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Medical transcription industry to take a hit from US recession

by JESUS F. LLANTO, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 12/02/2008 10:28 PM

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The Philippine medical transcription industry will not be spared from the effects of the global economic slowdown although its share in the global market is small, an executive of a transcription company said Tuesday.

Speaking in one of the sessions at the BPO Summit Philippines 2008, Fred Kumetz, chief executive officer of medical and transcription firm eData Services said that the medical transcription (MT) sector is not immune to the effects of the slowdown in the economy of the United States, where most MT clients are based,

“The belief that medical transcription is recession proof is a fallacy,” said Kumetz.

Kumetz, however, said that the effect of the slowdown in the global MT industry will be “totally insignificant” because the Philippine MT industry is too small to be affected by the financial crisis.

The transcription sector is one of the non-voice sectors of the BPO in the Philippines. In 2007, the sector generated US$197 million and it has grown by an average of 24 percent during the past three years.

Myla Reyes, managing director of the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Phlippines (MTIAPI), said some of their services catering to the US market has slowed down.

Kumetz said that aside from the effects of the economic slowdown, the MT sector is also facing problems like possible reduction in patients.

“Unemployment means loss of health insurance and it means no money to be spend for health care,” Kumetz, said adding that loss of insurance will limit visits to the doctors.

Kumetz added that another challenge and potential threat to Philippine MT companies is the move pushed by the US military to teach the spouses of US servicemen courses on medical transcription.

Industry experts are saying that with the slowdown in the MT industry, Philippine-based transcription firms should try offering other services like legal transcription.

as of 12/02/2008 10:28 PM