Medical Transcription Philippines

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 internet.

Is Medical Transcription A Legitimate Home Based Business?

Medical Transcriptionists have three options when deciding how they want to work:

1) Work inside a call center, practice, hospital, etc.- if you take this route then you could make the equivalent of a regular employee 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. Simply put, you own the company so you do whatever you must to make it a success. Or;

3) Contract with a 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 might give you certain equipment to do the job their way and they will assign the workload expectation and pay.

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
• 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:

• English dictionary
• grammar and style guide
• complete medical dictionary
• drug index
• laboratory and pathology word book
• medical word book by specialty
• surgery word book
• medical abbreviation word book
• other specialty word books and a physician directory
• 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.

How Do You Choose The Right Medical Transcription Training Course?

Here’s a break down of what a good medical transcription training course should consist of:

• Medical Terminology
• Acronyms, eponyms, abbreviations
• Anatomy
• Physiology
• Laboratory tests and values
• Medical procedures and equipment
• Drugs
• Transcription formatting
• Ethics of medical transcription
• Research methods and resources
• Brush-up typing (if you need it)
• Brush-up English grammar
• Marketing
• MT “business” skills

You should also look for a medical transcription training course that will give you all the up-to-date equipment you’ll need to learn on (at no addition charge), award you with a “Certificate Of Completion” (not to be confused with “Certification”) and if the course or school has employment programs for after you complete the medical transcription training at no addition expense to you then that’s great!

Who will be my clients?

Medical transcription business by its very nature involves transcribing medical advice of various types. Therefore, its user base is in a variety of healthcare settings, including doctors’ offices, public and private hospitals, teaching hospitals, medical transcription services, clinics, laboratories, radiology and pathology departments, insurance companies, medical libraries, government medical facilities, rehabilitation centers, legal offices, research centers, veterinary medical facilities, and associations representing the healthcare industry.

Medical language specialists work with physicians and surgeons in multiple specialties. They work with pharmacists, therapists, technicians, nurses, dieticians, social workers, psychologists, and other medical personnel. All of these healthcare providers rely on information that is received, documented, and disseminated by the medical language specialist.

What is the infrastructure and investment required to setup an MT Unit?

It is suggested that entrepreneurs should start a venture for medical transcription with an in-hand contract that lasts for a period of 1-2 years. This would help to justify investments made. The main components for setting up a Medical Transcription unit include:

• Home Office Space and furnitures
• Computers with audio capabilities (sound card and headphones) and foot-pedals.
• Specialized software
• Medical Transcription Programs
• Internet connection

How will I market my Company’s services?

The best practice for marketing medical transcription services is to approach hospitals/doctors directly. However, in the beginning, entrepreneurs may find it difficult. Moreover, it is also important to build up sufficient experience and learning in the team before taking direct responsibility for execution of a project. Therefore, it is suggested that in the incubation stage, venture promoters may tie up with a larger medical transcription company in the capacity of an affiliate.