Recession, pay cuts, layoffs = these are some of the common phrases that one is given to hear lately. While the recession has taken toll in the global financial spectrum leading to job cuts, layoffs, etc., in Software, Financial institutions, manufacturing, etc., healthcare field is still forging ahead through the trying times. From an outsourcing perspective from US, the recession has not affected the field of Medical Transcription in any meaningful way and is, in fact, burgeoning with more and more career opportunities.
Medical transcription which is also known as MT is the process of transcribing or converting recorded dictations by physicians and/or other healthcare professionals usually located in US regarding a patient’s medical record into a written text. Medical transcription follows prescribed and established document formats and is highly dependent upon trained professional, known as Medical Transcriptionists. Specialized knowledge for Medical Transcription includes the ability to correctly spell often difficult medical words, as well as a working knowledge of general medical terminology.
Medical Transcription is a highly specialized skill, which requires a high degree of training and dedication and proficiency in English language. Medical transcriptionists benefit greatly from on-the-job experience, and especially by handing records from a wide variety of medical specialties.
Recession-proof, Medical Transcription is one of the fastest growing fields in healthcare industry. Medical Transcriptionists are in demand in Western countries especially in the US where the entire healthcare industry is based on insurance and detailed medical records are needed for processing insurance claims. Medical transcription is one of the fast growing IT-enabled services in India as well, with the rapid change in Indian healthcare and privatization of the insurance sector. India provides an ideal location for conducting medical transcription with the large population of educated English speaking people and the comparative low cost which encourages companies abroad to outsource their work to the Indian Medical Transcription field. There are a few companies who provide Medical Transcription training in India to meet the current demand of experienced MT professionals.
In India, there was a boom in this industry couple of years back with a lot of companies and training institutes entering this field. Most companies except a few could not survive due to lack of proper training and understanding of this comparatively new concept in India. By improving the work standards and quality of service, India has a wide scope for capturing the huge clientele in the US and provide employment opportunities to the huge mass of English speaking and computer literate people in the country. The success of the surviving companies proves that Medical transcription can hold a vital link in altering the Indian job scenario.
Despite the global economic downtrend, the Medical Transcription industry is looking for a further growth buoyed by a report of the NASSCOM stating that recession has not hit the healthcare industry. Reverse is the trend in Medical Transcription outsourcing in US, which is going through attrition in large scale in IT, financial, manufacturing and other sectors.
As per a NASSCOM report, the MT industry will be worth Rs 40 billion by 2010 and could employ as many as 50,000 people.
It estimated the size of the US MT industry, which is in the range of around $ 12 million in 2005, would reach $ 16.8 billion by 2010. The work offshored was expected to be in the region of $ 860 million in 2010, of which India is expected to capture $ 647 million. India remained a preferred offshore destination primarily due to availability of manpower and industry maturity.
While it does not require any specialized IT skills, it requires primary skills like good listening and English language skills in terms of language proficiency – not necessarily fluency to talk – knowledge of medical terms in addition to the basic knowledge to handle computer. Good typing speed would be added advantage.
For an experienced medical transcriptionist, the current economic downturn could be reminiscent of the dot com bust that happened almost 10 years ago. The mood was quite grim at the time like it is now. As discussed above, the current meltdown, however, did not affect medical transcription in any way and most medical transcriptionists had jobs or work as usual.
Until a couple of months ago, pre-recession, MT had to witness many MT professionals changing their career thereby preferring Software and other BPO sectors to earn more. However, with the unforeseen recession hitting at he above sectors, MT also witnessed many people who chose to quit coming back and joining back in MT.
The benefits of Medical Transcription as a career include the ability and freedom to work from home, especially for ladies who may not be able to come to office and work, especially pregnant women who may not be able to come to office and work during their maternity leave, etc. There is a good number of people currently enjoying the benefit of working from home and still earning around 25-30k average and as high as 50k to 60 k as well. The recent liberalization of Internet in terms of cost and bandwidth and other related technologies like 3G has accelerated the potential from working from home in an hassle-free environment. In light of the recent liberalization of Internet, it gives the ability to work even from remote parts of the country. A PC with decent configuration, a stereophonic headset, foot pedal (a device that controls the voice player), and other softwares necessary for reference of medical terms/drugs are more than that would suffice to independently work as a Medical Transcriptionist.
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