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You know, I understand about this backup business. I actually have started to refuse backup

Posted By: Looking on 2009-08-08
In Reply to: It doesn't really matter - CynicalMT

accounts because I fully well realize that after you learn it which could take a decent amount of time depending on how difficult the account is that it will also disappear so I have made it a point to usually refuse secondary accounts and for sure beyond that.  I have just started to get a secondary JOB instead of secondary accounts because the name of the game is they are using you to run that account out and then on to the next one.  I dont play the game anymore.  If they dont like it, tough.  Let them find someone else.  Eventually MTs will just stop wanting to work there and they will get less and less qualified MTs as people move on.


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Suggest you find a 2nd company for backup. The backup accounts
are dried up, too, and you can ask for work daily and still never get any.  Once u get stuck on an account you are there til u die unless u happen to be management's favorite.  u never hear about any new accounts opening up, new platforms,  Be prepared to read the intermet message boards to find out what is going on, that is how I found out they had Beyond Txt and ExText, or had any work available, (supposedly) since they keep advertising for help, but I still do not have enough work to keep busy.   Liz wrote this big long message on here a few weeks ago, but nothing changed, nothing happened.  It is same as always, hot air to try to calm people down.  the
No, but that's my third backup.
nm
Let's just say I'm getting my backup
plan in place. I've been with the Q for 10 years now, and these last few months, things have really been going downhill. I have a gut feeling things are not going to be good for us MTs if and when the Q sells. How long were you there before you left?
Just ask for backup accounts. nm
nm
Not me - have you asked for a backup? (sm)
but I do think the holiday and bad weather has something to do with it.  Don't worry.  It's a great company. I've been there for a year and have no intentions of going anywhere else.
No problem getting a backup - might have to ask for one.
nm
if you don't have a backup account, then
it may be they think you are limited in the scope of transcription you can do. I do a specialty clinic where I only get about the same number of lines (6-25), but I can do 300 lph with those, so 700 lpd would only take 2-1/2 hours at most.

Why don't you have a backup account to help you meet your line count?
no backup on errors
With some of my QA feedback they are telling me it's wrong because it doesn't match the instructions for the client.  The problem is, when checking the client instructions there is nothing in there about what they are counting me off for.  For example:  we are no longer to separate laboratory data or x-rays into their own category but to combine them with the ER course.  I didn't do that because I didn't know that and I got counted off for it, but there was nothing in instructions regarding this.  One QA said no big deal, another QA person counted off.   I have tried to document and make notes to my supervisor about it, but all it gets me is more grief from the QA because apparently they are being told about it and angrier at me because I said something.  I am not perfect and I have made mistakes they have pointed out, but some things I should not be and the QA should also be able to realize they are human as well and can make mistakes.  I do QA at my FT job so I know how it all works, but it has to go both ways.
Have you asked for backup account? I have
ALWAYS had work.  It is slower now, probably because of new hires, but we've been busting *ss for 4 months+ now and I'm enjoying a slack time.  I'm still getting my lines and often get extra. 
Vonage, but also have regular ULD as a backup

I spent about $45 a month for the 2 combined, both residential plans.  If I use my ULD (through Qwest) I'm careful how much I'm using so I don't red flag their system.  I haven't had any problem with Vonage for the 2 months I've been there and using it heavy.  I talked to a couple of other people who have used Vonage really heavy for 1-2 years and haven't had a problem, so I decided to go with that.  I only picked up the Qwest ULD recently because my Vonage box malfunctioned and I didn't have any long distance for 3 days until I got a new one, so like I said, the Qwest ULD is now a backup.


They have lots of accounts. Ask for a backup. nm
s
Yes, I'd have a backup job..Also, does this company start with a C?? Thanks NM

Quit complaining and ask for a backup (sm)
There are accounts that have a lot of work.
6 accounts with them, no backup, no time.
x
They have offered backup accounts.
If you want one, just ask. I get 3 different hospitals each day, but that's still all 1 account, but the one time we were out of work for more than a few hours, they sent out an e-mail offering a back-up account. E-mail and ask them if you want one. They have always worked with me and you won't hear me bad-mouthing them. Then again, my situation is different. I'd take any time off I can get.
If there are backup accts then everyone should be trained on them
If there is no work and no backup account then there is a huge problem. Please clarify the above. Have you asked for a backup? As for working at Sears, Im sure if business was slow you would have to stick around but they would pay you for your time.
I asked for ANOTHER backup. No problem.
nm
My backup account is on Chartscript SM
I love that platform, but the line counter is a little bit slow, and it doesn't always show the correct line count right away. I find that if I give it a couple of minutes and refresh the page, my line count will have caught up and be accurate. I think it's a great platform otherwise.
Sounds like they expect you to backup as QA
Sounds to me like you might be expected to pinch hit for QA on the account as well as MT (but likely with no increase in pay for doing the QA).

I might be wrong, that's just the first impression I get reading it. Someone to do *double duty*.
What is the normal number of backup accounts
I have just been placed on my 5th backup account in the last month and a half.  I just know I am going to mess something up, trying to keep all of these straight.  When do you say enough is enough?  Is it even acceptable to say enough is enough?
Don't you suppose they realize that - have you asked for a backup? (sm)

I feel like I have sung this song before.


More than 1 backup acct? Able to work more than 8hrs or not? Is OT
s
It's called a troll. Statements without backup. sm
There is a lot of work out there with Keystrokes and others. MQ is losing accounts, and the other MTSOs are getting them. I am sure that they want to see quality and limit volume the first few days. I would if it were my company.
Sadly, it is ALL the employees of this one particular account and we have no backup accts.
Apparently, the hospital obviously wants the work first to go to the employees and we get whatever is left, which is slim to none some days. Very frustrating.
New accounts - I doubt if we will ever run out of work again in our lives!!! Yes can have a backup
nm
Get ready to lose that backup account when there is no work on it....
They are doing more hiring and they always overhire...
I am beginning to think that you need a backup company most of the time anymore
because it seems most places just over hire and run you out of work.  I guess you are to be at their beck and call when there is work or no work.  Gets a little old and I am looking at working 2 places to cover this problem.  Gets old and tiresome being on call for someone to snap their fingers. Of course, you realize they have covered their buttinski.
Can anyone please tell me what companies hire p.r.n. status? Cleary, I'm going to need a backup
plan through all this BEFORE Jan. 1st.  Thank you!
Just hate whining and complaining when there are backup accts with plenty
nm
Someone crashed 1 of USMLSU's hosting servers, but we have 3 backup sites :)

There are people that definitely feel threatened by this show of solidarity and the discord with reason. 


Over the weekend one of the hosting company servers used by the Initiative (donated server space, bandwidth and email services to us) was hit with a SYN flood. The hosting company was rendered helpless for a few hours, because the attackers used lots of different IP addresses, but we have 3 other backup sites because we anticipated something like this.


They are afraid because we are all agreeing on many things that are wrong with our chosen industry.  They are afraid because they have mistreated and cheated many of us, and if we are not at each other's throats they are no longer in control of our futures.


I have seen more intelligent, informed posts on this board in the past month than ever in my many years of visiting this site.  I have faith in our joined strength and do believe that we are making a difference. 


Why else would a server hosting company have only ONE server attacked this weekend - the server that housed one of our 4 sites. 


The owners of WebHostPad are livid and bound and determined to prosecute the attackers.  We have angered some powers that be to the point that they are willing to destroy a local business to stop us?


Nah.  I don't think so.


Talk to your leads or call the main office to see if you can get a backup account...
I have been there for over a year too and have always had plenty of work...
And furthermore, you can see this hits a sore spot, this giving people backup accounts and then
you run out of them is also ridiculous. There you sit making less and less money and trying to learn multiple dictators and then guess what, that dries up.  Once you know that is what a company is doing, then you go to your alternate plans and never look back.  Sooner or later when MTs either decide no more or they get multiple jobs and they have to keep hiring and hiring which impacts their quality I am sure it will settle down.  At least, I would hope so although it doesnt seem to be right now.  Could be because of sending work offshore not sure.  All multiple backup accounts do is make it harder to make money and you have more problems with QA and your own quality because you just keep popping in and out of all these accounts that you really dont get to know that well.  Knowing an account well is the best way to go for quality and line count for sure, NOT multiple accounts.  All that does is help the MTSO keep the work caught up to the exact MINUTE. 
Thanks. I've only been there 3 months and was wondering. Asked for a high-volume backup. No reply
*
Another thing I do not understand with this business (sm)
is why they EXPECT us to know just about as much as a doctor - because we are supposed to be able to flag for mistakes and bring it to their attention, know the dosages of the medicines, etc., yet we get paid the least. Nurses cannot even spell half of the things we do, yet they are getting an astronomical hourly wage. If you cannot spell the medication or procedure, how do you know what to give the patient? How do you know if you are making a mistake on the dosage if you do not even know about the medication?

If these MTSOs want their reports to be correct, then they need to start paying accordingly. All of this information does not come cheap. I have spent money on schooling, buying reference books, keeping up to date with new medicines that come out. And for what? A measly 8 cents per line? Only to be told that I do not get paid for EVERYTHING I put in the report?

I feel that if my fingers touch the keys to put that information in - be it demographics, spaces, bold, underling, etc., then I should be getting paid for it. I did that work and should be compensated for it.

Also, if these companies want you know all of the medical field and not just a specialty, then they should be paying for the knowledge also. That is what happens in any other career out there. The more schooling and knowledge you have the more you get paid, yet this field is going backwards because of lack of respect and knowledge by the doctors/MTSOs of what we actually do.

Like I have said before, I would LOVE to see the doctors, nurses, and MTSO owners actually sit down and transcribe for a month and then talk to me about their paycheck. They have absolutely NO CLUE what goes on behind that dictaphone!
If you have ever owned a service business you wound understand that you cannot
budget for this type of fluctation in scheduling. That is why we are paid by by the line and not the hour. It is not that different from other industries. I worked in a temporary RN agency and if they no longer needed that RN for the rest of the shift they were sent home. We only required a 4-hour minimum, and if they got to work and were sent home they got 1 hour of travel time. A business cannot succeed by paying employees for not working.
Refuse? Ha! Ha! SM
I worked there for almost 2 years and there is no refusing mandatory OT. If they say OT, you work it. It was usually 1 or 2 hours a day.
If you would still refuse to get SM
your CMT after you've seen it's slowly becoming a requirement, then the only person who is keeping you from your livelihood is YOU.
Let's refuse to do it!

I have heard that companies pay the same whether it is VR or typing as well and I honestly think we should all just REFUSE to do it.  If nobody does it, what choice would they have?  They could of course recruit fresh newbies with no experience, but they would see quickly an MT needs good experience to correct and fix all of that junk that gets printed on there.


I refuse to allow a company to IM me.
I turn the stupid thing off when I am working because I do not want the distraction. If the boss has something important to say, then they can write or call, but don't think I was put on this earth so you can jot me little notes all day long.
I refuse to work on anything else.
Okay...once in a blue moon fill in with some FTP stuff but LOVE escription. :-)
You cannot live on that and i refuse to do it.
I have not done line pay ever and won't. Yes, I have bills to pay just like anyone else, but seeing my pay get cut because of the laziness of others (which I think is just an excuse--only a few I know ever abused hourly QA pay--actually not that many). Everyone I have ever worked with in QA no matter what company worked very hard. We worked together and I am telling you that if companies are giving you the reason that people abuse it, they are lying to you. They are just plain cheap and they found out that some companies got away with it so they are trying to do it. I said it on other posts, I hope they all go out of business because anyone who is worth their weight in gold will not take wages like that and the ones I know have all quit. We are trying to figure out what to do about it, but to be honest...we'd all rather do anything else but this in this industry that has no respect for any person alive.


If you refuse, you will find very little SM

work to do.  They'll tell you it's because you won't do VR, plenty of work there.


if there is work and you refuse to do wm
it unemployment can refuse you also. They don't care how much it is per line, that doesn't come into play.

There is a line though where you can draw a partial check if you make more than a certain amount.

Bottom line is, just because a company doesn't pay what you want it to doesn't mean there isn't work and that is all unemployment is concerned with.
I think we should refuse to do VR for that rate and tell them to....sm
.....send it to India!
Do you feel better now? !! Business is business, most of it should be confidential. Why post on a
x
I refuse to work for any company that
insists you use their computer and YOU have to pay for it.  I can't believe MTs companies to do this. 
Why I refuse to renew my CMT certification
This is from http://mtindia.info/news/latest/heartland-information-services-spryance-inc.-merge.html


(see ALL CAPS in second-to-last paragraph)


Heartland Information Services, Spryance, Inc., Merge Written by News Editor
Wednesday, 15 November 2006
Combined Companies Create Premier Outsourced Transcription Provider Heartland Information Services has merged with Spryance, Inc., forming one of the premier offshore transcription providers in the United States. Spryance shareholders will fund the purchase of Heartland Information Services from HCR ManorCare. The new combined company will be marketed under the Heartland Information Services brand.

Headquartered in Boston, Spryance provides transcription service to more than 175 hospitals and clinics across the country, utilizing 1,200 MTs in India. Heartland’s corporate headquarters is located in Toledo, Ohio, with work centers in Bangalore and Delhi, India. By combining companies, the new Heartland will have over 2,500 medical transcriptionists providing service to over 200 hospital and clinical customers.

Dennis Paulik, General Manager of Heartland, will become the President and CEO of the new combined company. Raj Malhotra, CEO of Spryance, will become Chairman of the Board of the combined companies. Joining Mr. Malhotra on the board will be Gene Barduson, Chairman and CEO, Alteer, Inc., Dennis Byerly, former CEO Third Millennium Healthcare Systems, Inc., Mahendra Patel, formerly with DEC, David Beecken, Partner, Beecken Petty O’Keefe & Company, and Thomas Schleisinger, Partner, Beecken Petty O’Keefe & Company.

“Combining the two companies creates synergies that will add value for customers,” says Dennis Paulik, President and CEO of the new Heartland Information Services. “For example, Heartland provides industry-leading quality and customer support and Spryance provides capacity and scalability.”

“The Spryance investors, led by Beecken Petty O’Keefe & Company and International Finance Corporation, provide the financial strength and resources for the new Heartland to grow rapidly,” adds Mr. Malhotra, Heartland Information Services Chairman of the Board.
...

American Association for Medical Transcription, in association with Prometric, announced the Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT) credentialing exam – a newly developed global ‘level-1’ credential in the arena of Medical Transcription. This program is aimed at helping the existing talent pool to scale up and meet the global standards and quality benchmarks. THE TWO ORGANIZATIONS ALSO ANNOUNCED A SPECIAL 'INDIA PRICE' FOR AAMT'S EXISTING CERTIFIED MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTIONIST (CMT) EXAM (emphasis mine).

Medical Transcription is a booming industry with exponential growth prospects and opportunities for committed players. While globally the industry potential is around USD 30-33 billion, in India it is around USD 300 million. Currently, there are around 18,000 medical practitioners in the country and this is expected to almost double within the next 2-3 years.
Stay at Precyse and refuse or don't do ASR and
consistently on both your primary and secondary accounts.  Then whatchagonna do? They're not real big on sharing work out of regions. 
Agree. I refuse to sit around and wait.
My family started a new business last year and I am just waiting for our client list to build and then I am jumping ship. No need to wait around until the worm turns when I could be making good money now, not siting around hoping that I will make decent money 10 years from now.
I was hired and started in 1 week. That is not a long set-up time. When I started with our local h
I needed to get a physical and go through orientation at the hospital which is only given two times per month. This is a 900-bed hospital, so it cannot be an unusual process. MQ took 2 weeks. KS took 1 week. SoftScript never got me started even after repeated calls and emails.

I have only been with KS for 9 months but would never put them in the same catagory as the others you mentioned. They are the best company I have worked for, and unfortunately, I have bounced around a little in the last 5 years.
I was hired and started in 1 week. That is not a long set-up time. When I started with our local h
I needed to get a physical and go through orientation at the hospital which is only given two times per month. This is a 900-bed hospital, so it cannot be an unusual process. MQ took 2 weeks. KS took 1 week. SoftScript never got me started even after repeated calls and emails.

I have only been with KS for 9 months but would never put them in the same catagory as the others you mentioned. They are the best company I have worked for, and unfortunately, I have bounced around a little in the last 5 years.