Posted by Chad Sines on Fri, Mar 30, 2012 @ 01:44 PM
A bizarre trend keeps rearing its ugly head. Someone interested in medical transcription will call and during the course of the conversation will say “a friend of mine said that medical transcription is going away.” I chuckle a little and explain just how many requests for our graduates we have had in the last couple of months. I get someone who does not know the industry asking the question. It is a valid, responsible question for anyone considering a new career. Here is the head slapper. How many of us have read or heard a medical transcriptionist say “medical transcription is going away..there are no jobs..” How many of us have heard it multiple times this week?
Every time I hear someone say this I want to scream because every acute care transcription company knows this is utter…..had to pause to avoid a bad word…nonsense. Acute care transcription companies are looking for acute care medical transcriptionists in every nook and cranny they can find. My sister who left the industry many years ago just received a call regarding a resume she sent 5+ years ago. That is how desperate these companies are for acute care MTs. Not desperate as in they are desperate if they are asking my sister but desperate in the extent they are going to in order to find people. They are dredging their entire past databases of potential acute care transcription MTs.
As a school we have requests for more than 100 acute-care-trained MTs. As a production company WE WANT TO HIRE a good number of acute care MTs as well (if you are one let me know). We have requested resumes everywhere imaginable, through resume sites, through email blasts, forums, social media, etc. The vast majority of responses…clinic work MTs.
What people are not fully realizing is that CLINIC WORK medical transcription jobs are becoming more difficult as to acquire as a viable long-term plan. Depending on the type of clinic work accounts, much of the work is the first to go offshore or to 100% speech recognition. ACUTE CARE transcription should be a long-term goal for all because it remains in high demand. For some reason our industry and professional association has failed to emphasize this. People are finally beginning to realize that those 6-9 month courses did not prepare them for long-term success. We get tons of calls from MTs who are looking to step up their skill set so they will be viable long term.
I receive a lot of calls from people interested in our Acute Care Transition program. It is the only clinic work to Acute Care Transition program in existence. This program fills in the gaps left behind by clinic work training, those who learned on the job, or those without acute care experience. Interestingly we get a lot of calls from new graduates of 4-9 month program graduates who were told they were not employable despite their ACCP-approved program. The Acute Care Transition program is designed with one purpose in mind, develop an acute care MT and get them acute care work. The program is designed around preparing individuals academically for the new work types and then immersing them in acute care transcription practice. It becomes a process where the MT is being evolved into the acute care MT and then transitioned into long-term positions. Where else does someone get the opportunity to experience a paid acute care internship where the MT is able to do real acute care transcriptions? Once they complete the program, graduates qualify for individualized job placement.
I am sure the myth of jobs being scarce will continue, but those with acute care training will continue to enjoy their security and in-demand status as more and more clinic work MTs slowly realize that they need additional training to remain viable in a fast-moving industry that is quickly leaving clinic work MTs behind.
Posted by Chad Sines on Wed, Mar 28, 2012 @ 05:29 PM
Being paid on production means focusing on productivity. One site that I absolutely love is http://productivitytalk.com/. This is a great place to go to learn expander theories, share productivity tips, learn about free software like AutoHotKeys (AHK) that allow you to create time saving scripts. You can also learn how to write MS Word macros. Both of these allow for endless opportunities to save time, produce more work, and ultimately make more money.
This site is definitely worth a strong look and a community of helpful people who are worth getting to know.
Posted by Chad Sines on Mon, Mar 26, 2012 @ 01:22 PM
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If you have not heard the term HIPAA5010, then do not fret. Most MTs have not, but it is a big deal. Simply put HIPAA5010 is a tech update on how financial transactions are handled, i.e. how information is sent from the facility to others. This is primarily an IT update and a very complicated one. What makes it serious is that facilities have to be compliant soon to be reimbursed after the deadline. It went into effect in January with compliance set for March. This date was changed because many were struggling to meet the deadline.
A friend of mine in my doctoral program is the CIO (Chief Information Officer) for a large multinational healthcare agency that provides healthcare to individuals who cannot afford it. According to him this has been a constant struggle even with highly-trained IT officials working on it. If they do not get it right, they do not get reimbursed. That puts it into perspective. If large groups are struggling then many small physician practices could be as well although many of those have fewer IT demands.
There is a short read on it below.
http://whatishipaa.org/hipaa-5010-definition.php
Posted by Chad Sines on Fri, Mar 23, 2012 @ 12:00 PM
Title: Crohn Disease- New Research and Novel Treatments
When: Tue, Mar 27, 3 PM - 4 PM PDT
Presenter: Chad Sines, MS, MBA, AHDI-F
Length: 1 hour | Credits: 1 CM
Cost: $10
Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease affecting over 500 million people in North America alone. While initially thought to be an autoimmune disease, current research has revealed that it is most like an immune deficiency. This webinar will discuss current understanding of the disease based on recent research as well as novel approaches that are being developed to treat this potentially devastating disease.
Join us!!
Posted by Chad Sines on Wed, Mar 21, 2012 @ 03:08 PM
A lot of CMTs are in need of CEC credits for their renewals. Many MTs are looking for some continuing education to help further their skill set. Students are looking for educational opportunities to get ahead in their training. We have developed several recorded webinar bundles to help you meet your specific educational needs at a phenomenal price. Each webinar averages $6, a price that no one can beat. This sale will run until April 15th.
After you complete the purchase in PayPal, please allow a few seconds for PayPal to redirect you back to our website where you will receive the links to view your videos.
Click the title to purchase the bundle. AHDI-approved CECs are listed after each webinar title.
Professional Development Bundle- $30
Professional Development
Facebook for the Professional- 1 PD
LinkedIn for the Professional- 1 PD
Twitter for the Professional- 1 PD
Advanced Resume Building- 1 PD
Transcription in the Workplace Bundle- $30
Microsoft Powerpoint 2010- 1 TW
Microsoft Excel 2010- 1 TW
Microsoft Outlook 2010- 1 TW
Microsoft Word 2010- 1 TW
Windows 7- 1 TW
Medical Transcription Tools Bundle- $30
Formatting for the Medical Transcription- 1 MTT
Common Transcription Errors- 1 MTT
Working with PDF Files- 1 MTT
BOS Specialty Standards, Part 1- 1 MTT
BOS Specialty Standards, Part 2- 1 MTT
Medicolegal Bundle- $30
HIPAA and HITECH- 1 ML
Regulatory Requirements- 1 ML
Risk Management- 1 ML
Medicolegal Aspects of the Healthcare Record- No CEC
Critical Thinking- 1 TW
Level 1 Bundle- $30
Computer Basics - No CEC
Dictation and Transcription Technology- No CEC
Laboratory and Diagnostics- No CEC
Internet Basics- No CEC
Medical Terminology Review- No CEC
Clinical Medicine I Bundle- $30
Cardiology- No CEC
Neurology- No CEC
Orthopedics- No CEC
Oncology- No CEC
Immunology- No CEC
Clinical Medicine II Bundle- $30
Pulmonology- No CEC
Ophthalmology- No CEC
Fundamentals of Surgery in Transcription- No CEC
GI- No CEC
Dermatology- No CEC
Posted by Chad Sines on Mon, Mar 19, 2012 @ 03:00 PM
Title: BOS Specialty Standards Part 2
When: Thurs, Mar 22nd 11 AM - 12 PM PST
Presenter: Angela Allison, CMT
Length: 1 hour | Credits: 1 MTT
Cost: $10
A review of specialty standards using the Book of Style reference, including cardiology, hematology/oncology, pharmacology, dermatology, immunology, organisms and bacteria, and more.
This continuing education series is without a doubt one of our most popular. No one leaves without learning something, whether they are a student, new MT, or have been in the industry for decades.
Join us!!
Posted by Chad Sines on Mon, Mar 19, 2012 @ 09:00 AM
Recently AHDI released a decision the national Board of Directors made regarding changing the name of who we are. While this has been chatter in the past, it appears that the board made a decision to change the name without consulting with the membership.
According to AHDI, we are now Healthcare Documentation Specialists. This name change was based on a recommendation by the Model Curriculum Task Force. Interestingly, the Board voted to change the name to one recommended by the task force and then re-visited the issue to change it again. Why the rush to change it twice and why not involve the members in such a critical decision? Has the Association forgotten that the members are in charge of the Association? Is there such a thing as transparency? And most importantly, don't we have more pressing issues that we can all agree need immediate attention?
EMR Omniscribe and Med-Line support continuing the use of the term Medical Transcriptionist. We do not support changing the name especially when there are more critical issues to focus on and definitely not without approval by the membership.
Below is an email I shared with our AHDI West Board of Governors as well as national AHDI.
The feedback I have heard has many mixed but mostly negative. Many have shared a few common issues with the name change:
The timing. AHDI is in a very vulnerable position with weakened membership, weakened leadership, basement-level finances and what appears from the outside to be in a fight for survival from one ACE to the next. CEOs leaving, staff leaving, directors resigning, components failing…As we know with name changes, feelings are hurt and members leave. I personally know quite a few who left because of the AAMT to AHDI. Did that change help us? Some say yes, some no. Now we are changing their profession which is even more personal. Rebranding is useful only if it moves an organization forward. At the end of this we might have a new title, but what will be the tangible change for the members. MTSOs might leverage the cool title with clients although they could really care less about a title, but from an MT perspective there appears to be no substantive gains that outweigh the potential losses.
The way it happened. This is too big for a committee to handle and then a board vote. It has the strong appearance of a committee overstepping or at the very least something being done to avoid membership input or possibly a membership block. I was a bit surprised that it went from model curriculum to a BOD vote instead of to a group to move the idea forward in a member-centric fashion. This is a divisive issue that many are ready to rebel against. Change for the sake of change is pointless especially if you harm those you represent in the end or lose face with them. While there is no perfect way to handle this, most of us who are involved in the Association had no idea it was happening until it was done. Since the announcement I found out that there were some nonmember chats on some outside blogs. There was no discussion with members regarding their desire to do this now or ever and no discussion with them as to what the name should be. This way of doing things has bitten the Association in the backside enough times for us to know that anything other than absolute transparency is almost doomed to failure.
If CDIA does not move this forward it is dead, just like they killed mandatory credentialing. Assuming we wanted to move forward with the name change, I think CDIA should have changed their job descriptions when it was announced or at least shared the date on which it would do so. It really is time for us to honestly be a partner with CDIA or sever that relationship so we can move our agenda forward. If they choose to ignore this like they did mandatory credentialing, AHDI is going to suffer another black eye in terms of relevance to the industry like we saw with the failure to move mandatory credentialing past the delegate floor. It will resonate that CDIA controls the Association and AHDI is impotent to drive change. (At the time I wrote this, it was not known that CDIA was gone.)
They wish to remain MTs. Plain and simple. This one needs little explanation because I would suspect everyone has heard this from at least a few dozen or more since the announcement. This is their Association and they want to decide their title. This would have been a great ACE topic. Speaking with members about the title, should it change, should it stay, etc. long before anything was done.
When I heard about this I had a flashback of the surprise CDIA partnership that popped out of nowhere leaving many disillusioned and the failed mandatory credentialing that we whooped and hollered about until it was immediately silenced by our “partners.” Personally, I think we have or should have bigger priorities and we need our members to rally behind us instead of potentially dividing them at this critical point in our survival. It is frustrating that this is the topic that comes up now when speaking with members when we should be talking about leveraging MGMA to get our message out, retooling for EHR opportunities, and… well.. to be frank fight for our survival in an industry that is trying so hard to discard us. If you think that is not what is really happening, come to MGMA this year and pretend to be a physician. Your jaw will hit the floor and the “EHR vendors as partners with transcription” will cease to be a part of your message.
Are you a medical transcriptionist who wishes to remain a medical transcriptionist?
Sign our petition and be heard.