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spheris [2007-01-30]
Anyone know the deal with spheris lately, heard they were bought out by Healthscribe and are going to be outsourcing most. Need to know is I should stay or start looking AGAIN....Have two teenagers at home that need to be fed and we all know the way they eat.
Spheris took over Healthscribe (nm) [2007-01-30]
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CBay to purchase Spheris? [2006-10-11]
Is it true due to spheris' increasing debt the last two quarters,in part due to a difficult platform, has made them a target for CBay? Will spheris become a wholly-owned Indian subsidiary at some point? The cost savings to this financially distressed company could be too good to pass up.
Spheris Completes Acquisition of Vianeta Communications [2006-05-11]
FRANKLIN, Tenn., May 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- spheris, a leadingglobal provider of medical transcription technology and services, todayannounced the completion of its acquisition of Vianeta Communications, aleading developer and supplier of enterprise-wide clinical documentationtechnology for hospitals, health systems and group practices. The acquisition further expands spheris' ability to deploy technologyand service solutions for healthcare providers of any size and complexity.Virtually all healthcare specialties, including radiology, will be able tobenefit from spheris' enhanced clinical documentation technology andservice options. Customers are telling us they want an integrated technology andservice solution that is flexible enough to be combined and deployedeffectively across their health information management and radiology ITsystems, said Steven E. Simpson, spheris president and chief executiveofficer. The acquisition of Vianeta significantly expands spheris'technological capabilities, including speech recognition and XML datatagging for use with electronic health records, and thereby enhances ourability to meet the evolving and unique needs of all healthcareorganizations. Bringing spheris and Vianeta together combines what we believe to bethe most advanced technology in the medical transcription industry with themost powerful global network of medical transcriptionists, said Vianetachief executive officer Ralph Aceves. By joining forces, we believe we'vecreated the best possible solution for addressing the growing expectationsof our customers to improve quality, productivity and turnaround time. Working together as a combined entity, spheris and Vianeta are alreadyin discussions with several major healthcare institutions about theexpanded capabilities made possible by the acquisition. The favorableresponses already given by our existing customers and potential newcustomers have confirmed the value proposition we created by joining thetwo organizations, said Simpson. In addition to continuing to service and enhance the Vianeta solutionscurrently deployed in the marketplace, spheris will integrate the twoorganizations over the next several months and anticipates the announcementof new product offerings in the near future. Financial terms of theparties' agreement were not disclosed.
Spheris to Acquire Vianeta Communications [2005-12-21]
Integrating Vianeta's open and scalable XML-based software into spheris'existing medical transcription technology will also accelerate a host of otherinitiatives spheris is currently executing and further developing for both itstechnology and service capabilities. Speaking on behalf of the entire Vianeta team, we are pleased to bejoining such an industry force, said Vianeta Chief Executive Officer RalphAceves. We are looking forward to becoming part of the spheris mission tolead the medical documentation industry through superior services and best-in-class technology. Following completion of the transaction, spheris will continue to serviceand enhance the Vianeta solutions currently deployed in the marketplace. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, isexpected to close in the first quarter of 2006. Financial terms of theparties' agreement were not disclosed.
spheris [2005-11-10]
What a crock of garbage.
Why wouldn't you send business to India? The probably make less than we do, which isn't saying much. spheris has the worst reputation in the industry and treat their MTs like garbage. The company revenues are 200 million? Sure isn't going to the MTs in the US.
Spheris [2005-10-23]
I have a friend who is just dying to work at home. I do, but only local dictation. What can I tell her about spheris? Are they reliable, is there enough work. you know, all the stuff one should know before committing? I don't see much of anything positive on this compay but I could be wrong myself. Are there any companies out there that ARE good? For her she says benefits are not an issue which is something I can't visualize, but that's her position.
Spheris India looking at expanding in tier-II cities [2005-10-20]
BANGALORE: US-based medical transcription company spheris, which recently acquired HealthScribe, is looking to expand in a tier-II cities in India, preferably in the South by 2006. spheris India (formerly HealthScribe), based in Bangalore, recently opened an additional 300-seat center in Coimbatore this month.
The company has over 2000 employees in India at present, and plans to ramp up the headcount to 3000, next year.
“We feel that large cities are very competitive while smaller cities have a lot more candidates who are serious in taking up medical transcription as a full-fledged career,” said Suresh Nair, CEO and MD, spheris India.
Elaborating this aspect, he said that unlike BPOs or call centers, which require good spoken English skills, medical transcription is more knowledge-oriented and needs good grammatical skills.
Commenting on the merger with spheris- the second biggest medical transcription company globally, he said that the move had made HealthScribe a truly global company with access to bigger funds and support for growth.
The company has already added 15 new accounts from the spheris' stable. Nair said that next year, he plans to start a technology development team that would build solutions based on their delivery platform and sell them commercially.
Nair also revealed that by end of 2006, spheris India would look at new areas like medical coding and billing. spheris' revenues globally are in the region of $200 million. He expects spheris India to grow at 60% this year. “The medical transcription industry has made a comeback in India and US customers are sending more and more work to us,” he said.
Spheris Hiring more workers in India [2005-10-11]
spheris says it is hiring more workers in India Media Release Oct. 6, 2005
An American company that transcribes doctors notes said Wednesday it is setting up a transcription center in the southern Indian city of Coimbatore, making it the latest U.S. company to expand outside India's traditional outsourcing hubs.
spheris Inc. of Franklin, Tennessee, has already hired 300 people for its new center in Coimbatore, in India's southern Tamil Nadu state, and plans to add another 700 workers in the next year, the company's president and chief executive, Steven E. Simpson, told reporters.
Workers at the Coimbatore office transcribe taped dictation of U.S. doctors'' diagnosis and advice for patients, saving the physicians time and allowing them to treat more people.
spheris already employs 2,000 people doing the same work in the southern city of Bangalore _ one of the hubs of India's outsourcing business _ but decided to expand to Coimbatore because of the city's large untapped pool of skilled workers, he said.
The city has a strong foundation in education and is inexpensive, he said of Coimbatore, a city of one million people 360 kilometers (224 miles) south of Bangalore.
Western firms have sought to cut costs by farming out software development, engineering design and routine office work to India.
But the influx of Western firms has led to labor shortages and rising wages in larger cities that have become centers for the outsourcing business, such as Bangalore and Hyderabad.
In contrast, wages in smaller cities have not risen nearly as fast and are now about 30 percent lower than in traditional outsourcing hubs.
Among the companies that have chosen to set up operations lesser-known Indian cities are Honeywell International Inc., which has an office in the southern city of Madurai, and IBM Corp., which has built a facility in the western city of Calcutta.
Spheris Helps Employees Displaced by Katrina [2005-10-01]
NASHVILLE, TN–spheris, a global provider of medical transcription services and technology, is reaching out to help its more than 100 employees who were affected by Hurricane Katrina.
spheris employs more than 5,000 professional MTs, most of whom work from their homes, and had more than 170 employees located in the devastated gulf states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
“It took some time, but I am happy to say we have been able to locate all of our employees,” said spheris CEO and President Steven E. Simpson. “Through the efforts of our employee relations specialists, we were able to determine that all of our colleagues escaped serious physical harm. Nevertheless, 21 spheris employees have potentially lost their homes and all their possessions; 15 are in their homes, but are not able to work because of lost utilities; and several employees have relocated and been able to resume work.” According to Simpson, spheris is currently assisting with additional relocation efforts of other employees unable to return to their homes.
On Tuesday, Aug. 30, as the world began realizing the devastation facing millions of Americans, spheris established a spheris Employee Relief Effort as a means to provide corporate-sponsored assistance to spheris employees who experienced a significant hardship directly caused by Hurricane Katrina.
spheris started the fund with the initial contribution and vowed to match a large percentage of spheris employee contributions. In the days that followed, spheris saw overwhelming generosity from its employees wanting to help, and in response set up an automated process for spheris employees to donate their unused Paid Time Off (PTO) and cash contributions through payroll deduction on the spheris corporate intranet.
In addition to using the company intranet, spheris is sending regular e-mail updates to all its employees and an e-mail address (Naturaldisasterloop@spheris.com) has been established to enhance the company’s ability to communicate and respond to its employees’ needs.
To date, spheris employees have personally donated more than $77,000 in cash and $112,000 in donated hours of PTO for their colleagues in need. And, those donations are already helping numerous spheris employees.
Peggy Stolf, who lives in St. Bernard Parish outside of New Orleans, is a spheris MT supervisor who is receiving assistance from her employer. “Words cannot express the gratitude my family has for spheris,” said Stolf. “Through this entire disaster, spheris became my family's rock that we could cling to, to help us through.”
The Stolf family lost its house, all of its possessions and its beloved dog to the devastating flood waters and is now living with family in Augusta, GA. While it would be easy to focus on what she lost, Stolf chooses to focus on what she gained. “Though we did lose a lot, we did gain a renewed faith in humanity and compassion,” said Stolf. “And, I cannot even find the right words to express the kindness and care that spheris has shown toward me and my family.”
Evergreen+Spheris=India [2005-09-07]
I'm sure everyone noticed in sm's submitted article about India's opportunities for housewives in medical transcription, that one of their work sources is spheris. Another submit states that Evergreen Hospital is outsourcing to spheris ---- does Evergreen know their medical records are going to India? Doubt it!!!!
PS. The article about India said Stheris -- it's an error -- wonder how many of these errors show up in transcribed reports. Hmmmm
Spheris storms up health care [2005-08-15]
spheris purchase of Avicis/HealthScribe helped push the company into the top 30 of the nation's health care technology businesses, while Passport Health Communications cracked the top 100.
The 12th annual Healthcare Informatics 100 placed spheris, a medical transcription firm, as the 28th largest health care IT firm with $152.7 million in revenue last year. Officials at the Franklin-based company, which last year bought industry rival Avicis/HealthScribe for $75 million, expect revenue this year to top $200 million.
That deal helped push revenue last year up 41 percent, the seventh largest increase in the health care IT market.
Further down the list, Healthcare Management Systems slipped from 60th to 66th place last year despite revenue rising slightly to $34.5 million last year.
In addition, Passport joined the top 100 list at No. 92 as revenue increased from $13.1 million to $19.2 million in 2004. The Franklin company provides health care insurance eligibility and benefits information online for hospitals and physicians. Earlier this year Passport bought software developer Healthworks Alliance Inc., which allows health care providers to identify and eliminate denied insurance claims and write-offs.
In all, the 100 companies represented $24 billion in IT products and services, according to the June report.
VBC obscures line counting [2007-06-25]
VBC is an invention by Medquist to further obscure the line counting mess they created. MedQuist and spheris dominated the committees that recommended this awful concept.
spheris [2007-01-30]
Anyone know the deal with spheris lately, heard they were bought out by Healthscribe and are going to be outsourcing most. Need to know is I should stay or start looking AGAIN....Have two teenagers at home that need to be fed and we all know the way they eat.
CBay to purchase Spheris? [2006-10-11]
Is it true due to spheris' increasing debt the last two quarters,in part due to a difficult platform, has made them a target for CBay? Will spheris become a wholly-owned Indian subsidiary at some point? The cost savings to this financially distressed company could be too good to pass up.
Spheris Completes Acquisition of Vianeta Communications [2006-05-11]
FRANKLIN, Tenn., May 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- spheris, a leadingglobal provider of medical transcription technology and services, todayannounced the completion of its acquisition of Vianeta Communications, aleading developer and supplier of enterprise-wide clinical documentationtechnology for hospitals, health systems and group practices. The acquisition further expands spheris' ability to deploy technologyand service solutions for healthcare providers of any size and complexity.Virtually all healthcare specialties, including radiology, will be able tobenefit from spheris' enhanced clinical documentation technology andservice options. Customers are telling us they want an integrated technology andservice solution that is flexible enough to be combined and deployedeffectively across their health information management and radiology ITsystems, said Steven E. Simpson, spheris president and chief executiveofficer. The acquisition of Vianeta significantly expands spheris'technological capabilities, including speech recognition and XML datatagging for use with electronic health records, and thereby enhances ourability to meet the evolving and unique needs of all healthcareorganizations. Bringing spheris and Vianeta together combines what we believe to bethe most advanced technology in the medical transcription industry with themost powerful global network of medical transcriptionists, said Vianetachief executive officer Ralph Aceves. By joining forces, we believe we'vecreated the best possible solution for addressing the growing expectationsof our customers to improve quality, productivity and turnaround time. Working together as a combined entity, spheris and Vianeta are alreadyin discussions with several major healthcare institutions about theexpanded capabilities made possible by the acquisition. The favorableresponses already given by our existing customers and potential newcustomers have confirmed the value proposition we created by joining thetwo organizations, said Simpson. In addition to continuing to service and enhance the Vianeta solutionscurrently deployed in the marketplace, spheris will integrate the twoorganizations over the next several months and anticipates the announcementof new product offerings in the near future. Financial terms of theparties' agreement were not disclosed.
Spheris to Acquire Vianeta Communications [2005-12-21]
Integrating Vianeta's open and scalable XML-based software into spheris'existing medical transcription technology will also accelerate a host of otherinitiatives spheris is currently executing and further developing for both itstechnology and service capabilities. Speaking on behalf of the entire Vianeta team, we are pleased to bejoining such an industry force, said Vianeta Chief Executive Officer RalphAceves. We are looking forward to becoming part of the spheris mission tolead the medical documentation industry through superior services and best-in-class technology. Following completion of the transaction, spheris will continue to serviceand enhance the Vianeta solutions currently deployed in the marketplace. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, isexpected to close in the first quarter of 2006. Financial terms of theparties' agreement were not disclosed.
Foreign speaking docs [2005-12-01]
They keep the FSDs HERE for us to struggle with and send the easier stuff to India where the MTs who don't speak English are given an 8 week crash course in English diction, typing and computer processing. Those of us who have worked our entire adult lives in this profession are left to keep the FSDs from getting their backends sued for malpractice. I'm proud of my profession and resent being demeaned and cheated out of what I've spent a lifetime perfecting by seeing it given away by a money hungry, two-faced oursourcing country that swears on a stack of Bibles that we do not now and never will outsource outside the United States. Way to go spheris.
spheris [2005-11-10]
What a crock of garbage.
Why wouldn't you send business to India? The probably make less than we do, which isn't saying much. spheris has the worst reputation in the industry and treat their MTs like garbage. The company revenues are 200 million? Sure isn't going to the MTs in the US.
Spheris [2005-10-23]
I have a friend who is just dying to work at home. I do, but only local dictation. What can I tell her about spheris? Are they reliable, is there enough work. you know, all the stuff one should know before committing? I don't see much of anything positive on this compay but I could be wrong myself. Are there any companies out there that ARE good? For her she says benefits are not an issue which is something I can't visualize, but that's her position.
Spheris India looking at expanding in tier-II cities [2005-10-20]
BANGALORE: US-based medical transcription company spheris, which recently acquired HealthScribe, is looking to expand in a tier-II cities in India, preferably in the South by 2006. spheris India (formerly HealthScribe), based in Bangalore, recently opened an additional 300-seat center in Coimbatore this month.
The company has over 2000 employees in India at present, and plans to ramp up the headcount to 3000, next year.
“We feel that large cities are very competitive while smaller cities have a lot more candidates who are serious in taking up medical transcription as a full-fledged career,” said Suresh Nair, CEO and MD, spheris India.
Elaborating this aspect, he said that unlike BPOs or call centers, which require good spoken English skills, medical transcription is more knowledge-oriented and needs good grammatical skills.
Commenting on the merger with spheris- the second biggest medical transcription company globally, he said that the move had made HealthScribe a truly global company with access to bigger funds and support for growth.
The company has already added 15 new accounts from the spheris' stable. Nair said that next year, he plans to start a technology development team that would build solutions based on their delivery platform and sell them commercially.
Nair also revealed that by end of 2006, spheris India would look at new areas like medical coding and billing. spheris' revenues globally are in the region of $200 million. He expects spheris India to grow at 60% this year. “The medical transcription industry has made a comeback in India and US customers are sending more and more work to us,” he said.
Spheris Hiring more workers in India [2005-10-11]
spheris says it is hiring more workers in India Media Release Oct. 6, 2005
An American company that transcribes doctors notes said Wednesday it is setting up a transcription center in the southern Indian city of Coimbatore, making it the latest U.S. company to expand outside India's traditional outsourcing hubs.
spheris Inc. of Franklin, Tennessee, has already hired 300 people for its new center in Coimbatore, in India's southern Tamil Nadu state, and plans to add another 700 workers in the next year, the company's president and chief executive, Steven E. Simpson, told reporters.
Workers at the Coimbatore office transcribe taped dictation of U.S. doctors'' diagnosis and advice for patients, saving the physicians time and allowing them to treat more people.
spheris already employs 2,000 people doing the same work in the southern city of Bangalore _ one of the hubs of India's outsourcing business _ but decided to expand to Coimbatore because of the city's large untapped pool of skilled workers, he said.
The city has a strong foundation in education and is inexpensive, he said of Coimbatore, a city of one million people 360 kilometers (224 miles) south of Bangalore.
Western firms have sought to cut costs by farming out software development, engineering design and routine office work to India.
But the influx of Western firms has led to labor shortages and rising wages in larger cities that have become centers for the outsourcing business, such as Bangalore and Hyderabad.
In contrast, wages in smaller cities have not risen nearly as fast and are now about 30 percent lower than in traditional outsourcing hubs.
Among the companies that have chosen to set up operations lesser-known Indian cities are Honeywell International Inc., which has an office in the southern city of Madurai, and IBM Corp., which has built a facility in the western city of Calcutta.
Spheris Helps Employees Displaced by Katrina [2005-10-01]
NASHVILLE, TN–spheris, a global provider of medical transcription services and technology, is reaching out to help its more than 100 employees who were affected by Hurricane Katrina.
spheris employs more than 5,000 professional MTs, most of whom work from their homes, and had more than 170 employees located in the devastated gulf states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
“It took some time, but I am happy to say we have been able to locate all of our employees,” said spheris CEO and President Steven E. Simpson. “Through the efforts of our employee relations specialists, we were able to determine that all of our colleagues escaped serious physical harm. Nevertheless, 21 spheris employees have potentially lost their homes and all their possessions; 15 are in their homes, but are not able to work because of lost utilities; and several employees have relocated and been able to resume work.” According to Simpson, spheris is currently assisting with additional relocation efforts of other employees unable to return to their homes.
On Tuesday, Aug. 30, as the world began realizing the devastation facing millions of Americans, spheris established a spheris Employee Relief Effort as a means to provide corporate-sponsored assistance to spheris employees who experienced a significant hardship directly caused by Hurricane Katrina.
spheris started the fund with the initial contribution and vowed to match a large percentage of spheris employee contributions. In the days that followed, spheris saw overwhelming generosity from its employees wanting to help, and in response set up an automated process for spheris employees to donate their unused Paid Time Off (PTO) and cash contributions through payroll deduction on the spheris corporate intranet.
In addition to using the company intranet, spheris is sending regular e-mail updates to all its employees and an e-mail address (Naturaldisasterloop@spheris.com) has been established to enhance the company’s ability to communicate and respond to its employees’ needs.
To date, spheris employees have personally donated more than $77,000 in cash and $112,000 in donated hours of PTO for their colleagues in need. And, those donations are already helping numerous spheris employees.
Peggy Stolf, who lives in St. Bernard Parish outside of New Orleans, is a spheris MT supervisor who is receiving assistance from her employer. “Words cannot express the gratitude my family has for spheris,” said Stolf. “Through this entire disaster, spheris became my family's rock that we could cling to, to help us through.”
The Stolf family lost its house, all of its possessions and its beloved dog to the devastating flood waters and is now living with family in Augusta, GA. While it would be easy to focus on what she lost, Stolf chooses to focus on what she gained. “Though we did lose a lot, we did gain a renewed faith in humanity and compassion,” said Stolf. “And, I cannot even find the right words to express the kindness and care that spheris has shown toward me and my family.”
look who wrote the article - an Indian. SM [2005-09-09]
You should send the hospital administrator an anonymous letter and let them know that their records are being sent to India. spheris just got in trouble for not informing a hospital in California that they were sending the records overseas.
Evergreen+Spheris=India [2005-09-07]
I'm sure everyone noticed in sm's submitted article about India's opportunities for housewives in medical transcription, that one of their work sources is spheris. Another submit states that Evergreen Hospital is outsourcing to spheris ---- does Evergreen know their medical records are going to India? Doubt it!!!!
PS. The article about India said Stheris -- it's an error -- wonder how many of these errors show up in transcribed reports. Hmmmm
Seventeen employees will lose their jobs [2005-08-17]
2005-08-16by Lori VaroshJournal Reporter
KIRKLAND -- Seventeen employees of Evergreen Hospital Medical Center in Kirkland will lose their jobs, most by Aug. 31, victims of a trend toward outsourcing the work of medical transcriptionists.
spheris, a Franklin, Tenn.-based contract medical transcription company, will begin today to take over the work of typing doctors' dictation into Eastside patients' records, hospital spokeswoman Amy Gepner confirmed Monday.
The practice is increasingly common among area hospitals. It provides benefits in expertise and cost savings, supporters say. But critics warn that, without careful safeguards, the practice can put patients at risk.
Outsourcing has become the area standard, said Caitlin Hillary, spokeswoman for Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue, which outsourced its transcriptionists in 1999. Such companies have the expertise and the employee base to handle the peaks and valleys of patient loads, she said.
Overlake had been having trouble recruiting transcriptionists before it outsourced those jobs, and the solution has worked well, Hillary said.
Job quality is `inferior'
But others find outsourcing generally ``is inferior to having long-term, loyal staff,'' said Diane Clark, supervisor of transcription services for the UW Medical Center, which outsources about half of its transcription work.
Because they offer lower pay, transcription companies attract people with less experience, Clark said. Those workers have no particular loyalty to the medical center, and no personal investment in the work.
And, because they often work on a per-line basis, ``the faster they type, the more money they make,'' which can result in mistakes, Clark said.
Nor do physicians always review the transcriptions as they should, she added.
If the doctors' notes are not transcribed accurately, ``it could result in patient care issues,'' Clark said. Outsourcing can work if the companies routinely sample the work for accuracy and have a second pair of eyes proof-reading the transcription.
spheris was chosen because of its quality, said Evergreen's Gepner. Physicians at the Kirkland hospital read and sign off on all transcriptions before they go into a patient's medical record, she said.
In an April memo to physicians obtained by the Journal, however, medical staff warned that problems are possible during a transition period to the new system.
``There will be a period of time in which the new dictation service will need to adapt to the phraseology and individual traits of our Evergreen physicians; during that time there will be more blanks and errors, so please pay close attention to your dictation for accuracy,'' the memo said.
The taxpayer-supported hospital expects to save $400,000 a year over its current costs for transcription services, including salaries and benefits, Gepner said. But the move is also being made because existing transcriptionists cannot keep up with the workload without a $500,000 to $750,000 investment in equipment as well as personnel.
``It doesn't make business sense to be significantly increasing the cost,'' Gepner said.
The hospital's administration proposed outsourcing and the hospital district's commissioners approved because it was ``best for patient safety,'' Gepner said.
``What we need to do is get (the information) as fast as we can in the patient record,'' she said. spheris already is capable of working with the new patient records system Evergreen added two years ago, she said.
The contract with spheris also requires that no work be sent out of the country and that all 17 Evergreen transcriptionists be offered jobs, Gepner said. ``Three have chosen to go with spheris,'' she said.
The company has taken out ads in local newspapers seeking more transcriptionists.
Some employees complain, however, that the contractor is simply not offering a living wage. spheris offered 7.5 cents per line, said one transcriptionist, who asked for anonymity for fear that a ``measly'' severance package would be withdrawn.
An average spheris worker would make less than two-thirds that of an Evergreen employee, according to the figures the Transcriptionist provided.
Evergreen transcriptionists earn $13.50 to $19.62 per hour, plus a 7-cent per line bonus for more than 938 lines a day. At a consistent day's work of 1,200 lines, the midrange Evergreen employee would earn $150 a day, compared to $90 for the spheris worker.
``I have to pay a mortgage, pay bills,'' the transcriptionist said. ``I can't live on that kind of wage. ... I'd just be giving my expertise away.''
In a letter to the hospital district's Board of Commissioners in June, transcriptionists complained that they learned by e-mail that their jobs would vanish and that the severance package offered is ``insulting.''
Evergreen didn't want to provide as long a period of extended health care for laid-off workers as the standard set by Overlake and Group Health hospitals, explained Carter Wright, spokesman for SEIU, the health-care workers union.
``Evergreen is not only getting rid of jobs, they're trying to do it on the cheap,'' Wright said.
``There's concern about cutting down errors in hospitals and streamlining medical records,'' he said, ``but it's really important to make sure the information is accurate. Accuracy can literally be a matter of life and death.''
In the June letter, transcriptionists urged commissioners ``to look at the human cost of your actions. We are not only employees of this hospital, we are members of this community, a community that you have sworn to represent.''
The hospital that touts its role as the biggest employer in Kirkland is sending Kirkland jobs elsewhere and dumping employees into the pool of 600,000 state residents without health insurance, a transcriptionist complained.
Outsourcing is best for patient safety, Gepner said. ``We're putting patient safety concerns over public relations concerns.''
Lori Varosh can be reached at lori.varosh@kingcountyjournal.com or 425-453-4234.
Spheris storms up health care [2005-08-15]
spheris purchase of Avicis/HealthScribe helped push the company into the top 30 of the nation's health care technology businesses, while Passport Health Communications cracked the top 100.
The 12th annual Healthcare Informatics 100 placed spheris, a medical transcription firm, as the 28th largest health care IT firm with $152.7 million in revenue last year. Officials at the Franklin-based company, which last year bought industry rival Avicis/HealthScribe for $75 million, expect revenue this year to top $200 million.
That deal helped push revenue last year up 41 percent, the seventh largest increase in the health care IT market.
Further down the list, Healthcare Management Systems slipped from 60th to 66th place last year despite revenue rising slightly to $34.5 million last year.
In addition, Passport joined the top 100 list at No. 92 as revenue increased from $13.1 million to $19.2 million in 2004. The Franklin company provides health care insurance eligibility and benefits information online for hospitals and physicians. Earlier this year Passport bought software developer Healthworks Alliance Inc., which allows health care providers to identify and eliminate denied insurance claims and write-offs.
In all, the 100 companies represented $24 billion in IT products and services, according to the June report.
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