The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) is the industry association specifically representing medical transcriptionists. The association was founded in 1978 and was originally primarily focused on educating the public on the general role of medical transcriptionists and how their work is important to the quality of healthcare. The association now focuses on representing medical transcriptionists to legislative and regulatory agencies.

AHDI also pursues a number of initiatives designed to improve the opportunities available to medical transcriptionists:

• Education for New Medical Transcriptionists – In an effort to ensure the quality of those entering the medical transcription field, AHDI periodically reviews and evaluates medical transcription education programs. The association maintains a list of approved programs, which can be found here.

• Continuing Education – AHDI also offers a number of continuing education opportunities for medical transcriptionists. These opportunities include an annual convention, exam preparation classes, an industry publication, and numerous workshops and webinars

• Industry Credentials – AHDI has developed two industry credentials that are designed to help medical transcriptionists prove their skills to employers. The Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT) credential is the association’s level 1 credential and was developed for those new to the medical transcription space. The Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT) credential is the level 2 credential. This certification is for medical transcriptionists with at least 2 years of experience with acute care reports.

If you’re interested in a medical transcription career or medical transcription training, AHDI provides an excellent place to start gathering information.