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

in the health informatics course I am taking, - xmt

Posted: Feb 22, 2013

I am learning that this most complicated business of healthcare, in going tech, is trying to basically 'get rid of humans' (what a lecturer actually said) involved in the process of the EHR. he talked about free text being part of mistakes and cost, and to me that means probably reducing or eliminating altogether dictation and rather having templates that a provider will just fill in or check off - or have someone do it, but not an MT.

this is just my opinion now, but think about it. the EHR is about having 1 record sitting in the 'cloud' that anyone in the health field can access. why would you need dictation at all for history, etc?

it is fascinating to learn the technology, but also frightening to wonder how we will survive our own significance. India won't matter, either. those people will probably all lose their jobs as well, or else as there is already reference to, come after coding. even if not all coding goes overseas, it will probably eat away at the pay scale and hours, etc like MT, yes? hopefully that will take years because that is what am learning now. I only need 12 more years before I retire (unless it is like a dangling carrot now, and every time I get close, the age reqm will go up).

are service jobs all that will be left for young people, unless you are lucky enough to be born rich? service jobs are not too bad when you are young, but when you are getting old and on medications and can't walk too well or bend, etc., what else is there to do?

sorry, feeling a bit cynical today. trying to keep 'up' but it is getting harder.

supposed to be 'insignificance' - xmt

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tried editing the post a couple of times but I don't see the change.

have to say, this is nothing new to us. Been dealing - with situation for number of years now. NM

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My thoughts on this - Informaticist

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You are taking health informatics, your instructor is a little overblown, and you're hearing that one purpose to an EHR is to blah, blah, blah. And, now, you're worried about where all the jobs will go.

One of the purposes of an EHR *is* to eliminate errors by providing a more consistent method of documentation. Another purpose is to provide a means of collecting data through standardized terminology.

You're worried that all those dictation/transcription jobs will be lost. You're worried about coding being lost.

This is like someone who plows fields with a pointed stick worrying that the tractor is going to eliminate jobs. Well, it is, but it is also going to create other jobs driving tractors, making tractor, designing tractors, and selling tractors.

Can you not see that? You are taking an informatics course! For what? So you can turn around and go right back to your old, dead job? Aren't you in school so you can learn and develop? So you can get a new and better job?

Instead of focusing on jobs that might be eliminated, why can't you focus on new jobs that are being developed? What is keeping you from seeing yourself as the person who designs those templates? What is keeping you from seeing yourself as the person who teaches doctors about the standardized terminology. What is keeping you from providing technical support for new technologies? Programming new technologies, selling them, maintaining them? What is keeping you from seeing yourself in a meaningful role in health informatics?

Instead you just keep on focusing on how unhappy you are at losing MT.

As for coding, it isn't going away that soon. And it isn't JUST sitting in a chair copying codes into a computer. It's far more than that. There are loads of coding-related jobs that are not going to be replaced by computers.

I used to be an MT. I learned to code, did that for a few years, and moved on. Now I'm an informaticist. I'm doing those jobs you can't even see yet.

Stop feeling cynical. There is absolutely no reason for it. I can't imagine why you would want to keep on with a job that pays as poorly as MT does today, and I can't imagine why you would not actively seek out one of the jobs being created today in informatics.

I'm looking at getting into coding... - StillAnMT

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Working as an MT, looking at taking a coding course at a local community college. Would you say this is a good field to get into? It seems that there are jobs aplenty out there for coding, but all the negative talk is starting to make me wonder if I'm making a good choice. I don't want to end up going down the same bad path I am as an MT. I don't know anything about informatics. Just the word alone seems technical. Can you provide me some details on what it is you do in your profession?

What 'negative talk'? You mean from here? - Coder

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Yes, coding is a great field. It is a good field in itself, it contains MANY different types of jobs, AND it leads to other things. It isn't a dead-end. I don't think you can go wrong by starting with coding as a job right away and a springboard to future opportunities.

All WHAT 'negative talk'? Talk you see here? That talk is representative of the experiences and fears that MTs here have. It reflects their unfortunate experience with the MT industry. It also seems to be talk perpetrated by just a few people who have a negative interest in discouraging others from what could be a worthwile career move.

Certainly, few coders have a negative view of their career field. The paranoid fears of computerization and offshoring that plague the MTs here are not things that coders focus on. Those coders aren't being ostriches with their heads in the sand, either. We just know better. We see more to the career field than you do.

In short, coding is not just the job you think will be offshored. It is a lot more than that. It's a part of the larger field of health information administration. HIA is huge. You can have a good career in coding now, then move into higher level jobs related to coding or even into other areas of HIA like informatics, privacy, security, and records.

Coding is a good start. You can benefit from not listening to negativity here, devoting your best efforts to your course, getting solid certifications, and applying yourself to your new career.

If *I* can do it, so can you. Lots of other coders here already did that, too.

Informatics involves the computer systems behind electronic records. It is where most of HIA is moving. HIA folks will either use electronic systems or work to develop, maintain, or train people to use them.

Parts of it are technical, but no more so than using Microsoft Word and a PC. If your coding course doesn't contain information about informatics as it should, find out about it on your own. Western Governors University in Utah has a completely online RHIA program in health informatics. If you want to advance from coding, that's probably the best course to take. It's just about the only course to take.

Informatics and jobs - Carol

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Most of us got into MT for a reason or reasons that we loved about the job. Back in the day it was not about sitting at home with our kids on our laps in our jammies posing for ads for MT schools. I personally loved the fact I got to sit in a corner and do my work uninterrupted, and doing research as needed, all the while making good money. That was 20 years ago. Now show me a job in your informatics that can give me the same with as good a pay.

OK, here's a job - Informaticist

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I love my job, too. It lets me sit in a nice office and do my work uniterrupted, doing research as needed. I perform a wide range of duties from developing documentation templates to setting up workload recording systems. That involves what I know from MT and coding, along with other material about health information and informatics. I deal with computer systems and software, with clinical providers, and with people in administration, but mostly I work alone in my nice office.

Don't know if you'll think the pay is as good as you made in MT, but I make more than 65K with 35% additional in benefits.

The job can be performed remotely, but I happen to like being on-site and wearing nice suits to work.

Eliminating MT - Carol

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Just went to the doctor yesterday, they have scribes there to type and print out the doctor's orders to patients and the doc is sending prescriptions over her little notepad. Very nice. How much you think those scribes are getting?

scribes - in my city

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This is my experience looking for scribe work: One hospital in town uses scribes. The HR dept knew nothing about it. It was a program started in the ER by the ER docs, and the jobs were going to children of the doctors or friends of the doctors' children who were pre-med at the university. I did not get the job. I have applied for jobs as a scribe instructor (I do have a bachelor's and have taught MT and med term at a 2-year branch of a 4-year university) and never heard back. I get job alerts for "scribe" and "medical scribe" but nothing nearby. Seems that there are a lot of jobs in Indiana and Texas. I have also noticed ophthalmology tech and medical assistant jobs are now being tied to scribe jobs, i.e., part of your day will be spent doing both. You never know, it might be worth it to keep on the look out. As for salary, since every business is playing the how-low-will-you-go game, except for execs, it's hard to say.

$10-12 in the NYC area.NM - alice

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.

how could you not already know that? - how much are you paying for that class?

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you could have learned all that right here for free.

Something to keep in minc -- - About college classes

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Informatics is a new field. Most health information technology instructors, which is undoubtedly what yours is, do not work in informatics. They usually have no education in it. They often have no work experience, minimal work experience, or worked once years and years ago. They get jobs teaching in college HIT programs because they are RHITs or RHIAs, not because they are experts in what they are teaching.

Consequently, what they tell you can be a lot of misinformation. When I took informatics at one university, the instructor said she "didn't believe in" electronic records. Said they didn't work. She was just some RHIA who worked at some local hospital with what passed for their electronic records. Everything she said was based on her limited experience with that limited system. Most of it was either wrong or silly.

For instance, one thing she said was that electrnoic recortds (like hers) didn't work because it was too time-consuming to scan all the documents into it. Paper records were easier. She had no knowledge at all of any type of real EHR . . . she was just gabbling on about the half-baked system her hospital used.

I doubt if your instructor has a degree in informatics at all, much less an advanced degree. Just take what he or she says with a grain of salt. There is some truth in it, but not much. It's just ignorant blabbling.

this lecturer was actually the creator and CEO of a (top) company that develops EHRs, etc. - xmt

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so I assume he knew something about what he was talking about... in one particular hospital where the new HIE has already started, he boasted only 75 people were needed rather than the 100s they used to need. it doesn't take a genius to see all the jobs that have been eliminated in healthcare. just visit a hospital some time. perhaps it is only the state I live in, but we have high unemployment and very few living-wage jobs, unless you have a degree, and then mostly for tech. it is not exactly feasible for everyone to just run out and get a degree - that is naive.

this is certainly an exciting field now, especially with all the new healthcare laws coming into play; but, also very confusing from what I am reading. the biggest problem seems to be security, and switching from a complex adaptive system, to being federally regulated. in my opinion, changing the incentives is going to improve care dramatically, but as with any change, there will be those of us left behind.

I was thinking about the steel mills and how those workers must have felt when their jobs were gone. makes me try to be more compassionate for others for sure.

thank you for the words of encouragement, though, and the information.

You will be left behind only if . . . - sm

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"Those of us left behind"????

You will be left behind only if you choose that outcome.

There is no reason you can't prepare yourself for change. Everything changes, everything grows. I think it's important to recognize and accept that.

you obviously are not in the same situation - xmt

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and are missing the point. people have the right to 'grieve' a profession they loved and miss, and there are many who gave their all - more than 100% - and (for myself and many others) for over a quarter of a century.

I am glad things are easier for you, that is great. for me, not so much. as I already mentioned, college, retraining, etc. is not as easy for me, or affordable.

yes, those left behind. there are many, many of us in this country who have been 'displaced' whether due to technology or the economy, and may I add getting a job over 55 is nearly impossible where I live unless you have a college education. glad it's easy for you. I really am, but my opinion is not going to change. I miss MT, and because it was a specific skill, a skill no longer needed, it is very difficult to find work other than working at Walmart where I live, and living in poverty, or even in a doctor's office again below the living wage AND with no benefits at all and only part time.

most jobs I see are only 'temporary' anyway no matter what field you are in (meaning maybe 5 years before you get axed for whatever reasons) even with a college degree. you can't expect to stay in a job for too long anymore, that is what I am being told by unemp counselors, college professors, etc.

so if you are healthy, still young enough, and have some money, great for you. there are those of us who don't, and we struggle every day and get frustrated and we hurt.

there is a fine line between giving advice, and being harsh and dis-compassionate. we do know the difference.

Correct, I'm not in that same situation . . . - ANYMORE

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You're correct that I'm not in the same situation. I WAS, but I got out. You can, too. Anyone can.

Yes, people have a right to grieve a profession they loved and miss. However, grieving does not mean denial of the need to move on. When loved ones die, we can't refuse to go on living. It's the same with a job.

Saying that college and retraining is not as easy for you or affordable is not necessarily sound. You can learn to code on your own if you want to. You can learn outpatient coding and get certified in just a few months for about $1800 through the AAPC, or learn both inpatient and outpatient coding and get both certifications in about a year while working through Andrews for $3800. They even have a no-interest payment plan. From there, you can get a job and continue on in school. Employers often pay for this.

I'm sure of this because I did it. I know many other MTs who did the same thing.

If you believe that getting a job over 55 is nearly impossible unless you have a college education, you might be right, but I doubt it. That sounds like another misperception like the need to become frozen in grief and that changing careers is financially prohibitive.

It's also incorrect that MT is a "specific skill." You are not recognizing that what you know will help in other health careers, particularly in health information administration fields. It is DIRECTLY applicable. The main skill is actually the knowledge of health care, the content of the medical record, and the knowledge of what medical reports are saying. THAT is what will help you in a new job. THAT is incredibly valuable knowledge.

Yes, everyone is correct that you can no longer expect to stay in a job for a lifetime. So what? Who wants to stay in the same job for 40 years? Technology changes rapidly now. Nearly everyone now expects to keep learning and moving on.

I'm not giving advice. I'm pointing out what I see in your posts and telling all the readers here what the reality is.

You think I'm harsh because I'm pointing out that you can get out of your no-job situation and how to do it? Telling you that there is hope? Telling you about the possibilities and routes to take?

One of my main reasons for posting is to help everyone see that there is an alternative available to them.

Again, people are getting out of MT whether they are young or older. You'll never know if it's possible unless you try. It does not have to be expensive or impossible.

you are rude - xmt

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and I am making a complaint about this post.

Dont think it's rude. - Jenisue74

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I think the other person was just trying to show you--and all of us-- some ways to help your situation. I'm stuck in the same rut as all of you but working hard on a business of my own completely out of this field so that I can at least supplement this MT job on a part-time basis or hopefully eventually run my business full time and leave MT altogether--before it leaves me first! Don't be too quick to judge folks on here. Things are often taken the wrong way when they are written but if you guys had been talking face to face it would've probably just been like a friend offering helpful advice.

I owe you an apology, - xmt

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maybe I was reading your posts the wrong way so I am sorry to have gotten upset at you.

it is just a terrible thing to not have a job at the moment, as that was always such a source of pride for me as someone who never could afford college. back 22 years ago I lost my clerk job in the hospital, and took advantage of the work training program for medical transcription - went to school for 6 months and was hired back at the same hospital as a Medical Transcriptionist, and had excelled at it for all these years, with no lapses in employment in all that time. great job for someone who had a horrible young life but who pulled herself up and made something of herself.

to be sitting here right now on unemp, at my age, back where I started is very difficult to accept. but I am not sitting here not doing anything.

I have finally gotten approved for a re-training grant but had to really push for it as I had made "too much money" for grants etc as an MT in the last year. meantime, I took a free course for HI and although these are exciting times, do not see a place to fit in there, either. I don't have a mathematical degree or tech background. it is very confusing.

I do not want to give the impression I am not doing anything or trying because it is the farthest from the truth; only as an MT I was told time and time again not to worry, we would always be needed, the profession would never go away. right on this board years ago there were people posting about how MT would never be gone and how anyone complaining should just be quiet and not worry about it.

You do not need a math degree for HI - sm

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You do not need a math degree for HI! You don't need a tech background for all jobs in HI, either. Some of the, yes, but not all.

There are a lot of different jobs in health information administration that you could do without training or minimal training.

I would suggest that you do 2 things. First, get more information online about what you can do in health information or in whatever your retraining is for. Find accurate information so that you are not focusing on the misinformation and inaccurate beliefs that are frustrating you.

Second, stop focusing on how you were told as an MT not to worry. It is obvious that that was not good advice. You can't do anything about that now. Perseverating on it does nothing except make you miserable. Chalk it up to experience and move on.

The sooner you are focused on a new career and a brighter, hopeful future, the better off you will be.

As for not being able to afford college, there are ways to achieve that goal if you want to do so. One absolutely FREE way is through the online MOOCs that are now available on the internet. Massive Open Online Courses. They're taught by major universities and are excellent. One organization, Saylor, has the content of entire degree programs available online at your convenience, hassle-free. Getting an actual degree for it might be possible soon, but even without that it's the LEARNING that is important. If you fear college courses or feel you cannot afford them, MOOCs are an excellent way to go. See www.mooc-list.com.

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