Transcriber Threatens Release of Medical Records 377
talboito writes "David Lazarus of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on problems subcontracting sensitive data to outside firms. An unpaid Pakistani transcriber threatened to release medical records of patients at UCSF Medical Center on the internet. The article notes: 'U.S. laws maintain strict standards to protect patients' medical data. But those laws are virtually unenforceable overseas, where much of the labor-intensive transcribing of dictated medical notes to written form is being exported.' Most frightening, UCSF was unaware that its records were being sent overseas. The article traces their path backward through a chain of three different subcontractors."
HIPPA? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:HIPPA? (Score:2, Interesting)
Not that that means anything will be done of course. I'm sure we'll just have to learn to live with this kind of thing because it's "no big deal".
Re:HIPPA? (Score:4, Insightful)
Perhaps the contractor who shipped the data overseas can be prosecuted, because he mishandled the data by moving it to where US laws can't be used to safeguard it.
But probably not. One of the (usually fortunate) principles of US law is that, if there is any ambiguity, the interpretation most favorable to the defendant must be used.
Re:HIPPA? (Score:3, Interesting)
But probably not. One of the (usually fortunate) principles of US law is that, if there is any ambiguity, the interpretation most favorable to the defendant must be used.
You're funny. The US is one of the few western countries where you can (and people often do) get convicted based on circumstantial evidence.
Furthermore, this would be civil co
Re: Ever read the Bill of Rights? (Score:3, Insightful)
Umm, have you ever heard of the Bill of Rights? [cornell.edu] It is not possible to be convicted of a crime on circumstantial evidence alone. There must be a witness to the crime or there is no conviction. This is why traffic tickets are thrown out if a police officer doesn't show up for trial. No witness, no case.
Here is the Sixth Amendment:
"In all criminal prosecutions, the
Re: Ever read the Bill of Rights? (Score:4, Informative)
You are completely wrong. There must be witnesses? That's absolutely ludicrous. Do you have any idea how many crimes have no witnesses?
Brief Google just for a couple examples of statements relating to circumstantial evidence:
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania [dpg-law.com]
"Moreover, this Court has established that circumstantial evidence alone can be sufficient to convict a person of a crime."
The Supreme Court of New Hampshire [state.nh.us] upholding a conviction based solely on circumstantial evidence.
"When the evidence presented is circumstantial, it must exclude all rational conclusions except guilt in order to be sufficient to convict."
The Tennessee Appeals Court [216.239.39.104]
"However, a conviction may be based entirely on circumstantial evidence where the facts are 'so clearly interwoven and connected that the finger of guilt is pointed unerringly at the Defendant and the Defendant alone.'"
The Louisana Appeals Court [216.239.39.104]
"The rule as to circumstantial evidence is that, assuming every fact to be proved that the evidence tends to prove, in order to convict, it must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence."
Re:HIPPA? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:HIPPA? (Score:4, Informative)
The problem here is with the newness of the law and the size of the company. It looks like the subcontractors being used are all "home-office" type deals that don't know the laws, which say that if you've signed a contract to handle PHI (and not disclose it) and you want to subcontract, you need to get the subcontracting firm to sign a similar document. The people mentioned in the article obviously haven't done that. Also, the article made it sound like the Pakistani woman was pretty much working on her own. When dealing with a larger (or real) company, you can have them sign a contract which would be enforceable in their own country (this is why we have lawyers).
It is not a problem of laws not being enforcable as the article indicates, it is more of understanding the requirements of our laws and getting the right contracts into place that would be enforcable in other countries.
Re:HIPPA? (Score:2)
IANAL but actually no, HIPPA does not cover this. HIPPA simply says don't show stuff to people who aren't directly involved in medical treatment, payment or important administration. These folks are doing a service which is paid for by the hospital and thus can legally look at the documents. Granted it might violates the spirit of the law but as written it is legal.
Plus they are overseas so HIPPA really doesn't apply to them anyway.
Re:HIPPA? (Score:2, Informative)
1) HIPAA does not simply say "don't show stuff to people who aren't directly involved in medical treatment". HIPAA does not say anything simply actually; but it is more to the effect of "if you are going to show protected information to people outside of your organization, you need to establish contracts with them stating that they will protect that information".
2) HIPAA may not apply to the people overseas, but it would apply to whoever was the last American company in the subcontract chain.
Re:HIPPA? (Score:5, Informative)
It covers specifically these kinds of cases, and the hospital clearly didn't place the necessary safeguards, as far as I understand the law, '"We'll have to live with this risk on a daily basis," Ryba said' is simply not good enough.
Re:HIPPA? (Score:5, Informative)
The law specifically states that any work that a healthcare organizations subcontracts out is to be held to the same standard. If the hospital did not insure that, then they are liable for both civil and criminal damages.
This is actually one of the great things about the law. If an organization tries to escape any clause by subcontracting out the work, they are still liable. In this case, it seems that they did not even have an agreement with the contractors, which would be even larger penalties.
As a final note, the hospital is already liable, because the woman sent patient records to the hospital via email. Unless the email was encrypted and only opened by the doctors giving care to the patients in record, then the hospital is liable. I expect the government will begin an investigation shortly, and the hospital will be fined within a year.
Mark Radulovich, CISSP, NSA/IAM
Nice... (Score:5, Insightful)
"Who thought that outsourcing this was a good idea?"
How long until the IT outsourcing start's biting companies in the arse?
remember our laws are NOT their laws.
Re:Nice... (Score:2)
Re:Nice... (Score:3, Insightful)
They passed the buck down to subcontractor A, who passed it to subcontractor B, who passed it to subcontractor C, who had to pay the cost because subcontractor D had taken the money and ran.
No one at UCSF thinks they did one damn thing wrong.
Re:Nice... (Score:2)
Re:Nice... (Score:2)
No honoring comercial agreements is a crime everywhere
I don't see the big differences between "US" and "THEM" remember...after all, we are all ordinary men.
Re:Nice... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Nice... (Score:3, Funny)
*Evil laugh* Everything in due time, in due time.....patience! *Bwahahahaha*
Re:Nice... (Score:5, Insightful)
I lost a job for it, and fell like a better man in the long run. I worked for a company that processed medical records, and sent hundreds of reports back to the practices/hospitals. Side benefit was selling generic statistics to insurance companies, etc... All of that was legal and the companies we serviced had knowledge of it.
While rewriting crappy code there, I noticed one particular batch that was different. It seemed to be sending not-so-generic data (it included names, address, and phone numbers). It also had a different naming convention. I brought it up with my IT Director, who promptly dismissed it as "normal, we deal with many kinds of businesses."
It seems we were selling personal information to marketing firms. I found that the firms we serviced had no knowledge of that, so I refused to write the code. Of course I got fired
I think anyone in the know at a company (and most programmers/dba's are in the know) should exercise some responsibility. If it's wrong, it's wrong. Look at the folks who got in trouble at Enron for looking the other way.
If that same company were shipping data overseas, I would have had the same reaction, and probably the same ensuing unemployment.
Re:Nice... (Score:2)
If you're in the US (and many states in Europe) there are "Whistle Blower" laws that protect you from recriminations by the company, and often financial incentives too.
Re:Nice... (Score:2)
Re:Nice... (Score:2)
Re:Nice... (Score:2)
Re:Nice... (Score:3, Interesting)
You did it stupidly. Thou shalt have blown thy whistlee publically and, if you could, wreck their company by destroying data.
Many moons ago, I did not hesitate to destroy all the accounting data of a company that wanted me t
Re:Nice... (Score:2)
Yeah, I was (much) younger and dumber at the time. I think about it from time to time and how I should have done more. I do know that several of the execs that were there aren't any longer. Maybe (hopefully) they've cleaned up their act.
how is that smarter? (Score:3, Interesting)
it started off right, with "you should have blown the whistle." i'd agree with that, and i'd suggest anyone in that position right now --and debating what to do-- take that route. there are whistleblower laws, depending on the circumstances, that will protect someone who turns in an employer for illegal activity.
what you did wa
Re:Nice... (Score:3, Informative)
https://htct.hhs.gov/?cms
Go there and file a complaint right now.
You should sue and blow the whistle.. (Score:5, Insightful)
They were in the wrong to do this and to fire you for it. You could sue.
But regardless of whether you sue or not, how about providing us with the name of the Business, the type of violations they were making and the businesses that they were doing business with that were not made aware that their private customer data was being shared for profit.
This type of personal information peddling is illegal, imoral and can cause very significant damage to innocent people (e.g. Insurance companies dropping people, loss of jobs, etc..).. Whenever anyone discovers this type of thing, it is VERY IMPORTANT to get it out in the open so that it can be dealt with.
Re:Nice... (Score:3, Informative)
You should sue for "wrongful" dismissal under whistle blower laws although you r
Re:Nice... (Score:2)
The bigwigs in Pakistan are going to come down on these blackmailers, HARD. If anything, they will overreact. The word "terrorist" might even get thrown in somewhere. There's no way they'll be stupid enough to do nothing and let the outsourcing $$ go to China or Vietnam instead.
Simply business (Score:5, Insightful)
Data Protection Act (Score:3, Insightful)
Indeed, this caused all sorts of hassles with transatlantic companies. They could not transfer data
Re:Simply business (Score:3, Insightful)
With my HMO, I get my medical needs filled cheaply. My company get's a decent deal on the insurance, my premium is at a low level and $15.00 a visit is dirt cheap with $5.00 perscriptions and $25.00 Emergency room visits...
counter that with $180.00 office visits and $60.00perscription costs and $590.00 emergency room bill for the same damn thing.. you can easily see why people go for HMO's.
doctors are gouging the hell out of the patients, hospitals are bending them over and rapin
Re:Simply business (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Simply business (Score:3, Informative)
they are small town doctors. not in it for their next Mercedes or that 7000SQ foot second house they want for parties...
I drive 50 miles now for my regular doctor. he charges decent rates, ACTUALLY SEES YOU instead of only ever seeing a "aide" and is in it to help people and the community.
Small town dentists are the same way... so head to the country if you are after decent healthcare at affordable prices without insurance.
Re:Simply business (Score:3, Interesting)
I couldn't possibly afford to pay out-of-pocket for medical care. The rates listed on the invoice are just foolishly high. When I get my insurance statement, though, the rates are a bit more in line with what's affordable. Actually, some reimbursements are, IMHO, too low for the services rendered. There are lots of costs involved in servicing a patient (record keeping, billing, expendables, rent, receptionist, taxes, nurse time) that add up to far more than the physician's time.
Non
Re:Simply business (Score:2)
Computer-aided transcription (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Computer-aided transcription (Score:2)
A couple months later I asked him if he was still using it. He had given up on it and gone back to a transcription service. So I guess my records are in Pakistan or someplace...
Re:Computer-aided transcription (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Computer-aided transcription (Score:2)
Re:Computer-aided transcription (Score:2)
Re:Computer-aided transcription (Score:3, Informative)
Interesting. My HMO is one of the Kaisers, and about three years ago they gave up dictated notes and started making the doctors and nurses type the material in directly. Each examination room was equipped with a networked PC and custom software for the notes. The software also included assorted forms/tools so that it was easy to order lab tests, commonly prescribed drugs, etc.
It was kind of sad to watch my family doctor struggle to put in notes at first, but over time his keyboard skills have improved
Solution, get everyone Tablet PCs and dictation SW (Score:2, Interesting)
William
(who just finished a nightmarish rush project which became so 'cause the boss tried to outsource it and the overseash shop mangled the nice LaTeX job using Quark XPress)
Real Issue (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Real Issue (Score:2)
P.S.: Anybody else getting popups while browsing
Re:Real Issue (Score:2)
Re:Real Issue (Score:2)
Re:Real Issue (Score:2)
Re:Real Issue (Score:2)
Re:Real Issue (Score:2)
The "overseas" part is highly relevant. This case is frightening specifically because the person threatening to release information on the internet is beyond the reach of the laws by which such behavior is regulated in the United States. If this was some person in Illinois threatening to release info on the internet unless his con
And in other news (Score:2)
More power to her.
Outsourcing.. (Score:5, Insightful)
We've all seen what source in the wild can do (whether you believe some of the rumors about how HL2 source was released, it's _still_ delayed), and a group trying to profit off of source code could even be worse. Of course, no manager is going to listen to little old me.. Mainly because I'm not crawling down their throats for this quarters profit margin. =T
This is predictable (Score:5, Interesting)
Certain information should remain in the USA and not be contracted out. Ever. Looks to me that this whole fad of out-sourcing overseas has just come back to bite people in the ass. Maybe now some of the fools will learn that the old addage "Charity begins at home" is a good idea: keep those jobs here; the costs aren't in just dollars saved or wages paid.
Re:This is predictable (Score:2, Informative)
Bad, and good at the same time (Score:3, Insightful)
Business will always be business, and every manager wants a fatter check for gettings things done cheaply, but they simply got what they paid for. They wanted it cheap, now they got the quality that comes with that.
Pay your employees, people! Create some value in your business by doing it yourself. I'm not saying that a medical transcriptionist should be making 75K/yr, but the money they saved by offshoring this, they just lost 10 times over in the lawsuits that will be flowing into that hospital now for violating doctor-patient confiditiality.
A middle manager/upper manager should be fired, publicly, for this.
Outsourcing gnomes (Score:2, Funny)
Step 2) ....
Step 3) Profit!
Re:Outsourcing gnomes (Score:3, Funny)
Ammendment to step 1 ) Do not pay offshore company to transcribe medical records,...
Ammendment to step 3 ) Bigger profit
To put a positive spin on it. (Score:5, Funny)
Even extortion is cheaper when done overseas.
Re:To put a positive spin on it. (Score:2, Funny)
There's a sucker born every minute.
Dangers of outsourcing overseas. (Score:4, Insightful)
Chain of subcontractors (Score:3, Interesting)
The article describes what amounts to a chain of subcontractors handling the medical transcriptions. The top of the chain is a firm in Sausalito handling medical transcriptions, which hired a subcontractor in Texas, who then farms out work to a network of subcontractors -- which led to the woman in Pakistan.
I think the guy in Texas should be held liable, no? He's the one playing fast and loose with patient privacy, and I can't imagine he has no legal culpability here.
Anyone out there have an understanding of the legal framework for something like this?
Re:Chain of subcontractors (Score:2)
Re:Chain of subcontractors (Score:2)
Provided thier is no language forbiding subcontracting this is all legal, don't count on that almost no one does this. The hospital only legal problem is with the original company, it is with who they have the contract and it is they who is responsible for the work done. It does not matter to the hospital who does the work as long as it is done in accordance to the contract.
Now the top contractor after
This happens all the time (Score:3, Interesting)
Medical service providers are under a lot of pressure to reduce costs. So outsourcing isn't surprising and can work really well. Outside of medicine, hospitals tend to be pretty technically unsophisticated. But there also is the fact that medical organizations tend to be very rigidly heirarchical. Once data or a patient leaves the department, no one cares what happens to it. It's not right, but it is reality. Once you combine the two we have problems. Stuff gets outsourced and no one follows up to find out where to.
There has been a big stink about medical privacy (and rightly so) but in real terms it is not as private as it should be. HIPPA? Please. HIPPA just codifies what medical personnel were supposed to be be doing anyway. And if you think your charts don't get discussed and shared you're kidding yourself. Medical people are some of the most gossipy folks I've ever met.
Computers are not a cure-all (Score:2)
To paraphrase Jamie Zawinsky (sp?), computers aren't magic pixie dust. Without exagerating at all, hospitals are among the most complex organizations you will ever run across. Did you know there are about 50 steps to just performing an Xray? And most of those steps have nothing to do with
Cut rate prices == cut rate professionalism ? (Score:2, Flamebait)
Yeah, because your orginization didn't jump on the cheap-labor-train before.
Hell, if you send sensitive data overseas to a extremely low paid transcriber, are you really surprised? Especially when you stiff them for their paltry $500 pay. LOL, was the cheap labor worth it now?
Welcome to the hidden costs of offshoring! (Score:4, Informative)
shouldn't be a surprise, should it? (Score:2)
Simultaneously, of course, there are no (enforceable) IP, trademark, copyright, security, reporting, or competition laws.
Seems distinctly like 2 sides of the same coin to me. Congratulations, you've just saved your company $500,000 in outsourcing your coding jobs to Indian programmers, while simultaneously bankrupting the firm of all future business
Outsourcing (Score:2)
Rus
Re:Outsourcing (Score:2)
I agree - people need to think of the issues.
With all the crap against outsourcing... (Score:2)
There laws may not be our laws but contracts are contracts and the thing to question is who is breaking the contract, nullifying any responsibility of the transcriber has to adhear to the contract?
Medical Privacy? (Score:2)
HMOs who consider a hangnail as a "pre-existing condition" [healthinsure.com]...
Employers doing medical database checks as a condition of employment [prairielaw.com]...
I've decided I'm just not going to get sick.
Chip H.
Even Worse!! (Score:5, Interesting)
I once mentioned a certain problem (side effect of a drug) to a doctor. 7 years ago or so. I was not being treated for it, but he wrote in in his notes. Lo and behold, a month later, I start getting ads in my mail from drug companies for this problem. Not something common. I told the doctor and he was in shock. He agreed that the transcription company must have sold the info. He refused to follow up on it, as did I. In retrospect, I could have caused a stink, but I'm not at all convinced I would have gotten any satisfaction.
I strongly suggest taking your lawyer with you on all doctor's visits. I now review doctor's notes completely (after transcription) and force them to make corrections. It is amazing what sorts of errors the transcription companies make in the notes. And this is what insurance companies look at when you apply for insurance.
In all, I'm pretty frightened of the medical system after a couple of incidents. I avoid the system at all costs. The funny thing is that it is this fear of the system, not of disease, that has actually prompted my very healthy lifestyle. I don't ever want to have to depend on that system for anything. Even the "nice good" doctors who are a part of it are to blame for idly sitting by and letting it all happen. They like to pretend that they are just pawns in a bigger game. Not!
Won't happen for much longer (Score:2, Insightful)
This sort of problem only happens at the huge hospital systems, not your regional health system.
It cuts both ways (Score:5, Insightful)
"A group of American companies is attempting this week to persuade the European Union to relax its rules governing data protection, claiming they are bad for business.
[...]
The EU passed the Data Protection Directive in 1998, and this has subsequently been implemented into national law by all but two--Ireland and Luxemburg--of the EU's member states.
As well as regulating the buying and selling of personal data about European citizens and forcing Web sites to tell users when data about them is collected and allow users to refuse disclosure, the Data Protection Directive also restricts the flow of information about Europeans to companies based in countries with--in the view of the EU--more lax privacy standards.
The Global Privacy Alliance says that this directive makes it hard for companies to engage in the kind of data flow that they claim is vital for modern e-enabled businesses."
That would be the kind of data flow where they take your medical data, and farm it out to a country with no effective privacy laws, then?
Its interesting that the EU law would not only have prevented your medical data going to Pakistan, it would have prevented it going to the US - because far from having "strict standards to protect patients' medical data", the US laws allow moving private data to countries with lower privacy standards!
Remember EU Data Protection Laws? (Score:3, Informative)
Transcription (Score:2, Informative)
Even more amazing is the girl who comes in to type all this stuff up - she does 120 words a minute with no errors!
In any case there are certain things which should never be outsourced overseas, one of them being sensitive medical records.
Double Wham (Score:2)
This will put a severe crimp in the growth of outsourcing of services such as data entry.
Apart from subcontractors in the U.S. quaking in their boots because of potential liability they'll face under U.S. law, there will also be many in Pakistan [g77tin.org] unhappy with the consequences of fewer companies wanting to risk something like this happening again in the future.
EU & Data Protection (Score:2)
Usually, when the fairly stiff EU privacy protection laws come up there's a lot of "haha's", "this is bad for business" and "that's what you get for socialist governments" comments.
This example shows very drastically why we got those laws in place (which among other things generally prohibit data export to countries which don't have adequate privacy protection laws) and why they are generally a good thing.
This is not to say th
Simple solution? (Score:2)
Call 1-800-ISUE-BIG
Wouldn't it be incumbant on the medical centre to make all reasonable efforts to protect patient data? If they choose to outsource operations, then it is their responsibility to ensure that the ousourcing agency takes the necessary steps to preserve confidentiality, or it is their legal A$$ that is on the line.
The providers know and don't care (Score:2)
I've been involved in several contract negotiations where outsourcing was explicitly brought up and it was made very clear that they don't care how the work gets done as long as they get it cheap. These are large hospitals, too.
It's not limited to software companies (Score:5, Interesting)
To think... now India and Pakistan probably now have a good listing of where a lot of our US service members are located. It's glad that India and Pakistan are our "aliies" or we'd really be in the shit now...
A bit of speculation (Score:2)
One, is this the first time something like this has happened, or just the first time it's made such a public stink?
Secondly, is this case going to create copycats? How many people out there now in a similar situation will look at this and see dollar signs?
Food for thought. Junk food, at least.
I'm surprised I haven't seen this one yet.. (Score:2)
"Information wants to be free..."
Who sent it off, it is their fault. (Score:2)
By releasing it to someone who may violate the disclosure policy they have apparently not fufilled their requirements.
Just trace it back, who gave it to this person, they should not have done that without proper assurances, and they are responsible.
You MUST not release information except to trusted parties.!!
Dangers of outsourcing? (Score:2)
How about the dangers of not paying your employees?
Well, that's what I wanted to write, at first, but then I actually read the article and realized that contrary to the submitter's disingenuous suggestion, the woman was not unpaid, but wanted more money.
Alberta medical record on the net! (Score:2)
How is that possible. (Score:2)
MedicalTranscription@Home (Score:3, Interesting)
Perhaps medical transcription companies should take the SETI@Home approach: digitize all the data to be transcribed, slice it into overlapping chunks of about 20 seconds each, and distribute the work as widely and randomly as possible. In the process of transcription, workers mark fragments as partially or completely unintelligible/incomprehensible so that new larger fragments can be sent out for only those sections which really need more context or the same fragments can be sent to workers who are more likely to understand a heavily accented speaker. Unlike SETI@Home, however, this is a money-making enterprise, so some sort of micro-payment scheme would need to be established.
No one person would likely have enough information to be dangerous, as long as the (automated) process of assembling the results is done in a trusted (and prosecutable) environment.
Of course, this is just an automater's dream... it would in the end be vastly more expensive than simply managing the subcontractor problem as-is.
3 subcontractors? Sounds like a Dilbert comic... (Score:2, Informative)
In fact, it is!
http://images.netmojo.ca/randomimgs/Dilbert_one_of _the_best_ever [netmojo.ca]
READ THIS: Law Needed (Score:2)
want to slow down US and European job loss?
I wonder how popular outsourcing IT will be if we restrict the outsourcing of private customer information processing to only countries with recriprocal laws or treaties on the books?
Cheap ass company gets what they deserve (Score:2, Informative)
Here is an article on Wired which panders the need for 3rd world workers.
A Case for Coolie Labor [wired.com]
The tip of the iceberg... (Score:4, Interesting)
Even worse, wait until outsourced hardware design starts showing how faulty it can be. Where engineers can be held responsible for products that overheat and kill over here, imagine if someone in a third-world country decides to be lazy and not put overcurrent protection on a device in a certain mode that UL safety guidelines happen to not specifically cover. People could end up having their houses burn down. Now, while the company can be held liable, what about the engineer? He can just disappear into the background noise, never be held responsible, and never become an example to others in his community of what happens when a product is shoddily engineered to meet a raw cost objective.
I think there is some optimism that comes from this story, however. It may yet prove that outsourcing is an enormous mistake for many companies. Particularly when the spectre of massive lawsuits is involved, I think that insurance companies will get increasingly involved in these situations. The cost advantages of outsourcing never factored in the increased liability risks presented to the company from the antics and poor quality of work of their outsourced workers in the first place. I don't like insurance companies any more than the next person, but neither do I think insurance companies have discovered to what degree their insured could be subjected to precisely these types of scenarios. Maybe what the geek community could do is start a campaign to inform insurance companies and their actuaries of these situations in order to raise the rates of companies who outsource. Maybe - just maybe - they could once again swing the balance of favor towards workers here.
Your Financial Records are in India (Score:5, Insightful)
Someone in another posting made a joke about extortion being cheaper becaue of reduced labor costs. Not much of a joke, really. Someone based in the US will most likely turn down an offer of US$5,000 for complete information -- including SS# -- for accounts with at least US$1 million in net assets. But that US$5,000 looks very attractive to a person based in India, a country where the average annual income is US$4,000, and US$30,000 is salary for a top notch programer.
It is only a matter of time.
thx,
Eric
Same goes for banking information (Score:4, Interesting)
She asked a more senior salesperson...
I overheard:
"Yes, we have to fill that in very carefully, so the transcribers in Mexico can enter it in the computer properly."
This, with a technically US-based bank loaning the money.
Now...nothing against Mexico, per se, but shipping *my* info over the border for processing just to save a buck or two is ridiculous.
Re:Contract out and dream-on obliviously .... (Score:2)
Prescience: Frequently is observing the obvious that will happen while others dream-on obliviously to reality. Examples: Would be the US Congress and Bush Cabinet.
In hindsight, of course, any event can match this outlook. You can look at the stock market crash of 1929 and say that it was "obvious".
By the same token you can look at the fuel shortage that gripped the world in the 1990s and flung us into world-wide depression and ruin and say that it
Re:Contract out and dream-on obliviously .... (Score:2)
No, most don't. It doesn't even matter if it saves money in the long term, all that matters it that it appears to save money in the short term.
CEO isn't a position where they really care about the company like it used to be, it is just another job. Quite a few CEO's do not care what happen to the companies they are incharge of as long as they get what the feel is theirs.
Re:How much does the 'offshore' angle here matter? (Score:2)
None of this is applicable to someone outside the US as the laws do not cover them.
IANAL/D/A/etc....