In the Western Countries Medical Transcription is extremely essential. This is because of the growing demand of the soft copy record of patients. In a hospital, keeping a lot of medical transcriptionist would not only be difficult, but it would be costly as well.

While there is an excellent knowledge pool available outside the Western Countries, the economists have felt that capturing these cheap resources would be beneficial for their homeland, especially the West. This is the reason why the qualified and well equipped cheap South East Asian resources are utilized by the Western Countries. They save cost and on the other hand the resources are extremely well educated in order to meet the requirement.

In the United States the amount which is earned by the process of Medical Transcription outsourcing is approximately US $10 to $25 billion annually. The figure is gradually going up and is expected to be around 15 percent more in the next year. Delving deep into the reason of outsourcing, one can site the cheap labor in Asian countries compared to the costly labor in the Western world.

Controversies regarding the outsourcing process

• Job Loss: It has been a common observation that US labors are losing their jobs since they require higher rates than their counterpart Asian transcriptionists.

• Less in Quality: Another possible reason against outsourcing is that people who work from their home offices are sometimes less qualified than people who are there actually in United States. The workers who outsource their work may not have the required standard; since they stay at a far away distance there will be less scope for correction and amendment.

• Lack of Accuracy: The lack of accuracy in transcription may cause serious disaster since there may be an error in patients’ diagnosis. This may create a serious havoc and wrong diagnosis may even result in the death of the patient. Therefore, outsourcing medical transcription is not accepted by some political wings of the United States.

The job of a medical transcriptionist is to convert the patient’s medical records into electronic format, which can be stored in the soft copy of the computer rather than the hand written hard copy. He/ she is required to describe the electronic equipment which are utilized in performing medical transcription.

Previously the medical transcriptionist was also called a Medical Language Specialist or Health Information Management (HIM) paraprofessional.

Degree in Medical Transcription can be obtained in a number of ways. You can rely on traditional schooling, certificate or diploma programs, distance learning, and/or on-the-job training. Today, the diploma and the degree courses in Medical Transcription can be obtained by doing course of18 months to 2 years.

People who want to do a course in Medical Transcription should have a good command over the few aspects mentioned below:

• Medical terminology and editing
• MT ability to listen and type simultaneously
• Utilization of playback controls on the transcriber (machine)
• Foot pedal to play and adjust dictations preserving a steady rhythm of execution.

By just getting a certificate, one cannot become a medical transcriptionist. In order to become a successful Medical Transcriptionist, one has to clear a practical examination. Then only one becomes a Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT).

The degree is awarded by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI). It had formerly been an American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT).

It is not important whether one has done Medical Transcription Degree from an online course, community college, high school night course, or on-the-job training in a doctor’s office or hospital; it is always essential that the medical transcriptionist is knowledgeable and qualified. Skilled medical transcriptionists are extremely valuable in the market.