Bringing up hurricane discussion
Posted By: EsTxMT on 2005-10-28
In Reply to:
Just for some other information. When Hurricane Rita hit in Texas, i.e. Jasper, Beaumont area, these people were not prepared. They were not prepared because hurricanes do not come in that far inland. The Jasper area is one of the areas where most hurricane victims evacuate too. There are people in that area that are still without power including elderly people and children. Most of the surrounding areas (Pineland, Rosevine, Hemphill) are retirement areas. These are also low income areas as well. These people definitely would not have expected the hurricane to effect them in the way that it did, but it did.
Also, people in Lufkin and Nacogdoches, Texas were effected from it as well. Again, a hurricane never has come close to these areas and these areas are also where evacuees come. During the time we had evacuees from Galveston, Beaumont, Houston, and still the ones we had from Louisiana drained the resources that we did have here (not saying anything negative by this – just a statement). None of the businesses could get trucks in to deliver gas, food, ice, water, etc. When we did get gas delivered, the lines were so long that people were waiting 9-10 hours to get gas and of course by the time most got up there, it was gone again. This went on for several days. Even the Wal-Mart here and in Nacogdoches was only able to be open a few hours a day and for the first few days after the hurricane because of the amount of extra people in these areas, they finally had to limit the number of people they were allowing in the store at a time.
Some of you say, people should be prepared. I do agree and especially more so if you live in a coastal area. However, these people affected in the areas I mentioned above do not live on the coast; however, were heavily impacted by this natural disaster. You are saying these people don't deserver help?! Well let me tell you this. When we had a lot of LA evacuees here, FEMA stepped in and for a lot (not all of course) they received $2000.00 for help with housing, another $600.00 for food, and there $400.00 for something else (honestly do not remember what it was).
However, my mother and father-in-law who are elderly went 14 days without power, lost everything in the freezer and refrigerator, and they are also raising 2 of their grandchildren (both young teenagers). They were unable to get FEMA to help with anything.
I guess the point is this. Before spouting off about who needs to do what or who the government does or does not need to help (or where you tax monies go), you might want to think about the fact that this was a natural disaster and therefore, no one can ever really be prepared for one. I hope none of you ever have to deal with anything like this. It is not a pretty site in this area right now. Clean up is still going on. There are still trees down on houses and cars. How would you feel if this were you?
By the way, yes I do feel that my family was very lucky to come through it unscathed; however, some were not so lucky.
Just my 2 cents.
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bringing to the top
Coding certification
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Posted By: diddles on 2005-12-22
In Reply to: medical coding - looking for work
First I would encourage you that if you are serious about coding, do NOT go to a course that does not allow to test for NATIONAL certification. There are only 2 organizations in the US that do national certification. AAPC (the first) and AHIMA. With AAPC there are numerous companies that offer their course. The cost runs between $1200 and $1600 for a three month course of 8 hour classes plus your proctored exam and membership to AAPC, or you can do the self-study course for the same money (I chose to be in a classroom setting so I could have questions answered on the spot). You can opt to take the course for hospital coding CPC-H (which few hospitals will recognize as official) or the doctor/outpatient based course - CPC, which is widely recognized.
I don't know the cost of AHIMA's testing but it is as intense as AAPC's but it is mostly taken by people who either already have AAPC certification or are already working in a medical coding setting. Both organizations offer apprecentice programs if you are not already in a coding setting until you can clock some coding hours. I think you need references to enter either program as to your character - remember, if you make a mistake the penalty could be monetory and/or a jail term.
Now, can you get a job and is the money worth it. Most hospitals want AHIMA's inpatient certification and 1-2 years OTJ experience, unless they are hiring for their outpatient clinics and/or ER (which they will then accept the AAPC's CPC). Most of these positions pay between $15 and $24/hr plus bennies.
It is very hard to get into the coding industry. It's just like trying to get into MT without any experience, only harder. I would network, join both organizations as a member and go religiously to the monthly meetings to network and learn. Both certifications require a high number of CEU's to be earned each year. It is easier to get into a physician's office setting as a CPC. Most of these jobs pay $9 to $18/hr depending on geography, but again you'd have to be very, very good and have good references from certified mentors to help you get a job with no experience.
Most jobs are obtained by word of mouth. If you are very good, you could skip working in a hospital or doctor's office and become a consultant and/or instructor without any working experience (more $$ for the instructor's certification). It would be like working as an IC. You would have to hustle to get clients and build a reputation. I was lucky and got a job with a hospital in their outpatient clinic side at $19/hr with hospital bennies and had an offer with the people whose course I took to become an instructor and consultant for them even before I got the results from my test score (but I had prior coding experience). My job was basically consulting, doing audits and giving feedback and education to doctors on how to maximize their reimbursement, how to document charts properly and be available for their coding questions. I loved the respect I got from the doctors. It was totally unlike what I get directly from doctors as an MT. They are eager to learn, listen to what is being taught, are interactive, friendly and recognize that you are there to help them succeed.
If your MTSO is also adding a coding department to their company, that would be an easier way to get into coding as it could be done from home with access to electronic medical records. There are a number of tools available to coders that help to electronically code and flag potential errors, hopefully your company would pay for all that because it can be quite expensive.
I tried to portray a clear and realistic picture with discouraging you. It's a lot like going into MT without someone being realistic with you, so the fact that you asked is a good sign.
Thanks for bringing that up.
I cringe when I read this bord. The cruel and crude remarks meant to make another feel small actually sting my eyes when I read them.
Where did this come from? We were oncde librarians who loved medicine. Now, we have management, the noisy and miserable librarians who insist on an opinion on everything and refuse to budge, our immediate supervisor. I would give a million bucks to be able to be a good conversationalist. It appears that gets one farther than anything in this industry.
Younger MTs? The loud MTs are the ones who are MTholics and think just because they have dissected and analyzed every aspect of the typed medical sentence, the fact is more deaths take place in hospitals now than at any other time, due to medical record errors.
This is about patient health, not the QA, editor, whateverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, so I say to this industry:
Lighten the fk up. We are human beings and your colleagues. WHY are you being to rude?
Monitors would help but they love it. The rude remarks to a question leave one with a feeling of disappointment and dread, monitors, so uh, do your job.
Hurricane Wilma
We were in Cancun when Wilma hit. Cancun will be quite some time before it is what it was pre Wilma. Currently, the Myan Riveria is in pretty good shape. Word is Cancun has 2/3 of the rooms open and beaches are still being worked on and dredging the ocean for sand to replace and of course, the major loss of greenery in plants and forest. Cozemel still does not have beachs, pools, or much else for that matter even now.
You can view some pix pre, during and after Wilma here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=6ater84.xr3iv10&Uy=62dqnx&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0
Bringing up my DQS problem from down below, how many of the MQ MTs that use this..sm
are running it under XP AND have updated to the service pack 2? Tech Support says that's the only thing he can think of as everything else looks fine on my system. And on the converse, how many of you use DQS and DON'T have XP with or w/o service pack 2, or are just using the original XP w/o any upgrades. I don't want to be doing something to my machine that's going to screw it up even more. Thanks for your help. nm
Chickadee,..bringing this to the top
A better alternative to Lap band is the Medifast 5 and 1 plan. You eat 5 of their meals a day and then what they call a Lean and Green that you prepare yourself. I've only just started, but have lost 9 pounds in 4 days. Check out the website... Medifast1.com
Read the info and check out the message boards. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
You can spend 17+ thousand dollars for a band and eat 6 small meals a day or spend a couple of hundred dollars a month and eat 6 small meals a day.
Bringing up old documents....
Hi-I have only worked on Extext for a few days and it seems pretty good. I agree with the problem with inserting doctors names though. I am especially interested in finding out how to pull up old documents as I wasn't told about this feature. Can you let me know? Thanks....
Squirrels Benefits from hurricane
As I type this morning, I have been watching, fascinated, two little squirrels in my garden. I have two pecan trees which were full and heavy before Hurricane Rita. Before the storm I watched them precariously edge on thin heavy branches to get to the pecans and then scamper from tree to tree back to their nest, where ever that may be (beyond my vision into the trees). Today, it is just as funny to watch them try to gather all the fallen pecans. They dash from spot to spot gathering and burying these nuts. They don't even seem worried about my cat and dog as they usually are. What a joy to work at home and be able to enjoy something like this.
Height of hurricane season is Aug-Oct. (SM)
A friend booked a FL vacation during September. Told her don't do it. She still did. She had to cancel the entire vacation and "could not believe a hurricane hit." I always told family/friends to never go anywhere in the Atlantic, Gulf, FL, islands during hurricane season but they book it anyway because it's cheaper, then they complain about hurricanes ruined their plans. DUH!
Oreck!! The BEST! & Hurricane Katrina
They are a company in New Orleans, I believe, and in chatting with their reps, they said how much their company was flattened by Katrina. I ordered mine right after the hurricane - had to wait a bit, but SO worth it. I have since learned that most hotels use Orecks for cleaning - they are AMAZING. Only wish I had one years ago...And yes, the little one is awesome, too!! I look forward to vacuuming - sick, huh?!
I've often wondered about this one myself - thanks for bringing it up! nm
Bringing over HIPAA question
Can anyone answer the question: Do you HAVE to remove PHI from reports legally?
Bringing up from below the subject of low carbs, SM
Food Network used to have a chef named George Stella who lost several hundred pounds by doing the Atkins diet. I'm not sure if his show is still on, but he does have a cookbook.
Bringing topic over from 2nd page. Someone
higher rate because he/she has the CMT. I say the reality is that 90% or better don't give a toot about the CMT and are going to pay what they want anyway. And, all the RMT is going to do is cause major grief to a lot of hard working MTs, MTs who are barely making it financially. The RMT will cost MONEY along with their requirements. AAMT has caved to offshoring and is doing American MTs no favors. Frankly, I think the only worth an AAMT membership holds is the money you would be paying to put in their pocket. And, for what? To lobby on the Hill in favor of a bill that would ensure that patients’ individually identifiable health information is secure and protected; improving health care quality and reducing medical errors, and developing best practices to support and accelerate efforts to adopt, implement, and effectively use interoperable health information technology when all the while AAMT is openly embracing offshoring?
In a nutshell, your money is fodder for a worthless organization.
Oh, and Jay and anyone else from AAMT, in case you're reading here, here's a couple of suggestions for AAMTs potential name change...
Foundation for the United Council of Kooks (Formerly Modesto Mavens)
Organization Of Offshore Suckups (OOS)
I agree - can't have any convo w/o bringing..sm
the ones that can not have a discussion about current events without mentioning their fanaticism.....
Most folks have some religion/spirituality.
Most folks don't interject it into every conversation 24/7/365.......just the fanatics!
Great tips! Thanks for bringing up the
In my experience when bringing this issue to
my supervisor's attention (when I worked outside the home). They are afraid to talk to the physicians about dictation - they don't want to bother them. Makes no sense NOT to bother them! Now that I work from home, I find that if I leave blanks ---- QA puts in what they THINK is right! LMAO? Makes no sense
bringing back the work!
In addition to doing MT, I also work as a coder at a very large teaching hospital and academic facility with 160'some clinics. Our transcription is outsourced and recently started going overseas. Guess what - our hospital is bringing it back to the States AND will not accept voice recognition! Too many errors that affect coding, AR days and, thus, reimbursement. Our dictation will continue to be outsourced but will not be allowed to go outside the US and can only be done by a real MT. Too bad it had to be the reimbursement that was the only issue that will bring the work back and not simply the fact that the quality is just not there but..at least there is something that will keep the work here in the US and keep it from being doing by VR. I just thought someone might like to know this is happening. I am hoping other hospitals get the hint.
No, unless a hurricane is on its way, the Olympics are on, or news like today's. nm
x
Just stay away from Florida during hurricane season. nm
:)
Any medical centers in hurricane area need help?
How can we find out and how can we help?
http://www.gonzalescofc.com/hurricane.html
x
thinking of going to Cancun. Did the hurricane hit it too hard?
1 hurricane in 30 years or every year. I'd take Texas :)
Just kidding with u but I have been to Florida..... Talk about illegals! woweee. Not saying all over, just where I have been. See...... generalizations help no one. If you don't live there, you do not know so please consider your response. And, yes I was actually raised in Pasadena/Houston TX area and NO WAY would I want to live there again. :)
The trees are the main concern in a hurricane (sm)
the lake didn't even get close to the house during that supposed "100-year flood" in 1993 (not allison, the other one). We went to the other side of Houston for Rita, came back the next day. It was a mess with limbs all over but no trees down on our property. Next-door neighbor had 3 down. We've decided for the next one, we will stay in the garage and hope no trees fall on the house.
Bringing up Bo Bice - he is back in hospital. nm
nm
Hey Patti and MQA and other MTSOs..bringing thread to top
Hi again,
Just to let you gals know, I got up the nerve at the last minute, partially because of the posters to my thread about starting my own business, to quickly print up a resume and cover letter along with a sample ortho report and take them to my physical therapy appointment. (They may need an at-home transcriptionist.) The office manager was not in yesterday, but my PT gave me a little info about how the process works. Unfortunately, we were interrupted when she was about to tell me what they dictate IN TO, but she mentioned that she thought that was going to change. On my way out, however, when she was flipping through my chart to see when I should come in next, I asked her if they received the transcription via floppy disk or CD, and she told me, *No, paper.* Yes, they still use *sticky paper*! Too bad we got interrupted earlier. I have a feeling they transmit the dictation via the internet or phone lines, then the Transcriptionist delivers the finished work to the office.
Anyway, my PT says it is slow right now. (Indeed, there were only 2 patients in the office at the time with 4 PTs.) But she thought if things picked up and the sole remaining MT got overwhelmed, there might be a chance of picking up the overflow, which would be just peachy for me.
More questions...(now, why did I, at first, capitalize the Q in question????) I may as well start preparing as much as I can now in case I DO snag a job....
1. Can anyone or everyone recommend a good medical spell checker that interfaces with Word?
2. What about an Expander to work with Word? I know some use Instant Text, but at least one says she uses the Word Autocorrect feature. (I think.) Does the Word autocorrect hold a bunch....can you put whole reports into it...large capacity?
3. You all mentioned that the docs usually supply their letterhead and to use plain copy paper for subsequent pages. Does the MTSO usually supply the paper or the docs? Same question with sticky paper...that sounds expensive!
4. Any other inexpensive tips you gals can think of that can be gotten ready now besides the main transcriber? (Would want to wait on that to see which type the office uses.)
Now that I have the ball rolling, I am also going to contact the two MTSOs that I know locally and ask if they have any overflow. Might also send a sample psych report to my shrink and see if he can spread the word. Scary stuff, but you gals really helped! Thanks so much for all the encouragement!! 
When bringing up old documents in Extext, Ctrl S,
I think I missed a step. I hit ctrl S, put in patient's name (in this case) and then click find, or quick find. Then, it brings up a list of the patient's admission. Then, what do I hit to bring up the document? The options on the right side are statistics and close? I tried to highlight and double click the admission but nothing. Need some help here....Thanks
Ooop - meant the RMT- sorry. Txs for bringing to my attn.
xx
Is Hurricane Dennis affecting anyone's work today?
nm
Figure out a way to stop a freakin' category 5 hurricane?
This was a NATURAL disaster, hello! How do you stop a 175 mph powerhouse? You don't..you just get out of the way.
See hurricane board for ways to help N.O.area animals. NM
x
Hurricane Rita just upgraded to Category 5 with winds of 165 mph
I hope everyone from TX stays safe. Learn from Katrina.
People die and lose everything on a daily basis, not just hurricane
victims. I wish people would stop insinuating that everyone in the country who is getting on with their own lives is selfish or uncaring.
The political people knew what could happen if a hurricane hit New Orleans. sm
after 9/11 they diverted the money for the war. One should not take money from one project to do another. This tragedy didn't make any sense and there are some people on the political board that says its the mayor fault. What a joke.
Alaskan Malamute like 2nd child - "Cane" - short for Hurricane.
nm
OK. Now if your husband is bringing you down by his mental illness and not paying rent
(is husband able to work? how deep is this mental illness? did he have money to pay rent and spent it elsewhere?) then maybe you should think about leaving him rather than placing your kids in any kind of foster care. That has to be traumatic but then so does living on the street. Speaking of placing your children in foster care while you get yourself OK in the head, what is your problem at this point. You see, if there is a lot of arguing and a dysfunctional family living on the streets, then foster care to permanent placement may be better for them. I just don't quite understand how you got into this mess and if these are mental health issues on both your part and your husband's I would look into placing the children. BTW, how old are they?
So all things considered if you don't have any issues other than depression because of a lack of a place to live and your husband's mental health, I would go to a family member or church and BEG for help sorting your life out. If there is more than that going on, including maybe substance abuse along with permanent mental health issues that will keep you from caring for your children, yes I would seek placement for them. And I would seek PERMANENT placement rather than foster care which I would think would be more traumatic for your children.
If you are a visitor wanting to turn the Hurricane Katrina disaster into politics, take it to the
Politics forums. Do not post on the Main board. Administrator
Tryin to book a vacation. Does anyone know when hurricane seasons starts and ends? Nm
nm
Bringing the head lice post back up. This has been going around at my daughter's school.
Saturday, after having been checking her head all week, found lice on her head. Did the treatment on her, on me, DH and other daughter, just in case. Only youngest and myself apparently had them. Got rid of the lice, now need to deal with the eggs. No problem with daughter's head because I am meticulous and have been checking daily and removing anything I find. My problem is my own head. Oldest daughter tried to look through, but she had hard time, though she tried. Husband "I don't see anything", so not much help. I can't look at my own head, so my dilema is how do I get the eggs off my own head and keep them from rehatching? Any help/advice would be appreciated. Never gone throught his before.
I was told that Healthscribe outsourced and when acquired, that Spheris would be bringing work
And this is information came to me from the inside, given to me when I was hired and in training.
Trying to keep this discussion near the top... SM
not because I am egocentric and feel I need to be at the top, but because I just don't want to have to scroll down and look for it every time I have something to add. So, it's not arrogance, it's convenience. Also I would just like to add that I posted my "credentials" so to speak because I was asked to defend my position with what made me qualified to talk about poor MTs.
Anyway, I don't know if I could be classified as an old-timer as I've not had to transcribe on manual typewriters from belts, but I did start out in transcription in the late 80s, right before the internet boom. So I did start out in an office with other MTs who could lend me an ear and give me advice, but most of them were old-timers who felt lost when the internet did hit and changed our profession forever. So all of my computer skills, internet skills, and researching skills are self-taught out of necessity. Because I took the time and made the effort to hone my internet and research skills, I moved up the transcription food chain and moved passed a lot of the old-timers who trained me. I guess I just have no patience for "old-timers" who wear their years of experience like a badge of honor, but then use those same years as an excuse for not using the internet efficiently.
I am more than willing to educate or mentor an MT, whatever it takes, but the MT has to want and accept constructive criticism gracefully instead huffing and puffing about how mean and evil QA is. Most of the time MTs ignore their feedback and make the same mistake again and again. I can quote chapter and verse out of the BOS to an MT trying to illustrate why they are wrong and it will not matter. They see "QA" on an email in their inbox and automatically hit delete without a passing glance.
I am not the enemy in this war called transcription. MTs and QA should be allies against offshoring and we should be trying to elevate our status in health information chain, but we can't be allies and we can't accomplish anything if MTs are constantly paranoid that QA is "out to get them." The sad truth is that eventually we QA people are going to have no other options except unemployment or educating the Indian MTs and ironically the Indian MTs will welcome any feedback that will help them get more work from American MTs.
To all those who posted that I have a big head and have launched personal attacks, I would say you the ones who are arrogant and big headed if you can't just accept that you are wrong sometimes and you can always learn something new and maybe you can learn that something new from me, the QA person who has proven her skills, passed a harder employment test, to get the QA job I have today.
You can call me names and insult me, but the truth hurts and obviously those who are defensive have reason to be.
Well, we were having this discussion about VR in -
the past, maybe 10 years ago, and it never amounted to much of a threat. Considering the amount of trouble I have (and the mistakes I make) just using the touch-screen in the supermarket self-checkout line, I wonder how it will work with your average, technology-challenged doctor.
I also have to wonder - how would such reports be QA'ed? I assume they'd go straight to a medical record, & with no voice file to check against, or worse yet, the doc doing his OWN proofing, I feel I could look into a crystal ball and say, 'I see lawsuits!'
;D
LOL same discussion on another board but it was regarding a SM
wildlife cam and people didn't want others posting about it - is the same thing as saying "I demand you entertain me by posting what *I* want to hear about."
this isn't a religious discussion...sm
I didn't ask for *religious* advice, I simply asked for opinions...that's not religious...I know what God thinks about this subject...
"House" discussion!!!
 What are everybody's thoughts on the show tonight regarding House and Stacy. Do you think he told her no because:
A: He feels he is not good enough for her.
B: He does not want to hurt Mark after Mark came to see him.
C: He feeds off his misery and can't give that up.
What a great show, great lines tonight.
See the recent discussion
on page 2 or 3 of the company board.
I do believe as stated in this discussion
that we should care for them. I just want to respond to some things said. Yes, our parents have decades to prepare. But my parents worked very hard and were extremely smart with their money and had a good savings when my Dad became ill. However, to put him in a nursing home is thousands of dollars a month. His insurance paid 0 for it and Medicare only paid 20 days. For him to stay it would have drained every pain fast (and it did) and then he would get state aid of course. If you can at all help it, a nursing home is NOT where you want to put a loved one. Some are great if you can afford them, but even the ones you think are good can be very remiss in care. Trust me, I've seen it. They're grossly understaffed and some employees should not be in that field, enough said. I don't and didn't at ANY time feel caring for my Dad was a burden. I did feel it was my responsibility. He's a member of my family. If my brother or sister became ill and had no family to care for them, I would certainly feel it's my responsible to at the very least help them get care but for certain to make sure they're cared for. I can't say how a person should feel towards an abusive parent since thankfully I have no experience in that. No, I wouldn't want to 'burden' my children with caring for me when I'm old. But if I raise them right and I happen to need care, I would hope they would feel privileged and blessed like I did, to help make sure I get what I need.
My involvement in this discussion ...
... was not meant to be inflammatory. I arrived on this site out of interest and was naturally drawn to this thread, however, I was not prepared to stand by while some of the posters spoke about Third World countries and denigrated our physicians and specialists - would you? I responded to an intelligent post by Dinosaur, I had no idea it would get as out of hand as this. The fact of the matter is our specialists do not outsource, they definitely do not send offshore. The work I do is for specialists for whom I physically worked for many years ago, the work I do offshore is not for any US companies, it is directly for physicians and specialists that have come to me via my website. I have had all of my clients for the past six years. Yes, I work for a lower rate of pay than you do, but I can assure you the cost of living is not cheap here; I need to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week and I am grateful for the work that I have and I really do value my clients. I turn the work around within 1 – 12 hours, they never have to wait for work. I am at the end of a line, all day, every day, should they need any urgent reports done. All I am saying is, do not underestimate people who live elsewhere in the world and their needs and willingness to work as hard as you do.
A.
Interesting discussion about it
Over at MT Chat. One of the posters somehow found all the old info about the site ownership.
we had this discussion a while back -
The problem is, you are not increasing your pay, you are increasing your production. Of course they don't care how much you type because they are making money off all your lines - they want you to be productive - they don't care who produces. What you type is just something somebody else does not have to type.
Anyway, good luck - and I hope you make what you need to make. I for one have not had enough any work for 2 months and am sitting here from morning until night downloading jobs and typing them as they come in.
So far, I am a month behind on my rent and I don't know where the money is going to come from for it next month, because I am not making enough to pay it even if I don't pay anything else.
So, is the company in the discussion below
that is going to VR and dropping the rate from 10cpl to 3cpl MDI-MD? I am dying to know what they are going to be paying for VR. If they are dropping the rate that much, with their stellar reputation for caring about their transcriptionists, perhaps all hope is lost.
Can somebody please spill the beans!
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