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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

ABSOLUTELY I'm ready to strike!

Posted By: I'd do it in a heartbeat. on 2008-08-27
In Reply to: Are you ready to strike (with no income) - ????????? NM

MT's would be hard to unite, but that doesn't make it impossible.


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Are you ready to strike (with no income)

Is anyone willing to strike when an agreement is not met (higher wages, etc)?  I doubt it.  Most are living paycheck to paycheck as it is.


I hate to be a pessimist, and this will be my last post on this subject, but sad to say most of us can't even get along on this board, do you really think we could come together to form a union? 


There was another post about someone trying and no one showing up.  I guess they had to stay home and type...  Good luck though...  I truly mean that..


Absolutely and my 2 teens are ready also. sm
I have a Senior in HS and a Freshman in HS who both are board, finished their summer reading, tired of the swim club, been to the beach for 3 weeks, and they are now vamping up for their summer camps, VB and football. They both said yesterday, they are board and their brain needs stimulation.

I on the other hand, can't wait to have my space back. I sometimes feel "my space" is invaded and don't have a spot to call my own. No matter what room in the house I go into, someone is there or follows me in, especially the kitchen.

Can't wait for school to start, but on the other hand, am not that anxious as they will be 1 more year toward being on their own and leaving the house for good - college and everything. That is scary!
Let's go on strike.
Bombard the board of directors with our complaints. We need to be heard!
Go on strike???
That will just give them more reasons to ship the work all overseas because those people are so "grateful" to have the jobs. The company won't be hurting, but we will when we don't have any money coming in to pay the bills.
on strike
All I know is about 10 years ago, I made what I considered "good" money working for a small company (for a year).  THEN, the company was bought by a corporation (which shall remain nameless) and our salaries dropped by 1/3 to 1/2 -- and there was just a helpless feeling of not knowing what to do about it.  What do you do when it's a take it or leave it attitude?  I always wondered if it is so cheap to do work overseas, what isn't any of that savings coming back to the American MT.  Give us a raise with all that savings.  I also wonder why they act like they think it is considered a benefit of the job to work at home.  Look at all they must save on having us do that.  None of us have raised a fuss, so they can get away with just about anything.  What does AAMT exist for?
strike
I can't agree more.   It is the large corporations like MQ who have the reputation of hiring MTs at a very low line rate, hire more MTs than they can provide work for and then still have the nerve to overbill the clients.  Go figure.
on strike
You are so right in all that you say.  I've been a rad trans for 30 years and I've watched the pay scales go down instead of up.  I truly wish there were something we as a group could do to fight the corporations.  And to add insult to injury, some companies advertising for rad trans are paying by the report!  Anybody who does transcription and gets paid per report is only encouraging this trend.  Yes, I know, you have to work to live but if everyone stopped working for places like this and held out for a better position, we might all be better off.  Pay per report is a slap in the face.  I work for a teaching hospital on the west coast and often times transcribe 10-12 page neurointerventional reports.  And I'd be farther ahead to get paid $1.50 for the report?  Give me a big fat break.
I'm in for a 1 day strike
I'm not unhappy with my job - but am disgusted with what has happened to transcription. If we can get enough involved - I do believe that it would have an affect or is it effect (LOL). Let those making the money figure that one out for a day.
so when are we going to go on strike?
nm
strike
There's nothing selfish about demanding a living wage, and there's certainly nothing selfish about organizing your fellow employees so that they can all reap the benefits of a living wage as well. If we let the current troubles beat us into submission, and then we let the good times lull us into submission...when exactly *do* we ask for what we need?
20 years as an MT - now I am on strike...sm

After 20+ years as an IC I have seen my salary go down, down, down! Not because my speed has decreased, no, it has in fact increased dramatically due to the availability of shorthand programs. No, my salary has gone since the inception of AAMT and their "standards" and practices. The organization that was going to help MT's become more respected has done the opposite. Yes, there were doctors out there who initially thought of me as a "typist" but I quickly showed them the difference between a typist and a "medical transcriptionist" (medical language specialist). Some of them were unwilling to pay for the difference, but most were pleased to pay a bit more for someone who knew when he was making a mistake and was willing to call and get it right. Today, however, the large MT companies have driven the IC out of business. They offer 4-hour turn around at ridiculously low rates. Many of these companies outsource to India, Pakistan, the Philippines, etc. Some of the outsourced work is done perfectly. Most is not. I am hearing this from office managers who cannot convince the business owners that it is "cheaper" to have the transcription done correctly the first time rather than have more time (money) spent doing QA.


Most of my work has been for large radiology clinics. Conglomerates that own upwards of 100 to 200 radiology clinics across the country own these clinics. The bottom line with management is the "bottom line". Their bonuses and hefty salaries are dependent on keeping costs down...therefore cheap transcription is a "must".


Finally, the reason for the steady decrease in salaries for MT's is the availability of cheap foreign and (yes!) American labor. MT's in this country are becoming more desperate and accepting the lower line rates. Yes, of course you need to in order to pay for food, etc. However, if ever there was a time for us to organize a "strike" this is the time. It will never happen, however, because we are too busy just getting by. And where has the AAMT been during this time (in particular the last ten years when salaries have been eroding the fastest)? They have been telling us the "proper" way to do transcription. In the "good old days" if we did not transcribe correctly we were fired. If we used poor grammar, we were fired. That simple! Meanwhile this group (AAMT) purporting to be working to benefit MT's has instead been working to benefit themselves. They benefit themselves by touting their CE courses and the need for us all to become CMT's, that we can only do through their courses and their tests. None of which are free.


No, I am not an AAMT hater. I hate the hypocrisy of the AAMT. I hate the fact that experience counts for naught in this field. I hate the fact that the moment corporate America realized that medical transcription was an income producing product mostly male executives realized that they could take over with large companies, offer work at a much lower price than an individual could, and force the medical Transcriptionist to work at the prices they foist on us. That is what I have seen over the past twenty years.


Don't bother flaming me for telling you what I have seen. Most of the flamers will be from large corporations or IC's who have accepted their fate. Yes, you are making good money typing thousands of lines a day at a few pennies each line. Yes, you pay your bills doing so. I am not putting you down for doing so. What I am saying is that over the past 20 years the medical transcription field has changed (been hijacked by large corporations) and as such the bottom line is "how cheap can we get the transcription done". Such is corporate America. Get it done cheap or someone else will get the contract.


So, what am I suggesting? I don't know for sure. Perhaps there is no answer for most transcriptionists other than to accept their fate. As for me, I am lucky enough to have an income so that I can go on "strike" until I find a job that pays me what I am worth. Or, until I go back to school to find another career! Which is the most likely course of action a lot of us will be taking no matter how much we love what we were doing.


If you have any useful insights I would love to hear them. Flamers will be ignored.


Let's start with a one-day strike!
That will show them who makes the money. All the degrees in the world won't help if they can't transcribe. They want to cut the throats of the very people who slave to make the money for them. I think if we all agreed on a one-day work stoppage, they might get the message. If not, next time, 2 days. Just a suggestion. I don't know if it would accomplish anything, but we would get out point across!
I thought a strike would be more beneficial
but that has to be done by most everyone in order to work.
Tell you what - you strike and I'll make my
x
ASR strikes again. When does the linguist strike??

This is what ASR put: AP lateral and oblique x-rays elected vision were obtained.


What doc actually dictated: AP lateral and oblique x-rays of the left 5th digit were obtained.


 


Strike at this time is selfish
I think that during this hard time for the country, anyone who is going to strike, ie. kick and scream till they get what they want, are being selfish. There are SOOOO many unemployed right now and sooo many more running the risk as well. I understand not wanting to take cuts, etc. but face it people, that is what a lot of people in this country are resorting to because they have no other choice. Many, I am sure, would be HAPPY to have a job...and these people want to quit working till they get their way? And these people are the people who preach about patient care? - just my opinion
Have you ever been part of a hospital strike sm

I will tell you that I first-hand saw that out of a varied group of workers, the MTs were the FIRST and ONLY work group to cross the picket line to scab themselves for the money. 


I didn't, but it was me and 2 other people out of 25 who stayed out.  That is the reason unions and strikes do not work for transcriptionists.  We have a majority who will sell everyone else down the river to put more money into their own pockets.


 


I laugh at the comedy board not at a strike.
then get off of the porch.  You call this OP venting?  Cut me a break.  Sounds more like a cry for help.  Why don't you all find a new profession instead of wanting everything handed to you on a silver platter.  I find no humor in compromising patient care because someone wants to have a b***ch fit!!!  
A 2-day strike will not hurt patient care
it will give the physicians something to think about when they have to hand write their STAT H&P for patient's surgery tomorrow.
A macro shortcut requires that you strike 2 or more keys. nm
nm
Strike in Pakistan slowing down offshored work here. Just another example of offshore
:+
Lot's of people work for cheatin companies. They bide their time and strike when they can.
As for me, I have joined a class action law suit on behalf of shareholders and MTs.  Double whammy.  Not too dumb.  By the way, don't you have some managing to do or are you on duty all day to try to make MTs think MQ is AOK and everything else going on around them financially is just a figment of their imagination. 
Get ready for changes.....sm
lots of them and very quickly IF this is what is happening. Six Sigma management tends to cut the fat and thin the herd by "survival of the fittest." In other words, expect it to be harder to achieve a high quality score, incentive bonuses, quality bonuses, etc., because they will up the ante with respect to that At least that was my experience with Edix...and no, I'm not a sloppy MT barking about sour grapes. That's just the way it was.
ready or not
If new Career Step grads are not ready to work, why are so many of them getting multiple job offers? Some get four or five offers within a month of graduation. In the real world, the marketplace will determine who is ready to work and who is not. Whether or not a given MT is prepared to work is between her and her employer. AAMT is sticking its nose into an area where it is neither needed nor wanted, and they would not be doing this if there were not profit in it for them. If they want to do something for us, let's see them do something to stop the offshoring of our medical records. If they were showing real leadership on this and other substantitve issues, our salaries would not be declining. We cannot trust the AAMT.
My son was almost 4 - He will do it when he is ready.
x
Are you ready? lol...sm
Dogs: Neeva and Rufis.
Cats: Kurt and Vira.
Birds: Buster and Cleo.
Rat: Precious.
I know that I am in no way ready to do this on my own. Others have said I should cut out the sm
middle man and get my own accounts.  I know that I am not qualified to do that right now.  I just graduated two months ago!  I want to get at least 2-3 years experience under someone else before I go out looking for my own accounts.  I'm not ready to be responsible for everything yet.  Maybe I'm a minority, or don't have enough confidence in myself, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. 
I am ready.
I haven't done it yet, but I do have everything I need to work loaded on my laptop in case I need to evacuate for a hurricane.  Just grab the laptop, foot pedal, keyboard and go. 
Ready set go.
Association of United States Medical Transcriptionists (AUSMT)?
Association of Onshore Transcriptionists (AOT)?
I've got Blisters on my Fingers (IGBMF)?
Throw AHDI Out the Window (TAOW)?
Offshore Need Not Apply (ONNA)?
Fed-Up Cantankerous Kahunas (oops)?


But seriously, folks. Let's come up with a name (something with a snappy acronym), then a Yahoo User group & a domain name, & eventually we can come up with some kind of group statement. Let's see what evolves. Who knows? Maybe we can put a dent the Association for Healthcare Documentation in India (!).
Get ready for yours to
stay the same. Most of us here have experience and we should all have accuracy. If you have worked on the platform for some time now and nothing seems to change, just gonna have to suck it up and know what the issues are, that being too many people not changing according to what the specs are.
Absolutely, I absolutely love my job and
x
I'm getting my yacht ready now.
aa
I'm with you, ready to retire
but have a few years to go, like 20. My production hasn't gone up 25%, has yours? If anything it has gone down. Have you thought about Spheris? I had a job offer last year at 10 cpl, should have taken it probably.
Actually, I was ready to do this same thing - (sm)
start a petition, but I was (VERY HAPPILY!) beaten to it by a faster-thinking (and probably even madder-than-I-am) MT. GOOD WORK! Lets get this puppy ROLLING! ;D
Cheers! I'm ready for one too! nm
nm
getting ready to set-up a belkin
this weekend, ps2 ...
will let you know.

I hope someone with experience answers ...

:P
We are getting ready to upgrade.
Supposedly it is going to be "wonderful."  I hope so.
You're probably not ready for this then.
If you're questioning what a line is and how much to charge, that says you haven't done your homework yet. When he asks you about FTP or encryption or HIPAA compliance, will you have to tell him you'll get back to him after you run to check this board for an answer? If you haven't prepared yourself well enough for this interview, it will show and until you're ready to answer questions on the spot, I don't know why you think you're ready to go out looking for your own accounts. You need to know what you're talking about.
Ready to quit, too...sm

I just started what I hoped was my final MT job, but now it looks like it's time to start looking again.  I have over 35 years' experience and this outfit has had me on QA for a month now. 


They're nitpicky over hyphens.  You use a hyphen here, but not here.  Hello?  These doctors can barely make a coherent sentence.  They don't have a clue whether near-syncope has a hyphen or not...FYI, per the BOS bible, it does, but not according to the outfit I'm working for...nor does the MD care.  He just wants his report back in a readable format. 


And there is no such word as cary or carie when you're referring to teeth...it's caries, period.  I did win that battle. 


I worked for a short time for another outfit at minimal pay (marking time until better thing came along) that was nitpicky over semicolons. 


As my DH's boss once told him when he was worrying about the small stuff, "Don't worry about the mules, just load the wagons."


So if there's an MTSO out there who's looking for a fast, accurate, punctuationally-challenged (apparently) MT who loves ER/psych, feel free to contact me. 


when the student is ready, the teacher will come
.
call me when the cookies are ready
and pour me some warm milk!
Means probably getting ready for a sale....sm
That's what happened at Edix when they brought in Bill Keena. The company was sold within a year.

Six Sigma is a management style and philosophy. Check Google.
boy i can relate. i'm ready to quit a
new job because of something similar. heaven forbid tech people being able to fix a "tech" problem.  i know more than he does and it's getting to the point that this company isn't worth the trouble. it's a shame because i like the other people that i deal with.
okay now I am ready to make a move

I could kick myself -the company I am working for keeps saying it will pick up and I keep staying, meanwhile I have put on hold a job I should have taken-MDI in Maryland. I have learned my lesson! I am finally ready to move on-anyone looking for an IC who can do 1300 lines a day?


 


okay now I am ready to make a move
What company were you working for that was not giving you enough work? I have recently made a move and am also not getting the work I thought I would get when I changed.
Robotics...it has always fascinated me since ready
Isaac Asimov's novels. I am not sure exactly what would be needed, but I would certainly start somewhere in that field. Probably lots of math, I imagine.

Since I am no longer single, however, I have to give that dream up.

The other thing I would like to do is get involved in ecology, studying the earth, etc. It is going through so many changes right now...like we are in a huge transition period while it grows and changes.

In any case, anything to get outside a little bit, I think...

How about you, Romey?
No one comes out of MT school ready to work...sm

Students will come out of the top 3 schools ready to work, but will have to work for lower line rates as apprentices.  So who do you think the MTSOs will hire? 


We won't hire newbies that's for sure. There's way too much training that you have to do with a brand new MT, lower line rate or not. That's the least of our worries as MT's.


Woo Hoo! I'm ready and feeling lucky! nm
nm
Ready to scream (venting)
 I am doing a loooooonnnng psychiatric report by an ESL who must be sitting 1 mm from some machine that is beeping loudly every half second.  I am able to hear every fourth word over the loud beeping and that word takes me five minutes to decipher because of his accent   Is it noon somewhere so I can have a drink? 
If you have to ask, you're not ready for that big of a change.

you sound more than ready for retirement!
x