Re: Outrage and shock over offshoring.
Posted By: lw on 2006-05-10
In Reply to:
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.
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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.
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
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I hear you. I can definitely understand outrage over being layed off,
I hope all the former Heartlanders are able to find new jobs.
This is going to be a shock...
I know that is going to surprise most out there since most of the posts are negative about SoftScript, but I not only received a Christmas card from them last year, they also gave a little present for MT week, and they sent me an e-card for my birthday. A lot can change in a year, but they did do that last year.
in shock
Good grief, open up... So you made a mistake - fix it, drop it, forgive yourself, and get back to work. Sorry you're having a hard time, but who is better at listening a second time and adjusting than MTs? Good girl! Lucky you - you still have the job!
Blinks - In shock
I've been in the medical industry for quite some time (16+) and I never heard of a student being hired out to QA from school. If this is the case then holy marbles!
It's hard enough getting a good QA position at a decent pay now. I'm thinking of going to the local school and becoming an instructor instead so I can make an actual decent pay that I'm not embarrassed about. I love what I do but the pay sucks. The rubbing two pennies together doesn't work. lol.
No agenda here. Still reeling from the shock
I don't know how long you've worked for Transcend. I was hired in the last six months at 8 CPL, and I had a great account. I loved my job. I transcribed between 20,000-23,000 lines per pay period. Everyone told me how happy they were with my work quality and with my production.
During the last month or so, my line count has begun a rapid downward spiral. The pay period for me, because of my schedule, ended today, and I just managed to squeak through with 11,000 lines to keep my benefits. I'm not editing yet. I'm still transcribing. If this is happening while I'm transcribing, what is my line count going to be when I do begin editing? My account has suddenly been overstaffed, without warning, without any explanation whatsoever. Like I said, I have a great account and used to make very good money. I've questioned this and was offered additional accounts. I'm still thinking about this, but my preliminary conclusion is that I wasn't hired to do other accounts. I was hired to do this one. I'm resisting the other accounts (so far) because I fear that ALL my work on my current account will disappear and be given to the new person. I was there first, and I don't understand why I should have to make less money while learning a new account, while the newest person will able able to make the money I used to make. Secondly, if I have to learn a new account, I may as well do it at a company that is fair, loyal to its employees and trustworthy, if such a company exists. I'm beginning to think that a smaller company might be less hazardous to your life. I'm still considering another account, but I'm quickly losing respect and trust for this company.
My income has more than been cut in half without any warning. I'm no longer earning any incentives, and I've found myself just sitting at the computer like a zombie, clicking the "refresh" key to see if I can manage to snag a job that's been dictated within the last 10 seconds or so. I know I can't go on like this because I can no longer pay my bills and that I have to make a decision very quickly.
I don't know how long you've been there. If it's been for years, then maybe you won't have a problem. Maybe the job security you feel is justified. If you're fairly new, you can take my situation for what it's worth. Just please don't think it can't happen to you. I didn't think it could happen to me.
My experience - shock and awe! You must read...
I worked for them for 5 years. They started out great..paid well and you could choose your specialty. Then, things changed. Bad management. Account leads who don't answer e-mails. They don't let you choose what you want to do that you will be productive on - they stick you on accounts nobody else wants once they find out you can do them and then you're stuck. Well, they ran out of work. I had my choice of a bad account nobody would do on a clinic account or take a 3 cpl pay cut and work contingent in order to get acute care and this was 2 weeks ago so I left. Now they are hiring!! That is just the icing on the cake. They are unreputable and I wouldn't trust a thing they say at this point. They promised me a bonus on one account and then found a reason to not honor it earlier this year after they let me do the account for 6 weeks (kept inquiring where is the bonus?) - they basically used me on a nasty account and didn't honor the bonus. They also offered recruitment bonuses when I hired in - I brought on 3 MTs...got a partial of 1 bonus and never saw the rest. When I was hospitalized in 2003 they fired me...then later rehired me after I was back on my feet a few months later. They just treat people like crap. I put up with a lot of stuff for years I wish I hadn't. I think they're terrible people to deal with honestly and would look elsewhere. But that was just maybe me. Some have an in because they are friends with the leads or owner - they get promoted, special treatment. They become the leads and they cherrypick the accounts. I could say so much more but somebody will inevitably say it is sour grapes. Well, it probably might be after getting screwed so bad after sticking with them for so long and working for them back when it was dial up. I have my suspicions that they are basically just pushing out the older MTs they paid more to work those dial up accounts that they hired years ago now that they have .wav accounts and know that MTs are a dime a dozen and they can get them for much less per line than they had to pay back in the day because nobody wanted to pay unlimited long distance to work for them. Just be prepared to be treated like a number and lied to. You will always be expected to go the extra mile and it will never be appreciated. Not even a thank you. Never once in all those years even an MT week gift of a pencil. All I can say is good luck to you!
No company name given. Now that's a shock. What's the catch?? I doubt the adminstrator will le
stay there anyway so you better apply before it gone LOL..I just don't feel gullible or vulnerable today..
Quit MQ in June - still in shock with new job. Plenty of work, OT available. (sm)
I just can't tell you how fortunate I feel. The bonus program is good and understandable, you don't have to be a math genius to figure it out. I have 2 accounts, great supervisor, pleasant office staff. For those of you still unhappy with your current jobs, keep the faith, there are good companies out there. Good luck on your search.
No, don't feel bad - I didn't pass the editing test, either, to my shock! ;) nm
nm
No offshoring either. nm
Offshoring
Could someone define offshore "big time." When I worked for them I was told they have a company in the Philippines that they send work to, strictly some low priority government disability stuff. Their platform is great and the people I worked with were also wonderful to work for. I left for a personal reason but would not hesistate to recommend them, IF you can get a comparable line rate to make up for the spaces. Again the platform is very productive and they do pay for headers so that helps.
OSI offshoring - sm
Ask the recruiter when you speak to her. I know the offshore, I was working there when the news broke, and they are still doing it. Go ahead...ask. This is not sourgrapes, but fact.
Offshoring
Nah their govt would never bite the hand that feeds them. They would beat it out of their own citizens instead. That is the great thing about America, at least it is somewhat fair? We like to think it is the same in other countries but if it were they wouldn't be working for us in the first place. The only ones that can put a stop to this is us. You have to VOTE! Not for President but for all the little guys that have the power to keep the big P from allowing things we hate. Okay enough from me I have to go and type while I still have a job.
Offshoring
They own OSi and denied offshoring to India until they were caught several times. They are now banned from advertising on MTStars. They are promoting at OSI and focusing their attention on their new company in Tampa. Very low key. Be very careful about any comments here or the posts will be removed.
offshoring
Really, people, it is the folks in our country, you know, the good ol' U.S.A. who are selling us short, so don't get angry at India for taking jobs. Well, that would be a way of airing your prejudices. That's weak. 
Truly sorry about your loss, MTLittle.
offshoring
Sorry, Little MT.
Might as well get used to offshoring. It's everywhere,
and Spheris didn't help by proudly announcing their new offices in India and give carte blanche to the rest of the online companies to follow suit.
It's here, and probably to stay. Our largest nationals do it, our medium size nationals are doing it, and our smaller privates are doing it. No getting around it.
If you swear you will never work for an offshoring company, you will probably have to eat your words one day. That or go hungry until you can re-educate yourself and find a new career.
I would venture to guess that there are many MTs here working for offshoring companies who know it and won't admit it. There are many more who work for offshoring companies and probably don't know it.
Bottom line, you are going to have a mighty long list, and it will grow daily. Good luck.
Offshoring
I own aing serious. MTSO and we do not offshore. We have been against it for sometime. However, we are having trouble getting a reliable workforce. Seems every Transcriptionist has 3 PT jobs. We pay between 7.5 and 9.5 cpl and have tons of work. I for the first time talked to my partner about offshoring. We may hold out as long as possible.
Offshoring
In some cases, though, offshoring has indeed been the downfall of manual transcription. I work in a very large medical center, and the offshoring with direct link to EMR has eliminated all in-house transcription. It's a combination of technology and economics that is making manual MT obsolete.
Yes, she has the right and they are offshoring now (sm)
Everything the above poster said was true. I'm not there anymore either.
Is OSI still offshoring?
TIA
I do not know about offshoring
but they do outsource. I worked for a company and did their (OSi's) work; I guess it was overflow.
Don't you mean offshoring?
/
Yes-- Offshoring
Sorry about that, I knew what I meant! Anyway, would appreciate if anyone can pass along just how to know if a company you are looking into sends some of their work out of the US. Thanks again.
offshoring is doing it
There are so many companies offshoring and hospitals offshoring that be LUCKY that you get 8 cpl. Most companies cant pay that!!!!
Are they still offshoring? nm
.
offshoring
They are NOT better, but one thing I don't think anyone realizes is that with electronic signature, the docs don't read a lot of their charts anymore - they have no clue what half of their charts look like, only the really anal (and I mean that in the best of ways) know the mistakes that are being made. I just QAd one that said the patient was running a bicycle for exercise; also another with a 0.3 x 0.5 tumor, and the MT put 3 x 5 tumor. Not a HUGE error the first time around, but the second one puts the patient's life at risk. A NOTE TO ANY PHYSICIAN: READ YOUR CHARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Offshoring
I refuse to renew my membership in AAMT or to give even one penny to this organization. Think about it, people. They have supported offshoring. Do they care about us?
Offshoring
I believe everyone has the right to work, and the new outsourcing trend is inevitable for all jobs that can be outsourced. But, I think it should be done fairly for everyone and the job market should be competitive for everyone doing the work no matter what country they are from. The pay should be the same for everyone who is hired at whatever level they are hired at. If the pay were the same, we wouldn't see so much of it leaving this country. GREED IS THE REAL FACTOR HERE FOLKS. They can live a lot cheaper on 2 cents a line, and we would starve to death. I met an Indian MT one time, and she said they were paid 2 cents per line and had to type 2000 lines a day.. Now what is that about.
offshoring
That's right. Just move on over and let others take over. It is the American way.
Offshoring
Actually, we can complain all day but it won't stop. Unfortunately, with the AAMT becoming cheerleaders for offshoring it is only going to get worse. They need to be shut down completely as they are useless If they really wanted to do their job, they should stand behind American MTs 100%.
Oh well, just my 1/2 a cent worth.
Offshoring
I don't care what Medware tells you about competing in the marketplace or that offshoring is here to stay in the competitive market, the bottom line is that eventually you will pay for it. You may not be paying for it now, but eventually you will.
The goal of Medware and any other company that offshores is to make more money. Right now they are losing money by having the offshores type the report, offshores then edit the report, then it is sent to America where the reviewers review it for errors. And trust me, there are a lot of errors!!! Some companies pay reviewers 0.03 cents a line for reviewing and cleaning up the errors, others will pay a wage that is less than what QuickTrip is paying. And if you don't know what QuickTrip is, it is a gas station/convenient store. If the reviewer has a blank or problem, then the report is sent on to their supervisor. That is way too many hands on a single chart. The goal is to have the report typed by offshores and then reviewed by offshores and never have an American touch the chart at all. And when that happens, our job market is seriously reduced. Instead of each company employing 20-30 reviewers, they will only employ 1 or 2 who will only listen to offshore editor's blanks.
You may feel that you are safe in VR at Medware. But did you know that all the doctors who are not trained for VR have their reports transcribed by offshores? Did you know, well, you should if you read the memo that the offshores are currently being trained to produce a quality document which will not require further editing in America. Once they are trained who is to say they will be working on YOUR voice recognition work?
You would do well to look over to Heartland. They decided to only use offshore MTs to work for them. They fired over 150 MTs. What makes you think Medware won't do the same one day?
NO offshoring
True and all the owner has done unfortunately is lied and made the company and MTs look bad -- hopefully her other business will fail as well
And no offshoring either
I forgot to mention that. All the government contracts I have been looking at say no offshoring. That is something new from when I looked at government contracts previously.
OFFSHORING
Ask SPi--they're doing exactly the same thing. They're losing accounts and employees by droves.
Offshoring
Knowing which transcription services do not offshore would be greatly appreciated! They are the only ones I will work for, and I am sure most MTs feel the same. Please raise your hand, and let us know who you are.
No, no offshoring. (sm)
Sorry, but don't know about connections. I have high speed.
Offshoring, huh?
Good to know - I had heard pretty good reports about this company - giving them the benefit of the doubt, I can certainly understand platform trouble - but off-shoring is a big TURN-OFF to me.
No more offshoring????
Keep off-shoring broke!
My best suggestion for stopping this off-shoring is for MTs to unite somehow and realize that electronic medical records are here! They will not go away - this will force the major transcription companies to off-shore big time because there will be of a lack of third shift necessary to cover shorter TAT - everyone gets upset about the offshoring but little is being done about it. With shorter turnaround times and instant gratification desired by the docs the responsibility falls back on the MT to make that happen not the company. They type while we are sleeping, taking our weekends off, or refusing to do ESL...lets not worry about the migrant workers how about saving our own butts? If we can meet the turnaround and still provide the quality we would have a leg to stand on to impose sanctions on companies that send this out of the US kinda like fines imposed on those that hire migrant workers - but we surely could not go to congress and say, well I dont work the weekends or nights.
About offshoring...
There was a big stink years ago when foreign car makers brought factories to the USA. These autoworkers are still working and in the USA and they are foreign owned. If the jobs stay here I really can't get too upset about who owns it.
Sony owns a movie studio and they make TV programs too. I am not sure I could tell what shows not to watch. They are produced in the USA, do well and American companies advertise with those programs...oh so what? JOBS ARE HERE.
With MT, I am not that concerned about outsourcing taking my job away. I WILL NOT edit Indian work, I WILL NOT work for a company that outsources to India or anywhere else. That, perhaps, has taken work away from me, but given that I work full time, I can pay all my bills and some and my job is here (and to stay) it isn't something I sit and worry about.
I'll have to rag on MTs for minute. I have, in fact, edited American MTs and I have tell you, many of them I have seen are worthless. They don't show up and when the do I wonder why they bothered. I don't know that I'd call them MTs, they are typists after a fashion. Ever try to staff an MT company? You try to find qualified MT who also show up when they are supposed to and do the lines they are supposed to do! Every last recruiter I know or have spoken to will tell you that staffing a new account will drive you over the edge. They tell me that most MTs appear to have lied on their resumes, as evidenced by their lack of knowledge, speed and accuracy once they start the job. Many of them put everything they want to do in life ahead of their job and show up late, leave early and do almost nothing while they are working. On top of that, they don't do a good job when they show up, then they will gripe about line rate and want more money, an easier account, or to be allowed to cherrypick in some way. One recruiter told me that if she needs 30 MTs she will try to hire 50 to 60 of them because she knows she'll get about 15 who will stick for any period of time and who can do an adequate job.
If you want to stop outsourcing of MTs, then hone your skills. Talk to others about how they have their Expanders fixed up. Brush up on your terminology. Seek to expand your knowledge by offering to learn new things. Quit whining about line rates. They go up, they go down and you might as well get used to it. Work to be accurate. Work at being faster. SHOW UP and on time. Be worth it, and be worth it at a company who refuses to outsource to India.
offshoring
Excellent!
Offshoring or not?
Some companies state on their website whether they have US MTs only. Of course we don't know how reliable this information is. Why not just ask the MTSO?
OFFSHORING
I had no idea this is going on. Maybe would could come up with a form letter that could be used by anyone interested that would notify AAMT that we are withdrawing any and ALL support of this organization. I really don't think that they would survive peddaling their wares only to foreigners.
Another avenue for change might be getting the knowledge out to American patients that their medical records are being peddeled to whatever foreigner charges the least, with subsequent compromise of the integrity, accuracy, security, and privacy of their medical records.
OFFSHORING
Another thing we can all do is check with the medical facilities that we use for our personal health maintenance, as to who does their transcription, and let them know that you are not interesting in your medical records being shared with the world. We can also all encourage our friends and families to do the same.
Offshoring
What needs to happen is somehow, patients need to know that their info is getting shipped all over the world! I am sure that MOST people do NOT know this! Has anyone tried to get it out there in the media?
Offshoring??
I think my main concern is do they offshore to India, or elsewhere? I will not work for a company that does so. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Not much offshoring?
Are you kidding? Their whole work force is going to be offshore before long. No ill will here, MQ was great while it lasted for 12 years. I could almost tolerate ASR because I would almost break even, but when the cesspool came, I had to get out. Again, I wish everyone at MQ nothing but the best. What works for one does not necesssarily work for others, just my experience. I am happy where I am now, but no place is perfect.
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