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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Do you work for local doctors?

Posted By: inquiring on 2005-07-16
In Reply to: I make $4000-5000 but NOT WORKING for a national - athome

If you do, how many do you work for to make that kind of money?  Do you charge $.15/line?  Thanks.


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    maybe she should try local doctors and clinics and hospitals - sm
    it's just a suggestion. But some docs have one tape a week that they need done. It might be ideal for her situation.
    You can add Australia to that list.......local doctors
    xx
    Anyone know a company that works with small pool of doctors? Tired of so many doctors nm
    nm
    JLG did work for our local hospital when I was there.
    They charged us $3.50 a line. I saw the contract. I was shocked. We paid ICs $1.50 a line. And the work was horrible. Everytime they uploaded reports, 2 of us spent most of the day correcting them. After about 6 months, we fired them.


    I work for local clinic 17 cpl
    But it's only two doctors and another MT and I split the work.
    The coverage is perfect for me as all my doctors and my kids doctors are sm
    in network. With WebMedx none of them were. The coverage is much better for me. My husband's company wanted to charge us $1470 per month for family coverage. There are three of us, so that would be $490 per month per person, which is insane.
    worked 3 yrs, went to work for local hospital nm
    nm
    Do you have to be local to their office in order to work for them? nm
    xx
    I work in-house at a local hospital...
    And it's been pretty much famine conditions there, too. We're having to use our VH hours when we're called off for lack of work. I don't know where you're located, but I'm in central California. Perhaps it's a nationwide phenomenon for some reason.

    Hang in there. The powers-that-be where I work keep telling us it's just temporary (although I'm preparing for the worst).

    ~hugs~
    I work for a group of doctors ...
    that make up 5, and average 6 tapes a month ... that makes up about $800/month. The rest of my work is on word of mouth, and I do not charge by the line nor the hour, but rather by the length of time. I have never advertised, but I do get calls from practically all over the country to do medical transcription. As I said, none of these are for nationals. I have tried that route many many times, but to keep running out of work and constantly being switched from one account to another to another was nonproductive.
    I get a bonus from the doctors where I work
    And last year I just gave a box of candy (it's a small office).
    Their website says the MTs work remotely. Could be local from home or far. nm
    s
    I'm sorry, I should have said I work as an employee for a local nephrology office
    I tried working for a National, but it wasn't a good fit for me because I didn't like the fact that I had to work holidays and weekends. And yes, I know that sick people don't take vacation days and there's work 24/7, but it just wasn't the job for me. I love my 9-5 job. I guess that's probably the only way that MT's don't have to work weekends and holidays, by working for local doctors.
    keep those local clients and work part-time maybe SM
    Depend on ourselves for a change? I don't know.
    Transcription Doctors? OK to work for? (see message)
    Do they hire IC or employee? Decent work flow? Reasonable expectations? Is management/QA reasonably nice?
    I work for Keystrokes and have assigned doctors. I'm very happy. sm
    I believe you can get overflow work if your doctor does not dictate on any given day, if there is any overflow work on that day.  My pay has always been on time.  I highly recommend them.
    H. told me the work was going back in house for some of the doctors. nm
    x
    It's been pretty consistent for me, but I work for two companies and type several doctors
    and even with that, sometimes it gets slow, and then when it picks up, it is really hectic.  It's so hard with this type of work to get it just right :)
    Go Local
    I would not consider editing unless the pay reflected my experience as an MT. Editors spend a lot of time cleaning up the garbage.

    I think you have to go local for that.
    I don't know of any that pay hourly for MT work. Many do for QA work, but not for MT.

    I know around here many of the local hospitals do that, but it's usually MTs that have been with their hospital for a certain period of time. They don't hire from outside to work at home.

    Also look at local
    While most local comapanies have an onsite group they will sometimes hire people who have worked out of their homes for years. If you are moving from Transcend submit your resume to local recruiters and find out if there is a temp agency in your area that does transcription based companies. A local physician group still uses me per diem and while they have onsite if I need to they also support offsite - it saves them some money because they don't have to support your equipment!

    Just be aware, VR is the wave of the future. My guess is that in 10-20 years everything will be run through VR and nothing will be transcribed from scratch...of course if we all stand together and demand more money than they are currently offering the market will eventually succumb :)
    I know...it's sad..I used to love it at MQ when we had a local

    office but everything has changed so and I just HAVE to make more money!  Good luck to all MQers looking elsewhere!



    Local hospital - sm
    I loved Medware until they started sending so much of their work to Medware India. I spent my days editing the offshore work.  Its incredibly frustrating.  It doesn't matter how much feedback you give, the same errors are made. A person cannot go day after day after day doing that without getting down. I made the decision to leave and have been so much happier.  I only have to worry about my own quality now. 
    local offices

    what is the best way in getting starting for working for local doctors?  Get business cards made up, show them a resume?  I have often thought about this and afraid to take the leap.  is this reliable work?  I'm sure they can let you go whenever they want but I guess that's the case anywhere.    please, any info would help.


    I agree - go local. (nm)
    .
    Local Hosptials in GA

    Greetings


    I reside in ATL and wondering if by chance if anyone knew who handles the transcription for Atlanta Medical Center, Grady Hospital, St. Josephs Hospital and any other local hospital here. I seem to can't get anywhere by calling. I am a newbie and is not having the best of luck with MTSOs right now. Any help would be very much so appreciated. Thank you.


    I had a local MTSO try to do that to me...
    ...I was ready to sign the contracts after meeting with them in person, until I heard I'd have to pay a one-time nonrefundable charge due lump sum for $600.00 for the FTP software. To add further insult to injury, they also advised me they didn't pay for spaces and required me to transcribe a minimum of 1200 lpd.

    I couldn't run out of there fast enough.

    What would I do with their FTP software if I quit? It would be useless to me, and I'd have paid for it.

    I steer clear of companies asking me to pay for use of their software, I'd suggest you do the same.
    Call your local DOL

    You are entitled to minimum wage if you are an employee.  So make sure you are punching a time clock or otherwise keeping track of your hours and your pay.


    You can also file for partial unemployment.


     


    That s/b local OR 800#. no text
     
    gourdie - do you have a local - sm
    news station that exposes these type of injustices? they love the david vs goliath type of stories...
    Our two local hospitals do just that.

    Management is at the hospital.  MTs have a choice to work at their medical records departments or work remotely from home.  Benefits are excellent.  Health insurance rates are very reasonable.  Pay is hourly - guess what, always on time.  They are always offering CPR classes free, movie tickets and group travel plans at discounts.  ACTUALLY GIVE RAISES. 


    I would love to see all hospitals go back to this.  More personal employment, keep it local, smaller group of docs that we actually might know, not as much BS as working for an MTSO.  I think this gives the MT back their feeling of being a professional and  the hospitals treat us fairly, like an employee and no BS about OT and line rates.  Enough already with the greedy MTSOs who can't seem to get their act together with their overhiring, then low work, no work, then begging for help if you stay and most everyone else leaves. 


    Our local hospital...
    has closed the entire top floor, and the nursing students from the local college are lucky to get 1 patient for their clinicals. They are asking the older seniority nurses and other personnel to retire early. Another hospital has the healthcare workers down to 32 hours per week. I am in OH, and my area is really bad economy-wise.
    doctors are way more $$ than MTs and
    get a grip
    Many of the doctors do this.
    It wouldn't be a problem if it was just one doc. Sorry I didn't make that clear in my first post. There are several docs who dictate 'my normal' and it takes lots of time to do this on each report.
    That took my doctors. I say KEEP IT IN THE US
    PLEASE!
    ESL doctors
    It might be because most of the doctors that work in the hospitals in MI are ESL.
    You get 400+ new doctors and you

    can't possibly start producing high lines right away, especially when the account is at least 40% ESL if not higher.  


    It doesn't matter what company you go to you're going to have a period of adjustment, no matter how simple the platform may be. 


    Where are the doctors? (sm)

    So I've been a Transcriptionist for many, many years, working as an employee and as an IC for my own account.  I've been recruited lately by several places who want to pay 7-8 cpl for ICs.  Now I'm an educated adult, I know darn well that no MTSO in the world would charge a client 7-8 cpl so there have to be doctors willing to pay more than that wouldn't you think?  Why are they so hard to find?


    Can someone tell me where I can find a nice doctor that is willing to pay 12-14 cpl and give me the same no benefits I'm being recruited for? 


    Am I in an alternate universe?  I just don't see how MTSOs can command and get 14-20 cpl but the rest of us who offer just as much can't seem to get our feet in the door.


    doctors may think they don't need us but
    I have a client who does work comp evaluations and when he does a record review, there are at least 2 or 3 records that are unreadable because they are handwritten. Sometimes 20 or so pages. So he just says unreadable. That does not help him in his evaluation and it won't help the patient either.
    ESL Doctors
    I read and SAW on television just a couple of weeks ago a report that said the U.S. now has 55% ESL doctors. Doesn't surprise me one bit. So no, transcription companies do not take accounts with a bunch of ESL doctors, that is just about all there is anymore.
    My GYN and GP doctors were using
    this technology LONG before Obama even was nominated to run for office -- cant blame him for everything
    Yep, that;'s what our doctors are doing - NM
    NM
    About those doctors

    You were certainly more tolerant of this so-called doctor than I would have been.  I would never tolerate a doctor telling me I'm the doctor, I'll make the diagnosis.  HE would have been in for a tongue lashing he would not soon have forgotten.  So long as you are paying his fee, IMO you have every right to question his diagnosis and/or treatment.  I've been told by several doctors that they are amazed at how many times a patient who is an MT makes an accurate diagnosis. 


    With that being said, I can't help but add what a shame I think it is that we are suppose to be as technically knowledgeable as a physician, most of whom have many more years of education than we do, yet we (or now-a-days you who are still working MTs) are reduced pay-wise to little more, if even as much, as ordinary clerk/typists.  I know that all of you spend years perfecting your skills. Even though I worked in the field for nearly half a century I was still  learning the day I quit.  So....it pains me greatly to see what has become of an occupation that used to command great respect to the point where we (you) are disrespected in so many ways.  It seems that many MTSOs are he!! bent on reducing your pride and self-confidence to a pile of rubble so you will be happy to accept the mere pittance they are willing to pay while expecting that you be even more knowlegeable.  Some have people doing Q.A. who it seems their only purpose is to cut MTs down to groveling pieces of humanity begging for a crumb of work.   Empathy is why I continue to hang out here.   I may be only a party of one but I vow to do all I can to bring the deplorable state of the MT industry to the attention of as many people as I can.  I have talked to several physicians and they are horrified at the situation. Several have told me that they don't know how you girls do it and proceed to tell about some ESL that they can't even understand.  Many of them have also said that they are going to go directly to the hospital administration and address these issues with them and see that their dictation will never be sent off-shore.  Each and every one I have talked to has been absolutely horrified to think their medical records might be going out of this country.  Physicians DO care about their patient records and if enough of them are educated about what is going on, they will confront the bean counters and things WILL change.  So while it is a fact that hospitals will not even take up the matter of their poor dictating habits with physicians lest they offend them, you can also bet that if enough of them demand a change in how their records are handled, they are going to pay attention to them on that too.  It's really up to all of you who are still working.  Do you want to DO something to make changes to your lot in life or do you just want to cry and complain???  VR is not necessarily a BAD thing, perhaps even a good thing as long as there are people qualified to edit and fix things like patient with a fx of the hip due to tripping over a garden horse.


    Kudos to cj and friends for taking action.  When MTSOs were mom and pop operations they served a purpose and they appreciated their MTs.  The giants have crushed most of them.  I don't want to work any more but if I did I would not work for these mega-MTSOs at their puny 6-7-8 cpl but I would work to help a small MTSO get off the ground even if it meant (by my volunteering) to work for 5 cpl to help them get up and running.  I hope those of you who are applying to cj et AL will consider giving them a hand up.  Working for a lesser cpl with better things on the horizon and plenty of work would make sense rather than getting 10-11-12 cpl and spending 24/7 staring at a blank screen with no work available.


    I am making a lot of noise about this issue because well...there is just something about the situation of people being hired to do work when no work exists that just p**ses me off!!


    Doctors don't appreciate us....
    They just appreciate not having to do the work and having someone else type it!   Duh! 
    ESL doctors
    If I had my way and I ran a hospital or was the person in charge of hiring doctors at a hospital, every foreign dictator would have to pass an English-speaking test to be hired.  If they did not measure up I would not hire them.  What good is a foreign doctor who the patients, nurses, and other doctors cannot understand?  In my opinion this is a lawsuit in the making.  My mom had some foreign doctor once and she called me on the phone, I never understood a word she said.  I just kept saying I would be in later.  So misunderstanding foreign doctors, would be foremost on my mind if I was hiring a doctor.  Misunderstandings leads to malpractice lawsuits, something the doctors are always complaining about. 
    One more thing to consider: Local taxes

    Don't know about you, but I have a local tax I think it's 1.5%, where I live.  They don't deduct that from my pay like my state and federal taxes are deducted. I asked them to but they refused.  So I'm going to have to come up with that money next year to pay my local tax.  I can't afford to save it now.  Those of you who have a local tax whrere you live better check your pay stubs and make arrangements. 


     


    Look through the yellow pages of your local

    phone book and call agents that offer health insurance.  Make several calls.  I did this when we needed private insurance and each call I made I got a lower premium, although every company had the very same insurance.  Celtic is what we found to be the lowest.  We no longer have this insurance as we have insurance through DH job, but we had no existing conditions, no regular meds, nonsmokers, so I'm not sure if these were covered.   I'd keep calling about COBRA.  The company has to offer it.   If you go 45 days without insurance and have a pre-existing condition you are in trouble, unless things have changed since we got insurance.  There is a temporary insurance through Fortis that is very cheap, but the deductible is very high and it doesn't cover pre-existing conditions.


    I'd stay away from the association for the self-employed or whatever it is called.  When I called them their rates were double what I could get a private policy for and it was the same insurance.  


     


    A local cc (NC) costs about $1200. The
    local state supported 4-year university now offers an on-line MT program too and I think it is about $1800.00.  The cc arranges internships and helps with job placement, don't know about the 4-year school as it is a relatively new program and I am not familiar with it. 
    Then a small co or a local hospital SM
    would be better.  You are not going to find an MT service of any size that doesn't have a bunch of ESL dictators.  That's just the way it is.
    Do they take out for all taxes or just the Federal and you pay your own local? nm
    s
    Is there really an advantage to staying local? Most

    It doesn't seem there's any more guarantee of stable work from local MTSOs than the national ones.


    If you do want to stay local but work at home, also try Southern Transcription Services, located in Taylorsville, I think.  They have a good reputation. Google them for their web site.