MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION STATISTICS

Medical transcription is one of the fastest-growing professions in the country today as stated by the U.S. Department of Labor. It is ranked #14 in the top 25 professions and is ranked as a #1 home based career. "Employment of medical transcriptionists is projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2010" says the U.S. Department of Labor. Why such a rapid growth in this profession you might ask? This continuous growing demand for medical transcriptionists is attributed to a growing and aging population. Older age groups receive greater numbers of medical tests, procedures, etc.



This growing demand is also spurred by the need for electronic documentation that can be easily accessed by providers, third-party payers, consumers, etc. Also, with the usual and customary medical insurance coverage for consumers now being managed health care, it is pertinent and of the utmost importance to be certain that every medical detail is documented both accurately and efficiently.



This would then provide the most updated information available to health care insurance providers and other health care professionals that may be involved in a patient's care giving process in order to prevent treatment from being delayed or miscalculated due to lack of information available. The advancements in voice recognition technology are not projected to significantly reduce the need for medical transcriptionists because they will still be needed to review and edit drafts for accuracy in the event a particular health care provider chooses to use such technology in specific instances.




In spite of the advances in this technology, it has been difficult for the software to grasp and analyze the human voice and the diversity of both the English language and the medical language in its entirety. Because the final medical record that medical transcriptionists produce is of the utmost importance in the current and ongoing treatment of patients, this technology is not considered accurate enough to rely on.