CBAY Systems file for $115 million US IPO

Medical transcription services company CBaySystems Holdings Ltd. on Monday filed for an initial public offering worth as much as $115 million.  The Franklin, Tenn., company handles medical transcription, billing, and coding services for about 2,400 hospitals, clinics, and practices in the U.S. CBaySystems did not say how many shares it plans to sell or when it plans to complete its IPO. It also did not disclose a proposed ticker symbol for its shares.

Read the Businessweek story here.

The New Twitter

From the existential Buddhist blog

Anatta, or “not-self”, is a frequently misunderstood Buddhist concept. Let’s clear up three common misconceptions about it right off the bat.  Buddhism doesn’t deny you exist, deny you have a personality, or imply you shouldn’t have an “ego.” What Buddhism does deny is a false conception of the self:  a self that is separate-unto-itself and unchanging.

In its narrowest sense, anatta is a denial of the Vedic conception of atman, an unchanging soul which transmigrates and which, according to the ancient Vedic formula, shares an identity with Brahman, or the godhead.  More broadly, anatta is descriptive of all conditioned phenomena, not just the self, and corresponds to the Mahayana idea of śunyata or emptiness: nothing possesses an unchanging self-nature.

The self can be compared to a whirlpool in the ocean.  A whirlpool is a distinctive feature of the ocean: it’s visible, tangible, and measurable.  It’s real.  It exists.  On the other hand, at any given moment the water that makes up the whirlpool is different from the water that comprised it a moment before, and from the water that will comprise it a moment later.  The whirlpool is a pattern that retains a discernible identity while it continues to exist.  At any given time, there is no separation between the whirlpool and the ocean.  It makes no sense to say that the whirlpool is “here” and the ocean is “there.”  Whirlpooling is a feature of the ocean.
It’s the same with the self.  The self exists as a pattern: a pattern of behavioral response. But that pattern is always in some degree of flux.  While I am always, in some sense, the same person, I am different now than I was at age three, and different from the way I will be at age eighty.  My intellectual capacity and memory will decline as I age.  My tastes and opinions may change as well.  While we are a relatively enduring pattern, we are also constantly changing: learning, developing, maturing, declining.  We also change depending on the situation we find ourselves in.  We behave differently at work, at home, in the bar, and in the zendo.
We are also inseparable from the world around us.  Our skin connects us to the world, rather than separating us from it.


Ok.  I use firefox and have a twitter addon.

http://goo.gl/XlrQ

This post is only about trying to understand a track back.  When you quote from another blog, you track back to that blog.  Like this superbly written piece at mashable.  The links came when I copied and pasted.

Twitter () has announced that it’s rolling out a new version of its web interface. Some users will start seeing the new look as soon as tonight, though the company says on its blog that it “will roll out as a preview over the next several weeks.”
News () of the company’s plan to integrate multimedia into the stream leaked out earlier this afternoon, but we’ve now learned that the redesign goes much further than that. The new interface resembles that of a far more sophisticated web app (as well as Twitter’s recently released iPad app).
The multimedia partnerships we hinted at earlier today extend to 16 different companies: DailyBooth, DeviantART (), Etsy, Flickr (), Justin.TV (), Kickstarter, Kiva, Photozou, Plixi, Twitgoo (), TwitPic (), TwitVid (), Ustream (), Vimeo (), yfrog, and YouTube ().
Much has been made in recent months of Twitter’s move into areas previously owned by third-party applications. Today’s announcement will no doubt renew such discussion, with many of the best features of Twitter clients like Tweetie (), Seesmic () Desktop, and TweetDeck () now becoming a part of the default Twitter interface. As we also pointed out earlier this afternoon, it also makes Twitter feel a bit more like Facebook.

The next link is generated by Amazon.  Subho

Twitter CEO Evan Williams prefaced his announcement by mentioning that Twitter.com is already far and away the most popular way for accessing the microblogging service, commanding 78% of unique users (which the company defines as “Of all the people who logged into their Twitter account during the month, what percentage did so via each service.”). Combined with Twitter’s growing need to serve up impressions to advertisers, it’s certainly no surprise that the company is now looking to keep people more engaged on its website.

Leverage your web presence with Tech O2

One of the two professional areas of my life that I feel most enthusiastic about is the social network and its strength. The other is Social reengineering with a rural focus.  Almost every business is on at least one of the social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Unfortunately, it just stops there. What exactly are you doing on Facebook for your business? Social media provides a way for “engaging your customers and prospects.” Just being on Facebook doesn’t mean much; you might have a fan page, but it will be one of the nearly 500 million fan pages. Presence doesn’t count for participation and engaging in social media.


The issue is not entirely ignorance, but a lack of tools and economic campaign models for small businesses to actively participate in social media. Analysts predict that social media will become (has already become in some views) the “new Internet.” Platforms like Facebook have orchestrated plans and methods to capture audiences, and conduct all business interactions within their ecosystem. Large corporations have created a new role in their employee roster called “Social Media Managers,” whose job is to engage their customers and prospects using an array of social media platforms. Social media managers have several tools such as Social Flow, Tweet Deck, CoTweet, etc. to participate in multiple social networks and interact with their clients. They also have the time and energy to carry on different social media campaigns from marketing to promotional activities.  Read More about how to leverage your social network to increase your business.


My personal social network began when I was a kid, and just like the internet, it was made up of people who were not not all there, but neither were they just not here. Books, music, movies, politics.  Read my blog.

Imedx-Worldtech and PRN Medical Management

Imedx-Worldtech acquires PRN Medical Transcription.

SHELTON, Conn., June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- iMedX Inc., a leading healthcare software and services company, announced today that it has acquired the assets of PRN Medical Management, LLC (PRN), a medical transcription company serving medical clinics for over 18 years, primarily in Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia.  With the acquisition of PRN, iMedX expands its base in the Washington DC metro area and beyond. PRN's employees in India will be absorbed by iMedX's subsidiary Worldtech. Using iMedX's revolutionary TurboScribe® platform for medical transcription, customers will enjoy the benefit of an efficient transcription workflow and ease of management. With TurboScribe's integration with leading Electronic Medical Record (EMR) products, customers will progress towards a paperless environment, a higher quality of care, and pave the way for adherence to the Obama administration's 'meaningful use' guidelines.  Additionally, PRN's customers can take advantage of iMedX's other Internet-based products such as its TurboRecord® - iMedX's low-cost, subscription-based EMR, and their ePrescribing product TurboRx® for error-free prescribing through pharmacies across the country.

Venkat Sharma, iMedX's president and CEO, along with the current iMedX management team, will continue to lead the combined companies. PRN's founder and CEO, Gabriela ("Gaby") Perazzo will work with iMedX through the transition even as she develops her passion in online newsletters and seminars.

Kavur, Andhra Pradesh

Rightfulness in the face of indifference and arrogance

We live in times where the words "environment" and "meltdown" have taken on a frightening synonymy. We, as a planet, clamor for the two degrees of our rightful coolness in the face of indifference and arrogance at the highest levels and of the highest order. We owe it to all the lives and efforts that have gone into creating this present, to our selves, and to our future to take steps to green minds, to green lives, to create leaders for tomorrow who will not blindly follow the destructive legacies that litter our history books, and to let our children know what a sparrow really looks like.

Full story here

Compensation Survey 2009-2010

IAMR constituents have shared basic data and operate on the principles of fairness, efficiency, value for all, and equitable and sensible sharing of yields at bandwidths fair to all stakeholders, at all levels.

Most of the Readers of MTAnywhere, or Transdyne or Worldtech internal message-boards, or the forums of mtindia, mtdaily, mtweek and the rest will be familiar with our 2005 survey.

Well. It is time now so that we have 2010 numbers that we can try and get close to and freeze for a period of all-round benefit.

Write in to subhorup+data@gmail.com with "iamr survey 2010" in the subject line to express your inclination to participate. This is open to all units of all sizes, homebased LAN collectives, from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. We do know that we will be hearing from Orissa and West Bengal too. We do not get to hear a lot from the rest though we know that they do network up in the north.

And in the same vein for those whose readers suck this up as soon as we hit publish, do keep yourself free on the evening of Monday, June 15, 2009. We know most of you who will have this by then will be there. But do spread the word if you can. OUT-OF-HYDERABAD FRIENDS, PLEASE EMAIL CONTACT DETAILS IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO STAY ON TOP OF SUCH THINGS. It promises to be a stimulating evening. Details, and the invite for those of you who are not on the IAMR member list, after the jump, the invitation too, from Venkateshwar Rao and Raghu and Ramakrishna and the rest of us too. Hooraah! But First, the routemap.



Hello friends,

While thanking IAMR management for giving Vasavi an opportunity to host its forthcoming meeting I, on my behalf and on behalf of our company, cordially invite you and/or your top management members to make it convenient and participate in the following program:

Date and Time: Monday, the 15th June, 2009 @ 6.30 p.m.

Venue: Our Office, Badeti’s Mansion, 6-3-712/153, Panjagutta Colony, Hyd-500082 (location map attached).

Chief Guest: Prof. (Dr.) B.Ramesh Babu, decades long expert on US Politics & Cultural Studies (Public Affairs) – brief CV attached -, has consented to share his thoughts on "INDIA US RELATIONS SINCE OBAMA: POLITICS & ECONOMICS".

Though Prof. Ramesh Babu is spending active retired life in Hyderabad, he continues to keep himself abreast of his nearly half a century knowledge of the subject. I feel that interaction with him as to past & present US politics & culture (also called public affairs) is likely to make IAMR members appreciate the ongoing US economic/business environment better.

We all have been endeavoring to study, analyse and assess as to future prospects for business from USA. Perhaps, knowing more about the ongoing US culture in the backdrop of its politics places us in the right perspective to move forward. Let us aim at having a participative, lively and useful interactive session with Dr. Ramesh Babu.

Dinner follows the meeting.

Looking forward to receiving you,

P. Venkateswara Rao,
Mg. Dir.,
Vasavi Prosoft Transcription Ltd.
Tel:23404102 & 23406099
RSVP: Naresh - Extn. 30 or Kalpavalli - Extn. 20 or 21

The Tale of the Rubber Checks

(From an article in Advance, link below)

Joan Edwards (not her real name), like Trudy Schaefer Looney, got into transcription on a whim 14 years ago. "It was sort of by fluke," she said. "I basically trained myself. I started out with a doctor and his wife. It was a brand new practice, and we sort of trained each other."

Edwards worked there for 4 years until the clinic closed due to lack of business. She moved on from there, getting her own accounts and working directly for clinics. Everything in her MT world was fine until she started working for a medical transcription service organization (MTSO) 2 years ago. The warning signs were there. The company said it would get direct deposit for its 120 MTs nationwide. It didn't. The promised health care coverage never showed up. A notice was sent out by the company saying that 10 oncology MTs quit, all in the same day. And MTs were forbidden by the company from contacting each other, even if they worked on the same accounts. Also, a lot of times Edwards and other MTs saw discrepancies in the line counts. They thought they typed more lines than they were paid for, but the only way to prove it would be to purchase the company's own line counting software, which would cost a hefty $300.

Despite the early warning signs that the company might not have been the best, Edwards was always paid on time--at least up until 3 months ago. She walked into the company's bank with a check, and the teller didn't even look at the amount. "She looked at the company name and she just shook her head. I said, 'Why are you shaking your head?' She answered, 'There's insufficient funds,'" Edwards recalled.

Edwards called the owner, who said the money would be in the bank the following morning. He promised the check wouldn't bounce. Edwards ended up $700 overdrawn on her account, and it took 5 days to finally get the money she was owed along with the bank fees for cashing a rubber check.

A couple weeks later, Edwards experienced the same thing. The check would bounce, so she couldn't put it in her account. She called the fraudulent check division in her county, but they provided little help, as she would have to put the check into the account, let it bounce and then prove the owner didn't make things right. "We don't have the option to wait that long, especially single mothers or widows like me," Edwards said. "That's how we feed our children."

Finally, after 3 months of dealing with bad checks, Edwards left the company. She now visits chat sites to let other MTs who ask about the company know that it's bad news. Edwards recently landed a job with another transcription company, but she's wary of the profession now. "I really don't want to get back into the medical transcription profession because of [this company]," she said. "You just don't know what's going to happen."

Edwards admitted she put up with the bounced checks and other problems for too long. She liked the clinic she transcribed for, and was familiar with the doctors. She felt resistant to change, until it became unbearable to stick with the company. The lesson here: don't wait around. If you're experiencing a similar situation, it's not likely that things are going to improve. There are good MT companies out there. Find one and don't be afraid to make the change.

Another lesson out of Edwards' issues is to thoroughly research before starting a job with a company. She checked on chat sites in the MT world before starting work for the company, but didn't find much information. Now Edwards and others who worked for the company peruse message boards to try to help other MTs steer clear. If a transcription company has a bad reputation, chances are that reputation will get out on the Internet, and MTs looking for jobs can use that resource. Another tip is to speak with MTs already working for the company you're thinking of working for. If a company isn't comfortable letting you speak to its MTs, that might be a red flag.

(To read the rest of the Advance story about how MT companies in US are turning out to be questionable employers, click here)

Moving with the times

From a non-descript village in the coastal area of the State a group of youths who passed Intermediate prepare reports for doctors across the world. Sitting in the calm environs of the village they are revolutionising the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry where the big guns are talking about starting operations in tier-I and tier-II cities to cut costs.

The rural BPO set up by an enterprising entrepreneur Ramakrishna Tummala in Kavur village of Guntur district with a workforce of just 30 people – all drawn from the village -- has not only slashed the costs by nearly 60 per cent but has also fulfilled his ambition of serving his birthplace.

Read the article in The Hindu here.

The Future of Medical Transcription - An Open Forum

IAMR, the industry body for medical transcription companies, organized a seminar on the Future of Medical Transcription at PGRRCDE Auditorium, Osmania University on Monday, October 6, 2008. The seminar was aimed at providing an open forum to MT professionals to discuss issues of common concern to the industry.

More than 190 MT professionals from seven of the leading companies attended the seminar. The keynote presentation from Raghu Vasu, CEO of Transdyne threw light on recent trends in the healthcare and healthcare documentation industry, emerging technologies, best practices, and highlighted the challenges facing both the business and the professionals and outlined appropriate responses. This was followed by an open forum where a panel of CEOs consisting of Mrs. Vijay Kumar of Vision 2K, Pydah Venkateswar Rao of Vasavi Prosoft, Raghu Vasu of Transdyne and Ramakrishna Tummala of Worldtech answered questions from the participants on a wide range of topics, such as the fluctuating dollar rate, new technologies, how to assess an employer, lack of awareness among the common people regarding MT as a serious career choice, etc.

At a time when downsizing and pink slips are the order of the day, the MT industry is seeing a resurgence with the consolidation and convergence of tried and tested business models resulting in growing business volumes and demand. This increased demand often also results in unwise responses at all levels. With this seminar, CEOs of the leading companies came forward to share their knowledge, expertise and perspectives in an open forum with MT professionals to dispel myths and create a positive understanding.

In view of the tremendous response to this seminar, it was suggested that IAMR could take this seminar to member companies so that all associates can benefit from it.

The morning session was followed by an afternoon of fun and games, conducted by Rajesh of Accentia and Harika of Vasavi Prosoft. The winners of the contests are listed below.


Bindi contest: Sravanti (Accentia)
Kiss the miss: Santosh Kumar (Accentia)
Clips contest: Janardan (Vasavi)
Balloon war: Sultana (Transdyne)
Balloon blowing: Balwant (Accentia) for quality
Ravi (Worldtech) and Safiya (Trandyne) for productivity
Singing: Manjula (Transdyne), Rebecca (Transdyne), Pooja (Worldtech), Yuvraj (Worldtech)

IAMR was formed by all the leading companies in July 2002 under the stewardship of Worldtech, Transdyne, Elico, Vasavi Prosoft, VasantScribe (now Accentia Tech), and CKAR, and nearly 20 other charter members, with the following objectives.

1. Representational. Help member companies take up policy and infrastructure related issues with government agencies and decision making bodies in one voice.
2. Networking. Create opportunities for networking within the industry through events and conferences
3. Educational. Make comprehensive industry-specific information available to members.
4. Promotional. Promote India as preferred MT and Healthcare services destination. Create awareness in media (local and international) regarding MT as a viable career pursuit and India as an attractive offshore MT destination.

IAMR has represented the industry at forums addressing labor laws, infrastructure requirements, provision for better bandwidth and power availability and tariffs, and education.

IAMR meets regularly to share best practices, industry trends, vendor information, etc. It also organizes conferences on subjects of relevance to the industry, both at the managerial and employee level. Some of the events organized by IAMR include seminars on Yoga at the Workplace, Change Management, Strategies for fluctuating forex, Career Destination with AAMT Director, Peter Preziosi, etc.

IAMR has worked through agencies like the Board of Intermediate Education, the AP State Council for Higher Education, Doctus, Osmania University and Nizams College to design and execute MT training modules at the junior college and degree college levels.

More details regarding IAMR can be found at their website iamr.org.in.

Rural BPO initiative in Andhra Pradesh

With over 500 on-site employees, Worldtech is a success story. Doctus, a company offering a wide range of services such as training, financial services, data entry, claims adjustments and processing. With more than 150 people on its staff at the Hyderabad center, and now with the Kavur operation with a targeted 200 workers within the next one year, Doctus and Worldtech are contributing to reverse the trend of people migrating to the cities, thereby reviving the cultural and economic life-force of the villages.

Read the Full Story Here.

Most common first and last names

Here is an (two text files below) excellent names database that I found on MTIndia (Amit's pioneering community forum) a long time back. It lists names, with incidence, and with gender. A must have for any MT.


firstnames.txt

lastnames.txt

Intermediate Student Interns with Worldtech

Worldtech, as part of its ongoing commitment to further the cause of medical transcription training through government institutions, recently concluded a two month internship program for students of the medical transcription program run by the Intermediate Board of Education at St. Josephs Junior College, Cudappah, and Husaini Alam Girls College at Hyderabad. A total of 19 students were given the chance work as interns in a real production unit, an opportunity that no other training program can offer. At the end of the internship, certificates were awarded, and arrangements were made for the successful interns to be given finishing school exposure through a leading training company, so that they could be made ready for placement at various companies.

Word Autocorrect Exporter and Backup

Here is an utility that I used years ago to backup and transport my MSWord autocorrect entries. It was a pleasure to find it still in circulation, and with a new version too, and to know that it still works with current versions of Word. I am sure transcriptionists out there who are not aware of this will find it a handy tool.

See here for the developer site and download link.

Careers in Medical Transcription

The boom in the Medical Transcription industry has resulted in higher demand for trained MTs. DOCTUS has trained more than 300 MTs in 2007 and projects 600 graduates in 2008. With a fresh batch starting on the first of every month, one has to wait no longer to get started in the program.

Click here for more details.

Acing the Interview

Here is a slideshow on mastering the interview written with the Medical Transcription industry in mind. Enjoy.

Worldtech: Where Quality Transcription Lives

Worldtech offers its customers transcription services of the highest quality. The quality process that has evolved over the 10 years of its operations is stringent and demanding. All transcripts go through multiple levels of audit until it is approved for lesser levels of audit. A random sampling is done of all the work during and after the production cycle. This serves both as quality control as well as training and feedback.

Every transcript is graded by the quality control team, following a grading policy created by the quality control team which is based on the guidelines of AAMT (now AHDI). The accuracy of each transcript can be monitored as it goes through the levels of quality audit.

"Our greatest challenge in the initial years was quality of transcription," observes Laxmi Gupta, VP, Quality Control, "and it was only by diligent implementation of our quality control process, which has gone on to become a model for other companies in the offshore transcription business, that we have established a reputation of excellence among our customers."

Siasat Daily Seminar on Medical Transcription

The leading Urdu newspaper of Hyderabad conducted a career awareness program on Medical Transcription. Leading industry figures, trainers, and medical transcriptionists addressed the large gathering to offer an overview of Medical Transcription as a career destination.

more here

The Art of Wellness

Become a Doctus Medical Transcriptionist

DOCTUS, a team of professional trainers, has come together with the
leaders of the MT industry to offer customized and relevant training
in medical transcription. This training is offered independent of
service agreements.

From Doctus Alumni

IAMR trains trainers

For the first time in the state, the commissionerate of intermediate education, Andhra Pradesh government, and the Indian Association of Medical Records Services (IAMR) have embarked on an initiative to introduce medical transcription as a vocational course in junior colleges.

Towards this direction, the commissionerate and the IAMR had jointly organised a 15-day pilot programme for training government junior college lecturers in the state in medical transcription, which concluded here on July 29.

Twenty seven lecturers – three each from nine government colleges and minority institutions in tier-II towns – have been selected for the all-paid programme with an intention to start a six-month course in their respective colleges. read more