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jerks about collecting on it, such as taxes or medical bills.  However, when the shoe's on the other foot, do you think they pay up in a timely manner?  We're owed tax money from 2002 that we're still waiting for.  There was some kind of mixup with the IRS, so we had to pay the taxes or they threatened us with collection.  I had to file an amended return to get our money back from their mistake.  The amended return was received over six months ago.

The medical company owes me a refund from a year ago because they forced me to make payments and threatened me with collection on my account.  They are the ones that didn't provide documentation or follow up with the insurance company.  I had to do it for them!  I should be happy that I'm even getting my own money back, but I need it today.  Even the bank messed up on me last night.  We made a car payment by check that got taken out through ACH electronic check processing and they deposited the check, too.  They got a double car payment from us because of their mistake.  It's going to take the bank two days to research it and process the credit on my account.  I don't think so!  These people need to cough up MY money NOW!

About 180 EarthLink employees in Atlanta will lose their jobs as the Internet provider completes a move to outsource customer service and technical support telephone lines.

EarthLink cut 1,300 call center employees in 2003 and another 1,300 in 2004 as it began farming out the work to call centers in India and the Philippines.

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The latest cuts eliminate the use of EarthLink employees to handle customer calls, said spokesman Dan Greenfield.

The job cuts will take place between August and September. Greenfield said EarthLink would provide severance pay based on seniority as well as assistance in finding new jobs.

EarthLink will be left with 1,020 employees in Atlanta and 1,800 nationally.

Using overseas call centers instead of American employees saves money, the company said.

When the plan to use outside vendors was first announced, Garry Betty, EarthLink's chief executive, said the company was "making hard decisions that are necessary to ensure the ongoing viability of our company."

On Monday, Greenfield said that the latest cuts were needed "to allow us to compete in a very dynamic marketplace."

The overseas call centers handle both customer service and technical support questions.

Hubby and I are thinking of going south for the first time this coming winter.  I've found some sublets with internet access, mostly wireless, one wired.  My work uses DocQScribe and internet based.   I use a desktop computer for work but have a laptop capable of the job. 

Have any of you done this?  If so, what was your experience?  Any tips or precautions as far as wireless internet security?  At home we have a wired network with a hardware firewall/router so no experience with wireless.  I'm not high tech but not a complete novice either.

As for paying bills and accessing cash in a different locale, did you use online banking and ATMs or some other method?  I confess some hesitation about online banking even though most of my friends and neighbors have used it for years!

Thanks to anyone who can help. 

We are proud to announce that MTStars has crossed the limit of 1.5 million page views for the month of March, 2007 delivering 2.8 Gigs/day (average) content to our visitors.

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I have to buy a new transcriber. I have a choice between a Sanyo minicassette or a Phillips minicassette. Do you have any opinions on either of these? Repairs records, voice quality, ease of use, etc. All opinions are much appreciated.

Around the house, in the yard, with the family, work, housework.  I'm not trying to start a flame war, but I was trying to see how motivated I am, I guess.  I always feel like I don't get enough done in a day, but there's not enough time.  I figured it out last night, and I need 13 hours without interruptions to get work, housework, kids, and everything else done.  The problem is that I always get interrupted.  Then I hear these stay at home mothers at the school talking about what they do (or don't do) in a day.  Am I being too hard on myself?

Anyway, I've been up for five hours.  I showered, woke up the kids, cooked breakfast, made lunches, took the kids to school, worked my parttime shift, stripped beds, did three loads of laundry, watered the garden, balanced the checkbook, paid some bills, did dishes, fed the pets, cooked lunch for a sick kid, set up some new software on the computer, and now I'm trying to figure out what else needs to be done for the day.

xx

hoping to find a decent one at a reasonable price.  Please post if you have one for sale or have a good web site.

Thanks!

Forty-five minutes was or were spent with the patient.

The patient is a 46-year-old patient of Dr. Smith or Smith's with stage IV breast carcinoma 

You can answer in your subject line.  Talking about gross annual income:

1)  $20,000 to $30,000

2)  $30,000 to $40,000

3)  $40,000 to $45,000

4)  $45,000 to $50,000

5)  $50,000 and up

6)  $60,000 and up

MT work - IC or employee or MTSO, even QA work could be included here. 

I have been unable to access, since last night, a website (Weightwatchers.com) and/or its forums that I go to regularly. I have friends that are able to access it so I am wondering what I might need to do to "clean things out" on my computer in order to get back to the web site.

TIA.

Okay, I am ready to start out with my own "company". I don't want the inconvenience of tapes yet the equipment to setup my own dial-up service is prohibitively expensive.  Does anyone provide cost effective services where I can offer a 800 dial up service?  OR, any rental options? Is anyone using this kind of service?  What does it cost? Thanks. 

      You QA in your post, I quote:

' ..I will see the patient in 2-day's time. NOPE, and this pisses me off! BOTH the hyphen and the apostrophe are wrong. ...'

The apostrophe is in the wrong place, I agree, but why do you want to delete the hypen?  It should read: 

 I will see the patient in 2-days' time. 

 I am VERY positive that the hyphen has to stay in, as it is a modification to 'time'. 

Hey gang !   Today I went my family's podiatrist for  the first time for an ingrown toenail.  As soon as the doc sat down with me, and saw my chart, he commented on my occupation of "transcriptionist".   Within 30 minutes I left his office minus an ingrown toenail, and plus a new account doing his transcription ! 

And this is going to be a lucrative account - 20-25 office notes per day, x 6 days a week.  Yippee !

Question - how do you guys bill your private docs for office notes?  He said some notes are only 1 paragraph, while some can be 2 pages.  Doc said he'd prefer to pay by the page. So should I charge a 1/4 page price, 1/2 page, full page?  How would you guys handle office note charges ?   I will be emailing the files, btw. 

Thanks !

I had to unplug my Lanier to rearrange my office. When I plugged it back in, nothing worked. I tried unplugging it again for more than ten minutes...no help. The little window says Sta. Standing By.

For all the people that have laptops would you advise to own a laptop as the only means of a computer to work from home to make a living?  It almost makes sense to have 2 computers just in case one of them needs repaired.  As my first computer to own and work on would it be best to have the desktop and tower for now for dependability.  Sorry if the questions sound lame.  Thanks for the help.

Hello.  A local surgery hosptial is hiring im my area. I've been transcribing psych and technical material for 6 years. Anyone know of good web sites for daily surgical transcription, what to expect in common surgeries and any resources for surgery brush up?

Thanks

Can anyone tell me how to monitor whether making a whole report macro is worthwhile?  I have quite a few, but I cannot decide if it is worth it or not.  I end up having to make changes and delete things.  Often seems like kind of a toss up and wonder if anyone has any guidelines for this or has experiemented with any specific result.

Thanks for any help you can give me! 

I have been doing transcription now for a while, under five years, for a national.  How long do you all think it will be until it is a completely a speech recognition technology? My national is definitely trending towards the speech recognition and I just wonder how long it will be until it is totally that platform, and before hospitals and other nationals as a whole start using it mainstream.  Medical editing doesn't seem like it will be very lucrative as transcription has been in the past.

This is a question for those of you who are familiar with the history of medical transcription.

When was the QA process started?  Who started it?  Why aren't doctors and other report dictators put through a QA process?  Are there other points about the history of QA for which I have not posed a specific question here?  Please feel free to share whatever history you know.

Why do I need to know?  Well, I don't need to know, but I am just really curious.  While I may write a fictional story about an MT who murders a dictating clinician, I'm not sure if I would include the background information in the story.

As far as I can recall, none of these issues were covered in the Career Step course that I completed 3 years ago.

TIA,

If it is dictated The patient is a 1(+) plus 5-year-old girl

How exactly is that typed and what exactly does it mean?

TIA for any help!

I don't see a board for increasing productivity.  I usually just post questions on the main board but think I will get more information if I post questions on the board specifically for productivity.

TIA

Yahoo had an article about careers that you can "do from home to earn $30K to $70K.....I KNEW the MT biz would be on there.    Although I don't agree with everything folks say regarding the eventual decline and demise of the profession, this particular snippet could be a reason why things are going in the downhill direction.  I'll highlight my favorite parts! 

Medical Transcriptionist

The job of medical Transcriptionist involves a lot of listening and typing. Medical transcriptionists listen to doctor's notes on a headset and type out the information, editing for clarity when necessary. Their duties might include medical discharge orders, autopsy reports, referral letters, consultation notes, and the like. The medical transcriptionist must have a good working knowledge of medical jargon and the ability to convey information with the utmost accuracy.

To become a medical transcriptionist, an associate's degree or one-year diploma from a medical transcriptionist training program is recommended. Being familiar with medical jargon is a plus.

Salary: Medical transcriptionists brought home a salary of $31,250 per year in 2007.