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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

I wonder what the number or percentage of MTs that need insurance versus those that dont is. Which

Posted By: PAMT on 2007-12-07
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is greater I wonder.


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I don't know the percentage number, but I'd say
there were no more difficult dictators on the accounts I'm working on than on any other big city hospital that I've worked for over 20 years. And I say difficult dictators versus ESL, as ESL seems to be a negative; people think that foreign-born dictators are difficult to transcribe. There are a good deal of dictators on my accounts who are foreign-born, and if you look at the list of names in the physician's list, you'd think you'll be slogging away all day for very low line counts. That's not so. Most of the dictators are very good. As anywhere, there are a few really horrible dictators, both foreign-born and good old red-white-and blue Americans.
I have absolutely no complaints about TT.
I didnt get the packet, do we have to take their insurance if we dont need it. I dont want it. Wish
I would have gotten the stupid thing to read.
MDI versus MedScribe versus SoftScript versus Transsolutions versus TransHealth. SM

I'm getting ready to start applying and these are the companies that I'm looking at.  So give me the low-down.  Good, bad, India?


Here are my criteria:


9 cpl or better


Does NOT send work to India


Good accounts with at least 50/50 of ESL versus American dictators


Consistent work flow - no downtime or time spent waiting for work


Upper management should be professional, positive, and encouraging.


Pay for lines WITH spaces.


Is there such a job out there or am I just dreaming?  If there are other companies other than the ones I listed that would fit the bill, please feel free to let me know. I tested with TransHealth and I felt like I tanked.  It was a hard test and I had to use the mouse to stop and start the dictation as it was online test and you couldn't download the voice files.  So that made it a lot more difficult.  One of the dictators was cutting himself off through the report and I had to leave some blanks.  I'm very frustrated with this whole process of looking and testing.  Are all the tests like that?  Or are there companies that allow you download the test files and transcribe them using your pedal and software?  Ugh!  I am just so frustrated and discouraged.


Thanks for any helpf.


I dont have the health insurance, but I know it is awful. NM
xx
I dont cherry pick, never did. I dont do that to my coworkers on my account.

What is the new status. I dont understand what it means. I dont need their benefits nor do I want
them.
I dont know what that means. I am an SE. I dont sit and wait for work I come back in when it is
there so I never had to deal with Amherst when there was no work because I just stopped working and did other things. My feeling is if this doesnt work there are other jobs out there.
I just dont want to hit that extra space if I dont get paid for it, ya know. No message.
nmnmnm
If I cant make QA, dont give me work. Dont dock
x
Percentage of tax
My account told me a good way to judge how much money to put back was to go off the previous year. If I made 30k - take 30%, 15k-15%. If however you find you are making more money than the previous year and will continue the trend take off what you think your yearly total will be, 50k - 50%.
what is the ESL percentage there?
I heard it was high.  Is it bad or bearable? 
ESL Percentage

 


What percentage of ESL's do you do on a daily/weekly basis?  Which ESL dictation do you find the most difficult to do--Spanish, Indian, other?  Do most companies reward you with a better rate if you tell them that you are comfortable doing ESL dictation or not?  I have been thinking about this and wondering, since I am paid the same line rate to do the difficult ESL dictation (granted, not all ESL's are as difficult as others) as I am to do the clear and easy dictators, why in the world would a person ever tell the company that they are happy to do their part in transcribing ESL dictation?  It is like a person is penalized for doing the difficult work by being put in the difficult dictators work pool and it really doesn't matter if you have 5 years or 20 years of experience, most places just want the work turned around immediately and it doesn't matter how horrible the dictation is--just do it!  


 


I think that the next time that I apply for a transcription position I will say that I am not comfortable with ESL dictation (something that I have never done in my life) in order to get put into better pools of dictators.  Instead of being paid more for doing this kind of work and not complaining, I feel we are penalized and seem to ALWAYS get the hard work, which is not fair at all! 


 


As if it isn't hard enough to be an online medical Transcriptionist these days, having to learn the different styles of a bazillion different dictators on however many different accounts you work on (so as not to run out of work) and all of the hospital specs (plus learning their local terminology--city data, names of popular places in the area, etc.), the experienced are put into pools of hard dictators and the poor MT's” (boohoo!) who claim they can't do this dictation make the good money.


 


So far in my transcription career, I have never played games with companies about things like this and have always told the truth about my strengths and weaknesses as a transcriptionist, but it's dog eat dog these days, and whatever an MT has to do or say to make the $$$ seems to be the name of the game.


 


Thanks for letting me vent tonight!  


 


 


What is your QA percentage? sm

I started with a company last month whose account is extremely picky..  QA is even more picky with their constant nit picky corrections..  I have never had any trouble with my QA.  Always 95% or more.  But this new job has me at around 85 to 89% and it just makes me angry because one person corrects a dictation one way and then another one does the opposite, removing commas that are supposed to be there, adding in them when they aren't and its all counting against me.  Anyone else experience this????????


It is not so much the percentage...
of what they do now, but it is in their company forcasting goals and desires to continue to increase the usage of overseas markets.

It just reminds me of the great linen/towel factories we had here all up and down the east coast that are now no longer because labor was so much cheaper than in Southeast Asia/Asia.

We are the great consumer market of the world and prices have to be kept low so that the market keeps being driven higher and faster to keep the global economy ever profitable and everyone keep their job.

Looked what happened last summer when the Americans stopped buying cars. I rest my case.
I can figure out the percentage, but...
How does one go about figuring their estimated tax?

According to what I've read on the IRS site, we have to pay estimated taxes. Well, great. I can estimate my income at what I'm making now, just starting out, but I don't see my income staying this low, so I would eventually be underpaying. I could estimate it at a higher amount, but what if I don't make as much as I think or hope I will? I can see where getting a refund is a good thing, but I'm more worried about underpaying.

Do you pay the tax on what you've ACTUALLY made in a quarter (it kind of sounds like it) or do you go about estimating your income, say you figure you'll make $20k a year, and put 25% of that away?

Confused.
They do some ASR but a very small percentage, something like less than 10%
of all their work is ASR. I am not sure what the pay for it, as I only do straight transcription.

They do pay shift differentials. I think it's a half cent for second shift and a penny for third shift.

They are wonderful people to work with and for. Everyone I have ever spoken to has treated me well. Even the President of the co. has been wonderful to me and will take my call anytime I need to speak with her (which has only been twice).

I would go for it. I am so glad I did.
Percentage and be very careful

how you fill out your return.  We had an accountant who was under investigation by the IRS which led to our being audited and we found that much of what he said was allowable was NOT.  i.e.  You cannot deduct a room for an office unless that is all the room is used for.  A guest bedroom with a bed in it is not an office.


I only know about my accounts. Percentage of

ESL relatively low.  There are maybe 4 that are very challenging, a few USA born that are very challenging, but I don't have any of them on a regular basis.  


Someone else answered your other questions I believe.


ESL percentage is definitely account

specific.  However, my personal experience has been that I was only given 1 account, thereby allowing me to get used to the dictators.  Secondly, my account has been broken down into specialties, thereby allowing me to get used to the lingo of that specialty.  Thirdly, I fully believe that MDI does try its best to make sure that the client understands the need to speak clearly.  I'm not saying that's how all accounts are or that that's everyone's general experience at MDI.  I'm only commenting on my experience. 


I think the ESL question is a standard with any company, too. 


Only a small percentage...sm

They do not off shore a lot of their work, only when the client specifically requests it.  I believe the percentage is like 12 or 16 (can't remember which).  They do try to get the clients to keep their transcription here, but if the client is adamant about sending it off shore, that's what they do.


I've been working OT lately due to someone leaving and not being replaced yet.  There's always a need for good US-based MTs at Transcend.


Some companies pay a percentage of your sm
regular line rate. Webmedx compensates at 70% of your regular rate - so if you make 10 CPL, you'd get 7 cpl for VR editing.
outsource overseas a percentage, which could go up...(nm)
xx
Just out of curiousity, what percentage of work was the
was it a percentage of your production or did they just pull say, 5 jobs per week, or something along those lines?

I left a company where I was doing almost 30,000 lines a month and they only did QA for my score on 4 (that is four) reports a month), so I agree, if you have a bad month, expecially if there is not a good QA ratio to productivity, the company can mess you over.
it's the percentage of reports from that batch

that random percentage number is the break-down of percentage of reports/pages from that batch that you had to have QA listen to a blank, that's all, not your QA percentage.  when you leave no reports for QA, that number remains 0 percent.  clear as mud?  sorry.  it's really no thang....


Yes it is, and ANY percentage is too large for my comfort
ANY percentage is too high. There's no excuse for it except profits for greedy American MTSOs.

There are literally HUNDREDS of US MTs more than willing to work these odd hours that Transcend and others claim they are 'forced' to offshore because they cannot get sufficient help here.

I strongly disagree. In fact, I disgree just short to calling it out as being a bald-faced LIE.

The purpose is nothing more to increase profits for the powers that be, while all of the time hammering down the pay of the American MT.

I hope I am not alone in my stand on this. I would rather somewhere else for less money who DOES NOT offshore and who respects their MTs. Respect is something MDI-MD obviously chose to cast aside when they began negotiating their moneymaking deal while we starved, lost sleep, wondered how we would pay our bills, and yet STILL tried to be loyal to these yahoos.

Nope, not happy and checking out before my work goes to India.

I've worked too hard and am too advanced in my career to be a sitting duck.
Those of you doing VR, what percentage of the report do you have to correct?
How accurate is the VR? Just wondering.
Well, I know that MTs from my office have quite MQ and they dont post on here but I dont know how
many. I think MTs with MQ may be getting second jobs and just working for 2 different places at the same time which is probably the smart thing to do anymore because MQ will continue with this short TAT and as it spreads throughout other  offices people will continually be running out of work especially after going on DQS.
You obviously have the wrong company. If they dont IM you, then you dont have it on..
I smell management. Nothing you said makes sense unless there is another Focus out there.
Sorry if I dont like gutter humor. Also dont like
x
What percentage of American MTs are they using these days? (no message)
xx
It all depends on the percentage of the error assessed.
I have worked for a couple of companies who charge an extremely high amount of points for punctuation errors.  If this is the case, one can definitely dip into the 80s with punctuation errors.
Small percentage to India at night....
Transcend sends less work to India that most companies, and it is public record. Deventure also sends work to India. It is a fact of life in these times, some hospitals request it. Escription work with Focus doing the most of it, has been historically sent to India. From what I read, Transcend has the largest domestic staff on Escription.
What is approx. percentage of ESLs at your company and who do you work for? sm

My company has SEVERE heavy load of ESLs, probably 85% if not more and they are hard!  I have this option of going with another company.  I want to try the new company but I don't want to get in the same situation I am in now only because if it is the same situation I would rather stay where I am at because I like the people I work for.  There is no benefits and a few things concern me yet they are good to work for, plenty of work and pay is ALWAYS ontime every time.  So this is just a poll:  What is the percentage of ESLs and where do you work.


Also, do you think I should try to go with this other company part-time and keep my current job to see?  The problem is I would have to get unlimited long distance and have their programs downloaded on the same computer. Would love to have any feedback for this tough situation.  Thank you! 


Signed up for second session. Dying to hear what percentage of cut is. (sm)

Hopefully people will post as soon as they find out.  I know we are lucky to have been kept at the percentage we were.  MQ cut us 10% one year and then 10% again.  Have a feeling they are going to skip the gentle repeated insults and just hit us with 20 or 30% right off the bat.  I hope I am wrong.


Good luck to us all.


401k funds are protected by govt insurance similar to the insurance
that banks have (FDIC). It is safe even if the company goes under.
The insurance cost is double for Transcend but insurance probably doesn't factor in for her.
I have heard more good things about Axolotl than Transcend, although it seems Axolotl may be less flexible with your schedule and someone told me that QA was pretty strict, which should not matter either if you have worked for a hospital and know what your QA score is.
The insurance plan in my opinion is excellent insurance. I am not sure if it will change when it'
time to renew or not. I really hope not but I know that a lot of companies change every year in an effort to keep costs down because most insurance companies start raising rates after you have been with them a year. The insurance is Great West and they also have excellent dental and vision plans. I believe the cost is less than $70 a pay period for the employee.
Dont kid yourself that people dont know what is going on. Do you honestly think these office people
dont talk. Maybe you should make sure you know what you are talking about before you open your mouth.
Insurance sucks compared to my old insurance... sm
The insurance seems like they don't want to cover anything, even simple prescriptions I used to pay 4 or 10 dollars on I now pay 20 to 43 dollars.  I like the company/people so far, just don't like the insurance.
US MTs are just a number to HIS
HIS just needed US-based MTs so that their clients would stay and they could finally break even!
Tax ID number

I am just trying to estimate my taxes and my tax program won't do anything without a tax ID number....I tried the Medquist board twice with no response.  could some former or current  MQ'er take pity and email me the tax ID number?? smedmiston@bellsouth.net.


Wonder how they got your number?
I guess that is what would bug me the most :-)
I have the number

I got offered a full-time position and got phone numbers and e-mails with no problem.  I have the transcription manager's cell.  E-mail for details.


They did offer me an check if i wanted it.  I chose the direct deposit, but i think they will pay by check too.


Number 1, 2, and 3
1. I come to this site for a break and to see what other MTs are doing or not doing. Sometimes I post and sometimes do not.

2. No one said anything about delirium but if being happy because your are not being taken advantage of by a company, then yes, we are; however, apparently some just want to express relief.

3. Hanging out on a site where people are looking for a job for transcription, to me at this point in my life, is to break and hang out with my peers.

4. Large groups of people are not deliriously trying to get people to Keystrokes, I think just sighing, I know I am after all I have been though.

Hope this helps. Can we express opinions if we are not looking for job? I like the main board too.
Wish it was just one number.......
By the way, I'm not working today. Are you?
Which FOF number were you in?
I was in FOF 12 with Rachel. I'm still having to use Netcare for my account, which is good i guess, because was already familiar with it from training.

About my name, I love it. My great-grandmother suggested it, so I got it, then got her first name as my middle name. So it worked out perfectly.
There are a number of different
versions of Meditech.  I type in Meditech Magic using Shorthand expander.  I know lots of people copy and paste from Word, but I'm afraid I will screw something up.  I really like Meditech because I get paid by the gross line.  I make more money on this account than anywhere else.  I also like Meditech because the patient's entire chart is available so rarely do I have to leave any blanks.  Lab values can be verified, x-rays reports are accessible, etc..  It's not made for the MT, true, but there are a lot of benefits to using it. 
number
Call 800-788-0629 and ask for the payroll rep - they may want your last name as different employees handle different letters (some do payroll for last names A-F, etc.)
SS number
Why would an IC need to give out a SS number? They don't match your contributions, so I would think they would have to accept a tax ID number. I really don't know. Probably curious as well.
here's their site and number sm
http://www.amphionmedical.com/
You must know the office number
Hello there,
I will be at the office all day tomorrow, Thursday and Friday. Would love to talk to you again.

1-800-205-7047

Thanks,
Liz