Bringing medical transcription into the modern age

One internist uses the Internet and digital recorders to make transcribing easier.

By Tyler Chin, amednews staff. Dec. 9, 2002.

Making sidelines pay
Doctors who branched out beyond running their practice tell why they did it, how they did it, and what you should know before you do it. Contribute

Name: Cliff Molin, MD, age 40

Specialty: Internal medicine

Locations: Cleveland; Cape Town, South Africa

Business: International Transcription Services, a medical transcription company. Doctors dictate notes into digital recorders and transmit the audio files to Cleveland via the Internet. The company then zaps the files to medical transcriptionists it employs in South Africa.

Annual revenue: $650,000

Why he started the business: When digital recorders came out in 1998, Dr. Molin started using one and saw an opportunity. "Dictation was typically done at that point on microcassettes. You can't fly a microcassette from one side of the country to another country. But having a digital file creates an opportunity for doing transcription in a more efficient and reliable fashion. I thought it would be a great opportunity to do transcription offshore."

He based the transcription business in South Africa because he's originally from there; it's an English-speaking country; it has an abundance of highly skilled medical transcriptionists; and it has a lower labor cost than the United States.

"The advantage of doing transcription out of South Africa is that it's seven hours ahead of the U.S. Eastern time. The doctor can dictate and send all his dictation by 8 p.m. EST if he wants and have the file back waiting for him in his PC the next day."

Why he keeps practicing: "It's going to take a little more time for this business to be truly profitable and support me. At this point, I enjoy practicing medicine. I don't know if I'll ever stop practicing completely."

Words of wisdom: "Good ideas are a dime a dozen. I think that's the most important lesson. A good idea doesn't necessarily translate into a good business. A lot of doctors think that they have a good idea and that it's going to be easy to convert it into a business. The devil is in the details. What might make a business succeed or fail is how you manage the details.

"The second key thing is make sure you have adequate capitalization. You will always underestimate the amount of money you're going to need to get a business off the ground. Whatever you think you need, multiply it by three, and you're still going to need more.

"The third thing is you've got to be very motivated and obsessed with what you want to do. You've got to be 100% committed to making it work."