What is the Expected Growth of the MT Industry?
As indicated by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), the medical transcription industry is approximately a $16 billion dollar industry. According to a study conducted by the Medical Transcription Industry Alliance (MTIA), the annual market growth is expected to be 15% - 20% over the next 5-10 years. Source: MTIA
The US Department of Labor projects a 11% growth in the industry from 2008 through 2018, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. This growth is mainly predicted because of the increasing population age.
Employment of medical transcriptionists is projected to grow faster than average for all other occupations through 2016. Job opportunities will be increased. Contracting out transcription work overseas and advancements in speech recognition technology are not expected to significantly reduce the need for well-trained medical transcriptionists. Outsourcing transcription work abroad—to countries such as India, Pakistan, Philippines, and the Caribbean—has grown more popular as transmitting confidential health information over the Internet has become more secure; however, the demand for overseas transcription services is expected only to supplement the demand for well-trained domestic medical transcriptionists.
In addition, reports transcribed by overseas medical transcription services usually require editing for accuracy by domestic medical transcriptionists before they meet domestic quality standards. Speech-recognition technology allows physicians and other health professionals to dictate medical reports to a computer that immediately creates an electronic document. In spite of the advances in this technology, the software has been slow to grasp and analyze the human voice and the English language, and the medical vernacular with all its diversity. As a result, there will continue to be a need for skilled medical transcriptionists to identify and appropriately edit the inevitable errors created by speech recognition systems, and to create a final document.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics - Occupational Outlook Handbook