Medical Transcription Industry on Outsourcing and Offshoring

The medical transcription outsourcing grabbed a lot of media attention in India during 1995 - 97, well before 'BPO' became a household term. People were excited about the huge opportunity that India had hit upon. However, the industry witnessed a rough patch around 2000. Today, the USD 195 million strong industry is silently supplying to the USD 12 billion medical transcription industry in the US.

We have classified vendors into three primary groups:

* Indian units of large US players - Typically comprise American companies or Medical Transcription Service Organizations (MTSOs) who have successfully set up their transcription centers in India. The large players include CBay, Spheris, Spryance, Acusis and Heartland. These large players account for almost 70 percent of Indian medical transcription offshoring revenues.

* Mid-sized players - There are a number of medium sized players (<>

* Smaller players - There are a large number of such small players with <50>

We estimate the current employment in the India-based medical transcription vendors is approximately 18,000 and expects this to grow to 52,000 by 2010. According to Arun Jethmalani, CEO, ValueNotes, although there will be significant growth in the medical transcription outsourcing space, most of it will be centered around the MTSOs. Adds analyst Neeraja Kandala, "the industry will witness greater consolidation, with large American MTSOs eyeing the smaller Indian offshore vendors".

The report provides an overview of the buyer scenario and an in-depth analysis of the Indian vendor space along with profiles of major industry players. The report is designed to help:

* Hospitals, healthcare institutions and medical transcription service organizations looking to outsource/offshore

* Outsourcing consultants evaluate and compare the offerings of vendors

* Medical transcription vendors to assess their competitive environment

* American medical transcription companies looking for Indian partners

* Venture Capital companies looking for investment opportunities

* Researchers looking for detailed information on medical transcription outsourcing

The report is based on secondary data as well as extensive interviews with key people at various medical transcription outsourcing companies in India.