NOPE everything we correct whether it is a QA marker, a comma, a double space,

nope [2008-12-01]
sent it anonymously from a different account. got a response quickly. here it is... oh...and i also got an e-mail from mtquestions asking for my name and ADP number. i think i gave them all the info that matters, don't you? : ) **** Please do not post internal email addresses, phone numbers or communications for any company.****

Correct on staying logged onto DQS and [2008-11-29]
You stated this: ***************************** I would NOT do as someone below stated, and stay signed into DQS but just log in and out of etime. I know for sure there are rules written somewhere - good luck finding them - that you must be logged into DQS and Etime at the same time, otherwise grounds for immediate dismissal. And, yes, MTs have been fired on the spot for this. Please don't do it ***************************** You are correct. Punch-outs and ins on both DQS and E-time must match up within a few minutes or the employee is in violation of company rules. They got really strict with this a few months ago. You cannot stay logged into DQS and not into E-time.

Gold Card is correct... [2008-11-27]
This is an insurance card provided either through the state or the county (I'm not sure which) for patients who have no other insurance and who meet the income criteria.

You are absolutely correct [2008-11-27]
I too worry about quality. Mark my words, this whole speeding up ASR work is going to come back and bite them in the _ss. It's just a matter of time. By then Mr. Corporate 644 will be long gone collecting his millions in bonus money and unfortunately in this field that's the name of the game....Corporate GREED

I have the same situation. You put a marker for something that is missing and [2008-11-26]
they go through the entire report and deduct for a dash or something. I am sure there will be something wrong with anything if you look hard enough.

AGAIN, QAs do not "deduct", only correct. [2008-11-26]
Some dictators are assigned as full-reviews regardless of the MT, so that could be the case.

You're correct. [2008-11-24]
They still have that silly pool, however. Which is why everybody's monthly bonus goes down when they have a special limited-time incentive.

Is the following statement correct concerning the Q? [2008-11-23]
Our MTs participate in an on-going, comprehensive training program in order to maintain a high level of quality assurance.

I think the poster is correct sm [2008-11-21]
In DocQmanage, one of the viewing options has everything spelled out as to what is counted (at the bottom of the transcribed document, I believe). This also alarmed me, so I cut and pasted a short document into Word and compared MQ's count against Word's and it was right. Everything was counted. This place has us all paranoid!!! ;-) ...rightly so, me thinks!

You are correct [2008-11-20]
You have summed up what is exactly happening. This will not change and nothing, but nothing will make them change. It is all about the money and beating the competition. I did mention sometime ago that our local hospital (where I had worked and never should have left) outsourced our MT work to India. Why, because the suits thought it would eventually bring more money into the hospital, and at that time they were building an addition on, so they cut out what they thought would save them more money. Anyway, the Director of Medical Records, who is from India, came up with the brilliant idea that they should outsource to a company in India. Well, they did, and guess what, the work was horrible, the docs were upset, so they went back to a company here locally, who they got rid up before because they did horrible work. Does this make any sense? Well, to you and me no, but it was all about the money. This country is not going to change outsourcing until we fight for our rights and bring work back into the US. Many years ago ASR was being tried out in emergency rooms for a start, and it failed miserably. They went back to the drawing board and made it better. I knew over 10 years ago that this was coming, and some people said no way! We are lowered to nothing but editors. Without us ASR would be obsolete. I am now 62, but I still have to work for the insurance. Thank goodness I found an IC job and I now was approved today for new insurance, but it cost me plenty!! Minimum wage is not something I want to go back to, since I haven't been paid that since I was in my teens, and yet there are people out there who make much more than we do. As of now, I am making less than minimum wage in my state, and I intend to contact the Labor Board about this. They cannot pay you less than minimum wage. It is a sad fact that this has happened and MQ could care less. The executives want their fancy cars, nice homes, the best education for their children, nice vacations, et cetera, while we cannot even afford to keep our electric on or put food in our mouths. As we all saw, the executives from GM flew in jets to the meeting to ask for help in this disaster. Does this tell you anything? They don't care. Do you know that they keep a full-time staff of pilots and stewardesses on hand for these trips. All they are concerned is about their role as executives. Big business is not fighting for the little guy, and we have to do something. I hope in this administration there will be more of a balance.

You better make yours a double-dose [2008-11-19]
of tea after that report!

African American is correct per BOS. [2008-11-19]
x

Correct. It doesn't show on your line counts... [2008-11-19]
just on your check. You can do the math and figure it out, and I've always been paid right on that. Not sure how they keep track of it, as it doesn't show up anywhere else, but I have always gotten paid my regular rate.

Pay cut - Is this correct? [2008-11-18]
So it's going to be 60% of our MT rate right? Is that what the base rate is?

You are ABSOLUTELY correct and thank you for a clear [2008-11-18]
Now we have NOBODY but ourselves to blame if stay and take this crap. And I absolutely am somebody who is abhors change...but this is the final and last straw. I will no longer accept being slapped around by a second rate Indian company that simply wants to put a warm ESL MT in a seat on an antiquated system to listen to American doctors and GUESS if the ASR got it right or not.

You are correct, but....sm [2008-11-18]
A company does not have to contract with a union. You are correct that if they do, they could limit off-shoring, and a number of other things that could be stated in the union contract... BUT... that's why companies over the years have subcontracted much of what they used to make themselves, and/or move their operations overseas, because the union demands have gotten too expensive... and unfortunately, most of those expenses have gone to the heads of the unions and not the union workers anymore. Union workers used to run the unions, but they don't anymore. A union cannot ''make'' a company contract with them. If MTs form a union, they'll just drop their contracts. Now if they want to nationalize the medical records industry... well, then maybe that would help... do we really want to go there?

Nope. Not that I'm aware of. nm [2008-11-18]

That is absolutely correct. The client has no [2008-11-18]
x

nope [2008-11-18]
the only thing you get paid for is working. unless you have it taken as PTO. or unless its a technical difficulty of some sort. but if they don't have work for you when you are scheduled to work you are SOL.

I think either could be correct, but [2008-11-15]
I would have typed it like you did, which I think is more correct than 'anytime,' but I don't thing QA is supposed to change that kind of thing. I would email my supe and QA lead and ask them.

But if we upload with 1 QA marker [2008-11-14]
and then they change one or two other things, I get the report back with 3 QA markers. Doesn't this count against us in some way? I have had some which were wrong per client profile and haven't said anything but definitely wondered if the markers are being tallied that they add in.

correct. [2008-11-06]
I wondered what the remote meant.

I got the exact opposite out of the meeting - leave a QA note but no marker (sm) [2008-11-02]
so it goes through to the client with a ***** note. Unless we think QA can hear something we cannot, they probably can't get it either. Mind you, during the course of the call my conclusion of what they wanted if we could not get a match changed about 10 times. A lot of focus was spent on the ADT search which IMO if we don't know how to do by now 8 ways from Sunday we are in trouble. The conference call was poorly run with too many voices speaking over each other and I was never clear if it was the CCM, QKL, or another MT speaking, and the CCM's phone kept cutting out so she would suddenly disappear and have to call back. I was pretty frustrated as I don't have tolerance for time being wasted like that.

That it not correct. You work if your scheduled [2008-10-30]
about working an extra day - where the heck did that come from!!

nope, you just lose it. [2008-10-30]
consider it a blessing that you don't have to work it. you can try to volunteer to work it and take another day off though if you want. I don't know why a supervisor wouldn't approve that to give another person the day off.

I have a box, actually a box and [2008-12-02]
a lid that I place behind my pedal that fills in the space between my pedal and the desk back/wall. So if you have something solid behind your pedal you can use anything that will fill the 1-2 feet of free space that your pedal keeps insisting on scootin' into. My last set-up didn't have a back so I actually got a large heavy piece of wood, hammered a row of nails across the back to provide the stop action with the pedal in front and placed flat on the floor. I would have just used velcro but I didn't want to mess up my hardwood floors. Non-skid rugs never seemed to work for me. The underside of myworkspace was certainly not pretty with boxes and boards and nails and such, but comfort is non-negotionable to me. Under a desk is like under a bed, just don't look and no one will be the wiser!! ok I'm fried after 14 hours of VR crud so plz excuse typos, rambling, blah, blah, etc.Thanks!

QA submission rate sm [2008-11-30]
I just don't understand what the heck is going on anymore. I got the email about having slightly over 20% QA submission rate and that I should try harder. GIVE ME A BREAK! I am part-time (thank God) and send to QA an average of 1 to 2 reports per 20, usually with only 1 blank per report. Are they kidding me or what? I'm starting to feel that there is no use trying anymore. They say I should ask for help if I need any info. I'm not kidding here...most of theblanks QA couldn't get either. The other day, I got about 8 reports from my old primary and made about 45.00 for the hour....and not even 1 QA marker to boot. HELLO MQ!!!! THIS IS NOT WORKING.....WAKE UP!

ASR RATE [2008-11-30]
This pay cut starts on the 12/10 paycheck correct? Well I received $7.95 an hour for 30 some-odd hours on my last two paychecks. I did only do like 6,000 lines today in the payperiod, think they are having to pay the min wage to make it legal for those hours worked? I can't imagine what will happen when the new ASR rate kicks in. All they are doing is offering classes on how to get faster on ASR, I don't think they are taking into consideration our feelings and I highly doubt they will change their minds about the pay cut. I need to get a new job. Any ideas on companies to work at home from that provide computers that are hiring?

Is it possible to paraphrase your way around .....sm [2008-11-30]
the inaudible word rather than leaving a QA marker? Heck with ESLs we paraphrase all the time.

Correct on staying logged onto DQS and [2008-11-29]
You stated this: ***************************** I would NOT do as someone below stated, and stay signed into DQS but just log in and out of etime. I know for sure there are rules written somewhere - good luck finding them - that you must be logged into DQS and Etime at the same time, otherwise grounds for immediate dismissal. And, yes, MTs have been fired on the spot for this. Please don't do it ***************************** You are correct. Punch-outs and ins on both DQS and E-time must match up within a few minutes or the employee is in violation of company rules. They got really strict with this a few months ago. You cannot stay logged into DQS and not into E-time.

Word expanders screwed up again [2008-11-28]
I'd estimate I have between 600-1,000 WE's. In my haste, I guess I hita wrong key and now I have to go thru each and every one of them and fix them. I know i'm not the only one this has happened to (verified by tech support). Does anyone know of a way to correct them other than gpomg thru each one? I am so furious I could scream. There ought to be a safeguard against this. I never have a problem making my lines. I will this week, as I am constantly having to go into the WE dictionary to correct things. Let them write me up. I am ticked. Tammy

I think it all depends on whether or not you think what QA thinks is [2008-11-28]
right is always right. I have seen some pretty odd things they do in reports and they are by no means correct. Just because they pick doesnt mean it is correct.

I agree QA is not always right [2008-11-28]
but that becomes their problem after I submit it. I do not fret about QA changing things to something that is wrong - I do double check anything that I think is wrong (not that it happens very often), document the information supporting my position and email my QKL to verify.

I still care about the quality of [2008-11-27]
my work and that is probably why I am losing money with ASR. I tried to speed up and not fix the little things and found I was missinga lot of stuff by rushing through it,and could not continue to do it as one of the things that attracted me to this profession was that I had total control over the quality of my work, nobody telling me just ship it (I worked in a factory before MT and if production was behind, we were forced to send subpar work tothe customer). I would not like an MT rushing to get my medical recordedited and maybe missing things such as sound-a-like medications being heard by ASR instead of the correct one, 15 mgversus 50 mg,or punctuation that changes the meaning of a sentence.Speeding the audio all the way up is very dangerous to do for these reasons. How many times with ASR have you noticed the word not being put in when not dictated or the other way around? Same goes for with versus without when the dictator fades out at the end of words. I cannot catch these things speeding the audio up to warp speed like some say to do. Maybe it works with the good dictators,but certainly not with the motor and mush-mouths and some ESL, which I get a lot of on ASR. Talk about motor-mouth, I need to put the coffee down and get some sleep.

48, and QA could not hear them either. [2008-11-27]
If hospitals will not correct their phone problem, if doctors will not open their mouth and speak or learn how to speak English, will not find a quiet place to dictate rather than the operative clean up area with banging pans, I don't sweat it anymore.

Need to vent here about something similar [2008-11-26]
I did a preoperative report and the patient had not yet checked in and had no MR#, so I sent a note to QA about that, which was the only thing wrong with that report. If they are so pressed for time, and need to correct so much, then how come she went through the entire report and looked for errors in the report. The two things she marked wrong were not capitilizing a word and put in a comma in a couple of places. This is really nit picking. I can see if it changed the report in a major way, but it did not, and I still cannot figure out why she did it in the first place, when all she had to do was find the information on the patient.

Yes. Happened to me on 3 paychecks. [2008-11-26]
I was short by a few cents under minimum wage. My state is pretty high pay for minimum wage. MQ had to correct it and had to pay me my state minimum wage and it happened on 3 paychecks in a row. I was frustrated,had crapy reports,worked in cesspool, andhad 30 accountsthe whole week I worked. No problems and no complaints of MQ so legally they paid me minimum wage on my paychecks and it came out of theirpocket.

ASR rethink [2008-11-26]
Hi all, well, I have to eat my words. I said I was done with ASR, but when thinking things over (looking for another job at 50+) I began to think about maybe speed on ASR would make up for any lost pay on line count. Well, I have been doing nothing but ASR for the last 2-3 days and I have increased by paycheck almost double simply because I don't have to slow down my production with LONG ESL discharge summaries to type, etc. I must say, I was skeptical, but with speed you can really increase your paycheck doing ASR even with a reduction in line rate.

Really dumb ?! [2008-11-26]
Okay, don't laugh, but this is not clear to me, for whatever reason. To control volume, it says Control + Numberpad and + or - sign. I'm onw of those weirdos (fossils, maybe?) who types numbers at the top of the keyboard. It's how I've always done it. Also, as luck would have it, the stacked numbers on the keyboard don't work, anyway. Can someone please fill me in here? Also, TG is double lines, correct? Thanks so much, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Or when you to a straight typing job and [2008-11-25]
the dictator goes back to correct a huge section of dictation and you automatically try to put a skip marker over it.

P.S. [2008-11-25]
In all fairness to Level 1 MT's, I have the utmost respect for a Level 1 who turns out good work, than someone who calls themself a Level 3 who does horrible work. Level 3 used to mean quality, or at least that's what I was led to believe. Nope, don't let that Level 3 fool you. It just means they know how to do all the report types. Doesn't mean they do the correctly. I am not talking about all Level 3, people, so don't get in a tizzy!

Christmas 2006 I asked for off [2008-11-25]
NOPE. DENIED. Wedding was 3 days before Christmas out of state and he said NO. Asked plenty days (months) in time. He was a new PS. Not only that, he was suicidal. He called me all the time how he wanted to kill his wife (he said he was kidding) andcried once on the phone with me and thought about killing himself. I ended up counseling him for crying out loud. I also just moved out of state 2 months before all this CRAP and was too tired to deal with this, my boss being suicidal. He also would chew me out for being 1 minute later and such ridiculous stuff. If I was not too tired, I would have cried like a baby on the phone conversations we had. I tried calling regional manager and leaving emails about all of this and that I wanted this to be discussed over the phone, but as usual, no answers. About 8 months later, he was fired. Sooooo, you are fortunate you get people to listen to you. My last resort was to quit on the spot.

Christmas 2006 I asked for off [2008-11-25]
NOPE. DENIED. Wedding was 3 days before Christmas out of state and *** said NO. Asked plenty days (months) in time. ***. I have had so many PS's that I cannot remember them all.*******Do not put personal information that could identify an individual in posts******He also would chew me out for being 1 minute later and such ridiculous stuff. If I was not too tired, I would have cried like a baby on the phone conversations we had. I tried calling regional manager and leaving emails about all of this and that I wanted this to be discussed over the phone, but as usual, no answers.****** Sooooo, you are fortunate you get people to listen to you. My last resort was to quit on the spot.

How many times I have said this company could save a lot of [2008-11-25]
money by doing away with these people who are making the decisions that directly impact our incomes and lives. All these people making the most important rules and decisions, and I dare say I am correct that not one was ever a transcriptionist. Walk a mile in my shoes, why don't cha MQ.

Scrooge, you're one to talk, you sound like the Grinch!...sm - typinlikemad [2008-11-24]
I never once discouraged anybody to leave MQ in my post. If you're not happy with MQ, move on. No one should stay at any job they hate. But, if you do move on, then leave it behind and don't look back. You mentioned you'd rather be flipping burgers than continue working for MQ. QUIT and FLIP. If you could actually make as much money doing that, why stay at MQ? I make more than double our minimum wage and about $4 more an hour than the rate for local MT jobs. I definitely couldn't make a similar income flipping burgers or working at our local WalMart. The one thing I've notice on this forum, it's always the same people complaining post after post and saying they're leaving day after day. Some do do it but the majority are still around. I guess that shows MQ isn't that bad. Hate Your Job - QUIT. Like Your Job - STAY.

Corrupt skip and redundant markers [2008-11-24]
You probably already know this but just in case, you always have to have text behind the markers or all else they corrupt and the skip and redund markers will be sent back to the client in body of report. Put cursor in middle of skip/redun marker and use Ctrl Shift N to normalize or bring back text -if text is behind it then just reinsert the skip/redundant marker after making sure text is behind it. Also if you backspace the text before or after the marker and the textis too close the marker will become corrupt. If you acidently delete the skip/redund marker you cannot reinsert it as thiswill corrupt it just delete the marker if you cannot normalize the text. From ASR refresher course.

The enclosed parable sounds so familiar. [2008-11-24]
A Modern Parable.A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford Motors) decided to have a canoe race on theMissouri River.Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peakperformance before the race.On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat.A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people rowing.Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.Not sure of how to utilize that information,but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team'smanagement structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder.It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rowers.There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.The pension program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale-boosting programs and teamwork posters.The next year the Japanese won by two miles.Humiliated, the American management laidoff one rower, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment.The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses.The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year's racing team was out-sourced toIndia.Sadly, the End.Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories outof theUS, claiming they can't make money paying Americanwages.TOYOTAhas spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside theUS. The last quarter's results:TOYOTAmakes 4 billion in profitswhile Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.Ford folks are stillscratching their heads, and collecting bonuses...IFTHIS WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY

What planet are you from? [2008-11-24]
Apparently not one where humans live. Quality is suffering at the cost of quantity and the all-might dollar. I thought we were in this business to do quality work because of what the alternative does to patient care. The poster said that they managed to get the 510. However, remember what speeding the sound all the way up causes? Don't tell me you can catch every little word - some of which may be important - at that speed. I know for a fact that it skips audio if you do that because I tried that months ago. I routinely work with the audio 2 notches from top speed and still have to slow it down to catch things sometimes. I am far from slow at this unless I want to be anything but. I do believe above poster is correct; to do this for 8 hours would cause pain and burnout. As far as your comment about top producers...give us a break. I would much more like to be a top producer with a really good QA score than be a really top producer with just more lines. So, if I don't do 644 ASR lines and I am not a top producer as you say, I guess shame on me for wanting to do the RIGHT thing, not the easiest. BTW, top producers being singled out like that raise the bar for everyone, instead of being the exception to the rule in this company. I still hold my original position. If they aren't willing to prove this person did this with a QA score of greater than 98%, which is what they want us to have, and the client is not actually happy with the quality of their work, I don't buy their line of cr**. Oh, also, your comment about top producers...I am left handed. I draw, write, paint, sculpt, compose, you name it. Can you? If you don't have those talents, then I guess you are below standard as well? Do you like being compared to other people you don't know? No one does because we are all human and deserve to be treated as such.

MQ Word Jumble? [2008-11-24]
How many of you submitted correct answers to the word jumble in a timely manner and have NOT won? This past month or 2, they have messed up the jumbles and their answers so badly, I am thinking 'they' are handpicking the winners. Anyone agree?

600 lph ASR does not compute. [2008-11-23]
Based on an average lines per minute of dictation stated on an MT list by more than one MT, which also has proven true based on my experience here, a 3-minute dictation would give 30 lines, usually less lines as 30 seconds of dictation is consumed by the doctor giving patient information for ADT. Based on the above, in order to produce a line count of 600 lph, an MT would have to listen to 60 minutes of dictation per hour. How is it humanly possible to do 60 minutes ASR in 60 minutes while making corrections, adding punctuation, formatting and entering ADT information which, at minimum, involves entering the date of service and signing doctor's name, usually entering more information than that. Add onto that unpaid task, the time required to do a search for doctors who do not punch in correct demographic information and/or accounts which do not have ADT feeds, and then add to that adding cc information which can, at times, require an MT to have to enter 3 fields minimally if they must hand enter only a doctor's name, and, especially for some accounts, the address and/or phone number information depending upon the account, which is time and effort we do not get paid for. For the accounts I do, it usually takes 140 minutes dictation to get 1200 lines.