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MS Word problem - Posted By: Bonnie

Yikes!! My document is all screwed up. I'm hoping someone here can help! I'm typing along and all of a sudden my document characters are red and underlined. The cat walked across the keyboard and hit something ... Any idea what to do to get out of this mess? Thanks a BUNCH!!!

Suggestion for wav player - Posted By: Kathy Stryk

I have Express Scribe wav player but cannot get it to SLOW DOWN the dictator using keyboard control. anyone have suggestion? Which wav player would you suggest investing in? TU

Does anyone have any info on Freedom Type? - Posted By: nm

If anyone works for them, has worked for them or has any info (pay, flexibility, good to work for, equipment, etc.) I would appreciate it. Thanks!

is a platform... - Posted By: maryann

i using express scribe and have been reading here about platforms, is express scribe considered a platform? I have did MT for over ten years in an office setting but this is my 1st at home position and am unfamiliar with the platform. In the office setting we only used microcassettes and typed verbatim. So please forgive my ignorance in this realm. Would someone be willing to explain or give an example. I would appreciate it. I like to be knowledgable in the aspects of mt and feel you're never too old to be knowledgable. Thanks!!

Reading from my social security paper I have in front of me.... - Posted By: Lori

In the year you reach full retirement age, $1 in benefits will be deducted for each $3 you earn above the annual limit ($34,440 in 2007) until the month you reach full retirement. AFTER THAT, YOUR BENEFITS WILL NOT BE REDUCED, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU EARN. This is directly from their posting.

Hired for acute care and... - Posted By: grasshopper

Kinda curious what the consensus would be on this issue. If an MT is hired for acute care, why would you find 99.9% of your queue full of ED/ER job types? Is this not a bait and switch technique? Trying to get people in the door with lots of experience and then give them whatever is convenient for them. This just doesn't seem right to me. Upon inquiring why this was happening, as this was not what I was being hired to do, they dismissed the issue without a plausible explanation as if it didn't matter or it shouldn't matter like I was being annoying to them.

Well, it is a tad annoying to me. How would you deal with this? Put up and shut up or get out?

I thought acute care MTs were hard to find with 20+ years experience and usually on the job boards all you see is acute care needed.

NetMed - Posted By: Michigan MT

I don't understand if a company is desperate for Transcriptionist why they make you come to their location to learn their program. NetMed says they are desperate for transcriptionists. I live in Michigan, but unfortunately Cadillac is over 200 miles from where I live. I contacted them and they said you must come to Cadillac for one day for training. I work for MQ and didn't have to go to where they are located and I learned to use their program. Just frustrated and wanted to vent.

911 keyboard wet - Posted By: VH

I spilled pepsi on kb last night. I have used ergo kb for over 10 years. I am trying to type this on regular kb, not doing too good. My backspace on ergo was affected. I don't have money to get new keyboard because I recently went to work for company that puts up good posts but steals lines. How do I fix KB. Any help appreciated.

Anyone know what a web clock is?..nm - Posted By: ag

Do you find editing VR monotonous? Do you or can you make as much - Posted By: ?? for those who edit VR

money editing VR as you can doing straight transcription? I've been offered an editing position doing 100% edit for a company that offshores and declined it, but needing a break from typing and wondering about VR.

Still Reverse Poll: What are the 2 things you hate about your DH? - Posted By: nm.

//

Health insurance - Posted By: Funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzDwXr9szxw

Just caught this spoof on Youtube. Interesting for anyone

in healthcare, using healthcare, you name it.

Has anyone ever had EXText and VPN - Posted By: PAMT

installed on their home computer and discovered that Control T or Control X won't work in Word any more?

If so, does anyone know how to fix it? I really need help here and can't get it from anyone.

What's for Dinner? - Posted By: hungry typer

Anybody use Flashtype Expander - Posted By: Hope

If so how do you like it?

How are other MTs doing phone charges?..sm - Posted By: DCMT

With AT&T/SBC telling some of us it will now be 3 or 5 cents per minute because we are a business, how are MTs being able to afford paying anywhere from 400 to 600 per month in phone charges?

How are others doing this? I know i would literally have to take on more work just to pay that bill.

Any feedback on what others do....

Dot

I have a question regarding gotomypc.com - please see message - Posted By: TIA

I am wondering if there is a way to play voice files remotely with this program. I downloaded it and love how it hooks up to my home PC, but I can't figure out how to use my foot pedal and headset to hear and play voice files.

I would appreciate any help. Thx.

Good Doctor Finder? - Posted By: Glenna

Anyone know of a good doctor lookup without the thing where you have to type in one of those codes before viewing.

I can't seem to find a good, fast doc search site.

Thanks!

OF INTEREST TO ALL TIME WARNER CUSTOMERS...THEY ARE GOING TO START CHARGING FOR USAGE AND NOT A FLAT - Posted By: Charlene

This really sucks as the article said it would impact heavy users only. My cable bill is already high but to be charged for actual using will skyrocket my bill. I think I could spit nails right now. I can post the article if anyone is interested. They said it will be a trial period. Anyone else use Time Warner?

Not MT-related (sorry). - Posted By: Re: Crime scene tape

Anyone know the official name for crime scene tape that is used by just ordinary people to rope areas off? It says something else besides crime scene. Need to buy some and trying to do a search at different stores, but you can imagine what I'm finding when I search for tape.

Thanks

Can't find any work - Posted By: Heather Rorisonr

I guess I need to start over as a newbie. Can anyone tell me the companies that hire new MTs? I have a lot of experience, but not acute care. Maybe, with my experience, I can start at the ground level at one of these companies that does not require experience with acute care. All the work at my company is gone, the docs editing their own reports now.

Dana Reeves lost her battle to lung cancer. - Posted By: RaeMT

Please keep their son, Will, in your hearts and prayers as he has had to endure so much loss in the last couple of years.

fax problems - Posted By: TraboMT

I have been using efax for a while to receive my 2 faxes a month (pay stubs). Recently, they disabled my account demanding that I upgrade to support my "heavy use". I tried to straighten this out but to no luck. Every response I got was to give them money. I can't justify the expense for 2 faxes. I tried faxdigits but everytime they send me a link to confirm, it doesn't work. HELP! Is there anything else out there? I need my paystubs, as there have been mistakes with my paycheck before and I need to double check each time.

Any Info on Meditech Client - Posted By: Carrie Fuller

Here's another dumb question, folks. My new job has Meditech client. I have used Meditech, but the kind you dial in with a phone line modem (not using internet).

Is Meditech Client different or is it the same, is it user friendly? Does it use the internet? I hope so b/c I just got DSL available in my area and hope it isn't slow b/c I'm starting a new job soon. Thanks in advance for pointers!

mt-world - Posted By: dk

Is MT-WORLD, the same company as ATSI? I'm confused...dk

My boyfriend who is a school bus driver now makes more than me... - Posted By: MTheaded

by $1.00 an hour. Only because they have a union, I guess, because the trend now would be to make them slave labor, as well....but their union holds on by a thread...

I have been an MT for over 14 years, started in the hospitals making what I make now, and am now working for a company (top of the line in the business) who says to stay competitive the MT pay has been cut. I was told to work more hours to make up the difference.

This is no longer a profession, and I think if we are suddenly required to be certified (which the AAMT is pushing very hard), I would highly contest this as I no longer consider myself a professional. We get paid only per line, lose our health benefits, if we do not work a required amount of hours, and are treated as laborers, not professionals.

Does anyone know, if any other 'professions' require certification for nonhourly positions, no guaranteed work, and no real long-term job security...

For myself, I can barely pay my rent now, there is no way I could afford a certification.

In other words, I would be expected to act as a professional, but would never ever be treated as one. I mean, what would WE get out of it?

Does anyone care anymore about people. When I first started working at 14, every job I ever had employees were always treated like they mattered...and were the heart of the job, the old 'we are nothing without the employees' - that is all thrown out like trash now and the mantra is we are nothing, we do not matter, we can be replaced, shut up and just do your work, your paycheck is your reward. What a bunch of crap and what a way to keep people down.

I was in shock when I saw my paycheck, and my boyfriend is making a whole dollar more an hour than I am...and that was a good, full 2 weeks of work for me, with the most lines I have typed since being with this company.

Can you imagine...

WORKING WITH KIDS - Posted By: TESS

I have an in home MT position with a company and I am required to work set hours pt. Does anyone have to work set hours and have an infant at home? Can this be done successfully?

Has a HIPPA law been violated by my ex coworker? - Posted By: I am patient

I am a radiology MT and worked at the hospital who did my chest x-ray and lab work after I was given a dx of breast CA on Tuesday. I had been given Xanax which I took and was in a sheer panic because I am afraid .

The woman MT I worked with at the radiology dept and I have kept in touch. I told her as I was being worked up (did not tell her I had CA as she has a big mouth) to let me know if she does my chest x-ray and let me know if it is abnormal. I then went into the surgeons office where he had been a faxed of the chest x-ray with the CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS: Breast cancer. on the top. When I returned home, I had an e-mail from her that was an exact cut and paste of my chest x-ray with the exception that CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS: Breast cancer. had been cut from the copy. She has since stopped all contact with me and now I fear that the entire MT dept and hospital I worked in for two years with know I am suffering from this without my telling them.

I feel hurt and violated because she knew before I wanted her to (she typed the report I saw but mostly because she has stopped corresponding with me after seeing that I had breast CA. When I was being worked up, she said my bad lifestyle was the culprit. She herself has never had a mammogram and refused to see doctors (7th Day Adventist).

Am I wrong for feeling this way? Have rules been broken? Shouldn't she have asked for my wrritten authorization before placing my chest x-ray report in an e-mail. and saying "good job" with reference to teh normal chest I guess (although the words "Breast CA" definitely negated that - it was almost as if she did not want me to know she knew.

I am so confused right now and have no family members or even close friends so I cannot tell if what I am thinking is even accurate. The Xanax and Prozac are not helping along with major anxiety.

Any feedback from astute MTs would be appreciated. Thank you.

Just an observation... - Posted By: mttee

I was noticing in looking at posts of folks who need word help that often they are stumped by the most BASIC words. Sometimes I notice that words within the posts that the poster DOES know are even misspelled. Don't mean to bash here, but how are these people qualified to do medical transcription? Could this possibly be contributing to the decline in pay we are seeing? Shouldn't QA be telling these folks to work in-house somewhere for more training?

I remember when I first started I thought the dictator was saying "AT&T" when he was actually saying HEENT. That's how green I was!! That was 15 years ago and I worked for FOUR YEARS in-house full time before I tried ANYTHING at home.

Does anyone know of a good site to find sample op/procedure reports - Posted By: Kat

I have found very few sites that have sample op reports. Anything would be appreciated. Thanks

Word 2003 Question - Posted By: MT

I currently use Word 2003. When I started Word this morning all of my entries in my custom dictionary (that I use for spellcheck) were gone. Has anybody had this happen to them before. As far as I can tell my medical spellchecker is working ok it is just the custom dictionary.

Any help would be appreciated so this does not happen again.

Thanks.

Sample Reports - Posted By: MTPockets

Does anyone know a good site to go to for report samples? I need a Neer procedure. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance

I just saw a transcription company advertise - Posted By: free transcription, 1 week, no limit. CRAZY!!! n

Urgent question regarding BOS guidelines!! PLEASE sm - Posted By: Testing MT

I'm testing for several jobs right now that will offer the full-time status I desperately need to support my family.

The last job I had didn't follow BOS guidelines and I as advised by a few MTs to follow these guidelines when formating the body of the test reports. I do not own this book nor do I know anyone that has it. Are there any online resources that I can refer to for some of the more common guidelines?

I need all the help I can get and want to thank those willing to take a moment to help a fellow MT out!!

God Bless!

When I try to bring up a full sentence - Posted By: Instant Text question

in IT, it peters out after approximately four to five words, ending up with mumbo jumbo for the last few words.

What could I do to correct this? Any IT experts reading the board today?

Thank you!

Normal.dot and EXText help needed soon - Posted By: IC on New Platform

I justed started as a part-time IC. The platform this company uses is EXText Word Client. How can I get it to quit messing with my regular Word's normal.dot? I understand that certain shortcut keys are proprietary for EXText to work but I want my regular shortcut keys back when I'm working in Word without the EXText interface. How can I avoid having to restore normal.dot every time?

Faster way to rerecord tapes - Posted By: CCC

Is there a way I can rerecord tapes quicker to computer by playing tape double speed then slowing it down once finished?

Any suggestions on speeding this up will be appreciated. I have a lot of tapes to rerecord. BTW, my doctors do not want to use handheld units or a call-in system (for those of you who may suggest this).

Health Insurance - Posted By: MTMommy

Does anyone have any information on health insurance for ICs? I am a new MT and have only been working for three months, and unfortunately the company that I work for does not offer benefits. If anyone has any information I would really appreciate it.

Oh! By the way I know about Blue Cross Blue Shield, and will not consider going through them. They are way too expensive and they do not cover any pre-existing conditions.

Is it just me, or is everyone else in the world off today? - Posted By: aunt lou

Downloading DSS files from TASP - Posted By: Jennifer

I will need to download and play DSS files from a TASP system. My boss says I will need to purchase a player and program from Olympus to do this. Others have said I can use Bytescribe or Express Scribe with my USB pedal. My question is, if that's the case, how easy will it be to transfer from a TASP and play them on one of these players. My boss is making it out to be an impossible task. She said others have tried other programs and other foot pedals with either partial success or no success. Any help would be appreciated. The pedal package is $300 and who can afford that? Not I! Thanks and happy typing!

Footpedal and Editscript 8 - Posted By: USMT

My company is currently upgrading our accounts to Editscript 8. Will my 9-pin Infinity pedal still work with the upgrade or do I need to look into getting a USB pedal? Thanks!

New w/Softscript--NOT HAPPY - Posted By: back in MT

with their low 7 cpl line count, and their program is very difficult to navigate and I'm having all sorts of stops and starts. Anyone else new and have any input?

I have copied and pasted from IRS - Posted By: More IC info

guidelines. If URL does not work, the link is also included so you can paste and copy in your browser.

If you hire an electrician, a painter, or a roofer (as examples of independent contractors), you do not tell them HOW to do their work or WHEN to do their work. Just try doing so and see how many contractors you can obtain.

Today, we have these large companies not only telling us how to do the work for which we have been trained, but when to do the work (specifically, what days of the week and what hours). Certainly, the quality of the end product must meet the client's approval or the contract can be cancelled. It cannot be cancelled on the grounds of not working specific days or hours each day to fulfill that contract. If you sign a contract specifying you will produce 1000 or 1200 or 1600 lines per day and you meet that production, a client (the MTSO) cannot fault you if you produce the agreed upon lines in 4 hours, 6 hours, 3 days, 2 days, etc. When requiring you to work a specified schedule of x number of hours producinig x number of lines, then it becomes employee-employer status, not one of client-independent contractor status.

Also note the evalutation system below. I would saying doing QA in evaluating a contractor's performance is an evaluation system. Would you? What about being put on probation or fined (as some companies are now doing)? Does that point to employee status? Can you put a roofing contractor on probabtion or issue a fine?

And...just read the section on training. An eyeopener for certain.

Below are the guidelines. I say we ICs start filling out the misclassified workers form. If we are treated as employees, then we need tax relief. If MTSOs provide employee status in some states and not others, AS WELL AS hiring ICs, then an IC cannot be required to adhere to the policies and procedures that their employees are required to adhere, and that includes WHEN the work will be performed and HOW it will be performed. The guidelines are clear.

I'm not afraid of broaching this subject for fear jobs will go to a third world country. They are going there at a rate faster than the speed of lightning anyway, and nothing we as ICs or employees can do will stop it. They are going there because it is a cheap, cheap way of doing business.

***************

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html

Independent Contractor

The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if (the person for whom the services are performed) has the right to control or direct only the result of the work, and not what will be done and how it will be done or method of accomplishing the result.

People such as lawyers, contractors, subcontractors, public stenographers, and auctioneers who follow an independent trade, business, or profession in which they offer their services to the public, are generally not employees. However, whether such people are employees or independent contractors depends on the facts in each case. The earnings of a person who is working as an independent contractor are subject to Self-Employment (SE) tax.

Evaluation System

If an evaluation system measures the details of how the work is performed, then these factors would point to an employee.

If the evaluation system measures just the end result, then this can point to either an independent contractor or an employee.

Training

If the business provides the worker with training on how to do the job, this indicates that the business wants the job done in a particular way. This is strong evidence that the worker is an employee. Periodic or on-going training about procedures and methods is even stronger evidence of an employer-employee relationship. However, independent contractors ordinarily use their own methods.

Misclassified Workers Can File Social Security Tax Form
Workers who believe they have been improperly classified as independent contractors by an employer can use Form 8919, Uncollected Social Security and Medicare Tax on Wages to figure and report the employee�s share of uncollected Social Security and Medicare taxes due on their compensation. See the full article Misclassified Workers to File New Social Security Tax Form for more information.

Very interesting threads here lately. Good to - Posted By: see other perspectives/opinions. nm

x

Expanders - Posted By: wondering

Looking to get an Expander and curious which expander most use. TIA

WP Program - Posted By: Advice:

Does anyone know if there is a site to download for free Word Perfect? I googled but was unsuccessful in finding it, yet I've heard there is a free version out there.

If anyone can link me up, TIA!!!

Transcribing vs Dreaming - Posted By: Does anyone else do this?

You know how they say sometimes your dreams are your brain's way of finding solutions to problems? I find that when I am transcribing my brain does the best thinking. Yes, I am focused on what I am typing but I find that all sorts of ideas/solutions just pop in my head while I am transcribing--things that have absolutely nothing about what I am typing. Can't tell you how many times I think about what to plan for dinner, etc. I wonder if it is because I slow down enough and am still in one spot that my brain is finally able to focus. Or maybe it is because I am so focused on my typing that my brain has room to think of other things too. Does anyone else do that?

digital voice transcription info - Posted By: Lynn

I am looking for information on how to do something. I local doctor's office said that they use a handheld digital recorder and then the doctor downloads the file onto the computer and then emails it to the transcriptionist. HAs anybody done anything like this and what do I need to do this. What software, is there free software. Any information would be very helpful.

Thank you,

Lynn

Headset adapter - Posted By: kab

I have a stethoscope style Dictaphone headset with a dual-prong plug in. I no longer need to use my C-phone, but love my headset, so I am looking for an adapter to make the dual-prong a standard single-prong plug in. Dictaphone of course does not sell such a thing. Does anyone have one and if so, where did you get it from? Thanks!! :)

What is your process for checking your work - Posted By: just wondering

Just wondering what everyone does to check their own work before they send it off. Do you read back over the whole thing, read after each paragraph, ....