Medical transcription is one of the top 10 priority growth sectors of the government. The Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines (MTIAPI) has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) in implementing the Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) to increase and fast track the intake of qualified medical transcriptionists in the country.
The country is being faced with two types of gap—quantity and quality. The presence of such gaps hinders the industry’s growth in the capability to handle large volumes of work, consequently creating an uphill battle for the Philippines as a whole to accommodate new projects and investments.
TWSP provides a free finishing course for medical transcrip-tionists. The course is intended for beginners in medical transcription who have already undergone entry-level MT courses but still need a few more weeks or months of training to be considered a near hire of a Medical Transcription Service Organization (MTSO). This is the government’s response to some of the concerns raised by MT business owners that the limiting factors are first and foremost, sheer number of MT workforce, and second, quality of the work done by the current neophyte MTs. The TWSP envisions that the additional 160 hours of training should be able to improve the skills of beginner MTs and prepare them for actual production work.
Implementing guidelines
1. The MTSO-MTIAPI member with in-house training or the training provider ensures that its organization has a TVET certification/registration with Tesda to qualify for the availment of the training voucher.
2. The MTSO-MTIAPI member submits to MTIAPI list of names of “near-hire scholars,” using Form 1 (personal information sheet) and Form 2 (list of near-hire scholars) on a batch-by-batch basis.
3. MTIAPI submits the duly filled up and signed forms to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) for processing.
4. BPAP issues corresponding number of “PGMA Training for Work Scholarship Certificate” (see sample) to MTIAPI according to the number of “near-hire scholars” the MTSOs’ submit.
5. MTIAPI validates and records the number of training vouchers issued by BPAP and releases these vouchers to the MTSO-MTIAPI member.
6. Upon receipt of the vouchers, the MTSO-MTIAPI member schedules the training and conducts the training to the “near-hire scholars.”
7. Upon completion of the training, the MTSO in-house training/training provider submits all documentation requirements to support billing or issuance of statement of account for immediate processing of payment by Tesda. The following are the documentation requirements:
a. Tesda enrollment report
b. Tesda terminal report
c. Billing statement (listing down all the names of the scholars for the batch)
d. Tesda portion of the voucher
e. Tesda employment monitoring form 05-011
8. Tesda issues payment directly to the MTSO in-house training/Training provider upon completion of training of scholar. Tesda pays the MTSO in-house training/training provider directly after five working days after submission of billing.
9. Effectivity date of this project is May 1, 2006, until December 31, 2006, or until all allocated training vouchers for MTIAPI has been consumed, whichever comes first.
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