1) Trail of words, numbers
From: AbeilleDeSucre (abeilledesucre_at_aol.com)
Date: 10/16/04
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Date: 16 Oct 2004 13:44:27 GMT
Subj: MTIndia Newsletter - Acusis Voted Finalist in Pittsburgh Technology
Council's Tech 50 Awards
Date: 10/16/2004 1:55:18 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: amit@mtindia.org
To: MTIndia@yahoogroups.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)
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16 Oct 2004
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Acusis Voted Finalist in Pittsburgh Technology Council's Tech 50 Awards for
Second Consecutive Year
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Dear Friends,
Acusis(R), a leading provider of outsourced medical transcription services,
was honored by the Pittsburgh Technology Council as a top ten finalist in
the Service Provider category of the Tech 50 Awards. This is the second
consecutive year Acusis has been acknowledged for their success. Last year
they were awarded in the category of Rising Star.
Finalists of the Tech 50 awards are recognized for being Pittsburgh's
fastest growing and most innovative companies in the technology sector,
representing the future economic base of Southwestern Pennsylvania. The
Pittsburgh Technology Council is one of the largest regional trade
associations in the nation with a membership of over 1400 companies from 13
counties.
The companies are evaluated by PriceWaterhouseCoopers based on factors such
as financial strength, job growth and retention, product and sales success,
innovation and corporate citizenship.
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Oct/1083418.htm
On another front, the coffee-break quiz and the jobs newsletter will be back
this Friday... Enjoy!!
Regards,
Maj (Dr.) Amit Chatterjee, SM
Strategist / Founder ~ mailto:amit@mtindia.org
MT India ~ www.mtindia.org
"The Community of MT Professionals"
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NEWS AND VIEWS :
------------------------
1) Trail of words, numbers
The nation's largest medical transcription company said last week that it
plans to review its billing claims with as many as 3,000 hospital clients
after a class-action lawsuit alleged the company engaged in widespread
billing fraud. Memorial Healthcare System, a 1,111-bed, three-hospital
public system owned by the South Broward Hospital District in Hollywood,
Fla., alleged in its 34-page lawsuit against MedQuist, Mount Laurel, N.J.,
that the company systematically overbilled it and several thousand other
hospitals by millions of dollars for decades.
Washington lawyer Mark Hogge of Greenberg Traurig, who is leading the
class-action litigation against MedQuist and four of its current and former
officers, said his firm believes that at least 25% and as much as half of
Memorial's payments to MedQuist may have been based on fraudulent billing.
Hogge said the plaintiffs would seek triple the amount of alleged damages
under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, and
state fraud laws, as well as punitive damages.
"The fraudulent practices date back to the beginning of the company," he
said. "We've found one large health system alone that has paid MedQuist more
than $80 million over the years and believes it was overbilled by more than
$20 million."
He said other hospitals would be added to the plaintiff list. Hogge said he
could not comment on whether a whistle-blower lawsuit has been filed against
MedQuist. Those lawsuits are filed under seal in federal court. However, he
confirmed that MedQuist offers transcription services to U.S. Army and Navy
hospitals and to veterans' hospitals and clinics, which, because federal
money is involved, could trigger the federal False Claims Act.
The class-action lawsuit is the latest in a series of scandals facing the
30-year-old company, which controls about 20% of the country's medical
transcription services market. In April, the Nasdaq exchange delisted the
company for failure to file appropriate financial forms. In March, the
company ordered outside reviews by law firm Debevoise & Plimpton and
accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, whose reports MedQuist's board
released in July. The reviews found that MedQuist may have wrongfully billed
transcription clients. The firms found that instead of billing based on the
number of characters transcribed, MedQuist employed ratios and formulas that
may have pumped up the amount of actual work performed to inflate billings,
in essence, charging for work not performed, without disclosing that billing
formula to clients.
Earlier this year, MedQuist disclosed that the Securities and Exchange
Commission also had launched an investigation into the company. In its
promotional materials MedQuist says it services 3,000 clients with a network
of more than 10,000 transcriptionists. That could change, according to stock
analyst Paul Meeks of the firm of Meeks & York, who tracks MedQuist. Meeks
said the transcription business, while profitable now, is changing. "The
industry is maturing and margins are compressing," Meeks said. He said
MedQuist plans to announce a joint venture deal in the coming months with an
Indian partner to outsource much of its U.S. business, laying off employees
and cutting costs, as well as a large acquisition to diversify its business.
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article.cms?articleId=33975
2) US cannot stop offshore outsourcing, says Karnik
United States of America cannot stay away from outsourcing, especially to
India, as it has not only helped them increase revenues, but also cut costs,
according to Nasscom president Kiran Karnik.
Addressing a session on 'Exploding the Myths of BPO', in Bangalore, Karnik
said, "Technically, US is out of the recession phase. During recession, when
their (US companies') toplines were not growing, they looked at cutting
costs and one of the best ways to continue doing that is by outsourcing
them. In fact, by outsourcing to India, they are realising that they can not
only increase revenues but also cut costs." Karnik said that since the US is
bound to face a shortage of manpower, it must either import labour or export
work.
Replying to a query on the impact of US elections on Indian outsourcing,
Karnik said, "India has taken more column inches in the US presidential
elections (referring to the media reports on outsourcing). The debate on
outsourcing is mostly a rhetoric. In the US, economics have always
predominated politics. As they are aware of this, they are not going to stop
outsourcing. Besides, the West also faces the problem of an aging
population. We have examined the supply and demand side and even in the
long-term, I assure you that outsourcing is sustainable."
http://www.nasscom.org/artdisplay.asp?Art_id=3284
3) Transcription costly and slow? Try offshore online dictation
Internist and gastroenterologist Anil R. Garde, MD, used to get his
transcriptions the traditional way. After he dictated notes into a tape
recorder, a transcriptionist would pick up the tape and return the typed
notes to his practice, Riverside Medical Clinic, the following day.
Late last year, however, the Riverside, Calif.-based multispecialty clinic
began to experiment with Internet transcription. Dr. Garde now dictates his
notes into a digital tape recorder and transmits the contents to a
transcriptionist via the Web. Once the notes have been transcribed, he gets
them back electronically.
That makes a big difference in a clinic like Riverside, where two or three
of its 90-plus physicians might see the same patient during a single day,
and tracking down a patient's paper chart can be impossible. Now, Dr. Garde
said, if another physician has his patient's chart, he simply goes online
and views the transcribed electronic notes from the patient's last visit.
While he can't access notes from that day's exams, he said, he still gets
detailed information on the patient.
To speed up their turnaround time, many digital transcription vendors use
transcriptionists in other time zones, sometimes on the other side of the
globe. A number of firms send physician notes to transcriptionists in India,
who start work when most American physicians are eating dinner or going to
bed. Vendors say that because many Indians are fluent in English, the
quality of their transcribing is excellent.
Some vendors say that the use of offshore transcription helps lower their
per-line fees. Global MedData's general manager Anand Patel, for example,
said that offshore transcription produces a 30% to 40% savings over
traditional services because labor is less expensive. He said his company
tends to charge physicians 8 cents to 10 cents per line, depending on volume
and turnaround requirements.
Raul Kivatinetz, president and CEO of AssistMed, said that physicians using
his service can expect to pay 11 cents to 11.5 cents per line for
India-based transcription. (He said his company uses quality controls to
guarantee the quality of transcriptions.) Riverside, which uses AssistMed
and its transcriptionists in India, has saved more than 20% over traditional
transcription fees, said Ravi Berry, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist who
is spearheading the clinic's online transcription effort.
http://www.acponline.org/journals/news/dec01/online_transcript.htm
4) Award for virtual secretary firm
A Norfolk company that is bucking the offshoring trend has picked up an
award for its use of the internet.
OutSec is one of the largest providers of online secretarial services in the
UK, providing typing services to more than 100 companies.
It was set up five years ago by husband-and-wife team Richard and Vanessa
Phillips who run the business from their farmhouse in Stradsett, near
Downham Market.
OutSec has a team of more than 60 British secretaries based in the UK and
other parts of the world including Australia, New Zealand and the United
States.
The company covers the medical, legal, property and commercial sectors which
specialise in the transcription of more complicated styles of dictation.
OutSec has now won an award in the Eastern Region E-Commerce Awards for
2004. The awards, run by the Department of Trade and Industry, celebrate
businesses making effective use of the internet and e-trading.
"It is a great achievement to gain such a prize and has given a tremendous
boost to all the staff here. Technology now means an office without walls is
a practical option for any company." Mrs Phillips said.
On cost grounds alone there is nowhere to beat India. Outsec has
demonstrated that there is also a demand for UK typists and secretaries who
have the old-fashioned skill to turn raw pieces of information into polished
perfection."
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20041012/jobs/main1.htm
5) Pakistan PM For Setting Up IT Based Business
Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has asked the Ministry of Information
Technology to set up a task force for I.T. enabled services to prepare a
strategy and action plan for business process out sourcing, call centers,
Insurance claim processing, medical transcription, legal transcriptions etc.
The task force headed by Minister for I.T. Mr. Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari will
submit a comprehensive action plan within three months. The task force will
also induct enterprising private sector experts to benefit from their
expertise in this regard.
The Minister should focus on creating enabling environment for software
export. The I.T. marketing Board should focus on software development and
export. It was also decided to accelerate the process of privatization of
Pakistan Telecom Company. The Ministry was also asked to speed up the
e-government programme and automation of government departments and
organizations.
http://www.paknews.com/business.php?id=1&date1=2004-10-13
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Thank you for your interest in MT India!
The MTIndia Team
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