Postal Customer Council Weblog

Larger doctor’s offices and hospitals use or employ medical transcribers to transfer their audio notes to paper for record keeping. These services can become quite expensive over time, depending on the skill of the transcriber. To keep costs down, many companies are Outsourcing Medical Transcription Services to contractors and even to other countries. Outside of the United States the hourly wages are a lot less and do not require a minimum wage, so companies are able to get more for less money. Money is the main motivator when it comes to outsourcing, but there are several other reasons.

• Costs are less when using a contractor or service outside of the country. This is because the wages and cost of living are less in third-world countries. These countries also do not have a requirement for a minimum wage like the United States does. The same applies for contractors, minimum wage laws do not apply. Using someone who is not in-house will also save costs for supplies and equipment, which would fall on the contractor to supply.
• Contractors and third-world workers often have faster turn-around. Contractors have a faster turn-around time than a traditional service, mainly due to having less work and more time to do the work. Workers in other countries tend to work hard and have fast turn-around times due to the low living standards and the poverty that is commonly seen. These workers want to have the work done fast in order to get paid and feed their families or pay bills.
• Outsourcing means that a company will not have to pay taxes for the worker or benefits. Paying workers outside of the country means the company will not have to pay taxes in the United States for that worker. They also do not have to pay for health insurance or benefits. Both of these costs can be quite expensive.