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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

your short-term experience is why - 5 is nothing in the field. NM

Posted By: anonabon on 2009-03-20
In Reply to: Can you e-mail me the company you got hired with? - No where near 10 cpl.

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I think if you have short-term disability
as a benefit with a company, that covers maternity leave.  I
short term benefits
I work for Transcend/MDI and I got short term benefits for my maternity leave for six weeks. It worked out great. If you have short term disability where you work now then you can take six weeks and get paid for it. I hope this helps.
Wow . . . I probably should have said short term disability.
nm
For short-term disability to pay, you have
to be signed up for it, at least where I work.
I agree with the short-term person..

It seems like I only get the worst of the worst dictators from the hospital.  I see other "American" names but have never seen them dictate.  I get nothing but ESL or very poor dictators.  I do think they take nothing but overflow work also on certain accounts. 


I also  agree that they over-hire.  I have not been able to make full-time lines in the last 6 pay periods--never any work during the day, and when there is, it is the crappy (maybe leftover) stuff that no one else wants to do. 


QA is not that nice, and even though they know we get all the crappy dictators, they have told us that we are sending too much to QA and that until QA catches up because we are not figuring out our own problems, we cannot be assigned to any new accounts.  I already have 4 but still not enough work.  I am relatively new so decided to tough it out and wait to see if maybe there is more work later.


I don't HATE Webmedx, but they do have some problems that you may want to stay away from. 


Just my opinion...


WMX short term disability question (sm)
Sent a question to HR about this, but still haven't heard.  Don't have much PTO and will be needing a surgery in the not too distant future.   Does anyone know if our short term disability will help with this?
My short experience

I have only worked for national companies for 4 years.  


Softscript:  Extremely rigid schedule and not very willing to bend even for family issues.  They only allowed 2 flexes per month.


Currently, I work for a company under Spheris with very low work load right now.  I am seriously wondering about the future of the MT??     


Opinion? its a legal labor term - not a generic term for quibbling.
x
Getting out of this field -
It's just a matter of time before my company sends works oversees, and I REFUSE to correct Indian, Irish, Phiillipino, or any other foreigners work for half my pay.  It's just a matter of time before this all blows up.  Let them figure it out.  If they want us Americans back - they will have to PAY big time!  I'm looking into another field as well.
I'm obviously in the field too...
I've never seen all of these so-called problems you are talking about and I do plenty of those same reports everyday as well.  Slippage occurs when someone with a Lap-Band decides to eat so much they force themselves to vomit.  It's extremely rare.  I'm willing to take the risks rather than be morbidly obese and hardly living as it is.
I don't think it's just this field

I think it's human nature.  I used to hang out on the General Hospital board on ABC.com (I'm a soap opera geek) and it amazed me at how nasty some of those women would be to other posters who weren't quite up to snuff.  I've seen all out board wars develop.  If it was a full moon and I was PMSing, I enjoyed the spectacle, but most of the time I got a little disgusted with them.  Don't even get me started on how nasty it got before the election.  


I do get surprised at some of the negativity that is posted here, but I can understand how it's hard to be really super positive in today's world. 


You know what's going on in this field, right?
This is how MTSOs are going to squeeze ALL American MTs out of the field. We are an 'unnecessary' expense for them. They don't care about quality transcription. They care about driving quality cars and living in quality homes in quality neighborhoods. And who cares about the client, and screw the worker. The sooner they can price us out of the field, the sooner they can ALL go 100% to India.

If they do that, I think it should be mandatory that they, TOO, must leave the U.S. Set up their godforsaken offices in INDIA, and move there themselves. It's a travesty to our country that these MAGGOTS feel they even deserve to live here.
Maybe I should not even use the term ESL

Maybe I should have said horrible dictators, because some of the ESL guys are not that bad honestly.  It just happens that they used a horrible dictator with bad audio for the transcribing portion of the test.  You do have to think $$ these days, no matter who you transcribe for.  If you are on let's say an Ortho account, and there are horrible dictators there (ESLs and all) that it interferes with your income.  You are making $30,000/year - while on a previous Ortho account you know you were making over $40,000/year.  Honestly, aren't you going to look for a more profitable account??  You can be the best MT in the world, but it is still the dictator's responsibility for what prints out, isn't it.  Accurate garbage is still accurate garbage.  Is it profitable?  We really do work for the paychecks - not the doctor, the company, or even the patient for that matter.  If not, then you should be volunteering.


So that it narrows down the field when they look into

It really shouldn't be that hard to find out which female MLS started 4 months ago with 15 years experience and is making 10 cpl, since 10 cpl is NOT a normal starting wage at Transcend.  You are aware that discussing your wages is ground for termination, right?  You really have to be careful when trying to get those referral bonuses that you give accurate information.


That is the problem with the MT field...

Everyone is always bickering and knows it all.  I am by no means a recruiter.  I was just reading the posts, had been there myself, and thought I would offer some friendly advice, but some people think they know everything and try to discourage others from something good.  Sad world today.  Sad people.


Disgrace to the whole field!
x
I have been in this field for 17 years sm
and am still working one job IC for 8 cents, just because I like the company.  Only made 8 cents on my last full-time job, but did have benefits.  You can sometimes make more on an easy clinic account at 8 cents, than an acute care job at 10 cents.  Count your blessings.
I could have written this myself. I'm looking into a new field. nm
x
Finding another field
My heart goes out to all you Heartlanders along with all the others in all fields who  have lost jobs to cheap overseas labor.  It looks like there is soon going to be absolutely NO JOBS for Americans.  Seems all the jobs that can't be offshored are considered jobs Americans won't do or there aren't enough qualified people,  the dandy explanations for greedy corporate America hiring illegals, or what is it?  HR2 visas? to fill the jobs that can't be exported.  America is in a world of hurt and God help those trying to raise children and give them a better life than you have, which is the true American Dream.
It is just a different field to break into now...
I have only been an MT for 4-1/2 years, and I am happy to hear that you found a job that you are happy with and making a good wage at.

However, to say that because MTs are not happy has something to do with their skills does an injustice to hardworking MTs. There are some of us who do 12-hour days, too.

The field is totally different that what it used to be. You can ask a majority of seasoned MTs, and they will tell you that wages are going down and the cost of benefits is becoming outrageous. It can take you almost 2 weeks to earn enough money to pay for family insurance. Couple that MTSOs who are making contracts with companies for acute care work when they have only hired transcriptionists with clinic experience, and you have some very overstressed MTs just trying to make a living. I have felt since starting I am being pushed to gain 10 years experience for each year I work. Some days you just wake up, go to work, and you are on a totally different account, totally different work type, and totally different part of the country with no warning.

Since starting in this profession, I have worked on over 20 different accounts in all areas of the country. Not only have I been required to learn medical transcription (and I have done all report types right through the OP notes), I have had to learn umpteen physician groups, hospitals in those areas, nursing homes, drug stores, county social service units...you name it.

I have consistently good quality scores, and I usually work at least 1-1/2 times my required production. I have been with my company close to 3 years, work nights and holidays, and have given up more family time than I care to consider. However, I just saw an ad where my employer is offering 10 cpl to do discharge summaries while I am doing consults for a clinic no one in the company wants to touch because of the difficulty factor, and they will not raise me above 7.5 CPL.

On top of that, I had to darn near beg today to have a technical problem taken care of that was preventing me from working. It was a 2-minute fix that took almost 40 minutes to resolve because our customer service kept telling me I wasn't even working as I had no jobs checked out and my boss kept switching her MSN messenger to say she was busy or away.

Do I feel disrespected and underpaid? YUP!

That is my reality.
yes, but when you have to go from field 1 to 20 it's "faster" to use
x
From out of left field....
Sent my resume to, received an email from, and then a telephone interview with Landmark. They made me a very nice offer which piqued my interest, so I went with them instead of either Superior Global or Diskriter.

Thanks so much for all of the advice on SGS and DR. I was seriously debating between the two when the Landmark offer dropped into my lap.

I started today and so far everyone has been fantastic. I'll keep everyone posted.

Thanks again!!!
"I have been in this field for over 3 decades..."
BUSTED!!!!
medical term

"Palpation over the muscular tissues reveals mild tenderness in the bilateral paraspinals (s/l: clavatus or quivatus, and spiro-glineal) region."  I can't figure it out and am hoping someone out there will give it a shot!  The words in parentheses aren't words I know, they just sound like what he's saying.  TIA.


medical term
It could be gluteal. I thought of that too, but just can't figure out what he's saying before that if it is gluteal. S/l spiro or could be superior......don't hear left or right unfortunately. thanks very much.
What do you mean by no long-term QA

Do you want no QA department at all? Do you want to not have to have your work checked all the time? I'm not sure what you mean.


Difficulty with a term
This s/l D-timer and is a test done to r/o pulmonary embolus.
Any help appreciated.
ESL is a relative term.
Just because they have an accent doesn't make them any more difficult to do than the average Joe.  JMHO. 
Oh my. You actually use that term enough to need an expander?
nm
Ooh! A new term. What is a squid? (nm)
.
Well, that's what we do. It's an appropriate term. At least its better than typist. nm

nm


"Transcribers" is NEVER an appropriate term
A transcriber is a machine. A Transcriptionist is a person. They, and we, should always remember the difference.
when you use the term "Indian"..

or any ethnicity within a derogatory connotation, it most certainly is racist.  Go check your dictionary for the definition. 


No, I think whatever it is, it's far more serious and long-term
I don't think it's just an overhiring spree, to be perfectly honest. I think there's something else going on.

Too many MTs on too many different accounts, all with no or minimal work, ICs suddenly having to chain themselves to their computers 24/7 hoping for work to show up, no explanation for the lack of work, total silence from the powers that be.

Scarily, it sounds very similar to what our fellow MTs at the Q went through.

I'm not saying they're offshoring but I am saying their lack of any explanation, lack of any response to emails from MTs, and that ludicrous email this morning all kind of point toward SOMETHING being askew.

I don't want to be a sitting duck so I'm applying elsewhere at this point. No matter how great they have been in the past, their behavior over the past month or so has left me VERY skeptical about the future with them.
I could never figure that term out myself.

Does management really not realize that if you run out of work on your primary account and have to work on 3, 4, or 5 different accounts that are unfamiliar and sometimes all on different platforms, that in itself is limiting?  I've done this so many times I can't even begin to count them.  I'm lucky if I make $8 an hour doing this, and the ONLY way it would help me reach my needed rate to qualify for full-time benefits is if I do it 15 hours a day!  How is this 'self-limiting?' If you're THAT familiar with your backup accounts where you're making what you do on your primary, you're running out of work consistently and this would make what they say about it being occasional an inconsistency.


The term *stagger*
is such BS. Do they stagger for us? Anymore staggering and we won't be able to walk aka function.
probably don't even know what the term means...
and you couldn't take advice from anyone, as you think you are just too perfect. you're right and everybody else is wrong. the world revolves around you, you, you. cold, heartless, compassionless, unempathetic you.
I am 30 years old and have been in the medical field since
I was 19.  My first 3 years I worked as a certified medical assistant and then I fell into transcription and I have 8 years of experience as an MT.  Can I ask why all the personal questions, not that I mind answering?
Just so you know - the subject is a limited field. SM
If you hit Post Quick Reply, put a little bit of text in the subject, SM for see message, and then put the rest in the box below.

Just trying to be helpful!
In our field of work, its never been openly
shared with the MTs what the status of accounts are, etc. Only time we hear things about account specs is when an account/client is unhappy or after they are gone. I've been in this industry for 30 years, and its never changed. The company who lost the client is not going to give you advance notice - its not to their benefit, and its naive to think they would tell you in advance. And as far as contacting the account and trying to work for the new company - think about it. An account often leaves a MT service due to quality issues - like they think the work stinks. So most times the account wants less than nothing to do with the old MTs on the account. If the client was all that happy about the MTs, chances are good they would not dump the service. I have known few accounts who took on old MTs, at least permanently. Sometimes they will screw the MTs as well and take on the old MTs just to get the account up and running with their company, and then all of a sudden, BAM, they don't need you anymore. Its the nature of our industry. And clients come and go and come and go all the time. I've lost many an account, and thought it was the end of my career, only to get a new account and be comfie for a few years. I'm not trying to belittle your upset - I understand. Just trying to point out the flip side and that you should get used to it. We MTs have to look out for ourselves. No company is gonna help us out these days - probably in all industries. Good luck!
Ummm, ever see the original MT ID field?
.
It's exactly this attitude that is allowing the MT field to go -
.
There's not much of a "choice" anymore in the MT field -
Then of course exploitation, cooking the books, cheating on lines paid, etc. etc. can run rampant because the left hand never knows what the right hand is doing.

So working at home is NOT 100% 'voluntary'. I'll quit my at-home job in a minute if I can find a full-time, benefitted inhouse job.
She can get better help at Spheris, but this field is dying. We all need
NM
Hostility in the transcription field

Hello everyone, I have been reading the posts on this board for the last couple of weeks.  Most of the postings are helpful, but there are some who just break out into an all out war with one another.  I have not been able to tell if it is the majority or not yet.  Why do you think that is?   


 


Do you think this field makes you feel that you have to compete one another?  Do you think that is because of the isolation?  Working at home is isolation, but even in a hospital setting you are isolated.  Let's face it, we have those earplugs stuck in our ears all day.   We have the ongoing pressure that we have to get our line count, or more.  Do you find that there is a lot of hostility in this field, or is it just because we are women?  Do you think it might be that we feel unappreciated?  We were even told by a coder, at the hospital I worked at, that we were nothing more than glorified typists.


 


Let's face it, with the amount of time that it takes to master this occupation we could have all had a degree in something.  Some of you already have.  If you work by the line - if you have the experience, the typing skills, use your abbreviation expander, and have a steady work flow - you can make a decent living - but based on the typing skills, work flow, etc. etc. it is not a guarantee.  That is a lot of pressure when you think about it.  That is a different kind of pressure than other jobs.  I am not trying to be negative, I just noticed that there seems to be a lot of hostility and I noticed that at the hospital, where I worked, for 15 years also.  I got along with everyone I worked with.  In order to be able to get along with the transcribers I use to work with, I had to become very thick-skinned, because basically they were just mean.   Has anyone else noticed this?  Do you think it is the job?  What do you think?  I am not attacking the transcription field, just something I have noticed over the years.       


 


 


The field of medical transcription

Why isn't there anything that we can do as transcriptionists to make our profession stable again?  I take this career seriously because I NEED full-time work.  There are so many companies out there that are using this forum to really take advantage of the members here and elsewhere.  I recently interviewed for a company who actually had the audacity to expect me to work for a week before being put on the payroll, and this was after extensive testing.  I have over 20+ years in this industry and thought that I had seen it all.  This encounter  nearly created a hardship because I would have had to give up another position.  When you apply for a TRANSCRIPTION job, unless discussed prior, you should be given a Transcriptionist job and not have editing at 4 cpl be given as your put up or get out.


Just my opinion, but I believe that MTStars should screen their employers before allowing them to post.  The content and frustration seen in the posts can attest to that.  We are real people who need to have an income.  If I was doing this for just extra money or wanted to be home with my kids it would be another story.  But this a matter of survival here. 


Thanks for listening!


Medical Transcription Field

Thank you for your response.  I have found that when a name of the company is mentioned in a negative way, the post disappears.  I am not a newbie at this, in fact, I worked for one of the major companies who actually tried to recruit me (for extra time after my QA job) to search the board to find out if any current MTs were complaining, etc.  I, of course, refused and luckily did not suffer any repercussions because of it.  I feel that this board is valuable and should not be abused, but you must be careful whose name you mention and in what way.  I am beginning to feel it is a never-ending battle to stay employed in this field with some of the stunts some are pulling.  A recent one was a degree in medical transcription?  I guess there possibly is such a thing now, but what are the rest of us experienced MTs supposed to do - lay down and die?  Where I live the majority of major hospitals including the one I currently work for are either outsourcing or cutting wages down, so many of us fall victim.


Thank you for just letting me have my say.


I'm so sick of this field. Supplement (sm)
your income. Find a way. First work volumes are low. Now pay is cut. And we're making more than ever! Did you know that? Do you feel like you are?
Do it because it's the best thing for you both now and in the long term. SM
I agree that having the knowledge that you're not alone would be comforting, but the bottom line is all of us need to have the attitude of be willing to do what it takes regardless of whether others do or don't see the importance of taking action. Actually, I see that in your post. You have already made the decision that you have to move on. So take heart, because there are plenty of positions out there with companies who are not selling our profession out from under us, and the ones that don't put off doing what needs to be done are the ones that will fill all of the currently available positions. That's where we all need to concentrate on being, i.e., with companies that realize we are the ones that provide them with the service they market. Without us, they have nothing. For sure, it won't happen over night, but the accounts will eventually have to follow the work force. They will have to look to the companies that can provide them with the service they need. That's not wishful thinking, that's reality. Everyone needs to take the attitude of supporting the companies that support us and our profession regardless of how many others do or don't follow suit. It starts right here with me and with you.

True, if as a profession we don't stand together on this, what the few of us do will make no difference in the overall scheme of things, but it will make a difference to me and to everyone else that takes these necessary steps to know that we refused to help some company owner or corporate board get rich off of our skills while they were busy working behind our backs to do us in. If we're going to have to be looking for different work in the future, I see no reason to help make those that would put us in that position get rich in the process. They intend to eventually take our livelihoods away from us. I think we should take theirs now while we still can and give it to those who will support us.
ESL is a relative term. We all know Dr. Joe EFL can be far worse! nm
nm
Not OSI MT, but term venture capitalist SM
has been used a lot lately in reference to MT companies. My own company has venture capitalist, or is it vulture capitalists?

Only speculation on my part, but are these Indian investors who want an American MT company, then eventually move said company to India? Or wherever?

I supposed none of it really matters, I am just curious. Am I the only person who wonders about this?