter - http://www.MTIndia.org/

Sep 06, 2008
********************************************************

MTIA Advocates for Credentialed

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************

ACUSIS "Abhinava" at Mysore

It could change your life - ACT NOW!

If you are an MT at Mysore, with more than 1 yr experience, read
on...

Abinava - the Acusis seminar on job opportunities is now at
Mysore.

Sunday, September 07, 11:00 AM - Park View Hotel, Mysore

Discuss issues and opportunities over a FREE lunch and
presentation.

To register, click here:
http://www.surveyconsole.com/console/TakeSurvey?id=499942
********************************************************
Dear Friends,

Both the evolving complexity of healthcare documentation in the EHR
and the need to promote the role of a highly skilled knowledge
worker in the face of enabling technologies prompted the Medical
Transcription Industry Association to release a strong statement in
support of professional credentialing. The Statement on
Credentialing for Healthcare Documentation Workers outlines the
association’s official position on the need to transition its
workforce to a credentialed status, urging MTSO employers to adopt
hiring practices that give preference to employment candidates with
RMT and CMT credentials, depending on role and work setting.

The statement offers four recommendations to transcription service
organizations related to the adoption of hiring policies and
marketing language that demonstrate a preference for credentialed
workers. Where application of these recommendations is concerned,
MTIA is also clearly placing responsibility for the cost associated
with credentialing on its workforce. Transcription service owners
are urged to transition employees to a credentialed status even if
they are unable to fund that transition.

This statement in support of professional credentialing
demonstrates the association’s commitment to its partnership with
AHDI and their mutual goal of positioning the documentation sector
for success in both the EHR and the future of healthcare delivery.

Read more about this position statement:
http://www.mtia.com/downloads/StatementonCredentialingforHealthcareDocumentation\
Workers.pdf

Cheers!

Dr Amit Chatterjee, SM
Strategist / Founder ~ mailto: amit.chatterjee <at> mtindia.org
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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Nuance Communications: An End to Acquisitive Growth

The acquisition machine which fueled growth at Nuance might be
slowing down due to the high debt that Nuance Communications has
accumulated in the last two years.

Nuance’s interest coverage ratio is close to 1 and hence it is
highly unlikely that Nuance could or want to add more debt. Organic
growth across all business segments has been slowing while
insiders, including CEO & CFO, have been selling shares in 2008.
Overall, Nuance competes in diverse segments such as traditional
IVR services, medical transcription services, mobile software and
imaging services. It has acquired multiple non-core service
businesses which has taken a toll on its core software product
expertise and added a lot of unnecessary debt to its balance sheet.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/94127-nuance-communications-an-end-to-acquisitiv\
e-growth

2) CBaySystems completes acquisition of stake in MedQuist

CBaySystems Holdings today said it had completed the acquisition of
69.5 per cent stake in medical transcription services major
MedQuist. CBaySystems has bought the stake from Koninkiijke Philips
Electronics for USD 287 million. MedQuist is the world's largest
medical transcription services company while CBaySystems Holdings
is a holding firm with a portfolio of investments in medical
transcription, healthcare technology and healthcare financial
services.

"The acquisition will not only bolster our current capabilities in
priority growth areas, but will also allow CBaySystems to deliver a
stronger value proposition to better align with our clients'
changing needs," CBaySystems Vice- Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer Raman Kumar said in a release here.

The buyout would give CBay an access to a global talent pool and
marquee clients, he added. The transaction was completed following
the subscription to approximately 89-million new ordinary shares in
CBaySystems by S A C PEI CB Investment LP.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Market_News/CBaySystems_completes_acquisitio\
n_of_stake_in_MedQuist/articleshow/3338901.cms

3) Antiguans sign up for medical transcription industry

Scores of young Antiguans turned out at the Multi-Purpose Cultural
& Exhibition Centre to obtain first-hand information in relation to
the Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority’s (ABIA) Medical
Transcription project that is to come on stream shortly.

The opening ceremony which was held under the theme “Global
opportunity local participation” saw several officials including
Minister of Education Bertrand Joseph, Chairperson of the Board of
Education Dr. Ermina Osoba and Chairman of the ABIA Board of
Management Senator Lenworth Johnson.

http://www.antiguasun.com/paper/?as=view&sun=112219109708192008&an=4144000979081\
92008&ac=Local

4) MedQuist names Masanotti as new chief executive

Medical information services company MedQuist Inc. on Friday named
Peter Masanotti as its new chief executive, effective Sept. 16.

Masanotti, 53, was head of Business Process Sourcing at Deutsche
Bank, and previously worked as Chief Operating Officer of
outsourcing firm OfficeTiger LLC. MedQuist's interim President and
CEO Mark Ivie will continue as Chief Technology Officer.

Ivie replaced the company's previous interim CEO, Howard Hoffman,
in June.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/52d6f0898b123e631f61cc819d8a\
5d09.htm

5) DTS manager pleased with program's progress

The medical transcription company DTS America is running at the
right pace and has recently increased its ties to the community,
the company's CEO said recently.
Last year, DTS reworked the business model of its Carlsbad training
facility into an incentive-based pay program. Carlsbad's City
Council also voted to accept an amended agreement to its job
creation agreement with DTS.

In its original job creation agreement, DTS agreed to have 100
employees within 18 months. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Acceleration Funds were provided as an incentive. Under the current
plan, DTS agrees to spend $3 million in Carlsbad salaries over a
five-year period.

"Because we weren't focused on a big number (of employees), we were
able to just pick quality workers," Miller said. "Everybody that is
there now is producing. They want to be there and want to perform."

http://www.currentargus.com/ci_10329974

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2008
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
----------------------------------------------------------------
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MT India Newsletter - http://www.MTIndia.info/

Apr 12, 2008
********************************************************

Is India Still the Low-Cost Option?

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

Dear Friends,

Here are some interesting excerpts from the cover article in "
Overseas Transcription - Is India Still the Low-Cost Option?  ~ For
The Record By Selena Chavis

<The dollar’s decline coupled with the rupee’s rise has changed the
economics of doing business offshore.

Like many business-minded professionals aligned with the
transcription field in the late 1990s, business owner Terry Peteete
saw an opportunity. Research, statistics, and other factors were
consistently pointing to high and sustainable growth in the U.S.
transcription industry, and his company wanted to be part of it.
Alongside a growing need for transcription services, he recognized
patterns developing in overseas markets that would lend to the
widespread adoption and incorporation of labor in the transcription
field outside the United States - specifically India.

Like many opportunistic business ventures of the late ‘90s
concerning the transcription field, Peteete’s company found success
incorporating overseas talent into its transcription staffing
portfolio along with the use of U.S. talent. Peteete says
sophisticated labor pools were forming in India that could be hired
at a fraction of the cost, while in the United States “there is a
concerted, constant effort to drive the cost of medical services
down.”

It made good business sense then, but with today’s rapidly changing
market conditions, is that still the case?

Faced with a deflating dollar value and a rise in India’s currency,
many industry analysts wonder if India will remain a low-cost
option for transcription services. And while the question is raised
about the future of overseas transcription ventures, a number of
industry professionals are quick to say that there is more to the
story than just cost.

Ian Wilson, chief financial officer with New York-based SPi, chose
to use a combination of onshore delivery from within the United
States and offshore delivery because of numerous benefits
associated with offshore markets. Pointing out that lower cost was
a key driver, he emphasizes that it was not the only one.
“For offshore delivery, there are a number of benefits that have
been established over the years to meet the requirements of certain
customers. For example, the larger population of potential medical
language specialists within the vicinity of our offshore facilities
can support a faster scaling and easier training of these medical
language specialists for a customer. The controlled environment of
a dedicated delivery center can also provide improved adherence to
quality standards and turnaround time,” he says. “Naturally, there
are benefits associated with the labor rate differential between
onshore and offshore delivery, but pricing has not been the only
reason for healthcare institutions working with offshore
transcription companies.”

And the trend continues to evolve. Industry statistics vary
regarding what percentage of transcription services are currently
conducted in overseas markets, with the range falling anywhere
between 15% and 40%. However, David Iwinski, Jr, CEO of
Pennsylvania-based Acusis, believes the percentage is much higher.
“I would estimate that the offshore market is much higher than the
official estimates,” he suggests, adding that some companies
“quietly” outsource and say they are based in the United States. “I
think a very significant part of this market goes overseas;
companies just don’t admit it.”

Rise of the Rupee - What Does That Mean?

Devaluations, narrowing exchange rates, rupee vs. dollar - it
sounds like something out of an economist’s report. In a nutshell,
though, the rise of India’s rupee and the devaluation of the U.S.
dollar translates to higher labor costs and tighter profit margins
for companies that have benefited from low-cost labor pools from
India in the past.

In December 2007, The Economist reported that the exchange rate for
the dollar against the Indian rupee equated to less than 40 rupees
and that India’s currency had strengthened by approximately 15%
against the dollar over the past year. Consider that the U.S.
dollar weighed in at more than 49 rupees in 2002, and it becomes
clear what the drop means to the widespread use of Indian labor.

Peteete is quick to note that the cost is still lower than in the
United States. “A U.S. transcriptionist working full time might
produce $50,000 to $60,000 [per year] in gross revenue,” he
explains. “The cost of that transcriptionist is at least $30,000 a
year and probably more than that.” Peteete adds that India also
offers a pool of highly educated science and technology graduates
at a fraction of the cost of their American counterparts. For
example, he points out that Indian professionals with medical
degrees typically would make $10,000 working for the Indian
government and are open to salaries that equate to much less than
what a U.S.-based physician would require. “We have [Indian]
doctors on our staff who work in our quality control and management
areas, and we pay them significantly more than they could make
working for the government,” he says.

According to Iwinski, “low-end” transcription service providers
that are just entering overseas markets for low-cost labor are the
ones that will suffer. “Whatever [labor cost] advantages people may
have thought years ago about [entering overseas markets], those
days are long gone,” he says, adding that for Acusis, the decision
to be overseas is more about talent and labor pool. “India is an
area where a significant amount of new research and technology
initiatives are coming into play. Our software engineers are top
notch,” Iwinski says. “That somewhat flies in the face of theories
that companies are just there to make money.”

Staffing Conundrum

Industry professionals agree that the labor issue is a valid one.
Current statistics suggest that the U.S. medical transcription
industry’s workload is increasing by 20% annually and that manpower
is decreasing by 10% annually, making the question of who will do
the work a difficult one to answer. The U.S. Department of Labor
has recognized the industry shortage of U.S. transcriptionists and
took action by recently declaring medical transcription to be an
apprenticeable profession, which is the first step to establishing
a national apprenticeship program. The Office of Apprenticeship
Training, Employer and Labor Services approved the application for
apprenticeability determination submitted by the Medical
Transcription Industry Association along with the Association for
Healthcare Documentation Integrity for qualifying graduates.

According to Peteete, the field is suffering because it has lost
its attractiveness as a profession due to low pay for the amount
and intensity of the work. “It’s very difficult for a family to
live on $30,000 a year,” he says.

Along with low pay, another issue is the ability of the field to
attract diversity. Peteete notes that the current U.S. workforce is
made up almost entirely of women, with a high percentage of those
moving toward retirement age. In contrast, his operations in India
employ an even split between women and men and encompass a variety
of ages. “The aging workforce of U.S. transcriptionists has become
a significant factor,” Peteete says. “The training supply is not
keeping up with retirement.”

In light of the U.S. labor shortage, Iwinski suggests that India is
a logical choice for a technology company. “The one thing that
India still has in abundance are people who are highly educated and
skilled in this market,” he says.

The Quality Factor

Most large transcription providers that use overseas talent also
offer U.S.-based workers due to the fact that a number of
healthcare providers prefer to work with North American
transcriptionists.

It comes down to a perception about quality that many transcription
providers believe is no longer accurate. Wilson suggests that while
quality may have been an issue at the turn of the century, most
well-established vendors in India are now matching U.S.-based
providers.

“The offshore delivery model has certainly matured over time,” he
says, adding that his company has witnessed a progressive trend for
healthcare providers to use larger transcription centers instead of
the smaller service providers in the overseas market. “These larger
facilities naturally result in a more efficient arrangement for the
provider than dealing with many smaller centers, and they also
frequently offer improved quality due to the best practice approach
normally found in larger facilities.”

Pointing to the same ratio, Peteete says that “we won’t ever meet
the productivity of U.S. transcriptionists,” noting that there are
cultural, language, and work ethic differences at play in overseas
markets.

Larger transcription providers are making it work, though. For
example, Iwinski points out that Acusis has never lost a client on
its India-based production. “No one would go overseas just to save
a few pennies if the quality suffers,” he says. “Consumers are much
more savvy … people are not going to put up with it.”

As healthcare organizations continue to expect lower costs from
vendors, Wilson suggests that many customers are also realizing
that a blended approach to production, both onshore and offshore,
is a realistic approach to handling the volume of work. “They
expect faster turnaround of their work, top-notch quality, and, of
course, they are under pressure to reduce costs,” he says. “With
the acknowledged shortage of U.S. [transcriptionists] and the
rising costs of a U.S. employee model workforce, there is a
definite need to explore and utilize qualified labor offshore in
addition to U.S. sources.”>

To read the entire feature, go to:
http://www.fortherecordmag.com/archives/ftr_05142007p16.shtml

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Acusis Strengthens Global Operations with the Hiring of VP, US
Operations

Acusis announced Patty Barrett has joined the company in a newly
created position of Vice President, US Operations. Ms. Barrett will
locate in our Pittsburgh headquarters with responsibility for all
US Medical Transcription (MT) production and editing functions.
This includes US MT operations in Santa Clara, CA with a direct
home-based associates’ organization located in 45 states. This
appointment reflects Acusis’ growing business and commitment to
global leadership. Putting in place strong geographic area focused
resources to deliver Higher StandardsSM hospital, clinic and large
physician group quality and turn-around-time MT outsourced services
continues to ensure consistently high customer trust and valued
performance.

“Ms. Barrett is an exceptional talent with many years of medical
transcription experience and involvement with clients from both an
operations and account management perspective. I am thrilled she
has joined Acusis and will help lead us into the next phase of our
growth with continued delivery of operational excellence,” said
David Iwinski, Jr., Acusis President and CEO. Furthermore K.B.
Anand, Acusis COO, Global Operations stated, “Patty’s industry
knowledge and skills will allow her to integrate into our company
quickly with the entire Team looking forward to working with her.”

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080\
331005916&newsLang=en

2) Heartland Information Services Announces Alliance with M*Modal

Heartland Information Services, a medical transcription company
located in Toledo, Ohio, recently announced a partnership with
M*Modal, which will supply Heartland with advanced speech
recognition and understanding technologies. The partnership will
enhance Heartland’s already unparalleled customer service and
transcription quality while expanding its capacity and increasing
employee productivity and efficiency.

http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/32821/

3) Nuance Communications Acquires eScription, Inc. for $363 million

Burlington, MA based Nuance Communications, Inc., has signed an
agreement to acquire Needham, MA based eScription, Inc.. With
combined strengths and resources, the merged organization hopes to
deliver scalable solutions and innovations that would help
transform the clinical documentation process, enhance productivity,
and lower transcription costs to the healthcare industry by at
least a billion dollars by 2011.

http://www.healthnewsdirect.com/?p=298

4) TransDyne Wins Top IT SME Award

TransDyne IT Services, one of India’s leading outsourced
transcription companies, won the Top IT SME award from the Govt. of
A.P. The award was presented by the Chief Minister Dr.
Y.S.Rajasekhar Reddy to the CEO of TransDyne, Mr. Raghu Vasu, at
the inaugural ceremony of the Hyderabad IT Summit held at HICC.

TransDyne is now a formidable player in the outsourced
transcription industry, and currently services numerous clients
from the U.S. healthcare industry. With a team of more than a
thousand trained professionals working from four offices in
Hyderabad and one in Vijayawada, TransDyne has developed
competencies in handling all medical specialties and in delivering
consistently high quality.

5) iMedX to raise headcount, eyes more acquisitions

iMedX Inc, a US-based healthcare software and services company, is
looking at acquiring four more companies this year. It is also
planning to increase its headcount from 200 to 500 at its Hyderabad
office in the next one year.

“The company after the first acquisition in February 2007, acquired
three companies —MR Transcription (MRT), LS Services Inc and Verna
Transcription — last year. All the three companies utilise US-based
transcription workforce,” Mr Venkat Sharma, CEO and President,
iMedX, said at a press conference to mark its fourth anniversary
here on Saturday.

The company expects the number of employees working for the company
through sub-contracts across India to increase from 1,000 to around
4,000 in the next one year. It has also announced the launch of two
new products – TurboRecord and TurboRx.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/04/13/stories/2008041351040200.htm

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2008
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
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MT India Newsletter - http://www.MTIndia.org/

Jan 12, 2008
********************************************************

A Happy New Year & Offshore MT

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Lakesystems is a well reputed B'lore based company, into its 8th
year of successful operations. With a client base spread across
North America and Australia, Lakesystems has enjoyed phenomenal
growth over the last couple of years.

To further increase the production capacities both at our Bangalore
and Nashik (Maharashtra)  centers, we are now looking to
aggressively recruit highly motivated and ambitious individuals in
the following capacities :

Proofers : Min proofing exp of 2yrs, In-house and Home based.

Medical Transcriptionists : Both In-house and Home based,
experienced and freshers welcome.

No night shifts, attractive packages/incentives, excellent career
growth. A great opportunity for those who wish to relocate to
B'lore/Nashik.

Phone Banglore: 41313724, 25523946, 2553653
Phone Nashik  : 0253-2350214   0253-6611739

Email : recruitment@...

www.lakesys.net
********************************************************
Dear Friends,

A Happy New Year 2008!

In the latest KLAS Medical Transcription Services Organization
(MTSO) study, 3 years of provider ratings and commentary have come
together to shed light on the current trends in transcription
outsourcing. To quote from an editorial in the ADVANCE
http://health-information.advanceweb.com/Editorial/Content/Editorial.aspx?CC=103\
593

<In the past, the offshore vs. onshore debate has been a strongly
contested issue. This year, while many are still uncomfortable with
sending work offshore, overall perception is improving. Of those
not currently having work sent offshore, positive perception has
increased by eight percentage points, from 13 percent in 2006
research to 21 percent in this report.

When comparing the average overall performance scores of
transcription work performed onshore vs. offshore, not
surprisingly, onshore has a slight edge with an average score of
7.6 compared to offshore's 7.1 (based on a nine-point scale, where
one is poor and nine is strong). Clearly, though, offshore services
are more than satisfactory to those who actually use them.

Faster turnaround, reduced costs and improved quality were
significant overall benefits cited by providers using MTSOs. When
breaking out benefits by offshore vs. onshore, there are notable
differences seen in the area of reduced cost and improved quality.
Offshore respondents mentioned cost reduction more than twice as
often as other respondents.

Despite a slow increase in positive attitudes, the number of
provider organizations reporting the use of offshore transcription
services has decreased from 55 percent in 2006 to 38 percent in
2007. However, KLAS believes transcription work being sent offshore
will continue to increase in the U.S. based on provider feedback,
domestic labor shortages and increasing pressure on health care
organizations to reduce expenses.

In addition, providers have begun to evaluate if editing services
should be engaged domestically or offshore. KLAS has observed the
beginning of acceptance of offshore transcription but preference
for domestic, onshore editing. Providers who accept offshore
transcription expect the editorial staff to be onshore to enhance
the language proficiency, but there is not sufficient experience to
determine the extent at which this is occurring. Some providers
indicate they are willing to redirect some of the speech
recognition operational cost savings to shifting offshore MTSO work
back onshore.>

Statistics :
http://www.advanceforhim.com/Sharedresources/AdvanceForHIM/Resources/Downloadabl\
eResources/HI_010308_MTSOgraphs_table3.pdf
http://www.advanceforhim.com/Sharedresources/AdvanceForHIM/Resources/Downloadabl\
eResources/HI_010308_MTSOgraphs_table4.pdf
http://www.advanceforhim.com/Sharedresources/AdvanceForHIM/Resources/Downloadabl\
eResources/HI_010308_MTSOgraphs_table2.pdf

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) 2007 salary survey from Advance

ADVANCE receives many letters expressing discontent about the state
of pay for MTs. Some of that unhappiness may be warranted—while the
salaries for MTs showed an increase from last year, they dropped
off significantly from 2004, when the average MT salary was
$32,847. The 2004 survey marked the last time that MT average
salary was north of $30,000, with this year’s respondents reporting
an average salary of $27,829, up from 2006’s $25,408. “Frankly,
that’s still low, but I’m glad to see it’s at least moving in the
right direction,” said Brenda Hurley, CMT, FAAMT, director of
industry relations and compliance for Medware Inc., Maitland, FL.

Like coders, MTs are in short supply. The supply and demand issue
may have tipped the pay scales slightly for MTs, Hurley noted, and
she hopes that the increase in pay is due in part to employers
noticing the importance of MTs to the health care document. “People
are beginning, slowly, and I think individually, not collectively,
to understand that the real skill level in medical transcription is
not how fast you type,” Hurley added. “It is, indeed, the
understanding of the medical language and the terminology and its
uses. This is the skill that MTs bring. This is the value that we
bring to the health care documentation arena, not how fast we
  type.”

http://health-information.advanceweb.com/Editorial/Content/Editorial.aspx?CC=103\
247

2) Spheris CMO Added to MTIA Board

Spheris' Chief Medical Officer, Christopher Rehm, M.D., has been
elected to serve on the Medical Transcription Industry
Association's (MTIA) board of directors, the company announced
today.

"We are fortunate to have Dr. Rehm's insight into the physician's
view on the future of medical transcription represented on our
board of directors," said MTIA Chief Executive Officer Peter
Preziosi, Ph.D., CAE. "Spheris is a clear leader in the industry,
so this is a great addition for our organization."

Based in Modesto, Calif., MTIA is a not-for-profit trade
association serving the needs of medical transcription companies,
vendors and health information management professionals.

Rehm has served as the chief medical officer for Spheris since
2002. In addition to oversight of Spheris' account services and
customer support, he relies on his experience as a physician in
both the acute care and outpatient environments to bring first-hand
insight to the Spheris product management team.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/spheris-cmo-added-to-board-of-transcript\
ion-industry-association,255504.shtml

3) Accentia to raise funds at Singapore bourse

Accentia Technologies, which has its corporate office at the
Technopark campus, Thiruvananthapuram, has got a major boost with
the Singapore Stock Exchange clearing a $15.75-million global
depository receipt (GDR) issue.

Accentia, which is listed at the Mumbai Stock Exchange, also has
offices at Mumbai and Bangalore.

"With this (funds raised by the GDR) we plan to acquire three
US-based firms this fiscal (2007-08) and another one in the first
quarter of the next fiscal. The GDR issue would open in two weeks.
We already have got firm commitments from Berggruen AP, a
Mauritius-based foreign institutional investor and private
investors from London and the US," said CEO of the company Pradeep
Viswambharan.

Accentia caters to all requirements of the IT industry with special
emphasis on transcription services, medical billing and coding,
insurance claim processing and consultancy.

http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14589138

4) Amerinet inks deal with Acusis

Amerinet has entered into an agreement with Acusis, LLC to provide
medical transcription services effective immediately for the next
three years. This agreement provides nationwide Amerinet members
complete Acusis medical transcription service solutions including
implementation, set-up and training, software technology and full
integration with members' health information management systems.

Amerinet Chief Contracting Officer Allen Duneshew commented, “We
select suppliers on competitiveness and value of the products and
services offered to our members. Acusis will help fulfill an
important service required by health care providers.”

David Iwinski, Jr., Acusis President and CEO, remarked, “I am very
excited about becoming a part of a select group of Amerinet
supplier companies. We look forward to beginning a long term
partnership of providing ‘world-class’ Higher StandardsSM medical
transcription outsourced services to Amerinet members.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2007/12/17/daily5.html

4)  CBaySystems and M*Modal Enter Strategic Partnership

"Our mission is to increase the speed, quality and efficiency of
medical transcription," said Chris Foley, President, CBaySystems
and Services, Inc. "Integrating M*Modal's AnyModal CDS into our
platform meets all three of those objectives, providing our
customers with new productivity gains on a global scale."

AnyModal CDS (Conversational Documentation Services) offers a
unique combination of speech recognition and natural language
understanding that captures a physician's meaning, transforming
spoken dictation into accurate, complete, and meaningful healthcare
documentation. Physicians dictate the way they always have, and
M*Modal's patented speech understanding services transform the
spoken dictation into a draft transcript, automatically structured
and encoded according to the healthcare provider's documentation
rules. What's more, the system continually learns from corrected
documents to improve the accuracy of words, structure and meaning.

"Our relationship with CBay gives physicians and hospitals an
incredible advantage," said Michael Finke, Chairman and CEO of
M*Modal. "Our ability to quickly capture highly accurate,
structured, encoded clinical documents combined with the speed and
quality of CBay transcription, routing, document management and
archiving makes this a premier solution in the industry."

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/cbaysystems-and-mmodal-enter-strategic-p\
artnership,254922.shtml

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2008
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

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

Aug 08, 2007
********************************************************

Membership and Benefits!

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Focus Infosys is now owned by Dictaphone/Nuance, a company founded
by Alexander Graham Bell.

We are now planning to open branches ACROSS India, and we invite
all MT professionals to submit their resume to us.  We shall get
back to each one of you based on our requirement of Unit Heads,
production managers, team managers, editors, QAs, etc.  Just enroll
with us and get a HR ID (unique number allotted to each MT resume
in our database), and we will provide you with the right
opportunity that suits your capability.

We are presently a 1100+ in-house employees company, 1100+ HTs, and
outsourcing to about 21 companies in India + 11 companies in USA.

Currently, we have 4 offices in Bangalore (Koramangala, RT Nagar,
Basavanagudi, and Rajajinagar), 2 offices in Chennai (Egmore and
Alwarpet), 2 offices in Hyderabad (Raj Bhavan Road and
Secundrabad), Coimbatore, and Delhi.

Apply online at the following link: http://netemr.net/Register/ or
send your resume via e-mail to recruit@...

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

With many players in the industry reaching a level of maturity, and
others still joining in; we have decided to restructure services
offered at MTIndia, and have a defined entry level eligibility
criteria at the outsourcing center. Unfortunately an internet
marketplace cannot effectively function, without some basic
prequalification, and some differentiation amongst members to
make the playing field even.

We now offer you a new pre-qualified, restrained, but targeted
bidding platform, details of which are online at:
http://mtindia.org/membership/default.pdf

Past or Present members of MTIndia, desiring to continue with their
membership, can please register as below, using their old Corporate
ID as username:
http://mtindia.biz/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=registers

New service providers desiring a membership can, email us for
further details at amit@...

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************

1) Accentia Technologies acquires two U.S. firms

Accentia Technologies, at the Technopark campus Thiruvananthapuram,
has acquired two IT companies based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
the United States (U.S.). The GRS Physicians Billing Services and
the GRS Systems are both established brands in the U.S. health care
insurance field.

With this acquisition, Accentia Technologies gains control over two
entities that provide billing and collection services to over 600
hospitals, clinics and their insurance collaborators in the U.S.

Chief Executive Officer of Accentia Technologies Pradeep
Viswambharan entered the IT industry with the establishment of
Geosoft, a medical transcription company in Technopark, and later
Iridium, a business process outsourcing firm.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/08/stories/2007080857232100.htm

2) Software Paradigms acquires Comat!

Mysore-based Software Paradigms (India) Ltd (SPI) on Monday
announced the acquisition of Comat Technologies, a medical
transcription (MT) firm. SPI is the city’s largest IT and business
applications solution provider.

As part of the deal, SPI will take over all the US and UK BPO/LPO
(legal process outsourcing) customers of Comat Technologies being
serviced from Mysore.

Over 400 of its employees working on MT, legal transcription and
legal coding services will be transferred to SPI’s payroll, taking
the number of SPI employees to over 1,000 and double the size of
its operations.

“The newly-acquired businesses will contribute 15 per cent of the
annualised revenue the company expects to book in 2007-08,” said
SPI CEO Sid Mookerji, after exchanging documents of acquisition
with Comat counterpart Ravi Rangan at the SPI’s 11-acre campus, SPI
City.

http://www.business-standard.com:80/iceworld/storypage.php?leftnm=8&subLeft=1&ch\
klogin=N&autono=289764&tab=r

3) KLAS Ranks Nuance’s Focus Infomatics the Leader in Outsourced
Medical Transcription Services

Nuance Communications, Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Focus
Infomatics, Inc., is ranked #1 in the Outsourced Transcription
category of the 2007 KLAS Enterprises “Top 20: 2007 Mid-Year Report
Card.”

This is the third time Focus Infomatics has been ranked #1 in the
Professional Services for Outsourced Transcription category by
KLAS. In addition to Focus’ #1 ranking, Dictaphone® Healthcare
Solutions, also from Nuance, is the only speech recognition
technology consistently selected as part of the top three solutions
across both front-end and back-end speech recognition categories,
and again is proud to announce its top three ranking within the
“Top 20: 2007 Mid-Year Report Card” for the following categories:

- Transcription and Back-end Speech Recognition
- Dictation
- Front-end Speech Recognition.

“By delivering exceptional quality and unparallel customer support
Focus continues to be recognized as the clear leader in the
industry,” said Anirudh Baheti, CEO of Focus Infomatics. “As part
of the Nuance family, Focus adds yet another KLAS-leading offering
to the Dictaphone Healthcare Solutions portfolio.”

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20070626005208&newsLang=en

4) Bhilwara Scribe buys two BPOs

Bhilwara Scribe, the IT arm of the Rs 3,000-crore LNJ Bhilwara
Group, has acquired the US-based Benson Transcription Technologies
Inc and Bangalore-based Global Meditrans Private Ltd.

Benson Transcription, with 50 US-based employees, has a turnover of
approximately $2 million with another $2 million revenue to be
added with the work in the pipeline.  In order to complement the
acquisition in the US and cater to the increased work, Bhilwara
Scribe has acquired the Bangalore-based medical transcription
outfit Global Meditrans Pvt Ltd.  Global Meditrans is a 200-seat
healthcare BPO and has been providing services to the US and Canada
for the last seven years.

http://www.business-standard.com/iceworld/storypage.php?leftnm=8&subLeft=2&chklo\
gin=N&autono=291335&tab=r

5) SPi opens Chennai facility

Content outsourcing solutions provider SPi, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Philippines-based ePLDT, is looking at increasing its
headcount in India to 2,000 over the next 6-8 months from the
present 1,300. This expansion comes in the wake of increasing
demands from its customers.

The company, which commenced operations in India in 2004, has
opened a 17,000-sft facility in Chennai to house the operations of
its publishing and healthcare businesses. Chennai has been made the
headquarters for the company's publishing and healthcare businesses
with delivery centres in Puducherry, New Delhi and Coimbatore.

The Chennai facility, which will have a seating capacity for about
1,100 people and has already commenced operations with an initial
staff strength of about 160 people.

SPi’s Coimbatore facility focuses on medical transcription work
with an employee strength of 400, expected to be scaled up to 1,000
this year.

Addressing a press conference, Ernest L Cu, president and chief
executive officer, SPi, said the company was keen to grow through
the inorganic route in India and would explore acquisition of
companies which would bring in new offerings for its customers. “We
have solid financial back-up from our parent company and we will
have $50-$100 million available to us for mergers and acquisitions
every year,” he added.

The company is also exploring the option of moving its medical
billing and revenue cycle management services from the US to Asia
as part of its strategy to make Asia a hub for its offshore and
delivery operations.

Revenues from SPi’s global BPO operations, both voice and
non-voice, are expected to reach $200 million (now $130 million) by
the end of 2007.

http://www.business-standard.com:80/iceworld/storypage.php?leftnm=8&subLeft=2&ch\
klogin=N&autono=290046&tab=r

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2007
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

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

Jun 23, 2007
********************************************************

IAMR plans MT industry meet in Kolkata

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Focus Infosys:  Medical transcription training manager

# of positions:  One

Location:  Not fixed as of now but any grade B or C city (for
example, Mangalore, Mysore, Pune, etc.)  Candidate will have the
privilege to decide the city name.

Prerequisites:
1.  Should be formally trained in medical transcription.
2.  Should be very fluent in English writing, reading, and
speaking.
3.  Should be proactive and outgoing.
4.  Should be willing to relocate to a city where this project
would be started (the candidate can select a city of his/her
confidence too).
5.  A minimum of 5 years experience in the MT industry.
6.  Should have prior experience in MT training division.

Roles and responsibilities:
1. Shall propose a city where Focus can start an MT training center
along with production center.  However, production center shall be
taken care by a separate production manager.
2. Shall interview and select a team of MT trainers to assist
him/her in this project.
3. Shall be responsible to prepare the entire syllabi and materials
needed for MT training.
4. Shall be responsible to release advertisements, conduct
seminars, etc., in the proposed city to attract MT trainees to join
our MT program.
5. Shall conduct a 25 x 2 batches of MT training for 4 months of
theory + 2 months of OJT training and then hand over the MT
personnel to the production manager upon testing and approval by
the production manager.
6. Shall be responsible to train 50 people every 4 + 2 months to be
released to the production center.
7. Shall be reporting to the COO.

Remuneration:
Rs. 30K + Rs. 500 for each candidate who is successfully accepted
to the OJT program on testing by the OJT trainers + mobile phone +
mediclaim insurance.

To apply, E-mail your resume recruit@... with subject line
as MT training manager.
********************************************************
WORLDTECH congratulates the team at the Kolkata Center of
Excellence on completing their first year of quality operations.

INTERVIEWS at Hyderabad and Kolkata for senior proofreading
positions with WORLDTECH.

Only those with more than three years of experience and exposure to
final level proofreading need apply. Compensation linked to merit
and performance alone.

Apply in confidence with details:
Jyothi at Worldtech
MGR Estates, Saibaba Temple Road, Punjagutta, Hyderabad 500082.
Tel # 040-2335-2700/2698 or mail your resumes to:
contactus@...
********************************************************
DOCTUS thanks its patrons, congratulates the first batch of the DMT
program for successful completion and placement, and announces
registrations for DMT004.

DOCTUS trains Medical Transcriptionists.  Also offered are allied
and innovative programs that allow you to train while you work,
evening programs for senior levels, and preparatory programs.

We are looking for Hyderabad based educators in the field of
Medical Transcription to train MTs at entry, middle, and senior
levels for full time positions as DOCTUS faculty, Medical, English,
and Technical Coordination.  Trainers with more than two years of
training experience and senior MTs with a desire to become trainers
may apply.  Proficiency at accurate transcription preferred.

TMT001 (extended program for non English medium candidates)
commences June 15, 2007.  Registrations close June 10.

DMT004 (four month full time MT Program) commences August 1, 2007.
Registrations open June 11.  Limited seats.

Contact for details regarding DPR (Proofreaders Program) and EMT
(Evening Programs).

Email your resume/details to contactus@...
OR call 04066787771/04040144979 and speak with Chauhan/Beena.

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

Ramakrishna Tummala, President IAMR and MD Worldtech will be
meeting with industry majors at Kolkata on Sunday, June 24.  He
will be in Kolkata along with his team to commemorate the 1st
anniversary of the Worldtech Center of Excellence.  Mr. Tummala has
been a pioneer in the efforts to get the Indian MT industry to grow
in dialog.  He formalized his efforts with the industry in
Hyderabad at a meeting  in July 2002 where Dr. Amit Chatterjee, SM
of MTIndia came and shared his understanding of the need for such a
forum at local, national and international levels.  IAMR was formed
with 20 leading companies.  Raghu Vasu of Transdyne, Ravi Chandran
and Srinivas Manne of ElicoBPO, Subhorup Dasgupta of Worldtech,
Venkateswar Rao of Vasavi Prosoft, along with the principals of
VasantScribe, CKAR, and other leaders took IAMR forward to become
an effective and formal networking platform for the industry.

IAMR activities have included training in HIPAA compliance, career
destination seminars by Peter Preziosi, AAMT, sharing best HR
practices, sharing best training practices, evolving uniform
recruitment and recognition systems, sharing vendor data and other
relevant data, sharing technology, workshops on yoga, art of
living, personality development and ergonomics, workshops for
senior and middle management, cultural events & sports events,
seminar on hedging foreign exchange risk by Nagesh Pydah of Bank of
India.

In a telephonic interview, Mr. Ramakrishna said that the two
challenges that the Indian MT Industry faces is lack of uniform
standards and availability of trained manpower.

"The danger of poor or erratic quality of service provided is one
that would adversely affect the whole industry, most so the leading
players who invest heavily in implementation of quality policies
and processes.  The industry has only recently been able to shake
off its image as a low cost but high risk (in terms of accuracy of
transcripts and security of data) offshoring destination and we
need to do all we can to prevent the India MT brand from being
tarnished." he said.

"Uniform training, certification and compensation coupled with good
HR practices are keys to successful retention.  The two words every
CEO dreads are attrition and poaching.  The only way out is to
increase the quality of entry level MTs and to invest in training
and retraining.  In the context of a 40-rupee dollar,
non-sustainable costs need to be addressed urgently in order for
all
of us to survive and profit.  Career aspirations and earnings need
to be judiciously matched to create a win-win situation for the
business as well as the workers."

For more on IAMR, see:
http://www.iamr.org.in/

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Centura Health cutting up to 95 transcribers systemwide

Centura Health, which manages Penrose-St. Francis Health Services'
two hospitals and 17 other health care facilities in Colorado, is
eliminating 90 to 95 medical transcriptionists systemwide,
officials said this week.

The jobs are being outsourced to MedQuist, a transcription service
based in Mount Laurel, N.J., said Mike Scialdone, chief financial
officer at Penrose-St. Francis Health Services.

Eighteen employees at Penrose-St. Francis will be affected, along
with transcriptionists working at Porter, Littleton, Parker and
Avista Adventist hospitals and St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center in
Pueblo.

Employees are being offered jobs with MedQuist and can roll over
their tenure, Scialdone said, but employee Gail Loyd said she is
concerned that her pay and benefit package will be trimmed.

"They will lose some good transcriptionists," said Loyd, who has
worked for Centura for nearly a decade. "They believe that they
negotiated me a comparable job - but they didn't."

The move will save Centura Health $1 million annually, he said,
citing advancing medical technology and a lack of qualified medical
transcriptionists as reasons for the decision.

There's a shortage of workers in medical transcription. They earn a
mean hourly wage of $14.74, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/medical_23878___article.html/health_transcriptio\
nists.html

2) Hospital closing its transcription department for outsourcing

A lot has changed since 1963 when Pamela Denny joined the former
Nashua Memorial Hospital, now Southern New Hampshire Medical
Center, as its first medical transcriptionist. In the 1960s,
doctors dictated their notes into bulky tape recorders and
transcriptionists typed the information using manual typewriters.

Eventually, the electric typewriter replaced the manual one,
allowing the transcriptionist to type more quickly and with fewer
errors. In time, the computer came along, making the typewriter
obsolete.

Now, at the dawn of voice-recognition technology, the entire
process depends on increasingly advanced equipment that allows
transcriptionists to do more work at a faster pace.

As a result, the job Denny has done with pride and love for almost
30 years will be eliminated this week when Southern New Hampshire
Medical Center closes it transcription department.The hospital,
which for years has sent out a large portion of its transcription,
has made arrangements to outsource the work to a national service.
Two of the nine employees in the department will remain at the
hospital to oversee the new operation.

Denny isn't one of them.

"I have so loved it there and so loved the people I worked with,"
Denny said, speculating that her job was cut to save the hospital
money. But hospital officials said the decision was based on the
growing volume of transcription and the need for a quicker
turnaround.

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070617/BUSINESS/2061\
70417/-1/news01

3) $8m for new medical transcription project

Barbados Govt to invest $8 million for free training in a new and
rapidly expanding sector over the next three years.

Come September 3, the first 100 trainees for the registered medical
transcriptionist (RMT) certification will begin their nine-month
programme. The project is a joint venture between the Barbados
Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC), Invest Barbados and
the North Carolina-based Transcription Relief Services (TRS).

BIDC chief executive officer Anthony Sobers told seminar
participants:"This is a growing sector and shows immense prospects
for Barbados. We expect that in the next three to five years we can
develop an industry with at least 500 persons, providing employment
for that number of persons and providing revenues of around $30
million in foreign exchange," he added.

Minister of Economic Affairs and Development, the Honourable Mia
Mottley, stated that according to statistics coming out of the US,
this area of employment provides a higher average pay than other
data services. She also made the point that the information they
have received shows that rates average around 16 cents per line,
which can translate into a monthly salary of approximately Bds
$3,200.

Kathy Rockel, Vice-President of the US based TRS Institute, which
provides medical transcription training services, said even though
the sector was expanding rapidly, there was a serious shortage of
RMTs in the United States hence the reason for them looking to
outsource to countries such as India and thus Barbados was "a prime
place" to fill the void.

RMTs are already in place in Trinidad and Guyana.
Both the Minister and Sobers made reference to the fact that an
advertisement has been made for the post of a National Training
Co-ordinator to oversee the development of the training aspect of
the industry, and this post should be filled by July 1
http://www.nationnews.com/story/323242296398989.php

4) Medical transcription co to train in Bhubaneswar

Vasant Scribes is set to provide training to the unemployed youth
of the State to join the field even as it has commenced commercial
operations from its Bhubaneswar facility at STPI here.

The company which, at present, has 35 medical transcriptionists
intends to expand the facility to over 300 within one and half
years.

And the bulk of the staffers would be the youths who successfully
complete the training. Senior Manager Nageshwar Rao said Vasant
Scribes looked at Bhubaneswar as a centre with tremendous IT
potential and was willing to make the necessary investments to
complete its expansion plan.

But in a stark departure from prevailing practices, the training
would not only be imparted free of cost but the trainees would also
be given a handsome stipend.

Eligibility would be Plus II pass, preferably with a science
background. Countering notions that Oriya youths do not have the
necessary skills, the company has said a large number of youths
from the State are employed in major transcription organisations in
the country and are doing exceedingly well.

In fact, Vasant has prepared a database of such youths and could be
luring them to its fold. Vasant Scribes, has a clientele base of
over 100 comprising doctors and hospitals spread across USA.

It has recently entered into a partnership with international
transcription major Medquist Inc. to provide services across the
world.

Headquartered at Hyderabad, the company employs over 500 personnel
in the city.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEQ20070612013206&Page=Q&Title=ORISS\
A&Topic=0

5) Allied Information Technology Services and Business Processing
Solutions sign partnership agreement

In a move to further its expansion as an offshore medical services
supplier to the Unites States and Europe, Allied Information
Technology Services (AITS) signed a partnership agreement earlier
in the year with the American services provider Business Processing
Solutions (BPS).

Accordingly, AITS has become the exclusive service provider for
Cary, North Carolina-based BPS, thereby providing the company with
significant exposure in the American market.

Established to meet the growing need for medical transcription and
billing services, AITS is the first service provider in Egypt and
the Middle East to offer pioneering healthcare-oriented technology
services on a national and international scale. The company has
built a strong reputation for delivering advanced business process
outsourcing and electronic solutions for hospitals and medical
clinics, enabling healthcare providers to focus on their core
competencies.

BPS focuses on providing high-value business process outsourcing
and technology solutions. In the partnership with AITS, BPS
provides business development, marketing, and client relations,
while outsourcing the medical transcription services to AITS in
Egypt.

http://www.ameinfo.com:80/122985.html
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2007
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
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Jun 09, 2007
********************************************************

Transcription 'missing link' between docs and PHRs?

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
WORLDTECH congratulates the team at the Kolkata Center of
Excellence on completing their first year of quality operations.

INTERVIEWS at Hyderabad and Kolkata for senior proofreading
positions with WORLDTECH. Interview dates for Kolkata - 10th and
11th June.

Only those with more than three years of experience and exposure to
final level proofreading need apply. Compensation linked to merit
and performance alone.

Apply in confidence with details:
Jyothi at Worldtech
MGR Estates, Saibaba Temple Road, Punjagutta, Hyderabad 500082.
Tel # 040-2335-2700/2698 or mail your resumes to:
contactus@...
********************************************************
DOCTUS thanks its patrons, congratulates the first batch of the DMT
program for successful completion and placement, and announces
registrations for DMT004.

DOCTUS trains Medical Transcriptionists.  Also offered are allied
and innovative programs that allow you to train while you work,
evening programs for senior levels, and preparatory programs.

We are looking for Hyderabad based educators in the field of
Medical Transcription to train MTs at entry, middle, and senior
levels for full time positions as DOCTUS faculty, Medical, English,
and Technical Coordination.  Trainers with more than two years of
training experience and senior MTs with a desire to become trainers
may apply.  Proficiency at accurate transcription preferred.

TMT001 (extended program for non English medium candidates)
commences June 15, 2007.  Registrations close June 10.

DMT004 (four month full time MT Program) commences August 1, 2007.
Registrations open June 11.  Limited seats.

Contact for details regarding DPR (Proofreaders Program) and EMT
(Evening Programs).

Email your resume/details to contactus@...
OR call 04066787771/04040144979 and speak with Chauhan/Beena.

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

As I see more questions asked everyday day about the future of
traditional MT as a profession, irrespective of borders, I felt it
appropriate to refer to a letter by Jay Vance, CMT in the "Modern
Healthcare."

<As a practitioner and consultant in the medical transcription
field, I believe medical transcriptionists, as healthcare
documentation specialists and experts in the language of medicine,
could be the "missing link" between PHR consumers and the
caregivers who must buy into the PHR concept. If consumers had some
guidance in the selection and use of a PHR service, I believe the
public would be more apt to consider PHRs as a realistic option. At
the same time, if care providers knew that the information in a PHR
had been "pre-screened" by a trained healthcare documentation
professional, I suspect there would be more willingness to embrace
the PHR concept. I have been actively encouraging practitioners in
our field who are interested in branching out to open a dialogue
with companies offering PHR services to explore the possibilities
of working together in order to improve the quality of healthcare
for American citizens.>

To read the entire letter, go to:
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070608/FREE/7060600\
7/0/FRONTPAGE

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) DTS America president seeks success

Andrew W. Miller Jr. took over as president of the 400-person
medical transcription company about three months ago. DTS is based
out of Nashville, Tenn. "There were a lot of things that we looked
at that needed to be fixed, and part of that was the situation in
Carlsbad," he said. "We have made huge headway."

Last month, the Carlsbad Department of Development voted to
re-examine the conditions of its job creation agreement with DTS
America. Under the current agreement, DTS agreed to have 100
employees by the 18-month anniversary of its job creation
agreement - which occurred in May. The company only had 57
employees at the time. Under the original contract, if DTS defaults
on the contract, and if the CDOD terminates the agreement as a
result, DTS has to repay the $1.5 million in cash incentive funds
received.

The CDOD board voted to extend the upcoming performance evaluation
date to July 31. During that time, a newly negotiated version of
the job creation agreement will be proposed.

Miller said the company could have cut its losses in Carlsbad and
left the area. "As a business person, I looked at it, and if the
world were going to end next year, we should shut down," he said.
"But it's not going to end next year, and that's not going to solve
my domestic production capabilities."

DTS is moving into a more incentive-based pay program that will
encourage growth and should net employees more money, he said.

http://www.currentargus.com/ci_6041117

2) Godrej Ind to sell minority stake in CBay

Godrej Industries is planning to offload a minority stake in
medical transcription firm CBay Systems that would help the group
use the proceeds for future organic and inorganic growth. The
reduction of stake in CBay would likely happen through a listing on
the Alternative Investment Market.

Confirming the development, Godrej group chairman Adi Godrej said,
"The amount of dilution in CBay will depend on how much is offered
by CBay in the market for sale as part of the listing. Most
probably we are going to offload a small portion of our equity."

Godrej had acquired a 7% stake in CBay Systems in May 2001. Godrej
later increased its stake to around 12%. However, in early 2004,
CBay Systems bought out Godrej Remote Services, the arm under which
Godrej was operating in the healthcare space, through a stock-swap
deal.

Close to 70% of CBay's shares are held by private equity investors,
hedge funds and individual investors. These include TDA Capital
Partners, Strategic Ventures Fund, GMO Capital, Kingdon Capital,
Baupost Group and Godrej Industries. About 30% of the equity is
held by CBay's management with no single investor owning more than
12%.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Finance__Insurance/Fin\
ance/Godrej_Ind_to_sell_minority_stake_in_CBay/articleshow/2087985.cms

3) India`s Accentia Technologies to set up BPO subsidiary in UAE

Accentia Technologies said it will set up a subsidiary in the UAE
to cater for the increasing demand for business process
outsourcing. The company has integrated its focus on medical
transcription, coding, billing and insurance claims and offers the
complete gamut of health care BPO services.

The company aims to secure work from hospitals looking to cut costs
and realise their receivables quickly.

http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/5/30/indias-accentia-technologies-to-set-up-\
bpo-subsidiary-in-uae/

4) Medical, legal transcription fastest-growing in the Philippines

Medical and legal transcription posted the highest growth in
revenue among all the sub-sectors in the business process
outsourcing (BPO) industry at 97 percent in 2005. This was shown in
the result of the 2005 baseline study of the Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas (BSP) on the economic contribution of information
technology (IT)-enabled services in the country.

Medical transcription registered the highest annual growth at 97
percent followed by contact centers, 65 percent; software
development, 40.8 percent; animation, 35.3 percent; and other BPOs,
30.5 percent.

"All sub-sectors posted strong expansion in revenue, averaging 48.2
percent in 2005," BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said in a
statement.

The survey also showed that most of the revenue of the industry
came from exports at 69.5 percent while the remaining portion were
sourced locally.

Income of the industry from abroad totaled to P76.5 billion (US$
1.4 billion) in 2005, a significant jump from year-ago's P49.8
billion (US$ 888.2 million).

"Contact centers and the medical and legal transcription
sub-sectors were highly dependent on foreign earning, with more
than 95 percent of their revenue coming from exports," Tetangco
said.

Most of the BPO services catered to the US market that had a share
of 86 percent in total export revenue followed by Europe
particularly United Kingdom and Germany, 7.1 percent; Japan, 3.2
percent; other Asian countries, 2.4 percent; and Australia and New
Zealand, 1.3 percent.

http://biz.balita.ph/html/article.php?story=20070607111732710

5) Radiology Industry Continues to Standardize on Dictaphone
PowerScribe for Speech Recognition

Nuance Communications, Inc. (today announced continued momentum
with customer deployments and product developments for Dictaphone
PowerScribe Workstation, a speech recognition solution for
high-efficiency radiology reporting.

* Strong, Continued Market Adoption - 55 new customers including
MultiCare, Inova Healthcare, Novant Health and Wake Forest
University Baptist Medical Center chose PowerScribe as their
radiology reporting system of choice in the first four months of
2007 alone.

*Expanding Partnerships - Dictaphone has signed up more than 45
partners in its PACS/RIS Extension Partner Program (PREPP) enabling
radiology customers to pick from the market leading community of
integrated radiology image interpretation and reporting solutions.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20070607005119&newsLang=en
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2007
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

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

Jun 02, 2007
********************************************************

Technology Vendors vs. MTSOs

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
WORLDTECH congratulates the team at the Kolkata Center of
Excellence on completing their first year of quality operations.

INTERVIEWS at Hyderabad and Kolkata for senior proofreading
positions with WORLDTECH. Interview dates for Kolkata - 10th and
11th June.

Only those with more than three years of experience and exposure to
final level proofreading need apply. Compensation linked to merit
and performance alone.

Apply in confidence with details:
Jyothi at Worldtech
MGR Estates, Saibaba Temple Road, Punjagutta, Hyderabad 500082.
Tel # 040-2335-2700/2698 or mail your resumes to
contactus@...
********************************************************
DOCTUS thanks its patrons, congratulates the first batch of the DMT
program for successful completion and placement, and announces
registrations for DMT004.

DOCTUS trains Medical Transcriptionists.  Also offered are allied
and innovative programs that allow you to train while you work,
evening programs for senior levels, and preparatory programs.

We are looking for Hyderabad based educators in the field of
Medical Transcription to train MTs at entry, middle, and senior
levels for full time positions as DOCTUS faculty, Medical, English,
and Technical Coordination.  Trainers with more than two years of
training experience and senior MTs with a desire to become trainers
may apply.  Proficiency at accurate transcription preferred.

TMT001 (extended program for non English medium candidates)
commences June 15, 2007.  Registrations close June 10.

DMT004 (four month full time MT Program) commences August 1, 2007.
Registrations open June 11.  Limited seats.

Contact for details regarding DPR (Proofreaders Program) and EMT
(Evening Programs).

Email your resume/details to contactus@...
OR call 04066787771/04040144979 and speak with Chauhan/Beena.

********************************************************
Focus Infosys (now owned by Nuance Communications, Inc., the
leaders in speech recognition and who also own Dictaphone)

Due to huge upcoming business, we are opening an office in New
Delhi.  We invite experienced MT professionals to be a part of our
start-up team for our Delhi office.  Entire team is to be recruited
for this unit including Unit Head, managerial designations,
production staff, quality staff, etc.

Company profile
1000+ in-house staff strength
6 offices across India
Head office in Boston, USA
Executing 10.65 lakh lines/day
73% of work is speech recognized
200-seater office coming up in Chennai
200-seater office coming up in Mangalore

Focus advantage
Option to work from home while working at office
Work on speech recognition software
Earn more thru attractive referral bonus
Company your present salary versus what we have to offer
More proofing; less strain
Faster growth thru monthly appraisal report system
Use any ATM in India for free

Please send in your resume to recruit@....
Also, visit www.focusmt.com to know our salary structure,
home-based rates, hierarchy, etc.
********************************************************
Dear Friends,

Here are some interesting excerpts from the cover article in "For
The Record" - MTSOs & Platform Providers Battle for Clients,
Control
By Elizabeth S. Roop:

<Blue and others argue the MTSO decision should be based on a range
of factors that technology can't influence, such as quality, and
not just price. When technology companies offer transcription as
part of a bundled service or control vendor selection, they set the
price, and the MTSO must make it work.

As a result, it is often the cheapest rather than the best
qualified MTSO that handles a hospital's transcription services
through speech recognition. And while hospitals can voice their
concerns to the technology vendor that controls the outsourcing
contract and get a nonperforming MTSO replaced, they still have no
say in the actual selection process.

"They end up with a revolving door of service providers," Kivi
says. "In some cases, their expectations for a level of quality
that comes from the outsourced service provider is lowered because
they are switched from one group that's putting their cheapest
people on to another group that's putting their cheapest people on.
The hospital then decides that either they've got to bring
everything in-house, or they have to lower their expectations of
what the quality should be. If they bring it in-house, [the
technology company] has still achieved their objective of securing
their relationship with the hospital and securing the direct sale
of their technology.">

To read the entire feature, go to:
http://www.fortherecordmag.com/archives/ftr_05142007p16.shtml

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) CBaySystems and Services Inc. Raman Kumar, Chairman CEO Named
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year(R) 2007 Award Finalist in
Maryland

CBaySystems and Services Inc. announced that Raman Kumar is a
finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year(R) 2007
Award in the Maryland program. This is the second year that Mr.
Kumar has been selected for this prestigious honor. According to
Ernst & Young, the awards program was designed to recognize
outstanding entrepreneurs on a regional, national and global level
who are building and leading dynamic, growing businesses. Raman
Kumar was selected
as a finalist from a field of nearly 50 Maryland industry and
business leaders. Award winners will be announced at a special gala
event on Thursday, June 28 at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore.

"I am very excited to have been selected again for this honor on
behalf of the CBaySystems family," said Mr. Kumar. "Our team's
ability to successfully combine innovative technology with global
resources has made a significant impact on the healthcare
industry - improving quality while reducing costs. By assisting
with important functions like medical transcription, practice and
billing/receivables management, we have made it possible for
Doctors and Health Information Managers to focus their efforts on
what they do best - take care of patients."

http://www.prnewswire.com:80/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-16-\
2007/0004589798&EDATE=

2) CBaySystems Plans AIM Float May 20

CBaySystems Holdings Ltd., a provider of medical transcription
services and patient financial services, said Tuesday that it
intends to float on AIM.

The company intends to raise approximately US$50 million on
admission on common Shares of par value US$0.10. The company's
market capitalisation on admission is expected to be at Mid- point
at US$190 million.

Dealings in the company's shares is expected to start on May 30,
2007.The company's dominated adviser and broker is Jefferies
International Limited.

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20070515%5cACQDJON2007051\
50517DOWJONESDJONLINE000228.htm&

3) MedQuist Announces that President, COO Will Be Leaving the
Company

MedQuist today announced that Frank Lavelle, its current President,
and Linda Reino, the company's Chief Operating Officer, will be
resigning to pursue other opportunities. Howard Hoffmann, who has
served as CEO for nearly three years, will take over the
responsibilities of President. Mark Ivie, the company's Chief
Technology Officer, and Michael Clark, Senior Vice President of
Operations, will together assume the former Chief Operating
Officer's responsibilities, which in large measure they had shared
prior to the establishment of the COO position.

MedQuist CEO Hoffmann stated that, "Frank has served as President
of the company for more than two years, during a period of
extraordinary change within the company and our industry as a
whole. We've responded well to these changes, and Frank has
certainly played an important role in that. We appreciate all he
has done."� In speaking of Ms. Reino, Hoffmann said, "Linda has
also been here during a number of key recent changes in operations.
We appreciate her contributions on that front and wish her well."

Consistent with its ongoing efforts to streamline and enhance
operational performance, the company has no current plans to fill
either position.

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2007-05/artikel-8239963.asp

4) MedQuist Number One in KLAS Front-End Speech Recognition

MedQuist Inc. announced that SpeechQ for Radiology(TM) was rated
number one for front-end speech recognition by customers, according
to KLAS Enterprises' Speech Recognition Report, May 2007. This is
the second consecutive year in which SpeechQ has been recognized as
the leading solution in this category. SpeechQ was also cited in
the "Top 20: 2006 Best in KLAS Awards" Report.

"We are pleased that SpeechQ, our easy-to-use and reliable speech
recognition solution, has been recognized once again by KLAS," said
Mark Ivie, MedQuist Chief Technology Officer. "Our customers have
expressed their appreciation for the knowledgeable implementation,
training and support team members who help them to realize their
business and workflow goals."

KLAS surveys and interviews more than 4,500 hospitals across the
country to create hundreds of vendor profiles and rankings based
solely on customer feedback. The survey questions cover the entire
continuum of customers' experiences with vendors and solutions,
from the sales process to implementation and training components,
to determining if the customers would recommend the company and
product to others. MedQuist scored an overall vendor ranking score
of 87.6 percent, significantly higher than the average of 79.9
percent, and almost 7 points ahead of the nearest competitor.

http://www.sys-con.com/read/379148.htm

5) MT center opens in Paro

The Bhutan Business Solution (BBS), the first and the only Business
Procedure Outsourcing (BPOs) center in the country is currently
training 48 people on medical transcription.

Medical transcription is where the doctors' dictation from the
United States will be listened to and put down in an electronic
format. "The basic job involved in medical transcription is listen
and type," according to one of the instructors, Ramakanth Dubey.
"That is why the trainees are being given intensive lesson on
English, computer and the Language of Medicine (LOM). Bhutan
Business Solutions hopes to be operational within two months.

http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8433

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2007
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

MT India Jobs - http://www.MTIndia.biz/

May 05, 2007
********************************************************

Connecting Continents: A Tale of Two Transcriptionists....

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
A leading Training Unit also engaged in the field of Medical
Transcription requires Faculty in Medical Language who will impart
medicine and language training - Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology,
Diagnosis, treatment, Laboratory Tests, Diagnostic and Imaging
Procedures, Pharmacology, Medical terminology, and related topics
tailored to the needs of the Medical Transcription Industry.

Young and proactive medical language specialists with teaching
experience, preferably in Language of Medicine in the MT Industry
will be given preference.  Compensation commensurate with profile.
All openings are at present in Hyderabad, Vijaywada and
Vishakhapatnam.

Contact 040-66787771/72 or email contactus@... (Subject:
Faculty)

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

Here are some interesting excerpts, from an editorial in the
ADVANCE by Lori Marchand and Rodella "Deng" Perez. This article is
a first person account, demonstrating how medical transcriptionists
can build bridges to work with new peers in far away lands.

<Many U.S. medical language specialists are afraid of work being
outsourced offshore, yet the reality is there is more than enough
work to go around. In fact, most service providers are drowning in
work in the U.S. due to the volume of documents regularly being
produced and the lack of trained workers to handle it. Teams from
the Philippines and India are highly trained, highly skilled
workers who are adaptive to current trends. After reading Thomas L.
Friedman's national bestseller, The World Is Flat, it is easy to
understand how the Internet, technology and e-mail are bridging the
gap between continents and eliminating the unknown.

This story is about two MTs who bridged the gap and are flattening
the world of medical transcription. Lori and Deng come from
different parts of the globe - one who works from home in the U.S.
and the other from SPi's facility in the Philippines-but have
identical missions. Lori and Deng work together to provide U.S.
hospitals with high quality, accurate and timely clinical reports.
And they've learned a few new skills along the way! >

To read the entire feature, go to:
http://health-information.advanceweb.com/common/editorial/editorial.aspx?CC=8757\
8

To discuss this issue, go to:
http://mtindia.info/forum/

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Acusis Acquires Digital Records Corporation Adding Capabilities
for Significant Growth

Acusis announced the acquisition of Digital Records Corporation
(DRC) of Santa Clara, CA. This acquisition positions Acusis as a
major industry leader with increased size, capabilities and
nationwide market presence for further accelerated growth. Acusis,
which developed India based transcription to the highest level, now
adds high quality U.S. based transcription. This fits the Acusis
mission of delivering world-class customer satisfaction with Higher
Standards(SM) of quality, turn around time delivery and pricing
with our commitment to superior business processes and technology
utilization. "DRC's great reputation for quality, integrity, and
long term consistent service to its loyal customer base is a
perfect match adding greatly to Acusis' capabilities," said David
Iwinski Jr., Acusis CEO.

An integration period of what will be the best synthesis of Acusis
and DRC is planned to be accomplished within 100 days while keeping
unbreakable separation between U.S. and India transcription.
Immediate activities will focus on meeting the needs and servicing
of existing hospital, clinic and physician groups and ensuring the
larger organization of approximately 1000 people are performing
effectively. Core values of trust, candor, team initiatives
achievement, progress measurement and accountability will guide the
combined cultures driving for higher customer satisfaction
partnerships.

"Offering more Acusis choices and flexibility to provider
healthcare information management is our strategic growth focus,"
said Iwinski. Additionally he stated, "Hybrid US and India
production choices along with continued AcuSuite platform software
enhancements and appropriate speech recognition technology, will
let Acusis grow this year and beyond. We will expand our workforce
in both the U.S. and India to meet customer needs. Further
acquisitions, as appropriate, will be a key part of our future
business development." The Acusis services solution strategy is
focusing on the emerging market trends of reduced cost, shorter
turn around times, on-going globalization and accelerated use of
applied technology.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20070417005261&newsLang=en

2) CDOD to re-examine agreement with DTS

The Carlsbad Department of Development voted to re-examine the
conditions of its job creation agreement with the company DTS
America at Thursday morning's board meeting. Under the agreement,
DTS America, a medical transcription facility, essentially agreed
to employ a certain number of individuals, eventually at a certain
pay rate, in exchange for financial incentives.

But DTS currently has a staff of 57 Carlsbad employees, which means
it is not meeting a contract requirement to have 100 employees by
today - the 18-month anniversary of the job creation agreement.

"We're coming up on these dates, (and) what we want to do is extend
those dates," said CDOD Board President Valerie Murrill at
Thursday's meeting. Murrill said she did not want to impose strict
penalties and possibly throw DTS out of business. Imposing
penalties on DTS could put the jobs of the 57 Carlsbad employees at
risk, she said. "Out of $1.5 million poured into that company, they
have more than poured that back just in base wages," she said.

The board voted unanimously to extend DTS' upcoming performance
evaluation date from today to July 31. During that time, a newly
negotiated version of the job creation agreement will be proposed.
The CDOD board will have to approve any changes other than moving
the deadline.

Murrill also read a letter from DTS announcing Andrew Miller Jr. as
the company's new president and chief executive officer. The goal,
wrote DTS Vice President Jeffrey McNeese, is to establish DTS
America as one of the top five medical transcription service
providers.

"It is no secret that the first year of operations in Carlsbad has
been fraught with flawed assumptions, contractual and operational
challenges and marginal financial success. However, the board of
directors of DTS America and members of the executive committee
strongly believe that this is not indicative of future performance
and through modifications to the current business model significant
financial and operational success can be achieved."

DTS, in turn, has several performance obligations listed in the
agreement. The company, in the contract, was expected to have at
least 100 jobs within 18 months of the agreement's signing. DTS
also agreed to have at least 200 jobs within 30 month. The average
employee salary, after two years of working with DTS, will be at
least $31,200, according to the contract.

Under the original contract, if DTS defaults within two years of
the creation of the agreement, and if the CDOD terminates the
agreement as a result, DTS has to repay all cash incentive funds
received.

http://www.currentargus.com/ci_5813654

3) Bhutan gears up to share the MT pie

While a batch of 65 students is training in medical transcription -
a first in Bhutan - at least 150 more are undergoing rigorous
computer and English training classes to be a part of what would be
the country's maiden call centre tipped for an August 2007 launch.

These initiatives are underway in conjunction with experts from
India. Bhutan already has a $70 million market in hand.

To create new job avenues for its youth, Thimphu-based Bhutan
Business Solutions has inked an agreement with India to train its
youngsters in the intricacies of medical transcription to prepare
them for US clients. And, with an assured monthly stipend of Rs
3,000, the first batch of trainees is lapping it up.

"I want to build up my career in more appropriate way in terms of
both money and job satisfaction. It's going to be a very big thing
but it will definitely take some time because this is new thing in
Bhutan and we Bhutanese are not actually into all this, we are not
into working late hours," said Sarina Kafe, Trainee.

However, training is an uphill task. The biggest hurdles are below
average english proficiency and negligible computer awareness.

A Mumbai-based firm is training the youngsters for over six months
in spoken and written english, comprehension, computer short-cuts
and scientific typing and more specifically medicine. At least 500
young Bhutanese would be trained here over the next few months.

"In India, the challenge we face very little is medicine because
medicine is something we generally have knowledge about. But here
in Bhutan medicine as such is a taboo, people don't specialize in
medicine," said Alex Fernandes, Chief Training Coordinator.

"Second is English. What they speak is not technically correct
English so it is like they have to unlearn and learn. Learning is
as such not a problem but unlearning and learning is a major
problem," Fernandes added.

http://www.ndtvprofit.com/homepage/storybusinessnew.asp?template=&whichstory=n&i\
d=37935

4) MedQuist Releases Version 1.1 of Ovation Voice Capture Platform

MedQuist Inc. announced the release of version 1.1 of its voice
capture platform, DocQment(TM) Ovation. This latest software
release gives HIM professionals superior management of their
medical documentation when using outsourced transcription service
providers.

"Ovation has been very successful for us thus far. We signed 20
customers within the first six months of launching this Web-based,
enterprise digital voice capture and transport solution last year.
As they complete their implementations, customers are experiencing
improved turnaround times with new workflow tools such as Quality
Control and ADT backfill. Version 1.1 will add to these
capabilities with enhanced reporting capabilities and management
options that will help provide better control of the document from
dictation through signature," says Scott Bennett, MedQuist senior
vice president of Sales and Marketing.

http://www.sys-con.com/read/370748.htm

5) Separate welfare boards for STs, De-notified Tribes on cards

The State Government will set up separate welfare boards for
Scheduled Tribes and De-notified Tribes. Replying to a debate on
the demands of her Ministry, Adi Davidar and Tribal Welfare
Minister A. Tamilarasi told the Assembly on Wednesday that the idea
was to improve socio-economic and educational condition of the
communities, who were entitled to all benefits and concessions
given to members of other welfare boards.

To provide more employment opportunities for Dalit/tribal youth,
the Department, in coordination with the Tamilnadu Adi Dravidar
Housing and Development Corporation (TAHDCO), was offering
employment-oriented training.

To enable students to improve their English speaking skills, about
5000 students would be given training at a cost of Rs. 2 crore.
Five hundred students would be trained to take up jobs in BPOs/call
centres and another 500 in medical transcription.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/19/stories/2007041903960600.htm

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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or post it on your site? Please do! But also be sure to read
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All original content of this newsletter is � Copyright 1998-2007
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!

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Apr 14, 2007
********************************************************

Newsletter - medical transcription a less desirable sector for
Philippines?

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
A leading Training Unit also engaged in the field of Medical
Transcription requires Faculty in Medical Language who will impart
medicine and language training - Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology,
Diagnosis, treatment, Laboratory Tests, Diagnostic and Imaging
Procedures, Pharmacology, Medical terminology, and related topics
tailored to the needs of the Medical Transcription Industry.

Young and proactive medical language specialists with teaching
experience, preferably in Language of Medicine in the MT Industry
will be given preference.  Compensation commensurate with profile.
All openings are at present in Hyderabad, Vijaywada and
Vishakhapatnam.

Contact 040-66787771/72 or email contactus@... (Subject:
Faculty)

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

Analyst Lauro Vives explains why medical transcription is a less
desirable sector for the Philippines - to see the video, go to:
www.mtindia.info

Firstly, US remains the biggest source of demand for medical
transcription services accounting for over 85% of the market. With
only a single source of demand globally, medical transcription
industry will suffer from the pressures of continuingly reducing
costs.

Secondly, the most riskiest sector will always be where labor is
intensive and highly skilled and specialized. Philippines doesn't
have the critical mass of people with potential to meet the MT
industry demands. As a result, retention of people becomes very,
very difficult.

Unless, off course, you want to make training your business
model...

----------------------------------------------
End of transcript...

I am not too sure, the above factors don't apply to India...

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Medical outsourcing debacle?

A growing number of Australian hospitals and medical practices are
outsourcing secretarial work to companies in India, Pakistan and
the Philippines. At least four big Sydney hospitals and hundreds of
doctors are among those using cheap labour to transcribe digitally
recorded verbal notes online. Prices can be half as much as the
Australian rate, or less.

But rivals claim foreign workers, most of whom do not have English
as their first language, are more prone to making dangerous
mistakes and may be unable to keep patients' private details
secure.

State and Commonwealth laws ban the sending of medical information
overseas unless privacy protection is of the same standard as in
Australia. Among possible solutions were making it mandatory for
transcription companies to declare if they were sending medical
files overseas or prosecuting those who sent information to places
with inadequate protection.

Lyndie Arkell, chief executive of OzeScribe, described the quality
of overseas transcriptions as "absolutely terrible''. "There is a
large industry sending work to India because there are doctors who
want cheaper transcriptions,'' she said. "But they are violating
privacy laws and disrespecting their patients' privacy. I don't
think patients go to their doctors thinking their records are going
to end up in India.'' Mistakes and mix-ups in medical terminology
are common among overseas transcribers who cannot understand
Australian accents, she warned. She told how overseas transcription
companies had left leaflets at hospitals offering to do work for 8c
a line, compared with an average Australian rate of 27c.

Raji Swaminathan runs Sydney-based Professional Transcription
Solutions, which has 50 staff at a centre in Chennai, India, and
has four big Sydney hospitals and more than 150 doctors signed up
to her service. Ms Swaminathan insists her staff work for an
Australian company and are properly trained to understand
Australian accents.

"All staff sign confidentiality agreements for me,'' she said.

http://www.news.com.au/sundaytelegraph/story/0,,21556989-5001021,00.html

2) Seaview, US firm ink new pact

Targeting higher volumes in healthcare documentation services and
bringing in newer areas of healthcare solutions under its fold,
Thiruvananthapuram-based BPO player Seaview Support Systems has
entered into new contracts with UK-based outsourcing major DScribe.

Elaborating on the fresh contracts with DScribe, Raju Harilal, CEO,
Seaview Support Systems, said that "the deal would help Seaview
make its foray into the fields of medical billing and
tele-radiology soon."

Meanwhile, DScribe expects its outsourcing volumes to Seaview to
double in the next two months, according to the UK company's
managing director FCA Hamilton.

Seaview has also announced a tie-up with SBI Life to launch a
pension plan for all its employees. Harilal said with this tie-up,
over 300 employees at Seaview would be provided savings benefit
with a secure retirement plan. This is perhaps for the first time a
private sector company based in the state capital is coming out
with a pension plan for its staffers, he added.

Aimed at addressing attrition and to inspire its largely young
workforce to start the habit of savings, the pension plan would
ensure that the periodical savings are carefully preserved with
full guarantee of the corpus, and will be paid back with returns
and entitled bonus as annuity payments at the time of retirement,
the Seaview CEO added.

http://www.business-standard.com/iceworld/storypage.php?leftnm=8&subLeft=2&chklo\
gin=N&autono=280793&tab=r

3) Outsourcing of UK hospital records to India opposed

Visions of deaths caused by possible mistakes made by medical
secretaries in India have been raised to prevent transcription work
in British hospitals from being outsourced to India and the
Philippines. Several hospital trusts of the National Health Service
(NHS) have outsourced medical transcription work to India, with
more considering the option to cut budgetary deficits. The moves
have prompted a welter of protests from medical secretaries and
unions.

The latest to face opposition to outsourcing medical transcription
to India is the NHS Southport and Ormskirk Trust, which is battling
to reduce a 15 million pound deficit. Its plans to outsource work
to India have prompted unions and medical secretaries to raise the
prospect of patients in Britain dying due to mistakes by medical
secretaries in India.

The British Society of Medical Secretaries (BSMS) has warned that
outsourcing work to India could result in deaths. Kathy Perkins,
chairperson of the BSMS, said: "Inevitably, there will be a patient
death directly attributable to the wrongful interpretation of a
crucial word or drug dosage by an outsourced worker unfamiliar with
the language or terminology.

"This will cause an outcry and the emphasis will shift back to
requiring medical transcription by trained medical secretaries. But
the damage will have been done. The majority of medical secretaries
will either have been made redundant or left the service. British
medical secretaries aim for 99.8 per cent accuracy in
transcriptions."

Reports from Liverpool say that medical secretaries in the trust
are furious on being asked to describe how they did their jobs to
see if the work could be transferred to India and the Philippines.

Southport's Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh described the plans as
'barking mad', and said: "The one thing there needs to be in any
good hospital is a close connection between the administrative and
the clerical staff. "If you have them in two different places, on
different continents then it's going to be very hard to achieve."

A spokesperson for the trust insisted that outsourcing
transcription to India was only one option they may consider in a
bid to cut costs. Clare Vattev, business manager at the Trust,
said: "We will be looking at a number of options and the use of
digital dictation and out-sourced transcribing may be considered.

"The trust is currently reviewing its secretarial functions with a
view to improving both the efficiency and timeliness of its
communications."

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1090372

4) Icac seeks MT training for gamers!

Online gamers are potential medical transcriptionists and learn
about the profession inside Internet cafes, an official of the
Internet Caf� Association of Cebu (Icac) said. Felix Cogal, Icac
president said Icac, a group of local Internet caf� operators, are
in negotiations with Total Transcription Solutions Inc. (TTSI), a
medical transcription (MT)-training center that enables Internet
cafes to become an "extended laboratory" for MT students.

He said TTSI will provide Internet cafes with MT Tutor Online
prepaid cards and equip the cafes with the necessary software to
run the online tutorial. However, Cogal said cyber caf� operators
may also invest in additional "foot pedals" or controls that will
further enhance the tutorials.

While the tutorials are meant for MT students, online gamers can
take advantage of the software by purchasing a prepaid card,
learning the modules and participating in the exercises, he said.
"This will slowly convert online gamers as medical
transcriptionists," said Cogal, adding that because online exams
are monitored, those who perform better have a bigger chance of
getting hired automatically.

Due to limited manpower, MT training centers are tapping Internet
cafes and the academe to attract more Filipinos to become
transcriptionists. "This thing is good for the younger generation
because it is both fun, since it follows an online game concept, is
and educational. It also gives them a bigger chance to land a job,"
he said. Cogal also said the proposed joint venture with TTSI will
be revenue-generating for Internet caf� operators.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2007/04/13/bus/icac.seeks.mt.training.for.g\
amers..html

5) African countries vie for outsourcing business

In November 2005, Ghana commissioned Hewitt Associates of India to
probe the country's key strengths and weaknesses in the global
services sector. The analysis of Ghana, as benchmarked against 11
established and emerging offshore international and regional
destinations, showed that the country scored high on the size of
its English-speaking population and competitive labor costs.
However, it ranked poorly on the quality of infrastructure and
demonstrated government focus.

Overall, there is significant potential for Ghana to scale up
offshoring activities and position itself in niche markets of the
BPO sector. The Hewitt study recommended that the key vertical
market niches Ghana should focus on include medical transcription,
coding, billing, data processing and customer contact processes.
The government of Ghana subsequently requested the World Bank
Group's support in developing an IT-enabled services sector and was
given a $40 million credit.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/04/09/HNafricanoutsourcing_1.html
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2007
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
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Please DO NOT reply to this mail id to unsubscribe

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

Apr 07, 2007
********************************************************

Health Information Privacy and Security Week

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

April 8 through 14 is Health Information Privacy and Security Week.
This annual event is sponsored by AHIMA to raise awareness among
healthcare professionals, their employers, and the public of the
importance of protecting the privacy, confidentiality, and security
of personal health information. During the week, AHIMA and the
community of HIM professionals are working to educate and inform
these groups of their rights and responsibilities related to the
use and disclosure of personal health information. To access the
planning kit online, visit here:
http://www.ahima.org/hipsweek/

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) CBaySystems Named as a Supplier for GNYHA Services Members

After a thorough selection process, CBaySystems, a provider of
health care technology, outsourced business solutions, and medical
transcription services, was chosen as a supplier for GNYHA Services
members, a group purchasing organization. Under the agreement, CBay
will provide access to a full array of integrated document
management services, including medical transcription, dictation
capture, and speech recognition to GNYHA Services' alliance of
nearly 250 member hospitals located throughout New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Puerto Rico.

The GNYHA Services group purchasing program is offered in
conjunction with Premier Purchasing Partners, LP (Premier).
CBaySystems and GNYHA Services have arranged for all members of the
GNYHA Services group purchasing program to have access to
CBaySystems' services.

"We are pleased that through our relationship with CBay, we are
able to offer the GNYHA Services membership a robust transcription
service solution at a very competitive price," said Donna
Gammarato, Vice President of Supply Chain Management at GNYHA
Services.

http://www.drugnewswire.com/14681/

2) Lake Systems to set up BPO unit in Nashik

Bangalore-based Lake Systems Pvt Ltd (LSPL), a healthcare business
process outsourcing (BPO) major, is setting up its first unit in
Nashik. The company will initially employ 100 professionals.
Speaking to Business Standard, Pratibha Nakil, director of the
company, said, "As part of our expansion plan, we are setting up a
healthcare BPO unit at Nashik. We have leased a 3,500-sft property
in Satpur MIDC area of Nashik. Initially, we will recruit 100
people and increase the strength gradually."

She said the major focus was on medical transcription (MT) and the
company had most of its clients in the US and Australia. "We want
to grow as much as possible. We will build our own facility at
Nashik if we get adequate skilled manpower here," she added.

The business volume of the global MT industry is around $22 billion
of which, 20 per cent comes from India, according to her. The size
of the business generated by the MT industry annually in India has
been estimated at $5 billion. In India, Bangalore, Hyderabad and
Delhi are the prominent centres for the MT industry but now the
business is seen shifting to smaller cities such as Pune, Kochi,
Coimbatore and Nashik, she said.

Currently, LSPL has its BPO unit in Bangalore employing 150 people.

http://www.business-standard.com/iceworld/storypage.php?leftnm=8&subLeft=2&chklo\
gin=N&autono=278239&tab=r

3) Spheris posts Q4 loss, margins improve

Medical transcription services provider Spheris posted a loss in
the fourth quarter and for the full year, but saw an improvement in
operating margins. Revenue came in at $51.4 million in the fourth
quarter ended Dec. 31, up from $50.8 million in the fourth quarter
last year. Company officials attributed the revenue increase to the
acquisition of Vianeta Communications, a company it acquired last
year.

Expenses held the line at about $50 million and income before taxes
and interest increased to $1.3 million from $954,000 in the last
quarter of 2005. The company's Q4 loss came in at $3.4 million, the
same as the previous fourth quarter.

For the year, the Franklin-based company posted a loss of $12.2
million, up from $10.2 million in 2005. Revenue was down slightly,
coming in at $152 million, about $2 million below the year-ago
results. Expenses decreased about $1.5 million to $203 million.
Income before interest and taxes decreased 9 percent to $4.1
million.

In a statement accompanying the company's financial results,
company officials noted the loss increase was primarily attributed
to increased interest expense as a result of rising rates on
variable rate senior secured credit facilities.

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2007/03/26/daily12.html?from_rss=1

4) MedQuist, former officers, settle securities lawsuit

MedQuist Inc. has settled claims connected to a shareholder
class-action lawsuit for $7.75 million, the electronic medical
transcription company said.

The Greater Pennsylvania Pension Fund was the lead plaintiff in the
suit, which alleged MedQuist violated federal securities laws by
issuing false and misleading statements to the market between April
2002 and November 2004. The lawsuit alleged the statements
artificially inflated the market price of the company's securities.
MedQuist and the former company officers named as defendants did
not admit liability or wrongdoing in the settlement.

In 2004, MedQuist of Mount Laurel, N.J., announced it was
restructuring its top management and instituting other reform
measures following an eight-month independent review that found
problems with the company's billing methods. The company has said
it is cooperating with the Securities and Exchange Commission's
ongoing investigation into its billing practices.

The settlement is subject to formal documentation by the parties
and conditioned on final court approval.

http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2007/03/26/daily28.html

5) Revenue from healthcare BPO to triple by 2011

Healthcare BPO service provider Zavata India's $80 million contract
with four major US hospitals in November last year is a healthy
example of the booming healthcare BPO services sector. Offshoring
of healthcare revenue cycle management services is set to gain
traction this year, with Zavatas deal likely to set a strong
precedent for more contracts involving turnkey end-to-end revenue
cycle management (RCM) services.

A range of services beginning from the admission to post-discharge
of a patient including medical coding, billing, medical
transcription, claims generation, patient follow-up, et al are
referred to as revenue cycle management. More than half of the US
hospitals are directly or indirectly offshoring various components
of healthcare services, offshore vendors can now expect more
end-to-end work, according to a recent report....

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1812871.cms
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2007
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

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

Mar 24, 2007
********************************************************

Newsletter - Nuance to Acquire Focus Infomatics...

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
A leading Training Unit also engaged in the field of Medical
Transcription requires Faculty in Medical Language who will impart
medicine and language training - Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology,
Diagnosis, treatment, Laboratory Tests, Diagnostic and Imaging
Procedures, Pharmacology, Medical terminology, and related topics
tailored to the needs of the Medical Transcription Industry.

Young and proactive medical language specialists with teaching
experience, preferably in Language of Medicine in the MT Industry
will be given preference.  Compensation commensurate with profile.
All openings are at present in Hyderabad, Vijaywada and
Vishakhapatnam.

Contact 040-66787771/72 or email contactus@... (Subject:
Faculty)

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************

Lake Systems Pvt Ltd. is a well reputed B'lore based company which
is expanding its operations in NASHIK (Maharastra). With a client
base spread across North America and Australia, we are now
embarking on an aggressive growth plan with the intent of doubling
our production capacity. For our Nashik and B'lore units we are
looking to recruit highly motivated and ambitious individuals in
the following capacities:

* Proofers : Min proofing exp of 2yrs.

* Medical Transcriptionists : Both In-house and Home based,
experienced and freshers welcome. NO NIGHT SHIFTS, attractive
packages/incentives, excellent career growth.

Lake Systems Pvt Ltd.
D/91 1st Floor, Opp Niwec Club, MIDC, Satpur
Nashik- 422007
Phone : 0253-2350214   Email : recruitment@...

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

Nuance Communications, Inc. announced a definitive agreement
whereby Nuance will acquire Focus Infomatics, Inc. This acquisition
will expand Nuance's ability to deliver Web-based speech
recognition editing services and significantly accelerate Nuance's
strategy to automate manual transcription in healthcare, where an
estimated $15 billion is spent worldwide each year. Focus' proven
technology and services portfolio, in conjunction
with the Dictaphone iChart Web-based transcription solutions, will
ensure the most efficient and scalable Internet delivery of
automated transcription as a service.

Focus Infomatics is one of the most respected speech recognition
services organizations in healthcare, serving some of the U.S.'s
largest healthcare organizations such as Ardent Healthcare, MD
Anderson Cancer Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital. The
company combines the use of speech recognition, a Webbased editing
platform and an optimized India -based operation to achieve
superior customer satisfaction, turnaround time and cost
efficiency. Focus' practices have garnered the industry's highest
customer satisfaction as evidenced by its 2006 Best in KLAS�
ranking by KLAS Enterprises, an independent organization that
monitors performance of healthcare vendors worldwide.

"The pressing requirement for automation in the healthcare industry
presents a significant opportunity for the adoption of Nuance
speech-enabled solutions," said Paul Ricci, chairman and CEO at
Nuance. "In particular, Focus' outstanding reputation for speech
editing services and highly skilled workforce will support the
rapid growth of iChart, our hosted speech-enabled transcription
service. By combining Nuance's premier speech technology and Focus'
proven services, we expect to accelerate our objective to eliminate
manual transcription."

The acquisition was funded with cash. Consideration after
adjustments is approximately $58 million. The acquisition has been
approved by both companies' Boards of Directors and is expected to
close by March 31, 2007.

To read the entire press release, go to :

http://www.focusinfomatics.com/2007-03-15_Focus_Release_FINAL.pdf

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) iMedX acquires Tidewater Transcription Services

iMedX Inc., announced that it has acquired Tidewater Medical
Transcription Services Inc., (TMTS). TMTS, founded in 1999,
currently serves medical clinics in Virginia and North Carolina,
with a US-based transcription workforce. With the acquisition of
TMTS, iMedX gets deeper penetration into medical clinics in the
mid-Atlantic region of the United States, and can utilize TMTS's
network of US-based medical transcriptionists to complement its
large, scalable workforce in India.

2) CBaySystems' Chairman Raman Kumar to be Honored at the 11th
Annual Maryland International Business Leadership Awards

Chairman and CEO of CBaySystems, Raman Kumar, will be honored with
the prestigious Maryland International Business Leadership Award on
Thursday, March 29, 2007. The award is presented annually to an
individual within a Maryland company who has led his or her company
to new global heights, demonstrating an entrepreneurial spirit,
determination, creativity, and the cultural sensitivity that global
business demands.

The World Trade Center Institute will host this annual event at the
Jim Rouse Visionary Center in Baltimore. The event has become a
true must-attend for the "who's who" of Maryland's international
business community, drawing 400 area business leaders and senior
government officials.

"Mr. Kumar's impressive accomplishments and strong track record of
growth make CBaySystems an exemplary model for other Maryland firms
on the global horizon," said Mark Davis, Director of Business
Development for the World Trade Center Institute.

http://www.businesswireindia.com/PressRelease.asp?b2mid=12229

3) Liberty Hospital outsources transcription services to national
company

Liberty Hospital has outsourced its medical transcription services
to a national firm, a growing trend among health-care providers but
one that has a former hospital transcriptionist concerned.

Lori Nonemaker, the transcriptionist who opted not to work for
Transcend, said she ethically could not work for the company
because it outsourced some of its work overseas.Nonemaker said she
was especially concerned because the transcriptionists were told
Liberty Hospital had an oral agreement with Transcend not to
outsource its medical transcriptions overseas. "It wasn't
specifically addressed in a contract," she said.

Crossett said that since the time the transcriptionists were told
of the oral agreement, Transcend and Liberty Hospital had made an
addendum to the contract that specifically said Liberty Hospital's
medical information must be handled within the United States.
Crossett has a letter from Transcend Chief Executive Officer Larry
Gerdes saying the company is "contractually committed to produce
100 percent of Liberty Hospital transcription with our U.S.-based
employees."

http://www.kccommunitynews.com/articles/2007/03/22/liberty_tribune/business/lt_b\
iz03-22-07d.txt

4) Ex-future doctor runs MT firm

"I didn't want to go into engineering. I wanted to be different,"
says Malu Simeon-Florendo, CEO of Multi-Scribe Global Outsourcing
Inc. (MSGO). Her whole family was in the engineering business, so,
to be "different," the young lady pursued a degree in medicine at
the UE College of Medicine.

She realized she did not want to be a doctor. She worked in HR for
a few years, then got an MBA under the Regis Program at the Ateneo
School of Business. She landed a job as a business development
manager for a local domain administration company, dotPH. "(Working
at dotPH) was fast-track learning in IT," she says. "I learned to
think out of the box, to be creative, to make 'something' out of
'nothing.' I learned to be flexible, to be innovative, because
things in the IT industry change so fast."

Her interest in medical transcription (MT) was sparked by her
contact with her mother-in-law, an investor in an MT school based
in Makati. Luckily, again, the start-up bagged its first client-a
hospital in Kansas, USA-through a Fil-American doctor who was
serendipitously in Manila for a medical mission.
Simeon-Florendo signed up with the Medical Transcription Industry
Association of the Philippines Inc. (MTIAPI) and the American
Health Information Management Association (Ahima) and sales-blitzed
the states of California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida, Texas and Kansas armed with a
laptop, a webcam, a PowerPoint presentation and a supply of
Filipino spunk. She signed up three big clients on her first US
sales trip.

Today, MSGO is the Philippines' largest "one-hundred percent MT"
company, with 130 workstations. From a few square meters in one
floor back in July 2005, MSGO now occupies four floors of the same
building where it began.

MSGO also has an interesting production strategy. "MSGO uses
in-house sub-contractors which it calls NEST (New Expert Satellite
Team). A production group of MSGO, the NEST is an innovative
management concept with strong competencies in quality assurance,
control span, sub-contracting, "bayanihan," entrepreneurship and
turn-key business operations," says Simeon-Florendo.

http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=54103

5) Nuance Introduces DragonConnect

Nuance Communications, Inc., introduced DragonConnect for Dragon�
NaturallySpeaking� Medical customers at the Healthcare Information
Management Systems Society (HIMSS) show taking place in New
Orleans. With DragonConnect, Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical
customers will be able to take advantage of the enterprise wide
dictation, transcription and speech recognition capabilities of the
Dictaphone Enterprise Express solution to maximize their clinical
documentation effectiveness.

With Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical, healthcare providers dictate
directly into third party clinical information and Electronic
Medical Record ("EMR") applications thereby reducing the cost of
transcription, improving report turnaround time and increasing
overall adoption rates of these clinical information systems. Many
Dragon NaturallySpeaking customers have expressed the need to have
the ability to send specific reports to transcription services in
instances where they do not have the time to manually review the
speech recognized report themselves. DragonConnect will support
this capability by providing a software bridge between Dragon
NaturallySpeaking Medical and Dictaphone's Enterprise Express�
family of integrated dictation and transcription solutions,
including EXVoiceT and EXTextT.

http://www.huliq.com/13549/nuance-introduces-dragonconnect

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2007
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
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Mar 10, 2007
********************************************************

Newsletter - A Standard Unit of Measure for Transcribed Reports...

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Vasant Scribes is a well established ISO 27001 certified Medical
Transcription Company with a seven year track record located in
Hyderabad. We are now working with MedQuist, USA, the world's
largest medical transcription services company and consequently are
on a path of rapid expansion including setting up branches at new
locations.

Vasant takes pride in being an employee friendly organization with
attractive salary / incentives and benefits. To make the growth
happen and share the success we are looking for committed MT
professionals.

MTs : At least six months as Medical Transcriptionist.

PROOFERS  : At least one year as proofer and overall four to five
years in MT Industry.

Email your CV to careers@... or post to
Vasant Scribes Limited, 1-11-251/1B, Vasant Towers, Begumpet,
Hyderabad-500 016
Contact Prathima / Shantanu at 040-27764215 or Hyma at 040-66511019
/ 020

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
A leading Training Unit also engaged in the field of Medical
Transcription requires Faculty in Medical Language who will impart
medicine and language training - Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology,
Diagnosis, treatment, Laboratory Tests, Diagnostic and Imaging
Procedures, Pharmacology, Medical terminology, and related topics
tailored to the needs of the Medical Transcription Industry.

Young and proactive medical language specialists with teaching
experience, preferably in Language of Medicine in the MT Industry
will be given preference.  Compensation commensurate with profile.
All openings are at present in Hyderabad, Vijaywada and
Vishakhapatnam.

Contact 040-66787771/72 or email contactus@... (Subject:
Faculty)

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

The American Health Information Management Association/Medical
Transcription Industry Association (AHIMA/MTIA) Joint Task Force on
Standards Development convened to recommend a standard unit of
measure for medical transcription of patient medical records. I
quote:

"A VBC is a character that can be seen with the naked eye. Under
this counting scheme, spaces, carriage returns, and hidden
formatting instructions such as bolding, underline, text boxes,
printer configurations, and spell checking are not counted in the
total character count.

The joint task force unanimously agreed that VBC is the only
counting method that can be easily understood, verified, and
replicated by all parties in the medical transcription business
processes. Accordingly, we propose the VBC as the standard unit of
measure for medical transcription.

The task force recommends that this definition be adopted by all
organizations producing medical transcription."

To read the entire recommendation, go to :

http://library.ahima.org/xpedio/groups/public/documents/ahima/bok1_033539.pdf
OR
http://www.mtia.com/associations/5147/files/AHIMA_MTIA4web%2020070206.pdf

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) DTS lets 13 employees go, down to 50...

DTS America, which began training its first class of Carlsbad
employees in January 2006, will now have a staff of about 50. Seven
other students are currently working through the organization's
training program, Carlsbad Department of Development Board
President Valerie Murrill said. The CDOD was involved with
recruiting DTS to Carlsbad.

"This was a business decision based on performance and industry
standards," Murrill said. DTS Executive Officer Doug Hardwick said
medical transcription is a challenging business. "We felt like, in
a business like this, we have to make some judgment calls about
whether or not you think people ultimately can make it," he said.

Classes are ongoing, Hardwick said, and the company is still
seeking more employees. "We just put on two new hospitals. We have
lots and lots of work," he said. "We're definitely not closing the
door. We have a lot of new business, and we need Carlsbad."

The company is also training its employees in speech recognition
courses, he said. "We need to develop a core group of successful
people that are making good money and are successful in this," he
said. "By doing this, those people will become a magnet to bring in
other people in the community. We're still committed to growing."

Hardwick said the company's strategy is to grow, but at a rate that
ultimately focuses on top employees. The career is a professional
job that requires a certain type of person, he said. "The bottom
line is we have to run the business to make it successful," he
said.

http://www.currentargus.com/ci_5336129

2) SPi sets aside P5 Billion for BPO expansion

SPi Technologies Inc., a unit of PLDT, said it was allocating P5
billion to expand its business process outsourcing (BPO)services
this year. In a statement, SPi said the expansion will cover its
healthcare services and new business line extensions for its
publishing and legal groups.

SPi offers various services including support coding, medical
transcription and a wide range of call center and knowledge-based
outsourcing solutions. SPi is set to open two new facilities, the
300-seat facility in Chennai and 450-seat in Hannoi, Vietnam, which
are expected to be operational by mid-year. The Chennai center will
house both healthcare and publishing operations while the Hanoi
center will initially cater to publishing operations.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=67432

3) Offshoring of healthcare revenue cycle management services to
gain traction

Healthcare BPO services provider Zavata India's $80 million
contract from four major hospitals in the US in November 2006 is
likely to set a strong precedent for more contracts involving
turnkey end-to-end Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) Services

A range of services beginning from the admission to post-discharge
of a patient including medical coding, billing, medical
transcription, claims generation, patient follow-up, etc. are
referred to as revenue cycle management. Although more than half of
the hospitals in the US are directly or indirectly offshoring
various components of healthcare services, offshore vendors can now
expect more end-to-end work. Rising cost pressures, coupled with
increasing workload are forcing healthcare institutions to explore
the outsourcing / offshoring option.

Currently most of the offshore vendors focus on either the large
hospitals or the physician market space. But in future, Indian
vendors offering RCM services can look to tap a huge opportunity
from the relatively un-addressed and large segment consisting of
mid-size hospitals (<500 beds) in the US. So far, this segment had
been beyond the radar of most vendors, but the Zavata deal, which
demonstrates the rising comfort level with offshoring by mid-sized
hospitals, is likely to spark off a new wave of deals and
contracts. Arun Jethmalani, CEO of ValueNotes says, "a key trend we
are seeing is the increasing ability of Indian vendors to provide
end-to-end services for healthcare revenue cycle management.
Related to this is the likely increase in penetration of offshore
vendors into the hospital segment."

India-based vendors in this segment range from large, healthcare
focused players such as Apollo Health Street, Ajuba, Zavata and
Perot Systems to small, home run outfits, including freelancers.
With larger buyers looking for service providers to provide the
entire range of services, vendors will gear up to add or extend
their service offerings. Investment capability - for capacity
addition, expansion in services and greater automation - will be
the critical factor for smaller companies to survive and grow in
the long run.

"US Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management - Offshoring of Medical
Coding & Billing Services", a recently released report by
Pune-based ValueNotes, leading provider of outsourcing research and
information shows that the share of work from hospitals forms 20%
of the total medical billing and coding work offshored to Indian
vendors. Although the market is currently small - total revenue
earned by players in 2006 was $125 million - this is expected to
more than triple by 2011, while the number of employees engaged in
billing and coding will increase to 17,500 (revenue and manpower
estimates exclude medical transcription.) Analyst Neeraja Kandala
says that with increasing vendor capability, offshoring is expected
to grow by at least 25% CAGR for the next three years.

http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/pressrelease.cfm?PRID=5931

4) InterMed Associates Goes Paperless Using Mednet System's
EMR/E-Prescribing Application

Thanks to EMR InterMed's physicians have completely eliminated
their transcription costs. Progress notes are created using
pre-defined templates and Dragon Dictation System. A patient's
entire progress note is created, completed, signed and
electronically Filed by the time the patient checks out of the
office. "I can't believe how expensive it is to work with paper
charts as opposed to electronic medical records. It is so much
easier to keep track of vital information with this system. No more
worrying about important documents getting lost in the shuffle,"
says Dr. Ishwara Sharma, cardiologist.

http://prweb.com/releases/2007/3/prweb509791.htm

5) Data Protection Law in Philippines' Business Process Outsourcing
Industry

In 2006, the Government of Philippines recognized the significance
of data protection laws in  their profitable and growing BPO
industry and issued 'Administrative Order 8' that contains the
Guidelines for the Protection of Personal Data in Information and
Telecommunication System in the Private Sector ("Guideline 8").

Section 7 Guideline 8 establishes the confidentiality principle.
Under this principle, any person who gets access to personal data
in an information or communication system, pursuant to powers
conferred under E-commerce law, 'shall not convey or share the same
with any other person.'  This confidentiality rule will have an
important impact in the Philippines' Medical Transcription BPO
market.  Philippines is a major player in offshore Medical
Transcription services and confidentiality is paramount in the
medical field.

http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1696
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2007
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
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MT India Newsletter - http://www.MTIndia.info/

Feb 24, 2007
********************************************************

AHDI (AAMT) and MTIA Forge Partnership

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Lakesystems is a well reputed B'lore based company, into its 7th
year of successful operations. With a client base spread across
North America and Australia, we are now embarking on an aggressive
growth plan with the intent of doubling our production capacity. We
are looking to recruit highly motivated and ambitious individuals
in the following capacities :

Proofers : Min proofing exp of 2yrs.

Medical Transcriptionists : Both In-house and Home based,
experienced and freshers welcome. No night shifts, attractive
packages/incentives, excellent career growth.

Contact : Lake Systems Pvt Ltd.
#159, Sarjapura Road.
Koramangala 1st Block.
B'lore-34
Phone : 41313724, 25523946, 2553653
Email : recruitment@...

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

It is official now - I quote from the press release:

The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) -
formerly the American Association for Medical Transcription - and
the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) announced
that the organizations have formed a strategic legal partnership to
pool critical resources and collaborate on key initiatives. The
associations have formed a business relationship that will allow
for the outsourcing of selected MTIA business operations to AHDI,
the equal utilization of a mutually agreed upon Executive Director,
and merging of efforts on agreed-upon tactical and strategic
initiatives as defined under the relationship.

"It is no surprise that we find ourselves in the midst of a rapidly
changing healthcare delivery market. In response, the dynamic
partnership between AHDI and MTIA immediately brings forth a highly
strategic collaboration, greater union of combined resources and
unlimited amounts of collective expertise," states Jay Cannon, 2007
president of MTIA. "I believe this coordinated effort will address
many of the critical areas concerning the future state of clinical
documentation processing; not only for our respective members, but
supporting business partners as well."

AHDI 2007 President Cathy Baughman, CMT, FAAMT agrees. "At this
historic time in health information technology, with a national
movement toward an electronic health record, this collaboration
will provide both memberships a unified voice when establishing
health policy as it relates to standardization of documentation,"
says Baughman. "Knowing how critical this process is to the way
medicine is practiced, it makes good sense to bring together the
expertise and wisdom of each association so that we eliminate
redundancy in operation and channel our joint resources toward
driving the real initiatives that impact the industry."

To read the entire press release, go to:
http://www.aamt.org/scriptcontent/downloads/PressRelease013107.html

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Philippines Medical transcription sector rakes in $75M in
revenues

The medical transcription (MT) sector is expected to grow faster
than the call center industry after generating an estimated $75
million in revenues in 2006.
Industry group Medical Transcription Industry Association of the
Philippines Inc. (MTIAPI) noted a sharp rise in total revenues in
the last three years from $42 million in 2004, based on figures
from the Board of Investments (BOI). The association also increased
its membership from 46 to 70 member-companies in the last 12
months.

"The steady decline in the number of qualified medical
transcriptionists in the US is driving companies there to outsource
offshore to destinations with strong English-language skills," said
Gonzales, who is also and executive for SPi Technologies, a local
business process outsourcing firm that offers third-party MT
services.

According to ValueNotes Research, 40 percent of the total MT market
in the US is being outsourced to third-party service providers;
five percent of which is contracted abroad.

India gets nearly 80 percent of the offshore MT market while the
Philippines gets about 10 percent. (Inquirer.net)

http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=190&a=18108

2) MedQuist and IQMax Strengthen Partnership, Deliver Mobile
Point-of-Care Solutions to Healthcare Market

IQMax will be showcasing its mobile solutions in MedQuist's booth
(#6451) at the HIMSS 2007 Annual Conference and Exhibition next
week in New Orleans, utilizing some of the newest mobile devices in
the market, including the popular Palm(R) Treo(TM) 700w and 750
devices, as well as the Cingular(R) 8525 and the Verizon Wireless
XV6700.

MedQuist's PhysAssist IQ(TM), powered by IQMax, allows caregivers
to manage their daily workflow by delivering patient list and
demographic information to physicians on their mobile devices, so
that they can dictate and document patient encounters at the point
of care or in between appointments, at the time and place most
convenient for them.

With PhysAssist IQ, physicians can synchronize their dictated
patient encounters securely in a wireless or wired environment
across any care setting, whether acute or ambulatory. PhysAssist IQ
is certified on more than 40 different mobile devices utilizing the
Microsoft Windows Mobile(R) or Palm Operating Systems, so customers
have a variety to choose from.

http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-electronics/20070221/CLW01721022007-1.html

3) Philips expands integration of SpeechMagic with electronic
medical record systems

Royal Philips Electronics announced that its speech
recognition-based document creation platform SpeechMagic will be
integrated with CareRevolution from Electronic Healthcare Systems
(EHS). CareRevolution, powered by SpeechMagic, will ensure the
faster availability of accurate medical data in electronic medical
records (EMR). Currently more than 4,000 physicians use
CareRevolution to run their practices more effectively and
profitably. By upgrading to Philips industrial grade document
creation technology the physicians will be able to choose their
preferred dictation and transcription workflow for greater
flexibility, mobility and efficiency. The system can be experienced
live at the Philips booth.

CareRevolution, powered by SpeechMagic, will support digital
dictation, backend and frontend speech recognition, giving
healthcare facilities total control over their document creation
workflow. The system is fully flexible, allowing physicians to
individually choose their preferred dictation workflow and easily
switch between the various transcription methods at any time.
SpeechMagic will also allow physicians to navigate and control the
EMR through voice commands, eliminating the distractions of
keyboard or mouse.

Using the document creation platform SpeechMagic, hospitals can
increase productivity and reduce administration costs. The over
8,000 installations of SpeechMagic worldwide include hospital- and
region-wide deployments in the United States and Europe.

http://www.healthtechwire.com/Press-Release.56+M5caa55be77f.0.html

4) Work opportunities in MT: Myths and facts

Are there really good opportunities in MT?

The demand for medical transcription will continue to increase as
the demand for health-care rises. Medical transcripts are the
source documents and "proofs of work done" to meet US federal and
state requirements by medical practitioners, and the basis of
patient medical management.

India, Philippines, Pakistan and other countries continue to
service US health-care facilities as the demand for electronic
conversion of medical records increases by 15 percent to 20 percent
every year. The number of medical transcriptionists needed by the
country is forecasted at 100,000 by year 2010.

Is training required to be an MT?

It is not a keyboarding skill. It is a language skill. In order to
properly translate and document patient care records, the MT must
employ the knowledge of English grammar and usage, understanding of
basic anatomy and physiology, disease processes, laboratory
medicine, and pharmacology in order to select and use appropriate
terminology, since there are many sound-alike words in the medical
language. Knowledge of business technology and computer operation
is also important. Listening and researching skills are also
critical components in the learning process.

Big bucks . . . are they real? ........... Is there an age limit?
......

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/feb/11/yehey/mt/20070211MT1.html

5) Nuance, Dictaphone Healthcare Solutions to Showcase New Speech,
Mobile Technologies and Partnerships at HIMSS 2007

Nuance Communications, Inc. announced that it will demonstrate the
latest in speech technology for the healthcare industry and it
expects to make several important partner, customer and solutions
announcements in conjunction with HIMSS 2007.

-- "What are you really paying for transcription services?"
-- "Speech recognition is transforming medical documentation"
-- "Speech recognition works: the essential overview"
-- "How speech recognition can boost adoption of your EMR"

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20070214005888&newsLang=en
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2007
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
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To subscribe, send an email to:
MTIndia-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Jan 13, 2007
********************************************************

Looking Forward to a New Year...

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Established in 1999, Ascent Business Solutions provides Medical
Transcription, Medical Billing & Coding and Revenue Cycle
Management Services to the Healthcare Industry in the US.  Ascent
urgently requires smart young professionals for the following
openings for its Kolkata Center:

Medical Transcription: Center Manager, Shift incharge, Quality
Analyst, Editors and Medical Transcriptionists
Medical Billing: Billing Manager, Medical Billers, Medical Coders,
AR analyst and AR callers.
Salary: No constraints for the right candidates.

Contact: Send your resume to: info@... or Call
Manager- HR  @ 09373109829

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

Here are some interesting excerpts, from an article in the Hindu by
Shanti Kannan:

The ITeS/BPO sector continue to maintain high growth rate  - The
year 2006 saw a significant increase in venture capital activities,
especially in the IT and BPO segments.

India is hugely visible on the world map, thanks to the IT
professionals. Thanks also to the rapid strides made by the IT and
ITeS (IT-enabled Services) sectors in the last decade, the Indian
economy has come under intense world attention. This growth has had
a spiralling effect on the economy. Given the current trends, the
industry is bullish on the future. Yet, the industry senses a
change in the landscape and realises the need to adapt to the
situation. The IT and ITeS/BPO (business process outsourcing)
sectors have recorded a buoyant growth of over 30 per cent and the
trend is expected to continue in the future.

The ITeS/BPO sector continued to maintain a significant growth.
There was a shift towards non-voice processes. And, there was a
visible movement towards knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and
value-added services. The year 2006 also saw signs of consolidation
in the marketplace. On the IT services side, EDS had acquired
MPhasis and Cap Gemini bought over Kanbay. On the BPO front, RR
Donnelly annexed Office Tiger.

The year also saw a significant increase in venture capital
activities, especially in the IT and BPO segments. According to a
study by business intelligence firm Evalueserve, 44 venture capital
firms had already raised funds to invest in Indian start-ups, while
another 21 were in the process of doing so during 2006-07. The year
that has just gone by saw some frenzied hiring by Tier I players.
The top six IT services companies alone reported a net addition of
one lakh professionals.

With the bulk of the engineering professionals being mopped up by
the Tier I players, there was little left for Tier II players who
have started visiting Tier III and Tier IV engineering
institutions. It was a double whammy for Tier II players as their
attrition climbed above 20 per cent in 2006 and their ability to
hire from campuses was also challenged. Even for Tier I players,
the attrition climbed up in each of the last six quarters.

Shiva Ramani, Chief Executive Officer of SlashSupport, feels that
Tier II cities can be tapped with improvement in the infrastructure
and telecom connectivity, which should be the next wave. With the
dawn of 2007, the IT and ITeS/BPO industry should be prepared for
the challenges and successes. On the brighter side, the industry
will see more and more third party Indian IT-BPO companies and MNCs
graduate towards sophisticated and complex services such as
knowledge process outsourcing, remote infrastructure management,
offshore product development and design and engineering services.

The industry's move towards lower volume and higher value offerings
as opposed to entry- level back-office services, will gain momentum
during 2007, making for a more evolved and mature IT-BPO
environment.

To read the entire article:
http://www.nasscom.in/Nasscom/templates/NormalPage.aspx?id=50748

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Medical transcription market: What is out there and what we can
offer

Defining your niche market based on current company capacity and
ability to expand, skills inventory of your transcriptionists and
editors and technological adaptability is just half of your
marketing plan. The other half is marketing your strengths and
distinct advantage over the large market of transcription
providers.

But before discussing this, let's see what are we up against in the
outsourcing arena. The first is a continued biased perception to
outsourcing, second is an existing protectionism attitude and
lastly is the requirement for a track record or client list.

Now in marketing your service, it is important to create
self-differentiation, to offer uniqueness in the service you offer.
The more common vantage points being emphasized in marketing
efforts are quality of work, efficiency in turn around, cost
effectiveness, work type specialization, ASP transcription and
record management platform, and HIPAA compliance. Often
self-differentiation starts from the very name the company markets.
This will play a large role as potential clients search through the
web using key words that they feel they want for the service that
they expect. Part of your marketing requirements would be an
informative website that contains basic information of the service
you are providing.

Now having all these peripherals ready the first objective is to be
able to present your service and establish a relationship with a
potential client. Try to gauge the type of service they need and
what is important to them. Remember not all clients are looking for
the cheapest service available in the market. Some clients value
HIPAA compliance, others efficient turn around time and the most
common is impeccable quality of transcribed reports. When you have
a feel of what they want then impress on them these aspects of your
service plus the other added value they will receive from your
service.

The final step is to get them to try your service because this will
be the most tangible assessment of the client of the type of
service you are offering. In working around your niche market you
increase your chances of success further in getting that first
account. This also provides you the opportunity to create your own
client service track record, work and build around your current
capacity and skill level, utilize existing networks who can help
you get referrals, study the market you are working on, refine your
production process and help you get a realistic growth projection.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/jan/07/yehey/mt/20070107MT1.html

2) Healthcare outsourcing now $300m biz, growing at 150%

Outsourcing in the healthcare sector has come a long way - from
low-end claims processing and medical transcription to medical
analytics and clinical processing. A new area, which is in the area
of knowledge process outsourcing, is medical analytics where we
analyse data for providers and insurance companies," says Mr V
Raman Kumar, chairman of CBay Systems that offers healthcare
business solutions.

"There is huge potential for growth, but in India skilled man power
is a problem," he adds. CBay saw a 60% growth in the last year and
is expecting up to 80% growth for the next five years
(www.healthcarekpo.com).

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Healthcare__Biotech/He\
althcare/Healthcare_outsourcing_now_300m_biz_growing_at_150/articleshow/1086147.\
cms

3) Donation allows Pitt to create visiting professorship

The University of Pittsburgh will establish a visiting
professorship with a $1 million donation from Acusis CEO William
Benter. The money will go toward establishing the University Center
for International Studies endowed visiting professorship in
contemporary international issues.

Benter is a Pittsburgh native. Acusis, headquartered in Pittsburgh,
is medical transcription company.

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/01/08/daily4.html?jst=\
b_ln_hl

4) Pact to train 30 Omanis in medical transcription

The Ministry of Manpower signed an agreement with Shell Oman to
train 30 Omanis in a medical transcription programme. This
agreement is yet another small but significant step towards
empowering Omanis to seek gainful employment.

The Shell Representative Office, Oman, will provide around RO75,000
to fund the training at Omanline, a transcription company based at
the Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM). Once the training is completed
which may take around 8-10 months, the trainees will be absorbed by
Omanline itself.

http://timesofoman.com/inner_cat.asp?cat=1&detail=2227&rand=0QfjweFv5sTKvjUne56p\
nx0u9i

5) A little reading....A lifetime of profit

Medical transcription is essentially a medium of communication. The
medical transcript is a link between the doctor and the patient,
the patient and the hospital, the patient and insurance companies.
A bridging of sorts takes place.

Medical transcription also involves listening acuity, thus making
it not only a written form of communication but also a heard form
of communication between the physician dictator and the medical
transcriptionist. It is imperative therefore that between a good
pair of ears there is an alert and deductive mind. Words will not
convey a message unless there is a connection and coherence among
them.

What is most helpful to medical transcription is a good fund of
words, a "treasure house" if you will, where all the shining,
glittering goodies are not gems but words. Although in reality
there is no direct conversion of words to a specific monetary
value, they are wise areas to invest in. How does one invest in
words? Simple. READ. Will reading make one a better medical
transcriptionist? MOST DEFINITELY! There is nothing that stimulates
the mind more than reading. Any reading material, terse or lengthy,
as long as intelligent, is a source of a wealth of words. But don't
just read for reading's sake. Enjoy it and learn from it. For every
new word that you encounter, look it up in the dictionary. Know its
meaning and pronunciation. Remember the spelling. Use it in a
sentence during a conversation. If you cannot remember the meaning,
use the thesaurus to find a synonym. The thesaurus, after all,
literally means "treasure house."

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/jan/14/yehey/mt/20070114MT1.html
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2007
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
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MT India Newsletter - http://www.MTIndia.info/

Jan 06, 2007
********************************************************

Dictation Best Practices!

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Infoscribe India has now grown to be one of the largest MT
production house in Eastern India. We require Senior Medical
transcriptionists and Quality analyzers for our two production
Units in Kolkata. Salaries for Quality analyzers 15000k-21000k.
Medical transcriptionists 6000k-8000k.

Please apply in full confidence to
infoscribeindia@.... All Job posting will be in
Kolkata.

Infoscribe India
227, AJC Bose road,
Anandlok building - 2nd floor
Minto Park, Kolkata - 700020
Phone- 033- 22892471/72
********************************************************
Dear Friends,

Considering that the industry has seen time and again (see case
below as an example) that physicians fail to acknowledge that the
integrity of the transcript is dependent on the integrity of the
dictation, it becomes more important that we take proactive steps
when possible to impress on the same.

MedQuist has sponsored the production and distribution of the
"Dictation Best Practices Tool Kit" to address the impact of
problem dictation as it relates to documentation errors and
critical flaws affecting patient safety, the potential for sentinel
events, the effects on turnaround time, and the resulting increased
cost.

The Dictation Best Practices Tool Kit is designed to assist
facilities with the adoption and implementation of policies and
training practices that will promote high quality dictation and
ensure the best documentation outcomes. This kit includes Dictation
Best Practices: A Guide for Physicians, a self-running audiovisual
presentation, as well as a PowerPoint presentation with handouts
for a live seminar. In addition, the kit includes the rationale for
promoting better dictation practices and Dictation 101,
recommendations for instructing dictators in good dictation habits.
Visual aids include "Q" Cards, a Tip Sheet, and a Documentation
Workflow poster.

The Kit is available for free download at the AAMT site:
http://www.aamt.org/scriptcontent/DBP.cfm

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Catching the eye

Your child is not fiercely ambitious about studies, and is headed,
you worry, towards the bottom rung of the education ladder. Is it
the end of the road for such youngsters, in today's competitive
world? We may not be able to give a categorical answer. But the
good news is that some doors are opening to such people too -
provided they are strong in their core subjects, the courses they
opted for.

Employers looking to hire feel that if the job seeker's foundation
is strong, he or she will be able to learn the finer details, but
not so when their knowledge of the core subject is vague.

Take Kavitha, for instance, who made no effort to improve her
academic record. She opted for a three-year course in Literature
more out of lack of choice than interest. Her parents were worried
but as luck would have it, she managed to prove her strength in the
English language and got placed in a medical transcription company.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2007/01/01/stories/2007010100050100.htm

2) Scripting a success story

Though the job of a transcriptionist is supposedly quite
mechanical, I decided to accept the offer because there was good
money involved, almost thrice as much as I was earning at the
hospital. I underwent training that involved understanding the
various styles of American accents and spellings of medical terms
that differ from British English. In fact, this is what keeps many
Maharashtrians away from this field. The American accents can get
quite confusing and differ from area to area; a tough call, unless
you're really conversant with English. No wonder then that out of
80 transcriptionists, you would find only 15 Maharashtrians.
However, a few weeks of night duties, travelling 20 km from home
took a toll, and I began to look for a new company

That is when Crossover happened. It allowed me to work as a
proofreader in the morning and practise as a homoeopath in the
evening. The job requires me to check if the copies documented from
audio files containing the records of patients in American
hospitals are medically sound. Eventually, circumstances compelled
me to work from home and I began working as a transcriptionist, a
person who documents the audio recordings, because the required
software for proof reading cannot be installed in a home PC.
Initially, I was restless, because I was not used to sitting at
home, but then several things worked out to my advantage. For
starters, I save on the commutation time. The money is good. I also
get to learn about exciting new technology .

A lot of medicos keep away from transcription, because they
consider it boring, even demeaning. I beg to differ. It keeps me
updated, through the interesting medium of case studies. Every
patient's record tells a new story. My horizons of study have
broadened. How else would a homoeopath get to know so much about
scans and transplants? The field is going from strength to strength
every day, if you consider the fact that there are over 70 medical
transcription companies in the city. The fear that someday USA
might decide to stop sending us these records and thereby make us
redundant doesn't bother me much. I have other professional
qualifications, remember? But for the moment, the money is good,
the prospects are great, and it's a whole new world.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=215476

3) MTIAPI conducts seminar on medical transcription

The Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines,
Inc. (MTIAPI) successfully conducted its first Capability Building
Seminar on Medical Transcription. Aptly titled as Making your MT
Business Work-Employing the Best MT Practices to Maximize Business
and Profit, was organized by MTIAPI through the assistance of the
Board of Investments and the Philippine Trade Training Center, both
under the Department of Trade and Industry.

Relevant topics in the areas of quality assurance, pricing, Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA),
recruitment/training, marketing and an outlook of the US medical
transcription industry were discussed during the whole-day
activity. The topics proved relevant and helpful especially for
start-up companies needing some hand-holding by more established
members. It provided helpful insights, tools and valuable
information that would indeed help small-scale businesses maximize
their operations' efficiency and guide them in dealing with the
clients. The industry leaders and members continuously commit to
jointly work together in promoting the country as a global choice
for quality medical transcription outsourcing by US clients.

In a related development, all systems go as MTIAPI gears up for its
seminar on Setting Up a Medical Transcription Business-Laying out
the foundation of a complicated outsourcing business on January 25
and 26, 2007 at the Philippine Trade Training Center, Pasay City.
The seminar aims to provide its participants with a clearer
perspective on the important facets of the business with the
acknowledged experts of the Philippine MT Industry as resource
speakers.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/dec/31/yehey/mt/20061231MT1.html

4) The Six Best Jobs for Working At Home

Some people tell me, "I don't anything about these jobs." THAT'S
OKAY. Many of these jobs don't require a formal education and some
have entry-level positions. Further, several of these jobs pay very
well. As long as you're willing to learn and work hard, there are
companies ready to hire you.

Transcription - The most common form of transcription jobs I find
are in medical transcription and usually ask for at least two years
experience. However, legal and business transcription is a growing
market. People doing teleseminars are also hiring transcribers to
transcribe their talks. Then there is the growing captioning field,
which are the transcribers who type for the closed captioning on
your television. You can learn medical and legal transcription
through correspondence courses. Or become a general transcriber or
captioner by teaching yourself and practicing to improve your speed
and accuracy.

http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=010407_earn-six-figure-income-working-at-home-\
business.htm

5) Dr. Siebert Accepts Sanctions?

Charles Siebert says he's hoping to speed up the investigation
process and save money. In November of 2004, Siebert approved a
report that indicated a Calhoun County woman who died during a
tornado, had male organs. Siebert said it was simply a
typographical error made when transferring written records with
limited light shortly after the storm.  "It's not like I saw testes
on this person - that's ridiculous.  It was just transcription
error where it was transposed from prior report that I missed
proofreading."

However, missed proofreading was just one mistake that prompted the
Florida Medical Commission to recommend disciplinary action against
Siebert.

Last May, Attorney General Charlie Crist sent a letter requesting a
panel review past autopsies following Siebert's controversial
conclusion of the death of a teenager who died hours after entering
the boot camp.

In February of 2005, Siebert announced "the cause of death of
Martin Lee Anderson is complications of sickle cell trait."  A
second autopsy found Anderson died from being suffocated by boot
camp guards. Those guards and a nurse have since been charged with
aggravated manslaughter.

http://www.wmbb.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WMBB%2FMGArticle%2FMBB_BasicArtic\
le&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192471044&path=!news!archives

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2007
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
----------------------------------------------------------------
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MT India Newsletter - http://www.MTIndia.info/

Dec 30, 2006
********************************************************

A Happy and Prosperous 2007!

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

ADVERTISEMENT:
**************

If you are a QA reading this newsletter, you must be experienced
and have an interest in the industry. However, do you have what it
takes to be a member of our SuperQA team, correcting work from MT
vendors across the country? You know medical terminology but do you
think your English is superior? Are your writing skills at a level
where an American reader will not detect an' offshore' slant? Can
you correct such 'offshore' errors and grammar? Would you like to
be paid more than call centers, with better working hours? As the
last stop before the client sees the work, you will be a SuperQA
correcting the work of the best QA's across India - so you must be
the best of the best. If you have the confidence and experience,
please read further.

iMedX Inc. is a US company that consolidates medical transcriptions
from vendors across India in our SuperQA hub in Hyderabad. We have
thousands of customers in the US that use our revolutionary
TurboScribe(r) technology. The transcriptions are corrected for
medical terminology as well as language. Your role will be to focus
on ensuring that Americanisms and grammar are correct. You will not
have to work the night shift, so you can get home in time for a
late dinner!

For a select few, you may be eligible for rotation in the US. All
applications must include a cover letter and resume emailed to
bpo-jobs@...

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

Dear Friends,

Seasons Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New
Year!!

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) RP medical transcription firms to jointly market services

Saying they were willing to set aside competition, medical
transcription firms in the Philippines are working towards jointly
marketing the industry as a whole in the United States. Myla Rose
Reyes, president of the Medical Transcription Industry Association
of the Philippines Inc. (MTIAPI), said that most local medical
transcription are startups that lack the resources to compete with
bigger players.

"We want to do this to get larger contracts," she said, adding that
any information the organization gets from trade missions would be
shared with its 70 members, mainly local medical transcription
companies and training institutions.

The challenge, however, lies in convincing clients to allow local
companies to pool medical transcription jobs and finding enough
qualified medical transcription professionals, Reyes said.

To date, the Philippines has between 7,000 to 8,000 medical
transcription professionals, she said. Local firms also face the
problem of negotiating better rates.

At present, the going rate is US$0.06 to US$0.08 per line --
sometimes even down to US$0.04 to US$0.05 per line. The group also
hopes to establish a
certification program for medical transcription professionals,
similar to what is offered in the software industry.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=3\
7640

2) Spheris plans to double its headcount

Spheris India, the Indian arm of the US - based medical
transcription company, plans to double its headcount at its
Coimbatore facility. It is the second location for Spheris in
India, next to Bangalore and it has invested about Rs 10 crore on
the facility, which employs around 500 people. By the end of 2007,
it intends to ramp up its headcount to 1,000.

Mr Suresh Nair, chief executive officer and managing director,
Spheris India, said, "We have registered a 10% plus growth year -
on - year, but we hope to achieve a 30 - 50 % growth over the next
two years, consequent to expanding our operations".

"We are looking to have a presence in Tier II cities across the
country," he said. Spheris is also looking at the emerging
international markets such as Philippines, Sri Lanka and West
Indies .

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Infotech/ITeS/EBIT-_Sp\
heris_plans_to_double_its_headcount/articleshow/841387.cms

3) RP firm fears digitization of US medical records

"EMR can threaten the outsourced medical transcription business
since it is becoming integrated in hospital systems in the US," MS
Global Outsourcing Inc. president and chief executive officer Malu
Simeon-Florendo said in an interview. Because of this trend, the
local firm is also developing its own EMR software, which it
intends to sell abroad. MS Global Outsourcing is now expanding and
diversifying to other areas other than medical transcription. By
next year, the company will do business process outsourcing work.

Companies engaged in the medical transcription turn doctors' and
health professionals' dictated information (audio files) into
digital text file. With EMR, hospitals are now able to
automatically convert most patient information, diagnosis, and
other relevant information into digital format using packaged or
customized software. "If you're going to stick to the medical
transcription business, you're going to die a natural death soon,"
she added.

http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=357\
22

4) Communication ministry's wishlist for 11th plan

The Union IT & communications ministry has advocated greater levels
of industry-academia interaction, an education SEZ and a Rs
150-crore provision for finishing schools during the 11th Plan. It
also wants the teaching profession to be made more lucrative. These
are some of the core HRD-related recommendations submitted by a
high-powered committee in the Union IT & communications ministry to
the Planning Commision for the 11th Plan.

"This is especially important in light of the fact that a projected
total of 3.7 million jobs are proposed to be created in India's IT
and ITeS sectors by 2012," said Mr Siddharth, West Bengal's IT
secretary, who also happens to be a member of the IT ministerial
committee, at the inauguration of the Webel Finishing School for IT
Career at Taratala, the first initiative of its kind in India to be
taken by a state government.

According to Jayanta Sur, in-charge, industry academy partnership,
Webel, the initial batch would start with 100 students, at a cost
of Rs 5,000 each for the general six-week course. "There are also
plans for domain-specific courses, in CAD (Computer Aided Design)
followed by medical transcription," he said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/867120.cms

5) MD-IT Expands to Mid-Atlantic Region with Acquisition

MD-IT, a provider of medical transcription services and software to
physicians and ambulatory clinics, announced today that it has
completed its acquisition of MediTranscripts, Inc., a
Maryland-based transcription company. Under terms of the agreement,
the former owner has joined MD-IT and will manage transcription
services in the Washington D.C metro area.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20061209/bs_prweb/prweb489153_1
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2006
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
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Please DO NOT reply to this mail id to unsubscribe

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

Dec 09, 2006
********************************************************

MT Salary Takes a Dip?

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Decipher Intime Transcriptions P Limited, in association
with Medware Inc, USA is looking to hire experienced Medical
Transcriptionists and Quality Assurance personnel for its branches
at Bangalore, Mysore, Goa, Coimbatore and Belgaum.

Positions also available for work on the eScription platform.

Persons interested in a secure, financially enviable, and an
independent work atmosphere, please contact: hr@...

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

2006 Salary Survey Results as reported in ther Advance show a dip
in the transcription pay scale over the last 2 years. I quote:

"In 2004, MTs reported an average pay scale of $32,847. In 2006,
the average went down to $25,408. With so much focus on
transcription within the last 2 years and a growing need for MT
skills, why would the pay scale go down?

Possibly, as an indication of what's to come - a sign of the times
if you will - our editor title (new this year) averaged a more
anticipated $32,000 salary. "The editor role has changed what MTs
are doing, so the pay is being structured differently," Hurley
offered as an explanation. "In services, we get paid by line by our
clients vs. a salary pay scale; it's a very precarious position for
services when adopting the new editor role. We struggle with
compensating them in a fair manner. So it's good to see editors are
being paid above the average, and people will notice there's a high
skill level; I think that's important," she emphasized.

Another reason why the average transcriptionist salary is much
lower this year could be a result from the low percent of
credentialed MTs who filled out the survey.
"Many MTs have not embraced seeking credentials as a means for
launching their career," explained Susan M. Lucci, RHIT, CMT,
FAAMT, vice president, MedScribe Information Systems Inc. But Lucci
wondered why, especially because "there are a number of employers
who will pay more for certified MTs and will help reimburse them to
maintain those credentials."

In addition to the lack of credentials held by this year's
respondents, the majority of them are working from home, which
could be an indication of MTs working part-time. The home-based
office work setting came in second to the always popular
hospital/acute care setting for the entire HIM profession."

To read the entire feature, go to:
http://health-information.advanceweb.com/common/editorial/editorial.aspx?CC=8026\
5&CP=2

To discuss this issue, go to:
http://mtindia.info/forum/

It may be moot to point out that this salary survey is not
representative of trends in the Indian Industry, nevertheless, it
could serve as a reality check on growing salary expectations! :o)

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Stepping up the wooing

Medical transcription company Spheris India Ltd organises
activities through the year ranging from sports to cultural and
literary events. So popular are these events that the company
measures their monthly fun quotient.

There is a documented procedure to measure fun. Parameters such as
number of active/passive participants, type of event (sports,
literary, cultural), nature of the event (in house or
inter-corporate) and prizes/awards won are rated by employees. A
total of these ratings is the fun for that month and recorded in a
`Fun-O-Meter' that is displayed in the office.

Employees set the benchmark for fun. To maintain or improve fun,
new events may be introduced depending on the cost, event
production time and employee preference. A combination of low
participation and high participation events is devised to ensure
that the fun quotient is high. "By now we know what kind of
activities employees like and accordingly plan a fun calendar for
the year," says Manoj Kumar G, Senior Executive - Human Resources,
Spheris India. The company invests about Rs 30 lakh a year in fun
events and Kumar says such events have kept employees happy and
reduced attrition.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2006/12/11/stories/2006121100040100.htm

2) Attitude that makes a lot of "cents"

In my almost 13 years of exposure in the medical transcription
industry, the entire spectrum of the peaks and troughs, recession
and recovery cycles, is a reality that faces every business. Of
course, there has to be an observable growth trend especially when
a company engages in more than one business unit. I have also seen
trends when employees shift from one MT company to another, hoping
for a greener pasture, only to learn they have made the greatest
mistake of their lives, although there are some whose moves did
wonders to their careers, but this does not always happen to
everyone. I have also seen entry-level MTs bloom in the very same
companies that nurtured them.

Many graduates of MT schools are asking for tips on what to
consider when applying for an entry-level job. As "budding" medical
transcriptionists, you should be able to expect the following:

- Entry-level Medical Transcriptionists are closely scrutinized by
MT companies. Put your best foot forward and make sure you come
prepared for a transcription test. Of course, you will have to
start off with a reputable training facility to make sure that you
will bag that obstacle.

- Never ever discuss compensation until you reach the job-offer
stage. Remember, you will be accorded your appropriate value once
you have convinced your employer that you are the right person for
the job.

- Do not believe agencies or training facilities that promise
unrealistic, high-paying jobs if you are an entry-level medical
transcriptionist. Established companies have a structured
compensation package that is often performance based. Training
certificates do not really create much value these days especially
in the absence of a credible certification process for MT.

- You must have at least understood by now, after graduation, that
established MT companies may require a 24x7 schedule, so get ready
to be assigned to any shift, like that in call centers. Jobs in
medical transcription are more round-the-clock and the possibility
that you will be working on shifting schedule is very high. This is
an indication that the company is getting a positive growth trend,
as the clients are more becoming "real-time," and the company
becomes more competitive in the services they offer. There are also
companies that can still accommodate a 6-day work week especially
when most of their clientele profile are clinics and do not require
a 24-hour stand-by staff. Companies with 5 days, and regular office
shift work are often start-up companies and may have low-volume
work at this stage.

- There is no harm in starting your career with a start-up company
for as long as you see positive potentials of growth.

- Most often, the career path of successful Medical
Transcriptionists starts off in very humble beginnings. Learn all
the dirty tasks to your advantage-expertise on understanding
accents and difficult dictation, typing fast and smart using word
expanders, understanding the technology and how to manage it,
learning from your mistakes, have the right attitude and dedication
to your job and company-the rest of the good stuff will follow.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/dec/10/yehey/mt/20061210MT1.html

3) Reprieve for UK med secs?

Plans by Bedford Hospital to sack medical secretaries and replace
them with call centre staff may be scrapped because it will not
save any money. So plan B is to have a typing pool. In September
Bedfordshire on Sunday exclusively reported that the hospital was
planning to get rid of up to 20 of its medical secretaries to save
money. They were going to be replaced by an American company,
Medquist, which would use staff in New Zealand and India.

Secret documents leaked to this newspaper reveal there would be
savings of around �40,000 but these would be eaten up by redundancy
payments. The documents say the hospital is now looking at having a
typing pool, which would be cheaper mainly because the people doing
the work would be paid less. By being centralised it would also cut
down on cover for holidays and sickness.

Anne Buck HR directoe at the hospital, said: "The transcription
service is still in a period of consultation, which will last
another three weeks. "During this time alternative options are
being explored. After that a decision will be made in the best
long-term interests of the Trust."

http://www.mk-news.co.uk/news/bedford/2006/dec/1/reprieve%20for%20secs.lpf

4) NGO provides succour to the blind

An NGO, run by some ex-students of the Narendrapur Blind Boys
Academy of the Ramakrishna Mission, is contemplating start of a
Medical Transcription course for visually handicapped youths in
2007 at Sheoraphuli in Hooghly. Secretary of The Society for the
Welfare of the Blind, Mr Biswajit Ghosh said.
An NRI has already given his permission to set up the centre in his
house at Seoraphuli. The course is expected to commence by June
2007. Visually students will be imparted computer training required
for medical transcription with the help of a software known as
JAWS. Blind students can hear what they are typing on the computer
with this Microsoft built software. A hostel for the blind persons,
who have come to Kolkata either for studying or job but are not
wealthy enough to afford living cost in the city, will be also set
up in the house at Seoraphuli.

The south Kolkata based NGO, set up a school for training visually
handicapped youths on the basics of computers and increasing the
computer literacy level among them on Anwar Shah Road. The school,
a collaboration with another NGO - National Forum of Social Action,
was inauguratedwith three computers equipped with JAWS software and
few students. Two such schools are already being run by the NGO in
Majerhat and Bangur in South 24 Parganas.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=6&id=166879&usrsess=1

5) Medical transcription firm opens in Sultan Kudarat

A MEDICAL transcription company recently opened its doors in Sultan
Kudarat, the first of its kind in the province, officials said
Monday. Sam Acosta, information officer of the Department of Trade
and Industry in Central Mindanao said that IQ Scribe recently
started operations in Tacurong City, about 90 kilometers northwest
from here.

Ramil Garcia, IQ Scribe administration and human resource officer,
they already have direct clients in Florida in the United States
and also do subcontracts for a Manila-based medical transcription
company.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/gen/2006/12/11/bus/medical.transcription.firm.o\
pens.in.sultan.kudarat.html
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2006
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
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Nov 25, 2006
********************************************************

A Link between education and employability...

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Decipher Intime Transcriptions P Limited, in association
with Medware Inc, USA is looking to hire experienced Medical
Transcriptionists and Quality Assurance personnel for its branches
at Bangalore, Mysore, Goa, Coimbatore and Belgaum.

Positions also available for work on the eScription platform.

Persons interested in a secure, financially enviable, and an
independent work atmosphere, please contact: hr@...

***********************
M & As
***********************
Looking to buy out established MT and /or Medical Billing & Coding
companies with 100-200 employees as a single operation or separate
operations, anywhere in India.

Contact:
Dr. Amit Chatterjee, SM
amit@...
Tel: + 91 - 080 - 2219 3703 / 2856 1251 / 3921 0703

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

Relevant, industry-oriented learning, which creates a pool of
job-ready and employable manpower, is becoming key to the growth of
the ITES-BPO sector. The young and vibrant BPO industry, which
relies on skilled, English-speaking and domain-specific talent,
needs a constant supply of this resource to maintain its
competitive edge across the globe.

The manpower projections for the segment, meanwhile, are far from
encouraging. According to the NASSCOM-McKinsey Study 2005, the
ITES-BPO industry, which is expected to generate over 1.4 million
jobs by 2010, will face a shortfall of around 500,000 professionals
by that year. Clearly, the industry has to take corrective measures
immediately to plug this demand-supply gap.

Anupam Prakash, Asia Lead, Global Sourcing and Business
Transformation of Hewitt, in a recently organized summit, spoke
about how the "Demographic dividend" could be transformed into a
"Development dividend." According to Prakash, India - owing to its
young population, 55 percent of which was "less that 25 years of
age" - would have a surplus of 47 million people in the working age
group by 2020. At that time, the US would face a shortfall of 17
million people, while China would require an additional 10 million
professionals). While this surplus manpower represented a major
strength for India going forward, it had to be converted into
productive and proficient talent, before it could be harnessed by
the ITES-BPO sector. According to World Bank's Education Economist,
Deepa Sankar, this conversion could only happen by linking
education to employability.

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Accentia Technologies in strategic alliance with Asscent
Infoserve

Accentia Technologies has tied-up with Bangalore based Asscent
Infoserve for using their infrastructure facilities of 7,000 SFT,
meant for business process outsourcing services. Asscent Infoserve
will execute Accentia`s outsourced business in health care BPO
services. Accentia, through its subsidiary, Geosoft Technologies
has a BPO presence with the operations located at Trivandrum,
Pennsylvania and London.

As per the strategic alliance with Asscent Infoserve, Accentia will
utilize the infrastructure strengths of Asscent Infoserve and it
will have access to outsource the 600-seater BPO facility. Accentia
Technologies was formly known as Hitech Entertainment.

http://myiris.com/shares/news/storyShow.php?fileR=20060925145541043&dir=2006/09/\
25

2) Work opportunities in medical transcription

Are there really good opportunities in MT? The demand for medical
transcription will continue to increase as the demand for health
care rises. Medical transcripts are the source documents and
"proofs of work done" to meet US federal and state requirements by
medical practitioners, and the basis of patient medical management.

India, Philippines, Pakistan and other countries continue to
service US health-care facilities as the demand for electronic
conversion of medical records increases by 15 percent to 20 percent
every year. The Philippines has, in fact, recognized its potentials
by leveraging on the people skills and sophisticated IT
infrastructure. There is an apparent dearth in the number of
qualified people to do the job. Currently estimated at 6,000 to
7,000, the number of medical transcriptionists needed by the
country is forecasted at 100,000 by year 2010.

Is training required to be an MT? Those who have relegated medical
transcription to the "clerical" classification have a basic
misunderstanding of the knowledge and skills required for this
profession. Although medical transcription is performed using a
keyboard-it is not a keyboarding skill. It is a language skill. In
order to properly translate and document patient care records, the
MT must employ the knowledge of English grammar and usage,
understanding of basic anatomy and physiology, disease processes,
laboratory medicine, and pharmacology in order to select and use
appropriate terminology, since there are many sound-alike words in
the medical language. Knowledge of business technology and computer
operation is also important. Listening and researching skills are
also critical components in the learning process.

The above are the competencies required of a medical
transcriptionist. While it is true that people with medical
background may have a better chance of learning the competencies,
let me share with you the current trend....

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/nov/26/yehey/mt/20061126MT1.html

3) Are Your Medical Records Accurate?

Jay Vance's medical records show he has had an appendectomy. He
hasn't. "I've never had an appendectomy. Now, if I go to the
hospital and I'm having pain in a certain area and it could be
appendicitis but my records say he's had an appendectomy, so they
could eliminate that as the problem, when in fact it could be the
problem," says Vance.

Problems like these can easily go undetected, which is why Jay's
job is so important. He makes sure errors don't make it to your
medical records. "We catch a lot of the errors that just crop up in
a doctor's busy day," says Vance. Technology helps-interpreting
doctors' messy handwriting has evolved to transcribing voice notes.

Vance, who is a Certified Medical Transcriptionist and also the
President of Vance Digital, says, "while we're listening to that
information, we're actually transcribing it on a keyboard into a
computer or a word processing document." Jay tells us it's still
not an easy job. "It's certainly not something that anybody with a
computer can sit down and do," he says. "This is Gaby recording my
voiced medical record for transcription."

This is one device doctors use everyday to send your medical
history for transcription, except they do it in much noisier
environments like an emergency room, a car a bathroom, you name it.
Jay says he is determined to be the safety net that keeps mistakes
like the one on his record from ending up on yours. You can check
with your doctor to make sure your medical records are accurate.
Jay is still trying to correct his.

http://www.kswt.com/home/4636201.html

4) Dictaphone PowerScribe� from Nuance Dominates Speech
Recognition-Driven Reporting for Radiology

Nuance Communications, Inc. announced that its Dictaphone�
PowerScribe� system is the leader in speech recognition solutions
for radiology with more than 900 customers. Proven in hundreds of
implementations worldwide, Dictaphone PowerScribe saves healthcare
organizations thousands of dollars per radiologist each year in
reduced or eliminated manual transcription costs, automates the
clinical documentation process and reduces the long turnaround time
associated with the manual transcription of radiology
interpretations, part of a $10 billion transcription industry in
North America alone.

PowerScribe sales continue to outpace the industry with recent
implementations at such prestigious institutions as
Memorial-Hermann Healthcare System of Texas, Jefferson Health
System of Pennsylvania, Vancouver Clinic of Vancouver, Canada and
Mt. Sinai Hospital of Chicago, Illinois. "In our industry, there
are three critical success factors when it comes to clinical notes:
quality, turnaround time and cost, and PowerScribe has probably
been the single greatest product contributor to our ability to do
it right, do it fast and keep our costs in line," said Robert
Weeks, director of the information systems division at Memorial
Hermann Hospital System, Houston. "Now, when our physicians need a
report by next day, they know they don't need to order a stat, and
when they really do need a stat, they can get it in hours not days.
When you combine that with our annualized savings figure for this
initiative projected at about $1.5 million, it is no wonder
PowerScribe is dominating the industry."

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20061127005297&newsLang=en

5) Grundig Business Systems presents the world's first wireless
dictation microphone at the RSNA 2006

Grundig Business Systems GmbH, announced that it will showcase the
world's first wireless dictation microphone at the RSNA 2006
(Chicago, IL, Nov. 26 - Dec. 1, Hall A, booth 3948C). The
DictaCordEx connects with the PC through a USB port offering
radiologists maximum flexibility and freedom when recording
dictations.

The versatile DigtaCordEx with its slim ergonomic design and
intuitive slide switch features an extra battery option to allow
for almost limitless recording time. Users can move freely inside a
33 feet radius. A visual and audible warning is issued when a user
moves out of range, while the dictation is simultaneously saved in
the temporary memory for voice data.

Introducing the enhanced version of DigtaSoft 3.1 dictation
management software, Grundig Business Systems minimizes the data
volumes in Citrix environments and expands the control functions
for dictation machines with an HID interface. The software also
automatically recognizes the settings of USB microphones, thus
completing Grundig Business Systems' one-stop offering for
efficient radiology reporting.

http://www.healthtechwire.com/Press-Release.56+M5526a835b98.0.html
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2006
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
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MT India Newsletter - http://www.MTIndia.info/

Nov 11, 2006
********************************************************

Verbatim vs. Risk Management

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Decipher Intime Transcriptions P Limited, in association
with Medware Inc, USA is looking to hire experienced Medical
Transcriptionists and Quality Assurance personnel for its branches
at Bangalore, Mysore, Goa, Coimbatore and Belgaum.

Positions also available for work on the eScription platform.

Persons interested in a secure, financially enviable, and an
independent work atmosphere, please contact: hr@...

********************************************************
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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
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
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2006
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

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

Nov 04, 2006
********************************************************

Launch of the RMT Credential

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Decipher Intime Transcriptions P Limited, in association
with Medware Inc, USA is looking to hire experienced Medical
Transcriptionists and Quality Assurance personnel for its branches
at Bangalore, Mysore, Goa, Coimbatore and Belgaum.

Positions also available for work on the eScription platform.

Persons interested in a secure, financially enviable, and an
independent work atmosphere, please contact: hr@...

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

AAMT, in association with Prometric, has announced the launch of
the New International Credential to enhance training & career
prospects for young Indian medical transcriptionists. The
Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT) credentialing exam is a
newly developed global 'level-1' credential in the arena of Medical
Transcription. This program is aimed at helping the existing talent
pool to scale up and meet the global standards and quality
benchmarks. The two organizations also announced a special 'India
price' for AAMT's existing Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT)
exam.

AAMT's credentialing exams can be taken at any Prometric testing
center, located in nine cities across the country.

Bringing these credentials to India, Mr. Soumitra Roy - Managing
Director, Prometric - India, said, "While India is on the verge of
optimally exploring the growing opportunities in the MT industry,
we feel that this introduction of global training & quality
standards through these credentialing exams is a timely initiative.
We have worked with employers & industry associations to arrive at
a very attractive and affordable price point for this entry level
examination as we understand that this test will serve as a
stepping stone for anybody who wishes to pursue a career in Medical
transcription. However, this is just a beginning, as we will now
work on the process of talking to Indian educational institutes and
ask them to include quality medical transcription training in their
curriculums. These will be based on AAMT's Education Approval
Program. Additionally, we are also glad to announce a special price
for the CMT examination - which would thus enable more
participation and faster adoption towards global service delivery
standards."

Medical Transcription Credentialing Exams - At A Glance

Level 1 Exam - Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT)

Fees:
Special introductory bundle price:
Registration & Test Preparation Material: USD 80

As individual component:
Registration: USD 75
Test Preparation Guide: USD 30

Dates:
Online Registration begins on November 1, 2006
Tests go live from December 1, 2006 onwards

Level 2 Exam - Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT)

Fees:
Registration: USD 150
(Reduced from earlier registration fees of USD 275)

Dates:
Test available online

For further details:
http://www.mtindia.info/

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Labour officers swoop on Iridium

A team of Labour officers, led by Additional Labour Commissioner
Prakash S Oliver, made a flash visit to 'Iridium', one of the
medical transcription companies at the Technopark, around 11.30 am
and verified the registers maintained by the company on the working
hours, salary and other details of the employees.

According to the officials, the inspection was initiated after the
Office of the Labour Commissioner received an anonymous letter
regarding violation of laws in the company. It was alleged that the
employees were asked to work for long hours and the salary and
other benefits given to them were not satisfactory. However, the
officers could not find much irregularities in the documents
presented to them. Meanwhile, the 'surprise' visit turned out to a
farce as the visual media was given prior information regarding the
visit. A few of them had, in fact, given flash news regarding the
inquiry well before it began.

The Additional Labour Commissioner said that the company had
expressed its willingness to produce any document. The company
authorities were also very cooperative, he said. Irked over the
frequent interferences by the government agencies, the Technopark
companies are planning to approach Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan
to ensure a certain code of conduct before initiating such
inspections.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEO20061103220200&Page=O&Title=Thiru\
vananthapuram&Topic=0

2) CBaySystems Once Again Named to the Deloitte Technology Fast 500
List

CBaySystems, has again been named to Deloitte's prestigious
Technology Fast 500 Program, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing
technology, media, telecommunications and life sciences companies
in North America, for a third successive year. Rankings are based
on percentage revenue growth over five years, from 2001-2005.
CBaySystems grew at a towering rate of 590% during this period.

"It is an honor for CBay to be recognized for the third year in a
row", said Raman Kumar,Chairman and CEO of CBaySystems, "We are
especially proud of these awards, as they communicate our explosive
growth and ever-increasing customer base, providing concrete
evidence of our superior product and commitment to customer
service. Being named yet again to the coveted Fast 500 list clearly
reinforces CBay's consistent focus, execution and commitment to
customers."

"Sustaining high revenue growth over five years is an exceptional
accomplishment. We commend CBaySystems for making the commitment to
technology and delivering on the promise of market longevity," said
Tony Kern, deputy managing principal of Deloitte's Technology,
Media & Telecommunications industry practice. "We are proud to
honor CBaySystems ranking on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500
  list."

http://www.ndtvprofit.com/homepage/monitor.asp?id=2129

3) Remote Operations Chosen as Medical Transcription Provider for
Idaho Department of Health and Welfare

Remote Operations, Inc. announced that they have been contracted as
the provider of medical dictation and transcription services for
the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW). Remote
Operations was selected through the State of Idaho's formal
competitive bidding process in which several premier medical
transcription companies were identified and researched by IDHW.
Gaurav Singla, President and CEO of ROI, commented today, "We're
very proud to be selected by the IDHW as their medical
transcription services partner. We believe that the State of Idaho
chose Remote Operations because of our commitment to health care,
our unsurpassed technological innovation in the field of medical
transcription, and the security and convenience of our technology
platform. We look forward to working closely with IDHW and their
various locations across the state of Idaho."

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-19-200\
6/0004454811&EDATE=

4) Nuance sees 4th-qtr results beating forecasts

Speech recognition company Nuance Communications Inc. said that
strong software sales helped it beat its own earnings forecast for
the fiscal fourth quarter, sending its shares up 5 percent.
Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice-recognition software hit a
record during the quarter, boosted by demand for the newest
release, Version 9.

The company also said that it had higher revenue from software for
call-center automation, medical transcription as well as voice
recognition in mobile devices and automobiles.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-10-31T1\
94737Z_01_NBNG181638_RTRIDST_0_TECH-NUANCE-UPDATE-2.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna

5) Philippine gov't to invest in BPO projects

The Philippine government is allotting a total of some P26 billion
(US$526 million) on projects that support its Cyber Corridor
program, which seeks to attract investments in the field of IT and
business process outsourcing (BPO).

The Cyber Corridor runs across differed regions nationwide promoted
by the government as IT hubs that can deliver BPO services such as
call centre work, medical transcription, software development and
animation.

http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/News/8e60ba71-4884-42bf-8634-88e867d159ec.html

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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or post it on your site? Please do! But also be sure to read
below:

All original content of this newsletter is � Copyright 1998-2006
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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
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Thank you for your interest in MT India!

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Oct 07, 2006
********************************************************

The `Bandh' Darwaza...

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

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

Dear Friends,

Darwaza, to the uninitiated, means doors. Bandh, originally meaning
'closed', is a form of protest used by political activists in India.
During a bandh, a large chunk of a community declares a general
closure,
usually lasting one day. While generally it means the closing down
of
markets, offices, schools and transport - it is a highly disruptive
activity whose sole aim is to bring public life and commercial
activity
to a standstill.

What is more discerning now is that the elected governments in
power,
actively or tacitly extend support to such calls. Factually, these
are
blatant infringements and denial of citizen's rights - they disrupt
everyday life - because of fear of harm to one's life and property.
The Supreme Court of India has banned bandhs, but we see no end to
them.

Last Wednesday, Bangalore was held to ransom for some petty border
dispute.
The advice from the police was not to drive out-of-state vehicles!
This
Monday, Kolkata will  grind to a standstill - bandhs being more of a
norm
here. There is already a Bharat Bandh called for 14th Dec - I am
sure there
will be some enterprising parties who will think of some other
issues to
call a bandh before then...

In this mayhem, IT/BPO service providers are at a loss to explain to
their
clients a phenomena which cannot be found in the Merriam Webster's'
or the
Oxford dictationaries. Admiral J G Nadkarni (retired) in
the "Scourge of the
'bandh'" rightly says that the entire proclamation and execution of
a bandh
has now become standard operating procedure. A political party,
normally the
opposition, calls for a bandh. They proclaim that the bandh will be
entirely
voluntary and peaceful. The state government announces that they
will not
allow any lawlessness. On the day of the bandh, shopkeepers
automatically
down shutters. A feeble attempt is made to run local trains and
buses, but
after a few incidents of stone throwing, they are promptly
cancelled. There
is a holiday atmosphere. Children pour out on to the streets and
play cricket.
By evening, the political party claims complete success: the bandh
was total.
The state government also claims credit: the bandh was peaceful.
Everyone is
happy until the next bandh.

While India will probably move ahead at its own pace, the SMEs in
the outsourcing
services sector need to seriously consider that such frequent
incidents might not
close the door of opportunity for us - and lobby towards how to
circumvent the same...

It is ultimately left to the citizens themselves to impress upon
political parties
and other organizations that bandhs are disruptive, highly
unpopular, and serve no
purpose beyond disrupting normal life and future economic prospects.

Yeh darwaza bandh naa ho!! [Let this door (of opportunity) not
close!]

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) MedQuist strarts trials in the UK: work coming to New
Zealand & India

Bedford Hospital is preparing to cut its secretarial and
administrative staff by almost a third. Around 60 medical
secretaries have been informed their jobs are at risk with
a proposal to cut their numbers by 22.

The pilot for this service is being conducted by US company
Medquist which will farm work out to both New Zealand and India.
Unison spokesman John Toomey said: "Quite apart from the fact
that this is a slap in the face for the loyal staff of Bedford
Hospital who are being dumped only for their jobs to be farmed
out overseas, one of the main concerns for us is patient
confidentiality.

A hospital spokesman said: "The service is completely secure
in that no patient information is shown on the letters (only
a hospital reference) and all the typists, whether they are based
in New Zealand or India, are security checked and fully trained
in the appropriate medical specialty."

http://www.mk-news.co.uk/news/bedford/2006/oct/8/hospital%20letters%
20typed%20down%20under.lpf

2) Fast refunds woo BPOs to service tax counters

BPOs are rushing to obtain service tax registrations even though
they are exempt from paying the levy on services rendered to their
foreign clients.

The speed and ease of getting cash refunds on taxes paid on inputs
such as leased circuit services, banking services and temporary
man-power services has led to a spurt in the registration over the
last few months.

Registrations have risen because credit provisions have been
modified
to enable service providers to claim refunds on exported services.
Medical transcription centres and call centres were, in fact, out of
the service tax net till last year. The exemption was withdrawn this
fiscal. Under the export of services rules, services rendered to
offshore clients would continue to be exempt from the levy. Service
tax would be charged only if the service is rendered within the
country
or if these centres are servicing their Indian clients.

Under the tax credit provisions, these companies would also be
entitled
to claim a credit on the tax paid on inputs that go into providing
the
service. The other option is to claim cash refunds. Typically, these
companies use inputs such as leased circuit services, telephone
services,
banking and financial services, and temporary man-power services.

The providers of these services � telephone companies, banks,
manpower
recruitment agencies � in turn charge service tax. Credit or refund
will
be given only if the company has a service tax registration.

For the government, cash refunds is a notional loss in revenue
because
it is follows the principle that exports should be completely free
of
taxes. This means exporters of both services and goods should be
relieved
of incidence of any taxes. Otherwise, exports will not be
competitive.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2023480.cms

3) Medical transcription services to be launched in Bahrain

Mena Business Services (MBS) a provider of outsourcing customer care
solutions, is to open its newest customer contact centre, medical
transcription services and training facilities in Bahrain.

Alongside the customer contact centre, MBS will jointly operate a
medical
transcription services unit, consisting of 60 seats. "MBS has a
strategic
partnership with a global medical transcription outsourcing company
and
throughout this partnership we will offer services to a number of
medical
facilities in Saudi Arabia and the US," said Mr Al Hashmi.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?
Article=158069&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=29202

4) Is Medical Transcription Certification Necessary?

Becoming a certified medical transcriptionist is really a personal
choice.
At present, there is no requirement for MTs to become certified.

Medical transcription certification is a personal choice -
certification
gives you the opportunity to prove your skills as an MT, not being
certified does not take away from them.

I have never run across a physician or account manager who has asked
me whether I am certified or not. They are merely interested that I
can
efficiently complete the work, follow all the privacy regulations
and charge them a reasonable rate.

I don't know of any MTs who have lacked opportunities due to not
being
certified either. Again, the choice is a personal one and for some it
is a great sense of personal achievement.

http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=092106-medical-transcriptionist-
training-is-certification-needed.htm

5) DTS

Board members asked for an update on DTS' performance.

"It all looks legit," Garringer said. "It doesn't look like there is
any hocus
pocus." CDOD board president Valerie Murrill defended DTS. She was
responding to
recent complaints voiced by some employees.

"It's important that we leave them alone and let them their job,"
she said. "I've
never seen a company under siege like this company. I'm personally
embarrassed about
the negativity."

http://www.currentargus.com/ci_4454812
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2006
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
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MT India Newsletter - http://www.MTIndia.info/

Sep 30, 2006
********************************************************

RSS Feeds from MTIndia.info

********************************************************
Dear Friends,

I guess this is a prolonged weekend, spilling over to next week.
Happy festivities!

I did mention about RSS feeds at MTIndia.info, I think I should
elaborate on this just a little:

1) News Feeds: News feeds are aggregated from major search engines,
updated hourly and available for your convenient browsing at this
page:
http://mtindia.info/news/news-feeds/

2) News Syndication: You can subscribe to syndicated news from our
homepage:
http://mtindia.info/

Feeds are available in RSS, ATOM or OPML.

The benefits? You don't have to give your email address, name or
any other personal details. You don't have to confirm your
subscription (double opt-in). You will not be prevented from
receiving your messages by spam filters. You can stop receiving
your messages anytime, permanently, and you don't have to say why
:)

I've just got around to installing IE7 and I'm wondering how many
others have given it a run? RSS has been implemented well. Visit a
site where a feed is available and an icon will indicate the fact.
Click the icon and the feed headlines will be displayed, along with
a link to subscribe. Feeds can be managed in IE along with
traditional bookmarks and it eliminates the need for a special RSS
reader. . All very easy and logical to use.

Seems to me that RSS is about to go mainstream.

Festival greetings to all, once again!

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) DTS developments raise concerns, questions

DTS America, a medical transcription company, came to Carlsbad
earlier this year lured by an available work force and promise of
up to $2 million in local incentives. Now, having moved far faster
than anyone expected, and having burned through $1 million in
initial cash incentives, DTS officials have admitted the company is
strapped for cash. They apparently burned through the funds by
experiencing very rapid growth in the number of employees in
training, accompanied by growing payroll expenses.
Their employee headcount recently crested at more than 101. At the
beginning of August, the milestone allowed the company to approach
the city to request $500,000 as a second round of cash incentives,
prescribed by the contract it has with the city.

When DTS hit this second "money mark" so quickly, councilors openly
questioned the rapid pace of the company. "Slow down," Councilor
Louise Tracy told DTS execs Aug. 8 during a discussion where
council and company officials agreed reaching the 101 level in
staffing was "months" ahead of schedule.

The city and DOD approved dispensing the next $500,000, but DTS
apparently couldn't wait for the govern-ment to issue the funds.
So, the DOD board went out on a limb and loaned DTS $200,000 out of
the DOD's operating funds. They took DOD operating capital and lent
it to a newcomer, betting that the DOE would approve release of the
funds - and they'd get paid back. But it turns out that two hundred
grand was not enough.

DTS execs in Tennessee wrote a stern letter to the DOD, demanding
the rest of the money right away - by citing the contractual
obligation the city and DOD are under. In an unprecedented and
stunning move, the DOD voted by phone and e-mail to borrow $300,000
from a local bank. All the more astonishing, Mayor Bob Forrest
personally secured the loan!

Meanwhile, some DTS employees stepped forward this week and
publicly voiced several concerns. Speaking out about the details of
how the promised high-paying jobs within DTS actually work, they
described that the transcription work comes to Carlsbad in the form
of overflow from DTS workers in India - only when they can't get it
done. Employees also stated that fully trained employees often wait
all day for work to come in - and don't make those big bucks if
they are not transcribing.

DTS grew faster than anyone anticipated, and apparently reached the
next contractual payout level, largely because they changed their
own rules of compensation - recruiting new trainees by offering an
hourly wage immediately. (The first class signed on by agreeing to
train for three months for free.) This explosive growth in payroll
expenses almost certainly resulted in DTS' immediate desperation
for the whole $500,000.

The old saying, "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute
an emergency on my part" comes to mind. Between this unseemly
desperation for cash, and bearing witness to a number of employees
who are risking their jobs to express multiple concerns, there is
ample reason for the city council, the DOD board, and the U.S. DOE
to ask some serious questions of the company. Thankfully, the DOE
has already begun that process. Serious questions remain about
their business model, cash flow, customer base, and long-term
viability.

http://www.currentargus.com/ci_4425345

2) Worldtech Acquires Statdata, Inc.

Worldtech USA, a leader in Business Process Outsourcing
specializing in medical transcription services and electronic
medical records, today announced the acquisition of Statdata, Inc.,
a medical transcription company based in Utica, New York. "This
Summer has been full of milestones including the acquisition of
Stat Data located in New York, which is the first of numerous
acquisitions that are set to be completed in the very near future.
Be expecting at least one more purchase at the end of the Summer.",
said Jeremy White, Director of Marketing for Worldtech.

http://www.worldtechusa.com/Blog/2006/08/worldtech-acquires-statdata-inc.html

3) Spheris Ranks Among America's Fastest-Growing Companies

Spheris has been listed among the fastest-growing private companies
in America according to Inc. magazine. The top 500 companies for
growth were listed in the magazine's August issue, and Spheris' #72
ranking makes this the second year in a row Spheris has been in the
top 75.

"The need for clinical documentation technology and services in the
U.S. healthcare market is growing rapidly," said Spheris President
and CEO Steven E. Simpson. "And Spheris has a unique strategy that
combines proven technology with superior service to keep pace with
the evolving industry." With a global network of 5,500 medical
language specialists, Spheris operates in a true 24-hour
environment and is able to keep the transcription process moving
quickly and efficiently all hours of the day and night for its
clients.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060928/clth059.html?.v=65

4) DTS employees dispute company claims

Some DTS America employees say they are upset about how the
company, promised more than a million dollars in incentives through
the Carlsbad Department of Development to locate here, is doing
business.

Tracy Lawler, a DTS employee who said she is speaking out and
putting herself at risk of being fired because she's sharing
information, said she is a member of the second class to take
daytime training. She said she questions why her class and the one
previous were not paid while they were training, yet a second night
class that was in training at the same time her day-class was
conducted was paid.

"Those people, along with some others, were made full-time
employees," she said. "This is only my opinion, but I think DTS
paid them during training in order to meet the criteria for
additional funding. In the last story in the newspaper it was
stated by a DTS official they made the people in training fulltime
employees because there was a lot of work, when in actual fact
there are several employees working on what DTS calls dead files.'
(or practice work). The people who are actually in production have
hardly any work to do."

Lawler confirmed that for the first six months while training,
employees are paid $10 an hour. However, after six months, she
said, they are paid by the line for medical transcription. She said
the workflow at DTS' Carlsbad site comes from the work overflow
from DTS' call center in India. There are many days when people are
sitting around waiting for work to come in, Lawler said. If they
are not transcribing, she said they are not paid at all. She and
other employees to speak out on this issue feel this conflicts with
how DTS was sold to Carlsbad as being a high-wage employer.

http://www.currentargus.com/ci_4408530

5) Britain hospital staff threaten strike

Employees angry over plans of British hospitals to outsource
medical transcription to India have voted to go on strike if the
plans are not shelved. Several hospitals in Britain have outsourced
or are in the process of outsourcing the work of typing up
patients' notes to India to save costs at a time when they are
facing financial deficits. These include hospitals in
Staffordshire, Leeds and Cornwall.

A typical example of the reasons cited to prevent job losses by
sending work to India was the statement of David Prentis, union
general secretary.
He said: "Lives are being put at risk by hospitals desperate to
save money. Trusts are being wooed by companies promising free
trials, pilots and huge financial savings if they allow medical
typing to go abroad. Medical secretaries in the NHS work to 99.8
percent accuracy targets and once phased out' their knowledge and
expertise will be lost for ever."

http://www.24x7updates.com/articles/20060921/britain_hospital_staff_threaten_str\
ike-id-101939.html
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2006
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

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

Sep 09, 2006
********************************************************

The Times They Are A-Changin'...A Little...

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Infovision Software Pvt. Ltd. (ISPL) is an ISO 9001-2000 Certified
MTSO and one of the leading Medical Transcription companies in
India and the US. Currently, in order to augment our growth
initiative, we require experienced MT's / Editors / QA's for all
our India Based Units (Kolkata & Mumbai).

Please walk in for interview  at : Sri Sai Kuteer  8-2-602/ B/ 3 &
4 Road No. 10, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad-500 034 Tel :(040)
23351048/ 3359/ 60, Date-16th Sep to 18th Sep 2006.(9am-6 pm)

Contact person : Mr.  Subhabrata Dasgupta (09231639423)
hr-mt@...
********************************************************
Dear Friends,

Electronic Medical Record Use by Office-Based Physicians: United
States, 2005 is an annual survey conducted by CDC National Center
for Health Statistics of 1,281 office-based physicians sampled from
the American Medical Association and American Osteopathic
Association databases. According to last month's press release, key
findings include:

~ Nearly 1 in 4 (23.9 percent) physicians reported using full or
partial electronic medical records (EMRs) in their office-based
practice in 2005 - a 31 percent increase from the 18.2 percent
reported in 2001.
~ Physicians in the Midwest (26.9 percent) and West (33.4 percent)
were more likely to use EMRs than those in the Northeast (14.4
percent).
~ Physicians in metropolitan statistical areas (nearly 24.8
percent) were more likely to use EMRs than were those in
non-metropolitan areas (16.9).

Only 1 in 10 (9.3 percent) physicians, however, used EMRs with all
four of the basic functions (computerized orders for prescriptions,
computerized orders for tests, reporting of test results, and
physician notes) considered necessary for a complete EMR system.

The Center for Studying Health System Change, though this survey
included physicians working in both hospital-based as well as
office-based practices, and those with access to (not necessarily
use of) electronic records.

It doesn't look like EMRs are going to "wipe-out" MT in the near
future, for those who tend to be concerned!

On another front, today MTIndia.Info is formally launched.
Syndication of latest news is available from the home page. News
Feeds on Medical Transcription are aggregated every hour and
available in the News section. Past issues of the MT India Digest
have been archived online, and the FAQs have been updated.

The new Forum is now active, and the old one at MTIndia.org will be
archived. The Moderator Team has been strengthened with Subhorup
being joined by T.N. Raju, CMT (Bangalore), "Jabberwocky" (Mumbai)
and "Harry Agnostic" (Chennai.)  Please remember that moderators
volunteer their time freely. The role of the moderators is to
ensure that the forums provide an enjoyable and informative
experience for all. They also ensure that the Forum guidelines and
rules are followed. The moderators have the right to edit, censor,
delete or otherwise modify any posted message.

Please address your queries directly at the forum boards, so that
all can benefit. It would not be possible for us to reply to
individual emails or personal messages (PMs), as a routine.

Active discussions, taking place NOW at the Forum:
1) MT companies providing home-based transcription in India
2) Error grading protocols followed by companies

To participate, go to:
http://mtindia.info/forum/

A feedback is welcome, as always...

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Infovision acquires TSI

Infovision Software Private Limited (ISPL), has announced that it
has recently acquired 100% of US MTSO  "Transcription South Inc.,
(TSI)", a US based transcription company for an undisclosed sum.
TSI delivers client specific solutions for hospitals and physician
groups based in the US. TSI currently processes well over 100,000
lines per day through it's stateside facility. ISPL has executed
this strategic acquisition through its associate company SSAPL.
This acquisition of TSI, a well established, highly regarded
company in US healthcare service, will now allow ISPL to further
fuel its rapid expansion in transcription services in a major way.
Furthermore, it brings in a complete and robust service offering
and augments value to its already existing health care services
customers.

With this acquisition, ISPL has forecasted a surge in revenues to
the top line growth for the year 2006. India's leading financial
institution, namely SBI, have funded SSAPL in this transaction.
Commenting on the acquisition, Michael P. Peters, General Manager
Operations & Marketing for ISPL said "The deal is a perfect
strategic fit for ISPL as it provides a well-established services
offering to our healthcare customer base. This is a high growth
area and with this acquisition, we will be able to become one of
the larger healthcare service providers in India processing over
300,000 lines per day through our combined facilities. It also
catapults ISPL into the upper bracket of healthcare receivables
management companies in the US and India".

2) MT gains popularity as career option in Nepal

With the increase in qualified potential, Medical Transcription
(MT) Industry, comparatively a new business in Nepal employing
thousands of youth, has gained popularity in Nepal's bid to
contribute to economic prosperity, according to experts.

MT is an IT-based industry for quality patient documentation and
countries like Nepal are a very good locale for outsourcing
workforce from here due to the availability of a large mass of
English-speaking and computer-literate youth, the experts said on
Thursday at a seminar organised by Nepmed International, a MT
company in Kathmandu.

Speaking at the seminar, Cecily Tuladhar, executive manager of
Nepmed said that as in the US the entire healthcare industry is
based on insurance and detailed medical records are needed for
processing insurance claims, Medical Transcriptions are in high
demand there, and Nepal has immense potential to meet those
requirements.

Gyanendra Tuladhar, chairman of the company spoke on the potential
of the MT industry to contribute to the economic prosperity of
Nepal by employing thousands of youth in a sector that requires
little capital investment but yields high foreign currency returns.

He added, "We are here not to produce MTs but to generate future
editors, supervisors, managers and potential MT business
entrepreneurs."

Though exact data is not available, there are eight-10 MT centres,
with 30-40 Medical Transcriptionists in each centre, in operation
providing their service to their US-based clients.

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=85346

3) 'Don't leave, be medical transcriptionists'- Arroyo to docs

FOR frustrated doctors and medical students eyeing a nursing career
overseas, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo offered an alternative
she says should keep them home. "I'd like to make special mention
to frustrated doctors, don't leave medical school because medical
transcription (is here)," Arroyo said at a roundtable discussion in
Malaca�ang on Thursday. The discussion focused on the CyberServices
Corridor, one of the super regions Arroyo unveiled in her State of
the Nation Address last July. Medical transcription is one of the
services delivered by the CyberServices Corridor, which will run
from Baguio in the north to Davao in Mindanao.

A growing number of doctors continue to study nursing and seek
employment abroad, especially in the United States. But Rainero
Borja, chairman of the Business Process Association of the
Philippines, said medical transcription offers lucrative salaries
ranging from 12,000 to 50,000 pesos a month.

Contrary to commonly held notions, medical transcription does not
offer only low-end service, Borja said. For example, he said,
transcriptionists are also needed in operating rooms to help
doctors document the procedures. These are then included in
patients' records. "That's why the transcription should be super
accurate," Borja said. "So there are opportunities," Arroyo said.
"So those studying in medical schools shouldn't lose heart." There
are currently 50 medical transcription firms and 13 schools in the
country. In 2005, estimated revenues from medical transcription
reached 70 million US dollars.

http://newsinfo.inq7.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=19561

4) CBaySystems Awarded Multiyear Contract with University
HealthSystem Consortium

CBaySystems announced today that it has been awarded a contract
with University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC). Under terms of this
contract, CBay will provide a full array of integrated medical
transcription services, including dictation capture, medical
transcription, and Web-based document management as one of two
awarded providers to UHC's alliance of academic health centers
across the United States.

"University HealthSystem Consortium is pleased to offer our
members, as a result of the competitive bid process, an agreement
with CBaySystems and Services, Inc. for medical transcription
services," said Cindy White, UHC's vice president of operations.
"CBay responded to our request for bid with a value-packed offer. A
task force of UHC members wanted variety and options from awarded
suppliers and they saw that in CBay's offer. After bid analysis,
the task force directed us to make CBay a UHC supplier. UHC's
mission is to help members succeed in their respective markets. The
value offered in CBay's agreement does that and more! As a newly
awarded supplier through UHC's Contract Solutions, we believe CBay
will bring a competitive advantage to the members for years to
come."

"We are very excited by the opportunity to help academic health
centers run more efficiently," said Jason Kolinoski, CBay's senior
vice president of sales. "While we already work with several
university health care organizations, this agreement will allow us
to help many more academic facilities maintain high-quality patient
care and at the same time, reduce costs. UHC members across the
country now have an expeditious and effective way to engage our
services."

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060906/clw518.html?.v=47

5) Medical Transcription Industry Moving to Make the Philippines a
Major Global Player

A significant growth is being envisioned for the Philippine
business processing industry in the near future; much of this
growth is centered in medical transcription.

This is the reason the Philippines is on the roll promoting its
medical transcription capabilities to the United States in a bid to
raise its market share before eying other opportunities, according
to Myla Rose Mundo-Reyes, president of the Medical Transcription
Industry Association of the Philippines (MTIAPI).

The medical transcription personnel in the Philippines is a pretty
young population, with most transcriptionists falling in the 20-25
age bracket. Most of them have medical backgrounds, are familiar
with US medical standards, terminology, and practices, and able to
transcribe 1,000 lines per day with 98-99% accuracy rate. About 50%
of Filipino MT professionals are physical therapy graduates, 40%
are nursing graduates, and the rest are from allied sciences.

On October 7-12, the Medical Transcription Industry Association of
the Philippines (MTIAPI) will join the AHIMA Convention and Exhibit
in Denver, Colorado organized by the Department of Trade and
Industry's export promotion arm, Center for International Trade
Expositions and Missions (CITEM).

"MTIAPI hopes to establish stronger branding, front-end awareness,
and linkages with relevant international associations, as well as
find partners and open up more business opportunities for our local
MT companies," said Reyes.

Last year at AHIMA, MTIAPI member firms linked up with the US
Medical Transcription Industry Association and the American
Association of Medical Transcription to help the Philippines'
visibility and highlight its capability in providing quality
transcription services.

MTIAPI is the industry association behind the Philippine medical
transcription industry. It is composed of more than 60 members
including MT service organizations, MT educational institutions and
MT professionals.

"We want to send the good news in AHIMA that the Philippines has
all it takes to become a robust player in MT. While the initial
push for sending offshore work is largely driven by cost savings,
more and more clients realize that quality makes a lot of cents for
them in the end," said Reyes. "We are pushing for a strong branding
of quality services from the Philippines, not just cheap rates."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20060906/bs_prweb/prweb433693_1

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2006
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
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MT India Newsletter - http://www.MTIndia.info/

Sep 02, 2006
********************************************************
"The old order changeth, giving place to new,
Lest one good custom, should corrupt the world."

~  Alfred Tennyson, 1809-1892 - "Morte D'Arthur"
********************************************************
Dear Friends,

The old timers amongst you will remember, way back in 1998 before
MTIndia was born, there were dedicated boards for Indian MTs and
businesses: "MT Daily India Board" & the "MT Daily India Board."
MTDaily used to be running on modified Matt's Script Archive for
WWWBoard - basically a threaded message board woven on cgi scripts,
which allowed users to post new messages and follow-up to existing
ones - historical versions of message boards you see today. For
those interested in history, you can find these India boards
archived here (take a peek - I am sure you'll recognize some
names):

http://web.archive.org/web/20000929045942/www.mtdaily.com/states/india/
http://web.archive.org/web/20000929045947/www.mtdaily.com/mentors/indiamts/

When we went about designing The Forum at MTIndia, we decided not
to upset the user interface of the community and stuck to the
threaded interface, although it was powered by Cold Fusion
scripting language with an MS SQL enterprise database.

However technology changes, and with it, so does user preference.
The present Forum at MTIndia served its purpose and more, and it's
time for it to be put to rest. Further postings will be disallowed.
Relevant threads will be archived for future reference.

The new Forum is now online at:
http://mtindia.info/forum/

This is pretty much a next-generation message board. The threaded
view is gone, the flat view being the only option. If you frequent
the MTChat/MTDesk Message Center/Hot Zone, the user interface in
the flat view is pretty much the same.

A basic registration which verifies your email id, is required to
post. A help tab is there to answer your basic "how to" questions.

This is a weatherbeaten community, so Onward Ho, Friends!

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."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Pioneering work helps raise standards of the Filipino MT
industry

One of the real pioneers in the MT industry is Myla Rose
Mundo-Reyes, now managing director of Total Transcription Solutions
Inc. (TTSI) and newly-elected president of Medical Transcription
Industry Association of the Philippines inc. (MTIAPI), the
organization of MT companies in the country.

A veteran of the field, Myla is a strong believer in the potentials
of the MT industry and her success story can attest to the fact
that a career in MT can really offer a promising future. Like most
Filipinos, Myla struggled to seek employment. She took on odd jobs,
some of which were not related to her BS Nursing degree. "I passed
the CGFNS but did not aggressively pursue efforts to work abroad."

Myla accidentally discovered medical transcription when Innodata,
where she was working as a proofreader in 1994, opened an MT
department. While working as a medical transcriptionist and later
as unit manager, she continued to pursue her Masters of Arts in
Nursing, squeezing in some time to work as a college clinical
instructor for Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. "I shifted my
Masters education from Nursing to Business Administration at De La
Salle University," she says. It was unfortunate, however, that she
did not have the chance to finish it because of her busy schedule.

After working for Outsource Transcription Philippines, Inc. (OTPI)
as Vice President for several years, Myla did consulting jobs for
start-up medical transcription companies until she was invited by
TTSI to join them in April, 2002 as Operations Manager.

"TTSI started with only around 10 employees. Now, we have a
production facility with at least 150 MTs, providing overflow work
to smaller MT companies around the country. TTSI is now seen as a
'big sister' that assists smaller players in the industry," she
explains.

The petite 34-year-old professional, married to Engr. Ian John
Reyes and mother of one, has also helped raise the standards of the
MT industry by taking part in developing training regulations,
curriculum standards, registration standards and national
accreditation system.

"Our dream at MTIAPI is to put the Philippines on the map as The
Medical Transcription destination of choice by most countries. I
hope to raise MT to the level of a respectable profession for
Filipinos. I would also like to see the youth of tomorrow
benefiting from what we are working so hard for right now," she
adds.

http://www.mb.com.ph/archive_pages.php?url=http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/08/2\
5/INFO2006082572591.html

2) 'Telecommuting' is changing the way we live

In New Zealand a local company, Interscribe is looking to make good
use of this trend here too. Interscribe, a joint venture company
between Transcription Holdings and established customer contact
centre PHONEplus, is looking to recruit more New Zealand based
staff to join the ranks of its professional Medical
Transcriptionists, in order to cope with rapidly growing volumes of
work from US and UK based hospitals.

"The growth in work from the US and UK is substantial", says
Kathryn Starr, Interscribe's General Manager. "Our team is well
regarded because of the commonality of language, treatment and
skill requirements. We are regularly congratulated on the high
levels of quality delivered by our NZ-based team".

Interscribe is actively recruiting up to 10 new transcriptionists a
month. "Working from home is a big advantage for our team and
broadband availability with more competitive pricing has really
helped us recruit new staff. There are psychological reasons why
people enjoy it. Experiencing less stress, finding it easy to
self-motivate, having more time for themselves and to nurture their
children and feeling they have a better work-life balance. We do
have office facilities for training and for those staff who want to
come in and enjoy the social aspects of an office environment form
time to time, but most staff prefer the advantages of working from
home", says Starr.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0609/S00038.htm

3) Acusis Announces Technology Advisory Board Creation

Acusis announced the creation of the Technology Advisory Board
comprised of distinguished experts in selected technical areas that
are core to the company technology strategy. The mission of the
board is to provide guidance and insights to the Acusis Advanced
Technology team.

"The creation of the Technology Advisory Board demonstrates our
commitment to advanced technology and reflects our priorities,"
said Srdjan Kovacevic, Acusis Chief Process Architect and Chief
Technologist. "Technology is an important part of our success as we
continually strive to improve our internal processes and provide
best experience for our customers and internal users. We have
selected members whose expertise in human language technologies,
signal processing, statistical analysis and mathematical modeling
will help us further improve our capabilities and ensure we add
value to our customers and consistently deliver the best quality
and timely transcripts."

http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/640074/acusis_announces_technology_advis\
ory_board_creation/index.html?source=r_technology

4) Sri Lankan MTSO to outsource long-line fishermen to Taiwan

A Sri Lankan business outsourcing firm has landed a job to train
and place around 4,000 local youths in the Taiwan fishing industry.
Business Process Outsource (BPO) Services (Pvt) Ltd, will train Sri
Lankan fisherman to speak the Taiwanese language of Hokien prior to
their overseas placement.

New to the business outsourcing market, BPO Services (Pvt) Ltd has
an ongoing medical transcription project for doctors in the United
States and a call centre.
Medical transcription is a process in which the transcribers listen
to dictated recordings made by healthcare professionals and
transcribe them into medical reports, correspondence and other
administrative material. Sri Lanka's 100 million dollar BPO
business is driven by around 21 major companies employing over
2,500 people.

http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?newsID=586189177&no_view=1&SEAR\
CH_TERM=17

5) Ghana - UNDP offers MT training in rural areas

Mr Ampiah told the GNA that UNDP had already assisted the project
with 200,000 dollars since it adopted ICT as part of its programme
a few years ago.

He said another 200,000 dollars was given out to support the
setting up of the Business Incubator Centre, which would help to
enhance the skills of selected ICT graduates into developing their
own innovative programmes to assist in national developmental
programmes. Mr Solomon Asante Dartey, Coordinator of GMIC, who
briefed Prof.

He said alongside the incubator programme, business process
outsourcing training in the areas of medical transcription, centre
and data entry capacity programmes were being offered.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=108679
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 1998-2006
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
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