10 Things You Need to Know About the
Medical Transcription Business
The Medical Transcription business is one of the fastest growing businesses in the world. In the United States alone, the MT business is estimated to be worth up to $25 billion a year, growing by about 15% annually. The MT business is also viewed as very flexible, lucrative, and friendly to small businesses by entrepreneurs.
Read on to learn more about the ins and outs of the MT business.
1. Office or Home-Based?
With today’s rapidly advancing technology, businesses are starting to move out from the four walls of a desk cubicle and out in the open world. The MT business is one such business. The flexibility of the MT business allows owners and practitioners an option to choose between an office desk and a home-based office. Having a home-based office allows manager and employees to have the power to manage their own working hours and enabling one to manage work as he or she deems fit. You will also have a quicker, cheaper setup in creating your business, and needing less government paperwork to establish your home-based location.
On the other hand, having an office-based location for your MT business will make it easier for you to manage your employees and in turn, their output. Having a base of operations will make business transactions run more smoothly and efficiently. It also makes your business look more professional to clients, especially as your business expands. An office-based business can be seen as an eventuality, especially if the number of your employees increase and your business expands. In the end, the physical setup of your MT business depends on the needs and the capabilities of you and your team. Be realistic about what you can and cannot handle, and work on it from there. Either way, you’ll need a good management system to keep your employees happy without compromising your business.
2. Working Hours
One reality of being in the MT business is the time difference between the clients and the MT team. Fortunately, it will not be an impossible task to find staff who will be willing to accommodate the clients’ working hours, even if located in another time zone. Keep in mind that some clients may require you to follow a very brief turnover deadline. This usually means that the client will require you to process documents within 1 working day upon receiving the documents. Sometimes, the documents may be required to be done in as less as 4 working hours. If your office is based in a different time zone, this might mean staying up and working during your regular sleeping hours.
3. Professional Staffing
Medical transcriptionists, call center agents and medical staff who will be part of your staff are all professionals who have earned their degree. They are also required to have training in their chosen professions and familiarity with technical terminology that they will use in the MT business.
Knowledge and familiarity with medical terminologies will be a requirement for medical transcriptionists and MT staff. A broad background and understanding of the medical terms is needed, because there’s no time to look through the medical dictionary when it comes to medical transcription.
MT businesses value medical transcriptionists who are fast and accurate in their work. Medical transcriptionists must have a discerning ear and a keen eye when transcribing and processing documents. In this environment, time is of the essence, but accuracy is mandatory. Fortunately, MT software has been developed in assisting the medical transcriptionist’s work. They come in the form of MT templates, saved formats, macros, and other shortcuts that will make the work easier for the MT staff and ultimately, their clients.
4. Sourcing for Staff
Processing documents in the MT business usually goes through three groups of people: The transcriptionists, the editors and the quality assurance personnel. The transcriptionist process the documents initially, while the editors check grammar and spelling and finally, quality assurance personnel look over the finished documents before sending them back to the clients. These steps can be done by a single person, but its usually handled by multiple people.
The World Wide Web has made it easier for people with similar interests to connect to each other in a very real way outside the confines of a computer. This accessibility also extends to connecting professionals together. Once you’ve established yourself as part of the MT business, touching base with other members of the profession through online communities, student websites and MT online forums should be relatively easy and pain free.
5. Signing Up Clients
You may find signing up clients a bit more challenging than networking for transcriptionists. Having a clear idea of how your MT business offers better service than your competition is a good start, especially if you can relay this to your potential clients. Make sure that you observe the ethical standards in getting clients so that no other MT would complain about you stealing clients. Pricing your services is also crucial when starting a MT business. Learn about how to set rates.
If you’re new in the business, it’s usually best not to charge a high fee. Maintain the fee in a reasonable range. It’s also wiser to try and get as many client leads as you can get. The more leads you have, the better chance of signing more of them up. Once you’ve found a client, don’t be surprised if your client doesn’t sign up in months or even years. The many technicalities of signing up is the explanation for the time delay, but don’t worry: Once a contract has been closed and a client has signed up, you can expect the client to be very loyal, especially with the good and reliable service that you can provide.
6. Networking for Clients
Signing up clients can take a substantial amount of time, so it’s important to always be seeking out different clients. You can network either from home by having a contact abroad or by going to where the hospitals are. Establishing partnerships with US hospitals, health center's and health professionals in the business are your best way of ensuring your business always has clients to cater to, all the time.
Affiliating yourself by subcontracting to an established MT company is an alternative that you may want to explore. If you are a relatively small business and have yet to start partnerships yourselves, subcontracting is usually a good first step to make sure your business has its feet on solid ground. If subcontracting is the course you want to take, you can find lists of MT companies listed in various MT organizations’ websites.
7. Workflow Software
The growing demand for medical transcriptionists coupled with an increasing number in your workforce can put a strain in the operation of your MT business. Even a group of three can find themselves having problems sorting out all the data and documents coming in and out. Establishing a more orderly system using software specially designed for MT will make your business more efficient and ensuring that client demands are fulfilled.
It’s always best to have a software system in your business right from the start. This way, you can start training a smaller group of employees who, in turn, can train future employees. Make sure that the software you choose to use is a reputable Transcription Application Service Provider (TASP) that specialize in processing MT documents.
8. Internet Connectivity
Due to the nature of the MT business, it’s imperative that client and medical transcriptionists be connected all the time, 24/7. MT businesses are recommended to have a backup INTERNET service provider other than their primary one, to ensure that they are not cut off from their clients across the state, or on the other side of the world. Having a reliable INTERNET service provider spells the difference between a reliable
MT business and an unreliable one. Making sure that you are always there for your client is imperative in keeping their loyalty.
9. Compensation
When it comes to compensation, you have the choice of paying your employees on a monthly basis or based on their output. Let’s discuss each option and their pros and cons
Monthly Basis
Pros: The employee has a guaranteed monthly sum, ensuring them that they have a stable source of income regardless of the work that comes in.
Cons: A monthly salary means that regardless of their output, each employee will receive the same amount. This may not motivate employees to give their best in their output, since they will receive the same compensation regardless of quality. This may also be problematic for the business owner, as they will still have to pay their employees the same sum even if business is slow.
Production Pay Basis
Pros: An output-based salary is a great motivation for employees to give their best in their output, ensuring high quality work. The business owners will also have an easier time computing their accounts, as each work input has a corresponding sum for each employee. Tracking software has to accurately account for each individual output.
Cons: Employees will have no stable source of income on lean months when there are little documents to be processed. You can also use a mixed-method approach to compensating your employees.
You can guarantee them a minimum amount of salary with an additional amount of compensation, depending on the additional workload that comes in.
10. Evaluating Medical Transcriptionists
Every business needs a system that can accurately pinpoint each employee’s strengths, weaknesses and areas of improvement. Here are the qualities that you should look for when evaluating your company’s medical transcriptionists:
Language Skills. Does your employee have excellent written and verbal language skills? Correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, language comprehension and not to mention excellent attention to
detail are all desirable qualities to be looked for in a medical transcriptionist.
Willingness to Learn. Does your employee show a willingness to learn the wide range of medical terms that they encounter in their work? How quick do they learn and remember these terms?
Work Environment. Is the employee comfortable working in the work environment of a medical transcriptionist? Remember that medical transcription is usually done alone, with very little face-to-face
human interaction. Does your employee enjoy working independently, with task-based duties paired with analytical problems?
Typing Skills. Does your employee type quickly? The ideal typing skill for a medical transcriptionist is 75 words per minute, although 45 words per minute is still an acceptable speed.
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These are just some of the things you need to know about starting and running an MT business. Weigh your options carefully, and learn as much as you can as you go. The medical transcription business is a $20 billion business, racking up more earnings and clients annually. With patience, willingness to learn, willingness to adapt and a little bit of luck, you’ll be on your way to success. Go for it!
