Are medical transcription jobs from home viable? Is this work from home stuff for real? Can you really sit at home and make a good living as a medical transcriptionist? The short answer is yes you can and there are many who have done this. Here I’ll share my experience operating a similar health care support home business.
The nature of the work makes medical transcription jobs from home possible probably more than other health care support job. It is a job that requires undivided attention. The nature of medical transcription is similar to the business I operate – medical billing – so I’ll share my insights on home based medical transcription jobs that I’ve experienced operating a home business.
There are two ways medical transcription jobs from home are possible:
- Own your own medical transcription home business
- Have and employer that permits telecommuting
My experience starting and operating a similar medical billing business has been very rewarding. I won’t mislead you and tell you it’s easy. I don’t think starting any business is easy. The key is learning what to do (and what not to do) and how to do it from someone who has already been there. If you have the drive and perseverance, your income potential is up to you.
Home based medical transcription is not a get-rich-quick opportunity. Just like any other business it does take discipline and dedication to learn the craft and sell your services. But the payoff of being your own boss, control your income, and the flexibility to set your own hours is worth it.
You do have to have good communications with your employer or client to coordinate assignments. Most of your dealings are with physicians, administrative staff, and other health care providers such as nurses or physicians assistants. Much of the communication and coordination of work can be accomplished electronically these days making for efficient use of your time.
Outlook for Medical Transcription
According to the Occupational Outlook published by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in medical transcription are expected to grow an average of 6% in the next 10 years. This compares to a 25% growth for other healthcare support jobs. This would of course impact opportunities for medical transcription jobs from home.
In recent years technology has transformed medical transcription through the use of speech recognition technology. In particular speech recognition software is now commonly used to prepare a draft transcription. The medical transcriptionist will then review the transcript and correct as necessary. This is a significant change from traditional medical transcription which involved creating a transcribed report by listening to dictation.
Benefits
The benefits of medical transcription jobs from home are:
- Flexibility to set your own hours – as long as the work gets done in a timely manner
- If raising young children can be there for your kids. From my own experience, it’s nice to be home when my kids get off the school bus.
- Can use your home expenses such as utilities are tax deductible
- Helps keep overhead low
Disadvantages
One of the drawbacks of medical transcription jobs from home are that you have to be disciplined not to let it interfere with your home life. If you don’t set boundaries, this can really interfere with your home life.
To land a medical transcription jobs from home, you really need experience – at least 2 years or more to be considered for employment by most credible companies. Having a mentor to learn under can really speed up the process at first. Eventually you need to be able to work well on your own without a lot of help.
However due to the strong demand for the occupation, there are more employers who are willing to provide on-the-job training.
When I was considering work at home opportunities, I narrowed it down between medical billing and medical transcription. I ended up in medical billing because I had the opportunity to work at home for a medical billing coding business my friend operated and it was a great opportunity to learn.
Compared to Medical Billing
Compared to medical billing, medical transcription is appealing because you don’t have the expense and effort of submitting claims and printing/mailing patient statements. You also don’t have to invest in expensive software – although with online solutions now that’s less of an issue.
I had my office upstairs near the heart of the house. Phones ringing and fax machine. Every time I walked by I felt obligated to work as I saw something to that needed to be done. I eventually moved my office to our finished basement. That helped me to separate my work from home.
If your business is such that you have employees, they need to have access to your home office. Depending on how your home is laid out this can be intrusive to your privacy. I will at times employ other stay at home moms to work from their home part time as contractors. With the layout of my home office, they can come and go without disruption.
It’s important to have policies in place When handling patient information to insure patient information is handled in compliance with HIPAA requirements.
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