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Hi.  Where I am working is going to VR with Editscript.  Sounds like a bunch of  crapola what they are going to do to us, put us off an hourly wage plus incentive pay to only being paid incentive at half of the rate we make now, but the union contract runs out in July 2010, so I have until then to get my financial affairs in order.  I cannot believe what the services offer out there. I actually ran into one that paid you for every character you type. So if was a normal or a word Expander you would get paid for the actual keys you typed, not actually was on print on the page.  so if you typed "the patient"  as "tp" you only got credit for those two key strokes not the whole two words.  normals were paid by the Keystrokes actually used too.  Needless, to say better to stay put than go there.  I am tired of being outsourced and tired of being gyped. 

I always get a craving for candy corn this time of year!

Does anyone have any juicy gossip us MT's are forced to hear when docs forget to hang up the phone after dictating? 

Well, I had a 57 minute report to listen to once, coming from the surgeon's lounge.  Most of it was pretty boring - except when this one, young, cute surgeon was talking about how good it feels to put BenGay on his testicles!!!!   I kid you not people - this is what I heard. I thought I was going to fall off the chair.  And do you know, to this day, I cannot look that guy in the eye without envisioning that!!!  God help me!!   lol

Hello,

What are the kind of incentives provided for non-exempt employees paid by the hour - is it by number of reports or length (minutes) of reports edited?

Thanks,

Blue

what is the best way to get into coding?  I have thought about an online course. 

I'd really be interested to learn if there are any tips you 40k&up folks could share with those of us who are... more financially challenged.  What is your schedule like?  Do you log off every time you get up to get a cup of coffee, etc?  Obviously you don't spend your work days on message boards; do you have any tips for how to Stay Focused? 

Sorry if I sound ignorant; I have been doing this for many many years and still struggle with the same self-discipline issues I had way back when.  I'd love to hear from those who have actually made good money at this how they did it.  Thanks!

DO NOT WORK FOR TOTH TRANSCRIPTION.  They are a complete scam, and have screwed me out of 2 1/2 months of my life and have paid me less than 20 dollars.  Warning to any new grads out there, do not under any circumstance accept a position with TOTH TRANSCRIPTION.  The management/ownership is terrible, rude, inappropriate and THEY WILL NOT PAY YOU!

Over the course of a few years, I have ended up with 2-3 extra wav pedals.  I thought of maybe trying to sell them cheaply on eBay, but I have no idea what brand they are.  I have looked on the bottom and can find nothing, and one of them is still in the box and just looks kind of generic (I was supposed to use it for Medscribe but then decided not to stay.)

Any help is greatly appreciated.   

I'm an independent contractor and have just lost an orthopaedic clinic account to EMR.  Also, I've been sending out hundreds of letters for new accounts, and I'm hearing nothing back! 

Is our profession (clinic work) drying up?  This is getting very scary!

Could someone either (1) comfort me with "it's not true" news and there's more than enough clinic work out there to go around, or if you find that it is, indeed, drying up, write back and tell me of your experience.

Thank you `` Nancy in Alpharetta, Georgia

If anyone can help me.  I am working for a Dr. that uses naturally speaking pro 8.  I have downloaded the main disc onto my computer, but it will not let me access his files.  If anyone can help with getting this set up, I would really appreciate the help.  Supposedly, I am supposed to be able to open his files with my pc.  Thanks for any help I can get!!

Sharon

I'm tired of suddenly getting email messages from people I email all the time announcing that they have a new process for ME to go through so that I can be "approved" to send email messages to them. 

I got this notification after sending an email to a short list of friends and relatives.  It wanted me to verify who I was and why I was sending mail to them and verify the numbers I was seeing on the screen and verify my name and my email address. 

Maybe it seems trivial but I think it is ridiculous.  What's next?  Will we have to get "approval" to send something in the mail? 

I understand blocking spam but really now, these people know who I am.  I maintain MY list of people, why can't they?

Thx for listening!

I would recheck on that info. I know that you can deduct some expenses as an employee at home, albeit they are much more limited due only being able to claim that amount above 2% of adjusted gross income (I think that's the figure).  I am going to try to give you a link here that also has links to IRS forms and info that tells you what forms to use and where to enter things...I'm not a tax expert by any means! but the way I understand it, if you own your home you still take the mortgage interest, taxes, etc. but on schedule A you figure out your expenses such as all your equipment, office supplies, and everthing and anything, such as desks, chairs, computer, router, curtains for your windows of your office, you can think of related to your home office and not reimbursed by your employer, and then transfer that to the 1040.  If you rent, I would ask about taking your percentage of office under "otherwise nondeductible expenses" along with the % of your utilities, etc. because that is an expense to you!! I would think and a considerable one at that! and it might make some difference to you depending on how much you make and how big your apartment is.  Your supplies, equipment, etc. are also added in and also subject to the 2% rule as an employee working at home.

Employees working from home really get the old kick in the pants, and if you make a lot of money, you probably will not have expenses to exceed the 2%, so you just get to suck it up.  I also am taking a picture of my office to include in my taxes, in case there are questions later. I was still able to do self-employed taxes last year, but somewhere I read recommending to do that in case of audit. I just try to be very honest in everything I claim (buying a $3000 leather couch for your office might throw up a flag, but, hey! if it's really in your office and you need it so you can get out of your chair and sit on to to review work reports, maybe you could do it, if you could afford it!

Anyway, I don't know what your situation is, and as I said, I'm no tax expert by any means, but that's my take on it, but please get some more information about this just in case you are able to do this. I had a similar situation this year in figuring our taxes where my husband (an employee) had to spend a bunch of money out of our pockets for special clothing and equipment that he was not reimbursed for and we could not claim due to the 2% rule. Employees really get stiffed on this! I told him next year, he better be asking them to come up with a budget for that kind of thing, as I didn't think we should have had to foot that kind of bill for a project that they wanted him to do and that he had to have special items for!

Hope this helps, and good luck to you!

I was using a Microsoft Office keyboard and it finally died on me. I am having trouble finding a new one that I like. I have tried the split ones and do not like those at all. I am 5'10" and have long fingers, thus a wide hand span. Has anyone out there found a keyboard that is more user friendly for us long-fingered folks? Thanks!!!!

Is there anyone out there redictating their reports with Dragon Naturally Speaking? I am seriously thinking about trying this but wondering if I need to spend the big bucks to get the medical version or if I can just get the standard or preferred version and teach it the medical words myself. I know that it would probably take some time to get used to it and get all of the words in there, but there is no speech recognition on my employer's end for my accounts and my hands are oh so tired. I would love to be able to get speech recognition working for me so I could even just get a little break for my hands. Thanks for any help you can give!!

Does anyone one possibly have a PDF file with the operating instructions for a C-phone.  Please.

Thanks in advance

In all the years I have been an MT, I have never been without work and have never NOT been able to find someone hiring. This is ridiculous.  I have even looked for local in-house jobs and...NADA, NOTHING!!

Okay people, I say we ALL write our local newspapers and get this information out about outsourcing medical records overseas.  People will seriously think about it.  We need someone with GREAT writing skill to make us an email we can copy and forward and sign our name to. We NEED to all vote on the best and do and see what happens. We have an opinion column in our local news paper and many, many people read it. I think some would be surprised at this information and it would catch on greatly. Who is a good writer, please let me know?  This is a scarry situation for our jobs and the SECURITY of our information being let out of the great United States of America.  Lets go people.  Go, write on.  I want a good, short and sweet explanation of what is going on in reality.  Thank you  

SRS

I have done this before and for the life of my I cannot remember how I did it. Can someone help me out?  Okay.  This new doctor would like heading and numbers under each heading.  He wants me to tab over from the number to begin typing and the words to sort of "wrap" so that the second line would not return to under the number.  I will try to show it here.

Treatment:

1.     The patient will ____________________________

        the rest of the sentence would continue under the words "The patient.