Reply #11: Many hospitals have outsourced it--that I don't deny [View All]

[Horse with no Name]

Transcription is a service that my company provides, so I do have firsthand knowledge of what the docs think of outsourced transcription and how it is really working.
Doctors are starting to limit it in their practices much more so now than a year or two ago.
Now what the hospitals do is another story. As of right now, the physicians don't have a say in that, although we have noticed an influx of hospital contracts, mainly in the Northern and Eastern states.
One overflow company that I have a contract has starting outsourcing overseas.
I don't use them anymore because many physician's want a guarantee that their info remains in the US.
That is why I gave you the link. Companies like Spheris do NOT outsource their transcription and are always looking for qualified transcriptionists.
In this business, slow doesn't pay, so of course they want the fastest typists out there. They are paid and rewarded very well through these transcription companies that have popped up--even though they are treated like dinosaurs in their own medical communities.
It is more difficult, especially when you start out. For example I have a typist in Texas that works an account in New York. There are many Indian docs at this facility and some have very thick accents which is hard to understand for typists that aren't used to dealing with the dialects.
It took quite awhile for her to get used to that and it obviously slowed her typing time down exponentially. Couple that with the local references of streets and other physician names--especially when transcribing letters that the physicians write. That is of course an obstacle and a huge source of frustration. Local transcriptions are lucky enough to work with the same docs and they know the area and that simply makes the job easier.
But there is a HUGE burnout rate with transcriptionists, as well as many that develop carpal tunnel, etc.
It also isn't a career that many young people are choosing, so that also leads to the shortage of American transcriptionists.