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What We Do: AHDI works to set and uphold standards of practice in the field of medical transcription that ensure the highest level of quality, privacy, and security of health information. Complete, accurate medical records are vital to increased patient safety, improved quality of care, and the seamless functioning of the healthcare system.

Why it Matters: The public, policymakers, and even medical professionals are often unaware of the role MTs play in promoting patient well-being and safeguarding against medical errors. A knowledgeable MT works in partnership with healthcare providers to ensure accurate documentation of health records that reflect a patient’s full medical history, making it easier to identify – and correct – inconsistencies that could compromise future care.

For Our Members: AHDI provides medical transcriptionists with the tools to do their jobs well. We help members by:

1. Participating in the development of healthcare documentation standards that ensure secure medical information and consumer confidentiality.
2. Advocating for legislation and regulations that protect the public’s healthcare information.
3. Advocating for legislation and regulations that promote quality in documentation and the need for credentialed professionals.
4. Setting standards of education and practice for the medical transcription profession.
5. Anticipating and preparing for emerging trends and changes in the industry.

For the Future: Numerous challenges face the health care profession and medical transcriptionists – the evolution of the electronic health record, which is anticipated to change both the process and the role of practitioners in healthcare documentation. In addition, outsourcing of jobs overseas, voice-recognition technologies, and economic pressures are all transforming the profession of medical transcription.

What We Advocate: AHDI supports legislation designed to improve the quality of healthcare documentation, advance healthcare documentation professionals, and address the needs of the U.S. workforce. We encourage our members to support the “Allied Health Reinvestment Act” (HR 4016 and S.2491), which is designed to establish and reauthorize health education programs to address the shortage of qualified medical transcriptionists and allied health professionals. The association also promotes the development and implementation of standards in practice, education and compensation in the industry as well as the credentialing of professionals to ensure those standards.