April 2010 Newsletter

Medical Transcription-Career Prospects are Bright!
by: Dawn Moreno, Meditec Program Manager/Instructor

Many prospective medical transcription students and new MTs are asking the question, “How will speech recognition software affect medical transcriptionist jobs?” More and more electronic medical record programs are incorporating VR (voice/speech recognition) technology into their platform. Don’t worry. There is still plenty of work for MTs because the VR transcript needs a lot of editing. Words that voice recognition will confuse include their, there, they are, etc. Also VR tends to leave words out such as a, the, etc., and it frequently confuses words and medications. Punctuation always needs to be corrected in any VR report as well. To see VR in action there is an interesting webinar for free download here.

Basically how it works is that the MT listens to the audio file as usual, but instead of typing the report from scratch, an already unedited document of the file displays on their screen. The MT listens to the file while reading the unedited document and makes corrections along the way. Corrections include grammar, punctuation, missing words, incorrect formatting, and wrong words. Editing VR reports is faster, obviously, than typing them from scratch. Some MTs spend part of their day doing VR editing and the other part doing straight transcription. This adds variety to the workday.

Students sometimes worry that voice recognition will take over our jobs, but technology is not something to fear. At times technology will change the way we do our jobs, but an intelligent human brain is still needed somewhere in the process. For medical transcription, no amount of automation can replace the need for a thinking person on the other end of the software.

Twenty or so years ago, MTs were still doing MT on typewriters, then on word processors, then computers. Cassette tapes used to be the way dictation was received and played. Then, came the advent of the WAV pedal, which has made transcribing audio so much easier. Today, some doctors are using EMR (electronic medical record) systems with embedded VR technology, and many MTs are typing directly into EMR platforms or are editing VR transcripts in an EMR platform. So, will there be “less” need for MTs in the future? I really don’t think so, because as this technology is taking hold, we also have a generation of baby boomers entering middle age.

The question to ask is: Are doctors LESS busy nowadays? Anyone who has tried to make a medical appointment for a non-urgent situation will clearly agree that doctors are slammed with patients from the moment they enter their office until the moment they leave to go home. As the population ages, there is no sign of any decrease in the need for quality medical care or the need for healthcare personnel. The health and legal fields are pretty recession proof. The Occupational Outlook Handbook feels that the field is stable and growing through 2018. Here is an exact excerpt:

Employment change. Employment of medical transcriptionists is projected to grow by 11 percent from 2008 to 2018, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Demand for medical transcription services will continue to be spurred by a growing and aging population. Older age groups receive proportionally greater numbers of medical tests, treatments, and procedures that require documentation. A high level of demand for transcription services also will be sustained by the continued need for electronic documentation that can be shared easily among providers, third-party payers, regulators, consumers, and health information systems. Growing numbers of medical transcriptionists will be needed to amend patients’ records, edit documents from speech recognition systems, and identify discrepancies in medical reports.

Contracting out transcription work overseas and advancements in speech recognition technology are not expected to significantly reduce the need for well-trained medical transcriptionists. Outsourcing transcription work abroad—to countries such as India, Pakistan, Philippines, Barbados, and Canada—has grown more popular as transmitting confidential health information over the Internet has become more secure; however, the demand for overseas transcription services is expected only to supplement the demand for well-trained domestic medical transcriptionists. In addition, reports transcribed by overseas medical transcription services usually require editing for accuracy by domestic medical transcriptionists before they meet U.S. quality standards.

Speech recognition technology allows physicians and other health professionals to dictate medical reports to a computer, which immediately creates an electronic document. In spite of the advances in this technology, the software has been slow to grasp and analyze the human voice, the English language, and the medical vernacular with all its diversity. As a result, there will continue to be a need for skilled medical transcriptionists to identify and appropriately edit the inevitable errors created by speech recognition systems and to create a final document.

Job prospects. Job opportunities will be good, especially for those who are certified. Hospitals will continue to employ a large percentage of medical transcriptionists, but job growth will be in other industries. An increasing demand for standardized records should result in rapid employment growth in physicians’ offices, especially in large group practices.

(Excerpted from http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos271.htm#outlook)

What Do Medical Coders Do?
Many people are now interested in pursuing healthcare careers because they are virtually recession proof. Medical coding has become a hot career choice in the last few years but some people are unsure of what exactly does a medical coder do.

Medical coders work in doctors’ offices, clinics, hospitals, and even sometimes at home. When a patient sees a doctor, he will dictate what happened during the visit. A medical transcriptionist takes that audio and transcribes it creating the legal document known as the patient medical record. The medical coder then takes that record and abstracts the information needed to send to the insurance company for payment.

The medical coder is looking for the diagnosis, procedures performed during the visit, and any supplies used. Insurance companies use alpha numeric codes to represent the diagnosis, procedures, and supplies. These “codes” are found in reference books such as the ICD 9 CM (contains diagnosis codes for diseases), and the CPT (which contains procedure codes for medical procedures). The medical coder is trained to use these reference materials and/or software to find the appropriate codes to represent the diagnosis, procedures, and supplies.

This sounds relatively easy, but there are other factors to consider such as was the problem caused by an accident, or was it a late effect (effect that happened after another problem). These and other criteria affect how the coder goes about locating the proper codes. Granted, this explanation is rather brief and scaled down but basically outlines how medical coding is done.

Medical coders must have some training in medical terminology to understand how to abstract the information they need from the patient medical record quickly and accurately. They need a comprehensive and detailed understanding of the procedures involved in medical coding itself, and some understanding of health insurance and how it works.

The ideal candidate for a medical coding career is a person who enjoys working with the patient medical record, enjoys doing research, working in a medical setting, and who is detail oriented. It takes about 3-6 months to learn how to code accurately. Jobs are available in local doctor’s offices, clinics, hospitals, and some coders now work at home. Medical transcriptionists make GREAT medical coders.

Every year the coding reference books are updated, and rules and regulations change frequently, so medical coders are expected to get continuing education through webinars, classes, professional publications, etc. Additionally, there are several options available for coders to become certified. Certification is not always necessary to work in a doctor’s office, but is nearly always required to do hospital coding. Certification is a goal that medical coding students should consider and work toward. The training through Meditec is more than adequate for the student to sit for the AHIMA CCA credentialing exam, and some of our students have gone right into sitting for the CCS exam through AHIMA as well. Meditec’s online medical coding program is comprehensive, interactive, and interesting.

Words of the Month

In both the medical and legal fields, it is important to develop your vocabulary. Each month we will list a few medical and legal words to assist you in building your vocabulary. To make this more interesting for students, the words will be listed below, and the definitions at the bottom of the newsletter. See if you can find the definitions on your own first. Also, it’s a good idea to create a “vocabulary” notebook that is tabbed alphabetically. Good Luck!

Medical Terms:

Oncology Terms:

1. fungating
2. medullary

Legal Terms:

1. codicil
2. Collusion
Interesting Web Sites

Both medical and legal students and new graduates will find these sites interesting and fun. Enjoy!

http://www.law.com – Interesting law site and has a legal dictionary

http://www.mthelpline.com – Has a medical dictionary and a lot of sample medical reports that you can review

Let’s Get Organized

Many adults are looking into online educational training that is self-paced. This type of training is extremely flexible in nature and allows the working adult to study and progress at their own pace. Many of Meditec’s students are working adults, or moms who are at home with children. The many demands in our daily lives can make balancing studying, work, and family very difficult. It can be done though, but it takes thought and organization to make it happen…. smoothly. This article will outline a few tips to assist in organizing your life in a way that will help you to accomplish your goals without sacrificing in other areas of your life.

Tip #1: Make a Schedule- When you have a busy life with many things to do, you can’t just “wing” it and expect everything to work out. Sit down and create a schedule for yourself. Start with when you get up and go through the hours of the day until bedtime. Allow time for household chores, other work you may be required to do, family time, meal times, etc. Then, assess your schedule and see what you can add, delete, and how much time each activity will take. Then, add in your “me” time to study. Some students are only able to schedule in 5 hours a week, but if that is a CONSISTENT 5 hours, it adds up, and brings you closer to your goal. An average amount of study time is approximately 10-15 hours per week. It’s great if you can do more, but don’t feel bad if you have so much going on in your life that 5 hours is all you can spare to reach your goals.

Tip #2: Share Your Intentions- It’s important to share your schedule and intentions with your family and friends, and explain how important getting organized is to you so that you can meet your goals. Friends may need to understand that you are not available to chat on the phone as much as you once were, and maybe you need to make family members understand that you need their help in order to stay on task. For example, maybe family can help with cooking, cleaning, childcare, errands, etc that you used to do but now would like assistance with. Don’t be afraid to request help. Also, always remember to express gratitude for the help you do receive, and always schedule in time to just relax and have fun with your loved ones.

Tip #3: Time Saving Tips- Look for ways to cut down on the time it takes to do particular tasks. For example using a Crockpot to cook a nice family meal cuts down a lot on meal preparation time. If you have a larger home and cleaning is a problem, possibly hiring a neighborhood teenager to assist you would be worth the “spend.”

Tip #4: Don’t Get Discouraged- When first working with a schedule, the tendency is to schedule in too much activity and it’s easy to get sidetracked. Be flexible with your schedule and even try to schedule in some “free” time.

By organizing your time with a schedule, enlisting the help of family and friends, and being flexible, you can meet your personal and career goals without sacrificing the other important areas of your life.

Student Spotlight
Meet new Meditec Student, Jamie F.

“I am a Mom to two little boys. The oldest will be three in April and the younger is 10 months. They tend to keep me pretty busy. I am able to stay home with them and watch them grow. We love to take walks to the park, play outside, and just generally have fun spending time together and watching each other grow. We are getting excited about Spring because we love the outdoors. We are preparing to go camping, boating, and ATV riding. We also enjoy the Spring and Summer weather.

“I became interested in becoming an MT about 2 years ago when we were preparing to have another child. With the cost of daycare I was looking for alternative income. I have a friend who is an MT and she recommended I look into it. Well needless to say I did and I actually graduated from another MT school over a year ago. I have decided to gain more education and experience in the MT field and have chosen Meditec to help me gain this needed experience. One reason for choosing Meditec is the Jump Start internship program that is available. They are the only school that I have found which offers a program like this, and I believe this is much needed experience in this field. I have also found the staff to be wonderful to work with and very approachable. I look forward to working with them in the near future and jumping into the Meditec program.”

Jamie, the staff of Meditec welcomes you. We are looking forward to working with you and assisting you in meeting your career goals. Sincerely, Dawn

Every month we’d like to highlight a Meditec student or graduate of the month. If you are a current Meditec student or graduate and would like to be highlighted in our newsletter, please send a brief introduction about yourself, why you chose the career path that you did, and what made you decide to choose Meditec to DawnM@meditec.com.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS FOR APRIL
Some people are having it a bit tough in this economy, and/or are facing tragic personal circumstances. It’s easy to fall into a negative cycle of thinking during hard times. Using positive affirmations, is a way to change your thoughts and your thinking and to attract better circumstances into your life. Enjoy!

Spring is the time for renewal and positive change, I am attracting great opportunities to myself.
Just like the April showers bring May flowers, I view hard times as only temporary states of being, and the flowers of life are just around the corner.

MEDICAL FUNNIES:
Medical Record Blunders
1. The skin was moist and dry.

2. Rectal exam revealed a normal size thyroid. (Long fingers?)

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

4. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life until 1989 when she got a divorce.

ANSWERS TO WORDS OF THE MONTH
Medical Terms:
Oncology Terms
1. fungating- Mushrooming pattern of growth in which tumor cells pile one on top of another and project from a tissue surface.
2. medullary- Pertaining to large, soft, fleshy tumors.

Legal Terms:
1. codicil- A supplement or addition to a will, not necessarily disposing of the entire estate but modifying, explaining, or otherwise qualifying the will in some way.
2. collusion- An agreement between two or more persons to defraud another or to obtain something forbidden by law.