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I have been transcribing for about 20 years, but took a break from it for about 1-1/2 years.  Now I am working for a service.  Here is my first question to you guys:

1.  How long has it been slow like this?  There does not seem to be that many jobs, and the response is slow when applying.  I use to get calls almost the same day with just posting a resume (a few years ago.)

2.  Also, this economy is so horrible.  I was thinking, people are losing their jobs - losing their health insurance.  Do you think that is really cutting into our industry, because people just cannot afford to go the doctor unless it is an emergency? 

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. doctors increasingly have access to computers to look up information on their patients, but more than half still don't have digital health records or the ability to write electronic prescriptions, a study released on Wednesday found.

Twenty-two percent of doctors surveyed by the Center for Studying Health System Change last year had access to electronic prescription tools compared with 11 percent in 2001.

About half can use computers to access notes on their patients or exchange data with other doctors, up from about 37 percent and 41 percent, respectively, four years earlier.

"Despite substantial growth rates ... many physicians still lack access to practice-based clinical information technology (IT)," said study co-author Marie Reed, who manages data for the independent policy research group.

Overall, a higher percentage of doctors said last year they could use technology to find out about recommended treatments and patients' medications, as well as share information with other physicians.

The study comes as a U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee prepares to consider legislation on Wednesday that would create guidelines to help hospitals, doctors and the government share patient records.

All Americans are supposed to have electronic health records by 2014 under a goal set by

His administration has funded the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology but has otherwise relied on private industry to spur wider use of information technology in the health sector.

Some critics say the federal government should take a greater role, offering tax breaks and other incentives as well as requiring U.S. agencies to make greater use of electronic health data.

"In general, major barriers to physician adoption of clinical IT include start-up and maintenance costs, as well as the significant effort and costs of changing workflow to effectively use IT," the study said.

Researchers surveyed more than 6,600 doctors in 2005 and about 12,000 in 2001. The did not ask doctors whether they actually used the technology in their everyday practice.

About 65 percent of doctors last year said they could look up information on treatment guidelines compared with 53 percent in 2001. Twenty-nine percent said they used technology for reminders about preventive treatments for patients, compared with just under 24 percent in 2001.

The Center for Studying Health System Change, which receives most of its funds from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation philanthropy, said promoting digital health data may encourage more doctors to go high-tech.

Until then, the slow adoption rates "suggest that physicians as a group have not yet reached a tipping point in the adoption of IT for most clinical activities," it said.

As a statuatory employee (not IC), does anyone know approximately how much to set aside for state and federal taxes?

TIA!

I have 25+ years acute care experience at 1000+ bed prominent teaching hospital. Have done EVERYTHING.  QA always exceptional.  +++ line production. BA degree in English. Recent management changes have prompted me to protect my interests against surprises.  My question is (and forgive me if this is not realistic) where can I find an employer/client who has an appreciation for someone with my education, experience and line production ability.    From time to time in the past, I've superficially explored other options and was shocked to find my worth was no more than a brand new MT.   Is there no value or premium placed on MTs of higher quality than the run-of-the-mill MTs.  

Please forgive me in advance if anyone takes offense.  This isn't about me thinking I'm better than the rest - I know what I can do and have done so for many, many years.  I just don't want to waste my time in bad neighborhoods when I know there are  better zip codes.  I just need an "agent" to steer me in the right direction. 

Thanks so much!

I'm wondering how this would work out.  I am an IC for a company, but don't have enough work in my specialty.  I'm not as productive, obviously, when doing a different specialty and am losing money when picking up the left-over work. 

Are there others out there who do specialty work as an IC for 2 or more companies?  Of even do work for a company and also pick up your own accounts that are not through a company?  How has it worked out for you?  Do MTSOs usually dislike this or are they generally okay with it.  I just don't see myself being able to make a living if I have to keep switching gears when there are no jobs for my specialty. 

Thank you for any replies/insight.

I visited their website but had a few question I thought MTs using it could help me with....

How is work distributed?.....Can work be automatically downloaded to certain MTs or is work manually distributed?  Does the MT grab work from via FTP?

What about editing....is editing efficent with MP Lite?

Can MTs upload work directly to the client?

Can the client see the progress of workflow (from recived by the MT to completed)?

Thanks so much for anyone willing to answer my questions!

What was your expeience?  Is it very expensive?  I was thinking about renting a laptop computer to use for work on vacation for a couple of weeks and not ready to invest in purchasing a new laptop yet.  Can you rent things for about a month or do they require longer?

Thanks for any help you guys might give.');>

As we all know, line rates for ICs continue to fall due to offshoring and other issues involved.  I can no longer quote a decent line rate or I hear the phone slam in my ear. 

Therefore, I've decided to do what I have to do to compete and get accounts, which is lower my line rate to 10.5.  Naturally, I am not going to give this large cardiology group a 65-character line for that rate.

What do you feel is fair for me and the group line character-wise for 10.5 cents line?  I was thinking of a 50-character line.  Your opinions, please.

Thank you!      

Just trying to get a few ideas for obtaining more work.....probably like a lot of other starving MTs!

Does anyone type strictly IME's?  If so, is the pay any better than traditional transcription?  Any info greatly appreciated.  Thanks! 

Please help! :)

My 7-year-old son has had very occasional vomiting that is associated with no other symptoms. This started 5 weeks ago and he has gotten sick a total of 3 times. He vomits one time and he is fine. No fevers, no diarreha and nothing food - specific that I can link this to. This does not occur quickly after eating. Generally, it is an hour or two after eating. He eats and digests his food properly at all other times, so this is confusing me! He saw his doctor 2 weeks ago and was started on a trial of Zantac. I give this to him in the mornings before breakfast. Today, he got sick again (just one time) and he is perfectly normal now. I did contact the doctor and we did go to the hospital for an abdominal x-ray. I am waiting on those results right now and I guess that I am a little confused about this situation! He has never gotten sick like this before. He never even spit-up as an infant. I have never noted any food allergies or intolerances but now I am starting to wonder. Has anyone else had any similar situations like this? Thanks in advance! :)

Anyone have any suggestions for using a C-phone or Lanier while traveling?  I'm planning a vacation and will stay in a hotel (with separate work space).  I've worked before while traveling with my laptop and transcribed via wav files or a tape transcriber, but never with a C-phone.  I've thought about purchasing a calling card to use the hotel's phone line to dial in; know it'll be expensive.  Any ideas and recommendations on this plan are much appreciated, i.e., calling card, hotel's phone line.

Thanks!

Can someone help me.  I'm starting to get a lot of tapes in, and I want to start getting some help and outsource some of this, but I haven't the first clue on how to convert tapes to an FTP site.  I've tried talking to computer whizzes, but they lose me after a couple of seconds.  So I thought I would try this avenue ... have any MTs out there been able to take mini tapes or standard cassette tapes and convert them to an FTP site to be downloaded anywhere in the country for someone else to transcribe?? I do not know the first thing about it, and I would really appreciate any input. 

Please email me.  Thanks! 

To all transcriptionists:

I am new to MTStars.  I am so glad to see a place where transcriptionists of every kind can blow off steam.   I am a well seasoned profession medical transcriptionist and like so many of you, take pride in my work and profession.  The rash of recent sweeping changes and concerns in our industry have me very concerne as with all of you.   We can no longer afford to sit back and say nothing.  For too long the personality profile of the medical transcriptionist was that of a meek, never-talk-back mouse in the corner who did what she was told.   After all, and I may be dating myself here,  many transcription departments began in the basement of hospitals - you gals remember that?  We were stuffed in corners where storage boxes made their homes!!!

For too long this industry has gone largely unregulated and for too long we did not unionize or gather forces to protect ourselves and our profession as other allied health fields have done.  Because we are a nonrevenue-producing department in the chain of  our healthcare system we are always the first to get cut in budgets.  Yet that medical record is most vital to reimbursements and to the patient.   We now find ourselves wondering if the powers that be care at all.  We are concerned about offshore outsourcing, the shady practices of national transcription companies, and an array of legitimate concerns.    

The medical transcription industry is a multi-billion dollar business.  You bet competition is stiff.  Is it any wonder there are so many scandals right now?

Here's mine concern, for now.  LINE COUNTS!!!!  WE MUST UNIFY OUR EFFORTS FOR ACCURATE LINE COUNTS THAT REFLECT WHAT A MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTIONIST ACTUALLY PRODUCES AND WHAT A MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION COMPANY COUNTS.   For too long, way too long, I hear (and have experienced it myself) so many transcriptionists complain and voice their concerns and doubts on what their actual line count may be when they work for a national transcription company.   SOMETHING MUST BE DONE TO CLEAR THIS ISSUE AND BRING IT INTO COMPLIANCE FOR ALL INVOLVED - TRANSCRIPTIONIST, TRANSCRIPTION COMPANY AND CLIENT.   We are the only industry I know of that puts blinders on its workers when it comes to piecemeal work.  The cable man, the UPS guy, the plumber,  salesman - all know up front what the client gets charged, what their cut is, and what the company charges - Hell, even the farmer workers know up front what they get per basket of strawberries they pick!!!  - CLEAR, UP FRONT.  WHY ARE WE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE THE LINE COUNT UTILITY PROGRAM THAT CHARGES THE CLIENT?  

If we are losing our work to overseas sweat shops, let's address the sweat shops here in the UNITED STATES making  the money.   I believe a forum like this is valuable and long over due - we should list companies that are shady and treat their employees with unfair practices.   There must be a way to address the line count issue on a national level so that it changes, changes to the benefit of all - the transcriptionist, the transcription company and the client.   I say we start by dialogue among ourselves at this site and take it to all transcription companies in a format that engages the dialogue among all concerned.    I'm willing to  invest some time on this issue of importance to all. 

By the way, I don't currently work for a national company - I have been an independent contractor who has just lost 2 hospital accounts to, yeah, you guessed it - INDIA!!!  Hospitals CFO's got a boner when they heard this company can do the work for $2.00 an hour. 

I've been offered two QA jobs; one that pays $15 per hour and one that pays 4 cpl.  I'm told that I can make more than $15 per hour on production because you get credit for all lines in a report, even if you make only one correction.  So I figured that to make the equivalent of $15 per hour, I would have to QA 3000 lines a day.  So here's my question, is 3000 lines of QA in an 8 hour day feasible and is it possible to do more lines than that in an 8 hour day?

Both offer employee status, benefits, etc.  Benefit plans are pretty much exactly the same down to the same health insurance company. 

Did all MQ offices receive the e-mail regarding loss of benefits (insurance, PTO) and change of status to statutory if you don't make the line count quota immediately - or was it just Atlanta office?

My friend e-mailed me information on this guy posted on a singles dating site.  Here's the scoop on him:

•  Hasn't worked in over 2 years but "looking as I've run out of money."


• Wife died theoretically suddenly in September.


• He's losing his home next month to foreclosure and is looking to move anywhere he can. 

I reckon' that since he has a pulse he considers himself a good catch, eh ladies?  Sounds like a true moocher to me who is looking for someone with a home that he can move into and probably expect you to pay the bills!   I'll stay single forever as opposed to letting someone like that into my life.  I don't know many people who have a spouse die suddenly that are looking to hook up with another person within 2 months... much less the other red flags!  My friend wasn't serious that I should be interested in him - she just thought that I'd appreciate the fact that at least I'm not THAT desperate to hook up with someone!

I would love to use MT Stars FlashCount for invoicing, although I cannot seem to find a solution on how to get the typed reports to the program without having to click on each one by the patients last name.  It would just be too time consuming and not worth it if that is how it needs to be done.  Is there a trick to this?  I do about 300 reports a week for 4 doctors (and I save all reports for about a month on my computer), so I am looking for the quickest and most dependable way to invoice. 

Thanks for any and all advice. 

No message sweetie.  Send me some Dove candies.