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How do these companies get away with this when they promise

Posted By: a specific rate. Is this a DOL thing? nm on 2008-02-24
In Reply to: Some companies just take a percentage - nm

nm


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YOU are right! These companies promise the moon so they (sm)

can get the accounts and the MTs are the ones that get the bad deal.  To be honest, I too, am not good with heavy ESLs but I sure try.  I am also slower than most - but I sure try.  There are some ESLs that really try hard and I appreciate their efforts.  Then there are ESLs that are so fast and so sloppy I haven't a clue what they are saying.  There are also horrible American dictators too.  As the above poster said - the lack of decent courtesy is gone.  Their excuse - I'm in a hurry, blah, blah, blah.  Well sometimes I'm in a hurry so maybe I should stop capitalizing words, quit looking up strange words, forget punctuation.  Really!  Have dictators forgotten that there is a real human being transcribing his mess?


You will, promise!
Know that we ALL were there at one time. I remember at my first acute care job at a hospital being so frustrated about asking the experienced ladies for help, that I just sat and put my face in my hands and cried a little out of sheer frustration.  I can't imagine starting out at home as an MT, but it seems some of these schools prepare you new ladies well.  Kudos to you!  Keep on truckin'. 
I promise this will help
if you do it regularly!! ... Pinpoint which muscles/tendons are involved and massage, massage, massage!! Also press and hold the trigger points--can tell those by the high pain level--for a few seconds and then on/off in different rhythms. It works, but you have to do it a lot when once it has gotten out of hand. Don't get your pain level (during massage/pressing) higher than an 8/10 for very long at a time though.

Unfortunately, we should be doing this before we feel real trouble, but it is easy to neglect it.

I have trouble with my right hand getting weak with tight wrist extensors and an almost always upset infraspinatus muscle. I let them go and then have to massage myself while I proof each report. It makes a world of difference but you have to be diligent.

We also should be taking extra care of our midback to occiput areas as well.

Lie on the floor with a tennis ball in your palm and put it under the knobs in the occiput area (at different angles) sometime ... ouch!! Mine hurt like heck on both sides, and when they are extra tight the pain goes all the way around to the front of my head. I can only stand to hold it in one spot for a few seconds.

It really works and if done before it is too late will prevent surgery.
Yes, I think it is a responsibility and I mad a promise...

to mom to not ever put  her in a nursing home as a young 20-something. As an only child, I followed and kept that promise.


I cared for her for 6 years. It should have been more but I didn't realize she was going downhill so fast. I was very stressed out in her later years as she started to develop a lot of problems including memory problems,  but when I look back, I would NEVER, EVER, change my mind. She was happy here with us and although she was having a lot of problems, the only thing I wished for was for her to be comfortable and happy. (She was in a nursing home temporarily for 2 months after she broke her hip and was very unhappy. This was sort of a test to see if she would like it, but she didn't.) I did everything necessary to make her comfortable in her last years.


 It was hard, but I kept my promise even though every doctor told me to put her in a nursing home. Thank heavens, I worked for a great company that understood and allowed me to take as many breaks/days off as I needed to care for her.  I would never have changed a thing even though I got very worn out during the end myself because she was almost totally bedridden. Still, I loved my mother with all my heart and still miss her even though she died 6 years ago.


 I only hope my children would do the same for me unless i have Alzheimer disease. If a parent is unhappy at a nursing home, by all means do what is necessary to make their last days happy. After all, they raised us, and we should return that love.


You need to be patient, be a nurse, doctor, etc. for an elderly parent and if there is none, it could be very, very "unhealthy" for the parent and the child, but I feel we need to make sacrifices for  our parents happiness in their later years as they sacrificed for us in our early years. After all, they are the only parents we had, andI I have NO regrets, knowing I did the best I could for her.


Sorry to ramble. I'm still grieving. I wanted her to live to be 100 if possible.We were really close all our lives.


Nope, I promise you I'm not.
I asked all the right questions before I was hired, so I understood pay and everything. They have been nothing but honest and nice. It's one of the two most often recommended companies on this board, and I'll leave it at that because I doubt you'd go wrong with either. But do make sure you ask about everything that is important to you so you aren't disappointed.
Check out MQ - they actually promise you
CRAP and that's what you get!    
I promise I will once the survey is completed....sm
I don't want to influence the results in any way so the information will be unbiased and more meaningful.

Jay
Last word on this subject, promise!

One other thing I'd like to mention is that I would have almost no problem with transcribing an ESL if I could hear them clearly!  That's not to say that the doctor is not speaking loudly enough - it's that the onus is on the people choosing the systems used to record their dictation, be it that it's been re-recorded, crappy system, etc.  The radiologist I referenced below would have been bearable if all the extraneous crap was not a factor, as well as the quality of the sound/speakers, etc.  If you could hear clearly, you have a fairer chance of transcribing more seamlessly to make your lines per hour, etc. 


Now that I'm an IC working at home, my main issue with being productive with ESLs is not hearing them clearly - I have enough experience to be able to decipher a lot just based on context (like a lot here say, have developed an ear for it), but if I can't hear it well, c'est le vie. 


If you want to hold out "as long as you can" to not transcribe ESLs, that is, of course, a personal choice.  Most do not have that option and have to bite the bullet.  If you'll notice, most residents are of a foreign land and will be in the workforce too.  Yes, you can get your own accounts with whatever physician you choose and work with them on those issues.  But if you're working for an even small to large MTSO, most have ESLs.  Thx!


Candidates are always going to promise big things
in the heat of the race; then when they are elected and start to serve, all of a sudden their hands are tied! Truly, though, how is one person, such as the President of the US, going to be able to implement change if he/she is,in fact, up against a hugely influential and strong population, such as the NRA (BTW, I'm neutral about the NRA...just using that group to illustrate my point).
I promise you - I begin work at 7:00 p.m. - I'm only PT, and my day always begins with
stat, H&Ps, consults, etc! I love it!
When they have me working mornings I am getting special procedures, ops, caths, and don't like it one bit! Maybe 2nd shift would work for those who just can't see themselves working from 11 to 7. Good luck!
XX,, I promise you can double that typing speed quickly SM
then triple it, and eventually quadruple it with an Expander used right. You're doing something wrong, but I assure you once you know what it is you can correct it easily and immediately start seeing the benefits having your expander do much of the typing for you.

To begin with, though, most of your increased speed is going to come NOT from inserting blocks of text standard for one dictator but rather abbreviations for the individual words, phrases, and headings you're constantly typing anyway.

For instance, I type RPSV for "reports that." It wasn't hard to remember. Variations of "report" are used constantly, so RP became report, RPS reports, RPG reporting, RPD reported. V is "that." AO is "also" for me, and F is "he", so "he also reported that" becomes FAORPDV and "he also reports that" becomes FAORSV. This is the first time I've seen those on paper; you don't memorize the long forms, just string together the constantly used short ones. Amazingly quickly your fingers remember (muscle memory?) so you don't have think about it.

Smartype is probably not the best expander but fine to start on since you have it. Later on, better programs have conversion programs that will allow you to move your abbreviations to that program.

In the meantime, go to productivitytalk.com and start reading and asking questions. If you wish, you can import a whole ready-made dictionary compiled by an MT abbreviations.

But you could also take another tack for now just as a trial. Instead of trying to use Smartype's abbreviations, if that's what you're doing, enter just a handful of your own that you can get very familiar with. I love these that I use and am happy to pass them on to anyone who wishes to try them:

Make T expand to "the"
F expand to "he"
G expand to "him"
K expand to "she"
J expand to "her"
T expand to "the"
B to "but"
Q to "who"
R to "right"
L to "left"
F to "for"
D for "and"

That's more than enough for now. If you do this, I think in a couple of days you'll be loving how a quick tap of the finger drops in all these little words so much that you'll eventually become addicted to abbreviating everything in sight--and to watching your scores on your speed tests rise and rise and rise... Best wishes.
I'm working a festival this weekend, but I promise to get those scriptures to you asap. Thanks fo
:-)
MT companies negotiate with the insurance companies until they get what they want

It is strictly up to the agreement between the employer and the insurance company.  Your new employer can tell you what the pre-existing clause is in your new policy.  Some require proof of insurance for the past 12 months.  It may say something like if a diagnosis has not been made NOR treatment received within the last __ months.  Not good when companies negotiate with a pre-existing clause in order to get a lower rate.  Better check with your HR with your new company before doing anything.  It really gets hairy !


Most companies do no use their only files (HIPAA). They use files provided by other companies, serv
If you can get through the test files, then the sound quality on the actual company files is better. And, the dictation is never as bad as the test files, plus you have QA to help with hard blanks.
MT companies
Hi, there are many MT companies out there, and there are some that you should steer clear of. The one company who scammed me real good for 2 years was amatrans-am out of Valrico, FL. If you see an ad for them run in the other direction. Or just check the BBB. They have really scammed a whole lot of people unfortunately....but there are better ones. But just stay away from the ones that ask you to do like 1,000 lines a day. You won't be able to do it, or if you could you would be dragging yourself off to bed, only to have to get up early the next morning to begin it all over again.

After a couple of years, I am now working, but mind you, I am really a semi-newbie, and I only make 4 cpl. The money won't make you rich, but the experience can be very rewarding, and what you learn keeps your mind working. If you want any more info, feel free to e-mail me brooklyngirl1112@hotmail.com
Gaile
Are all companies like SS?
I think I will stick to my day job god....
Why is it okay for other companies
to be informed about and not this one. My heart bleeds for these MTs. Obviously, it is not just one employee posting here. Can you imagine the frustration of watching your fingers move more and more and your paycheck go down without being told or informed why. They have a right to vent and warn. I want to be warned ahead of time before I make a mistake. No slander involved, facts are facts and that is it.
What companies, if any,
. . . hire and actually promote professionals who have forgotten more than many MTs know, have years and years of experience, work when needed, don't rock the boat, and produce excellent work?  At my company, the editors and managers usually have just a few years of experience as an MT, if any, and many have no management experience.  Some managers have never even seen a typed document.  That doesn't make sense.  What companies give one a chance to actually grow with them?  Any of them?  How do the promotions go to those who took an on-line class and have been an MT for 2 years?  Kudos to anyone who could answer this . . . Bewildered 
USA companies only for me.
 USA   Overseas.
companies

What are some of the best small companies that you have worked for?  Does anyone live out in the sticks and is on dial-up?


MT COMPANIES

do u like working for this company.  Do they treat you fairly.  I was told to download and they will give me first files to fit me with proper account.  They have been great.  Does this continue?  Please let me know.  While on the subject does anyone have any information on Amphion, Medware, QTmedical, Orion and Transhealth.  Any information appreciated.


Does anyone have any information on smaller companies hiring at this time.


 


 


 


What it is with these companies?
I am now on my third job since deciding to work at home August 2005.  What is it with these companies?  Don't they realize that without us (transcriptionists)  they have no business????   I have been lied to, nit-picky QA'd to death, had money taken away from me, treated like crap, and received nasty emails.  Every time get familiar enough with account to start making some real $, guess what?  Get switched to another account.  I have always worked for hospitals, clinics, etc. 20+ years and never have I encountered such treatment.  It is just amazing, actually no, it is pathetic.  This third job is it.  If this does not work out, going back to the hospital.   I have a lot of admiration for those of you who tough it out and are still working for these amazingly unprofessional companies.  Maybe that is why there is so much outsourcing.  Workers in other countries will take their CRAP. 
MT companies
Does anyone know of any Canadian medical transcribing companies that are looking to hire people to work from home??  Thx

MT companies
I'm from BC.  How about you?
which companies use
I had asked on the company board and no one answered.
Thank you.
There are companies to go with...
There are companies to go with that are at home business that are selling a product and making money without having to put a lot of your own in it. Tell them before they try this company to go TheFreshAirShop.com
Why do companies always do that?

Don't they realize the more familiarity an MT has with a certain dictator or group of dictators, the more accurate they are going to be in their transcription and the faster they will be able to produce lines?


Or is it that transcription companies simply don't want MTs to make a decent living?


I don't get it. 


if so many MT companies are bad...

i.e. don't pay on time, lousy platforms, too many ESLs, etc., how on earth do they manage to stay in business?


Ever wonder how companies
come up with their minimum requirements of experience, 1 yr, 4 yrs, 7 yrs, etc. Is there some sort of table/formula they use? ;-)
Yes, and a lot of companies are
at least trying it out. There is a board here called voice recognition and you can also look at the jobs on www.mtjobs.com - usually you will see a posting for "editor" which is a little deceiving because sometimes they are QA jobs and sometimes voice rec jobs. You will always be able to tell by the line rate though :-) I have see an average about half what you normally might expect for transcription.
There are a lot of companies like this. They

live in feast or famine.  It's better for them when it's famine because the work is out fast (too bad for us trying to be consistent, huh).  Top that off with people who don't work the whole pay period, just towards the end which is when the work tends to run low (too bad for us trying to be consistent, huh).  So during the time when these don't work, you get overloaded and need to work as much as you can to make up your time (too bad for being consistent, huh).  I know, I live in those same shoes, buried and then scratching and scraping for work to do.  Gotta love it!


Companies
Does this sort of thing happen a lot? I was just curious. I am a student in Medical Transcription, and I was just wondering if anyone had some good tips for job hunting. I don't think I want to start from home. That is something I would be interested in after I have had some experience. Any advice is welcome. Thanks.
MT companies
Hey, don't be discouraged by what you're hearing here. Disgusting. So, SOMETIMES, in my experience, yes, companies are constantly looking for MTs because they are a bad company and can't keep typists. Sometimes their standards are impossibly high, sometimes they are rude to the employees, etc. SOMEtimes it's because they are vibrant and expanding, but beware that some companies expand too fast, and can't keep up, and end up folding because of it. CONTACT them, ask them, go fishing. The only good advice I heard in the whole post thing is, keep looking. You need to be able to evaluate each company based not only on postings and web site evaluations and word of mouth, but also by personal contact. YOUR evaluation will be different from MINE, and you might be comfy working for a company I would hate. So, in that respect it is personal. And the "good" company of today, can fold tomorrow. The terrible company of today, can change it's spots. Find the fit for YOU.
Run away from those companies. sm

I paid $350 a month through Consumer Credit Counseling for over a year and they sold my accounts to Money Market Management and never told me.  They never paid a thing on my Sears bill because they were still waiting for Sears to accept their proposal, which Sears never did.  I was never told that either. 


I don't know where all of the money went because when I dumped them, my $200 Home Depot credit card bill was suddenly almost $600. (Late charges and over limit charges).


Work with your creditors.  It worked for me, at least for the most part.  Sears doesn't usually budge, but you'll find that in this day and age, creditors are willing to work with you and settle for a certain amount a month if you are willing to do direct debit (even $20 a month) from your bank account.


Good luck.


I would like to use this - what companies
x
What companies
Being a Christian, I would not work for any of them because the antics I have seen displayed in the industry would be at odds with my ethics. I will be consent to raise my child and leave the boardroom to someone else.
I mean getting other companies to allow
us to bring them to the office!
Best companies
Me too.  I'd love to hear about some place that treats their MTs well.  Is FOCUS a good company    ?????
The best companies are . . . (sm)
Transcription at its Best Get Back Jack BestPRN (Florida) ProScript (Florida) AccuStat (Wisconsin) In general, these are all companies with fewer than 100 MTs, so they treat their MTs like humans. The downside is you will frequently have to invest in a specific foot pedal or FTP program or even, ugh, C-phone and long distance. (See, that's what the IRS means when it asks whether you can lose money at your business.) These smaller companies also require a lot more communication and better work ethics than the big nasties do. If you can't do your assigned work, you'd better find a sub that can that very day. If you don't like communicating with the service owner frequently and keeping fences mended, you're better off with the big anonymous you're-a-number-to-us services. Best advice? Search through the old pages of the Company board and go to mtjobs.com and search the old listings. The companies who have just advertised are working their way through the average of 300 to 500 resumes that each ad produces. (Makes you wonder about those big nasties who keep advertising, doesn't it? Why so much churn?) I've had excellent results both with that and with "cold calling," meaning cold-emailing these days. Make your resume short, sweet, and effective; design an effective cover letter, and don't forget the outstanding subject line. Research the service and emphasize those of your qualities which exactly fit what they're looking for. Bonnne chance!
Some companies do.
You may want to try and find a company who is willing to work with a new MT. There are companies out there who will help new MTs gain experience and not pentalize them for their errors.
Companies?
What's the consensus, TransHealth or Precyse?  Thanks in advance.
There are still a few companies that will allow

dial-up.  I've seen a couple within the past month on the job boards but can't remember which ones.  She could get a job that uses a C-phone or Lanier, though she may also be required to get unlimited long distance too.  Most companies will rent the equipment or you can frequently find it on the equipment board here or e-bay for a reasonable charge.   There is a thing called an Air Card.  Verizon has one and I believe Sprint may have one - not sure.  I have used a laptop for many years and don't know if a desktop has a slot for the card to go in or you can use something internal.  The card is a couple of hundred dollars and the service is approximately $49.00/mo.   Some cell phone companies offer some type of data transfer that might be an option provided she isn't so remote that she can't get cell service.   In my city we have a new service called ClearWire.  I think it is along the lines of a cell phone transmission.  You plug the modem into an outlet and you can move it from room to room.   They don't have it in my neighborhood yet though so I don't have more particulars.   They may have the same service by a different name in your friend's area.


There is also satellite, although some companies will not allow it for security reasons and because the speeds are inconsistent.


That is all the options I can think of right now. 


I don't know if it is the Companies trying to rip off MT's but
I can tell you this - it used to be nothing to bid a job at 14 cents and walk away with it because you had the best service at the lowest price - now I routinely can bid 11 cpl and get underbid by someone else who is also offering 24 TAT and faxed reports.  If the MTSO can't get 11, you sure can't pay 10. I think that's why prices are starting to stick around 6-8 cpl for the MT's.
Two Companies
I just work for one company as an MT, but I also work as a Transcriptionist for an insurance company, so yes, I do work two jobs, but they're both not as MTs.

Yes, there are companies where sm

you can work with dialup.  It's very, very sloooooowwwww, though.  I lose 2 hours' production each day because of it.   If you find a company you like, just ask if it's possible.   There are many that offer C-phone dictation (or Lanier), too.  If you don't have a C-phone or the Lanier gizmo, you might want to check ebay for a good, used one. 


Good luck! 


 


 


 


 


 


 


Very, very few companies pay a CMT more, ...
and even fewer 1 cent.  If anything, it's more like 1/4 cent or even less.  In addition, for an MT working a full-time to make around $50k a year isn't really incredibly impressive.  In fact, it's a little on the low end. 
Most companies want to know where you rec'd your
Some companies only hire grads of specific schools.

MedQuist only hires new grads from Career Step.

Do you think there are any companies (sm)
that might give an MT a chance with past acute care experience? In my 21 years, I have 4-5 years of acute care, but my main love is clinic/multispecialty. Acute care was okay when I was doing it, but I'm not sure if they require recent experience or if any experience counts.

What do you all think? Give it a try? Thanks for any input!
I have done QA for 3-4 companies (sm)
and unless the punctuation makes a huge difference in the sentence - I don't worry about it.  And sentence construction?  Most accounts are verbatim or pretty darn close to verbatim - I don't think it is the MTs responsibility to fix what the doctor said - maybe at a higher rate of pay but when these MTs are getting paid 6-9 cpl - no way!  It's a struggle to understand the docs most of the time, marble-mouthed and rushing through this stuff!!  Now if the doctor dictates the punctuation I make sure it is there - the doc needs to take some responsibility here - the MT is always the one to take the blame and that is wrong.
US only companies
What companies have you found that do not outsource? I would definitely like to check them out for potential jobs. Personally, I think it is ridiculous that they would have someone ESL auditing English translations of English speech. That would totally get my goat! I would never work for an Indian company or any other foreign company for that matter. I'd change careers first.
Not in all companies!
There's a difference b/w QA and training, like someone mentioned. I work by the hour, also, but am mindful of the cost to my company and also keep up with the total lines per hour that I QA. Each report that goes through QA costs money; if the company is paying a decent line per hour, 100% relisten by QA should not be required.