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Spheris - worked there recently

Posted By: lk on 2008-10-20
In Reply to: Spheris Info - Amy

I worked there for 3 years, left in July. I made good money there, but I've heard that they are starting people out at a lower cpl now than they did 3 years ago. I thought they were basically fine to work for until they started switching all their accounts to ASR. When my account was getting ready to switch, I gave my notice,as I don't think you can make any money doing ASR. Insurance expensive,schedules vary, icentive pay was decent, but think that is being eliminated with new platform/ASR. In my opinion they are not such a good place to work anymore, unless you don't mind doing ASR for a pittance. Overall they were fair to me, but not very much communication with employees.


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I was wondering about Spheris recently.
They were an awful company to work for but I have noticed they have not posted here in quite a while. Maybe all their work is being sent offshore now. If you think you'll make money at Spheris, forget about it. Go to Wal-Mart and get a job, you'll probably make more money with them.
I worked there very recently
I worked for Precyse for 6 months. In the beginning, workflow was great. I don't know what happened between then and now, but I was lucky to get 50 hours for a 2-week pay period. When work is low, you usually can't work on your secondary because their work is low also and they don't want to take away from the primary MTs. That leaves no room open to make up time. Every pay period, I had to use whatever was in my PTO account for the missing money.

I actually had 4 different accounts I was doing at one time to keep busy, so I should have been considered on the SWAT team as far as that goes...lol.

It is a very nice company with wonderful people, but my main issue is feeding my kids and helping my husband with the bills, so I took my 10 years' experience elsewhere and am very, very happy.
Worked there recently, not know.
People are very nice, though disorganized.  Frequently having to resend work.  Pay average to maybe a little better than average.  Chartscript platform.  Download work via DVI and then can work off-line so for now dial-up okay.  QA  very tough, not rude, just sticklers.  I felt like I would never get it right and it wasn't so much I was wrong, just wasn't the way they wanted it so some adjustment there. 
I worked there recently

I had a position at Chronicle until the beginning of October, 2008 (about four months ago).


I actually found the people to quite nice, and had no real complaint about management or QA.  I did have difficulty with line counts on occasion..mainly because the sound quality on the account I worked was sooooooo terrible.  They told me they were working on it, but it never got any better during the time I was there.  It was truly where you were struggling to hear the doctors, and it got pretty frustrating.  The pay scale was fair, and there was work, just the bad sound quality like I mentioned.


Recently worked there
I worked for them for 3 years, left in July. They were not bad at first,but are now moving in a big way to VR, which for most MTs means lower pay. I left when my account transitioned to VR, figured I could do better elsewhere. Lots of change all the time, most of it not good for the MTs.
I also know Spheris would fire you if they knew you worked for MQ. That is a BIG NO with Spheris!
nm
I worked for them recently for a few weeks and left because of SM
low/no work. No hard feelings.
Did you miss where I said I recently worked at Oracle. That's firsthand, hon. nm
x
I worked for Spheris...
It was a positive experience for me. I never had a problem with being called if I stepped away from my desk, guess it just depends on which supervisor you get? I only quit because working a FT job in addition to Spheris as PT became too much.
I have not worked for Spheris
Just by reading the archives, it doesn't seem that Spheris is any better than Q.  I would have to say that Transcend is better than the Q in my experience.  There were times we ran out of work but not as bad as Q. 
when I worked for Spheris
Went through this with Spheris, and sooner rather than later we had to punch a virtual timeclock, then it seemed that suddenly there weren't enough lines to fulfill our line count and requests to work overtime to make up for lost lines were denied, so there went all incentives/benefits. 
i worked for spheris 4 years sm
i worked in radiology part of spheris.  i had a great supervisor.  the pay is ok.  my problem was no raises, or if they don't want to give raises, at least acknowledge people some how.  there were a lot of times when we had to help cover while people were out sick or hurricane katrina stuff.  i had been there 4 years and never a raise.  (no one got raises).  another big issue for me was they send work to india.  i don't like that at all. that's one reason why i quit.  i now work for a company as an IC and they don't send their work overseas.  they are much more personable.  i worked for Spheris when it was edix, and i liked it much better when it was edix. 
I worked for Spheris for 4 years
They expect you to keep your required linecount weekly, pay on time, pay is on low side, they offshore, insurance is not good, supervisors and QA are good. Overall they are decent.
Well, I worked for Spheris for three years ...
Speaking of Spheris from the perspective of a past employee, I wasn't impressed at all with the company in its role as my employer. The best that I can describe their corporate mentality is that of a sweatshop -- low wages; poor, disorganized, unresponsive, and often inexperienced management; woefully inadequate benefits; and only minimally helpful QA.

However, if you're asking about the quality of transcription, I found that for the most part my colleagues were very quality oriented, most very experienced. Despite a lack of validation on all fronts, i.e. pay, appreciation, etc., they took pride in their work and put out quality documents.

I hope this helps.
when I worked at Edix ... (now spheris) (sm)

when they were trying to get more hospital accounts within a system, they would promise them the moon and assign an absurd number of MT's to my accounts ... so that I got virtually NO work on my regular accounts and had to ask for more accounts -- which became time consuming and more importantly NERVE WRACKING to work on so many relatively new accounts all at once -- again -- some of which I got very little work on .... (very different from really learning one or two accts, adding another -- learning that -- then adding another -- truly I was a wreck -- oh and my line count truly sucked -- so when I saw there was an opening at a local MTSO, I lept ... I was stressed out and making no money ... and I had been on these teaching hospital accounts (my favorite) for over 5 years ... sad)


That's what the message above about accounts up for renewal (as in contracts) meant ... in my case, Edix hoped to get more hospitals in this national chain (most national hospital chains, I think, use more than one service so that if something happens they aren't completely left in a lurch) -- at the time I left probably almost 10 years ago, Edix also had a VERY unstable platform that was down a great deal ... trust me -- it was hell


DUH, I worked for Healthscribe before it became part of Spheris.nm

Then why leave? I've worked for Spheris
I would let them keep their $500!
If you ever worked for Spheris, you are classified as insane.
!
Having worked for Spheris before, I'd vote for Webmedx.
I tried to get on with them, but I was working three part-time IC jobs at the time so I couldn't get their test files completed on time.  I got maybe two hours of sleep three nights in a row because I had so much work dumped on me.  Blown chance!  I wish I'd blown off the IC jobs and finished the test instead.  The test reports were easy enough for me to do.  I asked for an extension on the test due date, but never heard back from them.  I understand their need for TAT, but they have to realize that it's tough to squeeze testing into an already overloaded schedule.  I'd much rather work one steady job than three IC contracts.
Worked for Spheris a couple of years ago
I worked for Spheris and would not recommend it to anyone who wants the least bit of flexibility in their schedule. You are expected to punch in and out to the minute on an online timeclock according to a very strict preset schedule. You aren't allowed to deviate from it without jumping through hoops and getting time off approved or adjusting your schedule, and you can't ask earlier than 2 weeks before the date you want changed. Kinda puts a damper on making vacation plans that may never be approved. I prefer a more open 12-hour window to work my 8 hours in, with no one keeping electronic tabs on my 24/7. I'll bet the FBI knows less about what their employees are doing on a minute-by-minute basis. I do have to say that their platform is pretty awesome, though. Wish the company I'm at now had it.
A friend of mine worked for Spheris
and she said they really sc***ed her.
I worked for Spheris for quite a while. Honest answers inside. sm

Their rate of pay is pretty average, compared to other companies. They way they count their lines is fair and honest, no matter what you might hear from others. Depending on who your supervisor is, the schedules are somewhat flexible. Some supervisors are pretty lenient with the schedule, and others are very rigid. Overall, the people there are pretty nice. If you're just basically looking for a company where you can go in, get your lines done, and walk away, they're probably a good fit for you.


But there are definitely bad points, also. There's not much in the way of feeling like part of a team. You pretty much feel like just another number to them. If don't give them what they want in terms of lines or overtime or whatever, you'll definitely hear about it. They love to ask for you to work extra or switch your shift to accommodate them, but they don't generally feel like paying back the favor. They're famous for turning down PTO requests for no particular reason, no matter the reason for the request.  The recruiter will promise you there's plenty of opportunities for advancement, but really there aren't. I've known gals who have worked their butts off for them for years and still haven't gotten anywhere. The only way to get a raise is to move up in levels of difficulty, and the levels that pay the most per line are the accounts that have tons of ESL's and lots of very difficult report types, with sometimes pages of really crazy account instructions that have to be followed.


In  my opinion, if you go with Spheris, you'll make the most money if you take on a medium-level account, probably with more clinic work, where there aren't so many ESL's and not so many crazy instructions, because if you can crank out the reports at 6 or 7 cents a line, you'll make more money than struggling thru accounts that pay 9 cents a line but are terrible to type.


I have worked for MQ, Spheris back when it was Edix, Transcend and OSI. TransTech is by far the bes
The pay is decent, probably not the highest in the business but not the lowest either. The benefits are good. Pay is always on time. Great bonuses. Great communication and most of all I really like the people and it makes me enjoy being an MT again.
Yes, it is about the almightly dollar. I worked for a hospital who outsourced to Spheris
and the only reason was NOT because they could not find available MTs but it was because it saved them money from having to pay benefits etc..
I still feel like a team player of Spheris, as the shackle scars are still on my legs! Spheris was

Micromanaged to the microsecond, or ms!  Horrible. And part of a team?  Total opposite - part of a team as in prison.


Don't imply you're worried at all. Just stating fact that Spheris does NOT allow a Spheris MT
work concurrently for MQ - no exceptions.  MQ, on the other hand, does not have the same feelings as Spheris.  Just all I had to say so that MTs aren't misled into thinking they can do the same "legally". Even went to the ropes on this issue with Spheris, as I was professional as well, and wouldn't share info, etc. The point they raised was that MQ is their direct #1 competition, and if I was typing for MQ and doing great work, that was in direct conflict of interest with Spheris' best interests.  Guess which one I obviously stuck with!!
Thank you, Spheris recruiter! Anybody wanna place a bet that there are lots of Spheris
HELP WANTED ads on the job board?? So funny!! Out of the blue, Spheris, we love you!! Lets all run and apply NOW!!
Spheris - any spheris employees out there care to s/m
comment on the new Cornerstone platform, good, bad? Will we all be going to SR on this? Thanks.
I worked for a temp agency for 3 years..LOVED it. Just worked. No counts, no hassels, GREAT pay..
No benefits at the time.  I even learned pathology while temping (8 months on that assigment).  I loved the variety, the ability to say I'm not available such and such time.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I didn't need benefits.
A company is ONLY supposed to verify that someone worked there, what dates they worked, whether PT o
and last date worked. It opens everyone up to a lawsuit if more is given, so most companies are told by their attorneys and business advisors to verify only.

No one has a right to a reference, only verification of employment.
Has been down a lot recently, but..
only for very short periods at a time, not sure if they're doing upgrades or what.  Could also be weather-related with the terrible tornadoes this week in parts of the country.  You just have to be patient and adjust your schedule slightly when it happens. I love the BeyondTxt platform, it's the easiest I've worked on.  IMO, MDI-FL is a very good company, and I can't say that about many out there these days, so was worth it for me.
recently went to an HSA
and went IC.
Actually some of us are ICs. Recently ...
MDI was only hiring ICs with SE status after so many days or months. So there are some ICs that were with MDI.

In my meeting CB said that Transcend had IC, SE and employee and the usual case by case. I think she wrongfully mislead the person who asked this question because that was the first I had heard of their being SE status at Transcend.
It worked! Latest suggestion from DJ's email worked. nm
nm
If I worked a longer day, I just put my regular shift, 3p-11p, or whatever. If I worked sm
an extra day, then I was told to fudge the hours around on the other days so it all came out to 40.  I didn't really mind -- have learned not to expect overtime in this profession -- and I was happy to be able to work whenever I needed to get the lines I needed.  However, them telling me directly to fudge on my time sheet would seem to be a violation of the wage and hour laws.  I suppose it doesn't matter now if they do not even have enough work to make the minimum line count necessary.  Several of the companies I thought were golden seem to have gotten a bit tarnished lately … sad. 
I have not had issues until recently and
with you I would; however, I don't! FYI, I am dealing with my issues and if they are not resolved to my satisfaction, I will leave. Thanks for your concern and have a great day! DVW
Recently started too
Flexible schedule but you need to decide what your hours are and commit to them. Benefits granted at 32 hours. Plenty of work. Really good, patient and supportive people. Training with guaranteed pay. Smooth, easy and fast startup. Good, high-tech platform.
There was recently a big campaign on
to try to get MLS who were smart enough to quit Transcend before, to come back to Transcend because of all the recent *improvements* the company claimed they made.  I wonder how many of those did come back and how many are happy that they came back did versus how many have quit again or are ready to quit again.
Hired recently for 0.825 cpl.
:)
Duh..I until recently was an Ochsner MT and still

geez... get your facts straight


I see, yea, happened again recently with someone in QA and
today with a wonderful coordinator, seems very unstable.  I just don't want to jump from the frying pan into the fire.
Well, I started recently

and I'm only getting 8.5 c.  I'm FT, acute care and do the weekend.  And I have 18 years experience with acute care.  That totally sucks. I'm so depressed now. I wish I would have never read this whole thread. 


Have been postson it recently. I know you have to
train in house for a week or two - I believe two? Which was totally not part of my game plan anymore! Yuck!
As recently as 2 months ago, they are SM
still selling you that foot pedal (that you pay full purchase price for and then in the contract it says you must return WHAT YOU PAID FOR when you leave them) and they have the same pay scale they did 3-4 years ago.  They still tend to prey mostly on new-ish transcriptionists who don't know any better.  Other than the person recruiting, nothing has changed about Medscribe in Jacksonville, FL.
Yes it has happened recently, and sm
people have been posting about them paying late & shorting checks for 2 years now. How they are still getting away with this?
We hav recently answered these
Look on page 2,3,4,5 etc...
Try Breitner out of N.Y.- ran ad recently
xx
Took that test recently
and it did not require a foot pedal.  The test I took was pretty much multiple choice and spelling corrections.   But yours might be set up differently. 
There was talk about them recently, but again (sm)
They are notoriously bad about paying and have been for years. They misrepresent whether they pay for spaces or not, and they pay when they feel like it.  I waited months for payment back when I worked for them a few years ago.
Started recently

Lots of work.  Very nice people to work for! Platform is easy to work on.


I just recently left
They changed accounts on me all the time - they overhire and then we ended up with no work.