Medical Transcription from Home?

Updated on March 23, 2011
J.C. asks from Keokuk, IA
11 answers

My husband and I are trying to figure out a way for me to stay at home when baby number 3 comes and still make a little money to help our family. Yesterday he said hew as talking to a coworker who was telling him his daughter started doing medical transcription so she could stay home. I know you have to get some education to do this. Does anyone out there do medical transcreiption from home if so could you give me more details as to what it all involves, the education you get, and what kind of money you can expect to make doing it. Thank you!

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T.N.

answers from Albany on

Hi J., my neighbor is a transcriptionist for various Drs offices. She says she took a 10 week cert class, it was about $1500, but that was ten years ago. She also says she has less and less work every year because of advancement in the technology drs have, they just don't need it much anymore. Hope this helps!

:)

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K.F.

answers from Cleveland on

My mom has been a medical transcriptionist for 20 years! She has been working at home for the past 12 years I'd say. She only had to go to school for a year. She works for a hospital and gets paid per line she types, I'm not exactly sure how much it is now because she has had many raises over the year, but I think she averages out to about $50,000 a year. I have thought about getting into it before but she doesn't think it's a good idea. She says a lot of it is done through voice recognition now and she sees her job being gone in the near future because of how technogoly is advancing. Her department is down to only a few people now, they are constantly laying people off because they don't need actual people to do this job anymore because of the voice recognition. I would still look into it though if I were you, see how much school would cost and do a search to see if there are still a lot of medical transcriptionist jobs out there, be careful though some of them are scams! Good luck!

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K.K.

answers from Austin on

My brother and I have owned a small transcription business since 2005. I don't do transcription, we hire transcriptionists. You do need to take a course to become a certified transcriptionist. However, medical transcription is a dying field. Most doctors offices are installing EMR systems which are voice activated computers that type up what is said. We have lost 3/4 of our business due to this. And most other transcription companies are reporting the same. If you want to get into transcription, go the legal transcription route or other types of businesses. I have a friend that does transcription for the Government.

Good Luck.

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M.J.

answers from Sacramento on

I've also heard this is a dying field and that you usually need to work in a medical office first.

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M.S.

answers from Columbus on

About 2 years ago, I paid for, and took an online course to become a medical transcriptionist. The first part was all the medical terminology and various self-tests on different anatomy, disease, etc. I breezed through it.(having been a nurse, that was the easy part). THEN, I got to the transcription part. I can type pretty well, I thought- When I did some of the typing practices, I was always over 60wpm. I figured I could only get better, right? Well, when I started listening to the voices of the "doctors" and trying to type and understand what they were saying, I became very anxious and I was VERY SLOW!! LOL! I was always going back, because I would get behind, or make mistakes and the foot pedal threw me off....I realize that with anything new, you have to keep practicing and you will get better. I'm sure I would have. However, I was getting such anxiety attacks every time I tried to type, it just wasn't worth it to me.

I had looked on various sites for jobs(monster, craigslist, etc.) and found that most, if not all, required you to work in-house for at least a year. Some of the MT websites, had a few companies that would hire work from home transcriptionists, but they were rare. Also, the school I took my class through, offered a special program, where you paid them an extra $900, and they would pretty much guarantee you a job. I have heard of other schools that would do that for free. (CareerStep, I think, is one)
Almost every doctor's office I've been to recently is either completely computerized, or going there. I agree that this may be a dying field.

I know of another mom who does medical billing from home, and I don't think she worked in-house first. I am assuming at some point, this job, too, will become obsolete, but I wish I had taken the course for billing, instead. I did not do enough research, before I signed up. I would tell you to research monster/craigslist, to see what pops up when you search for medical transcriptionist or medical billing.

I have been looking for WAHM jobs for years, and unless you want to sell something, there's not a whole lot out there. If you can write, there may be some blogging opportunities, or freelance editing? I wish you luck finding something that works for you! :)

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V.L.

answers from Seattle on

After reading the rest of the answers you got on this it sounds to me like what i found myself doing by going back to school to get an education to find out it was not what I thought it was. The job market is tough no matter what field you get into. I went back to school to get a Paralegal degree to find out that I still have to start off as a receptionist. I am the only one in my office with a Paralegal degree but since I dont have experience I am sitting here answering phones and my education is wasted and left with student loans to pay off.
For me the choice has been simple and I have teamed up with a group of people who are helping others to build a home based business. Is it for everyone no but I feel it is for me. I love the products and I want to be able to share them with others. If you want to know more feel free to ask and I will share.

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L.W.

answers from Cincinnati on

My friend went to the school for this. Took her approx 1 year to get the education...in order for her to complete this, she said she has to co-op for about 6 months or something in order for her to be able to 'work from home'. She also said usually what happends is the people you co-op for end up being the people you work for from home. Sounds like a good deal to me if you can do the schooling...she said it was not that hard but she was pretty smart in school. she is not doing it now because where she lives (seatonville, IL) there is not alot of job opportunites since the next biggest city around is about 100 miles away. Not sure about the money but I think you get paid PER transcript...(not per hour)
I would just google it and look for a reputable company and dig in..you never know and as long as its not going to cost a fortune to go to school, go for it.

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R.K.

answers from Appleton on

I have 2 friends who do Medical Transcription at home. I can email them and give you the contact info, just PM me.

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A.L.

answers from Terre Haute on

I'd love to see the answers to this as well for the same reason!!

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J.W.

answers from Minneapolis on

There are a variety of legitimate (read: no MLM) ways to work part time from home, some of which may require skills you already have, and no retraining.

http://www.homejobstop.com/

This is a legitimate, vetted jobs board for online, work-from-home jobs. No selling, no get-rich-quick schemes, just job postings from actual employers (including medical coding and transcription.) (Although there are a variety of "write articles for pay" jobs that are, while legit, kind of a gamble, and unlikely to pay off like a regular, hourly-paying job.)

There is a small fee for "lifetime access" (when I joined 2 years ago, it was $25) - which I was initially nervous about, but I had done my research, so I went for it - and within six weeks I was working at an hourly ($14/hour) online job that I've been working at for the past two years. I've even gotten a pay raise (to $18/hour.) I work between 10-20 hours a week. Not a get-rich-quick scheme, but it definitely helps our bottom line.

Good luck!

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S.H.

answers from Honolulu on

I want to know about this too!

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