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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

You'll have too much down time and their Indian techs are IN India! Pay is late, too. nm

Posted By: Friend was there. on 2006-01-16
In Reply to: acetera inc - Josie

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You'll regret it. Indian techs in India, late pay, lack of communication. nm
b
Do they still use Indian techs in India to set you up
s
The Indian techs toasted a friend's system when she tried to
s
They'd take you on, but their Indian techs and office support makes for an awful way to start you
m
They're the old Lancesoft, have Indian techs, terrible service, and pay issues. Friend was with
s
Focus is Indian run and you'll be editing Indian
work, so seriously doubt you'll make a bunch of $$ on editing.  99% of the MTs love KS.  If you'll just scroll down the page you'll see dozens of posts about them. 
No problems with the Indian techs setting you up or any problems with their program? Bud of mine
b
Most of their work is done in India by Indian MTs. sm
Tell your lead person you need more work and commit to it. They will work with you if you are good with a high accuracy rating.

Good luck - been there, done that, ain't going back ever!
She's at the conference this week, so she'll be late
s
It's less an American co with branch in India, than an Indian
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
American Indian vs a person in India. nm
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Focus doesn't offshore to India, they are an Indian company
that offshores to the U.S.  They have an office front in MA, I think.  
It is an Indian run company. If you'll check the archives they
have been asked about several times the last month or so.  There has been nothing good said about them. 
Yeah, and when the Indian cash cow dries up, they'll
.
Indian company. If you'll search the archives lots of info
on them.
They'll outsource to India. nm.
I refuse to work for pay that low. I'm worth more than that.
You'll be doing QA on the stuff coming back from India. The
rate would have to be REALLY good for me to consider it. 
It is time to unionize before it's too late

After reading a post about how greedy MTs are to expect more than $0.05 per line, to expect a gesture of appreciation at Christmas, I must post this.


====================================


It is JUST THAT TYPE OF ATTITUDE, and total acceptance of VR, EMR, and pitifully low pay that have caused MTs to be kicked into the respectless extinction we now face.  It is because of MT's like the GRATEFUL poster with the THANK YOU FOR MY PAYCHECK, KIND SIR sweatshop attitude, that we find ourselves with salaries/hourly/line pay having been cut by 60%, and we are looked upon as mere clerical workers instead of the medical language and computer specialists that we actually are.


Some of us work from home so we can be there for our children or grandchildren, some want to transcribe without having to deal with the politics of an in-house staff, there are others who are physically handicapped and work from home as it is the least painful and most sensible option.


But a small faction of MTs spout ridiculous self-depricating platitudes that we should all be grateful for receiving even a pittance of a paycheck, and a late paycheck, at that, and not expect to be rewarded for dedication and excellence, disregarding the fact that many of us work 10-12 hours per day now to earn what we were able to earn in 4 hours 5 years ago.  The MTSO's and hospital HIM administrators never stood up for us; they sold us out to VR and EMR, yet the GRATEFUL faction would have us believe that we do not DESERVE anything more, and that expecting to be recognized for dedication and job excellence is nothing more than shameful greed.  THEY COULD NOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH,  and the members of the GRATEFULS are slowly ruining this profession with our silent blessing, because we are allowing them to.  The members of this faction, as well as the MTSO owners and hospital members that did not come to our defense, but instead embraced VR and EMR to make the last of their money as our trade was being made extinct, those are the folks that have contributed to the extinction of our trade.  Do any of you know lobbyists who fought to keep medical records in the US?  Most likely not, and the members of the GRATEFUL faction may be jaded and void of self-respect, willing to work for 60% less pay and grateful to receive a pittance for their services, but I am not, and neither should you be.  We work hard for what little we receive, and we need to gather our forces and strengths and stand together against the extinction of our careers.


Unless extinction of our trade is the goal, Medical Language Specialists and CMT's cannot continue to allow medical facilities and MTSO's to manipulate by fear.  MTs must be allowed to speak out without fear of losing jobs.  If we do not unionize, or at least organize and agree on boundaries very soon, our industry will never recover.  VR/EMR will replace us totally IF WE LET IT.  These facilities and MTSO's CANNOT outsource/offshore or jump from full transcription to VR without transition, and THEY CANNOT TRANSITION WITHOUT MTS TO EDIT.


We are the ones who edit the VR reports and I don't know how many of you know this, but in doing so, we are actually TRAINING THE VR SYSTEMS TO RECOGNIZE ALL OF THE WORDS THAT IT DIDN'T CATCH THE FIRST TIME AROUND WHEN NEXT THE DOCTOR MUMBLED THEM INTO THE MICROPHONE, AND THIS ALLOWS THEM TO MOVE FORWARD AT A HEADY PACE TO TOTAL VR WITH NO EDITORS. We laugh about the hilarious mistakes perpetrated by VR, but we are actually help perfect it by editing.  Soon there will be no editing to be done.  


The GRATEFUL FOR A PITIFUL PAYCHECK faction have made us all look like groveling idiots, willing to silently accept AND BE GRATEFUL FOR, a $0.05 per line pittance to edit VR.  We must set boundaries, stand up for ourselves, put guidelines in place and STICK TO THEM, refusing to work for MTSO's or facilities for $0.05 a line for VR editing, without fear as we really have very little to lose at this point, but it is not too late to turn this death of a trade into a rebirth.


We MUST stand up for ourselves, our voices louder than the GRATEFUL FOR ANY KIND OF PAYCHECK faction, as they are actually cutting off their own noses to spite the rest of us, and the days of AAMT are over.  ADHI will not help us, as they support not only offshore but VR/EMR, as well.  ADHI’s views are counterproductive to US MTs now, as they clearly embrace off-shore, VR, and EMR in totality, and are of absolutely no use or help to Jane Doe, CMT.


In Michigan and Indiana the union is almost in place; final legalities are being settled quietly, and I advise the rest of you, if you want to continue transcribing for a living, to continue to make a decent salary doing what you chose as a career, if you want to be paid what you deserve, if you want to see your daughters take up this trade before it is extinct, you need to unite.  Facilities and MTSO's are counting on continuance of MT silence, acceptance and complacency, along with PAYCHECK GRATEFULNESS to keep us in line, at their beck and call, on their terms, cutting our pay and benefits, running remote sweatshops and reaping the benefits as they quickly invest in other businesses because they see the end of the trail for transcription. They count on the fact that we will continue gather in places like this, arguing amongst ourselves, whining about low pay and no benefits, while doing absolutely nothing to reverse our plight.


Unite while we still have the power to command better salary and stop the eradication of our trade, because the scales are slowly tipping against us.


Don't be grateful for the pig swill they're tossing our way.  We are intelligent, talented, skilled tradespeople and we deserve much better than what we receive.


There are clerical workers with less skills than MTs, and they’ve unionized and have won mediations and settlements.  It is possible.  We can save this industry for ourselves.


If you have had enough, if you have even a a modicum of self-respect left, have not been dehumanized to the point of no return, and have a sense of the injustice over what we’ve endured for the past 6 to 8 years, please visit the soon-to-be opened web site of USMLSU (United States Medical Language Specialists Union Initiative).  You can email them at contact.us at usmlsu.org for information.


The following states have local chapters:  Colorado, Delaware, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. If you are in a state not mentioned here, please choose someone from your state to represent you by emailing the USMLSU.


I hope to start seeing many of you at meetings, and organizing your own.  The time is now.


Work but VERY late pay every time
Ok guys, I need some advice.  I have been working with this particular person on one of her accounts for over six years...never had any problems with pay, now suddenly every time it is payday it is either late coming in the mail, or now the check is here, but they ask me not to deposit because they dont have the money to cover it.  I dont know what recourse I have or what to do.  I want to hold work, tell them to stick it or something but this is the highest paying work that I do.  I do have other accounts of my own, but not ready to go it all on my own as of yet.  What would you do?  I feel like I'm stuck any way I turn. 
CBay transcribes all work in India. Has some US editors but also has Indian editors.
nm
Pay on time. If you are comfortable with Indian QA then go for it but....
Just be aware that not only will your work be QA'd by someone in India, but you will be penalized for YOUR errors. I bet you can see already how impossible it is to receive a full paycheck with that QA system. I think they save a lot of money by marking you down on errors and then they will take anywhere from 5-10% of your check, which can be a good chunk or equal to one day's work. Of course, they receive full pay from their client and pay their QA people from India minimal so you can see how they make money.. ripping people off. My advice.. if you need to make money do not work there. Also, the communication is terrible. Your supervisors are on IM via India and never listen to you or respond to any questions.
If they use Indian MTs big time, why am I so busy?
They may use some, especially on weekends, but is not normal, and NEVER has editing been at 3 cpl.
I did to. Work late shift and did not check msg in time. Hope to get recap
nm
Most of the AMTs I have known waste a lot more time than Indian ones do.
And i'm NOT Ms. Shapin, but I worked at SPI and we had a lot of slacekrs.

When I worked at SpearUs, we had a lot of slackers.

When I worked at TRS, we had a lot of slackers.

I've been in the biz for 31 years and dealt with a lot of American pieces of wasted breath because they didnt want to work, called in, whatever excuse they could get.
All India, all the time... 99% goes offshore. nm
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Oh, you'll get full time
but it will be full-time ESL. You won't get the full-time high line volume accounts unless you are a good ole girl. And the turnover there is frightening (because of the ESLs).

They'll definitely do it some time. You know they won't continue...sm
to pay us such a good rate when all the other companies are paying 3-5 cpl. If they all set their rates so low, there is nothing we can do about it if we want to continue to work. Their Town Hall meetings are always a pep talk followed by something that cuts your pay in the couple of years I've been there.
I'll be retired or dead by that time. Let the
bn
I'll agree with Gourdpainter any old time
going to tell me what to say, or where I can say it. If they don't like our American freedoms, they should pack up and move the whole operation to India, Iran, Pakistan, or mainland China, where they belong.
You'll see this poster every time something is said or asked about Keystrokes. sm
He/she has a bitter attitude about them but never provides specifics. I think everyone just ignores this person. I know I did, and I am glad as I love my job at Keystrokes. It did take a few weeks to get started but they were waiting on my ID from the hospital. It was worth the wait. I have been there 4 months now.
Give it time, they'll get to you. The grand plan is

my shoulder, it's a block(head).  The games they play, the excuses/reasons are old, worn out, and it's aggravating to sit there staring at that NJA cyclops when others are getting the work.  Dog-eat-dog is not conducive to a good work environment.  We didn't create the situation but we bear the brunt. 


If you spend a little time reading the archives you'll see
lots of posts about how many are  unhappy at Focus and are looking or left.  
I'll help! I left MQ at the time of this original post
I found a great job with a great US company, and have my self respect back. Enjoy my work again.  Go USA!!  Go MTs!!
Part of your issue may be that your account manager is in India and there is a time zone difference.
It seems like it is just the opposite of us. Day here, night there etc..All I can say ... Good luck!!!
Too little, too late? It is never too late. I am one person, true, but together

Let me tell what this ONE person achieved on her own and then you can imagine what many of us can do if we stand together.


Two years ago, I was working as an MT for a local hospital.  One day, we were told that our overflow was going to be outsourced to one of the nationals, just the discharge summaries and not even all of those.  Two months after they told us that lie, they called is in one by one and fired us because they were outsourcing the entire dept because it was cost effective.  The service they were using was a very large national who I happened to know had a reputation of offshoring.  And I just knew because our little hospital had easy as pie dictators with maybe 4 out of a staff of 200 that were ESL, our work would most definitely be one of the accounts offshored.


I was angry!  Oh, they offered us jobs at the service and told us we would definitely be working on our hospital, but I'm no fool and I knew it would be a matter of time before we were forced to take secondary accounts which would eventually become our primary accounts and our little hospital would just disappear from our queues. 


I refused the job with the service on moral grounds.  I refused to work for a company that offshored.  And then I decided to channel my anger and outrage into something proactive.  I wrote letters to every newspaper in my area.  Every small farming community newspaper this hospital served, and the big city newspaper in the big city close by.  I never dreamed that anyone would pay attention at one woman's rantings.  But a funny thing happened.  My letter was printed in more than one of the papers I sent it to, and reporter from one of the larger newspapers called me and asked if I would do an interview.  I said absolutely.


Long story short, they did the interview and then interviewed the administrator of the hospital.  They put him in the hot seat and asked him about offshoring health information to India.  He had no definitive answers to give except that he would have to look at the contract and make sure that it was stipulated that his hospital's work was not sent over seas.


It was a small triumph, but I took some satisfaction in it.  Two weeks after that and just when I thought all the hoopla had died on my little letter, another letter appeared in the newspaper -- from an HIM director at another local hospital who said as a result of reading my letter and interview, that she had received a number of calls from concerned people asking if their medical information was being sent and transcribed overseas.  She wanted to write the letter just to set the record straight that her hospital employed their own MTs and did not outsource to a service nor did they offshore any of their work to third-world countries.


And I'm still not done.  Still a few weeks later another letter in the big city paper was printed from another HIM director assuring the community that her hospital employed its own American MTs and did not outsource or offshore.


Now, everything has quieted down since then, but I managed to ruffle some feathers and make a point, and if I (one person, one middle-aged work-at-home mother of two) can cause that much ruckus -- think what a whole bunch of us can do.


I think we, as a group, need to take control of our industry and our career destiny and do something.  Maybe march on Washington DC protesting the offshoring of American jobs -- not just ours, but ALL American jobs that are being offshored.  There are more Americans out of work and losing work to third-world countries and corporate greed than just MTs!  Our government needs to hear our voices!  We need to MAKE ourselves be heard! 


Instead of sitting back and pasting little smiley faces in our posts and saying good luck with that we need to come together.  There is no room for MTs willing to accept lower wages, no room for MTs whose hearts bleed for our third-world counterparts, and no room for MTs who want to sit back and do nothing, but reap the benefits when the strong win the battle.  We've reached a critical turning point and it's time to take up the cause and change the future. 


Sweat shop mentality! Time for you to leave and find a job where you'll
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lab techs make WAY more than i do
Let them work weekends. They also get tremendous benefits. Don't call me shallow, dickhead.
T-C - full-time is 1000 lpd along with a "rough estimate" schedule of what hours you'll wor
It's pretty nice.
Thanks guys for taking the time to respond to my post. I'll go with the State job if offered.
I may do some PT/IC a couple days of the week just to keep my skills up and just in case they offer the lower rate of pay.

Gonna miss you Guys. Thanks for all your help.
The techs that knew anything all left.
They had 1 guy once that knew nothing and did something that made a bunch of computers crash. I would be very leary about letting them install anything on my machine.
That's a bit misleading. It is NOT just the IT department. The techs sm

who allocate the dictation files to you nothing to do with IT.  If you have a computer issue, they will get someone from IT for you, but Marie and the rest are not part of that department.  The ENTIRE COMPANY is based in India.  Yes, they hire American MTs, but the company is in India, and they at one point even lied to the MTs and said work was slow due to Christmas (this was in the middle/latter part of January), then one of the techs admitted they had outsourced to an Indian MT company. 


They are not the worst company to work for -- the pay is decent and on time -- although I never cared for the way the work was allocated and I absolutely DESPISE the fact that they are now lying and misrepresenting themselves in their ads saying they are based in Kentucky.  There is a residential HOUSE in Kentucky owned by the Indian owner.  Why not just be upfront about it in their ads?


Can you use the ShortCut program with DQS? I'm getting different answers from the techs. nm
nm
If they have stuff in weird locations, the techs will
s
Probably not - I believe they are Indian run or Indian based company. nm
x
Go to their Indian website or other Indian websites
xx
If you'll read through past posts you'll find lots of
recent info.  Why do you need menitoring if you already work as an MT.  Unless you do clinic work most companies will require you to work at least one weekend day, at least initially. 
India, Michael. The MT world is going to India. Wonder why? nm
!
If you'll read the archives you'll find out everything
you want to know, none of it good.
Probably figure you'll want Way more than they'll offer, whatever it might be. :) nm
s
If you'll read more carefully you'll see
I was referring to AFTER she's missed out on a job, having a friend do sort of an audit to tell her what what was wrong with her test she submitted -- not cheating.
offshore to India, it's OFFSHORE (off shore), not outsource to India.
nm