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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

overseas work (Saudi Arabia, Dubai)

Posted By: bin_swanson on 2007-10-27
In Reply to:

A long long time ago, in a place far away, when I was a CMT, I used to get advertisements contracting for jobs at King Faisal Hospital in Saudi Arabia as well as a hospital in Dubai.  I just wondered if this was still going on.  Maybe they just contracted everything to India (haha).  Does anyone know about this? 




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Could you tell us more about Saudi Arabia?
I saw those ads years ago in the MT magazines and thought it sounded really interesting. Supposedly they put you up in a house, gave you a car, etc? Really curious about your experience. :)
that job is in Saudi Arabia -

and apparently they want an American transcriptionist.


Anyone worked in Saudi Arabia at..
King Faisal Specialist Hospital?  I know, I know, terrorism.  Still, I am curious.  I have been contacted and will be getting some answers to tomorrow.  Wouldn't mind hearing from someone who has been there.
A cowgirl in Saudi Arabia! How kewl!

ProScript Documentation Services does not send work overseas or employ any overseas MTs. (nm)

yes, when all that overseas work comes back
after it becomes illegal to outsource work with our personal information.  I am hoping that day comes soon.
Is it possible some of the account work is going overseas. MQ does offshore you know.
:
That kind of money is what has sent work overseas, IMO.
x
No, what's sent work overseas is cheap schools that don't teach SM
properly, churning out hoards of MTs who will undercut the good ones and then turn out terrible work.
No, corporate greed is what sends work overseas.
The only reason offshoring is alive is because our fellow Americans are too cheap to pay a living wage. They want their companies to show a greater profit and stock to go up.

I am an excellent MT. However, I can't make squat for money in this field because every single company I get on with sticks me with their lousiest accounts. I've learned seven new accounts in the past month between a small MTSO and a national. That's how it works. You do your best, QA scores reflect it, and they give you their garbage that nobody else will do.
To Administrators: LawScribe, one of your advertises sends all work Overseas! sm

Thought you'd want to know.  I contacted them and was told they do not hire anyone local in the USA, and only hire overseas.  How interesting?  Since you don't support overseas coming and taking our jobs, I thought you'd be interested in knowing this, or maybe you already know?  


 


Have a great day!


I will never work for another company that supports offshoring to overseas countries
As posted above, I have worked for a foreign company.  The company had some US MTs working for them and IMO, they were using us to cover up.  I think we should personally stick together and stop the nonsense of our US reports going overseas.  I do have one question for those who support the Indian companies and any company that offshore overseas...where is your medical information going?  Have you thought for one minute that maybe your own SSN and address, etc, might be going overseas?
the bush-saudi long-time connection....sm

conspiracy theories or not - all this gives food for thought for those still living with a functioning brain.  Also, there are literally thousands of these articles online for those who are interested.


http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=99415


http://www.veteransforpeace.org/The_secret_saudi_052703.htm


http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/saudi.html


Also, they could be done overseas..
I proofed Indian work a few years ago and they sound like similar reports--blanks, everything wrong.

For everyone's info, the clinic in town that outsourced to India still dislikes the quality intensely, after all these years, but still uses them because they are cheaper. Go figure.
overseas
The doc that I work for now used to use a service and paid 9cpl.
re:overseas
We could do this, but then we'd have a small choice of credit cards, cell phone providers, computers, toilet paper, paper towels, food in general, entertainment such as cable and internet providers, clothing, tires, and I could go on and on, but what would be the point? The simple fact of the matter is that this is widespread and there's no turning back on it now. Even in our industry we have plenty of overseas working alongside of us. The way I see it, these people have families to feed as well and want to make a living for them as well. I've worked with U.S. companies that employ both American and Overseas MTs and I have to say that they are more than willing to put in the time and effort to get it right. They are also willing to take English classes to do better. I just think it's time that we end this whole caste system everyone wants to push on the MT world. There is plenty of work to go around, instead of pushing them to the side, why don't we include them and help them become better at this job?
overseas
May I ask what company this is? I would like to work overseas as well.
overseas
Haven't decided yet! Maybe Spain
overseas
haven't decided yet! France maybe?
overseas

The system is not accepting the 3-digit password, after I write out my message, why not?


OUTSOURCE OVERSEAS
and you will be begging for work. get ready to brown-nose to get enough money to live on.

good luck. you could do much better.
They have to be using overseas employees...sm
So remind her that  while they claim HIPAA compliance, truth of the matter is that  once the records leave the US soil there's really no protection.
They use overseas labor.
.
how did you get an overseas account in the UK?
x
Has anyone ever lived overseas?....sm

A friend of mine is moving to Italy and I am really considering going with her.  Just wanting to know if anyone has lived outside of the US (not necessarily in Italy, just anywhere).


Thanks


Overseas posters?
I can't find anywhere on the site that prohibts off shore MTs from posting.
jobs overseas
Personally, I do not worry about this. There are plenty of companies who hire MTs purely in the US. For other jobs, just you wait, there is going to be relocalization of jobs/services, etc in the coming years. I already see/read about towns relocalizing. I would never consider going abroad for any major medical procedures. I proudly support my local medical team. There is probably a reason that medical care is cheaper abroad.

With the comment made in this article about importing physicians, does anyone wonder why medical costs have skyrocketed? I am sure a good portion of these physicians have come over here to make all sorts of money versus what they could make in their country of origin. I am sure they would not have left their country of origin if they were doing well for themselves.
Military Overseas

When companies state no overseas applications or solicitations does that include Overseas Military?? I have DSL and we have a US Post office here on base. Curious cause i'm about to start school and want to know it wont be wasted while we are stationed overseas.


Thanks!


Overseas outsourcing SM

I don't know where you have been for the past several years but a whole bunch of people are screaming bloody murder about this to their congressmen/women.  There are plenty of petitions being circulated to put a stop to foreign outsourcing.  Most MTs I know have not only sent letters to congress but have called the senators from their states to complain about this.  My friends refuse to see a physician who outsources medical records - and they ask up front who does the transcription and make it know that their records are not to be sent to a foreign country. 


There's lots of stuff going on.  Do a search on the Web and you will more than likely more than you ever imagined.


Don't kid yourself. The overseas companies are going in at 0.13 and 0.14 now. nm
nm
Overseas jobs?

Does anyone have any sources for info on overseas MT jobs?!  I have been Googling but haven't come up with a single MT position in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, or Costa Rica -- only Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Dubai.


Thanks.


 


never worked overseas....
If I could get up the courage to fly over the ocean I may have been able to answer this one for ya... :)

But I dont know why you wouldn't be able to take your work with you... you just have to have access to everything you use on a daily basis... Right now I'm away from my home away from home, visiting my sister (and new niece!!!) for Christmas and here I am working away... :)

Good luck!!! and how awesome for your son
Working overseas

If you worked for an American company say in Scotland all well and good, transcribing for U.S hospitals and the work contained in the U.S., BUT if you transcribe for British or European hospitals/doctors, the work contained in those countries, it is VERY difficult.  The spelling is very different.  I was born and raised in Britain x25 years and when I started working here in the U.S. I found the American spelling very difficult - although less characters per word.  British spelling adds a lot.  Just a thought!  Plus the accents are hard too.  They don't say period, they say full stop which sometimes sounds like part of the text, but you have probably already experienced that.  Good luck, it sounds wonderful.


They did not contract an overseas
company. The company they contracted with was sending it overseas.
Just because the records go overseas
does not mean the laws are being broken. Granted, they cannot be enforced, however, if the company doing the overseas transcription does not follow the guidelines, then something might be done. However, unless there are specific cases, you cannot say laws are being broken. I am sure their contracts state they have to abide by our laws.
It is more of a risk overseas. SM
If some company operating from an offshore country with a "store front" in the U.S., decides to retaliate against Dr. John Doe, and spreads 50 of his patient's medical records over the internet, how easy do you think it would be to track down the so-called contact (whose name cannot even be pronounced) for the transcription company who is nowhere to be found? HIPAA has now power to fine, penalize, or imprison any overseas operation because the HIPAA laws only apply here in the United States. IMO, there is a substantial safety risk in having medical records leave the country.
working overseas

Can a U.S. citizen travel while working for an American transcription company, as long as they have a legal U.S. residence?  Is there any legal reason not to hire someone who likes to travel and visit foreign countries while they work?  I'm not talking about off-shoring. 


 


Can anyone confirm that JLG outsources overseas?
y
I find it hard to believe that the MTs overseas
experienced at MT, but that's just me. These companies are just trying to save money, plain and simple because people in those countries can and will work for peanuts.
Does Transcend outsource overseas?
Thinking of applying with them as an IC.  Anybody with any input?
We had an account that went overseas that when we lost it
one of hte people said they'd be back. Hasn't happened yet and it's been over a year. I always wished they would.
Outsourcing doesn't always mean overseas, you
A physician who uses an MTSO for their transcription work, American or otherwise, is outsourcing. That practice has benefitted most of us, so I assume you just mean offshoring.

Don't you think that eventually foreign MTs will up the ante and start asking for more money? I do. Greed usually takes over and I predict it won't be long before they wake up and see that their services are worth more. If that happens, I think we will see less offshoring because the reason most companies offshore is the cost advantage. I've already seen some of the Indian companies requesting more, i.e., it used to be they wanted only 3-4 cpl and now they are saying 5-6 cpl. As an MTSO myself, I get quite a few emails from foreign MTs looking for work so I am just speaking from my personal experience. (I personally do not offshore and never will.)

There are some companies that offshore because they can't find enough MTs that want to work the graveshift and foreign MTs will gladly work it due to the time difference. That practice doesn't bother me as much as the companies just looking for cheap labor despite quality issues.
Good accounts are going overseas
How ironic!
Overseas outsourcing is here to stay

I've been reading some very interesting posts regarding off-shore outsourcing.  I worked as a supervisor in a large MTSO in the 1990s when this subject was being "bantered" around the office, but it was my mistake that I didn't start taking it more seriously at that time.


As I have seen transcription issues evolve over the past 10+ years, I can think back to a time when, in fact, we had lots of "visitors" coming to our office, looking at servers, etc. in what I quite naively thought were server upgrades.  Some of these so-called "visitors" were indeed of foreign descent.  I lived in the southwest at the time so there was a fair amount of "overseas occupants" and I didn't think much about it.  Now, in hindsight, it's plainly and perhaps painfully clear that this was the beginning of outsourcing.


One thing I will say upfront is the fact that overseas outsourcing companies employ smart and very patient people.  I don't doubt this very concept of $.03 cpl transcripton is very palatable to foreign entities where there is so much poverty.  I also remember reading in some of the transcription magazines around that time that doctors and nurses were quitting their jobs in India to transcribe because they made more money!  I laughed outloud when I read that, but I guess the joke was on us.   I also remember reading ads for medical editors in Saudi Arabia for $40-50,000 with a full housing allowance, but the employee had to sign a two-year retainer agreement.  One MT I knew took a job in Saudi Arabia.  I did hear from another MT who was writing to her that there were huge personal safety issues and she would be glad when her time was up so she could "come home."


If we want to know how persistent outsourcers can be, especially with medical office/hospital administrative staff making critical decisions without actual hands-on experience and think MTs are just "typists," just look at our current situation.  We in the USA don't seemingly have the patience to look at the broader picture and the dollars matter more.  Don't get me wrong but the spiraling out-of-control cost of healthcare has always been an issue and with more sophisticated scanners, research, etc. being necessary just to compete with the hospital/clinic across the street, dollars have to be taken from somewhere and voila! it's comes from  'discretionary funds' called MT.  There is only one very large medical institution still in his country who tried outsourcing in the beginning and when the quality of the work was so poor they wouldn't stand for it anymore, they cancelled the remainder of the "standard" contract and vowed never again to outsource whatever the cost.   To this day, they are still one of the most prestigious medical centers in the world and all transcription is being done in-house.


I truly believe there is safety in numbers and hope I live along enough to see a radical change from off-shore outsourcing to bringing MTs "bread-and-butter" home where it belongs!


Regarding US companies using overseas labor

Maybe we can start by not utilizing their services and getting the word out.


http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/popups/exporting.america/content.html


 


No, it does not. The call center is probably overseas
k
To me too. When did CS start training overseas?
nm
Sounds like an overseas gimmick to me...
xx
Regarding medical records going overseas...

have you ever asked/educated your friends and family about the fact their medical records may be transcribed overseas and their personal information may be shipped over there, as well?


I was talking with my husband about this issue, and he was oblivious even though I have done transcription for almost 7 years.  (He was also pretty PO'd that with all the money we pay for insurance, our medical records could be coming from third-world ESL transcriptionists).


What if every person who went to their doctor said I want my medical records transcribed in the US by US MTs.  While writing to the president is a good idea, isn't educating each and every healthcare consumer a better idea?  I like the idea of a hospital/clinic having to post a disclaimer that your personal medical information is being transcribed overseas. 


I bet then their pockets would get a little deeper and all these MTSOs that are making money off shipping our work overseas would have a lot less business and a lot less power over us.  If veterans hospitals and Washington DC area hospitals cannot send their records overseas, why don't the rest of us have the same rights?  Are the politicians really going to be responsive to our letters if they know their records are safely done in the US?


I think this movement has to come at least in part from the healthcare consumers, i.e., everyone, as we do not have the money or the mouthpiece that MTSOs do.  It will empower the MTSOs trying to keep jobs here to offer better wages and expand their businesses while keeping American MTs employed. 


 


we have people overseas as employees -
maybe it was someone contracting to do the work at our overseas hospitals for government employees (military, etc.), not just that they contracted an overseas company to do their records.
they did contract with overseas according to the article
"Also in 2006, government investigators found that the VA's overseas contractors were handling personal information with lax security and oversight. The VA no longer uses international contractors, Budahn said"

They no longer contract with them, but at one point they did. It does not say the company they contracted with was sending work overseas.