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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

The economy

Posted By: ChiquitaBanana on 2009-09-29
In Reply to: Happened to my husband who is in management - LK

Evidently the economy is starting to show its ugly head for us now. We really were the lucky ones in the beginning, but as more people got laid off and lost their health insurance, I feel that we are now seeing the effects. Hospital censuses are down, MTSOs are losing volumes, etc.

I totally understand the frustration and desperation that is on this board, but I think that the issues are a lot broader than a bunch of suits sitting around with cigars laughing at MTs or MTSOs coming together to fix prices or to push all of the work offshore.

I honestly feel that this is a result of the recession and everyone is feeling it... not just MTs.

That's my 2 cents worth.


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I got a pay cut for the economy
Now I make less than 3 cpl. Really! Don't think I'm not looking for something else. I might even give the company the same retro-notice they gave me when I leave, which was an email saying effective two-weeks ago, your pay is now lower than snake dung in a wagon trail. And they sent me such a nice Christmas card too!

Sure, I would work for two companies. Clearly, it doesn't pay to be dedicated. Whose to say they even need to know about each other anyway?
I believe it is the economy ..
Many MTs got fed up and left the field but now as the outside jobs dry up, they seem to be coming up. It is definitely a good market for the MT companies and a horrible market for the MT. Competition is horrendous!

I have had the same experience but now work for a great person. Would like more work but it's not essential. Working for a super ethical, honest and fun person is wonderful and, sadly for me, a rarity.


economy
It's not just the MT industry. People around the country are getting laid off right and left and many others are being forced to take a decrease in pay and/or benefits. Even nurses are being laid off in my state (with a nurse hiring freeze). Over a year ago, one of my sons was laid off and the other had to take a 35% pay cut several months ago. A good MT friend of mine also had to take a pay cut and is averaging $4 less per hour than before. My friend's husband also lost his job to to downsizing and the economy. I'm make a little less myself than I used to, but I still have my benefits and have a job with a company I really like. I thank God for that because I'm on my own, 1 paycheck, and have no one else to rely on.
Right-on. Normally, in an economy such as ours, you'd
a saving grace. Something that people who were rural, or in small towns where the mine or the mill or the GM plant closed down, could do that was good American work, that not only benefitted American citizens who were patients of American doctors and hospitals, but also that paid money into the tax system. And if the hard-working American workers earned a living wage, they might be able to buy houses, or GM cars, or support all the other businesses that have died. But when the work goes offshore, and little to no American taxes get paid, and the system further hemorrhages money to pay for buying to support those of us who are now displaced, whether it be out of a job, or out of a home, things just spiral out of control. Look at GM. They just plain got too big, as did many of the banks, stock brokerages, and other big business. Bigger is not always better, and what better example of that than the MT business.
ENOUGH WITH THIS ECONOMY CRAP --- sm
True, the economy has taken a whipping for the last 3 quarters or so -- recession as of last fall, less than a year, so how do you blame the continuing DECREASE in MT salary since the last 10-20 years?  Or maybe figure we dumb MTs can't add or put 1+1 together.  You middlemen/suits/MTSOs have been making a FORTUNE off of the back and sweat of hard-working, underpaid MTs or years and years (otherwise, you'd be in a different line of work, wouldn't you?) and you darned well know it.  So stop blaming the current economy!  What was your excuse 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 years ago?
They have not helped the economy of the masses
in India who need help. They have helped to deepen the rift between the classes, - the rich get rich, etc. The poor in India cannot even consider moving to get work now because the cost of housing in cities has escalated since we have created jobs for those who really did not need jobs. And those who need health care are really suffering and why? Because the trained doctors and nurses are the ones who have become the transcriptionists, since the transcriptionists make more than a doctor does in India. Check your facts on India. This one-sided trade agreement with India is not helping anyone but the big companies in America who can get work done cheaply. The companies HAVE increased their rates for the hospitals, have decreased our salaries by this farce they call voice recognition and reduced their costs even further by offshoring the work.

A call from the CEO? I do not even know his/her name, nor the names of any of the corporate officers. That is how much they care about me. Yeah, I got a mouse pad, a 1x12 inch glue down calendar, and a pen. I got more than that from the Golden Arches when they gave me a chicken sandwich when they opened up a new line 2 months ago. At least everyone in my family got a free sandwich.
Blame the economy not libbers. sm

Actually I could have written your post, except for the women libbers part and the SAHM.  I've been doing this for 32 years.  My ID says it all.  The economy makes it almost a necessity to have a 2-paycheck income if you have kids.  I'm single with no kids and trying to make a living with MT with no second income.  Its tough.


Women wouldn't have the opportunities they do now if it wasn't for the libbers and the suffragettes. Its great now we have more choices than ever.  Do you realize it hasn't even been 100 years since women had the right to vote?  And we came close to having a woman president!  I think about all the sacrifices the women before us went through to get us where we are today.  One reason I make sure I vote is to honor their sacrifices.


Yeah. Why is it everyone forgets economy was
nm
In this economy, lots of places (not just MT)
The ground-level people usually are not cut during a sale, but if mid and/or upper management start making an mass exodus, that could be a sign.

For the most part, you won't know until it is a done deal.
I thas nothing to do with the economy...it started before that (sm)
It has to do with the fact that they are over-staffed and in order to get your lines met, you have to rush through every friggin report in order to get to the next one in hopes that you can make your line count.

JMO.
Frontline Episode on the Economy
I watched this on PBS last night and found it very interesting. There was a lot of commentary on behind-the-scenes kinds of things that gave far more insight to the situation and how it was handled than came across in the news at the time.
The difference is - when economy improves

And what has been the excuse for the steady decline prior to the economy being the new, improved wage cutting excuse?


Chiquita, I see you like to play devil's advocate and defend the indefensible.  I think the sky is blue...ready to argue that also?


MT companies competing in global economy. Best
xx
Economy affecting work load
Is anyone else out there who may be struggling for lines thinking like me; that it may be people are just not going to doctors or electing for treatment they can possibly put off because they cannot afford it?  My accounts have been pretty slow over the past 6 weeks or so, and when I hear that some people, especially the elderly who lost or suffered a huge reduction in their retirement when the stockmarket went down the tubes, are forgoing medical care in order to buy food or heat their homes, it makes me wonder how huge an impact this could eventually have on our jobs as MTs. 
economy trickle-down effect hit me hard

company i was working for filed BK and no one new. Two unpaid invoices later, out $5K for October.  I new there would be an October surprise.....I just thought it would be in the presidential race.


Apparently they're 'equilibrating for a global economy'. n/m
x
Global economy's grip on the short hairs
This is what happens in a global economy. I don't know for sure, but I would hazard a guess that the companies with the ads paying the miniscule amounts are not behemoth MTSOs. Sadly, they feel the need to try to undercut the MTSOs that do have the advantage of sending their work across the Pacific where 5 cents a line would be considered golden. Much like the Union Label we're told to look for on clothes, maybe the real American little companies would be better served to charge a little extra for the service, and pay the Transcriptionist a living wage, because I'll bet there are still some individuals/clinics/etc. that would pay for the security and skill that an American MT provides.
I've decided that MTSOs are sticking it to all of us and blaming the economy -

Here's my thinking -- they all have boats, or houses, or a lifestyle they love so they think HEY... LET'S SCREW THE LITTLE GUY... cut benefits, cut pay, cut jobs, just cut cut cut cut... so that MY life is sweet.  In the process people lose healthcare, income, homes, cars, MARRIAGES....


so thank you, MTSO owner, for shoving it right up our southpole... we love you for always looking out for us... NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


Oh, and MTSO -- the only reason we don't move on is because there's nowhere to move TO.  Everyone has followed your lead and decided shafting the worker bee is a great idea.  Well .. it's not.  And someday you'll get it back 10 fold.


I'm thinking economy and people just aren't having elective surgeries or (sm)
going to docs and really think twice before heading to the ER. I put off my son's braces for a while and just made the appt this week after going for his consult a year and a half ago!! I know how you feel though; it's hard not to be paranoid these days!