Awful Future Prospects For Medical Transcription Career In India
Reality Check: Proofer – 1200 LPD, 24 days a month: What is your take home pay? Do all companies, in one way or another, have the same pay package? Have u ever had a pay hike in the last 5 to 10 years?
For which my instant reaction was this:
Medical transcription is not for anyone who dreams about good career progression prospects but for any lazy duck who want to make just a living from home, killing time cursing stars, and repeatedly uttering “There is no better opportunity than this for the time being for my credentials at this age!” Come out of the cocoon and look out for a world of opportunities. All you need is a change in your vision. I’m sorry for having it said harshly but that is the bitter reality.
Let me elaborate the story of medical transcription in India from the beginning, my foray into it, and why now I say “awful future prospects for medical transcription career in India.”
Around two decades ago, before the Internet became prevalent in India, medical transcription came to India, just for three factors:
- Availability of abundant English proficient workforce.
- Wage arbitrage between US and India due to USD/INR exchange ratio.
- Convenient time difference between India and US.
The Indian economy was opening up. With less job prospects and comparatively low salaries in all other sectors at that time, the salaries of MTs were far attractive. Medical transcription companies were selling dreams that MTs could own BMWs and could lead a posh life the rest of their lives. As a result, many joined the bandwagon; don’t be surprised to hear that even some Indian doctors did! As I said earlier in an interview and in the author’s biography on this blog, it was the need of the hour for me too to jump into this bandwagon.
In the sunny days, the bottom level Indian MTs, proofers, and quality analysts shared one or one-and-a-half cents each per line. The cream was eaten up by the managements and the owners of medical transcription companies as administration expenses and profits. They got ship loads of Indians to work for pennies. Indians needed a three or sometimes even a four-tier setup to ensure quality because English was their second language but still it was affordable as the cost at each level was just a pea. On the other side, an MT in the US had a pay per line even more than all these levels combined with just a supervisory level above to monitor the workflow and tackle those blabbermouth doctors.
Trouble began with the US economy lodged in toilet and the debt clock tirelessly ticking. Every healthcare provider in the US had only a scapegoat to decrease costs, the transcription costs. They can’t reduce the salaries of doctors, nurses or rather anyone else in the healthcare chain because of having to end up with losing skilled personnel; however, not with the MTs. Rigorous outsourcing and voice recognition softwares helped to a great extent in accomplishing the mission of cutting costs. Further, the thrust of EMR under Obamacare aggravated the situation. The medical transcription companies had to further cut costs to survive. They were looking at every possible way to shrink the transcription costs, cutting intermediaries, axing US MTs etc. It’s still a great struggle for the US MTs sticking behind; many left to pursue some other career while the ones still sticking are in dilemma having a tiger by its tail.
It became a matter of survival of the fittest. Big fishes swallowed the smaller ones. Throughout this evolution, the paychecks offshore remained stagnant or dwindled in terms of inflation. In the last 10 years, every other job in the private and public sector had umpteen upward wage revisions to include the living costs in accordance with the inflation. Salaries of every job in the market have increased multiple times. Only the Indian MTs were left behind. The 10K or 20K you were receiving a decade ago has now the one-tenth of its value. Since salaries are production based, transcription is either do or die! You type, type and type to make the ends meet. I remember here the Tolstoy story “How much land does a man require?” Just six feet!
Five years back or at the most three years back, it wasn’t a pathetic situation; however, the scenario is a lot different now. With the United Progressive Alliance in power for two consecutive terms, cost of living has gone through the roof. Hyperinflation is the order of the day though the rulers call it economic growth. As a result, even illiterate cooks, truck drivers, bar benders, masons, carpenters, electricians or you name any job – all of them are earning these days more than an MT! India is short of labor these days for all those jobs or rather almost all jobs! (Just to know the gravity of labor shortage in all sectors, here is a quick interesting information for you: According to a recent survey, 2,000,000 trucks are lying idle in India for the need of drivers though a trucker can clock in 30K a month.)
You could have owned a decent home at the outskirts of an Indian city for a six digit figure a decade back which you can now get only for an eight digit figure. Your paycheck can be considered good if you can afford to own a home with 5.1 years of your median household income. Beyond that, it is seriously unaffordable either due to real estate prices being high or your income being low, according to the International Housing Affordability Survey, a yardstick recommended by World Bank and United Nations. How about medical transcription paychecks in India? Can you dare to own a home with the paychecks you receive these days? With the current paychecks and cost of living in India, you cannot own a home with your income even if you work as a medical transcriptionist for your whole life!
So by staying back in medical transcription for 10, 15, or 20K at the max, mind that you are just making a fool of yourself by pledging yourself to earn less than all those jobs that I mentioned earlier just for the sake of clinging to a white-collar job and for the laziness of working from home on a computer. Forget about those medical transcription companies that mushroomed and vanished at the speed of light. You still can win just the bread and nothing more than that throughout your life if you stay back. Instead of trying to straighten the dog’s tail, try to find the best alternative possible.
I can read your mind of obvious questions, which I am trying to answer below.
Do you think the situation might change in the future?
I don’t think things will improve in the future or medical transcription could fetch you enough bread throughout your lifetime. If you look at the past decade, USD/INR exchange ratio has moved from 1:39 to 1:55 now. That hasn’t done anything good for an Indian MT due to the various obvious reasons that I mentioned earlier. Moreover, if conditions are favorable and Philippines transcription companies start competing to provide medical transcription services at cheaper rates than India, all of this business could find way to that country or any other attractive destination for that reason. Moreover, as a rarest possibility if there comes a ban onshore on outsourcing confidential healthcare data overseas, which a few US politicians have been vouching for a long time, medical transcription business in India will come to a standstill. Not doomsaying but cannot be ruled out completely.
Okay, I have already forayed to into MT, how to get out of this crap then?
Good question. That is what I intended in my Facebook comment. Change your mindset. On the other side of the India growth story, a million other opportunities have opened up for the deserving. The only difficulty lies in identifying the right shoes to slip in. View your stint in medical transcription as a passing cloud. Improve your credentials. Keep your mind always open for new opportunities. Take a second job. Build multiple income streams. Take Internet to your advantage. Start an online business or rather any business catering to the needs of the society around you. None of you might have had an education to fit into the shoes of a medical transcriptionist, isn’t it? Fortunately, as compared to the US, almost the entire MT workforce has good credentials. So try to find a job in the discipline you earned a degree. Keep moving.
It is easy said than done! Do you practice what you preach?
Of course yes. I am into medical transcription since 1999, and I have been working for a decade directly to a service provider in the US, transcribing anywhere from 1500 lines a day to at times even 4000+ lines a day at a competent rate.
However, the going got tough last year when my employer expressed his inability to continue providing the same pay even after staggering the paychecks for months. I had no other option than to bid bye last April. However, anticipating such fate I had already built up other income streams to cushion up on. I am less dependent on medical transcription now for my sustenance.
What is your message to newcomers willing to enter medical transcription?
For youngsters, I already posted a change of thought last year that medical transcription is not suitable for newcomers. Don’t take up medical transcription as a career. Choose medical transcription only if you have limitations from choosing anything else. Choose it if you are in compulsion to work from home for any reason. Choose it for part-time extra income. Don’t fall prey to any medical transcription course luring you citing a lucrative career. If at all you join any training course, make sure that you will be absorbed to live production immediately after training. Don’t join in any course that doesn’t come with a 100% placement guarantee. Know that there are no growth prospects in this career. There won’t be any salary hikes or even any statutory employee benefits. You will just remain a contractual labor. You will not get a decent pay compared to the same effort you put elsewhere. No labor union or political party can help you in this regard as the strings are mostly beyond the borders, onshore. If you turn back and look at your accomplishments compared with that of your friends of the same age and credentials, say after 5, 10, or 15 years, you will be regretting a lot!
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51 Responses to “Awful Future Prospects For Medical Transcription Career In India”
Dear Raj,
Firstly, I loved your style of writing.
Yes, it is very much obvious whatever you mentioned above. I too had the same notion as you mentioned some 4-5 years ago and already I am in process of now continuing my education.
I know some MT Pros are happy for the money that they are making, but what about the “Intelligent Hard Work”? We everybody know the nature of the job. Is the salary we get is compensating the ability and intelligence that one should posses to get the job done? The obvious answer is “No.”
Yes, as you mentioned salaries and other scenarios considerably changed of other profession, but standstill for MT.
Talking about “What to do next”, I had the same thought as you notioned above and request others to choose and move ahead with the one, which are best for them as far as practicable. It is true nothing gonna change for sure, discussing and complaining all the Ins and Outs of the current scene in this profession. The only thing we can do when we cannot change the thing and things are not in our control is that “We will change our self for a good”.
Oh! Yes! I am happy for the fact that I am already in a process of coming out of the crap and will slowly and slowly be less dependent on this.
Regards,
Binaya Bhandari
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Let me break up the living costs that haunt me for a three-member family.
- Educating a child for one year: Rs. 60,000, that is 5,000 a month.
- Rent, maintenance, society charges: 10,000 per month.
- Electricity charges at home: 1500 a month.
- Conveyance, petrol, diesel, transportation costs of the family: 2000 to 5000.
- Cooking gas: 950+ from sixth month onwards.
- Milk: 3000+
- Newspaper, TV subscriptions: 500.
- Groceries, wheat, oil, vegetables: 5000.
- Cell phone, Internet: 1000.
- Water, sewer: 500.
- Health care, medicines: 1000 minimum.
- Miscellaneous expenses like repair of gadgets/utilities at home: 500.
Rs. 30,950 altogether. Did I miss anything? These are just the bare minimum basic expenses for sustenance. Expenditure on clothes is arbitrary, so I am not including that here. Forget about vacation, gifts, celebrations, get-togethers, all such socializing activities. Not mentioned about income tax above Rs 45,000 a month. Where do we stand even if we earn 30,000 or 40,000 a month? How can a single member earning family own a home? Ridiculous.
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If you have an ancestral home to rely upon you are safe. Survive with what you earn with transcription. All families are not 3-member families as in the western world. In India most of the times elderly parents stay with you (or you stay with them). So whatever you save on rent, you spend on your parents but you never can’t dream a home of your own with just transcription alone. For that dream to come true, your other half, whether husband or wife, should be earning double than you.
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Vasudevan replied:
October 26th, 2012 at 12:44 am
Nice break up. It is quite obvious that single earning member alone cannot withstand the whip of the increased cost of living, today again petro price rise by 30 ps.
dual income and other extra source needs to be looked into. As managers, i know a few in good comps,non-MT, make 70-80k pm but their story also resembles like what most MTs have to say and bear.
So the industry is a good one the comps pay decent, though no hike, but then we have a choice either find a way out or change the industry, have more certifications and scale higher…..
or move to US/canada and earn in $$$$$$$$s.
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Vasudevan replied:
October 26th, 2012 at 3:02 am
Hi Raj and Manoj, I too hve been working as ITP for NTS and earlier inhouse, and doing 1300-1400 odd lines in VRE is not big deal, 8 honest diiigent working hours is enough for one to do.
If one does not make more than 28K, then needs to look into perspective how to improvize on skills and accelerate.
No offense but yes it is possible.
but with age reflex and capability do diminish and beyond that it is a task.
I rest here.
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Raj replied:
October 29th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
The sad truth is that most of them in the industry in India are struggling to make even half of that pay even after struggling for 12 long hours, not only oldies but also youngsters. Hence think from their angle of view. The trouble is not with the MTs but with the managements and the pay rates, something just next to slavery. You are considered lucky if you can rake in this amount.
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I envy the teaching staff in colleges and universities these days, both private and government. They teach the same curriculum every year. They have limited hours of work a day. They have a good pay and a peaceful life. It is a far better world for them than the chase for money here. They enjoy all the national, state, and local holidays. Can we enjoy either a US holiday or an Indian holiday? It has been years since I enjoyed an Indian festival peacefully.
With post graduations in math and philosophy, somehow I succumbed to the glitter that surrounded medical transcription and later got addicted to the work at home mentality but now I should get out and try to squeeze into one private engineering college.
Thanks Raj, your thought provoking post got me out of the mesmerism, made me think a lot, the mistakes we did, our economic status when our children grow up to go to college. Enough. Time has come now to get down this beggarly train.
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Raj replied:
October 26th, 2012 at 1:42 am
Yup, that’s true Brindha. Math teachers have a great demand. I’ve seen this personally with a younger friend of mine, easily finding way into a college after relocating from her hometown after her marriage. I have many times envied her, the ease with which she dissects mathematical equations.
Moreover, you have another option for private tuition at home. Students flock to a good teacher who makes math easy. Another brilliant opportunity is online tutoring from the comfort of your home for the children in the western countries. That should fetch you a decent pay in USD or Euro above all these pennies. Scour the Internet for opportunities in your arena.
I feel crazy about such blunders. Yes, medical transcription was once up on a time a good choice in India, but now it is not at all.
It’s good that you could identify your trajectory at least now. Good luck.
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its very true……
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“If you turn back and look at your accomplishments compared with that of your friends of the same age and credentials, say after 5, 10, or 15 years, you will be regretting a lot!”
I regret being an MT. I feel time has been wasted developing MT skills. Nowadays the going is very tough and don’t know what MT field has got to offer. This job has lost all the respect and we are being considered just as a typist.
In this article, you have stated to look for alternative jobs. The problem is nobody is interested in employing somebody who has been an MT. Do you have any ideas; if so throw some light on it.
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Raj replied:
October 28th, 2012 at 11:35 am
We had a discussion on this last year, and we received some interesting propositions. Read about it here: What alternative career options do medical transcriptionists have?
Furthermore, look at what your friends, relatives etc., with the same educational degree as yourself are doing. Try something in that direction.
Scour the Internet for some genuine work-at-home jobs. Beware: You should be able to separate wheat from chaff in doing so.
Moreover, I too am in the same boat as you and digging deep for passive income streams.
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Very, very informative post Raj! And..thanks for adding link to my post. I realized this scenario years ago and started looking at other opportunities I have. I strongly discouraged the newcomers entering into this industry.
A year ago, I left the office job and moved out of Hyderabad to my native place where cost of living is very less. Went to college and completed my B.Ed. and competing for becoming a school teacher in Govt. Schools. Of course, I love teaching kids.
I am not dependent on this profession any more. I loved this profession when I started the career back in 2004, but never-hiked salary just erased out that interest. Work stress was increasing like a hell to get a competitive salary.
~Naveen
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Hi Raj,
I only recently stumbled upon you blog here when I started researching where medical transcription was heading. I’ve been reading your posts on medical transcription as well as several other good posts you have made here. I must say, you’ve got a great blog going here. My sincerest thanks for sharing your experiences in this field. Your posts have been real eye openers for me.
Back around 2008/2009, when I graduated, the so called financial crisis hit and it seemed like no one was hiring. That’s when I saw an ad from a medical transcription BPO, which claimed this was a “recession proof career.” I started with this thinking I would do this as a temporary job until I found something better, but it turned out that I was good at this job and got a few quick promotions as well. So it was that I remained ignorant and did not do any research on where all this was going.
I started researching as recently as a year ago when I was growing tired of the kind of utter nonsense for dictations we were starting to receive, wondering where all the good dictators went, and I came across stuff about front end speech recognition, EMR, and the EHR 2014 ‘deadline.’
Like Vaishali’s living costs breakup above suggests, cost of living has increased by leaps and bounds and this is not the career to stick to. I too am considering taking up teaching like K Brindha has suggested above.
Thanks again Raj for this post and all the other ones. I most certainly will keep coming back.
Dear reader, if you are in this profession, it is time to jump ship if you haven’t already done so. Also, I highly recommend that you give this blog a thorough read.
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Raj replied:
November 5th, 2012 at 11:49 pm
You spoke about the ground reality offshore and the mindset of the fellow youngster MTs of your era, who just got graduated and are into this career some 3-4 years back. The fact is that these people are dying like slaves to make a five figure a month in Indian rupees as far as I have seen.
Promotions? Ah! From a typist to a better typist? Apart from MTs and supervisors, there is no such thing onshore like direct MT, editor, quality analyst, proof reader, team leader, account manager etc., or any such nonsensical hierarchy. All such intermediate levels are created offshore just for the sake of it to keep the folks happy and for the umpteen mistakes a beginner make. Keep in mind that ultimately all these intermediaries and the MTSO owner share the single pie that a medical transcriptionist makes by typing, i.e., 4 or 5 cents a line.
The bitter reality is that Indian medical transcriptionists are better typists than the typists we see in front of the government offices. The only soothing comfort is that those typists are on platforms and we MTs are in a good office setup. Still, those typists’ earnings are far better than an Indian MT these days. So an MT is a typist and will remain a typist throughout life as per the ongoing innovations in healthcare documentation! With doctors themselves keying in standard phrases into the EMR, the role of typist too is shrinking. Can every MT squeeze into the administrative/management role at an MTSO? Nay!
Yep, this profession has turned good for people looking to make pocket money part time but bad for people looking for making a living out of it. For those who want to make a decent living and better homes, jump the sinking ship or get trapped earning peanuts.
I am glad my blog posts helped to be eye openers for a youngster, Shrivatsa. People of your age have a long way to go in setting up a home and bringing up a family. It’s far better to take a bitter decision now than struggling and repenting later. Thanks Shrivatsa for opening your mind.
Here is the post where we discussed earlier about the impact of EMR on medical transcription if you missed it.
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Mary Muckraker replied:
January 29th, 2013 at 11:49 am
I had to laugh at this: “Apart from MTs and supervisors, there is no such thing onshore like direct MT, editor, quality analyst, proof reader, team leader, account manager etc., or any such nonsensical hierarchy.” As a U.S. MT, I have to tell you, oh yes there is, all except for mainly the proofreader role. Layers and layers of nonsensical heirarchy leeching from the true laborers, with continually changing acronyms for their titles (TL, TSM, CCM, ad nauseam). Now there’s a job, acronym inventor.
The greedy 1% “suits” have ruined this profession for you here just like they’ve done in the U.S. Onward and upward to the next country to exploit! (the Philippines, then Kenya, South America…)
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Raj replied:
January 30th, 2013 at 1:54 am
LOL. I am sorry Mary. Thank you for correcting my ignorance. I embedded the image from the link that you left in your comment. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing for five minutes.
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Mary Muckraker replied:
January 30th, 2013 at 12:28 pm
Glad to have been of service. :) ::curtsy::
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sans replied:
February 19th, 2013 at 10:56 pm
Hi Raj,
Whatever you said is true to the core. I have been an MT and a QA for the past 7 years and now a home transcriptionist. If I say I started my career with a monthly salary of 1000 per month it will be hard to believe. After 7 years in this profession I am still earning 12-13k per month. I really do not know what the future holds for me.
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Very, very good article Raj.
Our company was bought over by another MT company after it went bankrupt. It went bankrupt after the top honchos were acting as if they were in a cutting edge IT services company when actually they were presiding over a typing company – so many VPs strutting around in suits and traveling business class. The new company which bought us paid a fancy sum and acquired us. They brought in their “cheapskate” style of functioning, axing people and cutting salaries by more than half, thereby resulting in a lot of attrition – people have started scooting in droves – moving on to technical writing, network management, small businesses, acquiring other skillsets. People staying back in this arena are doomed!!!
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Raj replied:
November 12th, 2012 at 1:10 am
Just think what value addition all those top honchos did to a file transcribed by a base level MT that earned 4 or 5 cents a line! Sweet nothing but in fact expended lavishly and enjoyed the luxury at someone else’s pain!
The recent US election results indicate the continuation of Obamacare. So the MTs have only two options left at this juncture:
1.) Fasten your seatbelts, stay back earning peanuts cursing your stars.
2.) Muster up the courage to eject, press the parachute button, make a safe landing elsewhere.
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Nice article Raj. I should thank you for reflecting the actual trend that is going on in MT industry, it is really helping everyone out here. I would like to know your thoughts on switching to legal transcription.
Thanks again.
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Raj replied:
November 12th, 2012 at 12:48 am
Hi Chandra Mouli,
I have limited insight into legal transcription as of now. However, my doubts are: If voice recognition software can recognize a doctor’s voice, why not it cannot recognize an attorney’s voice? If a doctor can click on some standard set of phrases in EMR, why a similar job cannot be done by an attorney using a tab and some software somewhere down the lane?
Of course, these are my own views and I still have to do some in-depth research. You start from scratch learning the legal terms only to find one fine morning that you are going to get “diminishing” bread day by day thereafter as it happened with medical transcription for us!
I would advise to look at something in which your income increases with your age and experience but not a temporary switchover for the sake of sustenance. Will your income increase with respect to your age and experience if you stay back in medical transcription or if you switch to legal transcription?
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All of you have poured our gripes here, to which I am adding mine.
According to the recent classification of Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry, Indian Government, families living in cities and towns with annual income of up to Rs 1 lakh or monthly earning of up to Rs 8,334 will be categorized as economically weaker section (EWS) and households having an annual of income of less than Rs 2 lakh or monthly earning of up to Rs 16,667 will be classified as low income group (LIG).
Now think, where do you stand yourself as a medical transcriptionist?
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Hi Friends,
I feel like crying after reading the experiences shared by you with regard to MT. I have just started my career in MT (about 3 months) hoping to make a decent earning so that I can have better living and can support my spouse financially and give my child the best of all. I have shelled out 10K for a 3-month course and now after 2 months of OJT, I have started working from home because I do not have anyone to take care of my child and my presence at home is most important. I have invested lots of money and have purchased a brand new laptop, and all the accessories needed for MT.
………. I hope you guys can understand how much I would have spent in getting all these. Now after reading your comments, I feel very sad. Is this industry really so bad…. will I be able to make at least 10K per month??? My husband is having lots of hope on me. When I joined the MT course, I was told that I can earn up to 40K per month and this industry will never die………………
…………Though I do not dream of earning very big amount, can I not earn at least 10-15K per month..? Please help me by throwing some positive light into this…. I am already depressed and I don’t want to add to it…. please, please help me… Right now my company is paying me on per line basis & from the past two months I have been earning around 3-4K…..
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Raj replied:
November 23rd, 2012 at 1:58 am
Hi Deepa,
Here are the facts:
1.) 40K per month: Everybody foraying into MT was told so, is still being told so, but the fact is otherwise. Anybody willing hereafter to enter, do your due diligence.
2.) This industry will never die: Yes, as long as healthcare documentation is needed in the US and people get sick there, this industry will never die, but would evolve moving close to automation trying to eliminate labor. An MT’s adaptability to constant change and the ability to stick around with the lowest pays is the secret to success in this career but what if the industry finds more cost efficient country in the Africa or elsewhere? Philippines has remained the closest contender so far.
3.) 10-15K: Yes you can after terrific struggle daily.
4.) Work at home and supporting income: Yes, in fact you can be a very good mom for your child and a financially supporting spouse for your hubby with the pocket money that you earn part time from home. I doubt anybody can deny that.
The main contention here is with the living costs shooting more than 30K for a 3-member family, a single earning family even withe full-time income from medical transcription is on the fastest mode to poverty. That makes MT not advisable for men or anybody who is dreaming to own a home.
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Very well said Raj. I liked it when you say, For youngsters, I already posted a change of thought last year that medical transcription is not suitable for newcomers. This is the truth. I had worked for 9 years before and fortunately I found a job in a big hospital in Saudi Arabia, as an MT of course :).
To all the MTs worried about the future, I would advise to look for jobs in Gulf countries, there may be many opportunities in the future, though pay is not as great as in US or Canada, but still good and steady, with less work pressure, and there is room for growth.
Medical coding is also a very good option, and with a little training, good MTs can excel in coding also.
And as Raj rightly says, there are many opportunities in India and we should make most of it.
I wish all my fellow MTs good luck and bright future.
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Joy replied:
November 30th, 2012 at 10:30 pm
Where to look for MT jobs in Gulf countries. In the Internet I could hardly find any jobs for MTs in Gulf apart for few here and there. If you know any hospitals, Universities, etc that employs MTs, please let all the fellow MTs know who are being underpaid in India, to be precise what Raj said peanuts.
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Hi Raj,
Thanks for your post and the thorough objective insight. Just wanted to know how about pursuing coding and also legal transcription down the line?
Thanks
Avisek
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Raj replied:
December 25th, 2012 at 7:43 am
I wrote my thoughts about this briefly in my next post on alternative work-at-home job, business, and income ideas for MTs.
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Hi all,
I just happened to stumble on this site and went over interestedly on all the comments. There has been so much yakity yak and quite a few expert comments. Let me please add my two-bit too. I will try to keep it short.
I have been been in the MT line for about 8 years now and I guess that gives me some knowledge of MT.
When I started as an MT and I joined MT only because I was a superflop in business, which I tried to start believing I was also as good as anyone and could stand on my own Bata#8 feet. I too had eaten a lot of b******t as an employee for about 18 years. I too dreamed the dream of being my own boss. Suffice to say, I lost lakhs.
Then I decided it was my karma not to be a businessman, so what to do? I am privileged to be excellent in English with a childhood exposure to English and so I found that MT would be good to get in. This was advised by people I knew and so I joined a “training institute” which was hilarous. It took me only 4 days to find to my horror that this was a moneymaking racket and nothing else. When said training was over, I went to collect my “certificate.” Very nice chaps, they asked me considerately if I wanted Average, Fair, Good, Excellent,or Outstanding on the Merit column of the Certificate. Then when I started searching for jobs and revealed that I had trained at such and such institution, I was politely told to either go to a better place or forget MT. I was also told it would easily take me at least 3-4 years to become an HBT. All of this assurance given by HBTs, seasoned Editors, Proofers, potential employers etc. etc.
It has been 8 long years and I too have seen the ups and downs of medical transcription. I am now happy to be working directly for an American party as well as doing direct work for an Indian based company.
I do agree that getting an American employer is next to impossible. I was just lucky. BUT, it is also possible to get an Indian employer who pays decent, if not extremely good. I happen to be working for one now, voice recognition. I am pullling in around 25K/month. This involves working for an average of 7-8 hours a day for about 23 or so days a month. If I were to put in a 12-hour working spell, then you can imagine the corresponding income.
Now coming to the point, why am I saying all this? The reason is simply this. Everything is just hard work. There is simply no substitute for hardwork. You become so damn good at your work no boss will ever want you to leave. I wholly agree that most of the MT scenario is terrible futurewise, but there is a lot of fault with MTs too. The tendency to hop-skip-jump for better pay and not being interested in sticking it out for only accuracy sake and giving yourself a timely target of say, 2 years to break even should be willed for strongly.
I think new MTs should be given the proper advise and bluntly told what to expect, instead of just giving personal experiences and not told that all is just doom. There are people who are quietly doing a lot and earning good money.
I too do intend to jump MT in the long run. As long as things are going fine, I will stick to this, but I have no intention of becoming Santa Claus. What I do want to do is drift over the the English language editing or writing. There is a big field there. Also, if you are good and have enough experience, why not go for teaching the naunces of MT from your own perspective? I have seen so many MTs make minor and ridiculous mistakes all because no one is there to tell them how to tackle this or that.
So okay, I have put in my two bit in. Waiting for the disbelief, brickbats etc.
Anyone wants good further input, please contact me. I knew what it was to be an object of ridicule in my beginning years and the contemptous looks I had to endure when I expressed my determination to be an HBT. Anything to get away from office politics.
That was one long yarn.
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Excellent and timely article that will serve as a wake-up call for Indians in the MT industry. Please keep us updated on a regular basis with your insights into this field. Thanks.
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Reap what you sow. I used to be an American based MT with 20+ years experience — I saw my pay dwindle to 1/2 to 2/3 of what it used to be, because all the work started going to India where it was much cheaper. And now you all complain that you can’t make a living.
What goes around comes around. Hurts, doesn’t it?! Now you know what you did to us. Now it’s being done to you. I couldn’t be happier.
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Anonymosity replied:
January 27th, 2013 at 8:58 am
By saying that our plight makes you happy, you seem to have sown your seeds of karma again. You may find yourself in the Indian MT’s shoes in the not too distant future.
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Scary Mary.
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Anonymosity, do you even comprehend English? What do you mean, “May you find yourself…”? Read what I wrote. Been there already because of India outsourcing. So Karma is flowing correctly. I am indeed happy. Now you all know how we felt when you did it to us. It IS scary.
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You are getting unnecessarily personal. What I was saying was that your karma of being happy when we are sad (when ideally you can choose to be sympathetic towards us) may come back to you later on. Also, you misquoted me. I didn’t say “May you find”. I said “You may find.” There is a major difference between the two.
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Mary Muckraker replied:
January 29th, 2013 at 2:02 pm
Another “Mary” here (wish I’d picked another moniker now). I’d just like to say that “Happy” Mary does not speak for all of us U.S. MTs. I’ve never blamed the actual Indian MTs for taking our jobs (durka dur!) and thus unintentionally contributing to the depreciation of our pay, but rather I blame the greedy MTSOs and contractors who take advantage of you the same as they do us. I wonder what she would have had you do, boycott the job opportunities for our sakes?
Regardless, I definitely understand her bitterness, as you all are starting to as well, obviously. I can pretty much assure you that she already did find herself in the same shoes, thus her anger, but the target of her anonymosity is fundamentally misplaced.
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Mary Muckraker replied:
January 29th, 2013 at 2:10 pm
Heh, I meant “animosity” is fundamentally misplaced, of course. Contagious moniker you have there, A.
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Well, the greedy corporate suits have wrung out both the Indian and American hard workers. Now they will move on to the Philippines and even Africa to see what they can wring out of those workers.
I wish all MT’s around the globe could have a huge general strike and bring these greedy MTSO’s to their knees.
But that would take a huge amount of preparation and trust — which as you can see by the first Mary’s posting — would be very hard to come by.
I do not blame the individual Indian worker for the loss of work in America, nor do I blame the Indian worker for the lowering of our pay.
I rather chose to give credit where credit is due. That would be given solely to the big business owners who took the work where they felt they could get away with putting less money in the worker’s pockets and more in their own.
They are taking advantage of the workers on both sides of the globe.
Shame on them (the greedy MTSO) and may they have a good healthy dose of karma, whatever that may be.
I refuse to condemn any person working hard to provide a decent life for their family — no matter what side of the globe they are working on.
For myself, after 30 years in the MT field, and not making enough of a paycheck to sustain any type of decent life anymore, I have decided to leave the field. I have gone back to learn a trade, and also to learn business management. I will run my own show from now on and work for myself.
This career has become just a spare change job for the transcriptionists, but a huge windfall for the greedy suits. We are all working so hard only to make them richer, so they can buy a bigger mansion and get that newest yacht.
What a shame for us all.
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Mary Muckraker replied:
January 29th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
Hear, hear. I almost wish I believed in the Western bastardized concept of karma*, life would certainly be simpler, but I see too many good people being shat on who don’t deserve it and too many crappy people getting away with highway robbery forever and no repercussions for me to give it any credence. Which means we can’t wait around for the universe to dispense justice but must take matters into our own hands. But we should also recognize when the odds are unbeatable or not worth the effort to fight and then just take care of ourselves as best we can, which in my case means trying to hold tight until retirement (in 14 years, yikes) or think about other at-home (physically necessary for me) opportunities that don’t require too much training/expense.
What a shame for us all, indeed. Hopefully one of these days the greedy capitalists’ pyramid will topple. It seems inevitable, the grabbier they get, but I probably won’t see any major improvement within my lifetime.
* http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Karma
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It was not the down-in-the-trenches Indian MTs that “did this” to the American MT workforce. Those folks are in exactly the same boat as we American MTs who work below management level. We could point fingers at a long list of culprits… rising medical costs (and the various reasons behind them), hospitals outsourcing to MTSOs to save money, MTSOs sending the work offshore to increase their profits… the list goes on and on. No, I am not happy about the demise of my once-proud profession, but I do not blame the demise on my working-stiff counterparts on the other side of the world, either.
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Hear, hear again. I’m glad some of y’all showed up to help bolster my assertion that we’re not all full of jingoist misdirected rage.
Also amongst the culprits to not forget are the Voice Rec proponents who’ve lied, and I mean out-and-out lied, about average production gains possible from their products, resulting in probably the biggest hit to our wallets (mine, anyway), even more so than offshoring, I think.
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Kudos on your blog Raj. I’m glad to see that you are discouraging people from taking medical transcription courses. In my opinion, it’s fraudulent for companies to be offering medical transcription as a viable career. It is akin to sitting in a galley hold of a slave ship – chained neck, wrists and ankles – with a MTSO manager cracking the whip while yelling “PRODUCE! PRODUCE! BETTER QUALITY! PRODUCE! NO BREAKS! FASTER! BETTER! BE MORE FLEXIBLE!” I’ve been an MT for 32 years – the only job I’ve ever done, and I was proud of my contribution to an accurate patient medical record. A few of your statements seemed harsh to me – but I needed to hear them – because I still cannot believe that somebody who is trained to recognize errors in dictation by a medical doctor, i.e.: incorrect medication dosage, incorrect anatomy, test, etc., is considered so expendable and unnecessary, that the pay rates being offered are far below poverty wages – yet the MT is still required to provide and bear all costs of equipment and technology required to PRODUCE, PRODUCE, PRODUCE – so that top management can profit, profit, profit. It’s been an incredibly demoralizing experience these last few years – I take my transcription skills very seriously, and I’m still producing top-quality, well-researched reports, despite being penalized by my research by decreased production/decreased pay – and earning $2-$3/hr is all too common. I’m appalled by it all. The MTSO’s answer to making a wage that will pay the bare minimum of necessary costs of living is to “flex,” i.e.: work 12 hours a day 6 days a week, so that you can net minimum wage, if you are lucky. I appreciate your suggestions for career alternatives, I’m going to pursue a few of those avenues. Peace to you.
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Raj replied:
February 14th, 2013 at 10:32 am
Hi IB,
I couldn’t stop laughing for a while when I was reading the first few lines of your comment but tiny teardrops when I reached towards the end. I am glad to have become a lighthouse in your journey. Dear IB, President Obama is pushing for a minimum wage raise from $7.25 to $9.00 an hour. Even with the minimum wages, one can live only neck to neck, trying to make the ends meet. However, MTs like you work as contractors (supposedly business owners) ending up making $2-3 an hour, worse than an employee! What a pity? Isn’t it modern slavery? Knowingly, people like you are on the fastest train to poverty. I am wondering if anybody would dare to ask to reduce the fee for a doctor’s service. Gee whiz, with 32 years of experience, you are nothing short of a doctor in dealing with human lives, but sometimes better. See, the government can only take the horse to the water but cannot make it drink! You alone can put an end to the underselling of your services. If the MTSO managers are unable to value your potential, ask them to get lost in the hell, and you better pursue towards a new dawn. You only need to have the guts for taking a decision to deviate. Good luck.
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IBMT replied:
February 28th, 2013 at 2:26 am
Raj, I apologize if I gave you the wrong impression – I’m currently the slave of the major MTSO, not a contractor. Thank you again for your encouragement.
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Write to the Minsitry of Labour and give all the details on http://WWW.PGPORTAL.GOV.IN
and track the complaint continously until Ministry of labour acts, to do justice to this field for the future MTs and feel vindicated.
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Raj replied:
April 10th, 2013 at 1:23 am
Yes, somebody has to bell the cat, a martyr to the cause of social justice for MTs! How effective it would be in straightening this dog’s tail, especially through Indian government agencies, everybody knows. Labor unions could collectively fight for justice but there is no labor union for anyone working in the IT or IT related field. Even the Left parties are not interested in forming labor unions with these people! Many times I have wondered why is it so! Moreover, it’s a million dollar question: “How long this industry is going to sustain in India?” Because the business may move to cheaper destinations if Rupee would strengthen against the dollar, as the costs have spiraled in the last decade but the transcription rates have come down substantially.
I feel this saying is typical to the situation of every Indian medical transcriptionist now: “Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”
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Most of the people know that the future is dark in transcription, but they don’t want to change, thinking that they don’t have any options. I really thank Raj to bring up this forum.
Friends, no change is possible until and unless you decide to change. I left transcription 3 years back after working for 6 years in transcription, started as a Trainee and ended up as a Sr. Editor. And yes, the grass always looks greener on the other side, but then it’s you and only you who can make a difference. As a skilled transcriptionist, you have to work hard always, but you will not see any difference in your salary and the future is really uncertain. There is no shortcut for hard work, but then in other industries hard work pays sooner or later, career wise as well as financially.
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Voice technology, i.e., where the clinician dictates into a microphone and a COMPUTER types the report, is getting better and better and in the process, is replacing Medical Transcriptionist positions. It’s happened already in many places. Many places have cut back the transcriptionist staff. Some places have replaced the Medical Transcriptionist with lesser trained typists, to proof reports and make minor corrections and what not.
These are my observations as a Hospital Administrator. I hope you hear from the actual Medical Transcriptionist who might be able to give you better news.” –
Actually friends, I still remember that few years back, the quality of MTs was very good, but now it’s really pathetic. If you come across the files transcribed by a MT having 6 months to a year’s experience, you will definitely have a tough time proofreading it. I had my shares as well…
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Raj replied:
October 25th, 2012 at 5:15 am
This breakdown holds good for the tier-III Indian city that you are from. You have to increase this by 20% and 40% for a tier-II city and the metros respectively.
If you own a vehicle, add finance dues, maintenance, insurance etc. Indians are mostly addicted to life insurance, so can add insurance premiums. (I remember that speedy blabbering in ads “Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation.”)
The breakdown is an eye opener for many. Many thanks Vaishali.
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