A PBS/Frontline opportunity to comment on how the economy is not working - for American workers. Posted: Mar 15th, 2016 - 6:34 pm
I saw this clip (on YouTube) from a PBS show recently. PBS/Frontline is seeking feedback about ways the economy is not working for average American workers. As a former Nuance employee, I thought I would share this on this site in case any of you would like to comment about the plight of medical transcriptionists in this country. So, here's the link to watch the clip if you choose. What I offered as a comment is copied just beneath the link as an example of how our income has been rather drastically reduced, many jobs lost altogether, thanks to offshoring. Feel free to copy and paste this link and explanatory information to any other sites or chat boards where people may choose to offer comments!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFVAG0F3gmU&feature=em-uploademail&ab_channel=FRONTLINEPBS|Official
I am a displaced American worker thanks to the outsourcing of medical transcription services to offshore corporations in countries where workers work for pennies an hour. These positions, despite the pervasive mistaken impression of transcriptionists as "just typists," were semi-skilled technical positions requiring educational courses in the field, impeccable English grammar and punctuation skills, as well as a detailed grasp of the various medical specialities and lab results to help safeguard patient care. Transcriptionists largely worked from home, thus making it one of the first and best "tech" jobs that could be done remotely. These jobs historically provided a solid middle-class income, but thanks to offshoring, not only has the integrity of medical records been compromised (even while touting the efficiencies associated with electronic medical records), but thousands upon thousands of unsuspecting transcriptionists' lives have been upended when hospital corporations outsource this function, essentially selling them to megagiants in the medical/tech industry, only to lose their jobs when those accounts are 1) converted to EHR/EMR and the remaining reports 2) offshored. There is now a sweatshop mentality among the shareholders to the point where many transcriptionists currently make barely minimum wage. Many transcriptionists with mobility issues, caregiving roles in the home, school-aged children, etc., have been forced out of the industry. Many survive now on safety net government services. Transcriptionists are "hidden" from view, separated by physical distance from employers, often overlooked due to labor laws favoring foreign investment as opposed to retention of a skilled American workforce. If people knew their confidential medical information was being sent halfway around the globe, entrusted to English as second language speakers, then shipped back in barely discernible sentence fragments, the issue would be more readily addressed. Our displacement has been the overlooked economic crime of the decade.
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