Is Medical Transcription a Good Home-based Business?
Many popular publications sing the praises of medical transcription as an easy home business, citing the potential for high income with little investment. However, we caution the student that failure to make the investment in quality education can result not only in business failure but also in shoddy documentation for the most important client—the patient.
Medical transcription is a medical language specialty. Fluency in this language is not accomplished merely by completing a basic terminology course and installing a spellchecker on a computer!
The transcriptionist working from home must make a significant investment in equipment and reference materials and be willing to make frequent updates to both in order to keep up with rapidly changing technology and terminology. Because their services are in demand, transcriptionists are often able to arrange convenient and flexible work schedules.
Medical transcription is a portable skill that allows for professional and geographic mobility. Age restrictions are seldom found, with great value being placed on the experience and knowledge of the well-seasoned transcriptionist.
Medical transcription can be a lifelong, satisfying career, providing the constant challenge of an expanding and advancing technology. The changes occurring in the healthcare industry promise to provide even more challenges to the forward-looking medical transcriptionist.
Healthcare is a rapidly growing industry, and the demand for quality documentation is increasing. The profession provides a high level of job security, and skilled medical transcriptionists may receive a premium for their services.
CURRENT MARKET FOR TRANSCRIPTIONISTS
Medical transcription companies are typically entrepreneurial businesses that often start as sole practitioners working out of home offices and have fewer than 50 employees.
The growth in demand for medical transcription services comes from several factors. Recent changes in provider accreditation requirements have put more emphasis on the readability of medical record data, eliminating handwritten notes in medical records. Managed care has compressed the office time schedule for most medical providers; making outsourced medical transcription part of an office-efficiency drive.
The Institute of Medicine has mandated the development of computerized patient record systems, increasing the requirement for computerized records. Finally, new federal regulations (HIPAA and HCFA) put higher emphasis on medical record accuracy and completeness. Medical transcriptionists are a key component in the medical records process from A to Z.
Competitive Factors – MT companies sell their services to all classes of healthcare providers—hospitals, clinics, medical and non-medical providers. They compete on the basis of response time, accuracy, and costs. Meeting transcription deadlines is an absolute requirement for a successful MT company. To increase competitiveness, MT companies tend to customize their services to particular provider types and specialties. Customization decreases the scope of terminology, anatomy, physiology, and disease processes that must be mastered, while maximizing opportunities for referrals from existing customers.
Years ago, MTs were considered “typists”, but in large part, that atittude has changed. Transcriptionist are now higly respected and integral to the health care system and are in great demand. future opportunities will materialize as a result of the language training and experience. New and exciting medical language careers will evolve. Watch for them.
MTs typically charge per line of transcription, and prices vary considerably across the country depending on local cost of living and level of competition. MTs are compensated based on per line or per word count, adjusted for errors. Standards are now pretty well established for what measurements exist for line determination.
Business Factors – Five business issues prevail across MT companies:
- Shortage of exprience MTs
- Competitive pressures/oppurtunities posed by technology advances
- Dictation & transcription equipment and software technology
- New data transfer solutions
- Government regulations on medical record privacy and communications
source: www.meditec.com, photo from nbp.org
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