shifty money

shifty money? [2008-04-19]
cost effectiveness for whom?

AMEN, but [2008-10-27]
Wow, you sound just like me. That is the same refrain.... been using it for years. For some bizarre reason, the vast majority of MTs that I know are the wimpiest, most spineless, sniveling, self-effacing, subservient, groveling people on the planet. They will take all kinds of abuse -- verbal, psychological, financial -- from an employer, complain to each other yet kiss the employer's feet: Thank you, thank you, thank you oh great one for being so kind as to give me a job; I don't deserve it, I am not worthy! Of course the above was exaggerated for effect. But you get the picture..... For years I have tried to get the complaining MTs together to walk down to HR en masse. NOPE! One by one they dried up: I need this job! As if they would be fired, even though common sense tells you that no way will they fire an entire group at once. Your/our suggestion is a good one; unfortunately I think it is too late. Our profession is doing the death rattle and has been for a while now. AAMT could have launched a public education campaign aimed at the end-user/consumer -- THE PATIENTS -- but of course they failed. They were too busy taking money from large MT services and bamboozling the rank-and-file MTs -- taking our $130 per year while educating us. They sold us out. If the emphasis had remained on quality, this would not be happening. The sad truth is that nobody cares about patient care. Not docs -- nobody.

Working as an IC sm [2008-07-20]
I likeworking as an IC more than working as a full time employee....I just do not make good employee material due to my health. Although I really, really need health insurance, I just cannot deal with shift work but I will have to at this point and time in my life. I did just accept a job as an employee, tho, because I am getting older and I have to think about taxes, Medicare, etc.....So, I am praying that it will work out.......as I am determined to MAKE it work. You can make more money as an IC because taxes aren't taken out, BUT........you do have to put aside monies for paying taxes, etc...and with what most MTSOs are paying these days, the cost of living, the awful state of the economy, it is pretty hard to do that. Also, MOST companies even dictate a schedule to you anyway, even as an IC, which is wrong on so many levels, and I think we as MTs all know this.

I agree about the 2 top schools. [2008-06-14]
If you really want to do this, please don't waste your money on schooling that won't prepare you. M-Tec and Andrews won't let you down.

Outsourcing [2008-04-22]
I worked for an imaging center (I was already gone) that laid off the MT's and outsourced the work back in 2002. It lasted about a month. The doctors got mad and insisted to the suits to bring the MT back. They wasted so much time correcting and filling in blanks. They were spoiled with their MT and even stated that they did not read their reports when they signed them because they had that much confidence in the MT. Good news for the MT, she came back and demanded more money...and got it. Lesson learned.

You're right but ... [2008-04-11]
Yes, absolutely, the suits and middle managers have no clue at all, nada, zip, zilch about medical transcription. However, many doctors actually invest in offshore MT companies .... according to Wall Street Journal. It was, oh, maybe 10 years ago that there was a caption or article about medical transcription being where the money is, as in investments, etc. You're right. Typically the MDs don't know and don't care who transcribes their dictation. Most do care, however, about quality at least to some degree. I'm just glad someone came up with a study as to cost effectiveness for whatever reason. It's like they're thrown us a crumb. Hope we get the whole cookie soon.

Won't stop 'em [2008-03-28]
...and do you really think that will make a difference? I don't think you realize how much money they make by offshoring. The will not beadversely affectedby losingtax breaks - Tax breaksare really only an issuefor the little guy, the guy who needs the break in order to survive, but when you are making that much money, giving a little back to uncle Sam affects your bottom linevery minimally, relatively speaking. It certainly will not change the practice or stop them from making huge profits.

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 ?

you are an IC if the company you work for does not pay your taxes.... [2007-12-30]
When you are an IC, you tell the company who contracts with you how much work you can provide. It is no different than any other contractor who tells you they will do something for so much money. If they do not perform what is promised, you will probably not rehire them. Same thing goes for IC's. You can be let go for not keeping your end of the bargain. There are great tax benefits for being an IC, but I strongly recommend you seek the assistance of a professional CPA for this come tax time.

VBC/MAKE A STAND [2007-10-15]
Something needs to be done with this...I made more money transcribing in the 80s than I do now, isn't that going backwards..WE NEED TO UNITE..maybe start AAMT or whatever they are called and let them know how we feel,..the idea about not accepting jobs that have VBC is a great one! Now, if we could just get everybody to do it....

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.

@#$@%@# [2007-03-31]
and this is exactly why the pay per line stinks. The companies take all our money and we have to put up with the garbage. Is it so hard to tell these doctors to get their crap together or they will have to get somebody else to transcribe their reports.

I couldn't have said it better. I am sm [2006-12-14]
a MT for almost 30 yeasr and I too made a whole lot more money years ago than i do now. MT has taken a step backwards and where as years ago I would recommend anyone get into the field. I don't do that anymore and am looking at getting out myself!

The most I made as an MT was $68K and that was [2006-11-16]
one year only and it was in 1995. It went down from there because lines were counted differently. I made the $68K on gross lines and that was just 60 spaces on the line, 10-pitch courier. Now, as a QA manager I made over $60K and other positions in the field paid me over $50K, but these were not 8 hours a day...more like 24/7. I doubt I could make much today doing MT as I have moved into other areas of it, but I might be able to do $23-25 an hr if I did the 300 lph I did back in 2003. Believe me though, you really have to know pretty much everything to make that money and know how to spell on first shot, etc. It takes a long time to get to that point, more than 5 or 6 years of MT experience. This field is moving backwards for the MT unfortunately and I feel so badly for anyone coming into our field unless their aspirations are for management/mentoring, etc.

last year made 113,000 [2006-09-20]
There is money to be made out there - dont be discouraged - i work 60 hours a week but if you do the math - even working part-time you can do darn well!!

Must MTSOs that make this stuff up, [2006-07-06]
as far as I can tell, they are only ones making the money!

Mighty, it's not going to 50 years, [2006-07-06]
think it is more like 5 to 10 years.According tothis report,India already has 45% of our jobs, and what about Ireland, and most likely other countries have a finger in the MT pie....and with our government encouraging outsourcing, well, the writing is on the wall, that's for sure. Also I wish someone tell Mr. Dumaguin thatwe aretranscriptionists, nottranscribers....but he's got the money, guess he can say whatever he pleases.

Who thinks this stuff up? [2006-06-03]
Set your own hours? What a stitch! Stay at home with your family? At your own peril. You can't make any money with kiddos underfoot. I have to laugh or I'll cry.

if the isn't there where is it [2006-05-30]
Okay, you guys are deprssing I have been in school now for almost 2 years I know darn well, there are jobs out there, but the money is not what anyone thinks it is going to be. You have to be reasonable at best. I hope to keep my day job and do part time to get going is that something that might work?

I'll quit paying taxes if they use it to train overseas MTs [2006-03-21]
G et AL can take a bite out of that one if they think that is the direction they will take this program! After all, the approved programs are online and AAMT provides certification overseas, so what is to stop the big MT corporations who are devoloping facilities to house 5000 MTs in India and other locations from using MY tax money to train overseas MTs???

Transhealth [2006-02-09]
NM...do you enjoy working for THealth? I am considering applying. Do you have to type forever to make any money?

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.

Integrity [2005-10-11]
You're so right!! Outsourcing is really a dangerous business because it isn't about quality of patient care; it's all about money. I have been a medical Transcriptionist for 29 years and I have seen this profession devolve to that of a factory worker on a production line. Not that there's anything wrong with working in a factory, but we have a much more grave responsibility upon us because what we put in a report, if incorrect, can potentially cause harm or even death to a patient. This fact alone motivates me to give meticulous attention to make sure I get it right, even if it takes long periods of listening and re-listening and lots of research to do so. We need to stop and think, if this were my mother, my father, my loved one, or myself, would I want someone to be racing through the process of transcribing a history and physical, consultation, operative report, or any other medical report to see how many lines can be produced for the day?? If this is what we've devolved into, then it's time for me to get out of this profession because I refuse to be driven by how many lines per hour I can transcribe versus the quality and accuracy of what I transcribe. There are so few who really understand, especially in management, what being a really good medical transcriptionist entails. Transcribing medical dictation and doing it accurately requires a tremendous amount of knowledge, skill, and research, as well as paying attention to the smallest of details in order to prevent harm to patients. I fear we're headed in a very dangerous direction. The fact that an organization like AAMT ascribes to this line-count/productivity mentality baffles me. Patients' health and lives should be our top priority and we should be so very careful not to misinterpret what a doctor is dictating. This often involves a lot of painstaking effort, but it's worth the time it takes to get it right.

Dictaphone Expands ichart Speech-Certified [2005-09-09]
Dictaphone Expands ichart Speech-Certified Transcription Network; Responds to Increasing Demand with Certification Program and Call for Additional Transcription Partners American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT) Annual Convention and ExpoHONOLULU--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 6, 2005--Today at the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT) Annual Convention and Expo, Dictaphone announced the creation of the healthcare industry's first Speech-Certified Transcription Network in response to the substantial growing demand for its ichart(R) Managed Services solutions. ichart Managed Services combines Dictaphone's industry-leading speech recognition technology with transcription services performed by Dictaphone's Speech-Certified Transcription Network, which has been trained to edit on the company's speech recognition platform. This combination of labor and technology delivers lower-cost, high-quality medical transcription with rapid turnaround. All Dictaphone transcription service partners are required to pass its rigorous certification program to ensure even higher levels of service excellence and proficiency in speech recognition editing. ichart Managed Services is quickly proving what we suspected when we introduced the product less then one year ago: that using speech recognition to drive down the enormous costs and improve the quality of transcription is the future of medical documentation outsourcing, said Don Fallati, senior vice president of marketing for Dictaphone. The overwhelming response we've had from the market is driving us to create the first Speech-Certified Transcription Network, offering our clients the most talented and best-equipped group of 'speech recognition-enabled' transcription service providers. Speech-Certified Transcription Providers are thoroughly trained, evaluated and benchmarked against specific industry-standard quality, speed and customer service metrics. Those that meet the strict criteria will receive certification and will be reevaluated quarterly to ensure continued adherence. Tamara Brown, president and CEO of Encompass Medical Transcription, Inc., a member of Dictaphone's Speech-Certified Transcription Network, said, ichart has allowed us to increase the volume of work Encompass can do with our existing staff and enabled us to train new medical transcriptionists to generate high-quality reports at a higher level of productivity. Headquartered in Wisconsin, Encompass is a U.S. medical transcription company that employs only U.S.-based medical transcriptionists. We welcome and encourage other medical transcription companies to join the Speech-Certified Transcription Network, Fallati said. The interest we've seen from potential partners wanting to participate in the program has been significant and reflects the broad momentum in our industry for acquiring the skills associated with speech recognition. About Dictaphone's ichart Managed Services Dictaphone's ichart Managed Services offering aims to meet the needs of organizations currently relying heavily on outsourced transcription but who are attracted to the savings that can be generated by speech recognition. The program blends Dictaphone technology with transcription services performed by Dictaphone's Speech Certified Transcription Network who have been trained to edit on the company's speech recognition platform. Customers receive a blended line rate covering work that is transcribed traditionally as well as documents edited from speech recognition. Frequently, significant savings can be achieved by healthcare organizations over current line charges. About Dictaphone Healthcare Solutions Group Dictaphone is the world's largest supplier of dictation, transcription and speech recognition systems and services that simplify and enhance the production and management of paperless electronic patient information. Through the integration of speech recognition and natural language processing within existing health information management workflow, Dictaphone systems are helping healthcare organizations save money and improve patient care by increasing the speed, accuracy and usability of their medical documentation. For more information, please visit www.dictaphone.com or call 1-888-350-4836.

Transcend and MDI Founder Announce Stock Option Agreement [2005-08-19]
ATLANTA -- Aug. 18, 2005 -- Transcend SERVICES, INC. (Nasdaq SmallCap: TRCR) today announced that a co-founder of Medical Dictation Inc. (MDI), Sue McGrogan, has agreed to invest $200,000 in Transcend as of August 15, 2005 through the purchase of 71,942 shares of common stock. This purchase is part of an overall option agreement that provides four options to purchase $200,000 each that could result in $800,000 of total investment over the next two years. Half of the investment will be in cash and the other half in the forgiveness of a note due to Sue McGrogan from her sale of MDI to Transcend. These purchases will be made at a price of 110% of the average market price for the ten trading days prior to said purchase. The remaining three options are exercisable on the six- month anniversary dates of the execution of the option agreement and cannot be carried forward once the option date has passed. MDI is a transcription company that has been in operation since 1988 in Brooksville, Florida founded by Sue McGrogan and her mother Liz McGrogan. The McGrogans first entered the industry in 1972 as owner-operators of a medical transcription company in New Jersey. MDI recently became a wholly owned subsidiary of Transcend. Both Liz and Sue McGrogan have played an important role in Transcend since the acquisition of MDI by Transcend on January 31, 2005. Liz currently serves as interim general manager at MDI, which has grown from $6.4 million in revenue in 2004 to a current annualized level of over $8 million. Sue is a Business Unit Manager at Transcend, managing a significant portion of Transcend's field operations. Alex Munoz, Transcend's EVP of Operations stated, Having worked closely with Liz and Sue during the integration of our two companies, their level of increased commitment is exciting as we continue to make changes within the company. Liz McGrogan agreed, commenting, We are both very excited about the future of Transcend and MDI, and the potential growth through new business and acquisitions. Sue added, The decision to invest money into Transcend is indicative of our confidence in Transcend and its future.

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.