Medical Transcription Management Options and Opportunities
Free Info on our recommended Medical Transcription Program leading to an exciting home based medical transcription career
Many practicing and aspiring medical
transcriptionists inquire about the potential for career advancement
to in the medical transcription industry. This is not only
a valid question, but also a great goal. There are plenty
of opportunities for advancement in this rapidly growing industry.
Good transcription managers are in short supply. The reality
is that many practitioners would rather retain the flexibility
of being their own boss and doing what they enjoy doing on
a production basis. As a result, healthcare providers and
medical transcription service providers often have difficulty
attracting qualified transcriptionists to management level
roles. Accepting a management level role means giving up a
lot of autonomy and flexibility and assuming more responsibility.
Many practitioners are reluctant to make this tradeoff.
However, there are many people who thrive on the challenges
of working in a faster paced environment and in assuming higher
levels of authority and responsibility within an organization.
They see the benefits of advancing their career and increasing
their long term income potential as well as earning retirement
benefits. A medical transcription management position can
provide continued upward career mobility and result in a challenging
and rewarding career.
There are several options available
for anyone considering a career in medical transcription management.
The interesting thing to note is that the options continue
to grow as technology developments transform the industry.
Manager of Quality Assurance (QA)
A manager of QA does just what the title implies. He or she
reviews the transcribed documents that come in from home based
transcriptionists; evaluates them against a set of quality
criteria; and edits them to ensure they meet the quality standards
prescribed by the healthcare provider. QA experts look for
errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar - often using
sophisticated tools to assist them in this effort. They also
look for important errors in the documents that could lead
to misinterpretations of the data by a physician or other
health care provider. The QA manager is highly regarded and
is integral to the optimal flow of any transcription operation.
Medical Transcription Supervisor
Another important manager is the
Medical Transcription Supervisor. MT Supervisors work either
for a hospital or an outsourced service provider. The role
of the supervisor is to manage a team of transcription professionals.
The supervisor is responsible for scheduling, hiring, firing,
evaluating, and managing all final reports and workflows and
ensuring compliance with turnaround requirements. The supervisor
also ensures that all associates are equipped with a full
complement of equipment and resources to perform their jobs
as efficiently as possible. The transcription supervisor facilitates
the development of the MT staff by working with HR and training
departments to see that resources are consistently aligned
with peak workloads and that all specialty areas are properly
staffed to meet turnaround requirements. The supervisor generally
reports to a Medical Records Director of a hospital or possibly
a director or vice president of a transcription service provider.
A supervisor often possesses a CMT (certified medical transcriptionist)
credential from an certifying organization such as AHDI(Association
for Healthcare Documentation Integrity).
Medical Transcription Trainer
Another important management function is that of medical
transcription trainer. MT trainers will train transcriptionists
on new account types and specialty areas. Account specific
information will vary from client to client and each practitioner
will require training on the account specifics, turnaround
requirements, and special instructions relating to each account
they service. A trainer will be responsible for developing
the talent pool of the organization's staff and will work
closely with the MT supervisor to ensure that the staff is
optimally deployed for maximum effectiveness in meeting the
production needs of the department or organization. Cross
training is also an essential function of the trainer. It
is imperative that all members of a staff are capable of shifting
their focus at a moment's notice to accommodate an urgent
need resulting from either a new client startup or the absence
of one or more key transcriptionists. A trainer may also monitor
and recommend continuing education training opportunities
to associates throughout the year.
Medical Transcription Recruiter
The medical transcription recruiter
is increasingly one of the most important managers in an organization.
The job of a medical transcription recruiter is to continually
develop and replenish the base of talent within an organization.
The recruiter is constantly searching the country for qualified
transcriptionists to add to department or company staff. Recruiters
run ads, conduct interviews, and work with other managers
to forecast future hiring needs. They are also responsible
for identifying opportunities to increase retention among
existing associates.
Medical Records Director
The Medical Records Director is
typically a credentialed medical records specialist who oversees
all aspects of the medical record production and archiving
process. The director will typically manage all transcription
and coding supervisors and sometimes the billing functions
of a healthcare organization. A director will work with the
MT supervisor to ensure that all documents are transcribed
in accordance with contract requirements and that records
are made available in a timely and professional manner to
the healthcare professionals that need them. The secure electronic
storage and delivery of records is a key function of the medical
records director. This individual will need to continually
search out best practices and evaluate new and innovative
technologies to ensure that the department operates at peak
productive capacity. The health and well being of thousands
of patients depends on the quality production and timely dissemination
of health record information. The director is also responsible
to ensure that all processes, documentation, workflows, relationships,
and systems are HIPAA compliant. A director may possess one
or more credentials or designations from a certifying organization
such as AHDI, AHIMA, or AAPC. Credentials such as RHIA, RHIT,
CCS, CPC, and CMT demonstrate a long term commitment to the
profession and are evidence of the expertise developed by
the director over the years.
Voice Recognition Medical Transcription Specialist
The relatively recent emergence
of voice recognition specialists and supervisors is a good
example of how new career opportunities are created in response
to significant technology advancements in the industry. These
are position that were not even on the radar screen a decade
ago. As voice recognition technology gains a foothold in the
industry, more and more of the medical transcription workflow
is going to be processed through a speech recognition engine.
This will in no way eliminate the need for transcription,
but this technology will transform the role of a growing subset
of the workforce in the coming years. An increasing number
of MT's will use a speech recognition processed document as
a starting point for their transcription activities. Speech
recognition produced documents generally require significant
editing. This editing process will be performed by practitioners
whose role will change from traditional transcriptionist to
medical language editor. The technology behind voice recognition
processing is sufficiently different from the traditional
process that voice recognition supervisors may also be required
to manage these new activities.
Free Info on our recommended Medical Transcription Program leading to an exciting home based medical transcription career
|