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

Offshoring of Coding Straight From - AHIMA

Posted: Jan 01, 2014

Straight from AHIMA-just like AHDI, supports offshoring. Wonder how long before they take the "American" out their name too. Article link below.

On the bright side, MT is going to - make a comeback possibly (OP)

[ In Reply To ..]
They might need us after all....

link below

That is also "advertising" - by a vendor

[ In Reply To ..]
It isn't actually saying that the industry will return to MT hand-typing, but that ICD-10 documentation requirements may make point and click/front-end SR burdensome, prompting a return to dictation.

The whole article is just advertising for a vendor that provides voice solutions.

One could also make the point that ICD-10 will encourage the use of point-and-click and template-prompted front-end SR because the additional documentation requirements of ICD-10 are so complex.

It all depends on what you are selling.

This is not exactly "from AHIMA" - Need for critical reading skills

[ In Reply To ..]
"AHIMA" did not write this. It was an article in their journal. The fact that an article is published in a journal does not mean the organization agrees or disagrees with it. Journals exist to allow members to express opinions, after all.

The authors of the article are management at a company that offers ICD-10 conversion support services. They are basically advertising their wares. The reasons they cite for reluctance of facilities to offshore coding is likely what they are facing in their business. They wrote the article to try to sway facilities' opinions.

AHIMA did have some "official input" into this. It is in the box in the middle. In that, they explain why they no longer offer any of their certifications -- they have more than just coding -- in countries that have been determined by Pearson Vue to present security risks. Three of the locations the authors appear to be recommending are on that list ... India, UAE, and Mexico.

On a personal level, I especially liked the part where the authors recommend offshore coders because they are younger than US coders. Nice -- "Use our services and indulge in the age discrimination you have always dreamed about!"

This article makes me happier than ever to be a coding student - student

[ In Reply To ..]
They have one "con" listed that offshore coders are so conservative they may negatively impact reimbursement. That's something I doubt very much hospitals would tolerate for long.

Thank you everyone! - OP

[ In Reply To ..]
I really appreciate you all responding and giving me more to think about. The HIM field as a whole is such a crossroads and as a MT and HIM student, I am at such a loss of whether to stay a MT "and see", continue the HIM degree (worry I will not find a job) or just pursue something totally unrelated all together. I really appreciate the input. It was very helpful. :)

Whoa, Nellie! - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I just want to say that this is a good crossroads. There is no cliff at the end of those roads. Jobs in HIM have expanded with EHRs, not diminished.

Some time today, please see the career map at the AHIMA website. It includes newly developing jobs.

My facility has been totally electronic for more than 10 years. We have no paper records, no file room, no swarms of file clerks. Instead, we have people who work with the EHR, review in the EHR, analyze data from the EHR, work with professional staff on documentation improvement, perform privacy and security functions, informatics, coding auditing, and a load of other things. It is BETTER, not worse!!! Most of the new jobs require a degree and pay more.

You might think that "somebody else" does the whole EHR thing. No. WE own the CONTENT, not the geek squad. They just own the hardware and software.

No matter what you do, you will need to work to get a job. You have to sell yourself, show the employer that you are a great resource, and all the rest of it. You may have to take an entry level position, too. Just do it; it will benefit you.

There is no field guaranteed to give you a job. Not even nursing. The grass is NOT greener anywhere else.

Finish your HIT program. Finish what you started. Be the best graduate in your class.

And, can you tell me why you are waiting to graduate to look for a job? Why are you not looking for an HIM job NOW? You do not have to graduate. You can get out there and start selling yourself. Hospitals need to expand their coding staff for ICD-10. You need to catch that boat, not miss it. SELL YOURSELF!!!

As for staying in MT, no. You should not do that. The one thing we do not have at all is MTs. The grass isn't just less green there, it is completely dead.

Love your post! - Laurie G.

[ In Reply To ..]
Excellent, encouraging advice!

The MT field is dead, but without a medical record - code, will coders have a job?

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm worried about this too.

Without a medical record?? - What does that mean???

[ In Reply To ..]
Not sure what you are asking. What is "without a medical record" supposed to mean?

There IS a medical record. Always. Why on earth would you think there is not??

yeah I didn't understand that either - what is a medical record code? nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Perhaps without a medical record TO code? - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Nothing in that post up there said there was no medical record to code. We are fully EHR and fully staffed with coders. Nearly 40 of them, plus 20 or so more who can code but do something else related to it.

Of course, that poster will never come back. Swoop in, make some off the wall comment to stir things up, swoop out, giggle about the resulting turmoil.

Two weeks and this person never came back. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Zoom in, ask an inflammatory, incomprehensible question, zoom out, and never come back.
I think that shows you what the motive was.

Similar Messages:

Oct 23, 2011

Is coding really being offshored? I was planning on going to Andrews School next year after I get my taxes back for coding. I would appreciate any information. I think coding will be a good filed to go into because I do not see all coding going overseas. Any responses would be greatly appreciated. ...

Jun 19, 2011

I've been an MT for over 20 years and am seriously considering switching my focus to coding. I believe that I would be a good fit and am excited about starting a new career in the not-too-distant future. My main worry, though, is that in some of my research, every now and then something will pop up about coding going the way of transcription, and by that I mean all the offshoring/outsourcing that has been done, thereby driving wages down. Can anyone here offer any insight into this? I woul ...

Feb 21, 2011

I am speaking with a counselor at a community college about a medical insurance coding certificate. I am more interested in outpatient coding in an outpatient setting and earning the CPC credential for professional coders. I really do not want to work in a hospital again. From a current medical coder's perspective, is outpatient coding and CPC a good option as compared to inpatient coding? What about the job market? Is the job marketing pretty stable for outpatient coders, who are not worki ...

Oct 12, 2011

I am thinking about becoming a CPC and starting my own business. After 14 years of transcribing...want to do something else. do you think this work is safe from India? ...

Oct 27, 2012

In my humble opinion: I have no use for AHDI, an ineffectual and overblown organization, but I stumbled on their website while surfing. Under FAQs, they state that offshoring of MT exists because of the shortage of qualified MTs in the US as well as escalating healthcare costs. "However, " they state, "only a very small percentage...is being sent offshore." A shortage? According to whom? Another excuse I've heard in the past was that MTSOs only sought&nbs ...

Mar 01, 2015

Some savvy techie type person disabled the link to the petition, so I just wrote to my local congresswoman on line. It's real easy, and I've heard some pretty good things going on! ...

May 26, 2015

For those of you who experienced the work you were doing being sent to India, can you describe for me the events that led up to that point? I'm experiencing a severe reduction in work available, new management (some of our quit and some moved to a different account), and the story that "we are working with the optimization team to keep you busy." ...

Oct 20, 2009

I could be wrong, but it appears to me that the VR came about as an answer to the problem of offshoring. I am sure many clients prefer to keep their dictation/transcription right here in the USA and request that from the companies they use. Maybe we should not be so adverse to it, as it could be the only means of keeping the work here affordably. ...

Oct 31, 2009

This is my theory - VR is actually foreigners typing the reports for 1-2 cpl. When then get it to correct all the mistakes for 3-4 cpl. This brings the total average of 8 cpl down to around 6 cpl. They say the programs "learn the physician," which I think means the Indian girl is getting better. I think it is all a BIG conspiracy! Sometimes I make me laugh and other times I'm scared I could be right! ...

May 27, 2010

What is the attraction about India, that so much of the transcription is being sent there? It seems to me that someone for whom English is a second language would not do very well in transcribing reports from the U.S. I would expect that a lot of those reports would have be heavily eited or completely re-done. So why offshore it in the first place? Am I missing some information here? It can't be all about salary, because from the postings here, it doesn't seem like transcriptionists i ...

Jun 26, 2011

It does not matter if you choose a service that does not offshore. Most of the hospitals are using 2 services anyway and they do NOT want to pay for transcription. This is big business and it keeps the money flowing to the people who demand high salaries and who have direct patient contact. It is no big deal that the reports come back horrible. The hospitals have wanted for years to rid any of the jobs that were not of 'direct patient contact' and we were t ...

Oct 11, 2010

I was so glad to see this information posted regarding the American Transcription Association (ATA)… and offshoring medical transcription. All of the points made are totallly valid. I agree with every bit of it. However, what they failed to mention is the fact that many medical transcription companies lie to their cuistomers about using outsourcing for their work. They save money by not having to pay them as much for the transcription, but most of their wor ...

Sep 14, 2011

First off, I am truly disgusted with our government for allowing offshoring to such a degree that it has taken most of our jobs away. We have written and complained to no avail. We do need to do some things on our own too. I recently went shopping for my son's school supplies. I read the labels to make sure things were made in America. Ink pens: The only ink pens I found made in America were Pilot pens, BIC were made in China. I bought the Pilot pe ...

Nov 06, 2011

Just wanted everyone out there to know (if you have not already figured it out from your QA reports at Nuance) that Nuance is now sending US MTs QA offshore. If you are working in an account that is done offshore, then your QA could and will be done by offshore QA. I was lied to the first time when I inquired about this, but did finally get a straight answer that we are in fact having our work done by offshore QA. This is completely unacceptable and in my eyes unethic ...

Jun 08, 2012

Last year my relatives started getting calls from a collection agency saying I owed a Payday loan and would go to jail, etc. if I did not pay up. Needless to say this was quite disturbing as I had no idea what was going on and these people had all my info. I talked to a lawyer who said it was a scam from India. A link is below. Of course Americans can rip you off too but sending confidential info overseas is just asking for trouble. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg http://w ...

Jul 10, 2012

I don't know if it'll make a difference, but when I saw an ad on TV stating that Obama supports "insourcing" and not "outsourcing," I almost lost it! In his ad, he actually used the term "insourcing." What a crock!barackobama.com/forward ...

Sep 13, 2013

So, I've pretty much figured out that I'm losing work because it's being offshored. At least, that's what many of the posters on here have lead me to believe. But I realized something today that made me almost spit out my drink! What has been left in the queue since work has dwindled are the "difficult" dictators, whether they are the few that have always been straight transcription or the ones that require the most editing to their SR files. Then I realized a pa ...

Jan 11, 2014

Can someone tell me if there is offshoring at Precyse? ...

Jun 23, 2010

Don't laugh. It could be considered..."free" labor you know. ...

Oct 16, 2010

Google American Transcription Association and go to their website and they have a petition that you can sign that is against offshoring ...

Oct 07, 2012

The url link is a thought about where we are. It doesn't matter if we stop work, type one report a day, call in sick, because they have already overhired and they keep sending more and more work to India. They won't even notice that we have not logged on to work. Do it anyways, for yourself. It will be a statement about ourselves, for ourselves. We matter. I care that I have lost my income from a job I once really enjoyed. I care that you cannot pay your ...

Jan 17, 2014

I'm fairly certain there is an MTSO that was/is doing this. I have been told that VA contracts prohibit offshoring, but I have never seen a contract to verify the terms, and I have been unable to reference any federal law that specifically addresses it. I would appreciate any information from anyone in the know. ...

Aug 13, 2013

Accepted a job, gave 2 weeks notice, and yesterday was my first day. I was to be helping out transcription (1000 jobs behind), and then sitting with billing and training with coding as their coder will be out on maternity leave in December. The office is adding another surgeon, and they are rapidly expanding. So I gave a proper 2 weeks' notice to my former employer (2 hours on the road there and back, low salary - now less than half distance and $3 more an hour) and starte ...

May 11, 2010

Is there really such a thing as an AA degree in coding? Sounds odd to me. Health administration or management, or RHIT I can see, but coding? Is it not better to just become Certified even if you dont have an AA degree? ...

Apr 10, 2012

Wondering if there are any coders out there who can give me an idea of the fate of coding due to the EMR. Are there still coding jobs out there? Would it be wise to attend school for coding at this point or do you think it will be lost to the EMR eventually? I live in a rural area and there are advertisements for registered/accredited coders at medical facilities, but I'm afraid of spending all that time and money on schooling only to not be able to find a job. Any information/insight w ...

Oct 07, 2013

I am thinking about changing from MT to coding. Are there many opportunities to work from home with coding? What would be a good school to attend? Thank you for the help. ...

Feb 26, 2014

My sister is taking an online coding course and complains that there is no real "teaching," that she's basically just doing the work in the work book and entering answers online, then taking an online chapter test. This makes me wonder about the necessity of signing up for an actual course. I would like to learn how to code, but to me, without any actual instruction, what's the purpose of signing up for one of these online courses? ...

Apr 15, 2014

Anyone know if MM has an age restriction on new coding students? ...

May 20, 2014

Thanks for your response. ...

Nov 16, 2010

I sent the moderator's very well written post on this topic (see sticky note above) to all my legislators a few weeks ago. I got this response (probably canned, but still) from Dianne Feinstein today: Thank you for writing to me regarding H.R. 427, the "Notify Americans Before Outsourcing Personal Information Act." I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond. I am deeply concerned about identity theft and am strongly committed to protecting ...