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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Throw a VR back into the pool?

Posted By: VR person on 2009-09-19
In Reply to: If you pick one up and notice it's VR, is it - possible to "throw it back" into the pool?

My company has stated if this were the case, you could be terminated. I do not like to straight type anymore so definitely would not want to throw away a VR report.


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did she say in a pool or in a pool to be CONTACTED?
Are you talking about MxSecure?
Throw out your opinions on my new job...sm
Some of you may have read the post from yesterday about just being hired but a little nervous now.  Was supposed to start Sun. evening but Acct. Mgrs. & I.T. people are unreliable and don't have it together.  So far they are all Indian, even tho they are all working in MA (they wouldn't lie I assume?) meaning I have a hard time communicating to begin with.  Several e-mails w/no response, several times been told I'll be getting my User ID.  Now its Weds. and it should have been sent to me by noon AGAIN (right about now).  Many other disorganized, confusing factors on their part as well but I'll withhold the boring details.  Would you stick it out? I do understand from some of you that it can often be hairy getting set up and going but I would assume the professional thing to do on any company's part is keep you informed and have a consistent contact and keep you up to date on the plan.  These people say this, send something different, no reply when I'm supposed to have it....is this usually an indication of the things I'll deal with during employment there as well?  I think I'm subconsciously looking for someone to say Get the heck out and drop 'em  because I just have bad vibes now.  Let's hear what you've got....thx :)
I'm about to throw in the towel
I can't pay the bills this way and it's been like this for well over a month. I'm beginning to seriously wonder if they have lost some accounts.

It's a wonderful place to work, but if there's no work to be done my creditors aren't really going to give a flying flip how nice they are.

*sigh*
throw Precyse in the list
x
I didn't say they offshore. They say they don't, but they throw
it up to us all the time that if we fall out of TAT we may have to look at India.  With the holidays coming up too many people are wanting off and they may have to look to India.   I don't like threats.  
Why would they throw her resume in the trash if
She says they promised to call.  With this being basically a virtual profession (not local) that's as bad as the hiring party being absent for the interview......  It looks like Keystrokes likes mean people who say mean things to other people on message boards.  If you are the type they hire, then you can have it!!  I'm not the OP either, but I think you have a crabby attitude.  The OP has the right attitude in that she is holding someone accountable for their promise.  It is kind of funny how their dirty laundry is on this board and how posters have no problem broadcasting the fact that the HR person was overwhelmed.  Hello?  Red flag?????  I'd say so for sure......    
I can think of more volatile things to throw at them
nmsg
I'm also ready to throw in the towel
and am counting the days (a little over two years) until I can retire. I work for a splendid company, but the industry in general is headed for the sewer.
Do their last names begin with P and M. I think they should throw them out before everyone quits.
:
I'ts time to throw in the towel

Most of us have had good careers before choosing to work from home but the MTSO's don't bother to see us as individuals and instead dish out the same garbage to a 20-year veteran as they do to a 20-day newbie.  I'm sick of the abuse and pay scale that is less than 20 years ago.  Let them pay a newbie 7 cpl or send it to India.  I don't care anymore.  I'm going to start looking earnestly for a real job where I can be appreciated for who I am and will probably double my income overnight.  If enough of us remember our own value maybe it will send a message to these greedy people on the other end of the obnoxious emails and instant messages.


Throw-in-the-Towel attitude! I am way past my
bedtime, but this was so worth it to read tonight. Just stumbled on this thread by accident.  Again, I have made a huge leap of faith by leaving my company, and due to these very issues, and you have all made me feel so validated!  I am so glad that you are all out here!  And, yes, we all can make a difference. The tides are shifting. Right now I would compare it to a slack tide on the ocean - the time in between tides on the ocean, not high tide and not low tide - that time when the waters are totally still and just sort of waiting - waiting for the tide to shift again.  Does that make sense? I really feel that our work leaving our country has been like an ebb tide, leaving us.  Now, though, I can feel a change coming.  I know that the clients are dissatisfied and restless. With this huge focus in our industry on this international/offshore issue, MT and client alike is becoming aware, and I know that clients are moving around, too. It is happening, and it will gain momentum. I know it. Truly, it is quality in the end, in that our international partners cannot compare with our quality document. I have seen enough personally for years to truly believe this. In India, for example, they have 3 or 4 levels of MTs, and each document does go thru all these levels.  I think the women at home who transcribe make 1 or 2 cpl, then there is at least one other MT in the centre who has to then edit that document, and I think they make 2 cpl, and then it goes to either a 3rd editor, or straight to Indian QA in the centre. They make the most at 3 to 4 cpl. Often, the final document still has to come to the US QA, but even if it doesn't, you still have several MTs in the process, at 1 to 2 cpl each, and the final document is often useless.  The cheap labor and profit margin is just not what everyone expected, me thinks.  We just have to get the clients to READ the reports they are paying for.  So, the accounts are slowly moving, the professional US MTs are moving, and we will all merge again.  The swill can find its way and merge as well. But we can prevail. We will win over time, and I've got a lot of time left to try.
Is anyone else ready to throw in the towel on transcription?

After years of doing this work, and actually loving it; to now looking for another job with a US based company with a fair wage and hopefully not another sinking ship, is there anyone else that would JUMP at a good paying job outside transcription?  A job that you know wouldn't be offshored somewhere else or pay less and less as time/experience goes by?


I have always believed if you worked hard, hard work would pay off.  I need some hope here . . .


Could be that you are in a work pool and...sm
...work filters through chronologically in order of TAT.

It's common for companies to put 2, 3 or 4 hospitals in one work pool. Sometimes these are under the same corporate umbrella. You might have 4 hospitals run by corporation ABC - they are in different locations geographically, but in the same pool.


Typing pool
Has anybody out there been in a typing pool and always running out of work?  I find it very frustrating when there is work in the pool and all of a sudden every MT is on line.  By the time you finish a report almost all of the work is gone and you are screwed and not making hardly anything.  Has anybody experienced this?  This month has been so slow it's ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hospital, no pool, just take what's there. nm
nm
no, usually you are in a pool; if they have many specialites....
you can end up on an account where you as the new guy get the ones nobody else wants to do; that happens; I've been there.
IC, 12 or 24 TAT, work from pool when I am available?
Is this actually offered anywhere? Some days I have plenty of spare time, some days I have none. I would like something to fill the gaps. Any suggestions?
OSi. How's the work pool s/m
The recruiter assured me plenty of work, but I have heard that is not the case.  Wanting to leave my current company, but can't if the $$$ isn't there. 
exactly. That's why I also mentioned POOL
/
That pool thing ?
Definitely not you.  Probably just the pool of We don't know what we are doing here, we need help but we can't get it through our skulls that we need to hire good MTs which would take the burden off every entity of our organization and then treat them well and pay them fairly so they will stay with us and never create this situation over and over again and time and time again of losing clients, getting new clients, hiring, overhiring, laying off or running out of work.  We simply have not figured out that stopping this repetitive cycle and treating our MTs well would only cause us to be more profitable.  Amazes me that I have never found a company that has figured this out.  I am really surprised with all the mismanagement anyone of them stays in business.  Somehow they do because we all need to work and just put up with it, I guess.  Good luck to you though, its kinda crappy in this profession most days.   
I am an IC, and I basically type from a pool.

The work is available for me to get and return in 24 hours from the time of dictation.  I have come to learn when the work is there.  I do all clinic though.  Some companies require ICs to have set hours, but I don't think that is right. 


Of course some companies will ask when you're available, but most that know the true meaning of IC do not care what hours you work as long as you get the work back in a timely manner.


I have my own accounts as well, so that would not apply as far as getting lines because I charge all different amounts.  One is subcontracted, I pick-up and deliver.  IC offers flexibility at least in my eyes.


I don't know anything about Tera Nova - sorry! 


We don't have the pool any longer- we moved

A Mexican family.  So, I'm not paying for anything.  The pool installers were American and lazy, broke the filter, and took all day and night and brought theird kids to play on my swing set and requested soda.  The Mexican landscapers required no water, did not ask to use my toilet, and were done in one-half day with a lot of digging and a lot of stone work that would have taken a lot longer if they didn't work as hard as they did in the blazing sun.  The American installers did nothing but cuss, moan, and complain about the heat. 


As far as healthcare, we'll be paying more anyway once Hillary gives everyone who can't afford healthcare, free healthcare.  Too bad, Americans are too lazy to work harder and smarter.  I'm all American, born and raised, and I work very hard, but hey if the foreign entity comes along (like it did on my hospital job) and says they can do it cheaper, then what can I do?


Right now, they seem to be pulling VR editors from their MT pool nm
nm
SoftScripts work pool?

Is it fairly steady?  Plenty of work to go around.?


As an IC, I prefer pool work.
I have done pool work and been assigned docs and I prefer working a pool. When I was assigned docs, my lines varied so much. I never knew how much I was going to get each day. Some days I would get over 1500 lines, some days only 500. It made it very hard to plan my day as I never knew how long I was going to have to work. I never made enough money, yet I found it hard to work a second job as some weeks I would be loaded down with work from company 1 and not have time to work my commited lines for company 2, yet the following week I would get very few lines. Working a pool, I know I can get in at least 1000 lines a day every day (rarely have issues on my account with not enough work and usually do anywhere from 1500-2200). I don't have to guess how much I am going to make that day as I am in control of how many lines I take versus someone else sending the work.

Also, as soon as I get up, I can start working (like to start my day around 4 a.m. and be done around noon). I don't have to sit around wondering when my reports are going to be sent to me and waste half the day waiting when the company decides to send them at 4 p.m. instead of the usual 9 a.m.

Also, when only assigned 1 or 2 docs, if they take vacation, you are typically out of work for a week or two with little to no notice (at least in my experience). With a pool, you don't have that problem. If a doc goes on vacation, you have plenty of others to transcribe for. I also tend to get bored easily, so I prefer transcribing for multiple docs. I transcribe for about 15 docs now and I am very familiar with each of them and can transcribe over 250 lph. This would be different though if I was transcribing acute care and had 100+ docs though. But in that instance, pool work is better as it makes TAT faster.

Guess it is good that each company does it different so we can each find what works for us.
quarterly bonus from company pool?

Anyone here work for a company that offers a quarterly bonus that comes from a pool set aside by the company and the transcribers who qualify for the bonus, split it at the end of the quarter?  Just wondering, if any, are you bonus checks worth the hassle?  Are they decent checks?  Thanks for all replies.


 


I know the MTs that work this acct. load them from a pool. However, sm
I think that is a very good idea - batching docs and/or specialties together.  I wonder why they don't do that, and I am going to ask!  Thanks!  If you saw my post above, there are a total of 37 specialties on my list, made up of approx. 4-5 docs in each specialty, so I'm looking at learning well over 100 doctors in only 40 hrs. of training?  That's a joke. 
Have 3 primaries and then go into the pool rarely, but always have work sm
You get 20 different accounts every day? I feel for you. In the beginning of last year, I was doing as many as 15 accounts. Since at least November, I rarely go into the pool. Maybe you can switch accounts?
Ha! This is what dropped into my pool of its own accord. It was a "pocket" and that happens s
I am NO ONE'S PET.
Fair? Just curious, why does all the work in a pool go to
the same people and some don't get anything except what they can scrap up? Just curious about this
My guess is someone messed up the pool scripts sm
which determines how the work is routed. I had work until about 1 on my primary and then moved over to my secondary and scraped together the last 200 lines. For the last 3 weeks I have been running out on my primary at 9:30 in the morning.
Years ago I worked for PHNS and it was a pool - sm
which I don't know if that is what you do, or if it is assigned doctors who you do the same ones day in and day out. But when I first started I only had PT in my pool, then I ASKED for more work to expand my horizons and obviously to make more money as PT would run out from time to time. I ended up probably with 300+ doctors in my work pool, more than enough work to go around then. As CB says above, you need to go and ask for more, it is the only way you are going to get enough work.
I am in a pool... see inside for the boring details :)
When I started with TRS I was a 36-year clinical-only MT, and the reason I took the job with TRS was, among other things, the fact that they offered to up-train me into acute care. (In fact I applied at Transcend just before I applied at TRS and they said no thanks, don't call us and we won't call you, and they wouldn't even let me TRY the freakin' TEST, so I find it mildly amusing that now they've got me anyway.)

But I digress. Anyway... at first I was assigned to a somewhat-limited pool on a large hospital account (an account that was brand-new to TRS and in fact I think we stole it from 'the Q') and all I was doing to start with was discharge summaries and letters. Well, once I got used to all the different voices, I started begging for at least some consults and H & Ps because even though I had only done 'clinical' before, I had done literally thousands of excruciatingly-detailed consults and H & Ps for internal medicine, hematology-oncology, orthopedics, and a few others I can't think of right now, over the years.

Then, apparently because I could actually do the work (plus I got kicked off the usual 1-month mentoring full-QA program after only 10 days, because it was mostly a waste of their time to full-QA me), they started trying me on another account, which I was later told was the VERY HARDEST account TRS had in its inventory, and before long I was in the 'all-work pool.'

So now the 'hard' account is my primary, the original account (still with only discharge summaries and letters) is my secondary, and I also have a tertiary (which fortunately I don't get hit with very often because it has REALLY CRAPPY sound 'quality', scratchy phone lines or something) on which I seem to be on just consults, progress notes, discharge summaries, and H & Ps.

I am told that the 'goal' at Transcend is to have everyone working something like 80% on their primary account, with the other 20% on secondary and tertiary, with no more than 3 accounts (except perhaps in extraordinary circumstances), mostly so there would be fewer account instructions to keep track of.

I can't find out how many physicians practice at the hospital that is my primary account (short of manually counting them) but it is a 350-bed hospital where they do pretty much everything. Just on a rough guess, there might be around 100 dictators I run into. A certain number of RNs and PAs dictate in addition to the doctors.

They keep me on that 'hardest' account because I am actually pretty good at deciphering most of it. Of course there are a couple of real 'problem children' still, and they usually have as many blanks after QA gets done with them as they did when I gave up on them, so that makes me feel better.

Not only that... our people are very proactive about actually talking to the clients to try to resolve problems. One of the worst dictators was just recently talked to and she has gotten a whole lot better. I e-mailed the liaison to report that, and asked them to please pass the word along that this doctor's dictation had indeed gotten a lot better and we, the poor saps at the other end of that phone line, really and truly appreciate her efforts....

Anyway. I had better get back to the work that is actually available this morning....

Anything else anybody wants to know, just ask, and I'll try to answer as best I can. :)
We worked out of a pool, and when a report came up from a cruddy dictator (sm)
they would hit "1" and send it back to the pool so the next Transcriptionist would get it.  It was so obvious, as soon as you went on in the morning the first few reports you got would be from the most God-awful ESLs and you can see that they were dictated the previous day, but then all of a sudden you start getting jobs that were dictated just an hour before.   
Friend of mine cleared out pool for incentive - never got it
and now theyve bounced her fourth or fifth check. She's been gone for months and they're STILL messing with her
Do any companies let you specialize rather than work out of a huge pool? nm
nm
Not to be referred to as a "scribe" or "typist" or "typing pool." nm
x
WEBMEDX- Assigned acct or pool and how is the platform?
ds
Bring up again - companies that allow small pool of doctors versus
nm
Yes, the pool to be contacted, should have made that clearer, and yes, MXSecure is the company I'
nm
Can you say where you work if you get assigned docs/accts.? I'm tired of this pool garbage/left
s
If you do not comply with their PC check on your personal computer, Acusis will close your work pool
nm
I worked in QA for Transcending back in 2000-2001. They were paying hourly back then. SM

The accounts weren't too horribly bad.  The reason I ended up leaving was because slowly but surely they began to inch closer and closer to paying QA by production.  When I first started, the quota was something like 30 reports a day.   We simply had to make sure that we QA'd all reports that were close to being out of TAT first and then do the rest.  Then, my supervisor left and they hired a new one who immediately called a big teleconference meeting and said we had to up production to 60 reports a day.  Then, they started counting lines.  Which was fine because they were still paying hourly.


Next, there was an MT who used VR software because she was blind - yes blind.  Again, when I first started, I was told we had to edit her entire reports because she used the VR software and we had to make sure that everything was correct and made sense.  Then, we are told only check the blanks.  I wasn't comfortable with that and I continued to completely proof every word.  Then I was called on the carpet not because I wasn't meeting the production quota, but because I was ONLY meeting the production quota.  I told them I was proofing all of the MT's work that used VR, I was told that no one ever told me to proof every word of the VR reports and that I needed to fill in blanks and move on.  When I voiced my concerns, I was told that was my job, to fill in blanks and I should move on and strive to product above the standards.  Next thing you know, rumors abounded about changing the QA staff to being paid on production.  So I left. 


There just seemed to me to be too little concern for quality and more emphasis on quantity and I just didn't want to be part of company who would take money out of my pocket just to line their own and that's what they were doing by putting QA on production.  I also am not comfortable with the job of QA being thought of as a blank filler.  There is much more to the QA profession than just simply filling in blanks. 


I don't know if Transcend ever did start paying QA by production, but I could see that the idea was being floated there.  Maybe there was a enough protest that they didn't change from hourly. 


Good luck to you!


Phoenix Medcom- Another apply a few months back, ask to take a test and never heard back??
I applied a month or two ago, received an email from someone asking if I would take a test and said she was getting ready to go on vacation for a week, so I hurried and immediately and told her I'd love to take the test. I never heard back. I waiting thinking she went on vacation and would contact me when she got back to do the test but nothing...very strange..Just wondered if this happened to anyone else.
Has everyone heard back from Keystrokes yet regarding the email we received a while back?
Just wandering why I haven't heard any response yet.
I sent them an email back in August and never heard back sm
Is this company on Long Island? I checked out their website and even tried calling once. Were you successful in contacting them? All i know is that the company is owned by some doctors.

Hopefully, you will hear back. Unfortunately, I immediately heard back from MD-IT
but somehow with over 16 years of experience, I blew the test.  I was soooo disappoionted and yet pretty stunned.  I am by no means perfect but I haven't flunked a test in years.  I expected it in my early years but not this far down the road. I was so confident and they will not tell you which part you did not pass and why so it really just blew my mind.  I must have been in shock for like two hours after I got the email. Oh well, someone will want me....hopefully.  I was thinking about OSi but I don't think I could take another rejection if I never heard back. 
Cherrypicking is when you work from a pool of jobs and being able to reject the worst jobs to those
,
Anyone know a company that works with small pool of doctors? Tired of so many doctors nm
nm
I had the same thing happen, went back to MQ, went back to KS and could not be sm

happier.  I am on a different account then the first time and it is as if it is a different company.  I have a great lead who leaves us alone most of the time but is there when I need her.  It showed me that you can have a different experience within the same company.


I have to say that in the few weeks since they have the new office, it is much more organized probably because there are a lot of people there all the time.  I had the pleasure of speaking to the new HR manager who was HR at a hospital, got my questions answered about insurance as I am going to full time and had a live voice pick up the phone.


Not all change is bad.  This is one company that has changed for the better. 


I was reading about the back up help. I would like also to have some back up work.
I am not getting anywhere near 12,000 lines this go around.  My goal is 12,000 lines each pay period.