Work @ Home

With several transcription companies setting up their base in India, medical transcription has become a lucrative and feasible option for those looking for home-based careers

Vatsala Bhatt, a nutritionist in a well-known health club in Bangalore, quit her job two years ago when she had a baby. Unable to move out, she started looking for a home-based career. She found the perfect option - medical transcription.

It worked out well for Vatsala, who now works for about six hours at home and makes Rs 10,000 per month or so. She also gets time to spend with her daughter.

Vatsala is one among the many who discovered the comfort of working from home and be independent. Until recently home-based medical transcription was popular only among US based home transcriptionists. Now it's slowly gaining a foothold in India. That's good news for people who are compelled to work from home, either for health or for family reasons, and also for people who are looking at a second job to supplement their income.

The system here works on two models. In some companies, which offer 'work-from-home' opportunities transcriptionists can opt to work out of home once they have reached the required level of proficiency.

What is medical transcription?

Medical transcription is the process where one accurately and swiftly transcribes medical records dictated by doctors and others, including history and physical reports, clinic notes, office notes, operative reports, consultation notes, discharge summaries, letters, psychiatric evaluations, laboratory reports, x-ray reports and pathology reports.

It involves receiving dictation by tape, digital system or voice file, and using earphones, a foot pedal for start-stop control and a word processing program. It sometimes includes the use of a printer and sometimes a modem. A variety of word-processing systems are used. It requires good listening and language skills, computer skills and knowledge of medical terms.

Read this FAQ for more information

It makes a lot of sense for companies to allow employees to work from home. According to Sreekumar, programme co-ordinator of Spryance, "Greater quality control is possible with home transcriptionists." Boston based Spryance set shop in India in 2000 with the prime intention of promoting home-based transcription.

Acusis is a Pittsburgh based medical transcription company and has recently opened three offices in Bangalore, Mysore and Chennai. They offer home-based transcription work and so far have hired more than 150 home transcriptionists (mostly women) in the three cities. According to the CEO of Acusis, David Iwenski, India was selected to set up their business because of the country's high literacy rate and excellent English language skills.

Acusis has their own software called Acusuite, which allows the candidate to access an encrypted platform to download the .wav files (audio files) and then upload Word files. The software also contains dictionary and glossary of medical terms along with an error-checking module.

Companies like Spryance (Mumbai) and iQ infotech (Chennai) also work in the same way. However, they have no company-specific software. Candidates are simply given user name and password that allows them to access files from the company site. A team of in-house transcriptionists monitors the work of home-based transcriptionists to weed out possible errors.

Home transcriptionists are allowed to retain files for a maximum of six hours from the time of download. The editing starts as soon as they upload the files. It is very important to stick to deadlines. In case of sudden problems, like power failure, most companies allow the transcriptionist to work from their offices.

Says Radha Sridhar, a medical transcriptionist in Bangalore, who opted to work from home after her marriage: "I download my files at about 7 am and start work at 8.30 am after my husband leaves for work. I upload the files by 3:00 pm."

Payment

Transcriptionists who work from home are paid on the basis of speed and accuracy. The pay ranges from 60 paisa to Rs.1.25 per line depending on the accuracy.

Radha says she now earns about Rs. 20,000 a month; more than what she used to earn earlier. "When I worked from office, I used to get a monthly salary. Now I am paid per line."

Once you have honed your listening skills to hit 99-100 per cent accuracy level, you can reach the editor stage, with higher pays and less tedious work. Companies like Spryance already employ home-based editors.

According to Nasscom, medical transcription is projected as the India's fourth largest foreign exchange earners in about five years. If the figures are to be believed, medical transcription will employ more than 50,000 people by 2008. Very good news for people looking out for flexible home-based careers.

Hiring your first employee

Hiring the first employee is a big decision. Suddenly, you become responsible for another individual. However, you need not be emotional when hiring your first employee. Instead you should proceed methodically, making sure that you meet all the requirements laid down under different Laws.

Among other things, you need to check the background of the applicant regarding his previous employment claim(s), criminal record, drug test, credit history and driving record. In some cases an identity or a social security check may be essential.

While much of this information comes under public domain, certain personal records including education, military and
medical, are confidential and therefore requires applicant's consent before scrutinizing them. You should ask for original certificates since in this electronic age any fake document can be produced.

Regarding the applicant's criminal past, a criminal conviction report is permanent whereas arrest records, debts, civil suits and court judgments cannot be included in employment background check after seven years. In case you want to use a third party to verify the credentials of the potential employee, then as per federal law you have to alert the person under investigation in writing.

It is easier to verify use of illegal substances like cocaine since drug-abusing employees are six times more likely to file workers' compensation claims than other staff members. You can even consider random drug testing and pre-employment interviews. However, you must note that it is illegal to inquire about a candidate's prescribed drug for medication.

A job applicant should be screened for unwarranted behavior. Psychological tests, hand writing analysis, skill and aptitude tests and even lie detector tests are additional assessment tools available to business owners to help them select the best candidate for the job.

Some questions are unlawful like applicant's sexual orientation, religion or race. While interviewing the candidate, you should be aware of other federal laws as well. The best place to get such information is from government sites like the US Department of Labor or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.



Before making a final job offer, you must check references. Two references should be professional and one should be personal to help endorse the character of the applicant.

Federal laws provide clear guidelines regarding salary and classification of employees. You must check minimum wage and make sure that the salary offered is more than this. The part-time workers can work for 20 hours or less per week while full -time workers can log in 30 hours per week. According to the US Department of Labor there are 12 records an employer must maintain on each staff member during their employment.

You should handle the immigration issues carefully while sponsoring or employing a foreign national. Right insurance coverage like disability coverage is also necessary. There are two types of disability coverage viz. short and long term. There is a waiting period before benefits are paid. For short-term, the waiting period is generally 14 days and in case of long-term disability coverage it is 30 days to one year.

So, make sure you know all laws of the land before you hire your first employee.