Is Offshoring of Medical Transcription Poised for Growth?

According to a recent TradingMarkets.com article it is. The recent acquisition of MedQuist by CBay, a medical transcription company that primarily operates out of India with close to 5,850 Indian employees, prompted this prediction.

I debated about whether to share this article with you because we don't want anyone to panic. However, we are committed to keeping you informed on the latest happenings in the transcription industry, and this should definitely be on everyone's radar screen.

We strongly believe that quality issues when outsourcing work to non-native English speakers will keep us all in business for a long time to come and that the privacy issues and importance of accuracy in medical transcription will also continue to be a roadblock to more widespread outsourcing.

The article states that currently only five percent of medical transcription is being offshored, but speculates:

"While the proportion of work coming offshore is currently small, it is bound to rise in the future as the industry matures, and offshore vendors establish their credibility. Intense competition in the Indian offshore space for the small pie of business available currently is already prompting consolidation among the large and mid-size players. The industry has witnessed the exit of several small and home-based transcription service providers dotting the fragmented landscape. In recent years, the larger players have gone through systematic ramp ups and have witnessed a steady flow of business from the US. The established players are the ones who have understood the business, and have focused on marketing and sustaining quality."

Any thoughts from those of you currently working in medical transcription? Has there been buzz within your contracts about this acquisition? Are you nervous or feeling confident about your contracts both short and long term? Do you believe that offshoring or electronic medical records pose a greater risk to the industry?

Read the rest of the article over at TradingMarkets.com, and then we'd love to hear from you!