How Much Does a Medical Transcription Training Cost?

Healthcare systems are normally described as intricated organizations whose main goal is to provide medical services to different types of patients.

They include a large variety of professionals that help to ensure the correct functioning of the entire system.

Medical Transcriptions are an integral part of this system, even though they might not be as well-known as other healthcare professionals.

In the next few sections, we’ll discuss some of the most important information about Medical Transcriptionists, medical transcriptionist training, and how much it costs.

What Is Medical Transcription?

Medical transcription is the written reproduction of the most important information about a patient’s medical history, which includes symptoms, diagnosis, tests results, and recommended treatment.

Keeping adequate medical records helps to improve the care that healthcare professionals can provide to the patient while at the same time, facilitating communication between different providers or stages of the healthcare system.

What Does a Medical Transcriptionist Do?

Medical Transcriptionists are also known as medical language specialists or healthcare documentation specialists.

Their main duties are to listen to the recorded dictations of a healthcare worker -usually doctors or nurses- and accurately transcribe the information into a specific format depending on the specialty or office.

They must assure that the information is precise, that no errors have been made, and that there are no inconsistencies between a patient’s history and their diagnosis or treatment.

After doing this, they will submit those forms in order to get approval from the healthcare worker.

Nowadays, there is specialized software that detects audio and is able to prepare a draft of the medical report.

This helps to accelerate the process and make the transcriptionist focus on possible inaccuracies present in the report.

Medical Transcription Training

In order to become a Medical Transcriptionist, you should enroll in a medical transcriptionist training program.

Although it might not always be necessary, most employers do prefer somebody that has proper education and training.

These are generally provided by community colleges, private organizations, and vocational schools.

Training Courses

Training courses focused on medical transcription usually last from six months to a year and besides providing basic knowledge on medical terminology and specialties, diagnostic studies, and pharmacology, they also offer information about the confidentiality of medical documents as well as English grammar.

These courses are generally offered online, although some can be in person.

Most of these programs offer preparation to become certified.

Associate’s Degree Programs

Associate’s degree programs are also available to become a Medical Transcriptionist.

These programs offer a more profound knowledge of the area and tend to last between one and two years to complete.

They can also be online or in-campus.

What Do I Need to Enroll in a Medical Transcription Training Program?

Requirements to enroll in a medical transcription training program vary according to the institution where you aspire to study.

However, most of them do require the student to have a high school or equivalent diploma, such as passing the General Educational Development (GED) test.

Some of these programs will also require the student to take a typing test to assess how fast they can type.

Do I Need Certification as a Medical Transcriptionist?

It’s not mandatory but employers might prefer somebody that has been certified in the field.

Medical transcription certifications are specialized exams that must be passed to gain the certification.

There are two tests in this area, the Registered Healthcare Documentation Specialist (RHDS) and the Certified Healthcare Documentation Specialist (CHDS), offered by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI).

After completing a training program, you can apply to obtain the RHDS certification and, after having at least two years of experience and previously obtaining the RHDS, you can then apply for the CHDS.

How Much Does Medical Transcriptionist Training Cost?

The cost of medical transcriptionist training is mostly going to depend on the city where you live, the type of training program you choose, and the institution where you aspire to study.

Training courses can cost from $900 to $5,000 on average.

If you prefer to obtain an Associate’s degree, then it could cost between $6,000 to $20,000.

The RHDS test costs from $100 to $180, whereas the CHDS test costs from $150 to $230.

The price is lower if you become a member of the AHDI before taking the exam.