Question

Topic: Research/Metrics

Data On Med Profs Who Still Keep Records Manually

Posted by wnelson on 8/9/2005 at 1:22 PM ET 500 Points
Dear esteemed colleagues,

I am prospecting a client and am researching the US medical transcription industry and have found much top level data on industry growth and size, but can't find any data on one fundamental growth component: Doctors and/or hospitals who still keep records manually. I believe from personal experience that this "old fashioned" practice is still quite prevalent, in particular with small medical practices, but have not found any data to support my limited survey. Does any have a source of data on this topic? I have Yahooed and Googled; used some academic library tools like ProQuest, EBSCOhost, and Infotrac; and looked through transcription company websites and annual reports/10Ks. I did find a report/forecast from a major market research group on the medical transcription industry through 2008 for $4500 - this is a bit too steep for me at this time when I don't have a paying client to offset and really only need one small piece of data! I much appreciate your help.

Wayde
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by michael on 8/9/2005 at 2:15 PM Member
    Wayde,
    Might need to do a third-party survey and offer a free conversion (manual to automated) to the winner in a drawing. The nice thing about doing this is that you only get manual offices signing up OR you get automated offices giving you contacts of their manual coleagues.

    Michael
  • Posted by wnelson on 8/9/2005 at 2:23 PM Author
    Excellent idea, Michael. I can offer that to the "client" later on...but to clarify: I am eying a local company (actually, they are national but located nearby) who is "sick" (declining sales for the past four years) and needs some good marketing help. My "hunch" is that there are many doctors who still do manual charting. The value statement for these doctors to switch to a transcription service is phenominal. I want to send a letter of introduction to the CEO of this firm and include some market statistics, including the untapped market of doctors who are still manual. After I land the business, I can offer some good marketing programs like you mentioned to beef up business.

    Thanks for responding with your keen insight!

    Wayde
  • Posted by wnelson on 8/10/2005 at 6:43 PM Author
    aksnon,

    Thanks! perfect! I found my answer from several sources by using "demand for electronic medical records" in the search. This was the kind of "fresh idea" I needed. Sometimes you just can't think of the right terms and you hit a research wall.

    So the answer is: less than 10% of the doctors in 2002 used Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and by the end of 2004, it was about 15%. Frost and Sullivan included in an abstract of a study 12.5% of medium and large practices, 5% or less for one person practices! This confirms my hunch. Big demand and this is why the market is growing 16.9% per year. And given all this, my "target client" is missing the boat because his revenues have been flat or down for the last three years. I have the story.

    Wayde
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