For the past year I have been working on a project with a partner in the UK for the NHS. Throughtout the process, I've done extensive research on the competitive landscape, and found myself looking way beyond the simple cost equation that many think of with MT, which they view as a commodity.
Let's deal with reality:
The need for clinical documentation is not going away. Even the EMR companies are conceding that transcription is still a critical piece of the equation. I'll save my rant on Voice Recognition as the enabler for EMR for another day. For now, let's just assume that there is alot of work to be done, and not enough medical transcriptionists in the US or UK to do the work in a traditional model. Add rising demand to shrinking resource, and you get rising costs - or...opportunity for a new player to change the rules. Like other aspects of IT, outsourcing, offshoring, outasking, whatever you want to call it has created enormous investment and development in countries like India, the Philippines, and several others.
It is what it is:
Right, wrong, or indifferent, we are all now accustomed to working thru endless telephone system mazes and extended hold times, only to be connected to someone we cannot understand. The companies who have sent there service and call centers overseas have done it for a reason - to drive down costs and be more competitive in the marketplace.
The same has happened with MT. And for a handful of years, alot of companies grew dramatically with this model and were able to leverage technology and a less expensive labor component to grow their business. And customers, looking for savings, made the jump.
Changing World:
But now, those same companies that utilize offshore labor are feeling the bite of the changing global marketplace. MT is not returning the margin it once was, and those invested overseas are looking at ways to leverage those English speaking workers into a higher margin business, such as Call Centers. Make no mistake, this in not to bash the offshore workers. But the shrinking margins have led to more competition from other applications, making a tight labor market even tighter. The result is a higher costs, slower turnaround time, lower quality, and frustrated customers.
Today's Reality:
I could go on discussing costs vs production sacrifices, but I'll let you look at the financials of the large MTSOs out there to reach your own conclusion. I won't get in to broken English, natural disasters or the political and business dynamics of working in these countries. To me - one issue trumps them all.
As we all drive toward EMR, EHR, PHR, and all the other TLAs (three letter acronyms) of the community health networks, the overriding concern must be security and privacy. In the US we have HIPAA, and Europe has it's own Data Protection legislation. And yet we hear again, even this week about medical records being for sale in India. Or the story about an MT in Pakistan threatening to post a California hospital's record online because payment was not received through a long line of subcontractors. How can a hospital administrator really afford to take that risk? Is there really regulation that includes verification, Chain of Custody, and real enforcement?
Bottomline:
I would contend that a health care provider has a sacred obligation to protect its medical records. This is not talking someone through how to solve a PC problem. Obviously, the industry is paying attention. Stronger HIPAA regulations are on the way, and MTSOs are all taking different directions in trying to deal with the shifting sands.
My take - the ones who utilize a comprehensive Voice Recognition process, (read - not just a tool or Dragon), to drive productivity in their primarily US-based workforce, will win the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment