Avoid Focus Infomatics!
Posted By: Jo on 2006-03-30
In Reply to: They are an Indian company and they doc you for your errors. - nm
I worked for Focus for a couple of months, and I absolutely hated it! They offshore their QA and tech support to India, and you can never understand a work they are saying when they call you to train you on their software, which is the worst program that I have ever transcribed in. It was always freezing up, losing connection to the VPN, and it cost me so much money because I kept losing work that I had done. Their tech support would take forever to respond when I IM'd them, and they were hardly ever very helpful at all. It is also true that they deduct pay for mistakes. I now work full-time for Cymed, and I am so much happier!
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Focus Infomatics Inc.
This company has offered me a job. I have never heard of them before. Anybody have any info on them??? Good/Bad.. Thanks.
Focus Infomatics
Can anybody tell me anything at all about Focus I heard they are a good service to work for. Anybody  ??
Focus Infomatics
Has anyone else had trouble collecting their paychecks from this company?
Focus Infomatics QA?
I was just hired by Focus Infomatics for QA. I'm coming from an entry-level job where I make a lovely, lovely 2 cents a line, whereas I've been told that with proper accuracy and shift differential I'll be making 7-8 cents a line at Focus. Any other QA for Focus? What's your average paycheck like? How's the workload?
Thanks so much.
Focus Infomatics Job Posting
I thought I read something on this board at one time that a job ad for Focus was taken off because they are headquartered in India. Just curious because I saw they have a new job posting on the Job Seeker's Board.
Focus Infomatics has another ad on the jobs board
again
Anybody know anything about Focus Infomatics training period?
I received an offer for an internship of 2-3 weeks from Focus Infomatics....just wondering if anyone has worked for them and what I should expect?
Focus Infomatics - they assign work or you pick from database
I wanted to know from anyone who works at Focus if you are able to download work when you want to or is it assigned to you? I thought I heard that you can go onto the site and grab dictations when you wanted to instead of being assigned.
If anyone knows I would greatly appreciate !!
I hate to admit this, but the one good thing I learned Focus Infomatics
was the Escription platform. Trust me, that is the only good to come of it. I think even if you get a few months under your belt, you'd be better off for it.
Focus Infomatics hires transcriptionists with NO experience on the Escription platform? Anyone else
/
deduct for errors, infomatics
thatnks for your response. it's in the contract i got from them sat. i am supposed to start training tomorrow. my friend works for them and loves it. i'm a little bit more skeptical i guess. all type never called me back and that was me. i have applied to lots of cos. this weekend and will probably hear from some tomorrow. i had my own service and am technologically deprived. we had tapes and c phones, no internet voice. this is all new to me. infomatics does say they pay ins. now if you are full time.
deduct for errors, infomatics
Just curious but where did you obtain this information? I've heard there is another company, (who will deny it but the MTs swear it happens) who deducts for errors. I do not know this firsthand, however.
Did you take the job with Infomatics?
When I spoke with them about a year ago they were at 8 cpl and just in case - they do not have insurance coverage, which is something I must have.
Also, did you make a post earlier about a company All Type and the recruiter didn't call you back? If that is you, did they finally call you - would you consider working for them at this point?
I have always tried to research any company I think I would like to apply to, prior to applying. I even go so far as to check their Dunn & Bradstreet scores, because I want to know how financially stable they are or are not, if they pay bills on time, etc. But I'm a little OCD and AR...LOL
Well, I've rambled enough...BUT,,,,Please let us know what you decide and BEST OF LUCK :-)
DEDUCT FOR ERRORS, INFOMATICS
Do all big co. deduct for less than 989% accuracy. They deduct 5% Really leary of this company and am supposed to train tomorrow. Seems it stays at 8 cents forever with no differentials or anything.
Any way to avoid it?
My parents both lost hearing with age and I have seen how isolating it is.
Is there any way to avoid that with this job? I try to keep my volume down, but they way the dictators speak, I can't help but crank the volume quite a bit.
Did enough rock & roll blasting when I was young!
Any ideas?
Here's one to avoid -
My BF picked this up to try it for his laptop. It worked great for the first few days (long enough to get past the 'money back' offer), and then it suddenly began disconnecting him up to 12 to 15 times in a 4 hour period. I'm not sure about the legalities of using these types of devices to transcribe medical reports so I never tried it, but he said it was one of the most frustrating internet situations he'd ever been through.
If you've got Cricket stations in your area and they're offering their "unlimited" broad-band service for $40/month, I'd suggest applying that $40 toward a reliable service.
Here's one to avoid -
My BF picked this up to try it for his laptop. It worked great for the first few days (long enough to get past the 'money back' offer), and then it suddenly began disconnecting him up to 12 to 15 times in a 4 hour period. I'm not sure about the legalities of using these types of devices to transcribe medical reports so I never tried it, but he said it was one of the most frustrating internet situations he'd ever been through.
If you've got Cricket stations in your area and they're offering their "unlimited" broad-band service for $40/month, I'd suggest applying that $40 toward a reliable service.
It can be fun if you avoid the aggravation which I try to do - sm
Yes, it does bring out the worst in people...we got up to get ice cream after my 5 & 7 y/o had finished their lunch, left out drinks and my 1 bag purchase on the table, came back after maybe 5 minutes to find 2 ladies had helped themselves to our table, I was pretty pissed, but just gathered up our stuff (only 2 seats left for 3 people) and said we needed to find a place to sit, neither lady batted an eyelid or said a word. Kids asked why we didn't stay, I said I feared I wouldn't be too polite if we had stuck around since I was ticked. So we sat at the steps of the little stage area in the food court area and they had their ice cream that way. So that was the only wrinkle in the day basically. Kids had fun, we never dealt anything too horrendous, and I got a couple things accomplished without having to deal with the hardcore nut cases.
avoid refunds
Why would you want a refund? If you're getting a refund that just means you overpaid your taxes the previous year; in effect you gave the government an interest-free loan of YOUR MONEY.
Ideally you should set up your withholding so that you end up having to pay some extra taxes when you file your return (but not so much as to trigger a penalty). That way you get to hold on to your money as long as possible and can at least earn some interest by keeping it in a CD or money market account.
Do not avoid them. They are willing to work with you
because they want you to make your payment.
Read all the letters they send you some mortgage companies will point you in the right direction like using a third party to help you get caught up.
I never thought I would get hit with foreclosure but it happened to me and luckily as the poster below, my family was able to bail me out.
I still owe my family thousands because they tacked legal fees on top of what I owed and the mortgage company not only wanted what was late but also two month's mortgage in advance all in one lump sum!
Good luck...
Just want to avoid the same mistake...nm
x
None. I try to avoid caffeine.
nm
Yes, have done my own...avoid going to docs where I know...sm
the MT. I would not want anyone I know doing mine.
I would like to know to, so I can avoid applying
there. 3 cpl is awful.
I do have kids. They can have pop and chips, but I try to avoid it.
And Iecture them on the value of healthy food. LOL My diet used to be horrible until it caught up with me with my last pregnancy. I was frequently hypoglycemic and had high blood sugar. Then I had two irregular EKGs before a surgery. I've basically been scared into becoming healthier.
I definitely think its best to avoid relatives this year.
I'll join you for a toast on Thanksgiving? The idea of being alone during the holidays still sucks, but its a change from the strain of being with relatives, and a first. Might be kinda nice I guess.
The only way I've found to avoid this is to.....
have three part-time jobs. I used to have one full time and two part time, but just recently went to three part time.
I NEVER run out of work now, but always have in the past six years in the business. This works for me, but took almost a year to balance the three so I'm not working a ton of hours.
You said THAT right! Most people avoid her type
nm
I try to avoid it, but I'm a pretty good diagnostician.
Most of the time I'm right, but I hate to do it, cause they invariably will say, "then what should I do?" - at which point I have to tell them, "go to the doctor. I'm not a doctor, I'm a diagnostician."
No, just want to cut to the chase and avoid tne empty posts. nm
:+
How to avoid hiring an American (video)
Cut and paste this link into your brower and click on the video to play it. It's kinda long but worth it....just dang is all I gotta say about that.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/16421
I've developed a bit of social phobia, now I avoid
 I listen to social anxiety tapes, Dr. Richards, because i'm finding I want to be around people now, just have forgotten how. When i'm in a conversation, even with people i've known forever, where attention is focused on me I feel this fight or flight feeling, get nervous and turn red, just uncomfortable with socializing. Getting better though.
My service told us to use mg/dL...as well as mL instead of ml, "to avoid confusion." nm
x
Not coming up w/ much except construction paper...tyring to avoid that if I can. Thanks anyway. nm
x
I prefer weekends. I find most cherrypickers also avoid
weekends, so I at least get a decent selection of work to do.
Accreditation matters. It helps to avoid scams, but not always. sm
Pick a good school. It is extremely difficult to get hired immediately, even when graduating from an accredited school. It is a hard row to hoe. Most companies require at least 2, usually 5 years of time on the job. They just don't have time to train new MTs.
I avoid numbers in my short forms and use letters
instead when needed. What I do most often is double-key a short form (same two letters) that goes back and adds slashes or dashes for dates and decimals. It's easier for me to key the numbers, then let a command entry edit when needed. You might want to go to Productivity Talk for a lot of great tips on learning IT.
Also avoid Antivirus 2008/2009. It is very nasty.
x
We see that you only focus
On the negatives! What about the children who were born into this poverty through no choice of their own?
You take the negatives only in this tragedy, what a very closed mind you have
Anything to help you focus?
I am very distracted by everything while I work. I don't think I have ADD. I hope not anyway. I just cannot focus for more than 20-30 minutes at a time. Is there an herb or over-the-counter medication to help you focus? I have tried Ginko and it seems to help a little. I just want to be more productive during the day rather than going back and forth to the Internet and taking breaks constantly. Thanks.
Focus
I have worked at Focus for just over a year now as an IC and I really like it there. Everyone is very pleasant and helpful. Any problems or concerns that I may have are addressed right away. I have plenty of work to keep me busy. They offer benefits if you are employee status, but you can also choose to be an IC. They also have direct deposit. I do transcription only, but they also have VR if you want to do that (you don't have to if you don't want to). I work on the Dictaphone ExText platform but I know they have other platforms as well.
The bottom line is that they are a great fit for me. I have had a really great experience with them. No complaints at all.
FOCUS-sm
 Thanks very much for the info.
LOL!! Focus, focus, focus!! nm
focus, focus, focus--sm
and a strong work ethic that does not have you hopping up from your chair every other minute to do laundry, dishes, take out the garbage, or answer the phone. I have caller ID and use it constantly to screen any calls. If I do not recognize the number, I do not answer it. This saves a lot of time, as far as I am concerned. I know a lot of the work at home moms have kids and that has to be really hard, and I empathize with that. I don't have anyone at home, except my two kitties, to distract me from my work. I have no tv on and no music, nothing. I have had a lot of medical terminology classes and pretty know most of my doctors most used words, so I do not have to spend a lot of time researching. This also takes a lot of time, time we are not paid for. Then, of course, there are the two things you mentioned, staying in your chair constantly and shortcuts. I have pretty much the same doctors every day and know them pretty well. this makes a big difference too. I only use autocorrect as an expander, as I never could get used to IT or some others, where I spent more time looking at the bottom part with all the different entry options than I did typing. I also had many years of typing classes, as well, and I rarely need to look at my keys to know what I am typing. I watch the copy I am typing and can see any errors I make right away and correct them right away. I rarely go back and look through it again after I am done. I also rarely hear from QA about anything either. If I do, it is usually an address change or something. But I do have a habit of putting two periods .., at the end of a sentence. but I pretty much catch those too.
My last suggestion is that you have to WANT it, more than ANYTHING else in the world. Not having a spouse, or anyone else to help provide income is a HUGE motivator, as far as I am concerned. It all depends on how badly you want to pay your bills, eat, and have some extra for emergencies. It is all priority, as far as I am concerned, but that is just me. Everybody elses situations are different. but this works for me. JMO.
Focus
I also work for Focus, and I have to agree that they are the best company that I've worked for (or interviewed with) so far. So far, I've worked for 3 other online companies and one local hospital. Plus, I've interviewed with (and ended up turning down positions at) at least 10 companies since January of this year. Add to this number those who won't give me a chance because I only have 2 years of experience (it apparently does not matter that I've had between 99% and 100% QA ratings in every MT job that I've had so far) or don't live in the required state or don't own a C-phone, don't have access to unlimited long-distance phone service, or some other such thing.
The flexibility at Focus can't be beat. I don't have to get permission to change my schedule to fit my needs. Whenever I have a question, someone is available via IM, email, or telephone. The pay on my favorite shift (third) is better than I've been offered anywhere else. I also have 5 accounts, so if one doesn't have any work, I can generally find work on another. I am an IC, but they do offer the employee option, last time I heard, and the premium for health insurance for a family was less than $400/month.
My only fear is that they are sharing the work with so many other companies that I'm afraid of what is going to happen to the individual MTs like myself.
These are my experiences and my opinions, and are not open to debate. But, I am happy to share the good, the bad, and the really UGLY about any experience that I have had with any MT company in the past 2 years. Overall, it has been a true temporary nightmare, but I am very happy now at Focus, and have decided to stop searching for greener (USA-based) pastures; I'm not so sure there ARE any.
Focus
I've worked for Focus for 19 months now. I get 8 cpl for transcription and 4 cpl for editing. I much prefer the VR editing jobs because your hands don't hurt! You can also increase the speed of the voice file without it warping and there's this little red box that follows along with you and outlines the words as they are dictated. As far as average lph? I don't mark it that way because I have multiple accounts, etc., etc. For me, I work 8 hours a day and there will always be a little bit of transcribing because of new doctors etc. As an example, a good day I had last week, I did 140 typed and 2640 edited in 8 hours.
Focus
I just wanted to send you and anyone else a warning about Focus. I know they are advertising for MTs and QAs out the yingyang these days. I went to work for them a couple of weeks ago, and I have had very little to no work to transcribe at all. I don't know what is going on there, but I would not advise going with them at this time.
focus? What's focus?
Focusing and not getting distracted is my toughest chore. When I'm on point and working, I'm a great producer. It's the getting there and staying there that's an issue for me.
I found a clock chime program that chimes every hour. I initially got it to remind me to get up and stretch so I couldn't get so stiff, but it helps me stay focused, too. When I want to get silly and I let myself get distracted, I know that I'll have 5 minutes coming with the next clock chime, so I get myself back to work a little bit easier.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS SoftScript, Transcend, Medquist, OSI, Transolutions
SoftScript has bad, bad ESL accounts.
Transcend is notorious for running out of work while they have plenty of well-to-fo executives. They overhire, then nobody has any work. They will call you every day to "work extra" - that is, if they have any work to do.
Medquist is having a massive exodus because they have been sued for fraudulent billing. There are thousands of people looking for new jobs, so maybe you can get something soon.
OSI offshores like crazy but their worst problem are some of their lunatic department heads, one in particular with no experience and less of a brain. NO IDEA how to run a successful company able to keep good employees. Most of their best MTs have left and they are stuck with a bunch of MTs fresh out of school.
Transolutions - Low, low pay and horrible QA department that is not consistent and will write you up over crazy things like commas.
Garlic keeps you healthy. You smell so bad sick people avoid you.
x
Medical Bazaar is Indian and horrid. Avoid like the plague.
Here's the deal. The only way to avoid the pre-existing waiting period (usually 12 months) is to
insurances..Even at that, say you have coverage until the end of July miss August and get new insurance September 1, your new insurance cant do a 12-month waiting on you for pre-existing but they can make you wait that 1 month that you didnt have insurance so...in effect, if you new insurance starts on Sept 1..it wouldnt have to cover a preexisting problem until October 1 cuz you missed a month. My advice.. keep the Cobra.. I know it's a fortunate but if you had any kind of complication or anything related to a preexisting and you have to miss a month of coverage..it could be really painful. Let me know if you have any more questions.
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