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

What the public knows.... - sz

Posted: Dec 12, 2009

I completely agree that the public needs to be informed of where their medical records are going. But do you know that in my 10 years of MTing, most people I have encountered, asking what I do for a living, are not even aware of what the medical record is? I've had to explain what it is more times than not. They have no idea that there are reports being made for every doctor visit or procedure they undergo. I guess they believe that all that is recorded is what is chicken-scratched by the doctor in their "chart" and the occasional lab report added to it is all that is done as far as their records are concerned. This, I believe, is half the problem as far as the lack of public outrage regarding offshoring. The public needs to be made aware of what the actual medical record is first, and then hit them with the offshoring bombshell. I've told them if nothing else, the next time they visit their doctor, to request that their medical records stay in the U.S. Put in in writing to the doctor if necessary. I have also started circulating emails to everyone I know informing them of all of this, asking them to forward this to everyone they know, etc. We all need to start talking, and not just on these MT boards, because lets face it, the general public doesn't read the MT boards.

Excellent post - Tina

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and I couldn't agree more!

I fantasize about taking a full-page out in every - kiki

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major newspaper with the title, "My medical record information is in India--Do you know where YOURS is?"

Having that the title of a news TV show would be a double fantasy........

Having it on Oprah would be beyond belief........

I think there's a HUGE story in this whole situation -SM - Zircon

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for an investigative reporter who was willing to invest some time and footwork in their research and presentation. I contacted one once at a local TV station, but they wanted a fast story with easy-to-interview people, not one that would take months of tracking down MTs, who are sitting invisibly at home, and unwilling to speak out for fear of losing their jobs.

I think that little obstacle can be overcome, but the story would not be an overnight production. It would take months to put together in such a way that it was ready for prime-time.

I think 60 Minutes would do a bang-up job of getting the word out. It could also be done as part of a series on the not-so-honest world of healthcare in the U.S. Most of the public thinks the healthcare industry is squeaky-clean, and that their doctors are gods.

Heh-heh.... if they only knew!

LET'S CALL DATELINE OR 60 MINUTES!!! - old mter

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What do you think?

I think the whole offshoring subject would be a very timely - one for them right now, with so many

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Americans either looking for work, or underpaid because their jobs can be done by foreigners.

chicken scratch - ggmt

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I have copies of my medical reports from my ob/gyn and they are all chicken scratch handwritten pages. Honestly, it's about 50 pages of handwriting, difficult to decipher. There are a few printouts from lab tests, otherwise, no MT got anywhere near my reports.

I've been telling people about the outsourcing of medical records and making sure they know just how dangerous it could be for them, but many people tell me that they've seen their records and those, too, are handwritten. They don't believe me about outsourcing or, at the least, don't care.

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