Outsourcing doesn't always mean overseas, you

• Interesting perspective of outsourcing... - See Link
  • they talk about one of the benefits of outsourcing but - I don't see it happening
    • Wake up people..... - Betty
      • Outsourcing doesn't always mean overseas, you - mean offshoring, right? sm
        • off shoring means the company actually moves there. - of course I mean outsourcing to foreign lands. - Old MT
      • When are people going to look past the obvious "someone got my job" - and see the bigger picture? NM
        • OH, I just love it! - Betty
    • Maybe it's what you're NOT seeing that counts. - NM
    • Some interesting facts... - SM
      • Well, then how come people could live comfortable on one income back then? huh? - Don't kid yourself
  • John Stossel's new book makes this same claim. Interesting. nm - hvlmt

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I don't know where you have been for the past several years but a whole bunch of people are screaming bloody murder about this to their congressmen/women.  There are plenty of petitions being circulated to put a stop to foreign outsourcing.  Most MTs I know have not only sent letters to congress but have called the senators from their states to complain about this.  My friends refuse to see a physician who outsources medical records - and they ask up front who does the transcription and make it know that their records are not to be sent to a foreign country. 

There's lots of stuff going on.  Do a search on the Web and you will more than likely more than you ever imagined.

I've been reading some very interesting posts regarding off-shore outsourcing.  I worked as a supervisor in a large MTSO in the 1990s when this subject was being "bantered" around the office, but it was my mistake that I didn't start taking it more seriously at that time.

As I have seen transcription issues evolve over the past 10+ years, I can think back to a time when, in fact, we had lots of "visitors" coming to our office, looking at servers, etc. in what I quite naively thought were server upgrades.  Some of these so-called "visitors" were indeed of foreign descent.  I lived in the southwest at the time so there was a fair amount of "overseas occupants" and I didn't think much about it.  Now, in hindsight, it's plainly and perhaps painfully clear that this was the beginning of outsourcing.

One thing I will say upfront is the fact that overseas outsourcing companies employ smart and very patient people.  I don't doubt this very concept of $.03 cpl transcripton is very palatable to foreign entities where there is so much poverty.  I also remember reading in some of the transcription magazines around that time that doctors and nurses were quitting their jobs in India to transcribe because they made more money!  I laughed outloud when I read that, but I guess the joke was on us.   I also remember reading ads for medical editors in Saudi Arabia for $40-50,000 with a full housing allowance, but the employee had to sign a two-year retainer agreement.  One MT I knew took a job in Saudi Arabia.  I did hear from another MT who was writing to her that there were huge personal safety issues and she would be glad when her time was up so she could "come home."

If we want to know how persistent outsourcers can be, especially with medical office/hospital administrative staff making critical decisions without actual hands-on experience and think MTs are just "typists," just look at our current situation.  We in the USA don't seemingly have the patience to look at the broader picture and the dollars matter more.  Don't get me wrong but the spiraling out-of-control cost of healthcare has always been an issue and with more sophisticated scanners, research, etc. being necessary just to compete with the hospital/clinic across the street, dollars have to be taken from somewhere and voila! it's comes from  'discretionary funds' called MT.  There is only one very large medical institution still in his country who tried outsourcing in the beginning and when the quality of the work was so poor they wouldn't stand for it anymore, they cancelled the remainder of the "standard" contract and vowed never again to outsource whatever the cost.   To this day, they are still one of the most prestigious medical centers in the world and all transcription is being done in-house.

I truly believe there is safety in numbers and hope I live along enough to see a radical change from off-shore outsourcing to bringing MTs "bread-and-butter" home where it belongs!

http://pop.youtube.com/watch?v=vxj1RDbp_iE&feature=user

Sorry, but with all the serious stuff this morning ,had to send this !!!!

The system is not accepting the 3-digit password, after I write out my message, why not?

A friend of mine is moving to Italy and I am really considering going with her.  Just wanting to know if anyone has lived outside of the US (not necessarily in Italy, just anywhere).

Thanks

When companies state no overseas applications or solicitations does that include Overseas Military?? I have DSL and we have a US Post office here on base. Curious cause i'm about to start school and want to know it wont be wasted while we are stationed overseas.

Thanks!

Does anyone have any sources for info on overseas MT jobs?!  I have been Googling but haven't come up with a single MT position in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, or Costa Rica -- only Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Dubai.

Thanks.

If you worked for an American company say in Scotland all well and good, transcribing for U.S hospitals and the work contained in the U.S., BUT if you transcribe for British or European hospitals/doctors, the work contained in those countries, it is VERY difficult.  The spelling is very different.  I was born and raised in Britain x25 years and when I started working here in the U.S. I found the American spelling very difficult - although less characters per word.  British spelling adds a lot.  Just a thought!  Plus the accents are hard too.  They don't say period, they say full stop which sometimes sounds like part of the text, but you have probably already experienced that.  Good luck, it sounds wonderful.

Can a U.S. citizen travel while working for an American transcription company, as long as they have a legal U.S. residence?  Is there any legal reason not to hire someone who likes to travel and visit foreign countries while they work?  I'm not talking about off-shoring. 

Maybe we can start by not utilizing their services and getting the word out.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/popups/exporting.america/content.html

have you ever asked/educated your friends and family about the fact their medical records may be transcribed overseas and their personal information may be shipped over there, as well?

I was talking with my husband about this issue, and he was oblivious even though I have done transcription for almost 7 years.  (He was also pretty PO'd that with all the money we pay for insurance, our medical records could be coming from third-world ESL transcriptionists).

What if every person who went to their doctor said I want my medical records transcribed in the US by US MTs.  While writing to the president is a good idea, isn't educating each and every healthcare consumer a better idea?  I like the idea of a hospital/clinic having to post a disclaimer that your personal medical information is being transcribed overseas. 

I bet then their pockets would get a little deeper and all these MTSOs that are making money off shipping our work overseas would have a lot less business and a lot less power over us.  If veterans hospitals and Washington DC area hospitals cannot send their records overseas, why don't the rest of us have the same rights?  Are the politicians really going to be responsive to our letters if they know their records are safely done in the US?

I think this movement has to come at least in part from the healthcare consumers, i.e., everyone, as we do not have the money or the mouthpiece that MTSOs do.  It will empower the MTSOs trying to keep jobs here to offer better wages and expand their businesses while keeping American MTs employed. 

Go by medical offices and talk to them in your native tongue.  They just LOVE hearing it.   When visiting in places like Florida be sure to ask about the last snow storm they had last winter - that's very impressive!   In the northern states talk about the warm sunny 70 degrees in February in their state and ask if they're ready for that this year.  

Be sure to take brochures showing the fabulous quality of work you do.   Be sure you include impressive sentences such as:  "Dr. Jones said he would eat ketchup with the patient to review his lab work."   After all they don't find it cute to type it like it was dictated.... "Dr. Jones said he would catch up with the patient to review his lab work." 

Lastly don't forget to give them laminated card including all 25 digits they will have to use to call your native country.  Be sure they're aware that all of your employees in your native country have new names.... Ben, Mary, Thomas and Amy are of course popular choices.   Potential clients like getting a warm fuzzy feeling by talking to "Mary" who has a very heavy accent to the point that they can't understand her talking.  But hey - she has an American name (woo-hoo!) so all is forgiven!

Here's a point to ponder.

US citizens get upset over illegal aliens stealing jobs and employers state "we hire them because they do the work cheaply".   US citizens are demanding to congress that this stop (which I 100% support!).

US citizens don't get outraged, though, when jobs are outsourced out of the US for the same reasons and demand  to their lawmakers that it stop.

Why not?  Regardless of how you look at it.... illegal immigrants and cheap overseas laborers take away American jobs initially done by Americans.  Do we not stand up to overseas labor only because we don't directly pay for healthcare for their people by giving them Medicaid, give them foodstamps, housing, etc?  We do in a way give them all of this by giving away our jobs... therefore allowing them to make money to buy these things but yet the American citizens are left without jobs, healthcare, etc.