A couple of weeks ago I posted that the hospital I worked for is outsourcing and dumping their inhouse transcription dept. I appreciate all the nice things people here said because so many of you have been there, done that.
I also guess that a lot of you have thought about starting up your own business. The other people I worked with at the hospital and I were always talking about it in a joking way because, to be honest, the people who ran the business at the hospital know nothing about transcription and they think we are just typing drones.
I stopped back in the office where I used to work and I am pleased to report that it was total chaos. The administration is trying to dump all the dictation onto an outside company based in India. They kept on a couple of Transcriptionist to clean up stuff. The person now in charge of the whole transcription process used to work in the billing office and she is now going to be proofing and overseeing the outside transcription service. They are pleased with themselves and very smug about all the money they will be saving the doctors.
The doctors are all spoilt. Most of their dictation for years has been An 88 year old female. Severe DJD. Bilateral knees. Referred by the bozo down the street. Yada yada yada. An we knew what they meant and would zip out a three page professional sounding report and referral letter. We corrected their mistakes, made sure they were talking about the right patient (often they weren't) and that they didn't commit any legal boo-boo like saying the patient was a drug addict. (One doctor I used to work for said this. I told the supervisor that he should not say things like that or he would get sued. She said the doctor knew what he was doing. Since she was not a transcriptionist she believed that. The doctor and the practice got sued and doctor went to work in a little clinic far, far away.)
I have to admit that I am enjoying the vision of the coming trainwreck. This is the second hospital I have worked for that jumped on the outsourcing train. The first one fired the service in six months and tried to rehire us transcriptionists, who by then had gone on to greener pastures. And this current hospital has handled the decision to outsource in such an unethical and nasty manner that I would not work for them again under any circumstances.
So, in short, has anybody thought seriously about starting up their own company? Of course other transcriptionists have done that and of course it is not as easy as it seems. What is the first step? I have the skills and I know many transcriptionists and a lot of doctors who are going to be really ticked off when the billing person they put in charge of their dictation goes belly up. And I have some really neat names in mind:
Typed In the USA.
Been There Done That.
Fingers For Hire.
Utalk We Type.
Transcribers Anonymous.
WordsRUs.(how do you make a backwards R?)
Anybody want to join me?
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