Acusis planning to expand 
its India operations 

DH News Service BANGALORE, July 25 

US-based Acusis, pioneer in concept of home-based medical transcription in India, is planning to expand operations to other cities, and increase India head-count to 650 by year-end. 

Currently it carries out operations from Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai and Coimbatore. It has about 450-plus medical transcriptionists on rolls. 
“ Our operations are likely to expand to Hyderabad, Kochi, Pune, Delhi and Kolkata which offer trained medical transcription professionals and ideal to start our offices,? Acusis Chief Operating Officer K B Anand told Deccan Herald.

Acusis has added 150 more transcriptionists during last six months. It expects to add 200 more in the latter half of the year. Acusis has their own software called AcuSuite which allows transcriptionists to access audio files through their home computer and then upload text files back to respective city office. 

It also contains dictionary and glossary of medical terms along with error-checking module. To ensure quality, another set of editors at Acusis offices go through text files before they are sent back to hospital in US.
Mr Anand said they are not going to diversify immediately into other areas of healthcare services such as medical coding and billing. 

�“ We have to tap the potential of Medical Transcription which is estimated to be $24 billion market in the US. Currently, only 30-35 per cent of it is outsourced. Hospitals and clinics in the US are now opening up to the idea of outsourcing and associated cost-benefits. We will see increased amount of medical transcription outsourcing to India in coming days,? he observed.
Pittsburgh-based Acusis is currently catering to 30 clients in the US. It has so far invested close to $5.2 million (Rs 23 crore) in Indian operations.