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can't find message I left. either [2008-05-20]
If one leaves a comment that is not 'approved' or 'welcome', it gets quickly deleted or one gets a 'warning'! Today I posted two really nice comments and I cannot find them!
can't find message i left [2008-04-01]
left a quick message for an article I just read and I have no idea where it is. All I can find our these chatty things.??????
Interesting, indeed, do you think that is why she left MQ? [2007-07-15]
It says she worked for them until recently. Also says she is very active as an advocate for veterans and more recently in fighting the cause against US companies that outsource American jobs to foreign countries. Hmmmm
Find something else [2007-02-08]
Medical transcriptionists are not anywhere near compensated enough considering the amount of education required to competently perform this job. Reference materials are expensive and expected but we are not reimbursed for them. Consider another career path.
There you go! [2008-10-26]
To no name,
That's exactly WHY you need a union, so the work won't go to India nor the Philippines. These MT companies send their best work to these countries because they know their English is mediocre at best! You good people at home in the U.S. get the crap of what's left! Wake up and unite! They're must be one of you out there who feels like I do, let me hear from you! Have the fortitude to do what Sally Field did in the movie...can't remember the name right now.......you, my friend, are already discouraged even before anything has been started. That's not how we form a good and strong union. You have to take the bull by the horns and prepare for battle! My head is not in the clouds, I just believe in fairness and justice and you're not getting anything except being a slave laborer to these greedy and unscrupulous companies that will tell you anything you want to hear!
Thanks! [2008-10-20]
Thank you so much. I wish I could find this stuff!
Here are a few good books [2008-09-15]
Gray's Atlas of Anatomy
Atlas of Human Anatomy: With Netteranatomy.com
The Handy Anatomy Answer Book
Stedman's Anatomy Physiology Words (this is a speller and includes an appendix that includes anatomical illustrations, a list of English-Latin anatomy words, and tables of ligaments and tendons, muscles, bones, arteries, and nerves)
You can find all of these on Amazon.com used/new from private sellers for really good prices, although the Gray's tends to be pricey. GOOD LUCK!
IC work [2008-07-22]
Anne Marie P:
Thank you so very much for your reply; I find it very helpful; and due to my current situation with the HMO big K - I have decided to go the route of IC.
zoesnana
VR is here to stay [2008-07-03]
I think it serves any professional to keep up with any technology affecting their chosen profession. A medical Transcriptionist who refuses to learn editing of voice recognition files will end up being left behind. Having said that, if you're thinking about transcription work, then choose a school who isn't afraid of current technology and includes it in their curriculum.
I love voice recognition. Working with it on a high-end technical level has made me understand that there isn't now, nor probably ever will be, a substitution for the human element. Trained editors will ALWAYS have job security. Because any speech rec system is only as good as the people behind the scenes writing the software. It's not an unlimited technology, and it simply cannot interpret certain things. I love reading some of the gobbledegook it spits out, and snicker while I edit it.
Please stop being afraid of technology. Learn it, embrace it, get good at it, and secure your own future.
can't find message I left. either [2008-05-20]
If one leaves a comment that is not 'approved' or 'welcome', it gets quickly deleted or one gets a 'warning'! Today I posted two really nice comments and I cannot find them!
WHAT????? [2008-04-09]
What is this? Just more stuff that I am not interested in. Please just forget the whole thing. I stioll can't find what I was looking for and I don't understand some of these comments. I get paid correctly. I like this profession, but this website is totally confusing to me.
goodbye.
can't find message i left [2008-04-01]
left a quick message for an article I just read and I have no idea where it is. All I can find our these chatty things.??????
Job openings [2008-02-08]
Can anyone please send me emails on services who have been willing to supply the MT with up to date, state of the art, platforms to work on. I am so sick and tired of starting jobs with services only to find out you have to copy and paste your work from A to B, because of crappy platforms, or if you don't copy and paste, the platforms are so prehistoric, you could type faster on a selectric. I want to work, have 35 years exp in all field. I have invested major money into up to date computers, software, hardware, etc so I can perform my job for the service to the best of my ability - what comanpies have done the same for us? I am looking again - someday I might find that one service who is looking out for us, as well as their pocketbooks. I don't expect to make millions, I dont' mid ESL doctors, or doing OPS or even working weekends, all I ask is respect for our profession and provide us with quality tools to perform out jobs. ANY INFORMATION WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED - I hope this posts, I have put many posts on this board, but they are never published ?
Loved it! [2007-06-10]
I loved Medware for the short-time I worked for them. I was working a full-time in-house position,which I was trying to get out of. I worked for Medware part-time trying to transition out of the in-house position. They were absolutely wonderful people to work for!!!!! I was working 4 hours a day part-time for Medware plus my 40-hr a week job (supervisor/transcriptionist). My plan was to work for Medwarefor 3 months to become eligible for their insurance and leave my in-house position and work for Medware. It became too much, as my husband and I also have our own business and I do the office work. I left Medware. However, I would work for them again in a second. It appeared to be a very competent, helpful company. I highly recommend them!!!!
VBC- just another way to rip us off. Dowetypereportslikethisnottomentionalltheworkwedonotgetpaidfor! [2007-05-26]
Do we get paid when the doctor changes his mind and redictates? No. Do we get paid extra when the doctor does not dictate the date of exam or the correct one, and we have to dig through 100 patient sheets? No. Do we get paid for looking up the spellings of doctors' names and addresses? No. Does the amount we are now getting paid cover software expenses, AAMT dues, business license, tax accountant, reference books, computers, car expenses for those accounts that insist on tapes that only put 1-2 reports on the tape that do not even cover gas or time spent driving/getting dressed, IT techs, phone lines, template setups, training other MTs, call-in systems, transcribers, foot pedals, office rent, medical expenses related to work injuries, paid time of when seeing a doctor for these injuries, surgeries, etc.? Not hardly. I have 7 years of experience working over 120 hours a week, 7 days a week and make less per line than the first 2 weeks I was interning in college. Jeesh, we have to hit the space bar to separate words. If you have radiculopathies as bad as I do, each keystroke hurts like heck, and I should get paid for it. Unfortunately, I cannot say space to my computer, and it magically puts it in. Just for once, instead of the doctors cutting our paycheck, why not going after the overpaid HIM department who came up with this hairbrain idea!!! They are on salary. It does not cost them money to go to the bathroom, yet everytime we take our hands off the keyboard, we pay! How would the HIM department like to read their reports like this? Laboratorydata:Completebloodcountstodayevealawhitebloodcellcountof,000/mm3,hemoglobin of2.3gm/dL,andaplateletcountof93,000/mm3.
I say they can pick up my medical bills, which in the last 2 years were over $3 million with us paying over $90,000. Did I remember to include all the money it costs in lost work to apply for a job only to get ripped off on your paychecks or have them pay so late that after late fees, there is nothing left. Oh yeah, advertising, websites, e-mail accounts, FTP, cell phone, fax lines, equipment, equipment, equipment.
New MT [2007-02-23]
SM, I know what you're talking about. I started out in a small hospital and did transcription through most of the 60's. I was basically self-taught, with a little help from the 12 on-staff physicians. Transcription was done on an IBM electric typewriter with Dictaphone dictabelt system. They finally converted to tape recorders and I loved it. I took words home every night and studied. Then, my husband got a different job and we moved to a small town that had an even smaller hospital, and they did not need a transcriptionist.
I would love to find a job doing transcription at home. My husband has COPD, and I really would love to be at home, although he is no trouble and does not require constant care. I am working as an administrative assistant to a hospital president at present, but I have always missed transcription due to the challenge and the opportunity to learn frequently learn something new term or procedure.
and would you share your own experience, length [2007-02-18]
would be great if you could tell all of us your own experience, length of time in the MT biz, et al....that qualifies you to tell a poster new in the field to *find a new career*............very_curious_indeed, Libby!!
Shapin [2006-03-02]
I had posted on another thread that I sent in my resume through the Job Seeker's Board, then they emailed me back and told me to go to the site to take the test. I did and I couldn't find the test anywhere. I emailed them back and so far no reply so I'd be interested in hearing about them myself.
Experience & proficiency requirements [2006-03-01]
What are the experience and proficiency industry requirements for U.S. MTs?
Per this article (http://www.fortherecordmag.com/archives/ftr_071805p26.shtml), Competition from overseas sources is also emerging in large part due to the lack of minimum wage laws in those countries. Low entry-level wages and lack of adequate compensation for skilled, experienced MTs have discouraged many individuals from selecting medical transcription as a viable career option at a time when the MT workforce is aging. Compounding the problem is the fact that many new MT graduates are not able to find employment because they are unable to meet experience and productivity requirements for U.S. MTs as mandated by the industry.
A real eye-opener to say the least. Wholesale giveaway of good quality American workers.
HERE's more of what he thought 10/05...sm [2006-02-21]
TAMT NEWS
Texas Association for Medical Transcription
____________________________________________________________________
A recognized component of AAMT October 2005
SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM PETER PREZIOSI, PhD, CAE
I would challenge this group to think of new and expanded roles for transcriptionists in the electronic health environment. Let’s not think of transcription as it is today but as a role that is at the nexus of health information and information technology.
Transcriptionists should be reattached from the physician dictator and deployed to the entire electronic health record, ensuring that data captured, documentation, and report generation is accurate, complete, and appropriately placed throughout the record. Emerging roles for the Transcriptionist include database administrator, data abstraction, data coding, etc. Once both the profession and the industry embrace this concept, we must quickly put together the educational infrastructure and partner with the technology vendor community to build the software to support this vision, creating an emerging role in the workplace. This new role in the EHR expands the value of transcription, gets transcription away from production and being considered a commodity, and makes us true team players in quality patient documentation. Think of the individuals we could attract to the profession if this were the scope of practice!
This is a long-term vision that requires us to begin now to reposition both the profession and the industry. Let’s not wait for the crisis to worsen.
Peter Preziosi, PhD, CAE
Executive Director
American Association for Medical Transcription
100 Sycamore Avenue
Modesto, CA 95354
(209) 341-2445
(209) 527-9632 fax
peter@aamt.org
www.aamt.org/ca/texas/newsletter.doc
The Top 10 Reasons to Become a Medical Transcriptionist [2006-01-19]
January 17th 2006Work From Home You've seen the commercials: medical transcriptionists are in high demand. Should you consider this field? Below are the top ten best reasons to become a medical transcriptionist. If these characteristics are something you're looking for in a job, then medical transcription may be for you. To get started, try “Working at Home the American Way in Medical Transcription” by Debra Jan Hebert, an experienced (http://medtrans4u.com) medical transcriptionist.
10. Quick entryMany lucrative professions require extensive training and advanced degrees. Other jobs in the medical field can take eight or more years of grueling, expensive schooling to begin. In medical transcription, you can begin your work in a year or less, avoiding huge debts and student loans. Some employers require no training, especially not if you already have good English skills and some experience in a medical field.
9. Contribute to societyAs a medical transcriptionist, you can contribute to society in many ways. In addition to the economic contributions you'll make to the overall economy, experienced medical transcriptionists become well-versed enough to catch errors or even act as patient advocates. Medical transcriptionists can see inconsistencies and correct them as well. By quickly returning transcripts to hospitals, private practices and individual doctors, medical transcriptionists can ensure fast patient care in the medical system.
8. Work from homeWhile the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 70% of medical transcriptionists still work in hospitals or physicians' offices, medical transcription is becoming increasingly popular as a work-from-home profession. The convenience of a home office appeals to some people on its own virtues, while parents may value the opportunity to stay close to their young children and still support the family full time. No matter what the reason, if you're looking to work from home, you should seriously consider medical transcription.
7. Excellent payWhile compensation methods may vary, almost all medical transcriptionists enjoy excellent pay, even in entry-level positions. According to (http://medtrans4u.com) DJS Enterprises, you can earn as much as $50,000 to $80,000 a year as a medical transcriptionist. If your pay is production-based, as you gain more experience and dexterity in medical transcription your salary will steadily increase. If you're looking for a job that can really support your family working from home, medical transcription may be for you.
6. Job securityThe US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the job outlook for medical transcriptionists is definitely positive. The medical transcription field is expected to grow at a faster than average rate through the year 2014. This indicates that medical transcriptionists will have plenty of opportunities to find steady work, even if they work at home on a freelance basis for at least another 8 years.
5. Job satisfactionWhile job satisfaction may vary from job to job and person to person, if you enjoy being able to visibly track the progress you've made in a day, medical transcription can bring you a high level of job satisfaction. As your completed medical reports pile up, you'll be able to see how much you've accomplished.
4. Set your own hoursMost of the medical industry operates 24 hours a day. Many hospital and at-home medical transcriptionists are able to set their own hours at any time to accommodate their families or other commitments. No matter when you're able to work, there's a medical record waiting to be transcribed. In medical transcription, you can work when it's most convenient for you.
3. Comfortable work environmentWhether they work in a hospital, a private office or from home, medical transcriptionists enjoy a comfortable work environment. Noise levels are low, safety risks are minimal and strenuous labor is negligible. In medical transcription, you'll enjoy a comfortable office and dedicated work station to transcribe. And what could be more comfortable than working in your own home?
2. Transferable skillsMedical transcriptionists acquire many transferable skills that they can use in other jobs if ever they want to leave the industry. In addition to a basis in the medical field, transcriptionists learn skills that could apply as a court reporter or an administrative assistant. Transcriptionists also develop their English skills, which can be useful in all types of positions that involve writing and editing. Whether medical transcription is a step on your path or your dream job, the skills you learn can improve your overall career outlook.
1. Rewarding workWhy do people become doctors? The vast majority of the people who endure 8 or more years of schooling and incur substantial debts and student loans to become doctors do so because they love to help people and to cure them of their illnesses. Every member of the medical field helps in this endeavor. What could be more rewarding than to contribute to the speedy treatment of people who desperately need your help?
If these ten things sound like characteristics you're looking for in a job, look into medical transcription. You can learn more about medical transcription from books, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other materials online.
PracticeXpert, Inc. announced the sale of its transcription business unit [2006-01-04]
CALABASAS, Calif., Jan. 3, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- PracticeXpert, Inc. (OTCBB:PXPT) today announced the sale of its transcription business unit to Transcend Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:TRCR).
Commenting on the sale, Jonathan Doctor, president and CEO of PracticeXpert, stated, Transcend is very much like PracticeXpert. They utilize leading-edge software applications to deliver transcription services, just as PracticeXpert utilizes leading-edge software applications to deliver our physician revenue management services. Allowing Transcend to focus on providing our customers with transcription services will allow us to focus on what we do best -- outsourced billing and collections for medical practitioners.
We consider this transaction much more than a sale of our transcription business unit. We see it as the beginning of a long-term partnership with Transcend. We intend to formalize a strategic marketing arrangement with Transcend under which they will be the transcription provider of choice to PracticeXpert customers, and Transcend will be able to offer our revenue management service, practice management systems, and electronic medical record systems to the thousands of physicians who currently use their services.
Under the terms of the agreement with Transcend, PracticeXpert will receive up to $500,000, over three years, on an earn-out basis, with an initial payment on closing in the amount of $40,000.
About PracticeXpert, Inc.
PracticeXpert provides turn-key practice management services and technology solutions to medical practitioners that improve operational efficiencies and enhance cash flow. PracticeXpert offerings include medical billing, accounts receivable management, practice management, consulting, seminars, practice management software, electronic medical records software and related services. PracticeXpert bundles its technology applications with its billing and other practice management services to provide a complete and integrated solution to its physician customers. To find out more about PracticeXpert, Inc. (OTCBB:PXPT), visit our website at www.practicexpert.com.
Foreign speaking docs [2005-12-01]
They keep the FSDs HERE for us to struggle with and send the easier stuff to India where the MTs who don't speak English are given an 8 week crash course in English diction, typing and computer processing. Those of us who have worked our entire adult lives in this profession are left to keep the FSDs from getting their backends sued for malpractice. I'm proud of my profession and resent being demeaned and cheated out of what I've spent a lifetime perfecting by seeing it given away by a money hungry, two-faced oursourcing country that swears on a stack of Bibles that we do not now and never will outsource outside the United States. Way to go Spheris.
The people who live and work in India....sm [2005-12-01]
speak the King's English.......................*tsk *tsk that you all don't get this. *LOL*
WHAT THEY will have problems with are foreign doctors from all over the rest of the world, i.e., ESL and French MDs. I, personally, find the French accent the most difficult (and that's after being married to one of them for too long a time *lol*).
just one person's opinion here :)
TRANSCEND: appointment of Lance Cornell as Chief Financial Officer [2005-11-02]
TRANSCEND SERVICES, INC. today announced the appointment of Lance Cornell as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Cornell replaces Mr. Mark D. Meersman, who has decided to return to the position of partner-in-charge of inProcess Consulting, a management consulting firm that he left six months ago to join Transcend.
Mr. Cornell is a Certified Public Accountant with over 18 years of experience in accounting, finance and financial management, including controller and chief financial officer positions with publicly traded companies. Prior to joining Transcend, Mr. Cornell was Chief Financial Officer for nearly five years at Facility Resources, Inc., a private consulting firm specializing in facility-related project management, systems implementation and outsourcing for large corporations. Prior to that experience, Mr. Cornell served in chief financial officer and controller positions in two separate publicly traded companies in the healthcare information systems industry. Mr. Cornell received a B.S. degree in Finance with highest honors from the University of Colorado.
Larry Gerdes, the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, commented on the announcement: We welcome Lance's financial executive experience to our executive management team and thank Mark for his many and varied contributions to our Company. Mark has assisted the company in the automation and analysis of financial data that will prove helpful as we focus on improving our overall profitability. Lance not only understands the challenges facing the Company, but also sees the opportunities for the Company to grow and prosper in the $6 billion market for medical transcription services in the United States. We are particularly excited about his experience in planning and financing growth strategies, including acquisitions.
Mr. Cornell commented: I am excited about the potential effects that the Company's BeyondTXT speech recognition functionality and its strategic acquisition initiative should have upon the Company's financial performance. I look forward to helping the Company achieve its growth and profitability objectives.
About Transcend Services, Inc.
Transcend believes that accurate, reliable and timely transcription creates the foundation for the patient medical record. To this end, the Company has created Internet-based, speech recognition-enabled voice-to-text systems that allow its skilled medical language specialists to securely and quickly produce the highest quality medical documents. The Company's wide range of transcription services encompass everything needed to securely receive, transcribe, edit, format and distribute electronic copies of physician-dictated medical documents, from overflow projects to complete transcription outsourcing.
For more information, visit http://www.transcendservices.com.
Spheris Helps Employees Displaced by Katrina [2005-10-01]
NASHVILLE, TN–Spheris, a global provider of medical transcription services and technology, is reaching out to help its more than 100 employees who were affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Spheris employs more than 5,000 professional MTs, most of whom work from their homes, and had more than 170 employees located in the devastated gulf states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
“It took some time, but I am happy to say we have been able to locate all of our employees,” said Spheris CEO and President Steven E. Simpson. “Through the efforts of our employee relations specialists, we were able to determine that all of our colleagues escaped serious physical harm. Nevertheless, 21 Spheris employees have potentially lost their homes and all their possessions; 15 are in their homes, but are not able to work because of lost utilities; and several employees have relocated and been able to resume work.” According to Simpson, Spheris is currently assisting with additional relocation efforts of other employees unable to return to their homes.
On Tuesday, Aug. 30, as the world began realizing the devastation facing millions of Americans, Spheris established a Spheris Employee Relief Effort as a means to provide corporate-sponsored assistance to Spheris employees who experienced a significant hardship directly caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Spheris started the fund with the initial contribution and vowed to match a large percentage of Spheris employee contributions. In the days that followed, Spheris saw overwhelming generosity from its employees wanting to help, and in response set up an automated process for Spheris employees to donate their unused Paid Time Off (PTO) and cash contributions through payroll deduction on the Spheris corporate intranet.
In addition to using the company intranet, Spheris is sending regular e-mail updates to all its employees and an e-mail address (Naturaldisasterloop@spheris.com) has been established to enhance the company’s ability to communicate and respond to its employees’ needs.
To date, Spheris employees have personally donated more than $77,000 in cash and $112,000 in donated hours of PTO for their colleagues in need. And, those donations are already helping numerous Spheris employees.
Peggy Stolf, who lives in St. Bernard Parish outside of New Orleans, is a Spheris MT supervisor who is receiving assistance from her employer. “Words cannot express the gratitude my family has for Spheris,” said Stolf. “Through this entire disaster, Spheris became my family's rock that we could cling to, to help us through.”
The Stolf family lost its house, all of its possessions and its beloved dog to the devastating flood waters and is now living with family in Augusta, GA. While it would be easy to focus on what she lost, Stolf chooses to focus on what she gained. “Though we did lose a lot, we did gain a renewed faith in humanity and compassion,” said Stolf. “And, I cannot even find the right words to express the kindness and care that Spheris has shown toward me and my family.”
Seventeen employees will lose their jobs [2005-08-17]
2005-08-16by Lori VaroshJournal Reporter
KIRKLAND -- Seventeen employees of Evergreen Hospital Medical Center in Kirkland will lose their jobs, most by Aug. 31, victims of a trend toward outsourcing the work of medical transcriptionists.
Spheris, a Franklin, Tenn.-based contract medical transcription company, will begin today to take over the work of typing doctors' dictation into Eastside patients' records, hospital spokeswoman Amy Gepner confirmed Monday.
The practice is increasingly common among area hospitals. It provides benefits in expertise and cost savings, supporters say. But critics warn that, without careful safeguards, the practice can put patients at risk.
Outsourcing has become the area standard, said Caitlin Hillary, spokeswoman for Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue, which outsourced its transcriptionists in 1999. Such companies have the expertise and the employee base to handle the peaks and valleys of patient loads, she said.
Overlake had been having trouble recruiting transcriptionists before it outsourced those jobs, and the solution has worked well, Hillary said.
Job quality is `inferior'
But others find outsourcing generally ``is inferior to having long-term, loyal staff,'' said Diane Clark, supervisor of transcription services for the UW Medical Center, which outsources about half of its transcription work.
Because they offer lower pay, transcription companies attract people with less experience, Clark said. Those workers have no particular loyalty to the medical center, and no personal investment in the work.
And, because they often work on a per-line basis, ``the faster they type, the more money they make,'' which can result in mistakes, Clark said.
Nor do physicians always review the transcriptions as they should, she added.
If the doctors' notes are not transcribed accurately, ``it could result in patient care issues,'' Clark said. Outsourcing can work if the companies routinely sample the work for accuracy and have a second pair of eyes proof-reading the transcription.
Spheris was chosen because of its quality, said Evergreen's Gepner. Physicians at the Kirkland hospital read and sign off on all transcriptions before they go into a patient's medical record, she said.
In an April memo to physicians obtained by the Journal, however, medical staff warned that problems are possible during a transition period to the new system.
``There will be a period of time in which the new dictation service will need to adapt to the phraseology and individual traits of our Evergreen physicians; during that time there will be more blanks and errors, so please pay close attention to your dictation for accuracy,'' the memo said.
The taxpayer-supported hospital expects to save $400,000 a year over its current costs for transcription services, including salaries and benefits, Gepner said. But the move is also being made because existing transcriptionists cannot keep up with the workload without a $500,000 to $750,000 investment in equipment as well as personnel.
``It doesn't make business sense to be significantly increasing the cost,'' Gepner said.
The hospital's administration proposed outsourcing and the hospital district's commissioners approved because it was ``best for patient safety,'' Gepner said.
``What we need to do is get (the information) as fast as we can in the patient record,'' she said. Spheris already is capable of working with the new patient records system Evergreen added two years ago, she said.
The contract with Spheris also requires that no work be sent out of the country and that all 17 Evergreen transcriptionists be offered jobs, Gepner said. ``Three have chosen to go with Spheris,'' she said.
The company has taken out ads in local newspapers seeking more transcriptionists.
Some employees complain, however, that the contractor is simply not offering a living wage. Spheris offered 7.5 cents per line, said one transcriptionist, who asked for anonymity for fear that a ``measly'' severance package would be withdrawn.
An average Spheris worker would make less than two-thirds that of an Evergreen employee, according to the figures the Transcriptionist provided.
Evergreen transcriptionists earn $13.50 to $19.62 per hour, plus a 7-cent per line bonus for more than 938 lines a day. At a consistent day's work of 1,200 lines, the midrange Evergreen employee would earn $150 a day, compared to $90 for the Spheris worker.
``I have to pay a mortgage, pay bills,'' the transcriptionist said. ``I can't live on that kind of wage. ... I'd just be giving my expertise away.''
In a letter to the hospital district's Board of Commissioners in June, transcriptionists complained that they learned by e-mail that their jobs would vanish and that the severance package offered is ``insulting.''
Evergreen didn't want to provide as long a period of extended health care for laid-off workers as the standard set by Overlake and Group Health hospitals, explained Carter Wright, spokesman for SEIU, the health-care workers union.
``Evergreen is not only getting rid of jobs, they're trying to do it on the cheap,'' Wright said.
``There's concern about cutting down errors in hospitals and streamlining medical records,'' he said, ``but it's really important to make sure the information is accurate. Accuracy can literally be a matter of life and death.''
In the June letter, transcriptionists urged commissioners ``to look at the human cost of your actions. We are not only employees of this hospital, we are members of this community, a community that you have sworn to represent.''
The hospital that touts its role as the biggest employer in Kirkland is sending Kirkland jobs elsewhere and dumping employees into the pool of 600,000 state residents without health insurance, a transcriptionist complained.
Outsourcing is best for patient safety, Gepner said. ``We're putting patient safety concerns over public relations concerns.''
Lori Varosh can be reached at lori.varosh@kingcountyjournal.com or 425-453-4234.
Telecommuting grows in health care industry [2005-08-06]
August 5, 2005When Rebecca Bryant, a coding specialist for Scottsdale Healthcare, was scheduled for knee replacement surgery last December she asked her employer if she could telecommute during her recovery. She figured it would be temporary until she had regained her ability to walk.
But working from her Chandler home inputting codes used for billing, research and other purposes proved so successful that she and her employer decided to make it permanent.
It is so convenient. I’m saving gas, I’m helping prevent pollution, I’m really doing my thing and getting to enjoy my home, she said.
The company, which operates two hospitals in Scottsdale, has been so happy with the experiment they have expanded it to let five of their coders work from home, and they plan to have 14 coders on line from home full time by September, according to Jan Elezian, coding manager for the health care company.
It is hard to find good coders in the Valley, she said. We looked at retention (of employees) as a really big factor in our decision.
In addition to making employees happier, it also has improved their productivity by up to 20 percent, Elezian said. They don’t have the office distractions.
The expansion of teleworking to include coders comes in addition to about 40 Scottsdale Healthcare transcriptionists, who have typed doctors’ verbal dictation and instructions for patients for many years from their homes.
Health care companies are among a group of businesses that are finding good uses for telecommuting — having employees work from home instead of driving to the office. The concept, also known as telework, can work in industries such as health care, finance and others where some employees spend much of their time inputting data into computers.
One of the business advantages is that it reduces costs by cutting back the amount of office space needed for the staff.
According to a study sponsored by Valley Metro, the transit company that promotes alternatives to the onedriver-per-car transportation, the percentage of Valley employers with more than 50 employees that offer telecommuting as an option increased from 20 percent in 2001 to 28 percent last year.
Part of the reason for the increase is the development of virtual private networks, which are allowing remote computer users to gain secure access to the central computer system.
Cox Communications is providing a managed virtual private network to Scottsdale Healthcare in which Cox manages the router through which Scottsdale Healthcare’s data traffic is channeled as well as technical and support services, eliminating the need for the health care provider to operate the system with its own personnel.
Many companies have virtual private networks, but more companies are migrating to managed VPN, said Darryl Drenon, Cox Arizona director of business services. We become your IT department.
In addition to facilitating work from home, VPNs allow employees to directly access the office computer from hotels on the road or from branch offices, he said.
Another health care company that uses telecommuting is the Mayo Clinic, which allows 118 medical transcriptionists and two quality assurance officers to work from their homes full time. Several other quality and management staffers work from home part time.
The program started about a decade ago when seven transcriptionists were allowed to telecommute only two days a week, said Nancy Buss, manager of the medical transcription department.
As our staff grew, we realized that in order to recruit and retain transcriptionists, we would have to offer telecommuting as an option, she said.
Many companies that offer transcription services offer telecommuting from anywhere in the United States, and the Mayo Clinic had to at least offer telecommuting locally to keep staff, she said.
She said the clinic is considering expansion of the program to allow employees to telecommute from further afield such as from second homes in northern Arizona.
The only major disadvantage is the work-at-home employees don’t get the social connections that come with working with others in an office, she said. But they usually get over that quickly.
Transcriptionists are independent workers, she said. They like their own space and control over their work environment.
Telecommuting doesn’t work for all job categories such as people who deal directly with customers. Bank One has found that it works best for those who are involved in analysis, telephone and computer work, said spokeswoman Mary Jane Rogers.
It depends on the job and how to best serve the customers, she said. Thousands of our employees have direct contact with customers.
Mesa also has found teleworking is better for some jobs than for other, said Kevin Wallace, transportation planning administrator, who oversees the city’s telework program.
For some folks it worked, and for others it didn’t, he said. For some people we thought it would work, but they had meetings and other things that required them to physically be here.
He added the monitoring of employee work is important to make sure the work is getting done from home.
Losing medical integrity [2005-08-05]
Losing medical integrity
By Pius KamauDenver Post Columnist
Not too long ago, all my local transcriptionist had to do was call me when she couldn't understand something in my medical dictation. Now, I no longer know who transcribes reports of my surgical procedures and physical exams or where they are. I only know that most hospital transcriptions have been outsourced. At times, the resulting inaccuracies are incredible or enormously amusing.
Transcription is only one of many medical fields facing outsourcing, which is rapidly making inroads into American health care. The stability of medicine is being chipped away to satisfy America's Wal-Mart belief that cheaper is better.
While the public prefers not to know how fundamental changes in health-care delivery may be adversely affecting it, real harm to patients has resulted from outsourcing. Recently a lab that processed specimens from across the nation was found to have misinterpreted Pap smear results. In some cases, a pathologist hadn't actually read some slides.
Such labs aren't chosen because they do a better job than local pathologists. Simply put, they're cheaper. Cost-cutting is the new mantra, and shoring up profits the prevailing credo in a world where the quick fix trumps the long-term, universal good.
The net result has been to throw many competent lab techs out of work. Valuable, highly qualified people have forever been lost to the medical world. My former medical transcriptionists were used to my accent, and offered occasional advice on how Americans pronounce certain words. They were replaced by others who find American speech heavily accented and sometimes indecipherable.
Hospitals are not factories; they don't manufacture screwdrivers or light bulbs. Hospitals are small communities, where sundry departments and personnel form a mosaic that fulfills the essential function of the institution: to heal the sick. It's a cohesion that has slowly been dismantled to squeeze out more profits for investors and HMO moguls.
The practice of medicine is unique in that each person in the system plays a vital role. Frequently, we discuss puzzling radiologic images, weird pathological presentations, and brainstorm difficult surgical cases in corridors and lunchrooms.
Unfortunately, there's now a move to outsource imaging technology as well as other forms of testing and therapeutic modalities. Without casting aspersions, I believe many of us wouldn't like to discover that our scans are read in Beijing, Bombay or Manila.
Hospital staff collegiality has suffered irrevocable damage. X-ray, lab technicians and other medical colleagues have been let go or moved away because their expertise was deemed useless.
Change is inevitable. But it should always be geared toward making patient care better and safer, not jeopardized by profit- taking.
It's conceivable that future insurance policies will offer several options: Pay more if you want care in local facilities or pay nothing if your treatment is provided in Mexico, South America or Africa. If you could save a few dollars, would you do the latter?
Looking at this as well as other aspects of our failing system, it's easy to see that the businessmen we have entrusted our health care to will do anything they can to shortchange the public, as long as we let them. The question is: What will it take before we all say enough?
I want my transcriptionist down in my medical records office. I don't want to talk to a radiologist in Bombay or Nairobi about a patient in Denver. I want a pathologist I can interact with on a regular basis. Surely you don't want your surgeon to be located in Guadalajara?
Pius Kamau of Aurora is a thoracic and general surgeon. He was born and raised in Kenya and immigrated to the U.S. in 1971. His column appears on alternate Wednesdays.
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