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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Transcender who doesn't want to go on food stamps

Posted By: PK on 2005-08-14
In Reply to: H.I.T.S. - Kitty

How is Spheris as an employer?  Are they hiring?  Are they fair?  Do they have benefits?  Can someone make a decent living there?  If their employees give them everything they've got, is Spheris loyal to them?  TIA.


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Does that $0.9/65 Independent Contractor job come with food stamps?/sm

Does that $0.9/65 Independent Contractor job come with food stamps?

































































INDEPENDANT CONTRACTOR


 


EXPENSES


$0.09/65


 


$0.11/65


lines/8 hr day/40 hr wk


1200


 


1200


$/day


 


$108.00


 


$132.00


$/wk


 


$540.00


 


$660.00


$/yr


 


$28,080.00


 


$34,320.00


Health Ins @ 60+


$12,000.00


$16,080.00


 


$22,320.00


2 wk off/pd vac/PDO


$1,080.00


$15,000.00


 


$21,240.00


op costs


$1,200.00


$13,800.00


 


$20,040.00


minus taxes


$2,760.00


$2,760.00


 


$4,008.00


 


$17,040.00


$11,040.00


NET


$16,032.00


 


Sadly, I make $300 too much to get Food Stamps
I was going to bite the bullet and get them. So obviously I'm overpaid. Time to switch companies.
Praying doesn't put food on the table.
I'm back in school getting the degree that will get me out of this crappy business.

Complaining doesn't change anything, but neither does putting your future in someone else's hands and "praying things just work out."

Gotta take the bull by the horns and take action or the world will run you over like a steamroller.
If poisoned pet food and toys doesn't keep people (sm)
out of Wal-Mart (and it doesn't seem to, read the blog Behind the Counter), I can't see it stopping offshoring.

Not to excuse it, but I've watched the trend over the last decade, and I honestly think a lot of companies offshore only because of the bottom line; transcription is one area that hospitals are always trying to cut and the pressure to drop line rates is tremendous. I used to take several calls a month at the small MTSO where I used to work requesting us to drop our per line rate. It ranged from whining and pleading to outright threats of losing the account if we didn't comply. It was a constant aggravation and stress.

I think some companies dipped a toe into offshoring just to try to keep up and then it trapped them into continuing so as to meet expenses and the TAT. JMO on the mid-size MTSOs; not sure how it worked in the big ones.
Correction. Just visited the forum and the "food stamps"
post seems to have magically disappeared.  Hmmmmmmmmmm.. wonder why.
Food for thought. What if...SM
I think helping to clarify the pay rate in this scenario was important for others to understand. It does show that the company is willing to try and compensate fairly for this transition, or at least it appears that way on the surface. But, what if there's more to it than meets the eye. What I would like to see us do as a profession is look at the bigger picture. Where does this all end? I see the potiential for it to end in our eventual professional deaths.

What if, for example, a significant enough number of MTs start doing the VR editing and do realize a reasonable increase in their base pay for their efforts. What I see is that, for an extra $200 bucks a pay period, they're getting us to help put them in the driver's seat. Small price to pay to ensure one's ability to eventually be able to cut out the "middle man" and have the whole profit margin to yourself. And once their feet are firmly planted on our ground and we have no where else to turn and no leg to stand on, what do you see happening to that extra $200 bucks a pay period then? I see it potentially turning into a scenario of: "We'll pay you whatever we like, and if you don't like it, hit the door. There are plenty of other hungry ex-MTs out there who would welcome a chance to come back at these lower wages just to have a job." Not a pretty picture of our collective future, but it could be an accurate one if we don't stand up now while we still have some ability to make a difference. What if?

Really, are the long-term results worth the minimal short-term gains in pay? At this rate, they're not only getting us to help them kill us off, they seem to be getting us dirt cheap to boot. From their perspective, the idea is to give us a couple hundred extra bucks dangling out there like the proverbial carrot while we help them work out the kinks, and all the while were really just lambs being led to the slaughter.

What if the way this particular company seems to have just sprung this whole deal on everyone was a glimpse of the boldness and in-your-face attitude to come? What if?
Food to munch on

Thank you guys so much for all your input.  Yes, we do have the advantage of knowing our docs, etc.  We are now using tapes, so we are not familiar at all with the service's platform.  There were four of us in-house transcriptionists.  One has already been deleted due to not having DSL in her area.  One is doing the unemployment route and going back to school, as she said she did not feel secure with going with the service, and this would be a perfect opportunity for her to advance her education.  So, there are 2 of us left and we are undecided due to the issues discussed.  Our CMO, who is Indian, would just throw a fit if we do not go with the service.  He has refused over and over again through the years to outsource transcription.  He only wants us doing it.  My doctors have been told that we are going with the service, even though nothing is set in concrete.  The docs have only been okay with this transition knowing this.  If the two remaining transcriptionists do not get onboard with the service, I think my company will have mutiny on their hands - - IT WILL NOT BE A PRETTY PICTURE THAT IS FOR SURE. 


The MT who wrote the newspapers and such - - YOU ARE MY HERO!!!  Way to go. 


You get to a point where you are tired of being #%#@@#.  That's where I am.


 


 


I would take it. That would pay for food for the week
and maybe something better than the usual mac and cheese and hot dogs we have been eating. Uggg. I would perhaps even try to buy meat like chicken or steak for a change. LOL.
Why have cable and little food. You don't say
internet.  But like you said you get your priorities straight. 
Can you use a food pedal with on-line tests, or do
nm
Oh yeah! A food pedal would be great..just think..
Supper time would be so easy..just hit the left pedal for the microwave, the right for the fridge..just push that pedal to the medal and whip up some potato salad and green beans..
Does credibility put food on our table, gas in our cars, and
clothes on our backs?

We must have been credible at some point in time. After all, we made good incomes because we were paid higher wages, we started MTSOs that were later bought out by the big boys with the big bucks, and we loved what we did and the product we produced. When did we lose credibility? Maybe when the big boys started offshoring? Do you think credibility will be brought back when the big boys bring our jobs back into our own country? Huh? Huh? Huh?
The company is not putting food on her table,
SHE is putting the food on the table?


The company is not putting food on her table,
SHE is putting the food on the table?


To Transcender below

I for one am still waiting for your post as to the difference in the pay raises, incentives, base pays, bonuses and treatment of newbies versus long-term MTs at Transcend.  You said many things but when asked for specifics, you never answered.  Well, you did say you wouldn't post publically.  Well, it may be public, but you are still anon.  So, why not "ante up" as the other poster asked you to do and give us some facts to back up your statements.


You have gotten on here publically and casually thrown around negative accusations about the company.  You should expect some MTs to want some proof of what you are saying. 


It just makes me really mad that some people are careless with their comments and can turn others away from possibly being hired by a wonderful company.   I can tell you specifically why they are wonderful and have proof to back up my statements.  WELL????? 


I am a Transcender
I have to agree with you too.  I love it.  I was a little slow with work for a few days but I was given a secondary without any hassle and now I don't have to worry about it.  Aside from that, they have been great.  And I read many, many posts on the forum when I first got hired.  I read way back as I wanted to get a feel for things and I never came across any complaints such as the poster below was stating.  Very unfortunate. 
TRANSCENDER
I say go for it.  Transcend is a wonderful company to work for, don't let anyone sway you if you really are interested. 
Ex-Transcender
I tried really hard on an account with Transcend that had 90+ plus ESL docs, and could not continually meeting the 98% error-free goal, or really make any money. I have been working many, many years in all phases of medical transcription, and this was the hardest account I had ever worked on.  I liked the people, and the training was good, but just could not live up to their expectations with that account. At my age, I got frustrated and quit.
Transcender too
I work for Transcend too and this is the first I've heard...I came from MDI Florida and they sold to Transcend.  Things stayed the same for about a year then slowly things were changed to the Transcend way.  Transcend has its good points and bad points but overall I am very happy there...
another Transcender
I don't want to beat this subject to a pulp, but I just did my training with Transcend yesterday and I am discouraged to read MTs are running out of work on a regular basis.  The recruiter was very rushed to get me started, I thought.  Why would they hire new people if their accounts are running low?  I don't get it.
Not an MDI-er and not a Transcender

I work for a small MTSO, a mid-size MTSO and I have a private account.  I pray my situation does not change until I can get my 6-yo child into college.  I cannot raise her to be many things that we Americans aspire to be - programmers, doctors, track stars - because our society lacks cohesiveness, integrity, sense of family.  It is just too easy to sell off what we said we would never sell or give away.  I will raise her to work in a profession immune from replacement by computers or offshoring services...but pray tell, which one would that be anymore?  Perhaps pharmacy so as to dispense all the antidepressants and mood stabilizers that are coming to be the American way of life.


I met D in 1997 when I went to work for Signal and became one of the cream of the crop in the MT industry - until Signal was sold to MQ.  Life went on and many years later I rejoined the family with deference being given to my previous work at Signal as having elevated me to a standard higher than most MTs.  I left MDI some time ago, having stayed longer than I should have.  While there was nothing on paper to say that I knew what was happening, my heart told me the truth.  All those years of D saying she would never send work offshore, and yet, where was the work?  When my primary account only recorded fewer than 100 dictations over the course of a weekend, I knew there was a duplicate system syphoning off the work, again only my gut to tell me so, no proof of it...just a dead paycheck that does not pay the mortgate.  That was last fall.  When it was anounced that VR was taking all three of my accounts and there were emails stating D hoped she had made the right choice, well what else was there to know.  It happened with Signal.  I felt I knew it was happening with MDI-MD, and now everyone else knows, too.


To all you cheerleaders rocking out here the last few days, tell me I have imagined all the posts decrying lack of work by Transcend.  Tell me it was NOT just within the last few days one of your purported MTs posted that if you are going without work, don't take it.  Just pick up the phone and ask for more work.  You cannot post now that everything is rosy and gloss over what has been posted about the T over the last couple of years.  The MTs from MDI will be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.  Do NOT pretend Transcend's endeavors in VR and offshoring will prevent loss of American jobs.  Do NOT pretend Transcend is the answer to the problem (are you listening, D??)


I will keep my accounts for now.  I am grateful I work for an American physician who would give up his practice before sending transcription out of the States (are you listening, D??).  I work for an MTSO that has clients who tried it and came back with a better understanding of why it is important to keep transcription state-side.  As for the other MTSO, well, I will see what happens there.


Shame on you, MDI and shame on you, Transcend, for trying to pretend things are rosy. 


off my  


to transcender
Do you do clinic work or hospital work with reports of all types? Sometimes, that is the clincher - if you do only one type of work, it usually runs dry...just curious. Thanx.
MDI/Transcender
Honey, they are not dying, they've done died.
MDI/Transcender
Of course she said yes they would stay the same. What she meant was that they would stay the same FOR NOW. They won't stay the same after 1 January, betcha a beer.
There are, Food Shelf, Goodwill, Salvation Army. LOL! nm
.
Well, I am an Ex-Transcender as of Monday. sm

I was disillusioned as you.  I am an acute care MT with 20+ years of experience and it just was not for me.   Although, I have to tell you that the production management team were awesome to work with up front; however, I didn't like the behind the scenes action like changing my worktypes without telling me, as well as consistently running out of acute care work.  


For example, if you  work primarily on er reports and the discharge summaries are behind, they will just take the er dictations out of your queue and you will discharge summaries for a week straight, and they don't even bother to tell you, hey the ds are backed up and we put some in your queue.   There is nothing wrong with keeping the account in TAT, but give us, the MTs, the respect of telling us. 


Also, the ES accounts are a total rip-off.  Taking 20 and 30% off the line count is a totally stealing from us MTs.  Personally, I had a huge problem with it once I saw that it amounted to $500 out of one paycheck.   That really sucked bigtime!


Let me ask you - if you are an acute care MT and was given boring clinic work or doctor letters to do all day every day, would you be happy when you were hired for "basic 4 acute care work".


These are just a few major reasons why I am gone.


Good luck to those who have stayed and I hope you are happy.  To each his/her own!


Don't be Depressed, Transcender--
I've been working part-time with Amphion for almost a month--so far, so good. I came off proofing two weeks early, and the account I've been on has never run out of work. The staff I've worked with have been very pleasant and professional. I've been paid on time as agreed, and I'm happy to have a part-time schedule with no nights and/or weekends. I'm feeling optimistic.
should this transcender take a job with amphion??
what to do????
Fellow Transcender, I have had so
many problems with this platform.  If you make just ONE mistake, it screws everything up and you can't get back.  I did 3 reports in 3 hours today.  Very frustrating. 
X-Transcender who is happy now, can you
e-mail me privately please? pwdohio@yahoo.com Thanks!
It's Official! I'm A Transcender !!!!
O' Happy Day !!!!!!!!!             
Another happy Transcender here, too! nm
s
Another happy transcender
I have been a happy Transcend employee for over a year now. I get a mix of good and bad dictators, but you get that everywhere! There is VR everywhere now and the same goes for offshoring. Times change, technology changes, and we have to be willing to adapt.

I agree with the other posters. If you hate your job find another one. Transcend is a great company but is probably not a good fit for you, especially since you have such a negative attitude about them. I went through a couple of companies before I found the right company for me. Do yourself a favor, search this forum and find your dream job. Wishing you much luck and a better experience next time!
I agree with ex-transcender
After working for both companies, I am happy at SoftScript. They are flexible and management has been easy to communicate with and questions are answered quickly. Pay is on time and the platform is easy. Yes, there is a lot of work available.
not a Transcender but on eScription
I have been on eScription since this spring. I do a combination of VR and straight transcription for my account. I have a couple of doctors who speak clear and fast and eScription hardly gets a thing wrong. I can get 800 lines an hour on those. Oh, if only I could get those doctors all day, but I can't. They don't dictate enough to fill a day. I have other doctors that I can only get 200 lines an hour on VR because they speak slow anyway or pause a lot, so speeding up doesn't help things much. I put them at double speed and still could have typed them without stopping and gotten paid better. Then there is all the dictation that is somewhere in between as far as how well the VR report comes out (or not), how much the dictator jumps around and confuses the program, etc. I use pretty much all the keyboard shortcuts and the VR overall is fairly decent for our account (I'm guessing because we have a limited pool of MTs training it), but we still run out of work and we're only at about 50% VR right now.

So I'd say, aside from learning all those keyboard shortcuts you need a good dose of luck to be on an account that eScription can get pretty accurately, good dictators that you can speed up all the way but still understand, and plenty of work so you don't run out. I really don't know what else you can do.
I'm also a Transcender - love it here.

I worked for Transcend one time for 3 years, had to resign for family reasons, but was welcomed back with open arms when I came back this year.  I'm sorry I ever left and glad I came back. There is constant evolution and constant growth.  The only limitations are the ones you will put on yourself.  I just enjoy the fact that we are kept in the loop on everything that is going on --- glad I made the decision to come back. 


Hey Missourians --- BUZZ ME!  Bet there are more of us than we realize :) 


 


not a Transcender, but curious
You said they are cutting your pay 30 to 35%. Is that from straight typing down to VR rate (in other words, VR at 30% of straight), or is that going to be a rate cut for everything across the board?
Anonymous Transcender
I hope it all works out for you. Rather than looking it as being jerked around, you might take it instead in the positive viewpoint of being given a heads up. Good luck to you!
Also a Transcender... LOVE it!
I have a few gripes with this company, sure, but for the most part, I haven't been this happy at a company in a very long time. I feel like I matter to the company. I'm not afraid to ask for things I want or need or just to ask questions. Work has been low (it's been low everywhere), but I told my regional manager my concerns and she gave me 2 extra accounts and was so validating about my concerns. I can get more if I need them. The pay is decent for a big company such as this (I got more with smaller companies and private doctors), but I can get in so many lines that it seems to balance it out. I love the accounts I work on, I love their eScription platform (both speech and text, I do both, but mostly text), and I love the whole team.

QA is wonderful, HR is wonderful, my TLs are wonderful, etc. All in all, I'm a very happy Transcender. :) I just can't wait for the winter season where we are all slammed with work again!
Praying most certainly DOES put food on the table! I am extremely offended by your post.
t
If they invented a food pedal, we would never be allowed to take a lunch break, lol.

Have to agree ... keeping the lights turned on, food on the table, and sm
a roof over my head is pretty good motivation!  Plus, I do not want to exist.  I am single, but I want the same things my married friends have with 2 incomes.  Since I haven't found the seeds for my money tree yet, I work.  As I mentioned below, I have been an MT for 30+ years, but I have worked the last 10 years or so at home, and it is MUCH different than having to get dressed up and drive over town.  Working on a Saturday or evenings or anything is not so bad when you can sit wearing a t-shirt and shorts and have your doggie curled up under the desk. 
Current Transcender - long message
First of all, I'm not management, which is why I am posting my name. This way no one can say I am anything but an MLS.

October 5th was my 9 year anniversary with Transcend and I'm still here.

I don't post here often but I get really tired of reading anonymous blatherings about how horrible a company Transcend is to work for.

Is it the best company out there? Probably but I honestly don't know. They have been good to me for 9 years and that's all I can attest to.

Maybe I have just been very lucky to have the account managers and team leads that I have had in the last 9 years.

I see people posting about how many companies they have worked for and I am really not impressed. Instead of their transcription skills, it seems that these people are honing their testing and interviewing skills with all the job hopping they do. How can you really decide if a place is a good fit or not if you don't give it more than a couple of months?

There have been ups and downs with Transcend for sure. My curiosity gets the best of me though and I ride it out to see what happens next. I'm still here so I guess that would mean the changes, though sometimes really hard to swallow, have worked out just fine.

They pay us on time every pay period, the tech support is great, the teams are great, and they pay just as well, if not better than anyone else out there for straight transcribing and VR.

The flexibility they give us is great. They are understanding and sympathetic when our lives are twisting and turning.

Since May, I have lost 5 family members and close family friends. Talk about an emotional roller coaster.

I even dropped everything and drove to Las Cruces, New Mexico from Washington state straight through with my sister and daughter-in-law to be with my dad as he was dying in August. My managers knew my dad was ill but I literally called them from the road when I left. Karin and Linda both told me to not give it a second thought, GO and be with my dad. A lot of places won't tell you that. If you don't have the PTO, you stay put or suffer the consequences.

My production has suffered greatly, then bounces back, then I am slammed with another death. Instead of reprimand I have had support.

Probably a little more information than you needed to know but this has been my experience with Transcend.

Maybe if people were a little more honest with each other ALL of us would be better off. Good or bad experience, let them post their names.

J

Transtech no work situation putting me in the Salvation Army food line?

This is utterly ridiculous -- NO WORK/LOW WORK.  It is not even the holidays yet.  D. giving the title of an email Census does not make that the reason for the low/no work situation at Transtech!  There are other reasons OTHER THAN CENSUS.  That is so sickening all the time.  The greatest need of us MT's is honesty from their employer --- from the very beginning of employment to the end!


Even a child could see through their excuses for NO WORK. 


Doesn't apply if your OSI account doesn't use Ichart.
It is the Ichart only for OSi where you are cheated.
TT doesn't pay for spaces or ExText doesn't
nm
That doesn't fly - KS doesn't offshore
nm
He doesn't trust VR, or doesn't trust his MT to train it correctly?
Or perhaps his MT(s) has/have been filling his head with horror stories about VR and how it is a lawsuit waiting to happen?

Personally, I don't see any reason an M.D. would not trust a VR program, unless he's seen the products of a report edited by a less than competent MT who didn't do their editing job appropriately.


okay, that doesn't really help. I really need to know
the major city that is near you, how far away it is, and also put the next major city to you. For instance, if you live in kissmee, florida, you would put Orlando about 30 minutes away and Tampa about 45 minutes to one hour away.
TH doesn't. nm
xxx
It doesn't mean anything now though.
I don't care if I got anything, but if it didn't come until all the posts about not getting even a card, it just doesn't mean anything.