HomeThe economic downturn and transcription career
Will the current "economic downturn"
affect the job market for medical transcriptionists?
~Answer ~
Okay, this is my opinion only, but it's based on my years of experience living life through several "economic downturns," the medical field in general, and medical transcription more specifically. Read on.
~ Not much impact ~
So far I have not seen much of an impact on medical transcription work in the current economic climate. Yes, there is an impact on the things that support medical transcription, those being hospitals, clinics, urgent care centers, etc. There has been and will continue to be downsizing, closings, mergers of hospitals, clinics, etc.
But this downsizing in the medical community has been going on for many, many years more because of cutting reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid patients and not because of the current economic situation. Hospitals in particular have found that they have to get "leaner and meaner" when it comes to their staff and the services they offer. This has meant that many of the not-for-profit charitable hospitals have been sold to for-profit companies.
But in all the upheaval, there are still 300 million or so people in this country who need health care services. There are still physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, therapists of all kinds (i.e. physical, occupational, chemical dependency) and case managers who continue to see just as many patients as they ever did, do just as much dictation as they ever did, and need a transcript of that dictation accurately typed and placed in the patient's chart.
~ Electronic medical records ~
People have asked me "Won't electronic medical records put transcriptionists out of business?" Electronic medical records (EMR) has not seemed to have put a damper on medical transcription work. Yes, there are some offices who pride themselves in having accomplished their goal of "going paperless." But that's a small percentage. Some are hybrid offices, meaning some things are typed into the chart at the bedside --- mostly nurse notes or medical assistant preliminary history information -- but the MD/PA/ARNP still dictate their H&P,consultation, discharge summary, operative report as before.
~ What has changed~
The only big change in the last few years is how those dictated reports get typed...either into a speech recognition system where the transcriptionist becomes a medical editor of what is on the screen, or traditionally typed in full by the transcriptionist.
~ What has not changed ~
But no matter how it gets typed and placed in the chart, the work still must be done and there's still plenty of it.
I, in particular, have more work than I can handle. I'm currently assigned to type for a mental health clinic with backup accounts in a local teaching hospital's ER and a dermatology physician clinic. The amounts of patients these kinds of clinics see in a day is growing by leaps and bounds. They have had to hire more staff so they can accommodate the extra patient load.
Sure, the economic downturn has most probably affected the patient load to an extent. If a person loses their job, they and their family may also have lost their health care coverage. So they won't be going in for those routine physicals any more, and they'll suffer through a minor illness instead of going to the doctor like they would have before.
But have you been to an ER, an urgent care center or a physician office lately? Are they ever empty? No.
~ People still get sick. ~
~ People still go to the doctor. ~
~ Reports are still dictated and must be typed. ~
~ There is still a large demand for medical transcriptionists and medical editors. ~
~ The retiring MT workforce ~
A large number of the medical transcriptionists working today have been working for decades. Guess what? They're getting ready to retire or scale back their work hours.
The national transcription companies know that and are ALWAYS recruiting. They know they need to fill those holes. And they can't fill all the holes with overseas help. Yes, there seems to be a trend toward shipping work overseas, but there still seems to be usually enough work for the US transcriptionist. Sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper to find it (and really deep if you don't want to do editing). And some clients don't want overseas MTs doing their work, so I feel there will always be work for the US transcriptionist.
The smaller regional companies are also desperate for new transcriptionists. The regional company I work for is always looking for experienced transcriptionists because there is extra client business available to grow their company but they can't find enough transcriptionists to do the work!
~ Bottom Line ~
Medical transcription is still a very viable career in this "current economic downturn." Whether it is called a downturn or a recession or even if that recession explodes into a depression, I feel the transcription career will still be solidly standing when the dust has settled.
