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

Lost job to EMR - PR

Posted: Aug 16, 2012

After 14 years of transcribing for a medical practice, suddenly, without notice, I was "dumped." My client implimented the required EHR mandated by President Obama. I guess I was somewhat naive in not seeing this coming, but I assumed transcribed documents by a "real person" would still be wanted by my client. Now I find myself at age 57 without work. My next step is to inquire about verbatim transcription, but the idea of not correcting improper grammar and using "yeah" and "um" goes against the grain. Is anyone in a similar situation? I would love your imput.

The "private medical practice" likely went to some - sort of point and click system which is

[ In Reply To ..]
what likely caused the loss of your job. EMR in and of itself is not what causes job loss or EHR - Electronic medical record OR Electronic health record, the two terms are interchangable and simply means that clinical documentation will no longer be stored the old fashioned way on papers and in folders, it will instead be stored electronically in the computer system the facility uses. President Obama mandated electronic health/medical records. He did not mandate the use of point and click systems or EPIC.

Point and click systems work well for private medical practices and clinics because the notes are easier templated and not as in depth as acute care. I am guessing that is what your job moved too and thats what cost you your job, not EHR or EMR. Sorry for your loss.

thanks for the clarification - please read above post

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we all need to get really straight on the terminology (and who to blame, if we really want to blame somebody), if we are going to deal with this situation intelligently. Don't blame Obama for this; he recommended electronic medical records, which are not a threat to us. EPIC is the threat. And we can't really blame doctor's offices or hospitals for going with it to save money. I mean really, do we expect them to keep outdated technology just to save our jobs? We realistically can't expect them to do that. I keep thinking about telephone operators. I bet 10 years ago they felt the way we do, frightened and angry that new technology was doing away with their jobs, and expecting Ma Bell to keep them out of the kindness of her heart.

This is not going away. The time is now to decide how you will handle it.

What is Epic and will that do away with all transcription in acute care. nm - Sad MT

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nm

EPIC - sm

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Its kind of hard to explain because there are so many components to it and its designed to do a variety of things. I would say try googling and reading up on it.

It does not seem to be very popular, as its very costly and takes time to get it intergrated (based on what I have read). There are some hospitals who have transitioned to it successfully and some not so much.

But looking at the bright side, the big companies like Nuance and M*Modal are developing their technologies and up-grading in such a way to compete with the EPIC system at a much more affordable price than what EPIC offers which of course, they have to if they wanna stay in business. So I really dont see EPIC taking over clinical documentation completely.

Sure there will be hospitals who will go with it, but Nuance and M*Modal has technology that is highly compatible with it and like I said, at a much lower price. I dont see acute care being in any grave jeopardy at this point, but I do see the nature of the MT job description evolving as technology progresses. I doubt this is something to expect tomorrow or even next year, only time will tell.

Epic - Nuance MT

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I work at Nuance. We may have technology to compete with Epic, but that didn't stop several of our hospital customers from implementing Epic at their facility. They do still utilize MTs, but work has dropped off at some of these facilities and the Epic system has also caused unfavorable dictations for MTs with very short snippets of reports and very poor audio quality as doctors dictate on their computer's microphones instead of calling dictations in via the telephone. I have not found Epic to be a positive experience, and more of our accounts are switching over as time goes on. I wish I lived in the Midwest and could work for Epic themselves as they seem to have some good opportunities that would be a good transition for an MT.

How poor is the sound through the computer for Epic. I am not going - PAMT

[ In Reply To ..]
to try to even deal with that with all the ESLs I have so if that is the case I will be moving on from my account. They are hard to understand now and if the sound is poor quality it will be impossible to do their dictation.

It depends on dictator/source - Nuance MT

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It is not the Epic software in itself that causes the audio quality, it is the feature that allows users to dictate through their computer microphone. I guess some of the dictators have bad microphones or do not know how to use them properly. Some of the audio quality is really bad. I turn the volume all the way up and can barely hear the dictator and there is so much static it can be impossible to understand what they are saying. This is on more than 1 account that I work on that uses Epic. I have talked to my manager about it, who says she has talked to one of the facilities and they are holding the dictators responsible for their own sound quality and are unwilling to do anything about it. Meanwhile, here I sit with these horrid dictations all day long. You could give it a shot and see how the sound quality is and then move on if it is bad. Not all of the dictator's sound quality is bad, so you might get lucky. I just haven't gotten lucky with it on my accounts.

I agree. I work in Epic. - midwestmt

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Fortunately I do not work for a service but for a hospital outpatient clinic. When Epic was first implemented, the docs would try to use the microphone built into the computer to dictate and you could barely hear them (or not at all). So we had to get hand-held microphones for all the dictation stations. Again, I say I am fortunate in that if there is ever a problem with the audio, we are allowed to complain, to leave blanks, to send notes, and to even go to the docs themselves to tell them there is a problem and what to do to make it better. Most comply; a few are repeat offenders, but they get blanks as a result (with no penalty to us).

Link to article on Nuance forum you guys should read - see msg

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The thread is called "ADHI calling for equitable compensation."

This is a pretty good article that talks about future compensation for MTs with regards to some of the changes taking place. The article clearly outlines our knowledge and skills will be needed in the future with the implementation of the affordable health care act and changes in technology. I think its a must read.

What link? - WhereIsIt

[ In Reply To ..]
There was no link included in your message.

So true, and. . . - T. J.

[ In Reply To ..]
. . for further clarification, George W. is the one who recommended this with a goal of having this implemented by 2014 (I think) as a way to cut down on errors and improve health care costs, but Obama agreed with him and kept it in the plan. I remember back in the summer of 2008 right after the market tanked and I heard this I figured this was going to come back and bite me in the butt. I started redoubling my efforts in my other career in travel to take up the slack that I knew the EMR systems were going to create, but unfortunately I'm not quite where I wanted to be yet and I have now lost three accounts in the last year---two to EMR and one to an India/EMR combo. I'm also 57 and wondering what the hell I'm going to do.

Which type of transcription seems to get done away with first on EMR. nm - MTtoo

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nm

going to EMR - MTidiot

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I asked a friend who works at a large local healthcare facility how many transcriptionists they had on staff now. I thought maybe working inhouse may be a better option for me at this point. Only 6 MTs. They had about triple that a few years ago just inhouse and had more working remotely. They went to a point and click system for EMR. Some of the doctors didn't like it and can choose not to use it for now, but those docs are charged a "transcription fee" by the facility.

They already tried outsourcing to India and went back to doing their own transcription because the quality was so poor.

It's always going to come down to how they can do more by paying less and who cares if it makes a skilled profession obselete. If robots could transcribe, they would have practically free labor. Oh wait, they are already doing that. It's called VR. Been there, done that and failed miserably.

verbatim transcription - CTMT

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I did verbatim transcription for a week and quit. It was awful, the ums, and all the stupid things you have to type. It took forever too.

verbatim transcription - PR

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Does anyone think there will still be a role for traditional medical transcription in the future. Maybe this point-and-click software will bomb because it's not as detailed and maybe not as accurate, especially with some of the docs entering the information. For those of you MTs that may have lost your jobs to the above, what direction are you going as far as work--medical editing? I very much appreciate your comments and opinions.

a bomb - anon

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The docs entering it in does make the info inaccurate or incomplete. Heard some complaints about that.

I see the writing on the wall for this profession. There will always be a need for a human to do some cleaning up and editing, but I don't think there will be enough work to go around for all of us in the future.

I'm in my mid 30s, and it has hit me that I will HAVE to switch professions. No way can I retire doing this. I looked into coding. After doing some research in my area, I found out that there are a few coding jobs but practically no demand for it here. The hospitals here only pay coders about 10 bucks an hour, not much more than a medical records clerk, so that's out unless I ever look to relocate.

I've read posts on here about how good the pay is for coders. But it depends on where you live. I suggest anyone thinking of this do some real inquiring where they live before they pull the trigger on that decision.

What field can we train in and "know" we'll easily enter the workforce and make a decent salary like we could being MTs years ago? I'm at a loss on that one.

guess I don't understand about verbatim transcription - can you elaborate

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why would you have to type in all the hems and haws? and why is this the OP's only other option?

What she's referring to is General transcription (not medical). - It can be verbatim or cleaned up, depends on accou

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x

oh I see - thanks

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wouldn't want to do that, I don't think. I was once asked to transcribe some meetings about Medicaid. I didn't like it.

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