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

Aug 26, 2006
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MTIndia.Info

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Dear Friends,

To make it easier for user to access information as well as
simplify navigation on the site, all information sections (news,
newsletters, articles, FAQs, links) at MTIndia.org are being
shifted to a new domain and server @ MTIndia.info

The migration process is already on and some sections have been set
on redirect. Members are welcome to send in their suggestions:
http://www.mtindia.info/

Newly added is a news feeds section on medical transcription which
updates every hour. Also, the latest news from the MTIndia.info
site can be syndicated to be added to any web site or be read by
any news reader.

The site will go live wef 11th Sept 2006.

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) India wired

The Backroom Brigade, written by Delhi-based journalist Seetha, is
an interesting description of the genesis and transformation of the
Indian IT-enabled services (ITES) sector from the mid-1990s till
date.

The book also captures the transition that the medical
transcription industry underwent. This it does through the story of
Gurjot Singh Khalsa, an American convert who realised the potential
of Indian talent and started HealthScribe India while on a
pilgrimage to the country.

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?leftnm=lmnu4&subLeft=6&aut\
ono=102089&tab=r

2) Acusis Recognized for Remarkable Growth in the 2006 Pittsburgh
100

Acusis was recognized at the Pittsburgh Business Times tenth
edition of the annual awards for the Pittsburgh 100. For 2006 the
100 fastest-growing privately owned companies in the greater
Pittsburgh region were ranked by percentage growth between 2003 and
2005. Acusis ranked #4 in the professional service/consulting
category out of 33 companies in the Pittsburgh 100.

David Iwinski, Jr., Acusis President and CEO accepted a plaque
commemorating this achievement. "We are very proud to be honored as
one of the Pittsburgh 100 fastest growing companies. This
recognition is made possible by consistently delivering to our
customers, World Class Customer Satisfaction with quality, service
and value via our commitment to superior business processes and
technology." Iwinski further expressed this appreciation to the
over 750 Acusis associates worldwide for their dedication and drive
to make on-going contributions. "Since our founding in June, 2001,
our people have strived to make us a nationwide 'top tier' leader
in the medical transcription services industry."

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20060825005199&newsLang=en

3) Fifteen secretarial jobs to go at Trust

LETTERS from consultants to patients will be typed up in India
causing 15 medical secretary posts to go. East and North
Hertfordshire NHS Trust, which runs Lister Hospital, announced this
week that the 15 full-time posts will be covered through voluntary
redundancies - involving 21 full and part-time staff.

The Trust has also confirmed the names of the two companies who
between them will provide the remote medical transcription service.
Alden and DictateIT are based in the UK although their dictation
services are based in India.

The Trust said the move is expected to save £800,000 a year once up
and running - although back in March chief executive Nick Carver
said he hoped the change would save as much as £1million.

The chosen companies will now work with a project team from the
Trust - installing the equipment and training consultants and their
medical secretaries in its use.

"We are satisfied that both companies will provide us with a highly
professional service that will work very effectively, based on a
number of set quality and security safeguards being in place. "So
not only will patients' confidentiality be maintained at all times,
letters dictated by our doctors will be typed up promptly ready for
checking.

"We believe that at significantly reduced cost to the Trust, this
new service will result in as good a service as is the case
currently."

http://www.thecomet.net/content/comet/news/story.aspx?brand=CMTOnline&category=N\
ews&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=newscomnew&itemid=WEED17%20Aug%202006%2011%3A11%3A4\
8%3A370

4) Webmedx, Selects UniPress Software's FootPrints

UniPress a mid-market provider of 100% web-based service desk
automation software, announced that Webmedx, has selected UniPress'
FootPrints to centralize IT support for nearly 500 home-based and
remote workers. The company, taking advantage of the product's
flexible design, is also using FootPrints extensively to track and
manage all development work, issue tracking, and new enhancements
related to the company's unique enterprise document technology -
WebmedxEnterprise(TM).

FootPrints is a line of web-based service desk automation software
that centrally tracks and manages all incoming service and support
requests received from multiple communication channels, including
phone, email, the Web, and chat.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20060822005205&newsLang=en

5) Spheris makes board addition

Spheris Inc. has added former Ernst & Young audit partner Robert
Hensley to its board of directors. Prior to Ernst & Young, which he
left in 2003, Hensley was with Arthur Andersen in Nashville and
served as managing partner of the local office from 1997 to 2002.

Hensley was elected to serve as chairman of Spheris' audit
committee and as a member of the compensation committee.

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2006/08/21/daily4.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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Aug 12, 2006
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Association for Integrity of Healthcare Documentation!

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Elico Ltd. is a Hyderabad based ISO 9001 certified healthcare BPO
undertaking medical transcription, medical coding, medical billing,
and related services for prestigious clients in the US.  We are
looking for proofers/editors with at least 4 years of experience in
medical transcription.  Besides excellent work culture, and
world-class infrastructure, we offer a joining bonus of Rs10,000.
E-mail your resume to hrites@... or call us on
040-23771258 or 9866005445 within 7 days and fix an appointment.

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

It is official now - AAMT is going to be Association for Integrity
of Healthcare Documentation!

So CMT is CIHD? CHD?? Sounds more like a coronary disease :)

I quote from the press release:

Restructuring the organization to meet the evolving needs of
healthcare delivery was the turnkey issue faced by the American
Association for Medical Transcription's House of Delegates last
week at its 28th Annual Convention and Exposition in Boston. The
House of Delegates voted on August 2, 2006, to change the name of
the association to Association for Integrity of Healthcare
Documentation and open the membership up to a broader sector of
healthcare professionals involved in clinical documentation and
data capture.

"The greatest opportunities for improving health and healthcare lie
in enabling information exchange across healthcare facilities. By
broadening the scope of the association's mission, building
stronger alliances between clinical information specialists and
documentation experts, and promoting a new brand for the
association to our healthcare publics, we have a greater
opportunity for obtaining increased relevance in a transforming
marketplace." stated Peter Preziosi, PhD, CAE, Executive Director
of AAMT. "As we move forward to implement the reforms approved by
the House of Delegates, our primary focus is to figure out how to
insert the current skill set of the medical transcriptionist into a
clinical pathway that provides useable, relevant information at the
right time and right location in the health record to inform
clinical decision-making."

AAMT's board of directors and executive director challenged the
membership and leadership to consider a new vision for the
association and to embrace a new plan for restructuring the
organization in alignment with this vision. In addition, the AAMT
House of Delegates voted to open up its practitioner membership
category to all professionals who have a vested role and interest
in clinical documentation, with the goal of collaborating with
those stakeholder groups in setting a strategic course for the
future.

"Convincing an association, whose primary agenda has been meeting
the immediate needs of its practitioners, to shift its focus to the
broader industry was inarguably a challenging task," stated AAMT
2006 President Vallie Piloian, CMT, FAAMT. "A tremendous amount of
education was engaged in prior to these outcomes and will continue
to be embraced moving forward to help usher our members into the
future of healthcare delivery."


On another front take over of Cymed, by a Filipino MNC with an
existing Indian footprint, is a very significant development.

Ciao!

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) PLDT unit SPI acquires CyMed

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), the country's
largest telecom company, said Friday that its unit ePLDT, through
SPI Technologies, Inc., has acquired 100 percent of CyMed Inc. for
$35 million inclusive of certain debts.

CyMed provides medical transcription services for more than 400
health-care systems across 49 states in the US and has been
recognized by numerous industry and community associations for
superior business operations and profitable growth.

The acquisition makes SPI the third largest company in the
outsourced medical transcription industry. Earlier, ePLDT acquired
SPI Technologies Inc. from SPI's sole shareholder, SPI Tech L.P,
for $135.34 million.

"The CyMed acquisition makes us fairly unique in the marketplace
with a balanced and deep pool of talent across our Centers of
Excellence in the US, Philippines and India. CyMed's significant US
presence will further strengthen our ability to deliver high
quality, high volume transcription services around the clock,
around the globe," Ernest L. Cu, SPI president and chief executive
officer, said.  For his part, Robert Lynch, president and CEO of
Cymed, said the management team of his company is equally pleased
with the business combination.

Dave Woodrow, president and chief operating officer of SPI's
healthcare division, will lead the combined SPI-CyMed group, while
Lynch will join the SPI senior management team, but his position
has yet to be announced.

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php?news=1649

2) Bhutanese English language skills poor?

That Bhutanese in general have good command over the English
language may be more myth than reality. At least that was the
experience of Bhutan Business Solutions, a private firm, which
wanted to employ at least 80 Bhutanese youths to start a medical
transcription service in the country.

Of more than 500 graduates and Class 12 students interviewed over
three months, only 39 got through the selection interview to train
for the job. "The interview itself was the most basic requirement,
which most candidates failed to fulfill," said the firm's
spokesperson and former business partner. Of the six partners, five
have reportedly pulled out. "The main thing here is that this
business is not a mechanised industry, it is entirely human
resource based," said the spokesperson. "It is labour intensive."
He said that the firm needed 80 people to start off with. They
would be trained for six months by professionals hired from India
to become certified medical transcriptionists who would be
recognised globally.

The chairperson and the managing director of Bhutan Steel
Industries limited, Damchae Dem, who is continuing with the
venture, said the interviews couldn't be easy given the high
standards required by C-Bay, a medical transcription centre based
in USA. According to the firm's spokesperson, C-Bay, USA gets the
transcription contracts from abroad and C-Bay, India, sets up the
transcription centres in India. C-Bay India would set up the
transcription centre in Bhutan.

http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7287

3) MedQuist Licenses Healthcare De-Identification Software

De-identification of medical records and reports is a critical
success factor in the creation of new quality reporting solutions
and the capacity for healthcare providers to conduct
population-based data mining. In support of these goals, MedQuist
Inc. announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement with
De-ID Data Corp. of Philadelphia. The agreement will foster
development of new medical data repository and reporting solutions
using DE-ID(TM) healthcare de-identification software, enabling
MedQuist to safely and securely import patient data from
participating customers. DE-ID provides MedQuist with a powerful
application to better serve its customers while still maintaining
the highest levels of data security.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-01-200\
6/0004407673&EDATE=

4) Medical Transcription in the Era of Electronic Medical Records

EMR has revolutionized the healthcare industry in recent times.
Many experts felt that EMR & Voice Recognition would totally
replace Medical Transcription - however; the industry soon realized
that transcription has certain advantages over point & click
charting and many physicians preferred to dictate notes rather than
document the data at the point of care themselves.

Advantages
* Corresponds intuitively to the physician's usual method of
working. Dictation remains the most intuitive and least
time-consuming means of data entry.

* Physicians can dictate anytime, anywhere using PDA, Dictaphone or
telephone at their convenience.

* Providers need not change the way they practice just to
accommodate an EMR. EMR can interact with transcription service so
that transcriptions can be attached directly into the patient's
electronic medical record, if such a facility is provided by the
EMR vendor.

* It requires minimal training for physicians.

* Provides expressive power to describe patient's condition and
other health related events

http://www.powerhomebiz.com/News/082006/medical.htm

5) DTS America gets another $500,000

Just days after reaching the goal of 101 employees on the payroll,
DTS America, the medical transcription service that started
training employees in Carlsbad about six months ago, came back to
council for another $500,000 and the request passed unanimously.

DTS is the first medical-transcription processing center in the
nation, and won't be the last, DTS Chief Executive Officer Doug
Hardwick told council Tuesday night. The first two classes of
trainees are at the on-the-job training level at the predicted
quantity and quality of work, Hardwick said. DTS jobs pay about $10
an hour with earning incentives for productivity.

The city had entered into a Job Creation Agreement with DTS at the
recommendation of Carlsbad's Department of Development. DTS wanted
$2 million to provide 200 medical transcription jobs for a minimum
of 5 years. The city agreed to $1 million up front and another
$500,000 upon reaching the goal of 101 full-time, Carlsbad
employees and the next $500,000 when the 151st person is on the
payroll. What surprised council was that DTS leaders themselves had
predicted it would take longer to get to the 101-employee level.

http://www.currentargus.com/ci_4154046
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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

July 29, 2006
********************************************************

Bottom of the rung!

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

I need to quote here:

"Says Ranjit Narasimhan, president & CEO, HCL BPO, 'For ITES, for
instance, medical transcription has been the lowest end of the
value chain. After starting in that area, the industry moved on to
voice-based processes, then transaction-based ones, and now to the
KPO segment.'"

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1794318.cms

This is not the first time I would have heard something to this
effect in general, but this gentleman puffed with all his IIT & IIM
degrees, and sitting at the helm of a large company goes
overboard - MT is the lowest end of the value chain, period. All
data processors and the myriads of call centers are higher up in
the "value chain."

While the gentleman in question is blissful in his ignorance, it
does concern us how such ignorance is propagated, and comes back to
haunt us every time around. Yesterday I received a call from a lady
in Mumbai, who was very disheartened to know I wouldn't pay her INR
30,000 per month to work from home. She did know English and could
consider an online course.

Here's something, the likes of which I am finding very frequently:

"Woman, internet is your handy employment exchange!

We have a whole generation of women who quit working when they
start a family. Most of these women are upper middle class well
qualified women who were on their way up the corporate ladder. Are
you one of them?

Transcriptions: Business Processing Outfits (BPOs) hire medical
transcribers by the dozens. There is option to work at the BPO
office or right out of your own home using earphones and a
computer. A short medical transcription course can help you along
as well as get you faster jobs."

http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/financialplanning/transcriptiononlinemed\
ia/womaninternetisyourhandyemploymentexchange/market/stocks/article/230928

We do need to get back to the media more frequently, and educate
them. MT might be the bottom rung as far as Healthcare BPO is
concerned, but tell me, how many companies in India successfully
run Healthcare BPO operations? There are high entry level barriers
to the Healthcare BPO industry, which many of these big time
players realized first hand when they made a foray into MT in
1999-2001.

If you go to the HCL BPO website, this is what they have to offer:

"Contact Management and Front Office Support - HCL BPO Services
provides a comprehensive range of Voice/Web base Contact and Front
Office Services that span Collections, Sales & Marketing, Technical
Help Desk and Customer Care."

And such an operation is commenting about medical transcription
being the lowest end of the value chain? Maybe all of us should
send him a greeting card for his contribution to the BPO industry!

Ciao!

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) MD-IT buys Texas company

MD-IT announced that it completed its acquisition of Trans Med Plus
Inc.

Under the agreement, MD-IT will acquire the outstanding stock of
Trans Med Plus and the former owners will join the management team
of MD-IT. Specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Last October, MD-IT acquired Denver-based ProMed Transcription for
a combination of stock and shares. In January 2005, MD-IT received
a round of angel funding from CTEK Angels, the largest organized
group of individual private investors in the state of Colorado.

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2006/07/31/daily2.html

2) Spheris Sets Second Quarter 2006 Earnings Release and Conference
Call Dates

Spheris plans to issue its earnings release for the second quarter
of 2006 before the market opens on August 14, 2006, and will host a
conference call on August 14, 2006, at 8:00 a.m. CDT. The number to
call for this interactive teleconference is 507-726-3518.

The live broadcast of Spheris' quarterly conference call will be
available online at http://www.spheris.com and
http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=34648 on August 14, 2006,
at 8:00 a.m. CDT. The online replay will be available shortly after
the call and will continue for 30 days.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-24-200\
6/0004402481&EDATE=

3) MedQuist Announces Resignation of Jan H.M. Hommen from its Board
of Directors

MedQuist Inc. announced that Jan. H.M. Hommen resigned from
MedQuist's Board of Directors, as both a director and the
non-executive Chairman of the Board, effective as of July 21, 2006.
MedQuist also announced that its Board of Directors appointed
director, Jouko Karvinen, to be the non-executive Chairman of the
Board, effective as of July 22, 2006.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20060727005878&newsLang=en

4) IT Team pushes for MT industry in the Philippines

The Bacolod City IT Focus Team and Mayor Evelio Leonardia are
pushing for the establishment of the Medical Transcription Industry
in the city, citing the growing demand of more hospitals in the
United States that are outsourcing their MT needs to the
Philippines, a press release from the office of Councilor Jocelle
Batapa-Sigue said.

Batapa said the IT Team and MT Industry can provide job
opportunities for nurses and unemployed graduates of medical
courses in Bacolod.

There is a growing demand for MT now because more hospitals are
outsourcing their MT needs to the Philippines because of a US law
that requires all medical records to be digitized, MT trainer Ryan
Herrera of MTC Academy said in the same press release. An efficient
medical transcriptionist can earn as much as P3,000 a day based on
the records of Accutype and Innovaquest, two firms all specializing
in medical transcription, Batapa said.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2006/July/25/businessnews2.htm

5) Medical Transcription is Different

Because of HIPAA (patient privacy) laws, anyone who assigns work to
medical trasncriptionists must be very careful about data security,
and thus can't assign work to just anybody anymore. Everyone has to
be connected to a VPN of some kind.

I work for a transcription service as an editor, and although the
company does employ some offshore MTs from India, the account I
work on specifies that no offshores be assigned to their account.

This may not simply be an issue of security; when I have edited the
work of Indian "offshores" for other accounts, I have noticed that
they tend to make a lot of crucial errors, particularly with
numbers (getting numbers wrong is absolutely fatal in this
business, messing them up can be literally a matter of life and
death). Thus offshore MTs haven't completely taken over the jobs of
Americans just yet, and are unlikely to any time soon.

However, more and more raw dictation is being fed to
speech-recognition software, and rather than typing, more MTs are
being utilized to "clean up" the software-generated reports. I'd
imagine that trend will eventually subsume non-medical
transcriptions as well. At least it's easier on the body than
typing all day.

http://letters.salon.com/tech/feature/2006/07/24/turks/view/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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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
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Thank you for your interest in MT India!

The MTIndia Team
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July 15, 2006
********************************************************

Light A Candle for Mumbai - 7/11

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Medwrite - US based healthcare BPO Company employing 300 people in
its Hyderabad centre and providing work for another 200 people
through its vendors. Mainly providing medical transcription,
medical billing and software solutions to 25 major Hospitals in
USA.

We are looking for proofers/editors/QAs with at least 2to 4 years
of experience in medical transcription. Salary Best in industry,
world class work environment and best employee friendly
organization. Night Shift allowances extra ranging from 150 to 200
per Night. E-mail your resume to hr@... or call us on
040-66735510 or 99482 87350 within 7 days and fix an appointment.

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

Mumbai came to a shocking standstill on July 11 when serial blasts
ripped through its local trains, killing and wounding hundreds. But
the city of dreams stood fearless and fighting fit.

Salute Mumbai's never-say-die spirit and Light a Candle for those
who succumbed to the blasts or got injured. For every candle you
light, CNN-IBN and Channel 7 will donate Re 1 for the relief of the
victims.

http://clients.ibnlive.com/features/mumatt/

Ciao!

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 Climbs in 2006 Rankings of Healthcare IT Companies

Spheris has climbed to number 19 among the world's largest
healthcare IT companies. The 2006 rankings were published in the
June issue of Healthcare Informatics, which charts the top 100
companies in the industry in terms of overall revenue and
percentage of growth.

This is the first year that Spheris has reached the TOP 20. Last
year, Spheris was listed at number 28, up from the 35th position in
2004. Spheris is once again ranked in the TOP 10 for growth among
healthcare IT companies. This year, the company was listed at
number 9, which makes three consecutive years in the TOP 10.

"Spheris is taking a leadership role in the clinical documentation
industry by executing our strategy to offer the most effective
blend of technology and service to meet the growing needs of modern
healthcare facilities," said Spheris President and CEO Steven E.
Simpson. "The steady growth of our company over the past three
years is a tribute to the dedication and skill of our entire
team -- from our 5,500 medical transcription specialists to our
innovative and experienced management team."

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060712/clw008.html?.v=54

2) PLDT acquires BPO firm SPI for US$135M

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has finalized the
acquisition of business process outsourcing firm SPi Technologies,
Inc. through subsidiary ePLDT. EPLDT acquired 100 percent of the
shares of SPi from its sole shareholder, SPi Tech L.P. for
US$135.34 million in cash, PLDT said in a statement Tuesday.

This acquisition also manifests our commitment to make the
Philippines one of the leading business process outsourcing
locations in the world" said Ray Espinosa, president & chief
executive officer (CEO) of ePLDT.

According to PLDT, SPi is the second largest "pure-play" BPO
(business process outsourcing) company and the ninth largest
independent BPO service in the world. SPi has operations in 19
locations in North America, Europe and Asia.Its customers include
Fortune 100 companies, non-profit organizations and government
agencies in the financial services, healthcare, legal and
publishing markets. SPi operates facilities in the Philippines,
India, U.S., China and Vietnam.

Last year, SPI acquired the medical transcription business of the
Coimbatore-based KG Group in an all cash deal.

http://www.webwereld.nl/articles/41984/pldt-acquires-bpo-firm-spi-for-us$135m.ht\
ml

3) Trade dep't, Chamber line up activities for SME Week - MT
Seminar

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Southern Mindanao and
Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) are
working together in implementing various activities for the Small
and Medium Enterprise (SME) Week celebration on August 17 to 23.

In developing these SMEs, the organizers have lined up a number of
trainings and seminars that are of different topics.

The DTI, for instance, will spearhead the conduct of two events
namely: Medical Transcription: Its Business Prospects, and Forum on
Information Technology (IT) Solutions for SMEs.

The training on Medical Transcription: Its Business Prospects is
slated on July 18, from 1 to 5 p.m., DTI Conference Room,
Monteverde Avenue corner Sales Street, Davao City.

This training will provide the participants with an overview of the
medical transcription (MT) industry, requirements in setting-up
such business, MT learning system, and its financial support

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2006/07/14/bus/trade.dep.t.chamber.line.up.\
activities.for.sme.week.html

4) Musharraf urges coordinated approach for industrial progress

"We need an efficient implementation of a strategy to meet the
rising demands of rapid industrial development both at national and
local levels," President Pervez Musharraf said.

He was speaking at a presentation on objectives set forth by the
National Vocational and Technical Education Commission (NAVTEC),
the current status and requirements for training of manpower on
modern lines and in accordance with local economic potential.

President Musharraf said a combination of new initiatives and
improvement in the existing infrastructure should lead to visible
results in terms of raising the quality of the workforce and
expanding it.

"We have to keep up the momentum of economic growth and focus on
several booming sectors like infrastructure building, housing
information technology, tourism services, commercial support,
livestock, transport, medical transcription workers - and at the
same time strive for value addition in the traditional agriculture
sector," he emphasized.

http://www.dawn.com/2006/07/13/top9.htm

5) Overcoming adversity makes dream come true

Deffler attended classes at the Blind Center in Daytona to learn
medical transcription. Using a piece of equipment called JAWS and a
headset, Deffler learned to use a Dictaphone to listen to doctors'
reports and then transcribe them. JAWS will read aloud any
material, which enables Deffler to hear. "I did well in the class,"
Deffler said, "but had a difficult time finding a job in that
field."

http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060710/FEATURES09/207100310/10\
15/news01
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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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July 08, 2006
********************************************************

Challenges for the Indian MT Industry

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Elico Ltd. is a Hyderabad based ISO 9001 certified healthcare BPO
undertaking medical transcription, medical coding, medical billing,
and related services for prestigious clients in the US.  We are
looking for proofers/editors with at least 4 years of experience in
medical transcription.  Besides excellent work culture, and
world-class infrastructure, we offer a joining bonus of Rs10,000.
E-mail your resume to hrites@... or call us on
040-23771258 or 9866005445 within 7 days and fix an appointment.

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

Here is a summary of Suresh Nair's (CEO, Spheris India)
presentation at the NASSCOM meet:

*Very large growing market opportunity with a declining capacity in
the US

*India will definitely be a preferred destination outside of the US

*Rates will need to start going northwards to allow for better
entry salaries, infrastructure, growth etc

*Get quality certified-process and individuals to develop
confidence

*Get security certification

*Indian technology companies should start partnering with Indian MT
companies in designing intelligent solutions that can make the
Indian MT's more productive and deliver higher quality

*Indian companies should move training where it really belongs i.e.
in colleges

*This will allow an increase in almost a 10% margin for most
companies

*Ideally UGC should be sanctioning programs in medical
transcription as the drive for more jobs from the government opens
ups more vocational training

Ciao!

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 signs a long-term contract with Iridium

Hitech Entertainment Ltd said its subsidiary Geosoft Technologies
(TVM) Ltd has signed a long-term BPO contract with US-based
Medquist.

The agreement with Medquist would provide substantial strength to
the operational performance of Geosoft, Hitech informed the Bombay
Stock Exchange.

The contract at full capacity levels can generate upto Rs 22.5
crore in terms of annual revenues, it added.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshowcnews/1693786.cms

2) CBaySystems Introduces CBayFlo VoiceDirect

CBaySystems announced the general availability of CBayFlo
VoiceDirect - its own automated digital dictation and voice capture
system.

With the introduction of CBayFlo VoiceDirect, hospitals who are
dependent on expensive, proprietary dictation systems from
Dictaphone, DVI, and Lanier can enjoy new freedom and flexibility.
CBayFlo VoiceDirect incorporates the same features and quality at a
significantly lower price. At the same time, it is built on an open
technology platform that allows it to interface with legacy
Dictaphone, DVI, Lanier and home-grown systems. This allows a
smooth migration path (with zero training) as well as easy
integration with other HIM systems.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060706/dcth010.html?.v=60

3) Cuts will have a major impact

UNION leaders have described a hospital trust's plans to cut 500
jobs and close as many as three wards as a "devastating blow." East
and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, which is already heavily in
debt, has been faced with more pressure after primary care trusts,
also suffering from financial difficulties, are seeking to buy
fewer services from Lister Hospital and other hospitals cutting the
Trust's income.

The Trust will eliminate vacant posts, stop providing services
where PCTs do not meet the full costs and pursue existing projects
which will result in a reduction in staff - for example merging
medical record departments and medical transcription outsourcing.

http://www.thecomet.net/content/comet/news/story.aspx?
brand=CMTOnline&category=News&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=newscomnew&ite
mid=WEED29%20Jun%202006%2010:54:01:983

4) PRN Funding Awarded for its Commitment to the Medical
Transcription Industry

At the conclusion of the 17th Annual Medical Transcription Industry
Association's (MTIA) Conference, PRN Funding, LLC was honored for
its dedication to the medical transcription industry when it was
presented with the Circle of Commitment Award. The award was
created to recognize companies that have demonstrated ongoing,
sustained support of the medical transcription industry.

Founded by a former transcription service executive, PRN Funding
has a precise understanding of the unique challenges of the medical
transcription funding industry-more specifically the intricacies of
receiving payment from hospitals and medical clinics in a timely
manner. PRN Funding provides working capital to medical
transcription service owners (MTSOs) to fill the financial gap
between when they invoice for their services and when they receive
payment from their customers - a process known as
"factoring," which provides the cash needed to sustain and grow a
healthcare business.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?
ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-15-2006/0004381363&EDATE=

5) MT Company develops E-learning portal for TOEFL courses

Pondicherry-based Medical Transcription Company - Azimuth software,
plans to launch its own e-learning portal for TOEFL courses
shortly. Azimuth's General Manager K Anand said that the e-learning
portal would be called Azimuth Academy, which would also venture
into teaching other prospective courses such as medical
transcription and the like.

http://www.ciol.com/content/search/showarticle1.asp?artid=85933

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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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July 01, 2006
********************************************************

Challenges for the Indian MT Industry

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

For those who couldn't attend the NASSCOM meet, here is a synopsis
of the presentation by Suresh Nair, CEO, Spheris India.

WHAT WORRIES THE MARKET

1. The primary issue is quality

* English grammar
* Use of American English
* Use of Americanisms
* Medical words

2. Next issue is security

* Adequate steps to protect patient information
* Will technology security be licensed or pirated
* Does a law to address data protection exist ?
* If it exists, is it implementable
* Does the vendor have a US office so the hospital/clinic can
recover damages in the event of a court case ?

3. Third issue is employee welfare

* If the rates are lower is it because of exploitation of labor
* Is the work environment pleasant and clean ?
* Are people taken care of ?
* Not a "NIKE" in China story

WHAT ARE THE DELIVERY ISSUES

1. Difficulty to hire new people

* Job demands high written English
* At least 9 months of training
* Very strong logical comprehension skills
* An aptitude for research
* Booming overall BPO industry needs largely the above skills but
with spoken skill included
* Length of training deters a person from joining transcription
instead of say, a call centre
* Wages in the initial part of transcription career are lower than
other BPO services, but as experience level increases, wage level
in transcription industry tends to get higher than any comparable
BPO industry

2. Declining to static rate from the customer

* As the perception for India has been created as a cheap, low
quality destination, clients still expect substantial reduction in
what they pay for the same service in the US from an Indian vendor
* Unlike software the MT industry has not quoted rates based on its
ability to deliver
* Despite a huge shortage of capacity, rates have declined in the
last 4 years by at least 10% merely because Indian Players have
flashed the 'cheap' placard
* Low rates have meant inability to train/change
infrastructure/increase entry level salaries and most important -
to grow
* Small time entrepreneur driver companies are the worst-hit since
they do not have in many instances direct access to the hospital or
clinic

3. Technology challenges, voice recognition/EMR

* VR was originally sold to hospitals and clinics by the VR
companies as a replacement for transcription but was soon found to
be ineffective, however hospitals/clinics still flirt with this
technology and therefore this represents a relevant technology
threat. In the mean time the Industry has been adapting this
technology for its own use to further productivity
* EMR is a template driven system which allows a doctor to simply
click a few buttons and make a few choices to allow his report to
be ready. Its use is limited to less complicated reports-
radiology, ER reports etc but they are expanding into other areas

To be continued...

Ciao!

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) Focus Infomatics Ranked #1 MTSO in KLAS Medical Transcription
Outsourcing Report

Focus Infomatics Inc., a Transcription Healthcare Solutions
Company, announced today that they have been named the #1 Medical
Transcription Service Organization (MTSO) in the country by KLAS,
the Research and Consulting firm specializing in monitoring and
reporting the performance of healthcare Professional Services Firms
(PSFs).

The Medical Transcription Service study was requested by providers
to better understand the performance of services that provide
domestic and/or offshore transcriptionists, examining the issues
surrounding offshore service options and the impact of speech
recognition technology on the MTSO marketplace. KLAS conducted
nationwide surveys and interviews, speaking with 97 providers from
96 unique organizations. Based upon 17 Performance Indicators,
Focus Infomatics ranked #1 overall, leading in 10 of the 12
performance indicators and received the top score in three out of
the five Business Indicators. In addition 100 percent of
respondents stated they would buy Focus's service again and that
Focus avoids nickel-and-diming.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060629/clth506.html?.v=41

2) MedQuist Launches Next-Generation Dictation Technology Solution

"DocQment Ovation is our newest technology innovation developed in
direct response to industry feedback and providers' interest in
replacing previous- generation dictation systems," says Scott
Bennett, MedQuist senior vice president of Sales and Marketing. "An
integral component of our growing technology portfolio, Ovation
helps to provide an end-to-end solution from dictation to billing,
including front-end and back-end speech recognition."

Document Ovation was specifically engineered to be compatible with
MedQuist's previous-generation dictation stations, thus
facilitating the retention and recruitment of transcriptionists,
and making it easy for providers to upgrade with little or no
physician retraining required. Deployed at the customer's location,
Ovation provides an enterprise view that allows transcription
supervisors to easily manage users, documents and
voice files from a single dashboard instead of using multiple
systems.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-29-200\
6/0004389483&EDATE=

3) DTS set for second graduation ceremony

DTS America Inc. will hold its second graduation ceremony at its
facility on Eighth Street, honorING 52 new graduates of the
company's training program. The ceremony will honor 37 graduates
from the company's second day training course and 15 graduates of
the company's first night class. The 12-week session of daytime
classes are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., while the 24-week night classes
are from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Bonnie Bakal, DTS's Vice President of Medical Transcription
Development is also assuming permanent duties as general manager of
the production center in Carlsbad.

"We're going to a 16-week program," she said. "There will be 12
weeks of book learning and a month of concentrated practice in the
work they'll eventually be doing."

DTS plans to employ at least 200 individuals within 2 ½ years, but
the number could increase."It depends on the job market," Bakal
said. "If we can continue to get the quality of people we're
getting, I don't know that we'll have a limit."

http://www.currentargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060627/NEWS01/606270301\
/1001

4) Spheris taps Whorton as senior vice president of sales

Spheris Inc., a provider of medical transcription technology and
services, announced Tuesday the promotion of J. Alan Whorton to the
position of senior vice president of sales and marketing. Whorton
replaces James B. Panoff, who left the company earlier in the month
to pursue other interests.

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2006/06/26/daily13.html?from_rss=1

5) Consultation begins over axed secretary posts

A HOSPITAL trust has confirmed that 24 medical secretary posts will
go when an outsourced letter typing company is employed. The new
medical transcription service - which could see patient notes typed
up abroad - will start in autumn after one of the three companies
being trialled is chosen.

The move is expected to save the trust up to £1m a year. East and
North Herts NHS Trust has said it hopes that all the job losses
will be covered by people taking voluntary redundancy rather than
making it compulsory.

Director of human resources Danny Mortimer said: "The trust is
satisfied that a professionally managed remote transcription
service will work very effectively. "We believe that, at
significantly reduced cost to the hospital trust, this new service
will result in as good a service as is the case currently.

http://www.whtimes.co.uk/content/whtimes/news/story.aspx?brand=WHTOnline&categor\
y=News&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=newswhtnew&itemid=WEED27%20Jun%202006%2017%3A15%\
3A15%3A653
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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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Jun 24, 2006
********************************************************

EMRs & MT

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

I got a frantic mail over the weekend:
---------------------------------------------------------
Please focus your forthcoming digest on Electronic Medical Record.
I have lost my contract from New York because of this.  Many
clinics are switching to this. What is your personal opinion and
how is this going to effect our MT industry in India
---------------------------------------------------------
For those not following the advances in EMRs, it must be pointed
out that most EMRs have been offering physicians the opportunity to
fill in their clinical notes by selecting the appropriate data
right on their computers by interactive template-menu interfaces
and user-friendly input devices like touch-pens, or even voice
commands.

Unfortunately, there is a glaring gap between the potential and
actual use of information technology (IT) in healthcare. Experts
have long identified the lack of standardized clinical terminology
for electronic health records as one of these barriers.

The problem is not so much a question of language as a question of
standardization of the means of representing clinical meaning in
systems. Coding systems have historically been used to accomplish
this task; the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
family of classifications are widely adopted and used both for
epidemiologic reporting and for coding for reimbursement purposes.

Despite their wide use and clear usefulness, these
classification-type coding systems fall short of supporting the
needs of electronic medical records. obvious problem is their lack
of clinical specificity - when taking the entire spectrum of
healthcare into account, classifications do not reach the level of
detail needed for clinical documentation in all areas. In response
to these and other needs expressed by developers and early adopters
of electronic health information systems, in 2002, the first
version of Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms
(SNOMED CT) was released for use as standardized terminology to
support electronic healthcare applications. In addition to lack of
clinical detail, other problems with existing classification-style
coding systems include the fact that their hierarchies are bound to
the codes, preventing multiple inheritance. In contrast, SNOMED CT
permits a given code to appear in multiple different hierarchies as
appropriate.

Going back to Electronic Medical Records, which should be a
structured, easily queried database, lending the information it
contains to easy analysis and therefore enhancement of knowledge;
rather than a digitized "soft copy" version of unstructured notes
not amenable to data processing and management, we need, direct
physician input of structured/codified data in the form of
controlled clinical vocabulary, such as SNOMED-CT. To make this
happen, physicians will have to stop dictating and, instead, enter
structured clinical data directly into a computer. But this is a
change, which is not 'waiting to happen.'

It is going to be a while before the majority of physicians start
direct entry of structured/codified data into EMRs. Even when
physicians agree to enter critical data this way, there will still
need a free-text "option" for information that doesn't fit into the
coding structure. Free-text entry methods (like medical
transcription), do not provide useful data for clinical data
management. Natural language processing (NLP) technology claims to
extract clinical facts from narrative reports, however, I am
skeptical this is going to mature enough in this century to be a
viable alternative.

To summarize and answer your question, Electronic Medical Records
or
Electronic Health Records are the natural progression towards a
modern healthcare record. MTs and MTSOs exist because of the way
healthcare documentation is carried out today. With evolution of
the documentation process, both professionals and the industry have
to evolve with it. As MTs it would require adding new skill sets
and might need new job profiles. As service providers, you probably
need a paradigm shift in mind set from being a medical
transcription service provider to being a more composite medical
records service provider, and opportunities would abound.

In conclusion, I must add that changing physician behavior is not
an easy challenge. It might take a decade or more for EMRs to
really "wipe out" MT, if that really happens. Losing one contract
does not necessarily signify an imminent industry trend - one
swallow does not make a summer!

Ciao!

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) Up and running

At a plush upmarket hospital in New York City, a doctor dictates
medical diagnosis for a patient onto a digital recorder. Thousands
of miles away, in Siliguri - a rapidly developing metropolis in the
state of West Bengal - a young Medical Transcriptionist receives
the dictation in a voice file, and then readies herself for the
task in hand.

Over the next few hours, the spoken words are efficiently
transcribed, formatted, proof-read and perfected into a digitised
medical record, which will eventually become a part of patients'
permanent files, ready to be retrieved by the hospital for
insurance and research purpose. Make no mistake. The Medical
Transcription (MT) outsourcing industry, which had come under a
cloud after its initial runaway success in the 1990s, is all set to
make a grand comeback.

According to the latest Market Intelligence Service report of
Nasscom, with at least 120-150 companies engaged in medical
transcription in India, the sector is clocking an annual revenue
aggregate of about $220-240 million. And this figure, analysts say,
will witness a meteoric rise in the coming years, given factors
such as increasing healthcare costs in the US, its ageing
population, and increasing regulatory emphasis on digitisation of
medical records and documentation.

"Today, India's share is roughly over $200 million. This means, as
an industry, we are capturing less than 2 per cent of the overall
size of the US market, but it also shows there is a tremendous
opportunity waiting to be tapped," says Suresh Nair, CEO of Spheris
India, and President of the Indian Medical Transcription Industry
Association.

K.B. Anand, Chief Operating Officer of medical transcription firm
Acusis India, sees a huge demand building up for MT work in US
hospitals. "For hospitals and clinics in the US, the bottom-line is
always a concern. One area to cut expenses is outsourcing good
quality work from offshore locations, at less than half the price.
Also, there is an immense backlog when it comes to transforming
dictations into medical records and dearth of professionals (the
average age of an American medical transcriptionist is 49 years) to
ease that backlog. Together these factors are creating a burgeoning
demand-supply gap in the US market," he reasons.

India, with its talent pool, English language skills, and the
advantage of a favourable time zone, is in a unique position to tap
this opportunity, say industry observers. In India, it is estimated
that service providers charge anywhere around 12-18 cents per line
of 65 characters, while the same work, when sub-contracted further
to smaller outfits, can go as cheap as 4-5 cents per line. "In
contrast, the work done within US shores could be billed at 15-25
cents per line," says Anand.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2006/06/19/stories/2006061900070100.htm

2) Mind your business - from home

Archana joined college but was forced to discontinue because of
family circumstances. In such a situation, most youngsters would
have given up hopes of making it good, especially in a city like
Mumbai. But Archana enrolled for training in medical transcription.
After two years on a job, she quit to work from home. Today, she
earns enough to support the family. "I am able to help my Mom and
don't have to worry about getting into the electric train to reach
the office on time during peak hours. The crowd is maddening," she
says. "A degree is important, but without that, I am making about
Rs 25,000 a month. I work for 6-7 hours a day," she says.

Down South, in Coimbatore, Sanjay, Rajan Bose and Janakiraman (all
commerce graduates) endorse Archana's sentiments. "After
graduation, I earned a meagre Rs 2,000 per month on small jobs.
Then I noticed an advertisement wherein a medical transcription
company invited applicants for training with a monthly stipend of
Rs 3,750. I opted for the training. After completion, I accepted
Spryance's offer and worked for two years before deciding to
continue from home," says Sanjay. He works 11-12 hours a day and
pockets nothing less than Rs 30,000 a month.

Rajan Bose has a problem. His father has to undergo dialysis every
fifth day and he is certain that no office will grant leave that
liberally. This way, "there is enough flexibility and I earn more
than I would sitting in some office. I am able to take care of my
father too," he says.

Subish, after completing his diploma in Software Engineering, was
jobless for almost six months. "I had to earn. Diploma holders are
not paid well by the industry. So I took up training in medical
transcription. I have no regrets."

They are all home-based MTs for Spryance, which is into medical
transcription. There are over 1,500 home-based MTs on the company's
rolls and the number is said to be rising by the day. In Coimbatore
alone, there are over 200 transcriptionists working from home.
Women particularly find it more convenient as they are able to work
at their pace and without much stress. But surprisingly, there are
a number of young men who prefer to work from home.

Economic independence, learning experience and the convenience of
working from home seem to have attracted more people, especially
those who hate the thought of travelling that extra mile to reach
their work spot on time.

The number of housewives with grown-up children taking up MT jobs
is on the rise. Over a period of time, they grow to become
proof-readers and editors.

"The training and growth may sound simple. Unless one has a flair
for the language and medical terminology, apart from hard work, you
can only dream big but achieve nothing," says Divya, Proof Reader
and Quality Analyst at Hykon Transcripts (P) Ltd.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2006/06/19/stories/2006061900060100.htm

3) Firm offers MT scholarship, employment in US co, rejects AAMT
curriculum for Filipinos...

"While other medical transcription schools are adopting the
American Association of Medical Transcription (AAMT) model
curriculum on medical sciences, English and transcription
methodology, ISMT - through actual experience - has proven the
model to be inadequate and ineffective for the Filipino learner," a
company statement said.

Mawit said ISMT redesigned the AAMT model to suit the peculiarities
of Filipino trainees and to enable them to meet global quality
standards for medical transcription. ISMT, she said, also provides
on-the-job training, modern technology and the necessary facilities
to its students.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/06/16/bus/firm.offers.medical.transcri\
ption.scholarship.employment.in.us.co..html

4) Unison condemns offshore medical transcription

NHS trusts that outsource the transcription of medical notes to
South Africa, the Philippines and India received a sharp rebuke
from health union, Unison, yesterday. General secretary, Dave
Prentis, speaking at the union's annual conference this week,
condemned the outsourcing as "a very dangerous practice." The union
has accumulated anecdotal evidence of potentially life-threatening
mistakes made by overseas transcribers, including:

. confusing "hypertension" (high blood pressure) with "hypotension"
(low blood pressure);
. confusing "A septic" (infected) with "aseptic" (not infected);
. mixing up "15mg" and "50mg" drug dosages.

Confidentiality is also a concern when notes are sent to countries
that do not have the kind of data protection laws that operate in
the European Union.

The issue of processing data offshore was raised earlier this year
by Connecting for Health (CfH) chief executive, Richard Granger,
when he expressed the view during a round table discussion in India
that the lack of a regulatory framework for processing personal
data in India was a constraint on the country's large players.
He was quoted in the Economic Times of India as saying that the NHS
had not crossed the line in terms of data being processed offshore
and that data would not go outside the European Union until there
is a regulatory framework in place.

In addition to concerns about accuracy and confidentiality, the
union says medical secretaries' jobs are being put at risk. It
cites the case of East and North Herts NHS Trust which, it claims,
has issued redundancy notices to 160 medical secretaries, asking
for 58 volunteers. "All the government is doing is looking for a
cheaper workforce - yet it's doctors and medical students in these
other countries that are being used to do the transcriptions."

James Fellowes, managing director of Dict8, a medical transcription
firm that uses only UK medical secretaries for its service, said he
was pleased to see the subject had been raised. "You can't compare
the skills of people who have worked in the NHS as medical
secretaries for a long time with people who are offshore," he told
E-Health Insider.

http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/item.cfm?ID=1961

5) Subcontractor put VA health records at risk: IG

Management controls by the Veterans Health Administration over the
acquisition of medical transcription services, and the privacy and
security of patient information are deficient and need improvement,
according to VA's inspector general.

The VA Office of Inspector General has been investigating
allegations that an offshore medical transcription subcontractor
threatened last year to expose 30,000 veterans' electronic health
records on the Internet in a payment dispute with another
subcontractor over $28,000.

VHA, an agency of VA, needs to develop the ability to perform its
medical transcription in-house, because there is no practical way
to ensure that contractors safeguard patients' protected health
information, said Michael Staley, VA assistant inspector general
for auditing, in a report:

http://www.va.gov/oig/52/reports/2006/VAOIG-04-00018-155.pdf
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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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June 10, 2006
********************************************************

Quiz Contest 2006 - The Winners!

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

MT Units for Sale - Bangalore
-------------------------------------------------

2 MT units for sale at Bangalore, 200 MTs each, 7-8 years old. Sale
can be as a composite sale or separately. Please email me at
amit@... or mtindia@... .

Please furnish legitimate details about yourself and be ready to
sign a non-disclosure agreement, if you are interested in
proceeding.

Dr Amit Chatterjee, SM
CEO
MTIndia

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

Some of you have written back that your "crowning glory"
announcement was overshadowed by Focus' rank announcement at KLAS.
While, that is not exactly true, let me clarify there was no
intention to belittle your achievements. So, here goes, again:

Congratulations to winners of the MT India Quiz Contest '2006, and
the Prizes below:

*1st Prize - Trophy & Cash Prize of INR 2500

- Abhijeet Chatterjee, Acusis, Kolkata

**Two 2nd Prizes - Certificate of Merit and Cash Prizes of INR 750
each

- Qamer Sultana, TransDyne, Hyderabad
- Kariappa Keethianda, Viva Infotech, Madikeri

***Three 3rd Prizes - Certificate of Merit and Cash Prizes of INR
500 each

- Sivani Padmakumar, Focus Infosys, Chennai
- Farhat Sultana, Worldtech, Hyderabad
- Parvathy Peter, Medilogistics, Chennai

Certificate of Merit to al Final Round Participants. Please wait
for your prizes!

Ciao!

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 Reports First Quarter 2006 Results

Spheris, announced results for the first quarter ended March 31,
2006. Net revenue for the first quarter of 2006 was $52.0 million
compared with $53.3 million in the first quarter of 2005. The $1.3
million decline in net revenues during the first quarter of 2006
from the prior-year period was primarily due to customer contracts
the Company terminated in 2005 that did not have acceptable
operating margins and the continued impact of lost business related
to the industry-wide domestic medical transcriptionist, or MT,
capacity shortage in 2005. However, operating income increased to
$1.1 million during the first quarter of 2006 compared with $0.5
million during the prior-year period.

Earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation and amortization,
or EBITDA, increased to $7.7 million in the first quarter compared
with $7.3 million in the prior-year period. Both operating income
and EBITDA were reduced by $0.3 million during the first quarter of
2006 by a non-cash charge resulting from the write-off of
in-process research and development upon consummation of the
Company's acquisition of Vianeta Communications on March 31, 2006.
Excluding this non-cash charge, operating income and EBITDA would
have been $1.4 million and $8.0 million, respectively, for the
first quarter of 2006.

Simpson added, "Given the number of customer contracts we
terminated in 2005 that did not have acceptable operating margins,
the impact of the industry-wide domestic MT capacity shortage in
2005 and the resulting loss of business that continues to impact us
in 2006, we anticipated a modest decline in net revenues in our
year-over-year comparisons. However, new customer wins secured in
the first quarter and thus far in the second quarter, as well as a
strong pipeline of potential new business, have served to validate
the differentiated technology and service offerings we can now
supply to our customers. Together with ongoing cost-saving efforts,
operational improvements and the anticipated future impact of the
Vianeta acquisition, we expect this activity to help us build
momentum in the second half of the year."

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060605/clm058.html?.v=45

2) Boom time again for medical transcription

The medical transcription sector, the earliest in business process
outsourcing to come here, may go through a growth phase again.
Client hospitals and medical insurance companies in the U.S.
account for $200 million worth of business for transcription
centres here. According to Peter Preziosi, Executive Director of
the American Association of Medical Transcription (AAMT), the
sector is going through another boom period now.

While attending a seminar on medical transcription here last week,
he said transcription personnel were needed now for specialised
sectors such as editing, speech regulation, clinical trial data and
clinical research and health-related information technology.

"For candidates with high levels of accuracy and ethical standards,
there will be no dearth of opportunities in the medical
transcription sector. What is most required of candidates is the
willingness to protect the privacy and security of important
medical documents. Clients in the U.S. are particular about this,"
Dr. Preziosi said.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/12/stories/2006061223020400.htm

3) Medical transcription business suffering from labor shortage

After the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP)
reported that there would be a major labor shortfall for the
industry, the medical transcription industry could also experience
the same problems, according to an executive of medical
transcription school MediTrans Academy.

If not addressed immediately, the US 10-billion-dollar market for
outsourced medical transcription might continue to go to other
markets, mainly India.
MediTrans Academy Director Josemari Cuervo said the Philippines is
barely scratching one percent of the MT market in the US and there
are also other countries that are possible sources for business,
particularly in English-speaking countries.

While the contact center industry largely targets the US markets,
Cuervo said the MT operators in the Philippines can go after
countries where medical institutions need to have their medical
reports encoded or audio records transcribed. He said that as of
last count, there were just 5,000 professional medical transcribers
in the Philippines from nearly 40 MT firms, compared to 100,000 in
the call center industry.

Likewise, Cuervo said that the MT industry would need to increase
its workforce significantly to capture the larger potentials in the
US."There is no shortage in projects from the US. In fact, we're
already streaming with projects that we can't accommodate. But it's
the lack of skilled people that we're worried about," Cuervo said.

"We also have to make sure that our graduates are skilled enough to
be accepted in an MT company. It should be remembered that medical
records are strictly personal and could not be leaked so clients
have to be assured of confidentiality," Cuervo said.

http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=78823

4) PeopleSupport's local arm to lead global MT foray

PeopleSupport, Inc., which started as a pure call center provider,
is setting its sights on becoming a global business process
outsourcing (BPO) player, with the Philippine operation taking the
lead.

In January, the company completed its acquisition of Newport Beach,
California-based Rapidtext, Inc. and its subsidiary, The
Transcription Co., followed by its foray in March into Costa Rica
for captioning support.

"[But] the Philippines would continue to be our largest and most
predominant location. There are still a lot of opportunities here,
and the Philippines could still represent more than 50% of our
business," Mr. Rosenzweig said.

With the recent acquisition of Rapidtext, the Philippine office has
begun to venture into the nascent transcription business, for which
it has over 100 transcriptionists to date. The company has hired
Evelyn S. Abat, former managing director of medical transcription
firm eDATA Services Philippines, Inc, to lead the growing team.

"The medical transcription business is constrained in the US by our
ability to hire enough qualified transcriptionists, which is really
slowing our growth. This is an area where the Philippines can
supplement our US team and increase our growth potential," Mr.
Rosenzweig said.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/06/04/1668411.htm

5) MedQuist to Sponsor Dictation Best Practices Initiative

Recognizing the critical need for best practices in dictation,
MedQuist has partnered with AAMT via a $20,000 sponsorship to
market the association's Dictation Best Practices Tool Kit, a
compilation of training materials, tips and policies for improving
dictation. This tool kit on CD will be marketed to medical school
directors, residency program coordinators, and healthcare
facilities. It will also be available for download via the AAMT
website for components seeking to use the tool kit at the local
level. AAMT extends its sincere appreciation to MedQuist for this
pledge of support and for recognizing that improved dictation
practices should be the shared vision of our industry.

AAMT would also like to acknowledge MedQuist's recent support of
its MTs and the association's goals and objectives during MT Week.
MedQuist provided AAMT memberships to 25 MTs, reimbursement of CMT
training and testing for 5 MTs, and all-expense-paid trips to
AAMT's

Annual Convention in Boston for 7 MTs as part of their MT Week
celebration. MedQuist is also offering a sign-on bonus to displaced
Heartland MTs of $1000 for FT and $500 for PT employees hired
before July 31, 2006. Displaced Heartland employees can learn more
about this offer by contacting MedQuist.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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

Jun 03, 2006
********************************************************

Focus rated #1 MTSO

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

Focus has been ranked No. 1 in the overall Medical Transcription
Service Organization Rankings by KLAS (www.healthcomputing.com)

For details, see:
http://www.focusinfomatics.com/

Congratulations to winners of the MT India Quiz Contest '2006, and
the Prizes below:

*1st Prize - Trophy & Cash Prize of INR 2500

- Abhijeet Chatterjee, Acusis, Kolkata

**Two 2nd Prizes - Certificate of Merit and Cash Prizes of INR 750
each

- Qamer Sultana, TransDyne, Hyderabad
- Kariappa Keethianda, Viva Infotech, Madikeri

***Three 3rd Prizes - Certificate of Merit and Cash Prizes of INR
500 each

- Sivani Padmakumar, Focus Infosys, Chennai
- Farhat Sultana, Worldtech, Hyderabad
- Parvathy Peter, Medilogistics, Chennai

Ciao!

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 industry racing ahead

The $250 million lean medical transcription (MT) industry in India
is racing ahead to grab a major slice of the global $12 billion
pie. As per a Nasscom report, MT will become the fourth largest
foreign exchange earner in the next five years.

Shedding light over the industry's potential, Rajiv Shetye,
vice-president (Indian operations), Spryance India says, "The
Healthcare BPO is a $200 billion business worldwide and medical
transcription alone is worth more than $12 billion. The $110
million Indian MT industry will grow to become a $ 5-6 billion one
in the next three years."

With six to seven strong contenders and 200 serious players in all,
the employment potential of the industry is huge.

"The MT service in India has generated over 20,000 jobs and will
add atleast 25 per cent more jobs per year," said Suresh Nair, CEO
and Managing Director, Spheris India and President, Indian Medical
Transcription Industry Association (IMTIA).

http://www.business-standard.com/compindustry/storypage.php?leftnm=1&subLeft=6&c\
hklogin=N&autono=93040&tab=r

2) Omani staff put country on medical map of the world

Omani employees of a local company have put the Sultanate on the
medical map of the world, thanks to their immense dedication to
their job and the uniqueness of their services offered. The
employees of a Muscat-based company have become the first in the
region to gain international certification for providing medical
transcription services to hospitals in the United States.

These Omanis are employed at OmanLine (Mena Business Services), and
while theirs is a success story, the formation of OmanLine and its
ensuing success is indeed a tale of 'rags to riches' and beyond.
OmanLine operates under a long-term contract with CBay Systems Ltd,
the third largest medical transcription company in the world.

OmanLine transcribers are trained to CBay and international
standards and, in recognition of this, have been awarded CBay's
international certification. "We are proud that our employees have
received this recognition," Ali Hashmi enthused yesterday. "We have
been aware that we have been performing at a high level.
Internationally, medical transcription services promise 95 per cent
accuracy, but OmanLine is currently operating at 99.2 per cent.

http://www.timesofoman.com/newsdetails.asp?newsid=30882&pn=local

3) Medical transcription back in the pink

Since 2004, the sector has slowly but steadily worked its way up.
Now, it generates revenues worth $195 million. The figure is
expected to go upto $647 million by 2010, according to ValueNotes
study.

In fact, the study found that at present, India-based MT vendors
employ around 18,000; by 2010, the numbers will go up to 52,000. A
Nasscom study released last month too confirms this northward move
of the Indian MT industry. It says India has 120 to 150 MT
companies which earn an annual income of $220 to $240 million.

The ValueNotes study says that by 2010, work worth $860 million
will be offshored globally. "While intense competition has driven
out hundreds of small players, several large players are
aggressively expanding their capacity through acquisitions.

The industry will witness further consolidation with large American
MT service organisations eyeing smaller Indian offshore
vendors,"says Neeraja Kandala, analyst at ValueNotes. Experts say
there has been a systematic ramp-up and a steady flow of business
from the US to India which is our largest market.

In fact, several large players are now expanding business. For
example, Acusis added 300 people and opened a fifth office in
India. CBay plans to expand its total employee strength to 10,000
by 2008.

Spheris, another big player, opened its second centre in Coimbatore
after Bangalore. SPI Technologies plans to employ 10,000 medical
transcriptionists by 2009.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1581034,curpg-2.cms

4) ePLDT to buy 100% of SPI Tech

In a statement, the Philippine's largest telecommunications firm
said it had authorized its information and communications
technology arm, ePLDT Inc., to acquire 100 percent of the SPI group
of companies.

SPI is the second largest pure-play business process outsourcing
(BPO) company and the ninth biggest independent BPO service
provider in the world. On May 24, SPI Tech L.P., the parent company
of SPI, formally accepted the letter of interest submitted by ePLDT
for the acquisition of 100 percent of SPI, the company said.

The acquisition of SPI, together with its existing Ventus call
center group, will help solidify ePLDTs position as one of the
major full-service BPO companies in the industry, the company said.
SPIs main business lines include content editorial and production,
litigation support coding and electronic data discovery, medical
transcription, database structuring and management and transaction
processing. Last year, SPI acquired the medical transcription
business of the Coimbatore-based KG Group in an all cash deal.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-epldt-buy-100-spi-tech-/2006/05/26/1660752.htm

5) Economist raises doubts on sustainability of BPO sector in
Philippines

Political uncertainty, high electricity costs, depletion of the
much-touted Filipino talent for speaking in English -- these are
just some of the factors that, if ncorrected, could permanently
hurt this rising industry, Ceferino Rodolfo, a professor at the
University of Asia and the Pacific said in a study commissioned by
the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

BPO refers to contact call centers, medical transcription,
animation, shared services, and software development and other
outsourced service-type activities that are information
technology-intensive.

The DTI predicts bright prospects in five BPO subsectors: customer
care, medical transcription, software development, animation, and
shared services. All registered cumulative growth rates of above 25
percent from 2001 to 2004, with medical transcription as the
fastest growing at 130 percent, followed by call centers at 50
percent, software development at 30 percent, and animation at 25
percent.

http://money.inq7.net/breakingnews/view_breakingnews.php?yyyy=2006&mon=05&dd=25&\
file=19

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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

May 27, 2006
********************************************************

Newsletter - Quiz Contest- The Final Lap!

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

The Final round is online - Entries must reach us by 1100 hrs on Monday,
29th May:
http://www.mtindia.org/mtweek/

Non participants might just want to enjoy this MT parody "Doctor Doctor":
http://www.mtindia.org/mtweek/Doctor%20Doctor.mp3

This has been floating around in cyberspace for some years now, and I have
no inkling about who penned those lines or lend his voice. Anyone knows?

Ciao!

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."

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

ISA SOFTTECH SOLUTIONS P LTD, MOHALI
-------------------------------------------------
Requirement of a minimum of 10 experienced MTs and 5 Quality Analysts at our
Mohali Office.  Accommodation is free for outstation candidates. Starting
salary at MT Level is 96,000 per annum, while for QA it is 1,44,000 per
annum.

The salaries are negotiable based on the production test. Please mail your
resumes at anil@...
********************************************************

IDS Infotech Ltd., Chandigarh
-------------------------------------------------
Looking for 150 people to work as Medical Transcriptionist at Chandigarh.
Experience required is 2 to 5 years.

This is a Full Time Oppurtunity. Excellent salaries and incentives on offer.

Contact: Shivpal Sidhu shivpal.s@... - 09876002393

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Spheris Receives Top Award for Medical Transcription at 2006 TEPR
Convention

Spheris this week received "first honors" in the medical transcription
category at the 2006 Towards the Electronic Patient Record (TEPR) Awards.
The awards were announced May 22 at the TEPR Conference in Baltimore,
Maryland. Nearly 200 healthcare companies from the United States and Canada
exhibit at the conference every year.

With a worldwide network of 5,500 professional medical transcriptionists,
Spheris is a leading global provider of medical transcription technology and
services. Spheris' "follow the sun" strategy and innovative staffing
solutions allow the company's MTs to work around the clock for true 24/7
service. With the recent acquisition of Vianeta Communications, Spheris is
also expanding the range of technological services available to its more
than 500 clients.

The TEPR Conference is presented by the Medical Records Institute, a
Boston-based organization focused on promoting the advancement of electronic
medical records. This conference has been leading the way "Towards the
Electronic Patient Record" for the past 22 years. The awards selection
process has two phases. In phase one, an independent panel of judges
reviewed the TEPR Award applications, scored each entry, and selected the
top three finalists for each category. The second phase took place in
Baltimore before the convention, when the finalists presented their
company's solutions to a second independent panel of judges.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060525/clth047.html?.v=50

2) MedQuist Wins 2006 TEPR Award in Medical Transcription Businesses

MedQuist has been awarded First Honors in Medical Transcription Businesses
in the annual TEPR (Toward the Electronic Record) Awards, which were
presented May 22 at the Opening Session of the 2006 TEPR Conference and
Exhibition Hall in Baltimore.

MedQuist tied for First Honors in the Medical Transcription Businesses
category. "We are especially proud to be recognized in this category," says
Scott Bennett, MedQuist's senior vice president of Sales and Marketing.
"MedQuist has been providing the highest quality clinical documentation
solutions to the healthcare industry for many years. Our loyal customers
have come to expect innovative solutions and exceptional service from us to
solve their documentation needs and improve their outcomes. We are honored
that the judges at TEPR recognize the commitment our hardworking medical
transcriptionists make every day to serve our industry and to improve
patient care through our transcription business."

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-25-200\
6/0004369034&EDATE=

3) Silent Revival: Medical Transcription Back into The Ramp-up Game

"Significant growth is envisaged for this industry in the near future; and
most of it will be centered around Medical Transcription Service
Organizations (MTSOs)", says Arun Jethmalani, CEO of ValueNotes. Today, the
US$195 million strong industry is up again, and silently supplying to the
US$12 billion medical transcription industry in the US. There has been a
systematic ramp-up and a steady flow of business.

With high costs and manpower constraints in the US, MTSOs with proven
offshore capabilities will be in an advantageous position in future. This
group is rapidly acquiring offshore capabilities in India. According to
analyst Neeraja Kandala, "the industry will witness greater consolidation,
with large American MTSOs eyeing the smaller Indian offshore vendors".

As per the Report "The US Medical Transcription Industry: Perspective on
Outsourcing and Offshoring" the latest release by ValueNotes, medical
transcription offshoring from India currently generates US$195 million in
revenues; and is expected to reach US$647 million by 2010.

http://www.ndtvprofit.com/homepage/monitor.asp?id=920

4) Medical transcription industry poised for growth

MT industry in India currently employs around 20,000 people and compared
with other BPO activities such as call centre jobs, the attrition rate in MT
sector was less. The size of the business generated by the MT industry
annually in India was estimated at $250 million that was a fraction of the
global MT industry's business volume of $12 billion. In India, Bangalore,
Hyderabad and Delhi were prominent centres for the MT industry but now the
business is seen shifting to smaller cities such as Pune, Kochi and
Coimbatore. The industry is witnessing a 50 per cent annual growth in the
country.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/05/19/stories/2006051903960300.htm

5) Outsourcing Transcription: Is It for You?

At what point does it make sense to relinquish transcription to a vendor?

Whether an organization begins investigating outsourcing as a way to handle
overflow, balance staffing needs, centralize transcription services, or as a
cost-savings measure, outsourcing can be a great solution when medical
transcription volumes vary. Outsourcing allows the HIM director to minimize
the staff's idle time during slow periods, avoid stress and overtime during
peak periods, tackle seasonal fluctuations, and account for vacation
coverage.

Whether it be on a department-by-department basis or a wholesale switch,
many facilities find that outsourcing some-or all-of its transcription makes
the most sense.

In fact, the numbers show that there is a good chance it will become more
popular. The International Data Corporation reports that U.S. spending on
medical transcription outsourcing services totaled approximately $2.3
billion in 2004 and forecasts that the market will increase to more than $4
billion in coming years.

http://www.fortherecordmag.com/archives/ftr_05012006p14.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 1998-2006
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

Dear Friends,

The THIRD qualifying round for the MT India Quiz Contest '2006, is online
at:
http://www.mtindia.org/mtweek/

Entries to Preliminary Round III must reach us before 1100 hrs, May 26th.

Note:
Entries already qualified for the finals from Preliminary Rounds I or II are
ineligible to participate further in Preliminary Round III. Please check the
results of Preliminary Round I & II before sending in your entries. Repeat
entries will summarily disqualify you from the contest.

Ciao!

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

Dear Friends,

The SECOND qualifying round for the MT India Quiz Contest '2006, is online
at:
http://www.mtindia.org/mtweek/

Entries to Preliminary Round II must reach us before 1200 hrs, May 25th.

Ciao!

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

May 23, 2006
********************************************************

A Happy MT Week!

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

ELICO - TLs/Proofers/Editors/QA/QC wanted
-------------------------------------------------

ELICO Ltd, a leading Hyderabad based company is looking for
TLs/Proofers/Editors/QA/QC to meet its growing demand.

The candidate should have minimum 4-5 years of experience in Transcription
and out of which 2 years as an Editor/PR/QA. In addition to an outstanding
working environment, opportunities to learn and grow ELICO offers an
attractive Career growth.

Candidates earning less than Rs.15000/- need not apply. Connect with us
today to explore our dynamic company and its plans for an exciting future!!

Email your resume to: hrites@...
web site: elicobpo.com

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

This is the FIRST qualifying round for the MT India Quiz Contest '2006, and
the Prizes below...

1st Prize - Trophy & Cash Prize of INR 2500

2nd Prize - Certificate of Merit and Cash Prizes of INR 750
each

Three 3rd Prizes - Certificate of Merit and Cash Prizes of INR 500
each

Certificate of Participation for all Final Round Qualifiers

To participate, go to:
http://www.mtindia.org/mtweek/

Entries to Preliminary Round III must reach us before 1100 hrs, May
24th. The Final Round will be held on May 27th. Have fun!

Ciao!

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) WorldTech chooses Dragon MT for Back-End Platform

Worldtech announced the decision to utilize the Dragon MT Workflow System
for its primary backend platform for transcription workflow, speech
recognition, and reporting interface. Worldtech was founded in 1998 to
service solo physicians and small clinics for Medical Transcription.
Worldtech has since grown to over 600 providers and has expanded its service
offering to include Electronic Medical Records, Medical Report Generation
Software, and Billing and Collection Services.

Dragon MT Workflow System automates transcription processing to ensure
optimal efficiency from dictation capture through document distribution. By
strategically applying the latest automation technologies, Dragon MT
Workflow System will lower costs, reduce document turnaround times, and
increase the accuracy of patient records.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/5/prweb386014.htm

2) MT industry growing 50 pc annually

With shortage of transcriptionists across the world, Indian Medical
Transcription Industry Association (IMTIA) is in the process of holding
dialogue with various colleges to run medical transcription (MT) programmes
as part of syllabus to meet the growing requirements.

Depending on the success of IMTIA initiative in Bangalore, where some
colleges have come forward to train students in MT, it was planned to extend
the programme to other major towns, particularly Coimbatore, Association
president Suresh Nair told reporters here today.

IMTIA would provide software support, like men and material, if the colleges
were ready to provide infrastructure facilities, he said. The industry holds
great potential, with the US, UK and Australia emerging as new sources of
business, he said adding the market in India was growing at the rate of 50
per cent annually, presently standing at US $ 250 million.

The size of the global medical industry was estimated to be around $ 12
billion and India could play a leading role in view of the tremendous human
resources available.

IMTIA aimed at creating awareness about medical transcription as a viable
long-term career option, Nair, also CEO of Spheris India Ltd, said. It was
only a matter of time before it moved up the value chain to render services
such as medical coding and billing services, document imaging, data
warehousing, claim processing, insurance and other high end services.

http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7B7B61D833-B791-4C40-A\
070-36F680562163%7D&CATEGORYNAME=National

3) Export fears over Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital's patient notes

Union representatives are to meet medical secretaries at Norfolk's main
hospital over fears the typing of clinical notes will be sent abroad.
Secretaries at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital are concerned
that this will mean job losses but also lead to potentially serious
consequences for patients with an increase in typing errors raising the risk
of the wrong treatments being given.

The N&N, which is looking to plug a £15m gap in its funding for the current
year, says it is looking at out-sourcing notes to India as one among a wide
range of options for saving money and cutting costs as it strives to avoid
making 450 workers redundant.

But what has raised the level of concern among N&N secretaries is news that
the East and North Herts NHS Trust is looking at a proposal to make around
50 medical secretaries redundant as it outsources typing of medical notes
overseas.

Health service union Unison say other branches in the eastern region -
including the Cambridge branch which covers Addenbrooke's Hospital - are
facing a similar issue with the Hertfordshire branch on the verge of a
ballot over industrial action. A number of other health trusts across the
country are also outsourcing medical notes overseas.

"We are concerned about the quality issues and about job security and we
expect to be meeting the medical secretaries in the not too distant future
over the matter.

"There is the suggestion also that the checking of the work of the
outsourced material is almost as laborious as doing the work yourself in the
first place. It will appear that if there are fewer medical secretaries,
medics will have to check the typing being done on their behalf.

"It may save money in one area but is a waste of time and money elsewhere,
having medics use their time to check typing."

N&N spokesman Andrew Stronach said the hospital was looking at the
possibility of outsourcing notes overseas but before it did, it would carry
out trials.

He said: "As a result of the trust's financial position this year we are
exploring a range of measures that will deliver savings and maintain the
services we offer patients. We are aware that many NHS hospitals have
already taken the option of outsourcing transcription of audio tapes. This
is an option we are exploring and no decision has been reached yet.

"What we would do first is a trial where our secretaries would get one set
of notes and a set of notes would be sent to India. We would assess those on
qualitative grounds and on financial grounds."

Several London hospitals already send notes overseas and the University
Hospital of North Staffordshire - facing a £17m deficit and the possible
loss of 1,000 posts - is trialing the idea with letters dictated digitally,
sent to a unit in India, typed up and returned electronically in 24 hours.

http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBr\
and=EDPOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED17%20May%202006%2020%3A53%3A50%3A850

4) India Tries to Improve Offshoring Security

India's Nasscom (National Association of Software and Service Companies) is
heading up a movement to create an SRO (self-regulatory organization) that
will improve the security and safety standards for outsourcing and
offshoring in India. The SRO will be responsible for establishing and
enforcing standards for privacy and security for its member companies.
Nasscom has already spent $300,000 and over a year developing the project;
now it's looking for a chief executive to run it. After Nasscom finds a CEO,
the SRO will separate itself from Nasscom and become an independent entity,
relying on membership fees for its funding.

http://www.nasscom.org/artdisplay.asp?Art_id=5209

5) Musharraf Okays roadmap to produce skilled Workforce

President Musharraf set a five-year timeframe for improvement in the
vocational and technical education system and stressed that its impact on
the national economy should be visible within a year.

"We must improve curricula at these institutes and ramp up the capacity to
produce skilled workforce of international quality as it will not only open
opportunities for people at the grass roots level but also raise their
profile and demand as workers in advanced and industrialized countries," he
stated.

Currently, the number of skilled workers are being produced at various
institutions but the number falls short of the industry's requirements,
which has been growing rapidly in recent years in sectors including
information technology, tourism services, commercial support, livestock,
transport, medical transcription workers etc.

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2006/05/19/top2.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 1998-2006
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

May 15, 2006
********************************************************

A Happy MT Week!

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

ELICO - TLs/Proofers/Editors/QA/QC wanted
-------------------------------------------------

ELICO Ltd, a leading Hyderabad based company is looking for
TLs/Proofers/Editors/QA/QC to meet its growing demand.

The candidate should have minimum 4-5 years of experience in Transcription
and out of which 2 years as an Editor/PR/QA. In addition to an outstanding
working environment, opportunities to learn and grow ELICO offers an
attractive Career growth.

Candidates earning less than Rs.15000/- need not apply. Connect with us
today to explore our dynamic company and its plans for an exciting future!!

Email your resume to: hrites@...
web site: elicobpo.com

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

While the week is dedicated to you, do take time out to share your plans for
MT week.

As usual, its time for the Annual MT India Quiz Contest!

Preliminary rounds on 23rd, 24th & 25th with the Finals on 27th May, to
select the winner of the MT India Quiz Contest '2006.

The Quiz will be online at www.mtindia.org/mtweek at 0600 hrs on 23rd May.
Entries must reach us by 2200 hours, the same day, and so on...

Wishing you all A Happy MT Week!

Ciao!

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 Completes Acquisition of Vianeta Communications

Customers are telling us they want an integrated technology and service
solution that is flexible enough to be combined and deployed effectively
across their health information management and radiology IT systems," said
Steven E. Simpson, Spheris president and chief executive officer. "The
acquisition of Vianeta significantly expands Spheris' technological
capabilities, including speech recognition and XML data tagging for use with
electronic health records, and thereby enhances our ability to meet the
evolving and unique needs of all healthcare organizations."

"Bringing Spheris and Vianeta together combines what we believe to be the
most advanced technology in the medical transcription industry with the most
powerful global network of medical transcriptionists," said Vianeta chief
executive officer Ralph Aceves. "By joining forces, we believe we've created
the best possible solution for addressing the growing expectations of our
customers to improve quality, productivity and turnaround time."

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2006/08/c4131.html

2) MedQuist Announces Preliminary, Partial and Unaudited Financial Results

MedQuist Inc. announced preliminary, partial and unaudited financial
results, and provided updated information regarding previously-announced
litigation and governmental investigations and proceedings. Once the Company
completes the financial assessment and review of its billing practices
disclosed in the Company's previous filings with the SEC, KPMG LLP, the
Company's independent registered public accounting firm, will complete the
audit the Company's financial statements. The Company is continuing the
process of working toward becoming current in its periodic reports pursuant
to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company's review of its current
and prior period unaudited financial statements, as well as KPMG LLP's
audits for those periods, may identify adjustments or reclassifications
which may be reflected in the periods to which they relate. 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.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20060511005927&newsLang=en

3) How to make money on the Net

It's a sign of the times: an artist who's not starving in a garret, who's
Net savvy, and who sells his paintings online -- for a healthy profit. Meet
Bangalore's Udipi Vasudevarao Umesh, who is a medical transcriptionist
during office hours and an artist and Net businessman otherwise. And he
makes money on both: the medical transcription gives him a steady
bread-and-butter income, while selling paintings is the jam.

Strangely, Umesh did not go online to make money. "I wanted to try out my
creative skills whenever time permitted," he says. "But I did not expect it
to take off the way it has."

http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/may/15spec2.htm

4) Electronic Medical Records Gaining Popularity Among Physicians

Challenges remain in creating interfaces between existing hospital systems
and the EMR that will take further development to overcome. Furthermore,
research on medical errors has not consistently shown that the EMR decreases
errors.

Still, EMRs offer several potential advantages for interventional
cardiology: System-wide computerization means that medical records are
available whenever the physician needs them; EMRs contain complete data on
the patient's medical history, diagnostic tests, and treatments; and, unlike
handwriting, EMRs are always legible.

An EMR has other strengths too. It enables the creation of templates, so
that reports on diagnostic studies or interventional treatments can be
completed easily, accurately, and immediately -- without the delays of
dictation, transcription, or filing.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/05/electronic_medical_records.html

5) MT industry gets bigger share of P500M scholarship program

Philippines' IT industry is receiving more than half of the 500-million-peso
"Training for Work Scholarship Program," a project started by President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to boost employment of applicants in critical
industries.

The program is managed by the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority (TESDA) and will distribute the 500 million pesos -- split into
100,000 training certificates -- to several industry groups.

The certificates are issued to applicants that are considered "near-hires"
or applicants that fall just slightly short of a hiring company's skills
requirements.

"Sixty thousand certificates will go to call centers, another 2,000 to the
legal and medical transcription sector, 3,000 to the software development
applicants and 100 for animation," dela Rama said.

http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=75578

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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

May 10, 2006
********************************************************

Bangalore Meet - A NASSCOM - AAMT initiative

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

There has arisen a few misconceptions about the above meet, I'll try to
clear them:

1. NASSCOM India ITES-BPO Strategy Summit 2006, will hold a workshop on
Medical Transcription Outsourcing - Opportunities and Challenges -
in association with AAMT.

http://www.nasscom.org/eventdetails.asp?id=486&head_id=1101

This is scheduled and is going to take place. MTIndia.org is not taking
registrations for this event. To register for the NASSCOM meet, please click
on the link above. The early bird discount is until May 15th.

2. What is being proposed, is to have another meet at Bangalore specifically
directed towards practitioner MTs and invite Peter Preziosi, Executive
Director, AAMT to participate in that event. They main agenda would be
directed at discussing the future of medical transcription as a career
prospect. Please note that this is not an alternative event being planned to
the NASSCOM meet, but one with a different perspective altogether. This is
the one we are running a survey for. Organizing this meet will entirely
depend on the response and enthusiasm from practitioner MTs in participating
in such a career prospect meet with the Executive Director of AAMT. The
response to the survey until now has been essentially from outstation MTs.
Unfortunately, it will turn out to be a logistic nightmare to hold an event
of this stature at Bangalore, if participants are essentially from
outstation.

So friends, I am keeping the survey open until this weekend. The date June
8th, between 6-8 pm (could be postponed by an hour).
Registration fees will be Rs. 200.

Please send an email to survey@... , if you are interested in
participating. Please enclose the following details about yourself:

Name:
Company Name:
City:
Suggestions: (Keep it brief, please)

And Bangalore MTs, you do need to wake up and participate in the survey.
Without a good response, this event just doesn't happen.

Ciao!

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."

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

ELICO - TLs/Proofers/Editors/QA/QC wanted
-------------------------------------------------

ELICO Ltd, a leading Hyderabad based company is looking for
TLs/Proofers/Editors/QA/QC to meet its growing demand.

The candidate should have minimum 4-5 years of experience in Transcription
and out of which 2 years as an Editor/PR/QA. In addition to an outstanding
working environment, opportunities to learn and grow ELICO offers an
attractive Career growth.

Candidates earning less than Rs.15000/- need not apply. Connect with us
today to explore our dynamic company and its plans for an exciting future!!

Email your resume to: hrites@...
web site: elicobpo.com

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

1) Firm's focus is growth, Manor Care CEO tells shareholders, to exit
medical-transcription

Meanwhile, the company issued a federal layoff notice this week that it will
idle 102 workers in its Heartland Information Services medical-transcription
unit. Seven employees are in Toledo. A company spokesman said the cuts will
occur in early July.

The firm had announced it would be getting out of that five-year-old
business and took a $7 million accounting charge in the first quarter. "I
worked my heart out for this company," said Mary Kirkpatrick, of Rockford,
Mich., who got a layoff notice. "How many more jobs are [we] going to lose
to India or China?"

However, Mr. Ormond said the firm's transcription business started in India,
and the company tried to bring it to the United States but it wasn't
profitable.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060510/BUSINESS03/605100344

2) Spheris Hires Chief Financial Officer

Spheris, announced the hiring of Brian P. Callahan as its chief financial
officer. "After an extensive search, we are extremely pleased to announce
the hiring of Brian Callahan as Spheris' chief financial officer," said
Steven E. Simpson, Spheris president and CEO. "I am confident Brian's
experience and expertise in financial management, particularly as it relates
to operational support and capital markets, will add tremendous value to our
company."

Callahan brings with him more than 20 years of financial management
experience. Prior to joining Spheris, he served as executive vice president
and chief financial officer of Murray, Inc., headquartered in Brentwood,
Tenn. He has also held CFO and executive-level finance positions with Miller
Industries/RoadOne, Procter & Gamble and Georgia Pacific.

Spheris is headquartered in Franklin, Tenn., with major operations in St.
Petersburg, Fla.; Sterling, Va.; Milpitas, Calif.; Bangalore, India; and
Coimbatore, India.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060503/clw098.html?.v=12

3) Targeting Health Records: Arrendale Associates Utilizes Web To Improve
Medical Transcription Service

The management team at Arrendale Associates Inc., a software firm located in
suburban Charlotte, believes it has developed a means to enhance the medical
transcription business over the Internet - and through international
outsourcing.

"AAI has developed a proprietary word processor and tools for medical
transcription along with custom work flow solutions that meet a particular
need in the industry, allow for outsourcing while remaining HIPAA
  compliant," management told WRAL Local Tech Wire in a recent Q&A, "and
delivering products and services over the Internet for ease of deployment,
support and use by physicians, nurses, clinicians and medical
transcriptionists."

http://www.localtechwire.com/article.cfm?u=13917

4) Leading Community Health Systems Hospitals Select Dictaphone PowerScribe
from Nuance

At Easton Hospital, radiologists, radiation therapy doctors and
cardiologists deliver a significantly more timely report by eliminating a
number of steps in the process including transcription. PowerScribe converts
physician dictation automatically into text and presents it onscreen for
review, correction, and electronic signature. The solution, which leverages
Nuance's award-winning Dragon(TM) NaturallySpeaking(R) technology, goes
beyond transcription efficiencies and actually reduces radiologists'
dictation time by offering the ability to create templates and report
"Normals" for frequent and recurring studies.

Staff radiologist Dr. Stuart Jones has been using speech recognition
technology off and on over the past 15 years, making him one of the true
pioneers of this innovative technology. "Selecting PowerScribe was really a
no-brainer -- it's so far superior to other options." said Dr. Jones.
"People worry about the accuracy of speech recognition technology, but
interestingly enough the technology makes the same type of mistakes that
regular transcriptionists make, only far fewer. The technology has become
very intelligent."

http://www.genengnews.com/news/bnitem.aspx?name=1335829

5) Help wanted for Philippines outsourcing

Has outsourcing to the Philippines already hit a human-resource barrier?
There are growing indications that something may be amiss in the country's
fastest-growing industry.

Never before has Philippine labor had such negotiating power. Call center
recruits are now being offered signing bonuses before they start work.
Employees are given bonuses for finding new recruits - more often than not
poached from other call centers.

Still, call center managers complain about the lack of workers who are able
to speak American English. For the Philippines, which suffers perennially
from crushingly high unemployment rates, currently at 8% according to a
recent official survey, unmet labor demand is a new and unfamiliar problem.

The future of the industry is clearly at stake. "ITES or cyberservices are
certainly the future of the Philippines," said Henry Schumacher, executive
director of the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines. "But that
will not work unless you have English as a communicating base, and we have
seen over the last maybe 10 years that the English speaking capability [of
Filipinos] has declined. English was always one of the [Philippines']
competitive advantages."

Danilo Cruz, under secretary of the government's Department of Labor and
Employment, added, "We used to be the third-largest English-speaking nation,
but call centers and medical transcription firms have failed to hire 100,000
[workers] they expected to employ in 2005."

Carol Dominguez, president and chief executive officer of the John Clements
Consultants, a human resources and executive search consulting company,
described the emerging skilled labor shortage as a "national emergency".

It may come as a surprise that spoken English is actually in decline in the
Philippines, given that the country is a former American colony known for
its enthusiastic embrace of US fast food and pop culture. Manila-based
experts said that many factors had contributed to the recent national
decline in English language proficiency.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HE10Ae02.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

Apr 30, 2006
********************************************************

Medical Transcription Outsourcing - Opportunities and Challenges - A
NASSCOM - AAMT initiative

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


NASSCOM India ITES-BPO Strategy Summit 2006, will hold a workshop on
Medical Transcription Outsourcing - Opportunities and Challenges -
in association with AAMT. Peter Preziosi, PhD, CAE. Executive
Director, AAMT will be attending.

14:00 - 15:30 hrs - 8 June, 2006
The Leela Palace, 23, Airport Road
Bangalore

http://www.nasscom.org/eventdetails.asp?id=486&head_id=1101

As is evident, the event is directed towards CEOs/COOs, rather than
the practitioner MT.

Would practitioner MTs be interested in attending a meet addressed
by Peter Preziosi, Executive Director, AAMT, directed towards
quality, standards and credentialing (certification - RMT, CMT,
Fellowship) at Bangalore? Other issues such as the future of the
profession, the impact of privacy/security legislation on
outsourcing, speech recognition, electronic health records etc could
also be covered. You might consider an Indian chapter of the AAMT...

At this point, I am running a preliminary survey to see how many of
you would be interested in attending such a meet at Bangalore on
June 8th, between 6-8 pm. Registration fees will be Rs. 200. A
downward revision of the same might be possible if we get a good
response, relative to the numbers I based my calculations on.

Please send an email to survey@... , if you are interested
in participating. Please enclose the following details about
yourself:
Name:
Company Name:
City:
Suggestions: (Keep it brief, please)

The survey closes on Monday, May 8th and a definitive announcement
and registration will be made thereafter.

Cheers!

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

"It takes years to become an overnight success! Inch by inch, it's
a cinch."

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

1) Medical Transcription: an attractive career choice

Medical Transcription is one of the fastest growing fields in
healthcare. It is growing at a very rapid rate of 10 per cent to 15
per cent due to the growing aging population. The MT industry is
estimated to be more than $12 billion business in the US. There is a
tremendous demand for medical transcriptionists. Opportunities for
employment are available throughout the year.

There is a growing volume of work in the US MT industry, but there
is a growing shortage of Medical Transcriptionists there. These two
factors necessitate the US MT companies to outsource work to
countries like India, Philippines, etc. India is the preferred
destination for a number of reasons. Firstly, the MT industry has
reached a matured stage here. There is availability of a sizeable
number of English-speaking graduates. The 12-hour time zone
difference between India and USA is an advantage. There is cost
saving when work is done here. These factors have placed India as
the automatic choice.

In India, the MT industry is an IT-enabled service offering large-
scale employment with a huge foreign exchange earning potential. The
MT industry in India is more than 10 years old and is a pioneer in
the BPO segment, as services were started in 1994-1995. There are
over 500 MT companies in India, located in metros and most of the
major cities/towns like Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad,
Delhi, etc. Medical transcription in India has gained recognition in
the US like the IT services. NASSCOM, a national association
spearheading the Indian software and services has been showcasing
India internationally, with the slogan "Move work to India". It is
now well poised to gain a larger market share in the years to come.
As a result of the increasing demand for transcription services in
India, there is a compelling need for medical transcriptionists than
never before, making medical transcription an attractive career
choice.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr192006/avenues15491320064
18.asp

2) MedQuist Launches Solution for Automated Emergency Room Coding

DocQment Code ED Plus provides today's mobile ED caregiver with a
highly functional, PDA-based dictation tool that allows physicians
or other caregivers to dictate reports at the point of care
delivery. This solution can also access the hospital's registration
system to obtain necessary patient demographic data for reporting
and coding purposes. Customers can also add state-of-the-art
transcription software that features integrated speech recognition
capabilities and outsourcing editing services. To efficiently
complete the charting process, DocQment Code ED Plus includes an
intuitive Web-based electronic signature component. With this
solution, reports are distributed directly to the appropriate
hospital systems and/or the EMR. Remote coding technology is also
available, along with Natural Language Processing (NLP)
capabilities, that provide suggested codes for the coders to
consider, improving both their quality and productivity.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060426/phw030.html?.v=52

3) Manor Care Q1 Earnings Fall On Unusual Expenses in MT business

Provider of health care services Manor Care Inc. said its first
quarter earnings fell from last year due to the impact of about
$0.21 per share for the unusual expenses. The Toledo, Ohio-based
company earned $25 million or $0.30 per diluted share for the
quarter, in comparison with $40 million or $0.46 per diluted share
registered in the corresponding quarter of last year.

Manor Care's quarterly results included a non-cash asset impairment
charge of $7 million after tax or about $0.09 per share, related to
its investment in its medical transcription business, Heartland
Information Services.

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/tm.site/news/BREAKING%20NEWS/235051/

4) From a group of friends to market leader

In 1982, a group of chartered accountants got together to form Karvy
Consultants with a capital base of Rs 1,50,000. C Parthasarathy, M
Yugandhar and MS Ramakrishna, the concerned CAs, registered their
entity as a company on July 23, 1983, which initially offered
auditing and taxation services.

Cut to '06, the Karvy Group has seven group companies, including
Karvy Stock Broking and Karvy Computershare.

The company has also entered into the IT enabled services (ITeS)
space in '00 and operates CKar Systems, a 500-seater, multi-shift
medical transcription centre at Hyderabad in a JV with C Bay systems
in the US. The facility employs 800 medical transcriptionists and
transcribes 1,00,000 lines each month. It is also into commodity
trading through group company Karvy Comtrade, which, market sources
say, is one of the fastest growing divisions. In fact, they are said
to be in the top slot in terms of MCX turnover.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1509719.cms

5) Rising in career top charts is Medical transcription

Unfortunately due to high salaries many of our talented doctors,
nurses and paramedical staff are working in the MT industry and we
are seeing a shortage of such staff in the hospitals. There are
hardly any junior doctors available today - either they are studying
for PG entrance exam or working in some such industry.

http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=9637

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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

Apr 30, 2006
********************************************************

Medical Transcription Outsourcing - Opportunities and Challenges - A
NASSCOM - AAMT initiative

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


NASSCOM India ITES-BPO Strategy Summit 2006, will hold a workshop on
Medical Transcription Outsourcing - Opportunities and Challenges -
in association with AAMT. Peter Preziosi, PhD, CAE. Executive
Director, AAMT will be attending.

14:00 - 15:30 hrs - 8 June, 2006
The Leela Palace, 23, Airport Road
Bangalore

http://www.nasscom.org/eventdetails.asp?id=486&head_id=1101

As is evident, the event is directed towards CEOs/COOs, rather than
the practitioner MT.

Would practitioner MTs be interested in attending a meet addressed
by Peter Preziosi, Executive Director, AAMT, directed towards
quality, standards and credentialing (certification - RMT, CMT,
Fellowship) at Bangalore? Other issues such as the future of the
profession, the impact of privacy/security legislation on
outsourcing, speech recognition, electronic health records etc could
also be covered. You might consider an Indian chapter of the AAMT...

At this point, I am running a preliminary survey to see how many of
you would be interested in attending such a meet at Bangalore on
June 8th, between 6-8 pm. Registration fees will be Rs. 200. A
downward revision of the same might be possible if we get a good
response, relative to the numbers I based my calculations on.

Please send an email to survey@... , if you are interested
in participating. Please enclose the following details about
yourself:
Name:
Company Name:
City:
Suggestions: (Keep it brief, please)

The survey closes on Monday, May 8th and a definitive announcement
and registration will be made thereafter.

Cheers!

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

"It takes years to become an overnight success! Inch by inch, it's
a cinch."

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

1) Medical Transcription: an attractive career choice

Medical Transcription is one of the fastest growing fields in
healthcare. It is growing at a very rapid rate of 10 per cent to 15
per cent due to the growing aging population. The MT industry is
estimated to be more than $12 billion business in the US. There is a
tremendous demand for medical transcriptionists. Opportunities for
employment are available throughout the year.

There is a growing volume of work in the US MT industry, but there
is a growing shortage of Medical Transcriptionists there. These two
factors necessitate the US MT companies to outsource work to
countries like India, Philippines, etc. India is the preferred
destination for a number of reasons. Firstly, the MT industry has
reached a matured stage here. There is availability of a sizeable
number of English-speaking graduates. The 12-hour time zone
difference between India and USA is an advantage. There is cost
saving when work is done here. These factors have placed India as
the automatic choice.

In India, the MT industry is an IT-enabled service offering large-
scale employment with a huge foreign exchange earning potential. The
MT industry in India is more than 10 years old and is a pioneer in
the BPO segment, as services were started in 1994-1995. There are
over 500 MT companies in India, located in metros and most of the
major cities/towns like Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad,
Delhi, etc. Medical transcription in India has gained recognition in
the US like the IT services. NASSCOM, a national association
spearheading the Indian software and services has been showcasing
India internationally, with the slogan "Move work to India". It is
now well poised to gain a larger market share in the years to come.
As a result of the increasing demand for transcription services in
India, there is a compelling need for medical transcriptionists than
never before, making medical transcription an attractive career
choice.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr192006/avenues15491320064
18.asp

2) MedQuist Launches Solution for Automated Emergency Room Coding

DocQment Code ED Plus provides today's mobile ED caregiver with a
highly functional, PDA-based dictation tool that allows physicians
or other caregivers to dictate reports at the point of care
delivery. This solution can also access the hospital's registration
system to obtain necessary patient demographic data for reporting
and coding purposes. Customers can also add state-of-the-art
transcription software that features integrated speech recognition
capabilities and outsourcing editing services. To efficiently
complete the charting process, DocQment Code ED Plus includes an
intuitive Web-based electronic signature component. With this
solution, reports are distributed directly to the appropriate
hospital systems and/or the EMR. Remote coding technology is also
available, along with Natural Language Processing (NLP)
capabilities, that provide suggested codes for the coders to
consider, improving both their quality and productivity.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060426/phw030.html?.v=52

3) Manor Care Q1 Earnings Fall On Unusual Expenses in MT business

Provider of health care services Manor Care Inc. said its first
quarter earnings fell from last year due to the impact of about
$0.21 per share for the unusual expenses. The Toledo, Ohio-based
company earned $25 million or $0.30 per diluted share for the
quarter, in comparison with $40 million or $0.46 per diluted share
registered in the corresponding quarter of last year.

Manor Care's quarterly results included a non-cash asset impairment
charge of $7 million after tax or about $0.09 per share, related to
its investment in its medical transcription business, Heartland
Information Services.

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/tm.site/news/BREAKING%20NEWS/235051/

4) From a group of friends to market leader

In 1982, a group of chartered accountants got together to form Karvy
Consultants with a capital base of Rs 1,50,000. C Parthasarathy, M
Yugandhar and MS Ramakrishna, the concerned CAs, registered their
entity as a company on July 23, 1983, which initially offered
auditing and taxation services.

Cut to '06, the Karvy Group has seven group companies, including
Karvy Stock Broking and Karvy Computershare.

The company has also entered into the IT enabled services (ITeS)
space in '00 and operates CKar Systems, a 500-seater, multi-shift
medical transcription centre at Hyderabad in a JV with C Bay systems
in the US. The facility employs 800 medical transcriptionists and
transcribes 1,00,000 lines each month. It is also into commodity
trading through group company Karvy Comtrade, which, market sources
say, is one of the fastest growing divisions. In fact, they are said
to be in the top slot in terms of MCX turnover.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1509719.cms

5) Rising in career top charts is Medical transcription

Unfortunately due to high salaries many of our talented doctors,
nurses and paramedical staff are working in the MT industry and we
are seeing a shortage of such staff in the hospitals. There are
hardly any junior doctors available today - either they are studying
for PG entrance exam or working in some such industry.

http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=9637

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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

Apr 15, 2006
********************************************************

Record Time?

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

Here are some interesting excerpts, from an article by Charles Fishman at
The Fast Company. The information systems at any McDonald's are more
advanced, and more useful, says Fishman, than those in your doctor's
office...

<Dr. George A. Saleh is not scared of new technology, and seemed the perfect
candidate for a digital, paperless medical office - a system that allows all
records and charting to be done on computer. He took out a loan and bought
the necessary hardware and software. And last summer, with his staff of
three, he switched everything over to the new system. Patient information
was entered on a screen instead of on a form attached to a clipboard; Saleh
took notes and made orders using a sleek black tablet PC.

Within days, the office was in meltdown. Patients piled up in the waiting
room, and Saleh all but lost control of his day-to-day work. Delays grew so
bad, Saleh installed a TV to distract patients, and Cerner Corp., the
company supplying his software, trundled in refreshments as a goodwill
gesture. "I was running an hour-and-a-half or two-hours late," says Saleh.
"That's the kiss of death for your practice. It was crazy."

A few months later, Saleh shows off his file rooms, filled floor to ceiling
with paper charts. "No paper has been added to these since summer," he says
proudly. Not only is his office back on schedule, but his workday is
shorter--and he's seeing just as many patients. "When I walk out of the
office each day, I'm done," he says. "I don't have to dictate a stack of
charts." His bill for dictation services has dropped from $1,200 a month to
$60. His staff is thrilled. "It's like a new era," says medical assistant
Jamie Clevenger. "It almost feels like a whole new job."

Using digital medical records allows Saleh to file claims electronically,
and quickly; he gets paid by insurance companies in 10 to 14 days instead of
one to two months. In an emergency, Saleh can access patient charts from
home at night; he can view office records from the hospital. The charts
themselves cannot be misfiled, misplaced, or left on the wrong
counter--they're safe on servers in a Cerner data center designed to survive
the most powerful tornado.>

<And yet, in the world of medicine, hurried handwriting remains an essential
form of record-keeping. In thousands of hospitals, vital medical records are
kept on pieces of paper, snapped into a chart that can be read by only one
person at a time, that has to be moved around physically if someone wants to
see it, and that is often transported on the lap of the patient, sitting in
a wheelchair, on the way to X-ray or the lab or surgery.

The workflow at an ordinary McDonald's--orders taken, transmitted to the
kitchen, and displayed there all by computer; sales and operational data
sent automatically each day to headquarters--is far more digitized,
transportable, and useful than in a typical doctor's office or hospital,
although the stakes couldn't be more different.>

<"If you flew in from Mars with the assignment to figure out the health-care
system in this country," says Clifford Illig, "and all you did was examine
the computers we use, you'd conclude that the entire purpose of the system
was to prepare a bill." Illig is cofounder and vice chairman of Cerner, a
company that has specialized for 25 years in helping hospitals and doctors
digitize their day-to-day clinical work.>

<If it is to be truly useful, the software used to manage medical records
must be incredibly sophisticated. It must store and reproduce routine
information about a person, and it must be able to take in information from
medical staff in myriad roles and settings while protecting patient privacy.
The software must be able to import, store, and present information in many
formats, from ordinary blood-test values to the actual images from X-ray or
MRI exams. And it must be able to issue orders for everything from physical
therapy to bags of IV fluid. Critically, the software must be able to look
at all that data, and the rules a hospital or doctor's practice has set up,
and flag problems a patient might experience.

Part of the point of employing hundreds of clinical medical staff at Cerner
is to adapt the software to the traditional ways doctors, nurses,
pharmacists, and technicians do their work, while also offering them new
tools. Many nurses, for instance, carry "cheat sheets" around in a smock
pocket, keeping track, patient by patient, of test results they are waiting
for or tasks that need to be done. Cerner realizes that one reason paper has
persisted in medical settings is that it is fast, and it works. "The reason
it seems medicine is so slow to adapt to this technology," says David
McCallie Jr., a neurologist and Cerner vice president who runs a software
R&D team, "is that with the paper system, a lot of people add value. A
doctor writes an order for a test, a nurse flags the order for blood work,
the lab clerk looks at how to fit that order into the workflow. If you're
going to take people out of the loop, you have to realize all the work that
gets done that you're not quite seeing." >

To read the entire feature, go to:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/104/cerner.html

Cheers!

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

"It takes years to become an overnight success! Inch by inch, it's
a cinch."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Offshoring "risks patient confidentiality"

A medical transcription company has accused NHS trusts of putting patient
confidentiality at risk by sending large numbers of dictated letters and
reports overseas for conversion to text.

According to John Fellowes of the UK firm Dict8, many hospitals and primary
care trusts have outsourced their transcription to non-EU countries,
especially in Asia, that are not bound by Europe's strict data-protection
laws.

http://www.bjhc.co.uk/news/1/2006/n604009.htm

2) TeleDictation at The Med allows radiologists to generate voice-to-text
written reports

Radiologists at The Med have just begun doing something physicians have
longed for since the 1956 release of the movie "Forbidden Planet"-- They're
telling a computer to do their busy work and deliver a report when it's
finished.

The Regional Medical Center at Memphis invested $300,000 in TalkStation
TeleDictation, a system that allows radiologists to read X-rays and speak
their interpretations into a microphone. The software has been programmed to
recognize the voice patterns of each doctor and can generate a
letter-perfect radiology report, delivered within 20 seconds.

Most radiology procedures are standardized, so 90% of each report was the
same. These fill-in-the-blank templates are already loaded into TalkStation
so the doctor can just give the variables. Since there are no hanging
questions, there's no need to proof and correct a report. It's
electronically transmitted to everyone who needs the information.

The system has a traditional dictation mode, but Gold insisted that it be
disabled to compel the 12 radiologists plus residents to invest the time
necessary to train the system to their voice and train themselves. By
logging in, the system automatically goes to files that recognize a doctor's
particular voice patterns and personal shorthand.

A radiologist, for example, can train the system to enter 'cerebral
arteriography' every time he says 'c-a.' The doctor can say 'normal chest'
and the system will insert several paragraphs that explain a normal chest.

Insurance firms look for specific terms before they'll make a payment, so
TalkStation is programmed to include the verbiage needed to satisfy the
carrier.

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2006/04/17/story7.html

3) Beware of the pitfalls of working at home

"It is the holy grail for mothers to be home with their child and also
making money," says Jessica Hartshorn, an editor at American Baby Magazine.
And that has attracted scammers eager to make a quick buck.

At a time when demand for at-home employment has soared, so too have the
schemes, their sophistication and their ability to reach an audience. "It's
our No. 1 complaint," says Al Polizzi of the Better Business Bureau,
Southeast Florida and the Caribbean. "The Internet and e-mail are giving
these people new lead-in ways to address people."

At the same time, a growing number of consumer-product and service
businesses are outsourcing work to people in their homes, too. Companies are
recruiting everything from call-center agents to home-based auditors,
insurance salespeople and underwriters. That makes sorting the legitimate
from the fraudulent increasingly tricky.

Polizzi recognizes a common thread for the schemes. "They claim no
experience necessary, and they usually ask for a fee upfront for an
instruction pack, guide, kit or computer software," Polizzi says. You send
money, but all you get is a kit with some craft materials and printed
instructions, or, even worse, you get nothing.
Among the most prevalent scams: envelope stuffing, medical claims
processing, medical transcription, product assembling and multilevel
marketing.

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/business/14321465.htm?source=rss&channe\
l=grandforks_business

4) TTSI makes available prepaid cards for medical transcription tutor online

If you want to succeed in a medical transcription career, you can now
enhance your skills with the Medical Transcription Tutor Online (MTTO), an
affordable prepaid tool for current and would-be Medical Transcription (MT)
students and practitioners.

The first and only prepaid medical transcription learning tool, MTTO is
offered to all MTs and medical transcription professionals from any training
center seeking additional practice time. This prepaid program offers
valuable exposure to various dictations with different specialty and
difficulty levels. You may also explore different level selections such as
beginner, entry-level, intermediate and advanced, and see the description of
materials used for the tutorial. MTTO provides access to lectures, voice
files, and answer keys that are useful for assessing your transcribing
accuracy. View your proficiency level by clicking on the "Report Cards"
icon.

MTTO's other features include re-loadable wallet, web-based access, four (4)
levels of difficulty, automatic calculation of student's productivity
(number of lines per day), self-pace and self-assessment of quality. It is
powered by Total Transcription Solutions, Incorporated (TTSI), a Philippine
offshore facility, affiliated with the American Association of Medical
Transcription (AAMT), Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA),
Medical Transcription Association of the Philippines, Inc. (MTIAPI) and
TESDA.

http://www.mb.com.ph/INFO2006041661452.html

5) Holy Week closes the Philippines down

President Arroyo has virtually "closed down the government" from Wednesday
afternoon until Easter Sunday.  She has officially declared "Black
  Saturday," April 15, a nonworking holiday.

Some critics of both the Arroyo administration and the Philippine tradition
of long holidays associated with religious commemorations told The Times,
"Long holidays that virtually close down the government do not help develop
a mentality conducive to industrial and economic productivity."

As if to lend credence to the critics' observation, an American businessman,
Dean Bartlett, was disappointed to find out that instead of marathon
meetings with lawyers and filing of papers with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, his Filipino partners would be giving him a holiday treat in
Boracay. He flew in to the Philippines on Monday to hold meetings with
people he had been having telephone and e-mail negotiations with about
setting up a medical-transcription company with a Makati business
establishment.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel feels "It's a time to take a rest, considering that
it's very hot nowadays. It's time to meditate on the higher things-and try
to feel that, like Jesus, we must learn to sacrifice ourselves for the
common good."

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/apr/11/yehey/top_stories/20060411top3.h\
tml

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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

Apr 8, 2006
********************************************************

AAMT to change its name?

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

AAMT is considering a name change and it is evaluating whether the name
"medical transcriptionist" truly represents the evolving profession. They
want to find a name that reflects the core skill set of the MT, since the
job itself is evolving. Does "medical transcriptionist" truly apply to the
many MTs who have transitioned to QA or to SR editing? Though the core skill
set is retained in these roles, whether traditional MT or SR editor, but the
name "medical transcriptionist" just may become too restrictive and too
synonymous with the manual aspect of traditional transcription to be a
viable identification in the future, when changes in technology will be the
single greatest driver of change in the MT industry within the next decade.
If healthcare documentation experts (MTs) are to secure a role in that
technology future, professionals need to be stressing the skill set that
will survive those changes.

The Futures Group reported a strong belief that based on trends and drivers
in the industry, traditional transcription (pounding it out line for line)
is going to greatly diminish and give way to EMR/EHR template solutions and
SR solutions, where some need for transcribed narrative may still be needed
but the greatest need will be for editors and accuracy analysts who can be
accountable for the accurate capture, organization, and delivery of the
electronic record. In that future reality, how does "medical
transcriptionist" truly fit? Also AAMT is considering dropping "American"
from the name as they recognize the opportunity to be an international
standard-setting body.

The AAMT Name Change Task Force has created the following poll. Please feel
free to participate with your feedback - you don't need to be a member.
http://aamt.webstream.us/poll/index.php?sid=15

Cheers!

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

"It takes years to become an overnight success! Inch by inch, it's
a cinch."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) CBay Acquires Certus's Business

CBay Systems, has announced that it has acquired the Accounts Receivable &
Reimbursement Management division of Certus Corporation; a US based patient
financial services company for an undisclosed sum. This division of Certus
delivers client specific solutions for hospitals and physician groups based
in the US. CBay has executed this acquisition through its group company
Mirrus Systems, Inc (A CBay Group Company). This acquisition of Certus's
well regarded technology platform, customer base, domain expertise and
talented employee base will now allow CBay to expand its entry into Patient
Financial 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.

Mirrus systems acquired substantially all of the division's technology
platform and business assets in an all cash deal. With this acquisition,
CBay has forecasted a $13 million surge in revenues to the top line growth
for the year 2006. Two of India's leading financial institutions namely,
EXIM Bank and I&LFS have funded CBay in this transaction.

Commenting on the acquisition, Mr. Raman Kumar, Chairman & CEO, CBay Systems
said "The deal is a perfect strategic fit for CBay as it provides a
well-established software platform to our healthcare customer base. This is
a high growth area and with Certus' world class platform, we will be able to
become a fully integrated healthcare service provider. It also catapults
CBay into the top ten healthcare receivables management companies in the
US".

http://www.businesswireindia.com/PressRelease.asp?b2mid=9494

2) CBay to raise $20 million

CBay Systems, a healthcare BPO company, plans to raise about $20 million in
debt from Indian financial institutions to fund its proposed acquisitions of
two US-based firms.

Mr Raman Kumar, Chairman and CEO, said the company was in advanced stages of
negotiations for the buy-out of two US firms operating in the patient
financial services and expects to conclude the deals over the next one
month. The buy-out of these two firms would add 70 clients to CBay's
customer base of over 600, Mr Kumar said declining to give further details.
Mr Kumar also hinted that the company may go in for a $50-100 million
acquisition by the year-end. Investors in CBay include GMO Capital, Godrej
Industries, Kingdon Capital, Strategic Venture Funds, TDA Capital and Sansar
Capital.

http://www.blonnet.com/2006/03/24/stories/2006032402680400.htm

3) iWhiteboard Launches "Profiler" for Medical Transcription

iWhiteboard, an eLearning solutions provider that helps transcription
companies and healthcare organizations assess new applicant skills,
benchmark existing transcription personnel and provide continuing education.

With "Profiler," iWhiteboard has created an online tool that allows
companies build profiles of their existing personnel. This profile becomes a
benchmark that may be used to compare new applicants to better determine if
they would be a good hire. Profiles may be created for specific skill sets
including report types such as "clinic notes" or vertical specialties such
as "radiology". Accuracy and speed are automatically calculated. iWhiteboard
Profiler is a Web based technology that is fully administered online.
"Profiler" may be purchased as a single test/profile or in quantity.

"Listening to our customers, we continually hear that finding and hiring
qualified transcriptionists is an ongoing problem. iWhiteboard's automatic
grading is a huge time saver and cost reducer in the hiring process," says
Mark Boyce, CEO of Scribe Healthcare Technologies, Inc. Scribe Healthcare
Technologies and in2scribe are the primary sales channels for iWhiteboard
products.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/4/prweb367229.htm

4) MT school opens to help Cebuanos

Medical transcription is creating thousands of high-paying jobs for
Filipinos. MTC Academy in Cebu, which is certified by the Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority, opened its 25th franchise in the
country and its first in the Visayas at the Mango Square Mall in Cebu City.

"Our school will bring incredible career opportunities to thousands of
Cebuanos. Our graduates earn up to P75,000 per month working right here in
the Philippines, or have the option of working abroad," Nestor Toledo, also
one of the owners of MTC Academy Cebu, said.

The current laws in the US require every doctor-patient encounter to be
entered into a digital file. "Doctors in America don't have the time to do
this so they hire medical transcriptionists. This has created a $20 billion
business annually," the statement said.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/04/04/bus/mt.school.opens.to.help.cebu\
anos.html

5) SoftMed Systems Integrates Speech Recognition Into New Hosted
Transcription Solution with Dragon NaturallySpeaking from Nuance

SoftMed Systems, Inc. and Nuance Communications, Inc.today announced that
SoftMed will deploy Nuance's Dragon(TM) NaturallySpeaking® SDK (software
developers toolkit) to integrate speech recognition capabilities into its
new hosted transcription solution, ChartScript.Com(TM). SoftMed will also
continue to use Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking SDK to integrate speech
recognition into its document management solutions for both server and
PC-based applications. Dragon NaturallySpeaking saves healthcare
organizations thousands of dollars per doctor each year in reduced or
eliminated manual transcription costs by converting speech into text at up
to twice the speed of the spoken word, eliminating the high cost and long
turnaround time associated with the manual transcription of patient notes.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060403/20060403005071.html?.v=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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Mar 25, 2006
********************************************************

Health Information Privacy and Security Week

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

WORLDTECH wishes you a rocking Poila Boishakh
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applications are invited for

   1.. Proofreading positions at KOLKATA. Only those with more than two years
of experience and exposure to proofreading need apply. Selected candidates
will undergo three months' orientation at Hyderabad. Compensation linked to
merit and performance alone.

   2.. Transcription positions at HYDERABAD. Only MTs with more than two
years experience in multispecialty work need apply.

Initial interviews for both positions will be held at KOLKATA in APRIL 2006.

Apply in confidence with a detailed resume e-mailed to:
contactus@...

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

April 9 through 15, 2006, is Health Information Privacy and Security Week.
This annual event is sponsored by the American Health Information Management
Association (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.

To access the planning kit online, visit http://www.ahima.org/hipsweek.

On another front, in continuation to last week's newsletter:

IF THE GRASS IS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE...

It's probably getting better care. Success is not a matter of luck or
circumstance. It's not a matter of fate or the breaks you get or who you
know.

Success is a matter of sticking to a set of commonsense principles anyone
can master. In 'Lead the Field' Earl Nightingale explains these guidelines:
the magic word in life is ATTITUDE. It determines your actions, as well as
the actions of others. It tells the world what you expect from it. When you
accept responsibility for your attitude, you accept responsibility for your
entire life.

Now it's your turn to bring positive changes to your own life, changes that
will allow you to lead the field yourself!


Live your dreams!

Cheers!

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

"It takes years to become an overnight success! Inch by inch, it's
a cinch."

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Infovision Software Pvt. Ltd.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Location: Kolkata AND Mumbai
Mail to:hr-mt@...

1) Medical Transcriptionist: Total no of vacancy: 200
Minimum 1-year experience in live Production.

2) Editor: Total no. of vacancy : 80
Minimum 2 years of live production experience of which at least 1 year
should have been in a similar position. Persons working as Senior Medical
Transcriptionists will be put through an Accelerated Editors' Development
Program (AEDP) during probation and will be confirmed as editors depending
on performance.

3) Quality Analyst/ Proofer : Total no. of vacancy : 20
Minimum 2 years live production experience of which atleast 1 year should
have been in a similar position.

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) The Rise of India

What will India's innovation and booming economy mean for Americans?
(Streamiming video - need broadband to view)

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1674437

2) First DTS class gets ready to graduate

There's plenty of work waiting for the 31 students who will graduate from
DTS America Inc.'s first daytime training session. The program's first night
class will graduate another 19 students this summer. There are still plenty
of job openings, as the medical transcription company has promised to bring
200 jobs to Carlsbad. The next wave of classes will begin April 3. The new
wave of classes will take place at the newly renovated DTS America building
at 805 N. Eighth Street.

The job training is free. Students will become paid employees after the
training and receive $10 an hour. The company also offers plenty of
opportunity for salary increase, said Bonnie Bakal, vice president of
medical transcription development. "We have several clients that we've sold
specifically for Carlsbad," Bakal said. "We already have work."

DTS made some adjustments during the first training session, Bakal said. "We
fined tuned our curriculum a little bit," she said. "For the first few weeks
the curriculum was pretty overwhelming. We've tweaked the lesson plans and
we're pretty happy with it." While the basic training session will prepare
employees to work in transcription, the certification process doesn't
actually begin until after two years of employment.

Nationally, the industry has a shortage of hundreds of thousands of jobs,
she said. "There is much more work out there in the medical field than there
are people to do it," she said. "Getting the work is not the problem,
getting the workers has been the problem." DTS America has its headquarters
in Tennessee and the Carlsbad location will be its first production center.

"This is a concerted effort on Carlsbad's part to help us develop a
workforce," Bakal said. "In essence, you can't just go out there and find
folk who do this without training. We needed a home."

http://www.currentargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060321/NEWS01/603210303\
/1001

3) CBay Appoints New Members on its Board

As part of its corporate restructuring process, healthcare BPO major CBay
Systems India Ltd will soon have on its Board of Directors Dr. S. Narayan,
IAS and former economic advisor to the Prime Minister of India and former
Secretary of Finance and Revenue, Government of India, Mr. Nagendra Nath
Jha, IFS who served as India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and has held a
spectrum of positions subsequent to his retirement - Lt. Governor of Andaman
and Nicobar Islands and Pondicherry between 2001-2004 and Charles
Habermacher, Chairman and Managing Director of Habconsult AG, a leading
financial consultancy company to international institutional customers.
Prior to founding Habconsult AG, Mr. Habermacher served in various senior
positions in HSBC Republic Bank Zurich and American Express Bank Switzerland
AG. et al.

"As part of our strategy to build a truly global company, CBay Systems is
putting together a high powered Board that will guide the company to deliver
world class advantage of people, technology and business processes to its
clients", said Mr. Raman Kumar, Chairman and CEO. "We welcome Dr. Narayan,
Mr. Jha and Mr. Habermacher to our Board. They join Mr. Nadir Godrej, Vice
Chairman and Managing Director of Godrej Industries, who has advised and
guided CBay Board for over 5 years now", he further added.

Established in 1999, CBay has grown to provide customized technology and
services solutions to over 650 healthcare provider clients in the US.
Already the third largest company in medical transcription technology and
services in North America, CBay is now diversifying its technology based
service offering to healthcare receivables management.

http://www.businesswireindia.com/PressRelease.asp?b2mid=9362

4) British patients get letters typed in India

The Harshill complex of the University Hospital of North Staffordshire,
facing debts of nearly £15.5 million, took the step to cut its operating
costs. Correspondence is typed in India and returned to the trust within 24
hours.

The system - Digital Offshore Transcription (DOT) - sees the correspondence
dictated verbally by a doctor. It is stored as a digital file on a computer
that is then transferred by email to a unit in India staffed by what the
hospital describes as "qualified and experienced medical typists".

The typists then listen to the doctor's notes and type them into a letter,
which is returned by email. The DOT system is being used on a trial basis in
the fracture clinic, where there is said to be a shortage of medical
secretaries and the nature of the work is unpredictable.

"The big advantage of the DOT service is that we do not need a fixed
contract. We can use the service as and when we need to. It is early days,
but so far the results look very promising, with accurate letters being
turned around within 24 hours.

"This takes a lot of the pressure off the staff, allowing them to get on
with other aspects of their work. It also improves the service for patients
and other healthcare professionals."

http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=29415

5) Philippines a silent outsourcing star?

Medical transcription has become big business for outsourcing companies.
Almost 7000 US hospitals are required to convert medical records into data
format. It's a $US15 billion market in the US. Some work has gone to the
Philippines, now home to 40 or more medical transcription companies, up from
nine in 2001.

The efforts of the Philippines' Government in attracting such work has paid
off. Local outsourcing firms report revenue of about $US4 billion, up from
$US350 million in 2001. They employ 230,000. India, the world's outsourcing
giant, employs five times as many, but has 12 times the population, which
suggests the Philippines is something of a silent star on the outsourcing
stage.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/philippines-a-silent-outsourcing-star/200\
6/03/21/1142703361345.html?page=2

6) MT Training at Ghana

For Ghana to become one of the global players in BPO, the country must have
trained man-power to compete and that is why 5M Ghana and Blue Pearl Info
Media of India (??) are offering Diploma Course in Certified Medical
Transcription.

http://www.graphicghana.info/article.asp?artid=11211

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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

Mar 18, 2006
********************************************************

Develop an attitude of service

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Infovision Software Pvt. Ltd.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Location: Kolkata AND Mumbai
Mail to:hr-mt@...

1) Medical Transcriptionist: Total no of vacancy: 200
Minimum 1-year experience in live Production.

2) Editor: Total no. of vacancy : 80
Minimum 2 years of live production experience of which at least 1 year
should have been in a similar position. Persons working as Senior Medical
Transcriptionists will be put through an Accelerated Editors' Development
Program (AEDP) during probation and will be confirmed as editors depending
on performance.

3) Quality Analyst/ Proofer : Total no. of vacancy : 20
Minimum 2 years live production experience of which atleast 1 year should
have been in a similar position.

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

According to the late self-help expert Earl Nightingale, our success in life
is directly proportional to the number of people we serve and the quality of
that service. While this life principle may seem to be so simple as to
be self-evident, it's surprising the number of people who don't seem to be
aware that it applies to them. But, like any natural law, it does apply,
to everyone.

To illustrate the relationship between service and compensation, Earl used
the image of an apothecary scale. Imagine that one of the bowls is marked
"compensation" and the other is marked "service." According to Nightingale,
we only need to focus on the quality of the service we provide and the
number of the people whom we serve - the service side of the scale. The
compensation will follow, in proportion to the service we offer to others.
Focus on service, not compensation.

Many people, Nightingale complained, are too focused on increasing their
compensation, without providing a commensurate increase in their service.
Many people fall prey to an attitude of, "My employer isn't paying me
enough, so I won't do any more for them." Others may feel stuck on the same
job, year after year, but never make a personal commitment to learn more
about their job or profession, and therefore increase their ability to serve
their employer, and therefore their value.

Many organizations offer credit for continuing education as part of their
compensation packages, yet these benefits are often chronically
underutilized by workers. In short, the vast majority of people who complain
about the lack of pay, fulfillment and opportunity in their careers are
victims not of their jobs, but of the attitudes they hold about their jobs.
In other words, these people are focusing their attention on the wrong side
of the scale.

In order to increase our compensation, you must develop creative ways to
increase your service - and in so doing, set in motion a positive "boomerang
effect" of increasing returns to yourself. For those who understand this
principle, life is a grand adventure. These unique souls focus on the
service side of the scale, and superior compensation follows in turn, in
proportion to their service.

One of the best strategies is to engage in continuous, ongoing learning in
your field of study as well as other areas of interest to you. By developing
a mindset of continuous learning, you are constantly feeding the raw
material pile of your mind, which it can then draw upon when you're
brainstorming. People who engage in continuous learning naturally tend to
outgrow their jobs over a period of time, often resulting in promotions or
better job offers. Most often, people are promoted because they have
outgrown their current position, not because they have repeated the same
level of experience year after year.

Another way to increase your service is to cultivate what's called an
"insight outlook." In other words, learn from your experiences and your
ongoing education, but always with an eye toward how you can apply it or
adapt it to your current situation. Companies are always in need of fresh
ideas, insights and outlooks, and they will pay the people who provide them
and who can solve problems creatively. Align yourself with opportunity.

In addition, Earl believed that people who concentrate on the service side
of the scale find themselves profiting from all sorts of unique
opportunities that others dismiss as "luck."

To use another metaphor, opportunities and ideas don't come into your life
dressed as shiny gems or diamonds. Rather, they tend to appear like diamonds
in the rough, or as opportunities dressed in work clothes. In other words,
it's easy to look right at a situation that contains a potential
opportunity, and overlook it. On the other hand, if you know what you're
looking for, you can uncover these opportunities, often right under your own
nose. You must then use your creative thinking and problem solving skills to
hone them and shape them into the successes they will one day become.

Cheers!

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

"It takes years to become an overnight success! Inch by inch, it's
a cinch."

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Fire the transcriptionist??

Dragon has become especially focused on serving the health-care and law
professions. Its medical software has the tagline: "Fire the
transcriptionist -- voice recognition works." Although this might be
alarming to medical transcribers, health-care organizations might welcome
tools that increase the accuracy of medical transcription and lower costs.

Despite the technological innovations in the speech-recognition market,
there are still formidable obstacles to mainstream adoption. One is simple
consumer reluctance, which inevitably follows any major shift in high
technology. The world might move at a frantic pace, but that does not mean
everyone wants to keep up with it. Usually, early adopters drive innovation,
and eventually everyone else shuffles along to buy the technology when it's
considered necessary or when it has proven its reliability.

Speech-recognition engines can pick out words and phrases from a wide range
of voices, but heavy accents tend to gum them up, according to Selewach.
"With something like our candidate-screening tool, you just can't take the
chance that what someone says will be misinterpreted," he said. "And that
happens when someone has an accent. I'm not sure speech recognition will
ever be refined enough that we can use it in that situation, at least not
for another 10 years. But it will be nice when it is."

The majority of businesses and consumers still depend on their keyboards for
communication and transcription.

http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=03200000ST9C&page=3

2) Medical Transcription Recognized as an Apprenticeable Occupation by the
U.S. Department of Labor

Graduates of selected medical transcription training programs will now have
access to registered apprenticeship programs, as the U.S. Department of
Labor (DOL) has now declared medical transcription to be an apprenticeable
profession - the first step in 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 (MTIA) along with the
American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT).

"Having a recognized apprenticeable occupation will provide a pipeline of
medical transcription professionals entering into a workforce facing a
serious labor and skills shortage." stated Keith Flannery, Vice President,
MTIA. "Workforce development under the standards established by this
apprenticeship program will aid in facilitating the transition between
student and an employable, productive, and qualified medical
transcriptionist."

"Given the challenge the industry faces in recruiting qualified candidates
to meet the ever-increasing demand for real-time, quality healthcare data, a
registered apprenticeship program couldn't be developed and launched at a
more critical time," stated Peter Preziosi, PhD, CAE, AAMT Executive
Director. "Workforce development is essential to ensuring that documentation
experts are in place to assist the industry in transitioning to an
electronic health record and to preserving the quality and integrity of the
health record in that future."

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/03/10/1447696.htm

3) Replacing the Sensitive PC

ClearCube is a company that specializes in providing PC computing to users
via its own secure central system, usually on a one-to-one basis (that is,
one of their servers powers one of your units, although the ratio can go to
one server to four computers).

The applications for ClearCube's service are wide-ranging. Company
spokesperson Ken Knotts recently offered Line56 a bunch of intriguing
business examples, starting with the U.S. government. "NORAD is using it,"
he says, referring to the defense agency located in Colorado. "It's the de
facto PC there." It's easy to understand why NORAD would want a service like
this. After all, it lets them use local devices that have no local storage
and no memory. Nothing can be downloaded. "It's a locked down environment,"
Knotts says.

ClearCube is in discussions with eTech, a company based in Trinidad and
Tobago that is looking into doing nearshore medical transcription work for
U.S.-based healthcare organizations. "You want to provide a secure
methodology of doing transactions while providing 100 percent control of
data," Knotts says. "With us, eTech can promise hospitals in the U.S. that
their patient data will be 100 percent safe."

http://www.line56.com/articles/default.asp?articleID=7429&TopicID=11

4) American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT) and InterFix
Announce Research and Software Development Collaboration

The American Association for Medical Transcription (Modesto, CA) and
InterFix Ventures, LLC (Atlanta, GA) announced a strategic initiative today
designed to link the association's standards and content expertise with
innovative technology that will meet the complex needs of today's healthcare
documentation environment.

"As a new strategic direction for the Association, this research initiative
will provide the vehicle for driving into the marketplace those
quality-focused documentation standards that AAMT is committed to delivering
to the industry," stated AAMT Executive Director Peter Preziosi, PhD, CAE.
"We recognize the importance of collaborating with a technology company to
improve the quality of healthcare documentation and promote patient safety
and continuity of care by developing technology solutions to evolve the
medical transcription profession in the transitioning electronic health
environment. AAMT is fortunate to be able to partner with a world-class
engineering firm like InterFix to make that happen."

http://www.aamt.org/ScriptContent/downloads/PressRelease031606.html

5) Workforce board touts success of training fund

The Workforce Investment Fund (WIF) was created by the Workforce Board to
provide funds for customized training, upgrading skills of current
employees, developing new training programs, creating new high-skill or
high-wage jobs, or retraining employees for new or emerging occupations.
Since its inception, 655 workers in the region have been trained through a
total investment by the Workforce Board of $401,000. A total of 21 grants
were awarded to 16 different companies, resulting in upgrading the skills of
over 550 current workers. In addition, the training contributed to over 285
new jobs in the region.

Lauretta Remisovski, Abilene Training Center Manager for Transcend Services,
Inc., had this response regarding their grant: "It allows us to provide an
opportunity for individuals with basic medical transcription education,
without experience, to become employed in a high demand medical occupation
in West Central Texas. We are excited about the jobs that this training
program will create for the city of Abilene and the surrounding area."

http://www.sweetwaterreporter.com/articles/2006/03/13/news/news6.txt

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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

Feb 25, 2006
********************************************************

The human "transcriber"

********************************************************
Dear friends,

With all the frenzied activity happenings in the voice-to-text conversion
arena, and the vulnerability this nurtures amongst medical transcription
practitioners and business owners, I felt it to be appropriate to reprint
from an editorial dated Sep 03, 2000, at MTIndia:

Sound is processed in the auditory cortex, right above your ear.
The memory of sound is stored in the auditory association area,
which occupies most of the sides of your head. It's here that words
and sounds are stored. (Just read on....this gets interesting!)

Strategically located where auditory association meets visual
association is Wernicke's area, the spot where objects are named.
When you hear of a patient with "polyuria, polydipsia, polyphagia",
with hyperglycemia, and the doctor mumbles s/l **di....
..ourpathy**, it's Wernicke that whispers, "Diabetic Neuropathy,
stupid." Wernicke is the king of nouns.

At the other end of auditory association lies Broca's area, a
powerful extension of auditory association into the motor
association cortex. The motor association cortex is the center of all
physical action and Broca's area the center of action words.
Broca energetically generates verbs, enthusiastically constructs
sentences, and anxiously anticipates what others are about to say.
Vision and "vision words" happen at the back of the skull, action
and action words happen at the front, in Broca's area, right next
to the prefrontal cortex. The ear is right in the middle, the key
to everything.

An electronic ear, or a microphone as some nerds call it, can
never ever be as sensitive as a human ear. Whatever be the
speed of software development, WERNICKE AND BROCA
areas are unlikely to be electronically replaced in this century!

The human MT is here to stay for some time:)

I do not blame you for your fears, I had the same reservations
before I had really entered this field! I will quote a friend:

"As a practicing radiologist, I and my colleagues have seriously
studied the options. MedSpeak, IBM ViaVoice, and Dragon Systems
Naturally Speaking are the major packages. I personally own
ViaVoice and Dragon. They are pretty good, reaching up to 95-98%
accuracy at normal speaking speeds, but that 2% error rate kills
you! In practice, I am slamming out my dictations way too fast for
the system to work, and the American transcriptionist, even though
she (mostly females) makes more than the Indian, she makes a lot
less than the American physician, so her time spent transcribing is
less expensive to the group than my time spent meticulously
correcting the small errors the speech recognition systems make.
Also, I can use "meta-language" like "Start with a normal standard
CT Chest and add that there is a 2cm nodule in the lateral segment
of the middle lobe." and she will produce the whole report
properly. Or, "go back to where I said left subclavian and change
it to right" and she figures it out. The key to making Indian
transcription work is to make it thoroughly responsive. The
American transcriptionist does a lot of "back-office" work in
addition to just turning speech into text. Sometimes the charge
codes are wrong. They take care of all that for me, so I can just
interpret scans at full speed. They format and deliver the work.
They call me if they don't understand a word, or if a transcription
gets cut off. A good American agent, and tight telecommunications
is key. BTW The Indian grammer and word choice is sometimes
very strange to the American ear. Watch lots of American TV!"

*We learn from history that we do not learn from history.*

Cheers!

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

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Elsevier Launches MT Toolbox

Cadmus Communications Corporation has announced that Elsevier is launching a
new electronic access to its medical transcription reference service using
Cadmus' QLU desktop access application. By offering content through QLU
(Quick LookUp), the publisher provides its subscription base with search
capabilities and instant access to up-to-date versions of the suite of
Elsevier medical reference titles included in their MT Toolbox offering.

By moving the reference sources from the library bookshelf to the user's
desktops, the MT Toolbox powered by QLU can improve the speed at which MTs
can work. QLU also enables publishers to offer trial subscriptions for
conversion to paid subscriptions using a built-in ecommerce engine. In
addition, QLU manages subscription expirations to increase renewal rates and
revenues compared to print and CD-ROM distribution models. QLU is designed
to enhance product development with usage tracking and a reporting tool as
well as enabling revenue growth with contextual and rich-media advertising
opportunities for publications.

http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=15129

2) Alden Prepress to expand in medical transcription

Alden Prepress Services Pvt Limited, a subsidiary of Alden Group, UK, is
planning to expand its activities in medical transcription and related BPO
fields to cash in on the medical transcription outsourcing boom.

The company, which is into typesetting operations, expects substantial
growth in medical transcription segment in the near future. It has received
three big tenders from UK hospitals in the last few weeks and expects to bag
more deals as UK hospitals are looking to outsource such services as part of
cost-cutting measures, a company release said.

Alden has been doing medical transcription works mostly for US market over
the last 12 months.  The company plans to increase its headcount for medical
transcription services from the present 20 to 200 by the end of this year.

With more prepress jobs for STM (scientific, technical and medical) journals
being outsourced to India by the US and European publishers, he said Chennai
operations would take up the lead in expanding Alden's global operations.
However, with competition to access talented labour, Alden said, 'we are
also victims of our own success and the labour market in Chennai, especially
in BPO markets, is overheated. We experience salary inflation and high
attrition rates.'

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu1&l\
eftindx=1&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=216411

3) Nuance to Buy Dictaphone for $357 Million

Speech recognition-software maker Nuance Communications Inc. said Wednesday
it will buy Dictaphone for $357 million, enabling Nuance to expand further
into the $15 billion global market for health care transcription services.
Stratford, Conn.-based Dictaphone will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary
of Nuance, which is financing the all-cash deal with a $355 million loan and
a $75 million credit line.

The deal is the latest in a series of acquisitions for Burlington-based
Nuance to gain a bigger piece of the market to convert doctors' recorded
dictation about patients and other medical data into electronic transcripts.

Last spring, Peabody-based ScanSoft Inc. agreed to acquire its former speech
recognition rival Nuance for $221 million, and operate under the name of
Nuance, which had been based in Menlo Park, Calif.

Dictaphone traces its roots to a company formed in the late 1800s by
telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, and says it now provides dictation
and transcription services to more than 4,000 medical centers with about
400,000 doctors.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/3645511.html

4) Voice Recognition And Medical Transcription

As you already know, doctors are busy people. This is never more obvious
then when they're dictating their notes. It's understandable they're busy,
and as their MT, I can surely forgive them but will the latest voice
recognition software be as forgiving as me? Not likely.

As a transcriptionist you will have typed through background noise, patients
moaning, doctors eating their lunch, personal conversations (oops they
forgot the recorder was on) and other incomprehensible noise. Not to
mention, ESL doctors with heavy accents and very tired ER doctors after a
long shift!

At this time there is no voice recognition software which can handle this
type of voice recognition. It is impossible for the software to determine
actual speech from mistakes in conversation, background noise, heavy
accents, etc.

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/1311.php

5) MedQuist Announces Appointment of Jouko Karvinen to its Board of
Directors

MedQuist Inc. announced the appointment of Jouko Karvinen as a member of its
board of directors effective February 2, 2006. Mr. Karvinen brings a breadth
of management experience and substantial knowledge of the healthcare
industry to the MedQuist board.

Mr. Karvinen has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Philips Medical
Systems since October 2002. Since Mr. Karvinen assumed this role, the
division has consistently improved the profitability and accelerated time to
market of new products and systems. Philips Medical Systems now holds a
leading position in the global healthcare imaging, monitoring, information
and services market, and is the market leader in the majority of the
businesses it serves.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20060208005898&newsLang=en

6) Keltron to conduct diploma course in Medical Transcription

The public-sector Keltron will conduct a six-month diploma course in Medical
Transcription. Those who successfully complete the course with the
prescribed scores would be considered for placement on contract basis at the
Keltron Medical Transcription Centre. Admission to the course will be on the
basis of a screening test.

Candidates have to pay fee of Rs.250 along with the application. The test
will be conducted in Thiruvananthapuram. The course fee is Rs.15,000. The
minimum qualification for admission to the course is graduation degree with
basic computer knowledge. There is no age limit.

Application forms can be obtained from Keltron Coordinators in the Deputy
Collector (Election) offices in all District Collectorates, IDCP, Keltron
Equipment Complex, Karakulam, Thiruvananthapuram 695 564. The form can also
be downloaded from www.keltron.org.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/22/stories/2006012211770400.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 1998-2006
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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Jan 28, 2006
********************************************************

The AAMT RMT Certification

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

AAMT has overall responsibility for test development and
administration;  however, Prometric administers and provides
psychometric guidance for the testing program.

The RMT exam is designed to assess competency in medical
transcription by determining if a candidate has the core knowledge
and skills needed to practice medical transcription effectively in
today's healthcare environment. AAMT recommends that candidates
possess the knowledge and skills identified as  Level 1 in
AAMT's "Medical Transcriptionist Job Descriptions," as well as the
competencies outlined in the AAMT Core Competencies document, before
attempting to take the exam.

Medical transcriptionists (MTs) who are recent graduates of medical
transcription education programs, MTs with fewer than two years'
experience in acute care, and MTs practicing in single-specialty,
clinic, radiology, and pathology areas are eligible to take the RMT
exam. MTs who are eligible to take the CMT examination are not
eligible to take the RMT exam.

Individuals who successfully complete this AAMT credentialing process
are recognized as Registered Medical Transcriptionists and are
entitled to use the RMT designation. The credential is valid for
three years. Upon passing the exam, each RMT receives a wall
certificate that shows the date the credential is obtained and the
date through which the credential is valid (renewal date). Current
RMTs may order additional or replacement certificates from AAMT for a
nominal fee.

Testing centers are located throughout the US, in addition to
multiple international locations.  To locate the nearest or most
convenient test site, go to the Prometric website at
www.Prometric.com. Application to take the RMT exam internationally
must be made to AAMT. An Authorization to Test ID will be issued by
AAMT within 2 weeks of the application. This Authorization ID number
will allow the candidate to schedule a date to take the RMT
examination with Prometric. Payment must be made to Prometric at the
time of scheduling the examination.

Results are available immediately upon completion of the exam (except
during the beta test period when candidates may have to wait
approximately three months for their results).

Please find the candidate guide here:
http://www.aamt.org/ScriptContent/Downloads/RMTCandidateGuide012406.pd
f

Ciao!

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

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Informatics to offer medical transcription courses with AAMT

IT education institution Informatics recently signed up with the
American Academy of Medical Transcription (AAMT) to start offering
its first medical transcription training program in the Philippines.

The training modules intend to improve both English communication
skills and medical knowledge from basic to intermediate in students
hoping to work in the medical transcription business growing in the
country.

The program intends to train about 2,000 medical transcribers to
enter the workforce this year, according to Informatics director.

The US is currently the biggest source of medical transcription and
45 percent of the work is being done by India. The worldwide medical
transcription business is expected to grow to 25 billion US dollars
within the next three years.

http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=64432

2) Don't be Tongue-tied

Often, a good ear for languages is an inborn talent, which would be
difficult to acquire. But an agile mind, and an ability to
concentrate for long stretches of time and to work under pressure are
some of the personal qualities required for a successful career in
languages. Excellent interpersonal skills, a knowledge and
understanding of people, observation skills, good memory and an open
mind are key attributes.

Those with languages skills can become translators, and be able to
translate idiomatically and to write concisely and with lucidity.
Other options can include language research and medical transcription.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060125/jobs/main1.htm

3) India's laptop sales leap

"One of the biggest factor pushing sales for notebooks is the
affordability factor or reduction in prices" says Rajiev Grover,
country category manager, Hewlett-Packard India. "India's personal
computer market is undergoing a major transition as premium notebook
computers are being brought to the mainstream, with almost half the
prices, compared with a year ago."

However, according to Vinnie Mehta, the executive director of
Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology MAIT, another
key driver has been the growth of newer professions, that not only
require different working styles but also mobile devices for anytime-
anywhere computing.

"For instance many type the IT-enabled workers or back office workers
(like medical transcription workers) need not work out of an old
fashioned office anymore. Similarly many financial and marketing
sector professionals need to be one the move always," says Mehta.

http://www.physorg.com/news10165.html

4) UN to assist Ghana establish software laboratory

The United Nations is to assist Ghana to establish a science and
technology park at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology to support the country in its efforts to develop and test
software and hardware components locally. Minister of Communications,
Albert Kan-Dapaah, who took his turn at the weekly meet the press
series on Tuesday, said the project was one of the major challenges
of Ghana's aim to hasten processes to be part of the growing
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry globally.

Mr Kan-Dapaah said both the Government and the private sector had
contributed to the development of manpower to meet ICT industry needs
but noted that there was the need to train more personnel to take up
responsibilities especially in the area of business outsourcing from
other countries and also to begin medical transcription as well as
voice and data entry functions.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=98120

5) RP aims for $10-B in e-service revenues

According to The Philippines' Offshoring Opportunity, a September
2005 report by McKinsey and Company, the demand for global
outsourcing services is expected to reach $180 billion by 2010. The
Philippines' outsourcing industry aims to acquire 5% of that market,
making it a $10 billion-industry, up from about $1.5 billion in 2004.

"We can probably expect more BPO companies. Hopefully we will make
some progress and see some headway as we support the other members of
the federation (Contact Federation of the Philippines)," said Liza
Lamzon, director for strategic growth programs at contact center firm
PeopleSupport Inc. "There's tremendous promise across all sectors—in
animation, transcription, software development, of course," said
Lamzon.

"There is an ongoing industry-wide move to organize the sectors into
associations such as PSIA, ACPI, MTIAPI (Medical Transcription
Industry Association of the Philippines Inc.), CCAP (Contact Center
Association of the Philippines), and their umbrella association,
BPA/P," said Agoncillo-Reyes, leading to a healthy exchange of ideas
among the members and the sectors. "In addition, it has also
facilitated the promotion of the industry's capabilities by providing
representation of local firms to investors and in foreign trade
shows," she said.

http://www.itnetcentral.com/computerworld/article.asp?
id=15458&leveli=0&info=Computerworld
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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

Jan 21, 2006
********************************************************

Impress Your Boss??

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Good wishes from WORLDTECH on the occasion of Republic Day
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The art of having your shorshey ilish and keeping it too.  INTERVIEWS in
Hyderabad for proofreading position for WORLDTECH's KOLKATA unit.

Only those with more than two years of experience and exposure to final
level proofreading need apply. Selected candidates will undergo three
months' orientation at Hyderabad. Compensation linked to merit and
performance alone.  Interviews at Hyderabad on January 26th, 27th, and 28th.
Apply in confidence with details.

Contact: Venkat Nimmagadda, General Manager, HR, at Worldtech MGR
Estates, Saibaba Temple Road, Punjagutta, Hyderabad 500082.
Tel # 040-2335-2700/2698 or mail your resumes to
contactus@...

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

Dear Friends,

A butcher watching over his shop is really surprised when he sees a dog
coming inside the shop. He shoos him away.

But later, the dog is back again. So, he goes over to the dog and notices it
has a note in its mouth. He takes the note and it reads, "Can I have 12
sausages and a leg of lamb, please". The dog has money in its mouth, as
well."

The butcher looks inside and, lo and behold, there is a ten-dollar note
there. So he takes the money and puts the sausages and lamb in a bag,
placing it in the dog's mouth. The butcher is so impressed, and since it's
about closing time, he decides to shut the shop and follow the dog.

So off he goes. The dog is walking down the street, when it comes to a level
crossing; the dog puts down the bag, jumps up and presses the button. Then
it waits patiently, bag in mouth, for the lights to turn. They do, and it
walks across the road, with the butcher following him all the way. The dog
then comes to a bus stop, and starts looking at the timetable.

The butcher is in awe as the dog stops a bus by pulling its left leg up and
gets in it. The butcher follows the dog into the bus. The dog then shows a
ticket, which is tied to its belt to the bus conductor.

The butcher is nearly fainting at this sight, so are the other passengers in
the bus. The dog then sits near the driver's seat looking outside waiting
for the bus stop to come. As soon as the stop is in sight, the dog stands
and wags its tail to inform the conductor. Then, without waiting for the bus
to stop completely, it jumps out of
the bus and runs to a house very close to the stop. It opens the big Iron
Gate and rushes inside towards the door.

As it approaches the wooden door, the dog suddenly changes its mind and
heads towards the garden. It goes to the window, and beats its head against
it several times, walks back, jumps off, and waits at the door. The butcher
watches as a big guy opens the door, and starts abusing the dog, kicking him
and punching him, and swearing at him.

The butcher surprised with this, runs up, and stops the guy. "What in
heaven's name are you doing? The dog is a genius. He could be on TV, for the
life of me!" to which the guy responds: "You call this clever? This is the
second time this week that this stupid dog's forgotten his key."

Moral of the Story: You may continue to exceed onlookers' expectations but
shall always fall short of the boss' expectations. It's a dog's life after
all...

Ciao!

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

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) CBay Will Provide 1,500 Member Hospitals Access to Greater Efficiencies
and
Cost Savings on Medical Transcription

CBay Systems announced today that it was awarded a contract by Premier Inc.
to provide integrated dictation capture, transcription and web-based
document management solutions to its member healthcare facilities. Under the
terms of the agreement, CBay is the approved provider to Premier's alliance
of approximately 1,500 hospitals and healthcare systems across the United
States.

A selection committee at Premier evaluated numerous medical transcription
service organizations from across the country and determined that CBay's
solutions were the right choice for its members.

"CBay is very excited about this opportunity to provide medical
transcription services to Premier's member hospitals," said Michael Kimball,
CBay's senior vice president of sales and marketing. "We offer the ideal
blend of service, experience, technology, and value to ensure that Premier's
members receive timely and accurate medical documentation to help them
provide the best patient care."

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-18-200\
6/0004262605&EDATE=

2) Home-based jobs promise good returns

With portable computers, high-speed telecommunication links and pocket
communication devices, individuals could work anywhere, anytime, even from
the comfort of a home. All such workers needed were a telephone and a
computer with a broadband connection.

Another specialist worker working freelance for Medcall, a medical
transcription company, said he ran his snacks business simultaneously.
Medical transcription is strictly performance-based and compensation depends
on the number of transcriptions done every month.

Shrijita Biswas, HR head of Medcall, said, "We encourage people to work from
home because that way we can avoid capital investment".  About 70 per cent
of Medcall's employees were medical transcriptionists working from home and
earning anything between Rs 9,000 to Rs 60,000 a month.

Students did medical transcription part-time and only 30 per cent of
Medcall's employees came to office to work in the managerial or
administrative departments.  Workers however had to learn medical
transcription at a cost of about Rs 8,000.

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu4&l\
eftindx=4&lselect=5&chklogin=N&autono=212316

3) The Top 10 Reasons to Become a Medical Transcriptionist

10.     Quick entry
9.      Contribute to society
8.      Work from home
7.      Excellent pay
6.      Job security
5.      Job satisfaction
4.      Set your own hours
3.      Comfortable work environment
2.      Transferable skills
1.      Rewarding work

http://www.bestsyndication.com/Articles/2006/m/mccollum_jordan/011706_medical_tr\
anscriptionist.htm

4) MedQuist Announces Preliminary, Partial and Unaudited Financial Results

MedQuist announced certain preliminary, partial and unaudited financial
results, and provided updated information regarding previously-announced
litigation and governmental investigations and proceedings. Once the Company
completes the financial assessment and review of its billing practices
disclosed in the Company's previous filings with the SEC, the Company
expects that KPMG LLP, its independent registered public accounting firm,
will review and/or audit the Company's financial statements, as appropriate.
The Company is continuing the process of working toward becoming current in
its periodic reports pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Because the completion of the billing review and resolution of the
litigation and governmental investigatory matters are pending, the Company
is not certain whether any changes to the accounting treatment of any
component of its consolidated financial statements will be required and, if
any changes are necessary, whether any such changes would have a material
impact on its current or prior period consolidated financial statements.

Legal Proceedings

Investigations and Proceedings Commenced by the SEC and the Department of
Justice

As previously announced, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC")
is currently conducting a formal investigation of the Company. The Company
will continue to fully cooperate with the SEC.

As previously announced, the Company received an administrative HIPAA
subpoena for documents from the United States Attorney's Office for the
District of Massachusetts on December 17, 2004.

Shareholder Securities Litigation

As previously announced, a shareholder putative class action lawsuit was
filed against the Company in the United States District Court District of
New Jersey on November 8, 2004. The complaint specifically alleged that
defendants violated federal securities laws by purportedly issuing a series
of false and misleading statements to the market throughout the Class
Period, which statements allegedly had the effect of artificially inflating
the market price of the Company's securities.

Customer Litigation

As previously announced, a putative class action was filed in the United
States District Court Central District of California. The action, filed on
September 9, 2004 against the Company and certain present and former Company
officials, purportedly on behalf of an alleged class of non-Federal
governmental hospitals and medical centers that the complaint claims were
wrongfully and fraudulently overcharged for transcription services by
defendants based primarily on the Company's use of the AAMT line billing
unit of measure discussed below. The complaint charges fraud, violation of
the California Business and Professions Code, unjust enrichment, conversion,
negligent supervision and violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations Act.

Medical Transcriptionist Litigation

As previously announced, a putative class action lawsuit was filed against
the Company in the United States District Court Northern District of
Georgia. The action, against the Company and certain current and former
Company officials, purportedly on behalf of an alleged class of current and
former employees and statutory workers of MedQuist, who are or were
compensated on a "per line" basis for medical transcription services (the
"Class Members") from January 1, 1998 to the time of the filing of the
complaint (the "Class Period"). The complaint specifically alleged that
defendants systematically and wrongfully underpaid the Class Members during
the Class Period. The complaint asserted the following causes of action:
fraud, breach of contract, demand for accounting, quantum meruit, unjust
enrichment, conversion, negligence, negligent supervision, and Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act violations.

Myers Putative Class Action

As previously announced, a putative class action was filed against the
Company on September 22, 2005 in the United States District Court District
of New Jersey. The action was brought on behalf of a putative class of
MedQuist's employee and independent contractor transcriptionists who claim
that they contracted with the Company to be paid per "AAMT line," but were
allegedly underpaid due to intentional miscounting of the number of
characters and lines transcribed. The named plaintiffs assert claims for
breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and request an accounting.

Twelve Months ended December 31, 2005

Revenues:

Preliminary, unaudited results indicate that the Company's revenues
decreased from approximately $456 million for the twelve months ended
December 31, 2004 to approximately $411 million for the comparable 2005
period. The decline in revenues is due to (i) a decrease in the volume of
lines transcribed primarily related to clients for whom we no longer provide
transcription services and (ii) reductions in transcription service rates
due to pricing pressure in the medical transcription industry.

Operating Income:

Preliminary, unaudited results indicate that operating income declined $123
million from an operating income of approximately $25 million for the twelve
months ended December 31, 2004 to an operating loss of approximately $98
million for 2005. The operating loss was attributable to the following:
restructuring charges ($4 million), audit fees in connection with the
Company's 2003, 2004 and 2005 fiscal years ($4 million), asset impairments
($2 million) and $101 million in costs incurred in 2005 related to the
ongoing billing review, including: (i) customer accommodation payments and
accruals ($65 million), (ii) legal fees incurred in connection with
governmental investigations and proceedings and defense of the class action
matters, (iii) non-legal professional fees, and (iv) costs associated with
separation and replacement of the Company's management team, including
members at the executive level. Operating income in 2005 was also impacted
by the $44 million decline in revenues over the comparable period, which
represents the impact of both the pricing pressures experienced most
strongly in the first six months of 2005 and of volume declines throughout
the twelve months ended December 31, 2005. Fiscal 2004 results reflect $15
million in costs related to the ongoing billing review.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-medquist-announces-preliminary-partial-unaudited-\
financial-results-/2006/01/19/1298842.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 1998-2006
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

Jan 14, 2006
********************************************************

Something to ponder about...

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Good wishes from WORLDTECH on the occasion of Republic Day
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The art of having your shorshey ilish and keeping it too.  INTERVIEWS in
Hyderabad for proofreading position for WORLDTECH's KOLKATA unit.

Only those with more than two years of experience and exposure to final
level proofreading need apply. Selected candidates will undergo three
months' orientation at Hyderabad. Compensation linked to merit and
performance alone.  Interviews at Hyderabad on January 26th, 27th, and 28th.
Apply in confidence with details.  Last date for receiving complete
applications for these interview dates is January 21, 2006.

Contact: Venkat Nimmagadda, General Manager, HR, at Worldtech MGR
Estates, Saibaba Temple Road, Punjagutta, Hyderabad 500082.
Tel # 040-2335-2700/2698 or mail your resumes to
contactus@...

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

Dear Friends,

Judging by the increase in rude and aggressive mails/posts I seem to be
receiving/seeing by the day, it is quite evident that a growing number of
isolated individuals are working in their own space, often at home alone or
in little booths, whose working environment becomes less filled with human
face-to-face interaction and more and more contact via computer, monitor and
headset, where it is all to easy to forget that there is a living,
breathing, feeling and often frustrated and insecure person at the other end
of the "send" or "post" button. Maybe from a completely different culture,
language and time zone.

Frankly, I think it would be even ideal if we saved each of our submissions
as a draft and read it again the next day before sending it, for any email
or posts that deal with issues rather than just digital letters. It is too
easy to leave basic civility aside as we are focused on problem solving.

Most cultures have a commonly accepted set of social rules that apply in
face to face meetings that set the tone of civility, designed to grease the
skids. The French shake hands and address the gathering with a welcome. Some
offer beverages or food. Some discuss the weather. Ask after family.
Americans tend to get the non-essentials out of the way quickly and get
right to work. I am afraid the internet model emulates the American style
rather than the more civil style of most of the rest of the world. :)
Perhaps we need to take a deep breath and remind ourselves that it is not a
machine we are interacting with, but other human beings.

We do, indeed, work in an ever more stressful, time pressured world and
working environment. Our computers constantly irritate us, deadlines breathe
down our necks, clients make us do things exactly the way it should not be
done, but they are paying the bills and when we do it their way and it
doesn't work, they blame us. And so on. Sometimes it is hard not to be
snappy. If we indulge ourselves in this and allow it to express itself
outside the family (who we all know have an endless supply of patience with
our frustrations!), it will spill over into our working relationships which
is not good. It can alienate associates which is counter productive to our
best interests. It also makes a negatively charged atmosphere.

Since it looks as though we are going to be living with this style of
working for the foreseeable future, this may be the time to establish for
ourselves an internet civility that will enrich all our lives and lubricate
the digital interaction. Especially, since we may well be working modem to
modem with task members from many diverse cultures where basic politeness is
taken for granted and lack thereof is a severe affront and is likely to
deplete a good working and ongoing relationship.

So civility is good for us personally and good for business/careers. Cheap
at the price!

Ciao!

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

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) CBay mulls Rs 80 cr healthcare BPO facility

The Rs 200 crore medical transcription company, CBay Systems India Ltd
(CBay), plans to expand its Hyderabad operations by scaling up employee
strength to 2,700 professionals in the next two years. The company is now
operating here with 500 transcriptionists.

CBay chairman and CEO Kumar said that the company is planning to invest Rs
80 crore to develop a state-of-the-art healthcare BPO facility at the
proposed Poppalaguda IT park. The company has recently signed a MoU with the
Andhra Pradesh government for allocation of 8 acres land at the IT Park. The
company plans to build 2 lakh sq ft facility on the land, Mr Kumar said.

Mr Kumar also said that the company plans to make Hyderabad as its major hub
for medical transcription business considering the government's support and
the low cost of real estate. "Though we are operating from Mumbai, it would
be difficult for us to expand there due to high real estate costs," he said.

Overall, CBay has plans to expand its operations taking the employee
strength to 10,000 professional from the present strength of 4,500 in the
next two years. It operates from 35 centres in 10 states in the country. On
the growth of the medical transcription business, Mr Kumar said that the US
healthcare industry is growing over 10% annually, while the Indian
transcription business is growing 15% annually. "This would further increase
as the number of old age people is increasing in the US," he opined.

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=114263

2) AAMT Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT) Beta test

A beta exam is being conducted to help AAMT evaluate the functionality and
performance of the exam and the grading process. Sixty candidates will be
chosen from those applying to represent a broad range of educational
programs, experience in nonacute care settings, and geographical diversity.
Candidates chosen to sit for this exam will be promptly notified and
provided with a Candidate Guide. Candidates will receive a report on whether
they passed or failed by June 2006. Candidates who fail the beta test may
repeat the exam in six months.

http://www.aamt.webstream.us/RMT/rmtapplication.html


3) MTIAPI sees double-digit growth in 2006

The Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines Inc.
(MTIAPI) is hoping that the medical transcription business will grow by
close to a hundred percent in 2006 as the US medical institutions become
more open to offshore outsourcing.

MTIAPI President Evelyn Abat said the local medical transcription industry
could grow between 16 million US dollars to 20 million US dollars by the end
of 2006, double the figures of the industry's estimated overall growth last
year.

Abat added that the organization is continuing to get more companies to join
in an effort to market the local industry to the US, the main market for
medical transcription.

From 60 members, the MTIAPI is hoping to get 40 new members within the year.

The industry is also expected to hire 2,000 new medical transcribers this
year. There was an estimated 6,000 medical transcription professionals hired
last year.

Abat said that one of their activities this year is to partner with US-based
medical transcription organizations, particularly with the American
Association for Medical Transcription, for match-making and pass-through
projects.

"The small start up medical transcription firms can find new opportunities
by tying up with counterparts from the US. This way, we can continue growing
the industry as a whole and not just per company," Abat said.


http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=62894

4) CITI to start BPO firm for health care

To help small-scale and trained entrepreneurs, Mohali-based Centre for
International Trade & Industry (CITI), in its first phase, has undertaken a
survey and identified around 10-15 professional entrepreneurs, experienced
in the field of medical transcription, from Punjab and Chandigarh, to form a
BPO company through a cluster approach, and start a BPO services in health
care industry of medical.

The cluster has been conceived after a pre-feasibility survey conducted by
CITI on the advantages in outsourcing medical transcription to India with an
initial investment of Rs 10 lakh.

Sharing his perspective, Mohan Singh, director general, Centre for
International Trade & Industry said the lack of resources was the reason due
to which small scale entrepreneurs of Punjab could not market their services
overseas, even though they had excellent skill sets to render professional
services.

The BPO-through-Cluster approach is meant to bring all professionals on a
common platform, so as the render services to the entire satisfaction of the
customers.

The scheme is expected to generate self employment for at least 15
professionals, directly, and around 50 persons indirectly.

"In the first year of operations, we have an annual turnover target of Rs 60
lakh," said Singh.

The BPO group will further take up activities in the areas of medical
billing, and medical coding.

According to Singh,CITI will be responsible for procurement of the orders
and monitoring them for at least for a year, till the situation becomes
sustainable.

http://www.business-standard.com/iceworld/storypage_link.php?chklogin=N&autono=2\
11221&lselect=2&leftnm=lmnu9&leftindx=9

5) Transcend acquires California company

Transcend Service Inc. has bought PracticeXpert Inc.'s transcription
business.

Under the terms of the agreement with Transcend, PracticeXpert will receive
up to $500,000, over three years, on an earn-out basis, with an initial
$40,000 payment on closing.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bizj/060103/1210276.html?.v=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 - to subscribe, send an email to:
MTIndia-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Jan 07, 2006
********************************************************

Fraud???

********************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
****************
Good wishes from WORLDTECH on the occasion of Republic Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--------------

INTERVIEWS in Hyderabad for proofreading position for WORLDTECH's KOLKATA
unit.

Only those with more than two years of experience and exposure to final
level proofreading need apply. Selected candidates will undergo three
months' orientation at Hyderabad. Compensation linked to merit and
performance alone.  Interviews at Hyderabad on January 26th, 27th, and 28th.
Apply in confidence with details.  Last date for receiving complete
applications for these interview dates is January 21, 2006.

Contact: Venkat Nimmagadda, General Manager, HR, at Worldtech MGR
Estates, Saibaba Temple Road, Punjagutta, Hyderabad 500082.
Tel # 040-2335-2700/2698 or mail your resumes to
contactus@...

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

Dear Friends,

This is a mail I received a couple of days back...

<Fraud. I am a US MT of over 30+ years. I had hired an Indian company to
assist with my workload. Their website guaranteed 98% and at times 99%
accuracy, claiming to have 2-level QA. I review each and every report prior
to submission, as I know there are problems with the English language,
punctuation, keen listening skills and attention to detail with most of the
MTs I have worked with - to include US MTs (I QA for 2 companies, MT for
another company and have about 15 local clients). Anyway, on numerous
occasions over the months I asked them to improve the quality of the
reports, as I was making so many changes and at times even redoing the
reports myself. I sent feedback, emails, IMs, compare documents, samples,
links, everything I could think of...and the quality continued to fail. They
claimed to have changed QAs at times, but I never saw a difference, except
worse and worse. This company NEVER had 80% accuracy, let alone 98 to 99%. I
did pay this company throughout this period of time, except for the last
couple of months. I felt that the time I was spending, doing their QA,
sending feedback, etc., they did not warrant pay. I have since severed the
relationship (last month). They feel that I owe them money, to which I am
not going to pay (there was no contract signed). They have now threatened to
contact my clients..which is not a problem. As a matter of fact, I provided
them phone numbers and contacts. However, I would like to report them as
defaulting on their end of the agreement, having not met their "guaranteed"
standards. How can I go about doing this? Who would I report them to? I
might add...I have another company in place in India, who are doing a
wonderful job...I QA and provide feedback, but they are very careful in not
making the same mistake and they care very much in the work that is produced
and submitted and always meet TATs (the other company did not meet TATs set
forth either). With regard to the first company I discussed, it is because
of companies like that which give off-shoring a bad name. I know many people
throughout the US, and have told them about this company. I hope to hear
from you soon. Thank you so much. Melissa>

Comments?

Cheers!

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

********************************************************
NEWS AND VIEWS :
*****************
1) Outsourcing in Asia Pacific will lose luster in 2006 - but not MT!

Organizations that have outsourced certain information technology functions
to third parties will likely take some of these functions back, and run them
in their own remote centers that will be established in 2006, Canada-based
research firm XMG said .

XMG, however, noted that the outsourcing of medical transcription jobs to
Asia Pacific, specifically India and the Philippines, will continue due to
concerns of an aging population in the United States, and regulatory issues
unique to North America.

"The unique regulatory regime for healthcare in the US (HIPAA) makes it the
dominant source of global demand for outsourced medical transcription
services. Majority of the demand will increasingly be outsourced to offshore
destinations in Asia such as India and the Philippines, but to an
increasingly smaller group of high-quality service providers," XMG said in
its 2006 predictions.

XMG added that the demand for transcribing patient care records into
electronic format for greater record integrity and accessibility will drive
continuous growth in 2006 and in the coming years. Global revenues on
outsourced medical transcription services in 2005 is already estimated to be
at 2.2 billion dollars, with the US market accounting for more than 85
percent of global demand, XMG said.

http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=62080

2) MT logs on to tier II cities

Forced by the paucity of talent in the large metros, medical transcription
companies are following the BPO bigwigs to smaller cities. With this, cities
like Coimbatore, Madurai, Tirupur, Trivandrum are seeing a lot of action.

For instance, Mumbai-based medical transcription company Spryance employs a
large number of people in tier II cities. The company has adopted the HBT
model and it hires people only for quality assurance and editing work.
Spryance currently employs 1,110 people out of which around 770 people are
HBT's. Rajiv Shetye, vice-president, Spryance says that 60% to 70% of these
HBTs come from cities like Coimbatore, Madurai, Tirupur, Trivandrum and
Baroda. For Spryance, outsourcing work to HBT's in tier II cities makes a
lot of sense. "Outsourcing to HBT in B-class cities makes sense. B-class
cities, especially in the South, have plenty of human resources which have
largely remain untapped. We want to leverage on the talent available in
these cities," Mr Shetye says.

Even companies like the Bangalore-based Healthscribe have shifted their
focus to tier II cities. In June this year, HealthScribe, a subsidiary of
the US based medical transcription company, Spheris opened a facility at the
STPI IT Park in the Kumaraguru College of Technology campus in Coimbatore.
Coimbatore is
Spheris' second centre after Bangalore. The company has invested around Rs
10 crore on this facility. Choosing Coimbatore for setting up a second
centre was an easy decision for the company. "A majority of Spheris's
employees come from the Coimbatore and Palakkad belt in the South.
Coimbatore has a good educational system which churns out thousands of
talented graduates and engineers every year.

With medical transcription companies moving to B cities, the boom in this
ndustry could generate enormous employment potential in these cities.

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=113926

3) Alpha Systems ties up US-based RTC

New York-based Reporters Transcription Center (RTC) and Coimbatore-based
Alpha Systems have set up a joint venture named Trans-Venture BPO Solution
PVT LTD. The 50-50 venture, with US two million dollars investment, will
have its own training and production facilities in Coimbatore, and would
employ over 500 people during its first year of operations, Randall A
Czerenda, RTC president, told reporters.

RTC has been dealing with Alpha for the last six years and being very much
impressed with its commitment to quality and business practices, picked
Alpha to go with, when it was decided to expand and set up production
facility in India, Randall said.

Alpha handles more than 40,000 lines per day from RTC, its CEO, C R
Vasudevan said, adding that both Alphaa and Trans Venture would continue to
source work from RTC and hope to build one lakh lines per day before the end
of this year.

http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7B4E8012BF-01FF-4FB7-8\
4C7-D5AB309568A5%7D&CATEGORYNAME=Business

4) Transcend Secures $5.6 Million Credit Facility

Transcend Services, Inc. announced that it has secured a four year, $5.6
million credit facility with Healthcare Finance Group (HFG) which replaces
the Company's previous $2.0 million credit facility with Bank of America,
N.A. The new facility includes a $3.6 million revolving accounts
receivable-based line of credit and up to $2.0 million of term loans to fund
acquisitions. Borrowings bear interest at LIBOR plus 4%, are secured by
Company assets and require that the Company maintain certain financial and
other covenants.

Transcend also announced today that Sue McGrogan, a co-founder of the
Company's subsidiary, Medical Dictation Inc. ("MDI"), has invested $300,000
in Transcend as of December 26, 2005 through a reduction in the January
31st, 2006 installment payment on the note payable to Ms. McGrogan related
to the MDI acquisition.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ne\
wsId=20060104005235&newsLang=en

5) BPOs will have to sharpen their new skills

The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector that has so far focused on
basic services is set to graduate to newer services. The traditional
services have seen billing rates erode over the last three years by as much
as 33%. Besides, labour costs have gone up by 10%-15% year-on-year and the
current delivery is largely from the more expensive Tier I cities (like
Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore). This could, in the long- run, make it unviable to
offer the basic services. Much like medical transcription became unviable
after billing rates crashed.

Says, Kiran Karnik, president, Nasscom: "There will be a distinct shift from
traditional BPO services to Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) kind of
services. I see companies getting deeper into areas like HR and F&A." So,
instead of just managing payroll, vendors may scale up to take care of
career and retirement planning.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1356064.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 1998-2005
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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