A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Okay everyone. I went to college today - and this is what they say about MTs.

Posted: Mar 17, 2010

I spoke with a counselor/advisor who was extremely helpful. They gave me a couple of tests, personality and skill tests to see what I want do in life.

I scored pretty high on counseling and criminal justice and even showed medical transcription. Here is what it says about being a medical transcriptionist in Oregon.

Wages

Location	Pay Period
Location	Pay Period	Entry	Median	Top
Oregon	Hourly	$12.73	(1)	$17.00
	Monthly	$2,206	(1)	$2,946
	Yearly	$26,472	(1)	$35,364
United States	Hourly	$13.02	$15.41	$18.55
	Monthly	$2,256	$2,671	$3,215
	Yearly	$27,090	$32,060	$38,590

(1) Wage estimate isn't available.

Employment and outlook

Employment
In Oregon, 1,587 medical transcriptionists work in this medium-sized occupation.

Nationally, 98,454 medical transcriptionists work in this medium-sized occupation. About 10 percent of them are self-employed.

Major employers:

Hospitals
Doctor's offices
Medical transcription offices

Outlook
In Oregon, the number of jobs for medical transcriptionists is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2016. Good job opportunities are expected. Nationally, the number of jobs for medical transcriptionists is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2016.

A growing and aging population will drive the demand for medical transcription services. Older people are more likely to receive medical tests and treatments that require documentation. In addition, the need to share electronic documentation between doctors, patients, and insurance agencies will also contribute to growth.

Some doctors send their transcription work to other countries, such as India and Pakistan. Others use speech recognition technology to transcribe their spoken words. Neither of these trends is likely to affect this occupation much. This is because experienced transcriptionists will need to review and revise the work done by these other sources.

Hospitals will continue to employ a large percentage of medical transcriptionists. However, job growth there will not be as fast as in other industries. The fastest growth will be at doctor's offices.

The table below provides information about the number of workers in this occupation in various regions. It also provides information about the expected growth rate and future job openings.

Location	2006 employment	Growth rate through 2016		Annual openings
		This occupation	All occupations
Oregon	1,587 Medium-sized	28.7%	14.1%	79 High
Central Oregon and Columbia Gorge	130 Large	%	%	Not categorized
Eastern Oregon	55 Medium-sized	%	%	Not categorized
North and South Coast	89 Large	%	%	Not categorized
Portland Metro	630 Medium-sized	%	%	Not categorized
Southern Oregon	181 Large	%	%	Not categorized
Willamette Valley	426 Medium-sized	%	%	Not categorized
United States	98,454 Medium-sized	13.5%	10.4%	2,551 Moderate

This is hilarious. - Where do they get this info?

[ In Reply To ..]
---"Some doctors send their transcription work to other countries, such as India and Pakistan. Others use speech recognition technology to transcribe their spoken words. Neither of these trends is likely to affect this occupation much."---

This is absolutely outdated information.

Hospitals are getting rid of MTs in droves.

Just google it.

If this information is from the US government site, that site is clearly behind the times.

I don't think our outlook to make DECENT money is very good in the USA. And every single hospital in my LARGE metropolitan area offshores.

I think that info needs updated.

Question -- if you are in Oregon, do you see all these jobs listed in the want ads? On the hospital sites?

Hmm. . . . .

Oregon jobs - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
I e-mailed you privately about 2 available hospital jobs in Oregon. Yes, they are in the want ads and on the hospital sites, all a person has to do is look.

I didn't receive your email about Oregon jobs. - Maybe emailed to a different post?

[ In Reply To ..]
I would be interested in your email. Trying to figure out what to do. I have a couple in mind. I cannot believe I went to college years ago for MT and just had enough with decrease in pay and how we are being treated.

Thanks!

E-mail - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
I sent you another one, hope you got it, check your spam folder.

Thank you! Received email. Had to check spam. - In Portland, OR area

[ In Reply To ..]
Greatly appreciate and thanks for taking time and sending the email and info.

Live in Oregon - AMD

[ In Reply To ..]
I would like an email about these hospital jobs too please. I am trying to get my foot in the door as I have experience with coding, but would do transcription. Anything but MQ

Is coding a good field to go into? Or should stay away. - Was thinking of getting into coding.

[ In Reply To ..]
Any info on coding would be helpful, Thanks!

And this little bit of info does not even mention EMR. - Way outdated information.

[ In Reply To ..]
Wow.

Not only are we being offshored out of our jobs, ASR is doing a job on our paychecks.

And EMR will cut a big chunk out of our jobs. I would say that college needs to look deeper into the information they give out. If that is from the US government site, then again, I don't trust the government site. They are outdated and just plain wrong.

Thanks everyone. - I just had to post this.

[ In Reply To ..]
So I went into college and ended up filling in my personality and what I like to do, etc. and list of 30 jobs came up. One of them was Medical Transcriptionist and I started laughing.

I told everyone the main reason I am going back to college was because my field/job is a dead end job. I had to look it up and this is what was posted. Also, it was done about 3-4 years ago which at that time, that is when they started to really outsource/offshore and started using ASR. My has our field changed quickly. EPIC was not in the picture or even heard of in SOME areas or probably the government. Also, remember a few years ago even the highest almighty great MQ said there was a huge need for good medical transcriptionists, yet there was a mass exodus of us leaving? MQ and other MTSO sure have fooled the government to think there is such a huge need of MT's. Yep, we had 10,000 when I was working with them and what, now down to around 2,800? or something like that. Unreal!

Reality check - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
Medquist is not the only employer in the world. If you are as miserable as you seem to be, find an on-site job or do something else with your life.

I am, that is why I am going to school. - That is why I posted the above post.

[ In Reply To ..]
About Medical Transcriptionists. Been with this same company since 1988. Had enough for how I have been treated. Come on! No raise since 1999 and telling me I am too high on the totem pole? I told that to my good friend, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal. She was disgusted and to top it all? The person who gave me that raise was T.M. who signs those lovely MQ corporate emails we have been getting. Too high on the totem pole 11 years ago? Obviously MQ needs to adjust their wage scale and I should now be on the bottom of that totem pole 11 years later. DISGUSTING and down right downgrading!

Anyway, I am back at school and figuring out if I want to be an addiction counselor or Social and Human Service Assistant.

Saw the same thing - LucyK

[ In Reply To ..]
I have seen the same thing for Ohio. This is government information, though. And I never believe a thing the government tells me.

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