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I hear you. I can definitely understand outrage over being layed off,

Posted By: but not the offshoring part. on 2006-05-09
In Reply to: I didn't say I didn't care, I just don't understand - OP

I hope all the former Heartlanders are able to find new jobs.


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Sorry to hear that. I never understand why
employees are expected to give a 2-week notice, but employers aren't. It should work both ways.
Cbay systems layed off 32 employees via conference call on 12/21/2007
Anyone here affected by this?  I am so sick over this.
What is the outrage
What a nasty remark for you to make. A lot of companies offshore their work...even some of the ones that you may think don't. You yourself may find yourself in their shoes one day too...if you do, lets hope someone shows you more sympathy than what you have shown here.
To what is the outrage, are you so
sure that your job is secure from outsourcing?  *There but by the grace of God go I.  
It is an absolute outrage!
I don't believe all companies operate like this. Its the greedy companies who work MTs to death for nothing, and we find out fast who those are don't we thanks to this board.
Re: Outrage and shock over offshoring.
I just wanted to bring this up from below. I am 100% compassionate for the HLers and their situation. But...I don't understand the MTs posting about how offshoring is NOT a fact of life, is not a common situation, etc. There you are 100% wrong. I currently work for a huge national, but am also an IC, and have been around the block. I was ignorant of the amount of offshoring myself until the last year or so, and was apalled to find how prevalent it is. I live in a lazy little town - small beans, so to speak. I applied for a job thru the yellow pages with 3 or 4 little local services. Every one of them used Indian MTs as well. They were tiny little MTSOs - offering me about 4 cpl to 5 cpl with my years of experience. Then my own doctors - every one of them uses offshore MT services - some in Saudi Arabia, some in Irelend, and a few in India - little tiny run of the mill private practice doctors in a little run of the mill town. All have their hand-held dictation equipment, and love the TAT and cost. I worked for Transcend for a while, during which time they proudly shouted America only, go USA, and then - low and behold - started an Indian project - talk about a TAT! In less than a few months, they scrapped the patriotism and went Indian. Now I have found a few small to medium sized MTSOs in my state, and they, too, all have Indian divisions and MTs. IT IS EVERYWHERE. It is way too late to close the barn door. We American MTs were asleep at the wheel, myself included, while this was all happening. But its here - its done already, and we have to figure out something to do. But for any single American MT to even remotely think that the silly doctor right down the road is still using American MTs is just plain ignorant. Its way past that. We all need to come to a reality check before we are all laid off forever. Not sure what to do, but sure want to try to convince you none-believers that the horse has long left the barn and galloped across the whole country. What can we do? I'm game for something, but haven't the knowledge to proceed from here.
I agree public outrage

I don't have the link but saved the article partial:


 










SPI opens BPO centre in Mangalore





Mysore, Feb.20-InSpinity (SPI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Software Paradigms International Group LLC, has signed a large contract with MedQuist, the largest provider of Medical Transcription services in the world.


As per the agreement, SPI will provide medical transcription services to Medquist up to two million lines per month within the next six months. To achieve this operationally, SPI will employ and train more than 600 new Medical Transcriptionists (MTs) at its delivery centers in Mysore and Mangalore. At present, SPI employs around 350 MTs.


Headquartered in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, MedQuist Inc transcribes more than two billion lines of text annually.


To augment its ambitious growth plans, Mysore’s IT major SPI is opening new Development/BPO centre in Mangalore by starting operations in incubation center provided by STPI. During first year’s operation, SPI plans to employ around 200 resources in the IT and ITeS field.


Sid Mookerji, CEO & MD of SPI, considers this to be a validation of the aggressive growth and productivity focused strategy adopted by InSpinity.


He said, MedQuist is a very important customer for us and we are pleased to have them on board. We expect to readily deal with MedQuist’s stringent quality and security requirements along with the planned rapid growth thanks to our well established processes and training mechanisms in the Medical Transcription area.”


V. Madhukar, Vice President – Operations, SPI, addressing a press conference at Pathrakarthara Bhavan in city yesterday, announced the terms of contract between the two companies and future plans about Mangalore expansion.


He said Clinching this large deal in these times of recession is a great morale booster not only for SPI but also for the entire IT industry. SPI is adding to its headcount and wants to increase employee base of our MT division from 350 to 1000 MTs in the next 18 months which in fact is a bigger challenge for us.


In future, SPI plans to provide Medical Transcription services to MedQuist to the tune of 6 million lines per month by 2011. To achieve this target, SPI plans to ramp up its capacity to 1000 medical transcriptionists for Med








Anyone that applied with Kathy Kirby hear anything yet? I am wondering how long it takes to hear a
response back
I said MAY NOT hear, didn't say you wouldn't hear. There is
a difference, and many people have said they knew they didn't do well on the tests, but still feel like they should have heard from companies and haven't. 
Hear, hear! (Or is it 'here, here?') LOL

Thanks! I'm glad to hear that, I didn't think anyone used it anymore! I'm glad to hear so
I'll definitely check them out!
Hear, hear! Read My Opinion's opinion.
Regarding Wondering's question, the company I work for is investing strongly in upgrading its MTs' and editors' skill levels (exactly what this says about need for us for ten years down the road I can't say). This morning I found an e-mail saying they would pay every one of us to attend an on-line class on making Expander macros to increase our productivity. Amazingly, I have to assume many employees were choosing not to attend the unpaid ones they had been offering...
What I don't understand is this-

But I still don't understand

They never have anything positive to say, except about themselves.  I guess we don't need to ask anymore questions after we come to that conclusion.


So, let me understand (sm)
That this is your first career/job out of high school and you are getting 8.5 cpl for clinics and they are mentoring you?  Did you hire in at that?  How long have you been there to be offered QA with such little background in MT? (no offense)  I have 10 years experience and they are talking 8 cpl to me.  Hmmm.....
I think we can all understand
The typo police don't have to come out every time.  Get a life.  We all work with words all day long and when you get on here, you might be a little tired.  Give 'em a break.
I don't understand it, either. sm
It'd be great if MTs came here and supported each other. This is NOT a great field to be in, IMO. We should be banding together as sisters (and brothers) in the same boat.

I wish the monitors would institute a zero-tolerance policy toward people who deliberately harass someone here like this person or people were doing to Metrochick.
Don't understand
I couldn't afford to stay in business if I paid people for NOT working.  I can understand if the computer is down or if there is a problem, but just because there is no work, a company would go broke.  Can I bill the doctors if they do not dictate a day?  How can I pay you if I cannot bill a customer for work?  This work has always been up and down -- feast or famine my father used to say.  But through the years -- now over 20 -- I have learned to save for the lean times.   Like I said if the problem was on my end due to machinery malfunction but if docs don't send in the dication how can I pay you for something I cannot bill out to them?  
I Understand more now
I understand more now of what you are saying.  I agree with you more than when I first read your post.  It is so hard to juggle in this job market.  There are so many pieces that fit into the cpl you charge the client,  the transcriptionist, supplies, QA time, software, etc. that is it very hard for an owner to make much and when an account is down for the day to pay those people that should be on it while it generates no income is double hard.   It is really hard to strike that balance of being staffed correctly for both the busy and slow times of the year.  A lot of it is out of my control.   You are probably with a larger company that can afford to pay you for 8 hours of work and generating income from only one.   They count that into their overhead.  I have only 5 accounts of 2-3 docs, have 2 part-times and am the QA, owner, Transcriptionist also.  But on those accounts that my gals type, I make only 25 to 30% max on what they type which a lot of times generates out to only $7 to $9 an hour for doing pick-up, pick-up, delivery, printing, etc.  That is why in 2006 I am going to  probably cut back to doing only what will keep me with a decent income to pay my bills and I do not have to worry about having enough work for the gals, doing the running, etc.  My guilt is high when the docs are on vacation or it is a slow time and the gals have no work but I cannot cut myself short either.   Enough rambling on,  - I do understand more and I think that if your company is not paying you for the time, they know they have overstaffed themselves to cover those times when the need is heavy and thus I would probably look for another company that staffs more evenly.   Sorry I rambled on so much.     
The way I understand it . . .
they are instituting what they're calling a pilot program to sort of test the waters of offshoring work by starting to send a small percentage of work overseas in order to be competetive with their contract fees. No, I don't think they're doing it yet, but it is obviously going to happen at least to a small extent in the near future. We have to accept this as the trend of the future because it's happening everywhere, like it or not.
What does this mean for MTs? I don't understand.
?
Understand. Thank you!
x
I understand!
That is why I love it when they post unqualified applicants need not apply!
I can understand...
I worked for an Iranian doc in office and there was a woman there that'd worked for him for about 13 years. He would call her at 3 am because he thought of something he wanted to tell her (she was also an MT). He did this all the time. As far as I know she's still there because he pays so well.
I understand all that.
The point is that besides the tons of different work types there are VERY different account specifics from hospitals all over the country. I am well versed in different work types; that was not the issue. The issue was all the different account specifics that changed on a weekly basis to boot. It became where we had no primary account. How is that productive for them or for me?
I understand that...
That is my exact point that the PTO accrues so slowly that how do they expect you to use this for your maternity leave!! Actually right now I earn less than 4 hours every two weeks and I can't accrue any because I have to use it for holidays and when there is no work unless I want to work all through the night after I have just sat all day waiting for work!! Do this make more sense... I was just told I wanted to be a maternity rider when that is not the case. All I came on here to do was to try to find a better job with more PTO then maybe when I do have a baby I can take two weeks off with it at least...at this rate I will have to come right back to work like two days after I pop a kid out! I never wanted to get into a XXXX match with anyone over maternity leave, but that is what it has turned out to be!!!
I know, don't understand it either!
there really is no proofing while you type. Proofing is going back and proofreading a document after it's done. Doesn't everyone technically read the words as they type??? And with all that going on at once, you miss things. On the other hand, I do not blame MTs who do not proofread the documents at the end, definitely less production and hence less money. I'm going to tell you a secret...lol..I just started skimping a bit on that myself. If I have a small mistake, oh well. I need to make a living here! :)
No, you don't understand.
My account with them DID pay for headers and footers and I always randomly check my line count against the ESCRIPTION (not Editscript) metrics of the company.  This week it is off consistently and in talking with the company was told the client does not want to pay for headers any longer ???? so without letting us know, we are suddenly not paid for completing demographics.  I simply wanted to make sure others were aware of this as this evidently can happen anywhere at anytime and no one at the company may feel compelled to share this info with the MTs. 
I understand what you are trying to say, or what
is bothering you. I have been in this industry my entire adult life - a LONG time - and I agree that most companies have changed in that they just don't share info that is really pertinent - like not getting paid for headers anymore. Its sneaky to me, or underhanded, and just breeds contempt or suspicion in the MTs. Or, the company can have an uppity attitude, like why on earth is it the MTs business what they are getting paid for or not? Which also makes me feel bitter. I remember the old days of honest communication - the news might not have been good, but I handled it well. They treated me with respect, and I felt like a professional. Gone are those days, and it is a shame.
This is what I don't understand........
Wouldn't it have been more beneficial to everyone involved to sell the company rather than just let it die a painful death?
I don't understand...
why they yell at the MTs when it is not their fault? The MTs get blamed for everything!!!!!!!!! Grrrrr
I don't understand
how you can say they ALWAYS pay on time when just this past Friday they were late with direct deposit
I don't understand something sm
How do you have any contact with anyone in upper management? I work there; I never even hear from upper management. I talk to my manager and that's it. What morale problems are your referring to, because I couldn't be happier here?
I really don't understand all of what you just said
but I do know that not everyone has had a bad experience with OSi. I never run out of work, have great coordinators, am always paid on time, am making more than I did when I first started, and have expanded my abilities greatly. All of the things that are important to me in a company, I have at OSi, and I've had them for the past 3 years. I understand some people didn't have a good experience there, and that this is their place to hang out and vent. I just think it's too bad when OSi has been a good fit for many people, and then there are these people who hang out at this board who have made it their life's mission to carp on OSi. It doesn't really affect me at all...it's just very, very tiring.
Don't really understand what she is doing.
I tested for her last year and was hired for this account.  Immediately she wanted me on a psych account that I was not interested in.  She then tried to give me ANOTHER account.  I explained that I would be more than happy to take on the other account AFTER I was established on the one I was hired for.  She came back and told me they shifted things around internally and had it covered now.  Not sure what kind of game that was but I know it is one I want no parts of.  Hope this helps. 
What I don't understand is (sm)
If a company does not pay for headers and footers, fine.  I get that.  But what advantage is it for them to disable the feature so that we can't see the counts of individual reports?  I have worked at places not on Ex-Text where some reports just mysteriously never made it to the hospital.  No one was cheating, it was just a software glitch.  Had to send again and it counted. So what would prevent that from happening with this?  I agree, we should be able to verify that every single report is counting, if for no other reason than this one.
I just can't understand why you are saying you need

You can go to whatever school you like and still be considered a newbie in a lot of company's eyes.  It all depends on what you want to do as far as your career.  Whatever floats your boat.  


What I really don't understand...

is that the account I'm supposed to do has a ton of work, and they are giving incentives. 


Seems to me they are really, really disorganized. 


Sorry you are facing this.  My other job has run out of work this weekend too.  All the companies want full-time, but when you do that, you end up short on pay.  I'm on my own.  Can't afford that.


Lord, I just depressed myself....didn't mean to do that to you too....



As I understand it, it's
because they can only make money if they can get work, and a lot of American companies won't subcontract work to them. Therefore the Indians have to come here to set up their own shop to be able to say they are an American company and be able to get their own work. So then they are based here but can still send all or most of their work back home. Now you would think at least America is getting some tax money for the business, but no. They are probably here on one of those special visas and they get huge tax breaks. Uncle Sam is paying them to come here and do this to us.

Grrr.


i don't understand that...

WHY doesn't control I work?  I've used ExText before with different companies, each time using control I to monitor my production accurately.  The last report takes a minute or two to be counted, but, sheesh, that's nothing.  I KNOW there's nothing fishy going on, btw.  I just would like to know WHY control I doesn't work at TT. Is it just program goblins?  Now, THAT I understand.  LOL! But, as expensive as Dictaphone is, I would think they'd make it right, no matter how they have to do it. I'm just not getting that part of it.


 


I understand
I feel for all of you, as I said. A paycheck is a paycheck for me. The company was the best company that I have ever worked for, and I am truly sorry things turned out the way they did for so many. I will just look at the cup half full on the positive side and hope that maybe they can be again. I wish you both well and I hope you find another greener pasture. They are out there. Take care.
I Understand
So, you're actually working 7.5 hours during your 8-hour shift, but your company is basing your benefit rate on how much you did during the 8 hours instead of during the actual 7.5 hours worked. Right?
i understand
I'm glad they are going to fix the problem. I wasn't suggesting that running out of work was your fault by any means, I was just wondering if you had crosstrained. I completely understand that others shouldn't take work because they run out, it is par for the course. I am trying to get as much in as I can right now because I'm sure with the holidays things will slow down, (it happened on columbus day, no more work left) and I don't feel right taking from others unless it is simply to help out if it is backlogged. I hope you aren't offended, I wasn't trying to start an argument :)

I understand that, but....
isn't it management's job to manage their MTs? I am not talking about little questions about account specifics or things like that. That is what we have the IM group for. I research before I IM a fellow MT and I IM them before I bother a supervisor. I have emailed about things that could affect patient safety without receiving an answer and there is no provision in the system to make sure that QA is going to pick up on the same problem that I do by listening to the whole report. Also, when you answer an email or IM, how long does it take to type, Thank you for bringing this to my attention or Have a good day? Most of the time I prefer to be left alone, and I understand the volume they deal with, but it is the little things that make us feel valued and not isolated.
From what I understand not enough MTs

are interested in getting insurance through KS, which limits their options for a more affordable plan. 


I'm new enough that I don't have insurance so can't speak for the details.  Fortunately we are able to get a decent insurance through my husband's work, but I personally wouldn't want to be tied into insurance through a transcription company and would rather have my own policy so that I can take any job I want without having to consider their insurance coverage.


still do not understand

okay, I found the box where it asks for User ID and Set Key - what I do have is a password, so I assume that may go into the Set Key spot, but how do I get the User ID?  Am I the User or is it the dictator?  I type for about 5 docs in one clinic.  What do I do from here?


Also, will I need to go to this box for each individual dictation that I receive and enter these codes? 


A bit confused yet.


I understand that, thanks. nm
xxx
I understand you having nothing better to do
I understand you having nothing better to do with your time other than going back a searching for posts.  Do you not have any kind of a life??
The way I understand the law
Is you cannot have lapse of insurance coverage for longer than the 45 days (I actually thought it was 61) period or anyting pre-existing will not be covered.  The insurances can not apply the pre-existing rule if there was not a lapse in insurance coverage longer than the XX amount of days.
I understand....sm
Back when all the changes were being made, I was told I had to be trained on ASR, but it was cancelled. When ASR was introduced...I told myself that if I had to do it I would quit. I will not train a computer to do my job that took me years to learn. That is just the way I feel and I will stick to my plan if forced to do so. I guess everyone thought or thinks that if you don't learn ASR you will be without a job...not so. I have interviewed with other companies and I feel confident in saying that I will do fine without having to learn ASR. I must say, though, working for MQ has definitely taught me more than I think any other MT company out there could have. So, if I quit because of ASR, it really doesn't matter to me. I just have to remember that the past is the past and making $40.00 to $50.00 an hour is almost impossible to do anymore unless you have tons of good dictators with normals to go with them. I am just biding my time, because you never know :)
So, if I understand you, because you are an
IC, you should be allowed to work whenever you want. Granted, you can, but only if there is a need for that particular time slot. If a MTSO is short-handed for a particular time, then they have every right to say you can work these hours, but we do not need you for xxx hours. That is within their right, as well as it is within your right to say sorry, I can't work the hours requested. That is the privilege of being an IC and having IC workers.

I work when I can. There have been plenty of times there has been no work, therefore they don't send me any as they do have FT employees. There have also been times they have asked me to work when I cannot because I also have a FT job.