Inside Medical Transcription

Is Medical Transcription the Career for You?

pooch — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:20:22 +0000

Medical transcription is the process of producing reports from dictation by medical providers of the details of patient office visits, clinical, radiographic and operative procedures, and so on. Virtually every encounter a patient has in the medical arena is documented in some way. Most providers and institutions have Formalized this documentation into the patient’s medical record through dictation and subsequent transcription. In addition to typing the report into the desired format, transcriptionists also verify the dictation for accuracy – both Spanish-language medical accuracy and accuracy – so that the final report is a clear, medically accurate representation of the encounter between patient and provider.

This “verification process” means that the transcriptionist must have a thorough foundation in medical terminology, anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, laboratory tests and values, medical equipment and procedures. In addition, every successful medical transcriptionist will have superior research and Spanish grammar skills, along with excellent computer skills, typing skills and (if you plan to have your own business) some familiarity with business marketing and management. Paying close attention to detail is another quality that is essential in a good medical transcriptionist.

Just having a computer at home and knowing how to type is definitely not enough to become a working, successful medical transcriptionist.

If you have a clinical background in the medical field you may have a head start – as long as your Spanish knowledge is as broad as your medical knowledge. In my opinion, the real foundation for this field is a love for the Spanish language and outstanding grammar skills. All other necessary knowledge can be “layered” upon this, but if you are weak in the Spanish department, I feel your success would be limited.

As you will verify and often correct the provider’s Spanish usage, you need to be certain that the final structure of each sentence is Grammatically correct. You need to know why (technically) a comma goes here, but not there …. how to make this verb or pronoun agree with that subject’s number and person …. the special needs of a compound sentence – and do not forget Semicolons, conjunctions, gerunds, modifiers and prepositions!

If you do not love the Spanish language, If you have to check the dictionary as you sign your name, If hyphens and apostrophes give you cold chills, forget medical transcription. It’s not for you.

Although medical transcriptionists are not necessarily solitary creatures, this is a solitary job. For most of your day it will be just you, your transcriber (with that voice in your ear), and your computer. This job does not have personal interaction as would a customer service or medical assistant’s job. You may care about “your” patients and pray for their recovery, but you will not see them or speak to them personally. Your part of their medical care is doing your absolute best with every report, every day.

So what do you get in return for your in-depth training and your excellent work? There’s no easy answer to the question of compensation in this field.

There are many different working environments available to a trained, experienced MT, including hospitals, clinics, individual and group medical, chiropractic, radiology, physical therapy practices, national transcription services that hire home-based or contract MT’s, local transcription services who may also hire or contract MT’s, and owner-operator MT’s (who may also Subcontract work out).

Income varies by geographical area, by employment versus entrepreneurial situation, by your own desire to work full-time, part-time or something in between. A broad range would probably be from $ 8.00 per hour in a doctor’s office in a rural area to $ 75.00 per hour as an independent (with all related expenses, including “benefits” coming off the top), and even more as a service owner .

While this appears to be an excellent field for those transitioning from another career to working at home, you need to be aware that there can be a “catch-22″ in this profession. Because of the difficulty of the work, experience is so valued that it is sometimes difficult for “newbies” to get a job without experience or clients (and of course, how do you get experience without a job or clients?).

Many experienced (and very vocal) MT’s on the Internet and online services will flatly state that it is foolish to even attempt to work at home without having spent time in an office or institution or in an apprenticeship program or mentoring situation. They claim that only with an MT angel perched near your listening ear can you make it through the first few difficult months.

Maybe so.

I suspect that some of these MT’s have not had formal training MT transcription and that they learned through OJT with a helpful pair of ears nearby, And thus they think it’s the best way.

However – I have a slightly different opinion since I began working at home with my own clients the week I finished my MT training, and have worked full-time-plus since.

I feel that IF you take a reputable MT training course –
and IF you really learn all that the course offers –
and IF you have outstanding Spanish language skills –
and IF you have at least five years’ experience in another field (where you had real serious responsibilities and acquired skills) –
and IF you have a comprehensive library of references PLUS excellent research skills –
and IF you are 500% committed to building a successful medical transcription business,
THEN you can do it.

Those are a lot of “ifs” and they cover a lot of territory – but with persistence, skills, commitment and the courage to follow your dreams, it can be done.

Benefits of a Career in Medical Transcription

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:30:19 +0000

As we all know, a doctor’s handwriting can be pretty difficult to interpret! That is why medical transcription is so necessary in making sure medical records are accurate and easy to understand. In addition, as technology advances, doctors and hospitals are venturing into electronic files, rather than the wall of patient files you see in your doctors’ office. And when a clinic decides to go digital, that means that all of these files must be transcribed onto a computer from then on. As you can tell, there is an ever-growing demand for medical transcription, making it a great career for anyone interested in the medical field.

Now that we know medical transcription is a field that is here to stay, you may be wondering about some of the other benefits you can take advantage of when you embark on a career in medical transcription. Here are a few:

1. Fast certification. The courses you will take to prepare for your certification can take as little as 6 months to a year to complete.

2. Salary. As a medical transcriptionist, as a general rule, you can make anywhere from $35,000 to $55,000 a year, depending on your employer. For the amount of schooling and the overall cost to certify, the pay is generous.

3. Work from home. The vast majority of medical transcriptionists actually work from home! It is a great job for a stay-at-home mom, because of the flexible hours and ability to work in the comfort of your own home.

4. Become familiar with medical terminology. You never know when you will need to know what those terms mean! Becoming a medical transcriptionist is also a great stepping stone to a future career in nursing, hospital administration, or even an M.D.

Medical Transcription Jobs

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:32:49 +0000

In this day and age, more people are looking for alternatives to their regular jobs and one of the places they are looking is in transcription jobs. Transcription jobs have become widely popular largely due to the fact that they can be done from home. The most popular of the transcription jobs is the medical transcription kind which has seen a surge if interest and inquiries in the recent years.

Medical transcription persons are people who job is to convert doctors’ recorded reports into typed reports for administration purposes. Medical transcription are very crucial to the medical personnel and to the overall administration of medical records. Many people are not very familiar with what a medical transcription job entails but in order to succeed here, one has to be familiar with a few important medical terms. On top of that they also have to have a basic grasp of legal standards and requirements that apply to health records. Because of the current economic state and the fact that many companies want to save money, they prefer to hire candidates that possess previous transcription experience or have some sort of diploma or associates degree in this field.

Medical transcriptionists are assigned duties which involve creating and editing documents. These documents are created from the dictations of the medical professionals’ notes. Strictly-speaking, you do not require any formal training whatsoever to excel as a medical transcriptionist since most of the work comes from dictations.

So how can one find a medical transcription job?

These jobs are generally not advertised in the main classified section of any employment guide. That means you may have to do a little digging in order to unearth a job in this field. The best place to search is online. There are a few job directories that advertise medical transcription jobs. A simple search on Google will unearth a few but you have to be careful.There are some which charge exorbitant fees just to get information. Not all that charge a fee are bad either just be careful about those that charge an unreasonable amount.

Prepare a resume. Sometimes the companies that hire transcription personnel do not require prior experience and will even commit to training you if they feel that they are making the right investment. You might also want to consider going into the medical transcription career as an independent contractor. In this case you may need a website which will talk a little about yourself. On this website you may or may not need to add a picture of yourself but remember to give your current contact information and also a few of your qualifications. Prospective employers are impressed by the presence of a website.

Medical Transcription Offers Real Typing Jobs

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:33:16 +0000

Medical transcription jobs from home provide legitimate typing jobs. Because of the aging population, the need for health care services has increased. This in turn has increased the need for medical transcriptionists and there is a lot of work available in this field.

Medical transcription jobs includes working for individual doctors at physician’s offices, hospitals, and a variety of healthcare facilities, insurance companies, legal offices, research centers, laboratories, government medical facilities, and other organizations. However, you are not restricted to working in an office, and many transcriptionists work from home either as freelancers or employees.

When freelancing or working from home, you can charge slightly higher fees than medical transcriptionists working in an office because clients do not have to pay employee benefits. They set their own hours and can choose to work part time or full time.

The person who transcribes the dictation is called a medical transcriptionist, typists, medical word processors and medical secretaries. They use a transcription machine and a word processing program to transcribe dictation into a typed document. When transcribing digital recordings, they use a specialized foot pedal and software.

What kind of work will you do as a medical transcriptionist? You simply transcribe or type dictated information into a word processing program.

The health professional dictates the patient information into a recorder or through a phone dictation system. Medical transcriptionists transcribe this information into a typed document. The transcribed documents are sent back to the dictator as a digital file or hard copy for verification and approval and they become part of a patient’s permanent medical record.

What skills do you need? You need to be familiar with many medical specialties and must be able to produce accurate transcription. The finished transcription work or transcribed documents provide legal documentation of patient care. They are needed for insurance reimbursement, litigation and scientific research.

To get medical transcription jobs, you will need to be proficient with medical terminology and you may need to have formal medical transcription training. As health records contain patients’ personal information and medical information, transcriptionists must keep all information confidential.

How do you start getting medical transcription work from home?

You can receive and send transcription work through the Internet, making it possible to work from any location. Many medical transcriptionists can work from home either as independent contractors or home-based employees.

Client for transcription from home jobs may include medical professionals, physicians, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and insurance companies. It may be easier to start by working for larger medical transcription service offices. Some individual transcriptionists may be open to helping you get started.

You may be able to find clients advertising, through the Internet and online job sites and freelance sites.

If you want to do transcription work from home as an employee, you are more likely to get work from home from an employer you have worked for in an office previously.

If you’re looking for legitimate typing work from home, consider medical transcription. It’s one of the best home typing jobs from home and there is plenty of work available.

Medical Transcription Work From Home?

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:32:26 +0000

Medical Transcription, How Do You Work From Home? If you don’t know that’s OK! Most beginners to the home based medical transcription industry don’t either but this article will give you an expert overview of the industry. You Can Not Go Wrong If You Act Upon What We Share With You!

Is Medical Transcription A Legitimate Home Based Business?

Yes, it is and it has been for decades. It is not one of those widely advertised scams that you would see online or in newspapers like the medical billing industry is plagued with. Medical Transcriptionists have three options when deciding how they want to work:

1) Work inside a practice, hospital, etc.- if you take this route then you could make the equivalent of $9-15 per hour depending on your skill, accuracy and geographic location. As with any other job you will be supplied with everything you need (including benefits) by your employer.

2) Work as an independent/self employed medical transcriptionist – This is when you work completely for/by yourself, you take care of your taxes, you sign up and maintain your own client/accounts, you market your services, you provide your own benefits, etc. You’ll probably start out at the equivalent of $10-15 per hour (or 6-14c per line) and in time (years) you could be earning the equivalent of $15-$40 per hour depending upon the amount of work, clients and type of equipment that you use. A lot of medical transcriptionist around the nation rather doing business this way (including me) and once you see the pros and cons of the business and speak to a CPA you’ll see that this route is rather lucrative and you’re the boss. Simply put, you own the company so you do whatever you must to make it a success. Or;

3) Contract with a national company – with this type of medical transcription you are referred to as Statutory Employee. It is the same as the above mentioned position with the exception that the company you contract with usually pays 7.5% of the FICA tax, they might give you certain equipment to do the job their way and they will assign the workload expectation and pay.

What Is Medical Transcription?

Medical transcription is the process whereby one accurately and swiftly transcribes medical records dictated by doctors and others, including history and physical reports, clinic notes, office notes, operative reports, consultation notes, discharge summaries, letters, psychiatric evaluations, laboratory reports, x-ray reports and pathology reports.

It involves receiving dictation by tape, digital system or voice file, the use of ear/head phones, a foot pedal for start-stop control, a variety of word processing programs and sometimes the use of a printer and a modem. Today many home based medical transcriptionists still deliver their completed work back to the office but with technology being what it is now it’s just as simple to deliver the work via a modem. If you work of a national company they may require you to use a modem to download and transmit the work.

What Skills Does A Home Based Medical Transcriptionist Need?

Let me put it this way, having a computer at home and knowing how to type fast is not enough to become a successful medical transcriptionist. You MUST:

Take A Really Good Online Medical Transcription Training Course (or attend a good school-college-trade or vocational school),

Have Good Listening Skills,

Great English Grammar Skills,

Excellent Computer Skills,

Superior Research Skills,

Possess High Typing Speeds With Great Accuracy,

Pay Great Attention To Detail,

Have A Great Foundation In Medical Terminology, Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology, Laboratory Tests And Values, Medical Equipment and Procedures,

Possess The Ability To Work Alone (Usually you won’t have much contact with others),

Possess The Ability To Work Under Pressure And Sometimes Under A Deadline, and

Posses The Ability To Sit In Front Of A Computer For Extended Amounts Of Time.

You will need to invest in several different types of publications such as: an English dictionary, a grammar and style guide, a complete medical dictionary, a drug index, a laboratory and pathology word book, a medical word book by specialty, a surgery word book, a medical abbreviation word book, other specialty word books and a physician directory and other journals.

You will also need to use several different pieces of software such as a medical spellchecker and an abbreviation system such as PRD or Smartype. You will also need to learn all you can about your own computer so you can employ all the ticks and shortcuts within it to greatly enhance your productivity. Remember that you need to always have your hands on the keyboard because the more you type and type accurately is the greater your pay will be.

What’s The Initial Investment Needed To Do Medical Transcription?

This varies and it depends on several factors like:

Do you already have a home office or if you’re starting from scratch?

Do you have formal medical transcription training or not?

Do you already have most of the books you will need?

Do you have the necessary software programs to do the job professionally?

Do you need to purchase additional software or hardware?

The great thing is that you can buy most of the things you need (used) from places like eBay and other places that support the home based medical transcription industry. Your four major purchases will be your medical transcription training, transcriber, computer and reference books so your investment will be very minimal compared to doing medical billing from home where the investment can be as much as $6,000 to get the business off the ground.

Medical Transcription Tools and Equipment

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:30:03 +0000

Medical transcription industry has evolved over the years and has always made use of the cutting edge technologies. Many different tools/equipment are used during the medical transcription process. In general one can say that the digital audio technology has been greatly revolutionizing different transcription industries that include other sectors besides medical transcription like legal and business transcription.

Besides the basic requirements like a desktop with the required operating system and software, there are many specifically developed tools and brands that are used today and manufactured by companies around the world. Here is a list of the different tools/ software and equipment that may be used either for home based medical transcription or at a bigger work unit that usually consist of many level of staff like transcriptionists, editors, Quality Assurance, leaders etc. This list of equipment and tools is not exhaustive.

MP3 playback software
Document processor software
Version Control software
Time markers
Bud microphone
Digital voice recorder
Headphone
Computer with Internet/Printer
Desk and comfortable chair
AAMT Book of Style
Encryption software
File/Documents management software
Blue Cross/ Shield Directory.
Electronic Medical Dictionary
Fax machine
Document shredder
Word processing program
Audio playback software
Anti virus program/
Thesaurus/dictionary for windows
System recovery software
Drug/pharmaceutical reference guide
Foot pedal
Ad blocker
Medical specialty books
Spyware removal Utility
Monthly newsletter
Telephone line
Editing software
Conference recorder
Voice recognition software
Dictation recording equipment
Text counting software (for home based work)

Voice recognition is one technology area that is being actively researched upon and one can expect a near perfect voice recognition software in the future that will make the transcriptionist’s job much easier. While most medical transcriptionists hope that the voice recognition technology does not develop fast enough to replace the human factor, research in this field is very challenging and it is only a question of time before voice recognition software is perfected. However the medical transcription industry can breathe easy for a few generations as the demand for medical transcription professionals is on the increase. One can choose to take up medical transcription as a career and get a job easily. Using the best of technologies and tools, transcription professionals can be more productive, earn more and deliver a more perfect transcript.

Medical Transcription Job Opportunities For New MTs

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:30:54 +0000

After completing the basic medical transcription courses, there may be times when you wonder if you will ever find medical transcription job opportunities. Just keep broadening your search, and with a little luck and focused effort, you will be in the right place at the right time when a transcription job becomes available.

Medical transcription job opportunities can be difficult to find, but it is not an insurmountable task. Medical transcriptionists with experience are in high demand and have no time to train new MTs regarding the use of various transcription equipment or software programs. There was a time when veteran MTs trained entry-level MTs to transcribe medical reports. However, since the advancement of technology, people are now on their own to learn this trade via an online medical transcription school.

A variety of medical transcription resources are available to individuals who desire medical transcription jobs. Contact medical transcription agencies in your area. See what medical transcription job openings are available. If you have received training via an online medical transcription school, check to see if job placement is offered.

Medical transcription message boards and medical transcription forums are wonderful sources of education and information. See if you can find a mentor on a message board or forum who will give you advice or perhaps knows of someone in your area who would be willing to hire or help you get work.

Aligning yourself with a professional organization of medical transcriptionists is always a good way to get name recognition and discover medical transcription opportunities. The American Association of Medical Transcription (AAMT) is the national level organization. Each state has its own unique association, followed by regional chapters within each state.

Some businesses offer part time medical transcription jobs that are combined with other forms of work, such as medical billing or word processing. Performing closely related work to medical transcription is one way to get that first medical transcriptionist job.

If you are having difficulty locating medical transcription job opportunities, broaden your list of employer categories. Ask yourself what companies are associated with medical clinics, hospitals, and doctor offices. Insurance companies and law offices immediately come to mind. In fact, law offices like to hire medical transcriptionists because of the medical-legal cases the law office handles. Consider this unique way to find medical transcription job opportunities.

Online Medical Transcription Schools – The Ease of At-Home Learning

admin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:31:24 +0000

Online medical transcription schools offer a tremendous time savings and the flexibility to tailor your school schedule around your busy professional and personal life. If you want to enter the medical transcription field, you may need the flexibility to study and learn at your own pace. Thanks to technology if you wish to pursue a career in medical transcription, you can do so now via online medical transcription schools.

A good online medical transcription school will offer study courses in the following:

Medical word roots, prefixes, suffixes and combining forms, the building blocks of medical terminology.

Individual body systems: Musculoskeletal, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, genitourinary, nervous, lymphatic, integumentary, and endocrine.

Anatomy and physiology, human diseases, medical abbreviations, pharmacology, and diagnostic tests/ procedures.

Punctuation; capitalization; English grammar, transcribing numbers, figures, and abbreviations; proofreading and corrections; use of medical reference books; and ethics.

Report formats of history and physicals, consultations, operative reports, discharge summaries, and medical letters, as well as progress reports, also known as follow-up/ SOAP notes (SOAP is an acronym that stands for Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan).

Furthermore, while studying medical transcription courses, real doctors dictations must be used so medical transcription students can hear and master a variety of voices and accents, including medical doctors for whom English is a second language (commonly referred to as ESL medical doctors/dictators).

Instructors of online medical transcription schools should be certified medical transcriptionists (CMTs) or medical transcriptionists (MTs) with an extensive background in medical transcription and teaching medical transcription classes.

Good online medical transcription schools have work placement programs to provide assistance to qualified entry level medical transcriptionists seeking their first medical transcription job after completion of all online medical transcription courses.

When one reflects on how busy people are these days and how little time we have to enjoy time at home with our families, taking online medical transcription schools is a legitimate way to have the best of both worlds: quality time with our family while pursuing a career in medical transcription, all thanks to the courses offered by online medical transcription schools.

Home-Based Medical Transcription Jobs Can Be Easy to Get

admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:33:01 +0000

There are a lot of legitimate work opportunities which can be done from home. A lot of people are looking for home-based work opportunities where they can have more time freedom without getting bound by regular jobs. Those people can include stay-at-home moms, retired persons or people working part-time.

A home-based work can be done in the person’s own convenience of time and space, with the potential to earn some good money. Medical transcription is one of such jobs which can be done from home. Doctors or medical professionals need a patient’s medical history, diagnosis and treatments as a written record to be referenced later. So it is the job of medical transcriptionist to type the dictation given by the doctor and make the proper record of it.

Earlier in the whole job of listening to the dictation and typing was done by the transcriptionist himself, now there is voice recognition software which does this job quite well. But since this work requires accuracy, a person is needed to check out on the errors and mistakes which the voice recognition software cannot self correct.

So these dictations are given to persons who can listen and make accurate records of those dictations. This can be done from home which makes it a good work from home work opportunity. A home-based medical transcription is a growing industry where demand for good professionals will always be there. Healthcare industry is a huge one which supports people from other fields as well.

A medical transcriptionist should have knowledge of medical terms and terminology along with good typing skills, fluency in English and the ability to understand different accents. There are a lot of courses available to help out people were interested in medical transcription, this gives them education and knowledge on the way things are done.

A lot of hospitals and other organizations which need medical records give the work of transcription to individuals who can work from home instead of getting them in the payroll. This saves a lot of money to them as well. So there’s no shortage of work for a person who has some knowledge and experience in this. And there’s the potential for earning more than a full-time job with the efficient management of resources.

Medical Transcription – A Glamorous Lucrative Career

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:33:04 +0000

What is medical transcription?

The process of transcribing doctor-dictated dictations for the purposes of documentation as a medical record is simply termed as medical transcription. The person who transcribes the dictations into a document is a medical transcriptionist or a medical transcription professional. The process originated in the West. The person who did this job used to be called as a medical assistant who used to be with the doctor at the hospital writing down notes instructed by him. Advancement of this process is electronic conversion of the dictations.

Why and who?

For insurance purposes and maintenance of medical records. The major player outsourcing medical transcription work is USA. Canada, UK, and Australia have some. The outsourced countries include India, Philippines, Indonesia to name a few among others. The medical transcription professional needs a wide knowledge of medical terminology, American English, and critical thinking skills that may help him/her to interpret what is dictated to produce accurate documents. The dictator speaks over a hand-held device called a Dictaphone or a electronic recorder or a device which has a 1-button solution to upload his voice into the server. The transcriber downloads them at his location through a server that is provided to him by the organization he works for. He then transcribes the dictations into medico legal document.

Why outsourcing?

Medical transcription happens to be one of the earliest BPO jobs outsourced to India. Indians have strong English communicating skills due to the curriculum followed from the days pre-independence. The time difference of 12 hours between India and USA makes it easier for the doctors/clinics to have their reports on their table at their next visit to the clinic. Furthermore, cost of labor is much cheaper for the outsourcer.

Potential?

Medical transcription has a strong employment in both India and the United States. One can work for a company that serves for the Healthcare Industry. The model also involves working at home as independent contractors. In India, the independent home transcriptionist model is growing to gain much popularity. It is said, still a larger portion of the work is still to be outsourced from US. Both NASSCOM in India and the US Department of Labor have identified this career as having a higher growth potential year by year.

Earnings potential?

As far as the money making is concerned, the fresher in medical transcription earns a starting salary approximately around Rs. 5000 and after 2 years of experience, his money making capability goes to around Rs. 15,000. Careers advancement can lead him to become an Editor or a Leader of a team in a company which could fetch him around Rs.20,000 or more. In these days of growing population and a means to earn money, this is quite decent for an Indian standard.

Allied careers?

Medical coding and billing are showing up as allied careers related to medical transcription.