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Question: What Is A Medical Transcriptionist?
Answer:
The formal definition of a Medical Transcriptionist, as stated in the 2001 Occupational
Outlook Handbook: "Medical Transcriptionists use headsets and transcribing machines to listen
to recordings by physicians and other healthcare professionals. These workers transcribe a
variety of medical reports about emergency room visits, diagnostic imaging studies, operations,
chat reviews, and final summaries. To understand and accurately transcribe dictated reports into
a format that is clear and comprehensible for the reader, the medical transcriptionist must
understand the language of medicine, anatomy and physiology, diagnostic procedures, and treatment.
They also must be able to translate medical jargon and abbreviations into their expanded forms.
After reviewing and editing for grammar and clarity, the medical transcriptionist transcribes
the dictated reports and returns them in either printed or electronic form to the dictator for
review and signature, or correction. These reports eventually become a part of the patient's
permanent file."
Question: What is expected of an MT?
Answer:
A major part of a hospital’s accreditation depends on the accuracy and turn-around time of
medical documents. Which therefore makes Professional Medical Transcriptionists an essential
and integral part to a hospital, doctor’s clinics operations. Fast turn-around-time affects
the ability for patients to get proper care and the hospitals or doctor’s clinic ability to
get paid from the insurance companies. Insurance companies will not pay until they have
received an accurate and timely patient record. If a hospital ever gets too far behind with
their transcriptions, they could literally lose their government accreditations.
Question: What is The Expected Growth Of The MT Industry?
Answer:
As indicated by the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT), the medical
transcription industry is approximately a $16 billion dollar industry. According to a
study conducted by the Medical Transcription Industry Alliance (MTIA), the annual market
growth is expected to be 15% - 20% in the year 2004.
Question: How true is it that there is a high demand for medical transcriptionists?
Answer:
Insurance companies will not pay hospital or physician invoices without the required
transcribed records documenting the claim. Therefore, a backlog in transcription equates
to an inability to collect accounts receivable on the part of the hospital or clinic.
Also, a medical facility can actually lose its accreditation if their medical documents
do not meet industry specifications.
One concern spreading throughout the health care industry involves the paper-based record.
Paper-based records are fast becoming inefficient and burdensome in the increasingly
cost-conscious health care marketplace. A wide variety of hospitals, outpatient treatment
centers, physicians' offices and outside laboratories are generating patient care information
that must be complete, timely, and accurate. Further, this information is being used not only
by medical professionals, but also by administrators and data managers responsible for
reimbursement, outcomes measurement and provider knowledge bases.
The health care industry of tomorrow cannot continue to rely on paper to record patient care
data and still expect efficient storage and transmission to the ultimate users. The electronic
capture from medical transcribers and delivery of free-form dictation are key components in
the increasing implementation by health care providers of electronic medical record systems.
Question: How Does a Medical Transcriptionist Get Compensated?
Answer:
Hospitals, Doctor’s Clinics, and Transcription companies pay MT’s in a variety of ways.
A typical job in the MT business is one document 1-2 pages long. Some companies pay for each
completed document, others pay by the hour, but those hourly jobs are typically office jobs
where employees are overseen by managers.
The most common way to be paid is on a per line (65 characters) transcription basis .
This can range from $.06 per line to $.12 per line on the average, depending on the experience
level of the MT, the type of job and the turn-around time required by the physicians. Most
Radiology jobs have a 4hr. turn-around job requirement and average turn-around time requirements
are 24-48 hrs.
An entry level Medical Transcriptionist can make anywhere from $15,000 to $24,000 annually
on a part time basis and $24,000-$38,000 on a full-time basis. Experienced MTs can earn much
more than that and earning $60,000-$80,000 per year is not uncommon.
This could be your chance to gain one of the highest paying home-based positions you've ever had.
Many of these transcription companies offer you benefits worth thousands of dollars such as paid
vacations, medical and dental insurance, profit sharing, housing and car plans etcc.
Question: Can I Receive Work If I Live Outside The U.S.?
Answer:
Most employers only require that you have internet connection to work for their company.
VISA regulations and International employment regulations are the responsibility of the
employer and the employee. ACI Learning Systems Professional Comprehensive Medical Transcription
home study learning course can give you the tools needed to qualify as a professional MT.
Question: Is The Industry Leaning Toward Home-Based MTs Or Office MTs?
Answer:
The trend in the medical transcription industry is moving toward utilizing the power of the Internet.
Initially, medical transcription over the Internet was thought to be risky for security reasons.
The medical industry was very skeptical about maintaining the confidentiality of medical records.
Now that commerce on the Internet is recognized to be secure, such as on-line banking, it has become
widely accepted. This acceptance of the Internet has greatly boosted the demand for home-based Internet
applications for sensitive medical documents. Home-based MTs also reduce overhead costs of hospitals and
clinics.
Question: What Medical Terminology Is Covered?
Answer:
The course comes with a textbook that includes all the basic medical terminology used in medical
transcription today. The course is designed to covers all the body systems from anatomy, physiology,
disease process, procedures and tests, and terminologies with pronunciation keys. It also includes
laboratory values and pharmacology.
Question: Will I learn sufficiently about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA Law)?
Answer:
The HIPAA law being a complicated law will be discussed extensively at the HIPAA module. This is a
must read for all medical transcriptionists and aspiring medical transcriptioinists. The aim of the
module is to give the student an in-depth understanding and appreciation on the importance and relevance
of HIPAA on secure medical transcription and transfer of files. This module explains in layman’s terms
the ways and means by which an MT can comply with the security and privacy considerations of HIPAA,
most especially when they are doing home based transcriptions.
Question: How Long Will The ACI Professional medical Transcriptionist Course Take To Finish?
Answer:
The course is a self-paced, do-it-at-your-own-time, at your convenience. Learning completion time
depends on the individual student's effort. The total time required is approximately 300 hours.
On the average, students complete the course within 3-6 months. Remember, this depends entirely
on how many hours a student is able to commit to the course. Some students have passed the course
faster and some have taken longer. Completion time will depend on the amount of time students can
dedicate to the course and the abilities of each student.
Question: How Many dictations do we have to transcribe?
Answer:
There are 210 reports that each student is required to transcribe. There are at least 30 authentic
dictations for each discipline on CD-ROM. Transcription time depends on the student's abilities and
time needed to complete each dictation.
Question: How Much will the ACI Professional Medical Transcriptionist Home based Course cost?
Answer:
The total cost of the ACI Learning Systems Professional Medical Transcription Home Based learning
Program is Nine Hundred Sixty Five ($965.00). Price includes sales tax, and everything you need,
which consists of Fourteen (14) Modules and 9 Compact Disks (CDs) with the following titles:
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Computing and Keyboarding Skills for Medical Transcription
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English for Medical Transcription
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Basic Transcription Guidelines and Styles (recently reformatted and now bears a new title,
Style Guide for Medical Transcription)
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Medical Terminology
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Anatomy for Medical Transcriptionists.
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HIPAA for Medical Transciptionists.
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Laboratory Medicine and Pharmacology for Medical Transcription.
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Obstetrics and Gynecology for Medical Transcriptionists.
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Cardiology for Medical Transcriptionists
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Gastroenterology for Medical Transcriptionists
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Neurology for Medical Transcriptionists
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Orthopedics for Medical Transcriptionists
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Genito-Urinary for Medical Transcriptionists
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Pathology for Medical Transcriptionists
Question: What do i get after the course?
Answer:
After successful completion of the course, you will receive:
- Certificate of Completion - COC
- Certificate of Accuracy - COA
- Transcript of Records - TOR
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