MTIAPI plans announced for growth of RP medical transcription industry Raymond Eruma Executive Director, MTIAPI reruma@mtiapi.com April 08, 2008 The country’s medical transcription (MT) industry is launching a strong bid for a bigger stake in the global transcription market, which is projected to grow to $18B in 2010. The new board of directors of the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines, Inc. (MTIAPI) has lined up five action points for the industry this year – Skills Enhancement and Standardization, Technological and Process Innovations, Improvement of Operational Efficiency, and Aligned Business Matching Programs. MTIAPI is prioritizing skills development to produce a bigger pool of qualified transcriptionists for the high-capacity and fast-turnaround requirements of large foreign clients. The country has lost such lucrative opportunities in the past due to the lack of capacity of local companies, 85 percent of which are small with 15- to 50-seat operations. “Until a critical capacity of qualified workforce is established, the country will have a hard time attracting interests from big U.S. clients and our role will be mainly third party subcontractors,” says MTIAPI president Myla Rose Mundo-Reyes, who is also the managing director of Total Transcription Solutions, Inc. She projects that the country should have around 32,000 medical transcription workforce by 2010, a big leap from only 10,000 as of end-2007. MTIAPI is now developing related skills training and certification programs with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPA/P), and the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA), which it will complement with strong career advocacy and retention campaigns. Meanwhile, MTIAPI will enhance the capacity of local MT companies to address global market opportunities by providing training on diversified BPO functions in healthcare like medical records processing, medical coding, and medical billing. As compliance with the U.S.’s Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and data protection plays a critical role in raising the customers’ confidence level in providing more business to RP, MTIAPI will conduct a more aggressive educational campaign especially for its member companies. A survey is also underway to identify areas of focus for the promotion of enhanced operational efficiency, through capability building seminars and sharing of best practices. Exposure to appropriate global markets will be pursued through participation in high-profile MT conferences such as the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) Convention in California this April and the American Health Information Management Association Convention and Exhibit in Seattle in October. Networking opportunities between local MT companies and Filipino-American medical associations will also be arranged. Ms. Mundo-Reyes says that while the Philippines has established its presence in the international scene as a potential choice provider of outsourced medical transcription services, it accounts for a mere 1% of global outsourced medical transcription services, whereas India takes up around 4% of the market from the U.S. alone. She adds that other market opportunities exist in Australia, Europe, and Canada.