Substandard work affects RP's medical transcription industry — Go

Although there is a huge potential for the Philippines to get a bigger chunk of US$ 25 billion medical transcription market in the United States, the industry currently is in a "bloody" situation, because of misinformed investors that provide substandard medical transcription quality.

Something has to be done with the quality of medical transcription from the Philippines, if not, the country stands to lose this dollar-earning industry, said International School for Medical Transcription (ISMT) president Ma. Lourdes S. Go.

She mentioned that the growth of "mom and pop" medical transcription companies in the Philippines has become an issue as some of them are doing unimpressive jobs that affects the Philippines' name, as the second largest medical transcription outsourcer, next to India.

Medical Transcription (MT) outsourcing service is the process of converting voice dictation (typically either cassette or digital forms) into a permanent written record utilizing word processing equipment and software.

This service developed after the United States government amended the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) under the administration of US President (then) Bill Clinton in 1996.

This law ensures the continuity of healthcare coverage for individuals changing jobs and includes a provision that impacts on the management of health information, seeks to simplify the administration of health care insurance, and also aims to combat waste, fraud and abuse in health insurance and healthcare

The Philippines is still getting about one percent of the growing US$25 billion medical transcription jobs in the U.S. per year, because the country has not yet to established a good name in terms of providing quality jobs in transcription, Go said in a press conference held recently.

ISMT is the first MT school in Cebu established in 2003. Now, it has become a training arm of its partner firm, Northern TranscriptionWorks Inc. (NTWI) that has a total of 120 seats in its Osmeña Boulevard facility.

Instead of accepting interested "paying" enrollees to learn MT works, Go said ISMT is offering its three-month training for free to supply the manpower needs of NTWI.

"We have become very strict in accepting our enrollees to keep the high standard of MT works. It is not an easy job, as it needs analytical sharpness, and wide paramedical background," she added.

This service largely needs manpower that have good grasp in physiology and anatomy, aside from expertise in good medical (word) spelling and grammar skills.

Thus, the school is now seeking potential MTs, through a scholarship program, which entire training cost of about P75,000 will be shouldered by NTWI.

Many paramedical graduates are beginning to discover a lucrative career in medical transcription, not abroad, but in Cebu. Depending on their skills and training, these professionals can earn as much as P1,500 a day.

However, she warned that quality of Filipino MT jobs must carefully be monitored, if not clients' impression of the Philippine MTs may deteriorate.

India is now the number one country outsourcer of MT jobs from the US. She said the Philippine could get the number one position if more and more Filipinos will enter in this kind of outsourcing job with emphasis on quality delivery.

Ireland is coming in very fast, in accepting MT jobs from the US, Go said.

If the quality of MT jobs will be addressed, the Philippines still has an inherent edge over other countries, because of Filipinos' proficiency in English language, the abundant supply of competent paramedical graduates at the rate of around 30,000 new medical professional a year, and the Filipinos' known trait of adaptability and industriousness.

With already around US$40 million worth of MT services outsourced by the US to 20 Philippine companies today, there is a very high probability for the MT business to follow the success of the call center industry if the market is given attention.

ISMT adopts curriculum that meets international standard in MT education and reinforced by methods designed to address the Filipino students' particular academic orientation and distinct way of learning.

It has gained support from the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT) in the development of the school's course curriculum, which has also been approved by the Philippines' Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).