Health Care Reform passed on March 21, 2010. President Barack Obama signed it into law on Tuesday, March 23, 2010.

 

A lot of people may be wondering how this new bill will affect the medical transcription career field.

 

Before the Health Care Reform, bill was passed there were over 30 million people in the United States without health insurance. This means that a lot of these people did not go to see the doctor until an emergency would arise.

 

Then they would go into the emergency rooms. This resulted in over filled emergency rooms and medical reports being transcribed for just that one visit. There were also people with existing health conditions that could not get health insurance.  

 

This is all about to change...

 

Insurance companies will not be allowed to deny a person just because they have a current or past health condition.

 

Now that the Health Care Reform bill has passed every person in the United States will be required to have health insurance.

 

This will mean that over 30 million people will have to get health insurance and a large percentage of these people will go see doctors for anything from a minor sore throat to a major health problem.

 

Others that could not get health insurance will now be able to get the health insurance they desperately need.

 

This will result in more patients being seen by doctors and more patient files. The doctors will have more medical reports that will need to be transcribed for each patient whom they see.

 

There is already a huge shortage in the United States of qualified Medical Transcriptionist. This will continue to grow as doctors see more patients.  

 

Some of the changes will be right away, and other changes will take months to several years to take effect.  

 

What does this mean for you as a Medical Transcriptionist?

 

This change in our health care system will mean more job opportunities will open up for the medical transcriptionist! If you are already an MT, you can look forward to the many job opportunities that will open up in the future.

 

For those that are not MTs and are considering the medical transcription career field; this is the perfect time to get the proper training you will need. Once you have completed your medical transcription training course you will want to consider increasing your credentials over time.

 

You can take the RMT (Registered Medical Transcription) exam through AHDI after completing your medical transcription course. Getting your medical transcription credentials will show doctors that you are serious about your career. After you have passed the RMT exam and have been working in the medical transcription career field for at least two years you can take your career further by getting your CMT credentials. (Certified Medical Transcriptionist)

 

While there is a lot of controversy about the Health Care Reform bill, the one thing that we are very excited about is the possibilities that the new Health Care Reform bill will open up for the Medical Transcription Career.

 

Even doctors who use SRT (Speech Recognition Technology) software will need the 2nd set of eyes that the medical transcriptionist can give. The MTs that listen to the dictations; review and edit the reports created by the SRT systems will be commonly known as medical transcription editors.  

 

As you can see there are many new doors that can open up for you with the evolving change in technology along with the new health care laws.

 

One other thing that is very important for current and future MTs; is to keep current with the HIPAA privacy laws! Make sure that your computer is secure, and that you use it for your medical transcription business only. When sending files make sure they are secure. Never share patient information with anyone!