The advent of Google Health is proof positive that electronic medical records (EMRs) and personal health records (PHRs) are gaining ground in the health care industry. As organizations continue to transition from paper to PC, the demand for medical transcription (MT) is higher than ever.
Human vs. Machine
Despite recent advances in speech recognition technology, MT software has not made significant inroads into the health care documentation market. The tools still require significant training time to achieve acceptable accuracy levels, even with users who speak the target language natively. Meanwhile, the demand for human MT professionals is growing rapidly – the U.S. Department of Labor projects that it will increase by 14% between 2006 and 2016.