Home     Contact Us    
Main Board Job Seeker's Board Job Wanted Board Resume Bank Company Board Word Help Medquist New MTs Classifieds Offshore Concerns VR/Speech Recognition Tech Help Coding/Medical Billing
Gab Board Politics Comedy Stop Health Issues
ADVERTISEMENT




Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Not compared to what I used to pay at the hospital I worked for. I have better coverage with sm

Posted By: Keystrokes MT on 2005-09-26
In Reply to: If $184 for self only, that is a LOT of money. - Spheris less.

Unicare than the one that my hospital used (United Healthcare).  It includes prescription coverage too.  I am about half the premium I used to be.


Complete Discussion Below: marks the location of current message within thread

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu


Other related messages found in our database

I worked at a hospital that used ...
Cerner for their medical records and I found it to be user friendly and easy to learn.
Most who have worked at a hospital know the
but, how many hospitals now the transcriptionists work anymore? To say you have gotten out, well you really are still in this line of work, just working for a hospital instead. I along with others on this board have been outsourced from hospitals and I along with others on this board made excellent salaries. What you are saying, we already know. Consider yourself lucky. I was outsourced from three hospitals before working for a company. The money here is good, just not as good as in the 90s working inhouse.
I know that feeling. The hospital I worked for
when I started had us all at the same "starting pay". Then they changed it to commensurate with experience.

So, new hires (even those with less experience) were getting hired in at sometimes THREE BUCKS more than I was getting.

They wouldn't raise me up to make up for it. So, I quit.
The hospital I worked at used C-Bay and needless to say
It was a nightmare. They are an Indian owned company with an office in Annapolis, Maryland. ALL of their transcription is done in India. Our department spent so much time redoing the reports that we just got sick of it. They still got paid, but we ended up doing double the work.

They will not lie to you about the fact that they offshore. There have been many articles in newspapers (check the Baltimore business newspapers for the articles) about their offshoring to India.

Good luck and get ready to redo a lot of the work. You probably will not see any mistakes for about 4-6 weeks. They make it a practice to do excellent work until they feel the client is comfortable with them enough to stop checking the work.
When I worked for a hospital we used their computers

I could chime in anytime to see what we were doing.  They did it to me several times.  Plus, they could read our e-mails even though we were at home.  They were more worried about us minding our own business and working and not snooping into medical files.  


When we were connected to the VPN, internet was blocked.  We could surf without the VPN.   We could not put any software or any extras on it except what the hospital wanted. 


I am using my own computer now but I wonder if I would be better off with a company that provides the equipment for more structure.  


when I worked in a hospital laboratory...sm
it was suggested to some of us (including me) that we take anger management (don't know if that's the same thing hehe). Of course, we were in denial and decided to step lightly instead.
When I worked in a hospital, we all fought
for ER dictation, so much that we were assigned days. Love ER. There are a lot of runny noses, etc., but the docs normally say the same thing over and over, so you can get lots of macros to increase your line counts significantly.
rad dept at the hospital I worked at
everything was automatic and errors throughout; no one cares anymore.... .  it's sad in a lot of ways... . needless to say, I no longer go to that hospital ; they can forget it; I wouldn't send my worst enemy there; yes it's that bad....
I worked in the hospital for many years - sm
and worked for private doctors' offices on the side with my own business. When I relocated rurally, I found it so much more cost-effective to work at home. No uniforms, no gas, no lunches out, etc. Could get up 15 minutes before my shift, etc. Now the companies all offer full time status (usually a minimum of 39 hours) with full bennies. Your hourly wage would depend on your speed. You would have to type over 200 lines per hour in order to get the salary you are quoting. It really depends on what you want out of the job. If it's social contact, that surely is lacking. But the pay and benefits are similar, and as I said, some of the additional costs of working outside the home are saved. Also, if you set up an office in your home, you can get tax benefits for that. I came home finally full-time because the bennies at the hospital were way too high a cost. Cheaper with the company I work with, a LOT cheaper. Plus my dad, who lived with use, got cancer, and I needed to be closer to him, as the hospital was over a half-hour away. That's my story, though. Hope yours goes the way that gives you more of what you want. Good luck to you!
When I worked at a hospital we were told
that if stupid mistakes continued from using expanders, we would not be allowed to use them. That is probably the problem, too many mistakes.
I know her personally. We worked together at a hospital for years. nm
x
This happened to me in a small hospital I worked at SM
several years ago.They actually saved the ESLs for me! With that on top of DS which I can't make money with (I love OPs), I found another job.
worked 3 yrs, went to work for local hospital nm
nm
I was lucky and had on-the-job training in the hospital I worked for. SM
But, it wasn't the medical terminology that I had trouble with. It was the medications that always got me!
Who did they outsource too? Seems like I briefly worked for a company that did ER for a hospital in
either Wyoming or Montana. I cant remember.
It is weird. I worked for the Florida Hospital thru Diskriter.... SM

back in 2005 when Diskriter first landed the gig.  I had to take a drug test, see my personal doctor for a physical and have him fill a very long and involved form, and get a TB test all for a facility I would never set foot in!  It took three long weeks for me to get through all the red tape and actually start the job.


The work was okay, but it ran out and you had no secondary account because you were employed by the hospital.  So if you wanted a backup account, then you had to go through more red tape to actually be an employee of Diskriter too and there was a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo that came with that because Diskriter was managing the transcription department for this hospital and the hospital had a contract that said that Diskriter could not put the hospital's employees on Diskriter accounts without express consent from the hospital. 


The supervisor of the hospital employees was employed by Diskriter and was incompetent.  We weren't able to get sample reports, normals, etc. out of her.  We always got the standard I'll look into that or It's in the works.  It seemed she had no contact with the hospital HIM department at all.  However, they could have a new person in that position now.  Like I said it was all brand spanking new back then.


Oh and your benefits were out of Florida.  So unless you're planning on flying into Florida to see a doctor or have an operation, you're basically screwed.  The bennies may have changed too by now though -- so who knows.


After three months, I just decided it was all just too much and left.  All the hoops I jumped through to get the job and then to have the job be such a disappointment was just irritating!


I worked on a large teaching hospital account and was
frequently out of work.  KS didn't have the entire account.  I don't know if they had in-house MTs or they used more than one company.  You should have a backup account too, though there may be some  lag time between getting you a backup as they figure out where they can plug you in.   They supposedly are getting several new accounts so surely they should be plenty of work. 
Used to be 7.4-7.7 cpl for clinic, 8 cpl for hospital w/1 weekend shift, 10 if U worked entire
s
Ewww - I worked on Meditech Magic in a hospital system - sm
unless the platform has improved mightily, it was horrible. There was no word Expander in Meditech and the spellcheck dictionary was very limited. By changing to a Word-based platform, my lines per hour increased about 75 LPH in one whack.
Much easier and better process of doig this, as I worked at a hospital on ExText nm
n
Yes, it is about the almightly dollar. I worked for a hospital who outsourced to Spheris
and the only reason was NOT because they could not find available MTs but it was because it saved them money from having to pay benefits etc..
DON'T SEE HOW THE 2 CAN BE COMPARED ...SM

Yes, the economy has taken a beating that's affecting countless good people - but the recession has been in play for a few months and will likely resolve in time, although no one seems to know how much time.  That said, the MT industry has been pushing the envelope for years and years now  as far it is going to go at this point.  Flagrant violation of federal labor laws, abusing time/wage laws, decreasing our pay in an almost geometric pattern lower and lower on a yearly basis - all the while demanding a higher standard of knowledge and skill from us, though. 


The difference in the 2 is that the recession is due to economic factors that have snowballed - but, historically, we've come out of recessions/depressions before, right?  Things got back to fairly normal with a restored economy, restored wages, jobs.  However, not by the wildest stretch of mine or anybody's imagination is the MT business going to improve for anyone except the MTSOs or stockholders. Congratulations, VR technology -- I guess you win here, for the time being -- you sold the hospitals and MTSOs a fine bill of goods.  I did emphasize the FOR NOW ... the gravy train WILL come to a full stop.  The REAL losers, though, will be the PATIENT ... Hey, Suits, I'm talking to you ... I hope that's not YOUR mom or your kid lying in that hospital bed with a  ----ed-up medical record!


yes i have compared counts
of canned reports too. Your latter supposition is logical, and being on internet allows for more 'wandering' with ones time as well.
stinks as compared to what?
x
Me too. I'm a newbie (compared to most) and
I find that her (the owner's) direction on spelling is not correct.  I took this job because I wanted to get into the MT field and with no experience it was hard to find work.  I think I made a mistake.  I'm afraid that this stepping stone is going to hurt instead of help me in the future. She's very stern when it comes to a 24 hour TAT but the quality is not there due to her instructions. 
Compared? I said let me tell you a story about me
This is how business is, has been, nothing new and if you let someone's choice of words asking do you need 3 days to reading something else into that, now she is the one who is seeking assistance. Businesses usually have 3 days off for a death. We are nothing special here and the sooner we learn that, the better off we will all be. We are not privileged and why some think this is harsh, terrible, just what it is.
What you get here compared to California
Had my SIL visit last year from Sacramento, CA and she could not believe what we paid for our home. She estimated my home and the homes around in the $500,000 range and up, which was more than most the homes here. I watch the home shows and shocked at what some people settle for when looking for a home there. They have nothing to show for say a home $200,000 or more. I used to live in Atlanta but moved to a more rural area where you can get a show piece for not that much.
Medquist. No other national compared that I sm
worked at Transcend, Spheris, MDI-FL, Webmedx. I work for local doctors and get paid by the hour.
Well, platform was very antiquated compared to
what I am used to. Account - I was given an account that was a honey the best! Well, I wouldn't have my worst enemy transcribe it.  Complained - immediately got put on another. Garbage. I don't mind the occasional challenging dictator, but garbage. Unstable platform. Then the old no work thing. Now, I had work, plenty of it, offered OT as brand new employee. Others, though, loyal employees for years, told no work. I was also allowed to work whenever I wanted, but not to tell. Garbage like that. So, while I was in the favored position, it backfired. I lost respect for the company, and also knew I couldn't trust them. While I was favorite today, who knows about tomorrow? Several of us started the same time, and similar run around. Lots of turmoil in the company, rumors, conflicting messages from mgmt - one day apologizing for no work and begging MTs to stay. This was on my first week - I left an unstable environment, so not what I wanted to hear. Just basically the same garbage as M, but M is a huge entity compared to T in the grand scheme of things, so I stuck with M. How's that for cryptic??? I have since heard there were long periods of no work for anyone - board is very quiet here. For reasons I can't really post...
Don't know, but what's slow about ExText compared
s
Compared to what I'm making now, "a lot of money"

So all MTs that work for a large service are bad MTs compared to those sm
that work for a smaller company? That could not be further from the truth. Some of the larger companies can attract better MTs with benefits, higher pay, etc than a smaller company ever can.

I think it depends on the MTs, not the service, as to the quality of the work.

I work for one of the companies the OP mentioned and the QA standards are MUCH more strict than smaller companies I have worked for in the past.

Have you compared line counts with 1 space vs. 2?
NM
Yes, even without a raise, currently compared to my other choices, I would wholeheartedly recommend
As far as ESL - yes. Most accounts are 60%+ at least from what I have been offered. However, I would have to say that only on certain days do I get 60% ESL and most the time, I have an easier time understand the ESL dictators more than some of the non-ESL dictators. I guess it is kind of a wish-wash in regards to ESL. I would say even though it sounds like a lot, I think they are pretty comparible at least in my experience.

VR depends on what account you are on. Some of my accounts are phenominal and others not so good. However, they do give you the option to remove dictators (though don't seem to listen to half my requests) if their VR is bad. Plus the pay is the best in the business for VR at least from what I have seen.
Documented line count each report, then compared to ichart end of day
nm
Very easy, user friendly, a little slow and awkward compared to DQS though. (sm)
One of the best features is that you are able to search for your own samples on a particular dictator or patient. You do however have to be aware these are typed by other people and could potentially have errors.
I agree that it is an easy platform, but compared to other platforms I have used, lines are harder
to get, probably counted or weighted differently.
Diskriter off off offshores - and on some hospital accounts - they have not informed the hospital
x
Jewish is the main hospital, St. Mary's is another hospital under their management. (nm)
x
First for hospital, then outsourced still on same hospital work
and believe it or not, the hospital was so much easier. Had worked at the hospital for 11 years before they outsourced and then worked another 3+ years for the company they outsourced to. What a difference! The company had so many rules and regulations you could hardly keep up with them all, thousands of them, on the same account, mind you. The higher ups would not leave you alone, constant IMs about any and all. I have gotten to the age where I do not need all that and walked the other week. Have scheduled testing with another hospital for this month. Hope I make the cut, love the hospital work 1000 times more than a company.
MAYBE they only need coverage
during those times. They might have other employees/ICs that cover other times so they only need them then. If you don't want to work then, then don't work there. As an IC you do not have the right to jump in whenever. You only have the right to say I will work xx to xx; or say no, I will not work xx to xx.
They do not pay anything on family coverage, IMO. That is why I would rather be an IC and buy

my own policy versus being an employee of a service.  When you think about it, being an employee for most of the services out there offers no real benefits at all.  I have found that the PTO that some of these companies offer as part of their benefits package is a crappy.  You basically get paid a base hourly rate for any PTO you take and that base rate never EVER equals what you actually make when typing.  So you are basically penalized for taking time off.


And health insurance benefit packages are a joke!  They pay nothing for family coverage and not to mention there is always the threat looming over your head that if your production falls, they can take your benefits away.


If I were you, I would either be an IC and buy your own policy or try to get on with a hospital that offers work at home MT jobs.  Hospitals are the only places that offer decent health insurance coverage for families.  I have my own accounts and bought a health insurance policy for my kids and I, but recently I took a job with a hospital just for the insurance.  So now I have my own accounts plus I work FT for a hospital from home.  I pay $175 a month for family coverage with a $1000 family deductible.  It was financially a smarter move for me to go to work as an employee with the hospital because I'm saving a bundle on insurance.


Again, let me say, I would NEVER go back to work as an employee for a service.  They don't offer anything that I would consider benefits.  You're better off buying your own policy.


Family coverage
is about $217 per pay period. I think you have to get this one if you have more than one child.
I have the individual coverage
and it's about $17 per week.  United Healthcare, good plan.  250 deductable.  I wish I could help you more but I know my regular doctor is on the plan so I am quite happy with the coverage.  Hope that helps.
I pay $202 per month for just me. The coverage is sm
OK, not bad actually. I don't go to the doctor often though.
Yes they have family coverage

but I do not need that right now.  I have a schedule but they are flexible hours so that really helps.  Pay does include all spaces, but what I like is the direct deposit and the steady work.  I have been with Medware for 2 years and always have work.  If my primary is out they give you a back up account.  Finally my income meets my needs and I can move ahead with some things around the house that needed fixing.  Plus it's nice knowing I have good health insurance.


We apparently don't have the same coverage
I have been charged the deductible for office visits, which was a surprise to me when it happened. Also, many medications are $50 per co-payment.

If you are healthy and don't need it, I guess it's good insurance. If you use it, you pay a LOT out of pocket and now it will be worse.
WMX has best overall family coverage
I absolutely agree 1000%!!! It has great benefits.
Vacation Coverage - IC
I work as an IC also, and I'm taking a few days off in just a few weeks. I let them know a month ahead of time. I'm the only one working for this company (very small) and she won't hire anyone else, so they know what they're in for when I'm gone. I don't know what they're going to do because they always had another girl for back up. The only bad thing I'll have more work than I can handle when I come back. I'm not sure how other companies handle the situation.
What kind of coverage?
Is that pretty good coverage or a big deductible?
MTSO can say need coverage for Dr X, do you want
x