A SUBSIDIARY of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is expanding its medical transcription arm, which would create 400 new positions within the year.
SPi, 100-percent owned by ePLDT, a subsidiary of PLDT, inaugurated its newest healthcare facility at the Asiatown IT Park in Cebu City last Monday. SPi opened its north wing expansion, which provides 110 fully functional work stations.
Francis Patalinghug, vice president of SPi Healthcare operations in Asia, said the company will need 400 medical transcriptionists and editors within the year.
The SPi Healthcare facility in Cebu currently employs 226 medical transcriptionists and editors. SPi Healthcare has five facilities in Asia, three of which are in the Philippines.
“We expect to reach roughly more than 600 employees by the end of the year,” said SPi chief information officer Emmanuel Dizon.
To get enough people to fill the new posts, SPi has partnered with two institutions that specialize in the field of medical transcription, MTC Academy and The Learning Lab.
“We have partnered with SPi Healthcare since January this year. We see it as one of the good employers to send our graduates to,” said Jed Justing Narvios, managing director of the Learning Lab.
Higher revenues
SPi Healthcare intends to increase its revenues for all units by 30 percent to 40 percent this year. The company expects its Cebu operations to drive the growth in Asia.
Patalinghug said Cebu is a strategic area for SPi. He said the company plans to make Cebu the center of its medical transcription operations because of its “ideal business climate” and the presence of a “competent pool of medical transcriptionists and editors.”
Despite economic difficulties in the United States, Patalinghug said the company expects growth in its US market as Americans spend more on healthcare.
However, SPi Healthcare officials said the company is affected by the appreciation of the peso against the US dollar.
The company is able to address the adverse effects of foreign exchange movement through its personnel, said SPi associate director Mark Anthony Caballes.
“We are investing a lot in our people,” he said, adding that by improving the efficiency of medical transcriptionists, the company is able to cut cost.
By getting the transcriptionists to work efficiently and getting the voice files transcribed correctly the first time around, the company cuts costs by constantly delivering quality output at one go, he said.
Cebu City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem joined SPi executives in the inauguration of the company’s facility last Monday.
