What Is a Medical Transcriptionist and How Do You Become One?

A medical transcriptionist or transcriber is someone who types up voice recordings or verbal notes from doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, converting them into written documents.

The information that medical transcriptionists take down often includes (but isn’t limited to):

• Patient histories
• Diagnoses
• Progress notes
• Treatment plans

Most medical transcribers wait for healthcare providers to send them audio files, which they then listen to and type up. Some also visit clinics and hospitals in person and follow providers around, taking notes on the go, although these workers are usually referred to as “medical scribes” rather than “medical transcriptionists.”

In addition to typing documents, medical transcriptionists are also tasked with proofreading, filing, and updating them. They must ensure that all the documents they’re responsible for are free of factual errors, as well as grammar and spelling mistakes.

Where do medical transcriptionists usually work?

Some medical transcriptionists are employed by agencies on a full-time basis and work in an office environment.

However, these days, many medical transcriptionists are remote freelancers. Like most other types of transcription, this job is a viable side hustle you can do from home (or from anywhere that has a stable internet connection).

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), medical transcriptionists earn an average wage of $18.79 per hour (based on a report that was last updated in May 2023). 2

To verify this, we contacted Ben Walker, the CEO of Ditto Transcripts, a Denver-based company that specializes in various niches, including medical, legal, and financial transcription. When we asked him how much he pays his transcriptionists, he mostly corroborated the BLS’s figure, saying that at his company, they “make anywhere from $15 per hour to $30 per hour.”

However, Walker noted that his employees are fairly experienced, and their earnings are higher than what most beginners can realistically expect. He said that newer transcriptionists at “large companies” with lower standards often make just $4–$10 per hour.

Do medical transcriptionists make more money than general transcriptionists?

You may have read that specialized transcriptionists (e.g., those who are able to work in the medical or legal niches) make more than generalists.

Although this is a persistent belief, there isn’t much evidence for it. BLS data suggests that “word processors and typists” (a category that includes general transcriptionists) actually make slightly more than medical transcriptionists ($22.68 per hour, as compared with $18.79).

Walker told us that his company sometimes offers pay bumps for “highly specialized” work, but that this is rare. “Our transcriptionists almost all make the same amount per minute to start,” he said.

When it comes down to it, how much you can earn from transcription mainly depends on these factors:

• Experience level
• Typing speed
• Transcription quality

Put simply, the faster and more accurately you transcribe, the more power you’ll have to negotiate your rates.

Medical transcription has a somewhat higher barrier to entry than other types of transcription. We’ve listed the requirements you’ll need to meet below:

Educational requirements to become a medical transcriptionist

If you want to get hired as a medical transcriptionist, you’ll almost certainly need a high school diploma or GED. You don’t need a college degree, although having one may help you land gigs.

You also don’t need to be professionally certified to become a transcriptionist of any type, including a medical transcriptionist. However, there’s a big caveat: because medical transcription involves dealing with sensitive information and requires fairly technical knowledge, many employers require their workers to be certified, even though this isn’t an actual legal requirement in any jurisdiction.

Popular medical transcription certifications

If you pursue certification, make sure to choose a reputable program. You can start by looking into the two following credentials, which are both offered by the American Healthcare Documentation Professionals Group (AHDPG) and approved by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI):

• Registered Healthcare Documentation Specialist (RHDS): This is meant for entry-level transcriptionists with less than 2 years of acute care or multi-specialty clinic experience.
• Certified Healthcare Documentation Specialist (CHDS): Conversely, this is a more advanced certificate for medical transcriptionists with at least 2 years of acute care or multi-specialty clinic experience.

Again, obtaining these certifications isn’t a hard requirement, but you may have an easier time establishing yourself in the field if you do.

Experience required to become a medical transcriptionist

It’s possible to become a medical transcriptionist with no prior experience—you can learn on the job, and you don’t need to have previously worked in a healthcare facility (or in transcription).

However, as you’d expect, the more experienced you are, the better your job prospects will be. Some transcription companies, especially ones that pay higher rates, don’t offer on-the-job training and require workers to have at least some experience.

Walker confirmed this, telling us that his company typically hires people who have worked as transcriptionists for at least 2 years. His advice for novices is to search for free online transcription courses and look for lower-paid jobs on marketplaces like TranscribeMe to test the waters and build up a solid portfolio.

Once you have a few months or years of experience under your belt, you can look for more lucrative opportunities. This advice isn’t exclusive to medical transcriptionists; it also applies to those who want to become legal transcriptionists (or any other transcriptionists with a specialized niche).

What skills do you need to work in this field?

Regardless of your credentials and experience level, to be an efficient medical transcriptionist, you need the right skills. These are particularly crucial:

• Knowledge of medical terminology: This might go without saying, but to transcribe medical documents, you’ll need a solid understanding of the jargon used in the industry, including common abbreviations and the names of conditions and procedures.
• Typing speed and accuracy: Typing is the primary hard skill you’ll need for this job. Transcriptionists need to be able to sustain a typing speed of at least 40 words per minute (wpm) with very few errors, but that’s the absolute minimum. The faster you are with a keyboard, the better.
• Listening: If you’ve never transcribed audio before, it’s easy to underestimate how important—and difficult—this is. You need to be able to pick out what people are saying without getting thrown off by the cadence of their speech, their accents, or background noise (if there is any).
• Proofreading and editing: Inaccurate documentation can lead to serious consequences in medical settings. Attention to detail is a must, along with thorough knowledge of spelling, grammar, and the stylistic conventions used in medical writing.
• Computer skills: Lastly, you’ll need a certain amount of technical savvy to really excel in this role, since working efficiently requires using software tools (described below).

Walker told us that the best transcriptionists are detail-oriented people who hold themselves to a high standard. “Transcription is not for everyone,” he said, “especially if perfection and punctuality aren’t your strong suits.”

Technically, you don’t need any special software to do medical transcription—as long as you have a word processor (such as Microsoft Word) and something that can play audio files (such as QuickTime or Windows Media Player), you’re good to go.

However, using dedicated transcription software can save you time and improve your workflow, particularly if you combine it with a transcription foot pedal that you can use to pause, rewind, speed up, and slow down audio files without taking your hands off the keyboard. Many transcription programs can also strip background noise (at least partially).

We’ve listed some of the most widely used transcription programs below:

• oTranscribe: oTranscribe is completely free to use and has basic features, such as rewinding and saving backups, that can aid your transcription process. However, it only supports one type of file format and doesn’t have any of the advanced features that paid software has (such as automatically converting audio into text).
• Express Scribe: Mainly used for medical, legal, and video transcription, this software supports 45+ formats and offers fairly standard features, including variable-speed playback and automatic file management. You can download a free version for non-commercial use or use a paid version, which starts at $69.95 per year.
• InqScribe: InqScribe is Unicode-compliant (check out the list of Unicode-supported languages) and lets you use multiple languages in the same document, so it’s a decent option if you’re working for clients based outside the US. You can download and use InqScribe for free, but you must purchase a $99 license to save, print, and export transcripts or subtitles.

In addition, some healthcare facilities expect their medical transcribers to use electronic health record (EHR) systems to store and maintain patient data. If your client or employer requires this, they’ll provide the software and train you in using it.

Which transcription software should you pick?

It’s possible that your clients will require you to use a particular transcription program. If you can choose for yourself, it’s worth experimenting with several of the big names, such as oTranscribe and Express Scribe, and seeing what suits you. There’s no clear “best” choice.

Walker’s company recommends Microsoft Word and Express Scribe to their transcriptionists, but they don’t enforce this. “They can use whatever software they’re most comfortable with so long as they are turning in accurate work on time,” said Walker.

Advice from an expert: don’t be tempted by AI automation tools

With the rise of AI side hustles, we asked Walker whether it’s ever worth using AI transcription tools like Notta and Happy Scribe to save time (i.e., by automatically transcribing files and then checking them manually for errors). Walker, whose company takes a strong anti-AI stance, answered with an emphatic “absolutely not.”

“Editing an AI transcript takes much longer than transcribing manually in most cases,” he said. This is particularly true when you have more than two people speaking, because at that point, “the accuracy starts to go way down for AI transcription tools.”

Walker also cautioned that uploading sensitive information (like medical records) to AI companies can put you in legal jeopardy, particularly if those companies then use the information to train their models. “Lawsuits and jail time could be in the future for those who upload audio and video files that are supposed to be kept confidential,” he said.

As mentioned, Walker told us that the best place to look for work depends on how experienced you are as a medical transcriptionist.

Where to find work in the beginning

If you’re just starting out as a freelancer, it’s a good idea to look for opportunities on online freelance marketplaces, which connect independent workers with clients.

Here are a few platforms to check out (this list includes both transcription-specific and general freelancing websites):

• TranscribeMe (transcription-specific)
• Rev (transcription-specific)
• Freelancer.com (general)
• Upwork (general)
• Fiverr (general)

While these platforms are useful, they aren’t idyllic. “The pay on them will be significantly lower, and the workload will not be as predictable since there are people all over the world competing to grab the work as soon as it comes in,” said Walker. “That’s how most people will need to start, though.”

He emphasized that training new transcriptionists is very time-consuming and expensive, and that most of the companies that offer more desirable jobs simply aren’t willing or able to do it. Consider the time you spend working for low-paying clients a self-guided training period.

Where to find work once you’re experienced

Once you’ve found your footing as a medical transcriptionist, you can apply with companies that offer regular, steady work at a higher rate (note that most of these positions are still freelance, remote, and part-time).

Keep an eye out for medical transcription roles on popular online job boards:

• CareerBuilder
• FlexJobs (a site that specifically advertises remote and flex-time work)
• Indeed
• Monster
• ZipRecruiter

You can also try direct outreach—contacting smaller healthcare providers, such as local clinics, and pitching your services. This is challenging and time-consuming, but if you’re persistent, you may eventually get a bite.

The rise of AI in recent years has prompted speculation that the transcription industry is under threat. More and more companies have started using automated AI tools to transcribe files instead of hiring human transcriptionists.

The BLS projects a 4% decline in the employment rate for medical transcriptionists from 2022 to 2032 (which contrasts markedly with their projected 11% increase in the employment rate for other healthcare support occupations). 3 AI will no doubt change the field, but whether it’ll replace transcriptionists entirely is still up for debate.

We asked Walker what he expected to happen to the transcription job market in the coming few years, and his stance was fairly optimistic.

Walker said that he believes “AI will actually help the market grow,” precisely because AI will make it cheaper and easier to transcribe audio. He expects this to entice people who previously weren’t interested in having audio transcribed at all—and these new clients will still need human workers to edit their transcripts.

In other words, there may come a time when your duties as a medical transcriptionist will mainly consist of cleaning up AI-produced documents instead of producing them from scratch, but the work won’t dry up entirely. This tipping point, Walker said, will probably come when AI transcription reaches “92% or higher accuracy in all settings.”

It’s worth repeating that Walker stressed that AI isn’t there yet, and that presently, it isn’t a viable tool for transcribing audio at all. “Literally every single one of our clients has tried AI and come back to us and said, ‘We don’t have time to do all of the editing that AI transcription requires,’” he told us.

Alternatives to becoming a medical transcriptionist

If you’re still concerned enough about the job market that you’re reconsidering picking up a medical transcription side hustle, there are several other remote side hustle ideas that are adjacent to the healthcare field.

Look into becoming one of the following:

• Medical billing and coding specialist: These workers act as bridges between healthcare facilities and insurance companies. Their job includes “coding” (classifying) patient diagnoses and managing insurance claims, invoices, and payments.
• Virtual assistant for healthcare providers: A virtual assistant (VA) is someone who helps other professionals with their day-to-day tasks, working on a remote basis. If you become a virtual assistant in the healthcare industry, you’ll probably take on administrative duties like scheduling appointments and filing patient records.