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I'll say your hospital does!

Posted By: NightOwl on 2009-05-04
In Reply to: what they require - justme

I've seen written policies that encourage, even require, the use of screensavers and user ID passwords, changing those passwords every certain number of days, not knowingly leaving the room with a patient's report open, etc. But your setup with your hospital sounds like something completely unreasonable and unenforceable to me.

Does your hospital also require you to have a webcam focused on your face while you're logged on, so they can check up on you?

Trust and respect is a 2-way street, and I'm not feeling the trust/respect from your hospital at all!


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Depends on what kind of hospital? Large urban hospital or small community hospital? SM

Also, is it a large teaching hospital? If so you have to consider there will be A LOT of different residents dictating, usually a lot of ESLs at teaching hospitals, and the residents rotate out and new ones rotate in every summer. So you can't expect to get the same dictators and build up your macros because the dictators change all the time.


I would say 9 cpl would be a pretty good offer for a small to medium community hospital where you will be doing the same dictators on a daily basis.  But for bigger, urban or teaching hospitals I would want at least 12 to 15 cpl. 


It'll be the most expensive magazine subscription you'll ever get! No point in joining. nm
s
I'll go! I'll go!! I won't take hormones and will be ready to defend your honor :) n/m
.
No. It'll be the most expensive magazine subscription you'll ever get, and it's unnecessary
s
You'll get used to it. It is keeping the right leg propped up at the same time that'll be the
When I broke my ankle, I was just grateful it wasn't the hands. Without our hands we'd be totally screwed.

I broke my right ankle slipping on ice and was lucky to have gloves on because the palm of the glove was totally torn up and my hand was okay.

Good luck and be sure to do your exercises when it is time.
It'll happen. You'll find your fit.
You might have to kiss a few frogs first, though.
Oh she'll spice it up alright, she'll be
placing hidden cameras in the other ladies' dressing rooms! LOL!
continue your goal; he'll/they'll get used to it/over it
nm
I'll vent and I'll sign my name sm
I have two IC contracts right now. I recently went back to a job I had quit earlier in the year to work for the other company I am still working for.

The newer job has 80% ESLs. I transcribe OP notes primarily and I can fill in other work types as the opportunity arises. I am frustrated with this particular situation. After 6 months, I am making less money and working longer hours. I am past the learning curve and I should be doing better, at least in the number of hours I am spending doing the job. We have run out of work for 24 hrs at a time at least 5 or 6 times since December 1, and in November it was more than that. I have a friend who worked for this company as well and she was having similar difficulties. The only thing that we can figure is that they are shorting us line count some way, because after 6 months at it, it should be easier/faster/more money, but it is less and less every single pay period. It is not a nice thing to accuse a company of doing, but it SEEMS that way to us. I am fed up with being expected to type every single OP note that comes in 24/7 and meeting the 6 hr TAT for them on weekends, evenings, holidays, wee hours of the morning...

I took back a job I held for 2-1/2 yrs. The team leader has changed and this gal thinks that I should be on call 24/7 for whenever she has work. I might have some at 7 a.m., or perhaps not until 6 p.m. or later. I can't plan my personal life and between these two IC situations, I find that I am not eating on a daily basis, not showering on a daily basis and not sleeping more than 3 or 4 hours at a time. I have lost weight and I don't feel very well. I woke up today with a rip roaring head cold (my first in nearly 8 yrs) and it has already moved to bronchitis and I am expecting pneumonia by the weekend because I develop it very easily. I already have deep pain in my back.

Yes, I should call in sick tomorrow, but I really can't take the fallout. The job I took back I am covering for another gal who wanted vacation over the holidays and if I have to call in sick, the team leader will call me and pitch a fit about how this is my responsibility. It IS my responsibility, I did say I would do it, and I will do it, despite being quite ill. In the past, when I worked for this company, they would not allow me to call in sick for a "cold" without a doctor's note. I worked through many illnesses with them and only called in sick when I developed West Nile Fever and while I was sick for over a month, I only called for my last 12 reports one day when I could no longer see the computer screen because my head hurt.

The problem is that yes, many MTs lack work ethic. They don't take their responsibility seriously. This is not a work as you please career, not even for an IC. I can see the MTSO's point of view, I truly can. Like finding experienced, reliable and capable MTs, for the MTs who are these things, finding a company will treat you like a human being is equally difficult. I sit here, feeling lousy and like I am an utter slave labor with no consideration whatsoever. I know that my work needs to be done, but when I am this sick it is better that someone else do it for the sake of the work, for accuracy and for speed of getting it out. I know that I am needed, but to be the MT these companies need me to be, I also need to look after my own health.

I will also mention that when I have asked for vacation, I have been approved for the time, but the MTSO queues up my work and calls me then I am not on the system getting it done. I have told them I had been approved for time off, but the MTSO didn't schedule anyone to cover for me and I am told to get on work, vacation or no, if I want to keep my job.

Thus, I work 24/7/365 and have for years. I work sick, I work when I am in pain (I have an AI disorder), I work exhausted from staying up all night covering for others who are allowed to call in sick and have vacations when I can't have either. I work having no health insurance and not being able to afford the $125 a month to buy some with a high copay so I can see a doctor. I work without breaks for breakfast, lunch or dinner and I sometimes come close to having an accident because if I leave my desk to go to the little girls' room I get nasty calls about where I am at and what I am doing.

Many MTs are mistreated, and I am one of them.
Hospital. I wish I'd never left my hospital job.
They'll only take me back if I start off working nights and weekends again at the bottom of the totem pole.
If you work for a hospital - how come no one from the hospital
called you?? Were they in the dark, as well?? How sad, that no one in your hospital communicates with the at home staff.
Tell him you'll give him your macros if he'll give you his Lexus, his ski cabin, and (nm)
;p
Control. I'll still get OT though. And you'll
still sit and complain!


I'll join you on that one, I'll be 58
@@@@
hospital MT
Call the hospital.  You can offer a better deal to them.  Most MTSOs charge the hospitals a lot more than what they pay out for the actual work done.  I work for a hospital.  I asked for a raise after 10 years, they baulked, started looking at outsourcing.  They changed their mind really quick when they found out how much they would charge them.  (four times what they paid me).
Hey, if you don't want that hospital job can I
have it? Just kidding (only because it's probably not where I live in central Florida). Started working at home for the kids over 10 years ago, but they are all grown now and I realize I don't know anyone because I hardly ever leave the house!!
hospital job
My situation too. Son out of the house now. Still know all the people at the hospital as I worked there for 10+ years and still do side typing for one of the units there that were not taken over when they outsourced!   So seriously considering it....Sorry, its in PA!
I think they did that to us at the hospital

but no O/T.  But you could get on there and do BONUS MINUTES at 6/cents a line all you wanted.


I always felt like that should have been illegal.  If I'm working, then I'm working.  If I'm an hourly employee - then anytime I'm working!!!!! I should be an employee and thus paid HOURLY WAGES.  But they got away with it.  Sort of a hybrid deal.


They screw us any way they can.


  (good little screws all in a row)


 (Medical Records Supervisor yucking it up drinking coffee, practicing snapping her whip)


(Me at the end of the day saying WHY AM I HERE?????)


Hospital pay
I make about $15 per hour at my hospital job in Washington state and have recently quit that to work out of my home. However, I have not yet found any home job that even comes close to that when being paid based on lines.
hospital pay
i make 21/h. living in the hawaiians islands, thats actually pretty good
hospital pay
my main job is at the hospital and i would never leave it especially with all the benefits and good pay. ic has its benefits when it comes to tax time, but as far as job security and being a single mom, i choose to stay at a guaranteed $20/h. too many people are unhappy with the problems of security in this line of work and i dont want that to happen to me.
Hospital pay
Out here in Oregon, all hospitals pay from 14 to 19 plus benefits.  Am considering going with Kaiser after the first of the year and having my I/C's run my business.  Have one doctor retiring after the first and deciding whether to do all my own accounts and make $40K doing 30 hours per week without benefitis enjoying life and not saving much or going with Kaiser at 18.50 per hour with benefits and having the I/C's doing 80% of my work and I will type parttime on the weekends.  Have only 10 more years to work.   Have been offered work at Kaiser, Providence and Good Samaritan Hospitals so the work is out there. 
Hospital pay

At least with the hospitals out here in the west, they always have posted salary ranges and you can usually always exept with decent experience to start in the middle somewhere and reach the top in 5 years.  Worked in HR in a large hospital for a bit.  They always post the salary ranges here with positions and with that you go in with a bit of knowledge.   I never did see one start at the top though.  Good luck. 


 


Hospital job
Let us know how things go.  I would fear that they see MT as just "typing" and would give you so many secretary duties that the MT part would be pushed to the back burner. 
TAKE THE HOSPITAL JOB - sm
national services lose accounts all the time whether it is nonrenewal of contract or fired, or whatever, your pay is never the same from week to week with a service, you may have extra transcriptionists on your account all of a sudden, work load varies, etc.

With the hospital work, you know your doctors, you have guaranteed hours and work and even down time (some services don't offer that), overtime, benefits, etc. Some hospitals even offer reimbursement on college courses - CAN AN MTSO SERVICE OFFER THAT?? Some hospitals have family leave time for 12 weeks of maternity!! Can an MTSO service offer that?

Take the hospital job!
Take the hospital job...
Those are only real "for sure" MT jobs out there anymore.   I worked for years for a service but since  I took my at-home hospital job, I feel like somebody for the first time in the eyes of my employer.  We are all local, so we have staff meetings and come into the department for different things, yearly reviews, parties, etc.  We're all in touch via e-mail  and know each other face-to-face too. I get paid by the house, have a set schedule, and can earn incentive pay too.  I have paid holidays, benefits, and am a hospital employee except work at home.  I love it, would never EVER go back to clawing for lines at a service who barely knows my name.
Hospital Job
One thing you have to be careful of -- are there witches in that hospital who will send you the "worst" work or not send it at all and keep it for themselves? Be sure - I know one hospital who "punishes" the work at homes because they're afraid their dept. will be outsourced completely. Be careful who you deal with. Don't like MTSO's so I started my own, but family sickness and my own illness forced me to retire (temporarily, I hope). When offered work at home from a hospital, I had to say no and glad I did, another person said yes and just sits there waiting, and waiting, while the in-house people make the bucks and if they do send, it's all stuff they don't want to do. Be careful and good luck!!
HOSPITAL JOB ALL THE WAY!!! the Way (sm)

That's good pay and bennies to boot!!! I would die for that.


I worked for a hospital as an IC for many years at home. That's the only way the hospital bigwigs would allow it, not employee status.  Never ran out of work except in the first few weeks in a new year. Never had "just the junk" as some suggested. I did the same work as everyone else. I tried to get my employee status back (which I was once) but no luck. I was at home. Some rule about that, but I was happy.


I'd go back to my hospital in a flash. My buddies want me back. The boss wants me back. For some reason, they still won't give me employee status. That sucks. ('scuse my French).


Don't even THINK about what to do, DO IT. You'll never be sorry.


 


Hospital

I work full-time from home for a local hospital and am paid per hour.  I also work an IC on a part-time basis.  I would say if you need the benefits and steady paycheck and can handle working possibly rotating weekends and holidays, yes.  The only good thing with working with some nationals is having the flexibility with your schedule but you will NOT make a steady income.  You will constantly run of out work, loose money and find yourself clocking in and out all day long just to make 8 hours.  With a hospital, you know that the work will be there everyday and if you have downtime, you will still get paid.  Also, having that security in knowing that you can speak to management face to face or over the phone. Go for the hospital, because I know a lot of MTs wished they could have that opportunity.  Go luck to you!!!


hospital
security, benefits,local, communication, "real people" versus "phone people"
take less money and have these advantages, the days of making a lot by working on production are over
Good Luck!
Thank you both, will look into it and ask at the hospital too.
//
hospital IC
I contract with a local hospital.  I worked there for a little less than 2 years and as I had a sickly child and wanted to be closer to home, we agreed to my working at home as an IC.  My hours are pretty flexible although if I do not work I do not get paid.  And they do have someone as a back up for me when I am unable to work.  Still, I would not want to go back to work 8-5 at the hospital.  This has allowed me to be there for my children's activities and be home when they are sick.
new hospital......
The MTSO I work for does basically the same thing. Except they don't pay us by the hour, by production. Just about any place you work will do this.

As long as you work your assigned hours, it should not be a problem. Turn off the phone or let it go to voice mail (if it's family call back on break). Just work as if you were in an office, and there will be no problems. Don't try to do your laundry and cook dinner while you're working - it will kill your line count.

If you are getting an hourly wage plus incentive and hospital benefits, you are at the top of the heap - if you quit, let me know where you are and I will relocate and take the job!
My hospital wants them done like this...
If doses are given and there are more than 5 medicines listed, they want it in number format (even if 1, 2, etc., is not said). If there are less than 5, paragraph form. If there are no dosages at all, no matter how many meds are listed, paragraph form.

I'm sure you will get a lot of different answers on this though. :)
HOSPITAL PAY
Not true. Many hospitals pay more. I make 50,000 yr at my hospital. I am full-time. I get same benefits as those who walk through the doors every day. I am not penalized if I don't meet the required line count each day. We have a week to reach our line counts and then we are not penalized. They know how hard we work. We never have to worry about losing our insurance because of "meeting quotas", and they provide all equip and pay the internet bill as well.
hospital pay

I'm thinking of taking a position at a local hospital. I would be picking up dictations and taking the reports back the next day. What would be an acceptable line rate? It would be a mix of both ESL and non-ESL. Any input would be appreciated.


Hospital MT
I know exactly what you mean.  They opened the Surgery Center here about a year ago, and our workload has also decreased.  And, because some of the girls in the office talk too much and are not doing 160 lph, we get no overtime as it is being sent to a service company instead!  We have two hospitals nearby that sold the department out and went strictly with the service company and one is sending their work to India!  Unfortunately, a lot of us need the benefits, which we will no longer get if this happens to us. 
Hospital Job
Would 9 cpl be considered good pay for an in-house employee hospital position?  No hourly pay, just pay on production.  Benefits available such as PTO, paid training, health/dental insurance.  Have option of working from home.  Is it worth considering?
Hospital Job
It is a smallish/medium hospital with few ESLs.
hospital QA
I work for a hospital. We do verbatim, but use BOS as well to a degree. We have to use our judgement. If you know it is wrong and it changes the patient care then it should be flagged for QA. Better safe than sorry. Their job to take care of it as far as I'm concerned.
I second getting on with hospital/doc
You will earn more money in a hospital or doctor's office for the first few years, and will probably have better benefits such as insurance, too.
I am used to the ESL...I came from a hospital that
was 80% ESL. You can't get away from ESL and I think 50% is about average.
I was just in the hospital...sm
First in the ER, then I was admitted, and many of the nurses and technicians I interacted with had cell phones *on* them.  I didn't see a bunch of signs saying 'no cell phones' which kind of surprised me.  I was thinking maybe it's not such a big deal anymore... ?  (They had me on an EKG the whole time because I was tachy.) 
hospital pay in NJ

I work as a full-time remote employee in Central NJ.  My pay after six years is 14.75/hour.  I started at 12.50 with small incremental raises since then.  Raises were hospital-wide and not based on individual merit.  I've tried to get an invidual increase but no luck.  We have a minimum line count per hour of 160, with incentive at 180 lines and again at 200 lines.  Unfortunately, most of our easy work has been steadily going to the outside services, so incentive is more difficult to make but not impossible.  PTO is 10 days to start and accrues from there.  Decent benefits.


When I applied at a sister hospital not too long ago for the same job, their starting pay was LOWER than our hospital's starting pay was SIX years ago, so if anything, in our area the average pay is going down for in-house MT's, at least in our hospital system.   


I'm actually considering the opposite route and seeing if I can make more money on my own, since it's pretty clear to me that our pay isn't going to go up anytime soon where I am now.   


Hospital
Even if they pay you 15 cents a line, they are making out  cheaply.  You have to drive there and you have to drive back.  I do this every day.  It costs me about 8-10 dollars a day in gas (low estimate) and takes over one hour of my time.  You figure out based on the lines available if you are worth so little.  Be smart and set up a server for them so that they print.  If they print AND store, then 12 is a pretty good deal for both of you.  Just my opinion.  Good luck.  Also, consider how much you have to print - that could take a lot of time.  At one point I paid someone else to print, copy, make envelopes and distribute and it took four hours a day for them to do that.  Don't jump on it until you are sure. 
what about the hospital?
It is ridiculous for health insurance companies to decide when somebody needs medical care - that should be the doctor's decision. . but also, the hospital decided not to do the transplant until they got their money . . . sad. .
30 yrs, 20 with same hospital until...
outsourced to MQ :( Luckily, I got on with another hospital!
My hospital used it
when I hired about 7 years ago.  The class was taught by this old, wized professor who was way cool.  The class was mixed with MT, EMT, etc.- new employees hired by the hospital.  I think it was an 8-week course about 1 or 2 x a week, with a final test at the end for a certificate of completion.  I remember the roller coaster for costo (ribs) word association.  I
Your hospital might, but others do
You're talking only about your experience with your hospital. That doesn't hold true for the industry as a whole. The main problem with the CCA has been that employers are not accepting it. That's because they think they need coders, not not-quite-coders whose credential qualifies them to, basically, receive the on-the-job training their school did not give them.

AHIMA recommends a minimum of 2 years experience because graduates of their accredited programs have a 70% failure rate on the CCS exam. Both the 70% failure rate of AHIMA grads and the problem of employers not accepting the CCA is known to AHIMA. It's on their website, too.

Hospitals *do* hire CPC credentials, even if yours does not. We have more than 20 of them.

If you are a CCA, in truth, you should know the credential is written CCA, not CC-A, and the CCS is not written CC-S.



Our hospital
Only has an audit trail once the document has been e-signed. Before that, anyone can go in and do whatever without leaving a reason or seeing a history. Thankfullly, we type in a dictaphone system and it crosses an interface into meditech. The dictaphone system will show the report at all stages and show which Transcriptionist made which changes.
My hospital does this and -
My hospital already has been doing EMR for 10 years and they have not reduced their staff of transcriptionists. We still physically type each and every report. It just means there is no actual paper report - the report is all computerized and the doctors pull it up and look at everything on computer and they can do this from home or from their office, as well as at the hospital.

They do not do anything automated except for looking at the chart. EMR and EHR does not necessarily mean voice recognition.