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

I said it woudn't happen but... - cj

Posted: Feb 28, 2011

We were just informed that our facility is considering sending as much of 80% of its coding to India to cut costs. They would keep only the most difficult work here in the US. And so the downhill slide appears to be beginning. Our company has informed us that most new clients are asking for an offshore option so as to cut the costs of coding. I guess it is on to something new once again!

Oh no - jm

[ In Reply To ..]
This is not good news. Didn't an Indian company buy yours a while back, well not too long ago actually. They must have a good sales department to sell the idea to the clients and it certainly didn't take them very long. Bottom line again, greed again. Very sad. What will you do?

yes, they did.. - cj

[ In Reply To ..]
They did, but our company does all med rec functions and not just coding so many people will be safe - for now! At that time, we were told they would never offshore the coding divisions, and I was gullible enough to believe it! Live and learn. They are planning to do to coding just what they did to MT. It will be done in India and then "audited" here and corrected - I am sure at much lower wages then we now earn. As for what I am going to do--who knows. I know I don't want to be one of those people correcting the Indian coding for half of what I earn now. I have an adult daughter who is also going to be out of work in July as her company was acquired by a Canadian bank and they will be eliminating her division. So she and I are looking into some things to do together. We have a couple of things in mind right now that we are going to research. I am fortunate as I have a husband who does earn enough to at least pay the bills. Won't be much fun, but we will survive.

What kind of work does (did) your daughter do? - just wondering

[ In Reply To ..]
I was just wondering what sector of the economy your daughter's job falls into.

banking & finance - cj

[ In Reply To ..]
She works for M&I corporation, which was just acquired by Bank of Montreal. They have a US-based headquarters in Chicago through Harris Bank. Since she lives in southeastern Wisconsin, it's a pretty safe bet they will not keep her division since it is in such close proximity and they are fully staffed in Chicago already.

Let's hope they surprise us and give her a promotion instead. - We can hope!

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

I was thinking of becoming a professional dog-walker - - s/msg

[ In Reply To ..]
except that with the sorry state of affairs in this country, it probably won't be long before people start EATING dogs, instead of hiring people to exercise them.

Maybe then ----- become a chef. - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
x

Is that a clinic or big hospital, small doctor's office, or what? - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Sorry to hear that your facility is doing that. I have no respect for businesses who put money ahead of everything and everyone else.

very big hospital... - cj

[ In Reply To ..]
It is a very, very large teaching hospital with a medical college facility and over 100 affiliated clinics.

I wonder who made the decision to go that direction - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Offshore Medical Records - Lynn

[ In Reply To ..]
You should ask your company how they intend to maintain the confidentiality of OUR Medical records in some foreign country!!! We MTs here in the US are responsible for up to $10,000 fine and PRISON time for our mistakes in the medical records, yet there is no accountability for other countries to comply with our very strict US HIPPA regulations.

I'd be interested to know how your company responds to that!

We've sold out our profession...now its time to ban together and TAKE IT BACK!
GOod luck-

Fortunately, not all hospitals and clinics have run amuk - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
There are still plenty of hospitals that refuse to send transcription overseas and plenty that will refuse to send coding offshore as well.

the word "plenty" should be replaced with "some".... - which should be further qualified with "for now"

[ In Reply To ..]

That's true. There are no guarantees about anything in life - as we are finding out these days

[ In Reply To ..]
We've had it good for a long time, haven't we? That seems to be changing at a fast and furious pace. I keep thinking grocery clerks have it made, but recently I was almost bullied into checking out my own groceries in the store I always go to. I had it so messed up that they have left me alone, but they are sure pushing to get rid of the people in that position as well as many others. What was the name of that movie, I can hear the voice now, "Dave...you don't need to bother to wake up. I'll take care of everything." Then there was that other movie, something western where everything was automated and I remember hearing, "Nothing can go wrong...go wrong...go wrong..." It did.

So what do you recommend? Jump in bed and pull covers over our heads? - Want To Work

[ In Reply To ..]
There are no jobs that are "safe" anymore. It does us no good to go around with our heads hanging down, defeated. I think the most likely scenario is that there will be "some" jobs in both MT and coding for years to come, for those with the best skills. Then the job description may change, but there will be people who will be able to adapt to the new job as it is eventually defined. Just my opinion. I refuse to believe that all is hopeless and we all need to hide under our beds. I know that attorneys, doctors, home builders, real state agents, stock brokers, sales people, construction workers, etc., are all having problems with lack of jobs, but we have to keep trying. I plan on being on the winning side of this situation. I plan to adapt to the job as it changes.

If things dont start to change in America, and soon, then - that might likely be our only option.

[ In Reply To ..]
You'll either have to be a corporate bigshot, or else dig ditches. Since most of us are not currently corporate bigshots, that only leaves the latter choice, and I'm getting a little long in the tooth to be doing manual labor. Not to mention, the wrong gender.

I recommend that you get your skills together and go elsewhere - My Opinion

[ In Reply To ..]
I wouldn't stay for a minute if I had other options. What they are doing is wrong for patients, employees, and our country. They have crossed the line.

Well, wouldn't you expect an Indian-owned company - to say that?

[ In Reply To ..]
cj, you work for an Indian-owned company, so wouldn't you expect to hear them toot the "curry coding" horn?

Obviously, since it's an Indian-owned company, and one which clearly promotes offshore cost-cutting, they would try to sell their clients on this and thus would end up being able to say "most new clients are asking for an offshore option."

I agree with the other respondent. You would do well to get your skills in order, get credentialed, and get out of Dodge. Find a better job.

Ugh! - dj

[ In Reply To ..]
Sounds like it's all becoming part of the "One World Order"..... (A scary thought!)

That really stinks! I was pretty sure this would - happen, sooner rather than later.

[ In Reply To ..]
The parallels were just too close. Requires similar knowledge of medical language, pay is probably similar to what MTs were getting a few years ago, mainly done by women, and now being outsourced to work-at-home companies, just like MT. When I first heard about coding, it almost seemed too good to be true. Guess it was.

coding and offshoring - Viva

[ In Reply To ..]
This makes me sick. I studied MT and am still applying for jobs, now studying coding and want to finish the course and take the exam. I really wanted to get out of education and into health occupations. What are the options?

Where did you study MT and where are you studying coding? - just wondering

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

replying to just wondering - Viva

[ In Reply To ..]
I studied at an adult ed. accredited school for both. I am still applying but most MTSOs want years of experience in a facility. I am focusing more on coding, though now I wonder if that was a mistake.

No, the parallels are NOT that close. - Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm sorry, but the parallels are not that close. Coding is NOT being offshored in bulk.

That sad tale is something that one company is doing, if they're doing it. I can't say that it isn't just wishful thinking on their part. After all, if they advertised that "Nobody wants to use us!" what would people think? Instead, they crow about "Everyone wants to save money by sending their coding to India!" even if no one does, because it sounds good. To me, this is nothing more than the same kind of hot air you encounter on any used-car lot. I'm not buying it because I'm a coder and I see the reality.

Coding is NOT the same as MT. That's why it pays so much more.

It is also not predominantly a work-at-home, mommies-in-jammies occupation. If you would look at the salary and occupational series, you would see this. There are a variety of jobs in coding, with requirements ranging from coding certification to PhD.

It is NOT being done now by "work-at-home" companies. Yes, there are coders who work from home, but there aren't very many of them. It's still a highly professional job, even if it's done from an office in a home. The companies that employ coders are primarily established on-site consulting companies that used to send the coders to the work site -- in suits -- but now allow some of them to work from home.

Before you feel sick about what you imagine is happening to coding, please inform yourself a bit more about the realities of the occupation. One reality is that the financial and legal stakes are so high that facilities fear letting it go out the door at all, much less overseas.

MT isn't linked to stakes that high. Nobody is going to die because of a misspelling in a medical report. No faciity is going to go bankrupt or be investigated by CMS because of misspellings in medical reports, either.

Wow! - X

[ In Reply To ..]
I have to say that I am actually quite offended by your seemingly snarky reply. While I am not interested in getting into a "pithing" match with you, I find your self righteous attitude to be more than off putting. To reply to a couple of your statements...MT is, in fact, a professional career. Granted, it is largely home-based these days, but those of us who work for credible MTSOs know that we are held to professional standards. Regardless of what my "job attire" is, I am required to be on my game at all times. Yes, patients can and have died as a direct result of errors in documentation. Consider the patient who had undergone an MRI of her chest in which a mass was seen. Due to past medical records stating she had had a previous benign lesion, which was incorrect, her doctor assumed that was what was showing up. What she in fact had was lung cancer. Sadly, she had no treatment, which could have possibly allowed her to have at least more time with her loved ones. Medical transcriptionists, more appropriately Medical Language Specialists, are MUCH more than glorified typists. If we aren't professional and well educated in the field, people can be devastatingly affected. You are correct that we don't make as much money as once was possible, but that is definitely not because we are unprofessional. It is a direct result of offshoring, outsourcing, and greed-driven business practices. If coding is in fact beginning down the slippery slope of offshore work forces, then YOUR profession is also in jeopardy of becoming a low-paying, thankless position as well. Think about it.

It is starting in coding the same as it did with MT work. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
You can be an ostrich and stick your head in the sand right now if you wish but it won't stop it.

YES, it can EASILY be offshored. YES, it IS being done more and more widely as a virtually based role and with that push the offshore will follow.

What you will end up with is a certified coder reviewing offshore coding.

Coders have always made less money than I have as an MT. However, pay has nothing to do with this situation.

So, you go ahead and enjoy your delusion that it won't happen to coding. I'll sit back and grin knowing it has ALREADY started happening and that we tried to warn you.

I have to agree with X...sm - Mist

[ In Reply To ..]
I found your remarks as offensive. I have not worked as an MT for a long time due to life circumstances but in that time I have found not much has changed. The attitude that MTs are somehow less than...:( I know that as a medical transcriptionist I cared whether what I typed was accurate or not. I view each patient's record as if it were my own and I would not want errors in my report. With this mindset, I was always told I was 'one of their best.' To be said that a typo was not nearly as important. Any error is important when it pertains to documentation. For example, the day the doctor dictated 25 mg of Xanax...the usual dose was 0.25 mg...tell me that isn't a disaster waiting to happen. The irony of it all is that coders use the information MTs put into the chart. How can you look down on them? They have a part in providing the info. you need to do your job.

To Mist and X - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
I came to this discussion late but I appreciated your comments very much. First, the coding can't get done without documentation, which makes the MTs job pretty important. Where I work, we have priority status on a number of our dictated reports so that the billing and coding can be expedited, the coders depend on us. Anyone who's worked in a hospital medical record department knows that the chart can't be coded until the discharge summary is transcribed. People can die from the documentation of incorrect medication dosages, and coders ought to know that MTs catching providers' mistakes when transcribing is key. By the time that record lands in front of you, we've done a lot of prep work. Of course coding is important too because the facility would not get paid without that being done accurately. I know there are coders who work at home, but don't tell me they're not wearing comfortable clothes. I've been on both sides of the fence now because I've studied coding but MT is still where I want to be, even with all the changes that are occurring. Coding will change too. It may not be outsourced/offshored as much as MT, but coders will struggle trying to deal with changes brought about by computer assisted coding. I agree that salary should not be an issue but actually the salaries are comparable. Also, it can take years for a coder to become productive and accurate enough to do well, I certainly wouldn't call it a "dream job" as many on this board would like us to believe. Sorry to be so lengthy, but I wanted to share.

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