Are You Cut Out to Work at Home in Medical Transcription Mom?

By Charles Huckaby, published May 13, 2007
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This is not my story - it's my wife's story. I'm a writer among other things. She's the home medical transcriptionist! She had been working in medical offices for 30 years and wanted a change - namely to work from home. This was just the opportunity she needed to pursue a dream... to work at home doing medical transcription. Here's what we learned together about this process.

Unlike most articles you'll read, this one could save you thousands of dollars.That's what it will cost you to get trained in medical transcription. That's money you'll have wasted if the field is really not for you.

For starters, you need to know who employs medical transcriptionists these days. Please note that many "telecommute" using DSL or other broadband internet connections so one does not have to live "near" any of these entities to work in the field.
  • Doctor's offices or clinics
  • Hospitals
  • Transcription services
  • Radiology and pathology departments
  • Insurance companies
  • Medical libraries
  • Government
  • Legal offices
  • Veterinary medical facilities
There are other smaller niche markets, but you'll discover them once you get working in the field.

Now that you've seen the variety of companies that hire folks to do Home Medical Transcription Work - how can you know if you really want to do this before investing $4,000 in training and tools?

First, people ask me often, is it possible to get medidcal training in transcription and work from home? Yes, if you have the right knowledge and training.

In fact, if you have a DSL connection you can make decent money from anywhere in the United States doing home medical transcription. No, all the work ISN'T going overseas! Industry insiders say that soon, Home Medical Transcription will be joined with Medical Coding to be an even better opportunity.

Before we go any further, let me reiterate something. This is not "armchair speculation" about Home Medical Transcription Work.

Everything written here is based on my wife's efforts to create her own Home Medical Transcription business and what we learned along the way.

It's like "reality TV" without the TV and eating crawling, slimy bugs I suppose...

Takeaways
  • Can you type?
  • Do you know/can you learn medical language?
  • If you answered "yes" to both, you may have a career in work at home medical transcription awaiting!
Did You Know?
Contracting out transcription work overseas and advancements in speech recognition technology are not expected to significantly reduce the need for well-trained medical transcriptionists.
Comments
Showing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
 
 
The Approval Committee for Certificate Programs (ACCP), a cooperative venture between the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (formerly AAMT) and the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) now approves medical transcription programs. (Accreditation is not available for MT or for medical coding programs--it requires a site visit by an accrediting agency.) Prospective MT students should consider attending an approved school. They are listed on the AHDI website here: http://www.ahdionline.org/scriptcontent/mtapproved.cfm Approved schools have undergone curriculum reviews that show that they follow the AHDI Model Curriculum, which was developed by a group of medical transcription industry experts, including supervisors, managers, MTs, and educators. Only graduates of AHDI-approved schools are eligible to apply for the Department of Labor's Registered Apprenticeship program. Good luck to future MTs! Susan

Posted on 06/23/2008 at 8:06:33 AM

 
I really don't know. Beginning MT's are supposed to type 80 WPM. Advanced MT's use a short hand system that lets them type "mi." for "Myocardial infarction" for instance that saves time after you set it up.

Posted on 08/30/2007 at 1:08:00 PM

 
this is a really good article...how fast does your wife type a minute?...

Posted on 08/30/2007 at 1:08:00 PM

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