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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

An Overview of Medical Transcription


Now one of the largest segments in the healthcare industry, medical transcription is a highly specialized field that employs network professional transcribers. They basically automate or make available, relevant patient healthcare information to interested parties. Medical transcription is a new field yet a growing number of people are becoming interested in this area. It is one job that fits busy people, enabling them to work in their own free time, or to work in the comforts of their homes. Dictation is very much a part of doctors and medical professional's ways of doing things. While that's both practical and convenient to doctors themselves, turning audio recordings into an organized file for coherent record keeping is the gap bridged by the Medical Transcription industry. Direct narratives may not always be appreciated. It makes more sense to put records into forms and formats that patients, health insurance agents, and even doctors themselves could use more easily.

Medical transcription involves the entire process of converting audio recordings, files and dictations by doctors and other medical professionals into accurately transcribed medical records. The process turnaround is swift, in some cases, to as fast as 12 hours. These records need to be transcribed as swiftly as possible as these may involve urgent medical situations requiring urgent medical care for patients.

The medical transcription process begins with receiving a doctor's dictations and other audio recordings in various formats - tape, digital systems, or voice files. These files are loaded onto equipment with earphones for the transcriptionist to list, and a foot pedal for good audio input control. Then the data is typed in any word processor program.

The process obviously requires trained listening skills, excellent command of English, familiarity with medical terminologies and a fairly fast and accurate typing speed. On top of that, it is also good to be proficient with the computer, since most offices are now using computers.

The Medical Transcription industry has put in place a system of quality assurance for its outputs. It's an industry standard for all transcribed output to pass through editing and review before being sent back to clients for their own reviews. Many organizations offering transcription services have an in-house team of quality assurance editors alongside their team of medical transcriptionists. While it may not be as tough as rocket science, being a medical transcriptionist does require a fair amount of training and computer adeptness. Most people who want to pursue a career in the medical transcription industry are required to pass some training and in some cases, may be required to obtain certifications.

The above qualification is very necessary especially since a medical transcriptionist is involved in gathering a lot of pertinent information all the time. As such, being accurate and skilled is very important.

What makes medical transcription such a rewarding career option for many people is the fact that it can be done from home. For highly mobile people like military spouses, it complements their lifestyle. For highly immobile people with disabilities, where transportation is a major challenge, this is a good job for them. That flexibility has attracted thousands into the industry and will attract more in the future.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Outsourcing Medical Transcription to Pakistan


Medical transcription services are an essential part of healthcare services in developed countries where patient treatment and associated insurance coverage are closely connected. Quality medical transcription (MT) services are in high demand since accurate and detailed medical records of patients are critical for both effective diagnosis and speedy processing of patient insurance claims. Pakistan, having undergone a tremendous change in IT related services, is now a popular destination for healthcare providers to outsource their mission critical jobs at affordable rates. The costs for setting up infrastructure and giving payments for transcription professionals are high in developed nations and hence healthcare providers are compelled to choose alternate options such as outsourcing to emerging economical powers such as Pakistan where cost-effective MT services are available.

As a developing country with a vast pool of graduates who are well-versed in the English language, Pakistan is becoming a hub for outsourcing medical transcription jobs. The availability of high speed internet services with backup facilities and the 24-hour operations being provided at MT firms in Pakistan are all positive factors which persuade western firms to outsource their jobs to Pakistan. The time zone difference also helps Pakistan firms to return all processed jobs within the stipulated time limit of 24 hours. Medical transcription service providers in Pakistan offer their services in accordance with the HIPAA regulations enacted by the US congress in 1996.

To maintain the strictest quality in important patient records, almost all transcription providers here give intensive initial job training for their employees with the help of doctors and language experts. Most of these firms also ensure that the accuracy levels in transcription jobs are closed to 98-99%. To maintain such high accuracy levels, most transcription service providers are utilizing the services of experienced proofreaders and editors who can double check records for all types of errors.

Now with the increasing requirements of clients, all Pakistan based medical transcription service providers are constantly updating their services and employee strength. Most of these firms are offering their MT jobs for new as well as established names in healthcare services and their ever increasing clientele include hospitals, individual practitioners, outpatient clinics, acute care facilities, and long term care facilities, to name a few.

For uninterrupted services, all reputable medical transcription service providers have sufficient technical staffs. Combining the potential of qualified medical transcription professionals, proofreaders, editors and technical staffs, MT providers in Pakistan are able to satisfy all the requirements of healthcare providers for quality, affordable and fast transcription services. The ultimate benefits to medical care facilities are the huge savings in infrastructure and time which can be utilized for other creative purposes such as improving the existing facilities of healthcare firms.

Kazim Group of Technologies (KGT), a Managed Outsource Solutions company, is a medical transcription company and a medical billing services company. KGT delivers medical transcription outsourcing services to a wide range of healthcare facilities nationwide.

Medical Transcription Job Opportunities Tips and Techniques


As soon as you are ready to find medical transcription job opportunities, volunteer your time, effort and resources to establish your professionalism. Seek out and join a local chapter of the American Association of Medical Transcriptionists (AAMT) in your area, and ask how you may be of help to your local chapter. Volunteers are always needed and will be welcomed with open arms. This is a terrific way to brand yourself as a person who is serious about the medical transcription career. Veteran medical transcriptionists will take notice of you, and that will open the doors to medical transcription job opportunities in the future.

When seeking medical transcription job opportunities, market yourself to local medical transcription agencies. Set up an appointment or interview, if possible. Expand your network by talking to everyone you can in the medical transcription field and let them know that you are willing to do whatever it takes, including volunteer work, to get your foot in the door. Do not forget to thank those who have helped you along the way.

In your quest for medical transcription job opportunities, ask your MT instructors if they might need help with transcribing classroom assignments. As an MT student, I can clearly remember how bad the assignment copies were. After I completed the medical transcription courses, I word processed the assignments, corrected the mistakes that had been in them, and then took them to a print shop for reprinting and binding. Then I sent these to my medical transcription instructor; it was my way of thanking her for all she had done for me. I also helped my medical terminology instructor, who was writing a book. I word processed the medical reports for her medical terminology book. In case you are wondering, I was working full time as a medical transcription and word processor all the while.

Volunteering is a wonderful way to find medical transcription job opportunities that are not advertised. It is something that most people do not think of doing. Even if you do not get immediate results from doing volunteer medical transcription work, people will have good things to say about you. The word will get out that you are looking for medical transcription job opportunities, and it will just be a matter of time before you get the chance to prove yourself as a medical transcriptionist, and I know you will.

Medical Transcription Sample Resume


Many medical transcriptionists want a sample medical transcription resume to follow in order to know what should be included in a resume. For those who are established in the medical transcription profession and have credibility within the medical field, here are some points to consider, followed by a sample medical transcription resume that outlines the salient information that should be included.

1. Be as succinct as possible in your medical transcription resume, and highlight what skill sets you bring to the table.

2. Limit your resume to one page. People are busy these days and often are overwhelmed due to information overload.

3. Key in on the specific skill sets being sought for this particular medical transcription position.

4. Include other vital information, such as volunteer work or supervisory/managerial positions that you’ve held while working as a medical transcriptionist.

5. Tailor your medical transcription resume to each specific job for which you are applying.
Here is a sample medical transcription resume that this author has used to land his last couple of outside medical transcription contractor jobs for orthopedic surgeons in the workers’ compensation arena. It demonstrates how to put all five points into action. (Please note that headings should be centered and bolded.)

PERSONAL CONTACT INFORMATION
(insert your personal contact info here, including your e-mail address)

ADMINISTRATIVE QUALIFICATIONS
Typing speed of 120-130 w.p.m. with 95% accuracy; good command of the English language; strong editing, grammar, and punctuation skills; ability to edit “on the fly” when taking histories and when transcribing medical reports, making paragraphs flow smoothly; and strong computer (hardware and software) skills, saving the company down time and money.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP SKILLS
Ability to put people at ease and to establish immediate rapport; ability to control the history interview process, keeping the patient on track; and getting salient information in a timely manner, all in a congenial and empathetic way. Cooperates and works well with co-workers, willingly shares new technical and medical information. Professional, dedicated, and committed to the success of the company through collaborative efforts with others.


WORKERS’ COMPENSATION-SPECIFIC SKILLS
Good command/understanding of workers’ compensation field, thus enabling me to ask the pertinent questions that will enable the doctor to intelligently address important workers’ compensation issues (e.g., permanent disability, apportionment, and causation); over five years of experience taking patient histories (ranging from basic to complicated) on a daily basis, specializing in the field of orthopedics; and over 14 years of experience as a medical transcriptionist, historian, and medical records reviewer.


PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Company Name, Address, City State, Zip, Phone Number Employed From: June 19xx to 20xx Supervisor: Jane Doe
Company Name, Address, City State, Zip, Phone Number Employed From: June 19xx to 20xx Supervisor: Jane Doe
Depending on how much information and work experience you have, there may be room at the bottom of the page. If so, include this section:


QUALITIES AND CHARACTER TRAITS
Innovative, creative, proactive, energetic visionary, resourceful self-starter; practical, self-reliant, motivated problem-solver; versatile, talented trainer/teacher; organized, personable, and reliable support person with a winning attitude who takes great pride in meeting and exceeding her own definition and standard of excellence.
One last point: The very last sentence of the resume is a powerful thing–if the resume has been read all the way through. You can–and I have done this–use that very same sentence–at the TOP of the resume to grab the reader’s attention. When you do, change the heading to: SELF-ASSESSMENT STATEMENT.


Now isn’t that a powerful sample medical transcription resume? As a secondary benefit, when a medical transcription resume is this solid, this good, it will make it even easier for you to sell yourself to a prospective employer when you meet face to face because you will have all the self-confidence you need to make your case and get that medical transcription job you want now!

Medical Transcription Outsource Raises Workflow


Medical transcription basically deals with transcribing or converting voice reports by doctors or other healthcare professionals into files in text format.

Medical transcription is an allied health profession heavily dependent on the skills of professionals (called medical transcriptionist) who can comprehend the accent and language of the physician. These professionals transcribe the voice recording of the physicians into the required text format. It is important to send back the text files on time for the processing of insurance claims and other financial and legal processes.

The medical transcriptionist must not only comprehend each and every word dictated by the physician and include it in the text document, but also correct the document for grammatical errors or errors in medical terminology made by the physician while dictating.

The finished document must be free from all errors, easily readable and should comply with HIPAA regulations and other medical and legal norms.

If you are a busy medical practitioner or are running a hospital, you need to outsource medical transcription to improve your workflow. It’s common for doctors, hospitals and large transcription companies to outsource the medical transcription work in order to reduce the workload and improve efficiency.

Medical transcription outsourcing is one of the most important industries in the outsourcing spectrum. It succeeds in efficiently recording patient data for further processing and thereby allows the medical practitioner or healthcare facility to concentrate more on the core business. Outsource Medical transcription to improve your workflow and attend better to the care of your patients.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Funny Medical Transcription Errors


1. The baby was delivered, the cord clamped and cut and handed to the pediatrician, who breathed and cried immediately.

2. Exam of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.

3. The skin was moist and dry.

4. Rectal exam revealed a normal size thyroid.

5. The patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.

6. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life until 1989 when she got a divorce.
7. Between you and me, we ought to be able to get this lady pregnant.
8. The patient was in his usual state of good health until his airplane ran out of gas and crashed.

9. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.

10. The patient lives at home with his mother, father, and pet turtle, who is presently enrolled in day care three times a week.

11. Bleeding started in the rectal area and continued all the way to Los Angeles.

12. Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.

13. She is numb from her toes down.

14. Exam of genitalia was completely negative except for the right foot.

15. While in the emergency room, she was examined, X-rated and sent home.

16. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.

17. The patient was to have a bowel resection. However he took a job as a stockbroker instead.

18. Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.

19. Coming from Detroit, this man has no children.

20. Examination reveals a well-developed male lying in bed with his family in no distress.

21. Patient was alert and unresponsive.

22. When she fainted, her eyes rolled around the room.

23. Transcribed: 42-year-old male who was delivering girl who is at the apical factory.

Dictated : 42-year-old male who was delivering groceries at the pickle factory.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Line Count Methodology


Tired of trying to unravel the line count mystery? Well, you’re not alone. In fact, it turns out that this is one of the most controversial, frustrating, misunderstood, misused, and abused concepts in the industry.

The good news is that over the past several years there has been some modest progress in this area. We are seeing a slow but unmistakable trend toward standardization.Definitions
Let’s start with a few basic definitions that have been adopted by the leading industry organizations: AAMT, AHIMA & MTIA.

1. Gross Character: Any letter, number, symbol or function key necessary for the final appearance and content of a document, including the space bar, carriage return, underscore, bold, and any character contained within a macro, header or footer.
2. Net Character: Printed characters only. Note: to convert to Gross Characters multiply Net Characters by 1.2

3. Net Line: A defined line length that includes a predetermined number of gross characters (55, 60, 65, 70, 75, etc.). Note: Net lines are generally determined by dividing the total gross characters in a report by the defined line length.

4. Gross Line: Any printed line that has one or more characters. Note: no distinction is made here between full and partial lines. (To convert Gross Lines to Net Lines multiply Gross Lines by .70).

5. Keystroke: Each stroke of a key is counted – including the space bar, carriage return, underscore, bold, etc. Note: macros become an issue here – technically, if a macro requires three keystrokes, then for billing purposes, three keystrokes would be billed.

6. Net Word: A net word is defined as five (5) alpha/numeric characters plus one(1) space for a total of six (6) characters.

7. Recorded Minute: One recorded minute of dictation is equal to an average of 777 gross characters for Medical Records dictation (including ER) and an average of 782 gross characters for Physician Practices dictation.A Line Defined: The Elusive “Standard”
Over the years the definition of a line has varied significantly in terms of gross characters. The range has typically been from 55 to 80 keystrokes. More recently, a 65 keystroke (gross character) line has emerged as something of an industry standard, although a fair amount of variation continues to exist. However, even as this standard has emerged, there continues to be significant controversy over gross characters, net characters, macro characters, etc. In other words, a 65 character line can still mean different things to different people. Some companies actually have two ways of measuring a line – one for billing purposes and one for wage payment purposes. The idea is to create a small spread – bill for all keystrokes while paying only for hard characters.
The Billing Conundrum

It turns out that there is a fair degree of flexibility in establishing billing parameters. It boils down to negotiating a rate with a prospective client. Even if you determine that you will attempt to adhere to the standards provided in the definitions above there is still a fair amount of lattitude that derives from the subjectivity inherent in the definitions. For example, assume that you decide to bill based on a 65 character line. What about partial lines? Again it depends on how the contract is written. On the one hand you could structure the contract to require that all gross characters in a given report be added up and divided by 65 to produce a total billable line count. In other words you are basing the billing on the definition of a Net Line above. I personally like this method. It is clean and is likely to become the defacto standard for billing large accounts.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Salary for a Medical Transcriptionist Is.....


Generally we must look at the average salary and expected earnings of a medical transcriptionist. Statistics revealed by the US Department of labor states that the average earning of a medical transcriptionist range in between $10 to $20 an hour. Based on this you should be able to come up with a general idea of how much the typical medical transcriptionist's salary should be.

To know the truth about a medical transcription salary, you must first realize there is no standard rate for any medical transcription salary. It’s very hard to estimate the medical transcription salary since there will be changed in the medical transcription salary ranging from fresher to a professional.

The lowest paying health care institutions will probably be physicians’ offices, which usually offer something in the range of $14 per hour. The highest-paying opportunities are generally in working as an independent contractor in medical transcription. They can earn as much as $20 per hour, or even more than that.

Medical transcriptionists are sometimes paid by the hour regardless of the amount of work they do or how many hours they work. Others are paid based on the number of lines and sometimes minutes of dictation they transcribe per day. In order to make the best employment decision for yourself, you will need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages in the way your salary is determined.

In Pakistan, there isn't any salary standard set yet. There are companies who are paying fixed salaries on fixed number of minutes, medical transcriptionist have to do his/her fixed number of minutes at the end of the day however there are other companies who are paying their transcriptionists based on number of lines.

A medical transcriptionist in Pakistan can earn up to PKR 14000 for doing 50 minutes a day, which an average transcriptionist can do easily in an eight-hour shift.

Medical Transcription Course


Learning medical transcription is a great experience for everyone and it does not cost much and save time as well. Medical transcription is one of such where one can spent their flexible time to learn the course with so ease and comfort. Medical transcription course is designed in such a way that they start their work as medical transcriptionist in a company or joined as an assistant for the doctor transcribing the patients conversation.

There is a great demand for the medical transcriptionist and it will increase gradually 30% by next year. You can start the career with the medical transcription and can enjoy working with the physicians, doctors or in hospitals. You have the great income for this position as well, slowly you can grow up to various levels if you are with a good medical transcription company. But you should be engaged with a certain skills so that you will be very confident in starting your work. There are not so much companies who are providing medical transcription courses in Karachi. You will find a few companies, but they provide a course that not suits the current industry standards and not certified and accredited with the US hospitals and clinics even they do not have the proper trainers, but don't get dishearten if you get trained from these institutes you will get a job because the workload is increasing day by day and medical transcription companies need more people everyday.

In a medical transcription course you’ll learn the transcription techniques that are applicable in doctors’ and dentists’ offices, clinics, hospitals, and transcription services. The best you start early the more prominent you become in the field.

Students who enroll medical transcription course should be a graduate or post graduate in any stream. The duration of a medical transcription course varies from 4 to 5 months depends on student ability and grasping power.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Kazim Group of Technologies


Kazim Group of Technologies is an Internet based Medical Transcription Service Provider started in the year 2006 with an aim to provide every physician with personally tailored in all relevant field of medical specialities expedient yet accurate transcription at highly competitive prices. This aim has led us to work our way up since the day of inception. We are proud to have delivered 99.5% customer satisfaction to our clients.

When we have started we were a group of professionals, but now we are a company. We believe in accuracy, efficiency and unity.

We now have the potential to do 1000-2000 lines per day with 98-99% accuracy with a given turnaround time as per our current scenario, but we will be able to enhance our volume as per client.

SERVICES: We offer full array COST-effective Medical Transcription Services, as per AAMT guidelines with complete customer satisfaction, high accuracy and faster turnarounds.

FEATURES OF OUR SERVICES:

SPECIALTY: All Kinds such as radiology, cardiology, OP notes, gastrology, enterology, ophthalmology, history and physical, orthopedics, internal medicine, neurology, rehabilitation, discharge summaries, family practice etc.

TURNAROUND TIME: We work much faster than the TAT we talk about. Usual TAT is 24 hours. Other TAT schedules can be worked out.

ACCURACY: We maintain rigorous quality control and guarantee accuracy of 97% plus across all specialties. We strive to deliver 100% accurate reports. Before delivery our quality control officers recheck the draft twice to ensure 100% error free reporting.

FREE TRIAL: We offer free trial without any obligation. We do not charge any set up fee or monthly fee.

EASY UPLOAD & DOWNLOAD OF FILES: We offer easy upload of dictations and easy download of documents through our secure ftp.

INDIVISUAL ATTENTION TO EVERY PHYSICIAN: We give individual attention to each physician in each group and meet their individual standards and requirements.

FORMATTING: We format the reports as per your taste, choice and specifications. We even make templates if required and send them for your approval and suggestions.

CONFIDENTIALITY & SECURITY: We fully support and strictly adhere to the Medical Transcription Industry Alliance Code of Ethics and Standards and are committed to practices and procedures that assure compliance with HIPAA regulations.

What some of our Clients say…...........

“Transcriptions aspect of my practice is the best, because of the excellent, reliable service from Kazim Group of Technologies. I wish I could say the same for other aspects of my practice. The service has cut down our transcription costs by 50% over having in-house transcriptionists.”

“We have been very pleased with the work you have done for us. Our practice has grown and become quite busy and Kazim Group of Technologies has helped us to keep current on our dictation, in a timely fashion. You are always expedient in any requests that we have as well.”

"In our practice, to have the dictated records ready for us the next morning is essential, Kazim Group of Technologies has provided us with accurate and fast turnaround time”

“The coverage and service is great. I don’t have to worry about a transcriptionist being out or being sick, because Kazim Group of Technologies is always there to take care of us.”

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Growing pains dim India’s outsourcing edge


* Everything is hitting us adversely,” said Kiran Karnik, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies. “Wages are going up, real estate costs are escalating and on top of that you have the dollar exchange rate going bad

BANGALORE: Indian outsourcing companies are shifting some of their operations to China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Kenya in a bid to stay competitive as higher wages, expensive property prices and a rising rupee eat into profits.

Back-office services companies thrive on doing jobs such as taking customer calls, payroll management and accounting at a fraction of the cost for big multinational firms or governments.

But costs in India are climbing on the back of a robust economy that has lured skilled workers to other sectors, forcing companies to look elsewhere to stay in business.

“If I was only in India, probably I would have been worried to death,” said Partha Sarkar, chief executive of HTMT Global Solutions Ltd.

The Bangalore-based back-office services provider used to generate all its revenue from India by providing services to its clients in the United States. But India now accounts for little over half the total, and rapid expansion in the Philippines and Mauritius has helped it offset the impact of a stronger rupee. It plans to enter China and Vietnam soon.

The company sees its 2008 revenue jumping to $150 million from $97 million in the last fiscal year.

“Three years back, I was completely exposed to rupee-dollar,” Sarkar said. “Now it doesn’t worry me. I have diversified my currency and country risk.” In July, Infosys Technologies, India’s second-largest software services exporter, said it would buy three of Royal Philips Electronics’ back-office services units in Thailand, Poland and India to expand market presence.

The back-office services unit of the third-largest software exporter Wipro Ltd plans to set up two facilities in China to tap growing business opportunities there, its chief executive T.K. Kurien said.

India’s English-speaking workforce, a big factor in winning call-centre jobs, faces competition from countries like Kenya.

“When compared to India, we are better off in terms of salary and cost per seat, and we have a large pool of Kenyans with clear accents,” said Bitange Ndemo, permanent secretary in Kenya’s Information Ministry.

India’s share in the global back-office services pie will drop to 50 percent in the next 3-5 years from about 60 percent now, according to U.S.-based Tholons Inc, which offers management consultancy for offshoring.

Skills shortage: India produces about 2.5 million graduates every year, versus 400,000 in the Philippines, but only about 15 percent are suitable for employment in the outsourcing sector.

US-based outsourcer 24/7 Customer, which has multiple facilities in Asia’s third-largest economy, interviews 5,000 candidates a month in India, but is able to recruit only about 250, Chief Marketing Officer V. Bharathwaj said.

This is pushing up wages rapidly as financial firms from Citigroup and HSBC to Standard Chartered Bank employ thousands at their back-office hubs in India.

Starting wages at 15,000 rupees ($366) a month are still about one-fifth of what their U.S. counterparts earn, but they are rising 10-15 percent a year.

Cost per employee for a back-office firm in Bangalore is almost similar to Manila, but is 20 percent lower in Guangzhou in China and 35 percent cheaper in Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, said Avinash Vashistha, chief executive of Tholons.

Analysts say that while Vietnam does not have a vast pool of English-speaking manpower, it is a prime destination for non-voice back-office services such as legal and medical transcription, claims processing, and finance and accounting.

Adding to the squeeze is the rupee, Asia’s best performing currency this year, which climbed to a nine-year high of 40.20 against the dollar, up 10 percent since end-2006, while the Philippine peso has gained more than 5 percent.

First Global Securities last month downgraded India’s IT services sector to “underperform”, citing the rupee and wage inflation. Every 1 percent rise in the rupee impacts the services firms’ margins by 30-50 basis points, analysts say.

“Everything is hitting us adversely,” said Kiran Karnik, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies. “Wages are going up, real estate costs are escalating and on top of that you have the dollar exchange rate going bad.”

India’s back-office services industry, which earned $8.4 billion in exports in the year to March, is also being lured by tax breaks, infrastructure improvements and investment perks offered by China and the Philippines, he said.

The industry is also anxiously watching for any ripple effect from the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, with some smaller firms feeling the pinch as U.S. companies trim spending on services.

However, Infosys’ outsourcing unit sees an opportunity here, reckoning that the need to cut costs would be even more prevalent in an economic downturn, potentially boosting business. reuters

Tuesday, June 16, 2009


Pakistan becomes world’s 20th best outsourcing destination

Web posted at: 6/8/2009 6:53:11

KARACHI: Deteriorating cost advantages and improved labor quality are driving a dramatic shift in the geography of off shoring according to the latest edition of global management consulting firm AT Kearney’s Global Services Location Index (GSLI), a ranking of the most attractive off shoring destinations. AT Kearney is a global management consulting firm that uses strategic insight, tailored solutions and a collaborative working style to help clients achieve sustainable results.

While India, China and Malaysia retain the top three spots they’ve occupied since the inaugural GSLI in 2004, a fundamental shift in the index has taken place as once strong Central European countries have yielded ground to countries in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Pakistan has become the 20th most attractive outsourcing destination, according to consulting management firm AT Kearney. Even as concerns increase about Pakistan’s stability and the growing displaced population due to ongoing military operations with the Taliban, the country made a significant jump on AT Kearney’s 2009 Global Services Location Index released May 18. Pakistan went from number 30 in 2007 to number 20 in 2009.

The GSLI analyses and ranks the top 50 countries worldwide for locating outsourcing activities, including IT services and support, contact centres and back-office support. Each country’s score is composed of a weighted combination of relative scores on 43 measurements, which are grouped into three categories: financial attractiveness, people and skills availability and business environment. Established Central European countries including Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, once among the premier off shoring destinations for Western Europe companies, have fallen significantly due to a rapid increase in costs driven by both wage inflation and currency appreciation against the dollar.

Meanwhile, low-cost countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East made significant gains this year as the quality and availability of their labor forces improved. Egypt, Jordan and Vietnam ranked in the GSLI’s top 10 for the first time ever. “While cost remains a major driver in decisions about where to outsource, the quality of the labour pool is gaining importance as companies view the labour market through a global lens driven by talent shortages at home, particularly in higher, value-added functions” said Norbert Jorek, a partner with AT Kearney and managing director of the firm’s Global Business Policy Council

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Home Based Business



Home based businesses provide excellent earn money opportunities to the people regardless of any geographical location. If you skills in web designing, web development, content writing, medical transcription, web hosting or you have the skills in finance then you can start your own home based business. All you need is to have high speed internet connection and full dedication with your work.
Additionally, you can sell your own services and products or any kind and promote them from your home. The product and services you select depends upon your interest, knowledge and skills. You need to do some research selecting a product or service for your online home business.
You can also promote the products and services of the third parties and you get paid for every click, sale, leads or signup. The Cj.com, Link Share, Click Bank, Amazon and Azoogle are the best places to promote the services and products of other.

The home based business does not require much capital and you can various types of businesses with very little investment. The first step for the promotion of any online home based business it to have a well designed and highly interactive website. Once you get ready you website you need to promote it. There are various ways to promote a website on internet.

You need to make search engine friendly website and optimize it according to the guidelines of the search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. Once your website is good optimized for the targeted keywords, then it will provide you lot of targeted visitors, which will turn into your customers. You can also use PPC or Pay Per click for the promotions of your services and products on internet. The Google Adwords is the biggest name in Pay Per Click and you can start promoting your website with any budget. You can also use Email/Newsletter marketing.
In the newsletter marketing, you need to send the promotional newsletters periodically to the targeted people. This way of marketing brings you lot of repeated visitors, which will turn into your customers. Another excellent way is to find the marketplaces to find work or promote your business. The best marketplaces on the internet are forums such as Forums.DigitalPoint.com, Sitepoint, Sitesell and the marketplace companies like Odesk, Elance and getafreelancer.com. With hard work, consistency and patience, you can get a lot of work from these places. Additionally, you can get good clients at very good rates.

With all the promotional methods mentioned above, provide you the way to promote your home based business of any kind.

It is recommended that never depend on a single product or a single way of promotion. You should diversify your ways of earning through your home based business. You can select and promote multiple products with different marketing techniques to avoid any risks and losses.

By Yunas on August 3rd, 2008

Friday, June 12, 2009

Medical Transcription a Way for Pakistan to Earn Foreign Exchange





The growing software market rather IT is continuously expanding and trying to grab almost every industry through its tentacles. The IT is now become a part of every walk of life and personnel of different disciplines want to make their lives easier and comfortable. After the inclusion of IT most of the fields are revolutionized and now new horizons are being explored. In the developed countries where the high officials of the different departments have money and business but do not have enough time to make everything documented and that can be retrieved whenever needed—and it is merely possible when the data would have been stored in the computer. One of the major area in which enormous work is being done is Medical histories of the patients and in the developed countries all the records of the patients are being stored in the computerized systems. So, now a days all the records related to the patients in the hospital like their medical history, surgical reports, physical reports etc. are being transferred into computer systems and as a matter of fact doctors and other medical officers do not have time to feed the data so voice files are prepared and these files are being converted into soft copies and separate work force is used to perform this task. Same goes to other fields, legal transcription is another major area and clients' records and conversation are also being recorded which would be transcribed latterly.



Medical Transcription is now become a hottest topic among the businessmen and financiers. A separate work force is being used for transcribing these voice files and for this purpose enormous number of organizations came into being but still the requirements is a lot more higher and projects are being outsourced to other countries and they are specifically doing these projects for them. As a matter of fact the transcription's rate is little bit higher in these countries so they prefer to give these sorts of projects to the countries where rates are nominal. This project does have a potential and can be encashed because it's a high time for flourishing and sprouting in this field. The enormous opportunities are lying vacant all we have to do is to tap the business. The pricing has been done on the basis of the words or number of lines. 15 cents per line or 12 cents per line are approximately charged. The most important factor that should not be neglected is the efficiency of the operators along with an accuracy which should not be less than 98.5%. In these projects the given time should be kept in mind otherwise the organization has to pay the penalty. Operators should have sound knowledge of medical and legal terminologies and acronyms and they must be good at English language and grammar.




Medical Transcription is the process whereby one accurately and swiftly transcribes medical records dictated by doctors and others, including history and physical reports, clinics notes, office notes, operative reports, consultation notes, discharge summaries, letter, psychiatric evaluations, laboratory reports, X-rays reports and pathology reports.



In involves receiving dictation by tape, digital system or voice file, and using ear phones, a foot pedal for start-stop control and a word processing programme. A variety of word-processing systems are used. It requires good listening and language skills, computer skills and knowledge of medical terms.



Several dictionaries are necessary: Medical definitions, Medications, medical terms specialty, laboratory terms, surgical terms and abbreviations. Specialized word lists are also helpful, and current journals and computer networking are helpful for current information about new medications and terms. Transcription is done more efficiently and effectively with the use of a medical spell checker and an abbreviation system such as PRD or Smartype.



Medical transcription business by its very nature involves transcribing medical advice of various types. Therefore, its user base is in a variety of healthcare settings, including doctors' offices, public and private hospitals, teaching hospitals, clinics, laboratories, radiology and pathology departments, insurance companies, medical libraries, rehabilitation centers, legal offices, research centers, veterinary medical facilities, and associations representing the helathcare industry.



For countries like Pakistan it is supposed to be a milestone for economic revival. A substantial amount of Foreign Exchange can be taken home through this attractive business. Due to the favourable government policies for IT business, Pakistan is now become a most attractive station for outsourcing projects. India is one of the major stations where these types of projects are being outsource and still abundant opportunities are lying vacant and still waiting for someone to take this opportunity. The business does have a potential of billions dollars and if we seriously look into the matter then we can easily understand how a person or organization can earn through this business.



Medical Transcription training has been offered by various institutions in Pakistan including Sir Syed University Of Engineering & Technology. They have one of the best training facilities in Medical Transcription and its Software House, STI is setting a Medical Transcription business for International Clients to help the country foreign Exchange.
By Tariq A. NizamiJuly 30 - Aug 05 , 2001

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Medical Transcription Services in Pakistan


A medical transcription has become one of the fastest growing sections of the medical field these past few years. Most medical places require the doctor's words to be put into writing for patients' files and other documentation purposes. In today's technological world, most hospitals require it to be in digital format. It is for this reason that the need has arisen for people to translate doctors oral reports into digital documents. Employed secretaries usually do this job, but because of the high demand and quantity, it is becoming big as an area for outsourcing. An outsourcing transcription provides adequate service to all types of medical facilities.


Hospitals, physicians, medical and diagnostic laboratories, outpatient care centers, offices of physical, occupational and speech therapists, audiologists and counselors are typical clients requiring medical transcription services. Transcription businesses can approach these organizations, in order to acquire their transcription work. Business groups and organizations that need to concentrate more on their core activities, turn to the ideal option of transcription outsourcing. Hence, increase probability to meet their mission critical requirements.


Advantages of medical transcription outsourcing are multifaceted and ever increasing irrespective of the area of specialization. It involves the transformation to text variant of taped SOAP notes. The recording of SOAP notes is done by medical practices but the process of transcription is left to the professionals as that operation can take away all the time and resources of a medical center.

Affordable transcription Services

Affordable transcription means cost-effective transcription services to clients using web based software technology without compromising quality. It provides fast and accurate transcription service for legal, medical and other professional industries.

To make transcription affordable, the transcriptionists mainly use two kinds of services.

FTP Digital uploading: Uploading audio files for transcription to an FTP is the most cost effective and quick way to send voice recordings to the transcription service. For this, the audio for transcription should be of good quality and then is converted to MP3 for uploading. There are a lot of free software’s available on the internet to do the conversion. The information like time of recording, number of people in the recording and the turnaround option are provided by the client. Based on this information, the cost is calculated.

Call-in dictation: In call-in interview, a toll-free number is dialed via a touch-tone phone. With the help of client's personal code, the audio is dictated into the receiver or speaker of the telephone. Key pads are used to control the recording functions. After the completion of the call, a digital file is created and can be sent for transcription.

Call-in dictation has many benefits like:

1. No capital expenditure for software.

2. 24 hour services availability.

3. Ability to dictate from anywhere, only a phone is required.

4. The costs are only for the minutes one is using.

This kind of dictation is ideal for interviews, meetings and group discussions. Here, the transcription cost is predictable.

Companies that claim their transcription services are affordable are:

1) Are using advanced technology.

2) They are getting their transcription outsourced at a cheaper destination

3) They have a very large client base.

By providing good quality recordings, one can make transcription affordable, as the turnaround time will be less and the transcription will be more accurate.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ajay_Prasad

Transcription Service

Transcription is the process of transcribing the audio data into text format. This is done by a trained professional known as Transcriptionist. Transcription service is available in different formats. It also makes use of customized and optimized software, which powers the transcriptionist to virtually develop a flawless copy from the audio file.

Transcription service includes typing data simultaneously after hearing the audio transcripts. These audio transcripts can be in either .wav, .wma etc format. With globalization process growing and expanding, transcription service is being offered by major giants. New companies are venturing unabated in this interesting industry.

Transcription services are available in English, Spanish, French, Pushto, Chinese, German, Greek, and many other regional languages. Besides, the service encompasses various industry collaterals such as science, arts, marine engineering, legal, medical sciences and much more.

A transcription service is offered at variable rates and is carried out as freelance or full time opportunity by housewives, working professionals, technical professionals and everybody who has a general sense of things.

Transcription Service: Its Diversification

Listed below are various types of transcription services usually available:

Medical Transcription: The process involves transcribing the monologues of physician, who diagnoses and describes the medical history of the patient. The transcription gives the advantage to the medical insurance companies to refer for reimbursing purposes.

Legal Transcription: The transcription includes transcribing legal monologues of an attorney or an advocate describing the legal history of his/her client.

Technical Transcription: The transcription presents a monologue describing about some bridge design or describing something related to product design. It provides the opportunity to the present a written history of any technical aspect for present or future reference.

General Transcription: The transcription represents a monologue on general or daily routine issue or happening. This happening has nothing to do with technical, medical or legal aspects.

With transcription emerging as the most lucrative career option today, it has potential to offer you better resources and respectable living.

Article Source: EzineArticles.comArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pawan_Bahuguna

What is Transcription?


If you are thinking of a telecommunicating career then probably the first one that comes on your mind is transcription service. So many people think the profession of a transcription as a very complex and hard one and most of them don’t understand the word transcription in a better way as well. However, both the meaning of transcription and the profession of transcription are quite simple. Transcription is nothing but the art of converting recorded audio or video signals into a text format. It is just the ability of hearing the audio version quite perfectly and converting into written form in a consistent manner. Looks simple, right!!
However, the most important qualities that any body who is looking to take transcription as a profession should posses are:
• Great listening ability• Good typing skills (55 WPM or better)• Reliable computer• Good head phones• Perfect internet connection and• Sometimes a good phone
If you have all these with you and if you are excited of making your bread with the profession of transcription then you should just start providing these services. However, it is always better to undergo a bit of training from good training institutes before you take up transcription service providing as your profession.
People go for transcription services in two ways: as full time job and as a freelancing job. But mostly transcription comes as a regular work rather than as a freelancing job. However, it is also a better idea to take up transcription as your full time day time job and a freelancing job at home or in weekends. This helps you in not only getting a variety of jobs at work place but will also provide good amount of income.
Transcription services are of many kinds. There are generic transcription services where you don’t need any specialized background. Mainly transcriptions of presentations and class room discussions come under this category. However, there are quite a few types of services which need a specialized background. The two main types of those transcription services are medial transcription service and legal transcription service.
If you have a good legal background and if you are excited of these types of transcription services then you should go about this profession. It is always a better idea to join an established company before you start your own, may be at home. These services are normally not outsourced to low cost countries. Hence, this can be an exciting opportunity for young legal people in developed countries.
Medical transcription also requires a solid medical background. Currently, developing countries like India, China are getting great opportunities in this sector.
This article may be reproduced as long as the following resource box remains intact:
For complete help and advice on transcription, read the E-book “Home Based Transcription Guide - How to make Money Listening to Words!” created by Nathian Jackson. This E-book will give you complete details about transcription, and teach you the ways of earning money through transcription without spending a single penny. This E-Book can be found at http://www.transcriptiontips.co.uk/© 2006-2009 Nathian Jackson

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/