Byline: James Amos
Jun. 22--St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center has laid off all its 14 transcriptionists as part of a move by its management company, Centura Health, to cut costs.
Centura outsourced the jobs of 90 to 95 transcriptionists across the company's system of 12 hospitals in Colorado. The workers were informed of the change last week.
In Colorado Springs, 18 transcriptionists were laid off from Penrose Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center hospitals.
Medical transcriptionists listen to dictated recordings made by doctors and other health-care professionals and type that information in medical reports and other records and correspondence. They use foot-pedal recorders to pause the recording and must know medical and anatomical terms in order to understand what the doctor was saying.
Outsourcing the transcriptionist jobs is expected to save Centura Health about $1 million a year in labor costs -- as well as the additional cost of updating computers and software to link transcriptionists to Centura's upcoming electronic medical records system, according to Centura Health spokeswoman Carrie Kalmanowitz.
The transcriptionists will be able to apply for jobs with the new company that will be providing the service, MedQuist, which is based in New Jersey.
Kalmanowitz said Centura chose MedQuist because it agreed to rehire any Centura transcriptionists who apply, set their pay 'comparable' to what the worker earned before and take their tenure into account when setting vacation and retirement benefits.
Centura still is negotiating the details of that agreement with MedQuist, Kalmanowitz said, 'but 'comparable' is what I can tell you.'
'They weren't the cheapest option,' she said of MedQuist, 'but they were willing to work with us as far as our associates.'
MedQuist already has more advanced computer equipment and software to handle transcriptions and electronic medical records, she said. So it made sense for Centura to hire the company instead of spending a substantial amount of money on that technology itself.
'It comes down to us to spend that money on the (technology), or do we spend the money on patient care?' Kalmanowitz said.
According to MedQuist's Web site, the company hires transcriptionists to work from home, with a minimum of one year of experience. The transcriptionists are paid by how much they produce, counted in lines of 65 characters. The company provides home training and the equipment needed.
The St. Mary-Corwin transcriptionists worked at the hospital.
Pueblo's other hospital, Parkview Medical Center, has 18 transcriptionists and five radiology transcriptionists on staff, according to spokeswoman Michelle Peulen. She said Parkview has no plans right now to outsource those positions.
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