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

Offshore transcription stories wanted- medical malpractice cases related to offshore transcription m - eze

Posted: Oct 15, 2009

A legal contact was inquiring about the connection of medical mistakes related to off-shored transcription mistakes. I have told him to review these boards and hopefully he will benefit from the information here.

While he did not discuss the exact case, I think that he will be able to use the off-shore transcription issue to his client's benefit or at least highlight that the provider in question does not have as rigorous control on processing records as other providers have. I told him that he might be on the crest of a potential legal windfall as the legal profession is always looking for an angle to pursue (unforetunately).

If anyone would like to share blatant examples of offshore medical transcription mistakes (of course removing specific information related to privacy concerns) please provide examples here so that I can forward them to my contact.

Thank you in advance for your stories.

shaky ground - cj

[ In Reply To ..]
Are you aware of what actually constitutes a HIPAA violation? It is just not personal info such as name, age, DOB, gender,etc., but ANY information which could potentially identify a patient. A diagnosis or condition and treatment falls within that realm. if someone sends you a story about a patient with a given diagnosis, given treatment, given location, any or all of this info is a HIPAA violation. Be careful of what you ask for. You might get more than you bargained for. Any reputable attorney should know this, and any health care professional should know this, too. This is an ethical violation you are asking people to commit as well as a legal one.

Bad Transcription Stories - eze

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you for pointing out that concern but I was and am not asking for any information that would violate HIPAA. As it is, there is enough HIPAA level information offshored in countries which have cultures of differing moral/ethical contexts than that of the United States.

What I am asking for are blatant examples of mistakes such as:

voice recording: pulmonary aspiration

offshore transcription ~translation~: pulmonary aspirin

Thank you.

however... - cj

[ In Reply To ..]
just providing an example such as yours would be of no use at all in a legal argument as there is no proof. Your contact cannot use it without proof, and logically, how will the proof be provided without citing the source of the error, which would then violate the privacy of the patient's information? Off to work now.

CJ is right, this is not something MT will want to do - MTsoLong

[ In Reply To ..]
MTs NEVER relate "stories" about the reports they transcribe. It is an unspoken code of ethics among us. If you could get ANY information, it would be of no use in this case you speak of, as it is only hearsay.

Thanks for your help. - eze

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you again for your help. I am coming to this from an economic view and from the financial world. I did not consider the issue you mentioned.

I would suggest that you contact your elected representatives with your name and full information about the mistakes made by offshore transcription services. Until someone in your industry is willing to put their names and faces on the problem, the industry will hide behind your ethics, HIPAA, and patient confidentiality and continue to offshore your employment.

I will let my contact in the legal business know that he needs to parse specific issues from this and similar boards without actual examples.

Thank you.

Reply to thanks for your help - eze - travelinMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Not to sound snarky but....

"I would suggest that you contact your elected representatives with your name and full information about the mistakes made by offshore transcription services. Until someone in your industry is willing to put their names and faces on the problem, the industry will hide behind your ethics, HIPAA, and patient confidentiality and continue to offshore your employment."

Obviously you do not know a lot about what you are talking about. Do really think we are all a bunch of idiots that can't figure out what needs to be done? We have been signing petitions, sending letters, calling our representatives, writing to the white house for a long time now. What you are suggesting is nothing that hasn't been done before by the people who work with this problem every day.

Your last post telling us what WE need to do and that nothing is going to happen until WE do was a little over the top IMHO.

Thanks for your advice to us anyway.

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