The Hindu Business Line : Bloopers just a blip, say medical transcription cos

A patient's `phlebitis (vein inflammation) left leg' was typed out as `flea bite his left leg' while a `below knee amputation' was transcribed as `baloney amputation'. Hilarious as these may sound, these errors or transcription bloopers have resulted in an outcry in the UK, questioning the quality of medical transcription services from India.

Is this yet another case of making a mountain out of a molehill? The medical transcription industry, which does exports of about $100 million and is growing at 35 per cent, thinks it is.

"The reports are fairly exaggerated, making out as if an exception is the norm. Our interaction with overseas customers of the industry indicates that they are always able to get quality standards of 99.9 per cent or more," Mr Sunil Mehta, Vice-President of Nasscom said.

Mr Mehta said clients were fairly convinced of the quality processes being adhered to by Indian companies.

"While, in any field, there is always room for error, Nasscom encourages its member companies in the IT and BPO space to go for internationally accepted quality certifications," he said.

According to Mr Suresh Nair, CEO and Managing Director of Healthscribe India, "Our customers get the same quality in India as in the US. Lot of our customers have appreciated the quality of work and some clients want the work to be done specifically in India."

He, however, pointed out that Healthscribe focused on the US market, whereas the backlash was in the UK.

Mr Nair said that Healthscribe was growing at 50 per cent per annum and targeting a 70 per cent growth next year.

"Most medical transcription companies are growing at 30-40 per cent. This kind of growth rate would not be possible if there were questions about quality," he said.

Another medical transcription player, CBay Systems, said the norms would be more stringent in the US next year when the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) comes into force.

"Most of our procedures are already HIPAA-compliant whereby we have to ensure at least 98 per cent accuracy in each file that is uploaded to clients," said a company official.

CBay Systems, which focuses on the US market, says its revenues are growing at 75 per cent.

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Bloopers just a blip, say medical transcription cos