In a recent post to the Advance Perspective blog, Lynn Jusinski asks discusses the impact that CAC (computer-assisted coding) has on medical coders as well as medical transcriptionists. In her post, CAC A Threat to MTs? she writes:

“CAC was feared as something that would take coders’ jobs away. Codes would be generated using technology, and coders would no longer be needed. That, of course, hasn’t really come to pass. Like MTs, some coders are making a transition, only the coders using CAC are becoming validators instead of editors.

So speech recognition will probably not be replacing MTs anytime soon, and CAC won’t be taking the place of coders in the near future either. But one thing surprised me at the AHIMA session and as I researched for this article-did MTs ever think that CAC could take their jobs?”

Lynn Jusiniski is actually in the process of writing an article about the difference between natural language processing (NLP) CAC technology and structured input (SI) technology, and she’s looking for input from medical transcriptionist. Some questions she’s asking:

If you’re an MT, have you heard of SI CAC technology, or have you heard of anyone losing transcription accounts because of this technology?

What are some of the hurdles you predict for this technology, and is this something you expected would come about?