Author: Stephanie (Page 8 of 9)

Where Does Medical Transcription Go From Here?

January 8, 2011 / Stephanie

One of the big topics of concern for medical transcriptionists is the future of their career. While voice recognition software isn’t perfect, and many doctors don’t care to do the work involved in training it, it’s getting better. What does that mean for medical transcription as a career?

Whether you’re considering training as a medical transcriptionist or working as one now, it’s something to pay attention to. It may well be more important than concerns about outsourcing medical transcription overseas.

For now, there’s still a good amount of regular medical transcription work out there. As an industry, it’s still expected to grow at an average rate. The jobs aren’t going to vanish overnight.

That doesn’t mean you can’t start preparing for future possibilities.

Even as medical records go to electronic versions, people trained in medical transcription are going to be needed. The difference comes in some of the additional skills you may want to be trained in.

You may want to be trained in checking the transcripts that come from voice recognition software. This is going to be an important skill. Voice recognition software has been getting better, but it’s not likely to be perfect anytime in the near future. Consider that medical transcriptionists have been hearing about it for more than a decade. Improvements to the technology have been slow.

That means humans will need to continue to be involved in the process.

The likely change is that you will start doing more editing, and less direct transcription. You may be checking to see that the software got all the dictation right, and ensure that the transcripts are formatted correctly.

That will take skills much like medical transcriptionists have now. You can’t outdo the software if you don’t understand the doctor yourself.

The good part is that an individual medical transcription editor can go through reports more quickly than someone transcribing from scratch. You’re likely to spend more time listening to make sure everything matches, and just a bit of time fixing the mistakes.

Pay rates will likely change to reflect the difference.

Increased productivity may well mean that fewer transcriptionists are needed. This can sound like a problem, but remember that the field already has good demand, and that the population overall is aging. The change may or may not be offset by the added demands for people working in the medical field in general.

In other words, things are not too bleak for medical transcriptionists, in my opinion.

Can You Get Trained Now?

Career Step now offers training for people interested in working in medical transcription editing. They’ve noticed the need and made it possible for you to be ready to work in offices that don’t need traditional medical transcriptionists.

Their training can be done by either new students who have never worked as medical transcriptionists before or by experienced workers. Your degree of experience determines the course you take with them.

It’s a great time to get prepared for what may be the future of medical transcription. There’s no point in being unprepared for changes you can see lying ahead of you.

Contact Career Step for free information today.

Does HIPAA Limit Work at Home Medical Transcription?

January 8, 2011 / Stephanie

This article is not legal advice. Consult with a lawyer or your employer as a medical transcriptionist for specific guidelines on complying with HIPAA.

A concern many people have when considering medical transcription as a career is how HIPAA impacts their ability to work at home. That’s a legitimate concern.

HIPAA greatly impacts medical transcriptionists. It requires that patient health information be private, secure and confidential.

Employers, and therefore their employees, are covered by HIPAA as "Business Associates." Employers should have a policy in place to help work at home transcriptionists to comply. There are standards for the electronic transmission of patient information; that is, the transmission of the original dictation and the typed report. As most dictation and reports are now transmitted over the internet, it means that encryption and password protection must be used.

All this does not mean you can’t work at home and do medical transcription. It does mean you need to take the appropriate precautions.

It means you need to be concerned with the security of your work computer. This is a good area to ask employers for advice. They may require you to install particular software to help ensure that your work computer is safe for the medical data you have access to as a transcriptionist. Companies may use 128-bit encryption with the HTTPS protocol, for example, to prevent unauthorized access to the data you need as a transcriptionist. The software you use would allow you to access the data. You may also need to password protect your computer.

Employers may also have an interest in your work setup at home. It’s best if you have a door you can close for your office. HIPAA does mean you don’t want anyone else in your home reading over your shoulder. That’s private information, even if no one would say anything about it.

HIPAA also means that if you happen to receive a report on someone you know, you cannot tell them about it. That is between them and their doctor.

If you receive printed information about reports you have typed, you will need to follow appropriate procedures to return, save for reference or destroy said information. Most work at home medical transcriptionists do not need to keep printed files of the work they have done, but if you do, make sure that the information is stored securely.

If you are required to destroy printed information, find out how you are expected to manage it. Cross cut shredding may be one way to handle it, but be sure to ask so you are handling the issue correctly.

HIPAA compliance may sound overwhelming, but particularly if you work for a service that has proper protocols in place it may not be that bad. Ask questions as needed, and be certain you follow the rules. It certainly does not mean that you cannot work at home in medical transcription.

Overall, this means you have no reason to fear that you are wasting your time learning medical transcription. The work at home medical transcription industry has so far withstood several years of HIPAA and should stick around for many more.

Check out the Career Step training program and decide if this is the right work at home opportunity for you.

Medical Transcription Jobs

January 8, 2011 / Stephanie

The demand for good medical transcriptionists is out there. Depending on your training and experience, you may work at home or in an office for all kinds of medical professionals, including:

Doctor’s offices
Hospitals
Veterinarians
Medical transcription services
Medical specialists, such as radiologists
Chiropractors
and more.

Essentially, if they work with patients, they need transcriptionists to record their work. And with the ease of telecommuting these days, you don’t have to limit yourself to clients in your area. You can run your own transcription business or work for a medical transcription service.

The job outlook for medical transcriptionists is still good, despite outsourcing and other concerns. Read up on what the U.S. Department of Labor says. Note especially this quote:

Employment of medical transcriptionists is projected to grow about as fast as the average; job opportunities should be good, especially for those who are certified.

Yes, the field is still quite healthy and should be for a number of years to come.

Ready to train as a medical transcriptionist? Check out Career Step’s online training program.

Are All Online Medical Transcription Resources Accurate?

January 8, 2011 / Stephanie

The internet is a wild place in many ways. Anyone can put up a website saying anything they want. You have to know which resources you can trust.

This is a problem you may have noticed as you researched medical transcription schools. There are fake schools out there that exist only to take your money. There are low quality schools that send you a few poorly written books and say in essence, "You’re on your own now. Go study!" And there are a few really good schools that make the expense worthwhile. It makes choosing a good school a frustrating process for many.

The same situation persists as you look for resources to help you understand new and unfamiliar medical terminology. There are people out there who will post anything, regardless of its accuracy.

How do you pick the quality resources when there are so many websites out there?

Start out with any resources you learned about while learning medical transcription. You can often buy a membership for access to online versions of printed resources. These may be kept more up to date, as it’s easier to change a page on a website than it is to issue a new book.

Add in a good quality medical transcription forum. Your fellow medical transcriptionists are often a big help in figuring out terminology and in finding good resources to learn more.

The AHDI website is another good choice, both for information and to join as a member. This is an association of healthcare documentation professionals.

Sites run by the government are good choices as well, such as Medline or cancer.gov.

Don’t trust forums run by people who have a particular condition. Some provide bits of good information, but too often it’s cluttered by theories and imperfectly understood information.

You should be cautious of information posted on personal websites as well. They aren’t always accurate. When you’re trying to be a professional, you should focus on professional resources.

Remember that a professional look to a site doesn’t make it a quality resource. An outdated look doesn’t make a site a bad resource. You have to consider the quality of the resource, not its appearance.

The quality of the resources you use in your work make a big difference in your success as a medical transcriptionist. Too many mistakes can endanger your job or profession reputation. Make sure you take the time to use accurate resources so the reports you transcribe are accurate.

Check out the Career Step training program and decide if this is the right work at home opportunity for you.

What Matters Most on Your Medical Transcription Resume?

January 8, 2011 / Stephanie

One of the most important tools you have when you’re hunting for any job is your resume. It’s what tells potential employers that you might be worth hiring. But what are they looking for when hiring medical transcriptionists?

1. Education

This is particularly important when you’re trying to land your very first job as a medical transcriptionist. If you don’t have the educational background, employers aren’t going to be even remotely interested in you.

This is where choosing a good medical transcription school counts. If you didn’t complete a good program, it’s going to be much harder to land that first job. You want a school that is trusted by employers, so you can get past that experience requirement on the basis of the quality training you’ve gone through.

It can help to note your scores, particularly if you had high ratings on your classes. This tells employers that you worked hard on the course and really learned what they had to teach.

2. Certifications, if any

If you’ve tested and gotten your RMT or CMT, make sure to mention it! These certifications demonstrate your level of knowledge and competence as a medical transcriptionist. With some companies you can earn a little extra for being certified.

3. Experience

Any medical transcription experience you already have is vital to list here. You can also list any experience you have in the medical industry on the whole, but anything to do with transcription is most important.

If this is the first medical transcription job you’re looking for, you may not have anything directly relating to medical transcription to list here. As with other resumes, you can list other jobs you have held in the past.

4. Equipment

It’s good to note that you have the basic equipment required for the job. Take a look at the job listing and employer’s website so that you can list any equipment they expect you to have that you already own. This can include information such as the type of computer and operating system you have and the type of internet connection you have.

The software you have available may matter as well. Some companies will expect you to have Microsoft Word, for example. Others will provide their own software to you.

You may not need to own things such as a foot pedal already. Sometimes employers will provide one for you, to be certain that it is compatible with their software.

No matter how much you love your basic resume, pay attention to the individual needs of different employers, and customize it to emphasize the skills you have that they’re looking for. This can make a big difference in your job hunt.

Ready to train as a medical transcriptionist? Check out Career Step’s online training program.

What Are the Basics of a Medical Transcription Scam?

January 8, 2011 / Stephanie

The trouble with any career option that allows a number of people to work from home is that it attracts scams. It doesn’t matter how many legitimate opportunities there are out there, there will also be someone trying to scam the folks who just want to earn a decent living.

Naming the scum who do such things can help, but it is far more powerful to know the signs of a scam. This allows you to judge opportunities for yourself, even when they’re so new that no one has heard of them yet.

It’s vital to understand that not all scams will share all of these characteristics. As a matter of fact, some scams will do an amazing job of hiding their problems. But the more symptoms you know, the less likely you are to be scammed.

1. “You just type up what the doctor says!”

Or anything making it sound easy. Medical transcription is not easy. You have to learn a huge, specialized vocabulary. You have to know the difference between words that sound similar or even identical.

You have to do the job as nearly perfectly as possible. You’re dealing with people’s medical records, after all, and that’s nothing to fool around with. This is not a job for the untrained.

2. “We’ll train you on the job!”

Nope. Not going to happen. There are some companies that claim to offer this, and all you have to do is buy their software. But you’ll never make it with them. You will never be a paid employee. You will eternally be an unpaid student, whose best efforts are never good enough for you to graduate to a paid status.

And despite anything you may learn from them, legitimate employers will still insist that you get a real medical transcription education. You lose both money and months of effort to these scams.

3. “No training required.”

To find a real medical transcription employer, you have to first get trained. There’s no way around this.

There are a few quality schools out there. I always recommend Career Step. I hear about other schools trying to get started here and there, but until they build up a quality reputation, I just can’t recommend any of them.

4. Poor English on the site advertising the opportunity.

Why would you trust a site created by someone who couldn’t transcribe a report themselves?

5. Exaggerated earnings.

Yes, you can earn a decent living as a medical transcriptionist. $50,000 is the high side for your typical experienced medical transcriptionist. Anyone who says that average medical transcriptionists can earn more than that is lying. And if they say you can earn that from the very start, well, they’re lying even more.

In my first few weeks as a medical transcriptionist, I struggled to earn even minimum wage. Even with good training there’s a difference between training and the real world.

As I improved, I could earn anywhere between $10-20 per hour. As pay was on production this varied by the complexity of the dictation and the particular doctor. That’s a far more realistic expectation.

Start your training. Contact Career Step for information about their AHDI Approved medical transcription training courses.

Can You Be a Medical Transcriptionist with Small Children in the House?

January 8, 2011 / Stephanie

Many people look into medical transcription as a career because they want to work at home and be there for their kids. That was even the reason I got into it, back when I was pregnant with my daughter.

It’s doable, but it’s not easy.

Infants are both easy and challenging. They’re easy because they sleep for so much of the day. They may be easily entertained in a baby swing. You may even be able to get a bit of work done with baby in a sling on your lap… although that’s a bit awkward sometimes.

But they’re challenging because their routines change every few months as they grow. The child who napped regularly and well may suddenly take only very short naps, and be awake at the times you thought you could work. They start getting into things. Crawling. Walking.

Toddlers present similar challenges. They’re getting into everything and may be asking for your attention often. But they may settle into a really good napping routine, and of course are normally sleeping through the night, so you’re less exhausted than you were during the early days. That helps a lot with productivity.

You may also be able to persuade your toddler to "work" with you. Just set up a miniature version of your own workspace. They make inexpensive toy laptops for kids, and you can add on other things as needed. Old, broken keyboards with the cord removed can work as well.

As children reach the preschool and school ages, things can get easier yet. They gain in independence. They may be out of the house for hours at a time if you’re sending them to school. They can be more understanding of your need for work hours.

If you’re homeschooling, as many at home parents do, you have the challenge of working out that schedule with your work one. It’s a personal choice how you manage that, and you will find what works for your family.

And of course, at all ages you can work a night shift after the kids are in bed. There’s no guarantee that you won’t have anyone wake up on you, and it can take from your relaxation time, but if that’s the best time for you to work it’s something you need to deal with.

That you can schedule around your work needs is one of the great benefits of being an at home medical transcriptionist. Most employers want you to set a schedule, but you can change it with a bit of notice, or call in if there’s an emergency.

If you get your own accounts, so long as you’re producing according to the contract terms, your schedule is your own to set. It’s a pretty nice deal if you don’t overestimate yourself.

That you can do all that is one of the best things about going into medical transcription. It’s why I always had people asking me how to get into it. You’ll probably notice a similar effect yourself.

Start your training. Contact Career Step for information about their medical transcription training courses.

How Much is Medical Transcription Training Worth?

January 8, 2011 / Stephanie

If you’ve looked much at getting trained as a medical transcriptionist, you know it’s not particularly cheap, at least not if you want quality training. Is it really worth it to spend $1800 or more just to get enough training to find a job?

Do you really want to work, and get a good start at it? Then it’s worth the money.

It’s possible to go cheap in your training. You could even train yourself as a medical transcriptionist, or at least try to. You could buy the materials on your own and just start studying.

Here’s the problem. Do it that way and your job hunt is going to take much longer for most people. It’s hard to find an employer who will trust to someone whose educational quality is unknown. Taking a respected online medical transcription course is a way to show potential employers that you have really learned what they need you to know before you start working.

The cost of your training is just one factor you need to consider when looking at its value. A high quality course costs more most of the time, yes, although you should note that some poor quality courses charge a lot to make it look as though they must be good.

But you cannot forget the expense of any time spent not working. What will it cost you if your job hunt takes several months or a year rather than just a month or two?

Not that even the best course can guarantee you a job. They do give you a better chance at one, however.

Many training courses also have job placement assistance, which may simplify your job hunt as well. This won’t work every time – nothing does, but you use the tools available and see where that takes you.

Then there’s the cost of being a well trained transcriptionist compared to being one who kind of knows the job. Medical transcriptionists are paid on production. If you don’t really, really know what you’re doing you won’t be as fast and you won’t be as accurate. You’ll spend far too much time trying to puzzle things out.

If you’ve gone through a high quality training course and done well with it, there’s still a learning curve you’ll be dealing with when you start to work. It will be much shorter than the curve of the transcriptionist who was poorly trained.

These are things that have value beyond what you will pay to learn medical transcription. Not being properly prepared to work can cost you far more than even the most expensive course out there.

Start your training. Contact Career Step for information about their medical transcription training courses.

Medical Transcriptionist Salary

January 8, 2011 / Stephanie

A medical transcriptionist can earn good money, as an independent contractor, working for a service or working directly for a doctor.

Many medical transcriptionists are paid on production; that is, you will earn a set rate for every line you type. For example, when I started out in medical transcription, I was paid $0.065/65 character line.

This means that you can earn more if you improve your skills. In my experience, improving my transcription skills had two benefits: first that I earned more simply due to speed, but second that I was able to get a pay raise so that I earned more than the beginning rate.

According to the Department of Labor, the median salary for a medical transcriptionist is $15.41 as of this writing.

Some medical transcriptionists earn hourly pay instead. This is more common for transcriptionists working in offices than at home, as paying on production assures the employer that they are only paying for productive time.

Is a Self Paced Medical Transcription Course Right for You?

January 8, 2011 / Stephanie

One of the wonderful things about learning medical transcription online is that so many courses are self paced. You don’t have to wait for a session to start up. You sign up, get the materials, and start learning at your own pace. It can be wonderful.

Self paced is great if you want to get a fast start on your training and are highly motivated. Hard work can be rewarded by finishing the course quickly and graduating promptly, so you can get to work all the sooner.

Self paced is also good if you often need just a little more time to absorb information. You can take your time on the parts you struggle most with, and not feel as though you’re holding the entire class back.

You will also enjoy these courses if you need a really flexible schedule while you learn medical transcription.

Many people study medical transcription as they work their current job. They need to be able to study when they’re not at work. Taking a traditional, scheduled course isn’t so hard if you have a job with regular hours, but being able to choose one’s own schedule is still a nice feature. And it’s a must if you have a job where your hours keep changing on a daily or weekly basis.

It’s also a help if you have children or elderly parents to care for. A self paced program allows you to study when you aren’t actively involved in their care, and to interrupt your studies at need. Better yet, you don’t have to have someone come care for them as you go to school.

You need to be good at keeping yourself on track with these programs. If you keep skipping nights you should be studying, you may find that you run out of time on your chosen course. Most do have time limits for completion that are generous enough for serious students. If you find you’re struggling to finish the course in the time allotted, it’s probably time to look at what you’re letting interfere.

The best part about learning medical transcription at your own pace is how much it is like working at home as a medical transcriptionist. There you’re pretty much self paced too. If you can handle it while you train, you’ll probably do well enough when you’re earning money at it.

This is why you should treat your training as practice for when you start working. Set study hours aside in whatever time you have available, and start teaching yourself to stick to them. Learn to maintain your focus before you have the job. It’s a skill that will really help you in the long run.

Start your training. Contact Career Step for information about their medical transcription training courses.