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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

I got my own accounts by checking the want ads.

Posted By: sm on 2008-01-09
In Reply to: $40K working PT, own accounts. - nm

Any advertised position for a medical Transcriptionist received a phone call from me. I would ask if they would consider allowing the work to be done off site. If they said no, I would thank them and move on. If they said yes, I made an appointment to see the person in charge. I landed a physician's office that was part of a larger physician's group. Through their network, I landed three other offices just by word of mouth from the original office manager. The quality, timeliness and price of my product was valued and through it I received the other referrals. I have never looked for a job since then; they have all come to me. In this job, "quality is job one".


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They are checking accounts with higher interest, minimum balance required, I believe.
dd
How about zillions of accounts. MQ has these accounts so overloaded even the new hires dont have any
work. I would love to read some of these reports and then they expect perfect QA and no blanks. Did they lose their minds completely.
TIA - THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH FOR CHECKING ON THIS - SM
please do keep me posted. Thank you very very very much.
Thank you. I'm checking them out. (sm)
My most recent experience was more than the 5 years ago that they ask about on the website. Is that going to keep them from hiring me? Is there a test of some sort? Thanks again.
just checking
to see if post worked
Checking
My reports are from 1 to 50 pages. I can't afford to go over the entire report at the end. I do it as I go, using the highlighter on MS Word to mark the last line of each section or several at a time, once they're reviewed. I use a different color to flag things for the doctor or remind myself to go back and review something I need to verify. I just go back and undo the marker points when I'm done. I can't move along without proofing though, maybe because I'm still new at this, or perhaps it's my personality type.
checking--sm
if you have been doing this for awhile and have not received negative feed back from QA, then I would suggest you lighten up a bit on yourself. I leave my grammer checker on and when I am finished with a report, I give it the once over for any *dreaded green lines* pointing out any grammar errors and if there are not any, I send it on. I get very little feed back on my work, negatively. I also check, quickly for any number transposes, as sometimes I get them backwards, but that is a personal thing for me. It saves alot of time if you learn to trust what you do. good luck.
checking
The reason you hire these people is to help you out not add on more work. Believe me been there. There are plenty of good MTs out there, in fact this one is looking!
What about checking
Windows Task Manager? Would this work while you are connected to VPN? Hit CTRL, ALT-Delete once and up pops the window. Choose USERS tab and would that show you if somebody else was on your computer? Just a thought. VPN is supposed to be somewhat protective, but there should also be a firewall and a program like AVG. Where I have worked the IT people do have to know a lot about the computers. IT people tend to be very stressed out because they get blamed for everything IME.
From my checking around,
it seems like you MUST go out on your own and find your own accounts, if you want to make any decent money and STILL have a life! Physicians by themselves pay much better than the MTSO's AND less account specs, cesspool, etc. Cuts out the middleman.
Definitely worth checking into.....
left office to work here. NEVER regretted it. Good tech support, wonderful, easy going supervisors, great accounts, few ESLs, platform is easy to use. Check it out.
Just checking. It's great to see someone who is
nm
checking my smilies
Make sure you right click on the picture, choose copy then come here and paste.  If this works, that's what I did.
I got a DBA for the checking account...sm
but did not get a business license. However, I do not live within any city limits. I was told by the bank that I should register with the state but never did and I do not recall paying any fees. I eventually got big enough where I incorporated which of course makes all the above points moot.
too much time on re-checking

I was just thinking.  If I spent 10 minutes per hour rechecking what I have already typed, 10 x 8 hours = 80 MINUTES.  That's a lot of time.  And I know sometimes I check more than that.


I need to learn to just trust and let go.  What is your rule?  Do it right the first time, trust yourself, and just move on, or do you pore back over and worry too much? 


I have got to speed up a bit.  Seems I have always had this problem! 


checking out a surgeon?
is there a way to check out a surgeon or doctor before making an apt with them?  (complaints, track record or anthing else).  I've never been comfortable with the "referral" from your primary or whoever it might be because I can't shake the idea of friends referring to friends and not based on qualifications.  thanks
Checking the dictionary?
Are we watching the same Judge Joe Brown!?! Not the impression I get, at all. LOL!
are you checking references?
nm
yes very helpful - I was just checking
them out at Transcriptiongear, and you can even get pink ones, how cute.
OMG! Before doing all this checking for scam AVs, I'd
rather pay

$ 30.--

for a yearly subscription with McAfee and am safe.

It costs $ 40.-- McAfee PLUS for 1 year and if one subscribes early for the coming year, McAfee gives a discount of $ 10.-- and it comes to $ 30.--.
Firewall is included. The scanning is very strong so that it does not let through programs that I want to install and it asks for permission.

Again: for Tech Support: Why do you not favor McAfee?


checking resources on computer

Does anyone know how to check resources on Windows-XP, also on Windows 98?  Thanks


Probably because someone can empty out your checking account before
w
Try checking out the IRS website. Maybe there's a list there. nm
x
Have you tried checking the IRS website for their definition?
If there's a standard anywhere, it should be based on that.
I remember checking a document

where the dr had said I was depressed, not because I showed symptoms, but because of something he perceived in a question I asked him.  Needless to say, I found a new Dr. That one was obviously mysogynistic before he even got his practice off the ground.


What is your process for checking your work
Just wondering what everyone does to check their own work before they send it off.  Do you read back over the whole thing, read after each paragraph, ....
The accounts are old and she keeps her accounts TRUSTING she hired the right MTs
who if in doubt will ask questions regarding reports. No one can find all mistakes in all reports and that is human to have a report with perhaps a typo. You think anyone reads through all the reports of a national company before they get to the hospital? Not a chance. Some random QA is supposed to correct all mistakes? Not hardly. Doctors/dictators make mistakes too. We all do. So do QA people. So the thing is this person hires good people who are trustworthy, the hospital likes the way she does their account and life goes on quite nicely w/o hovering editors/QA people. BTW, who QAs the QA people on your accounts. Ever wonder?
Completely untrue. I'm checking on the problem. NM
Goldbird
Thanks for the info. I will be checking out the fuzzytummy.com before I order. sm
Is heartworm medication, such as the sentinol, a drug that would require the Rx from the vet?
DH pays the big bills and know he won't have more taken out on him, we don't share checking ac
I have mine and he has his but like I said before, he pays for my car, his and the house note. Just moved here in 2004 and not planning a move, ever hopefully! But, as in my previous post, I have as regular employee been told to take off everything that pertains to my working at home (before becoming IC), room, DSL line, phone (have to have to use the DSL), computer, printing materials, all so I keep all receipts in all years plus we have 3 tax bills for 3 different properties for this past year (just sold a home where I used to live) but all that is kept. What I am saying is I have been told for years as an employee working from my home ok to exempt these. I do not like TAX TIME!!
It means lots of people are checking it out....
in other words, a HOT topic!
Post your resume on all the various job boards and keep checking the
help wanted ads.   There are companies who will hire from posted resumes that don't post jobs.   Of course you can be more productive with just one speciality, but it is also extremely boring.   If you are happy with your current company and they have other specialities ask them if you can do something else. 
EditScript - Checking QA line counts
I'm doing QA for the 1st time in EditScript and when I go into Transcription Metrics to check my line count, it says zero.  Is there a different way to check line counts in QA?  Or is something really wrong? 
WhenI first got out of college and first got married, I had my very first checking acct. sm
And needless to say, I was HORRIBLE with my money! I never balanced my checkbook and went on "what I thought I had in the bank." Yes, I bounced a few checks (blushing) BUT, the local business would just contact me and I would have to go and pay the check or fee, which I always did and then it was done with. I did that at K -mart 15 years ago mind you - young and dumb, paid for my bad check, my fee, and then turned around and paid for my purchases with a check. How hilarious is that???
Since then, we have overdraft protection in case we ever need and it and Thank God for the last 2 years or so have never used it. But, in answer to your post, the businesses WILL try to collect before anything negative is posted!!!! It is when you run and hide and don't answer calls or doors that they will have to do it!

You can pay off a bad check and be okay.

We are landlords. A tenant bounced a huge check and then left the house for good. We just went straight to the DAs office and gave them a copy of the bad check. About 3 weeks later we got a letter with a check from the DAs office said that THEY COLLECTED FOR US and that future payments would ensue and then some. Sure enough - we collected!! Got that advice from our attorney! Oh, the DA will collect alright!
If you'd done a little checking on this board, you'd see that all kinds of topics are discusse
b
Thank you for posting. Tech support is checking on this now and will respond.
/
Probably too late, but checking Ebay for a local seller sm
might be an option. Ya never know!
Yes, some hospitals are now checking applicants credit records (sm)
and some hospitals are finger-printing for background checks.

I encourage you not let your credit record keep you from applying. You will hopefully have the opportunity to share your situation.
Thanks. Just checking out options in case SE does not exist anymore next year for MQ. I dont really
need benefits and dont really want to be an employee with set hours and the amount of hours you can work. I dont know what part time employee will be because it does not exist now but just checking around. Thanks all. Of course, no one knows what the cpl will be next year for MQ either. I dont know how many hours part time employees are allowed to work and still be considered part time or how they monitor that.
You don't need to close Word after checking the auto numbering option. It works right away. nm
xx
Not all accounts are good accounts. One
That should not be the case. Sounds like you need new accountant with strong knowledge of IC deduction.  We save a several thousand on what we pay in taxes based on what I can deduct as at home IC, $2000 off the top for what I pay my child to help with office chores, as an example.  The measly 7.xx% I pay that an employer would pay is well worth my independence in being my own boss.  
Try checking the grocery store for reduced buggies, reduced
counters in the meat and produce departments. Quite often, you can find perfectly good foods marked down (be careful about pork). My husband is a meat cutter and we quite often have meat that has been reduced and it is just as good as what was cut that day. Buy double roll toilet tissue. For whatever reason, it seems to last longer at my house. Buy cheaper brands of shampoo and hand soap. The stuff from Wal-Mart works just as well. The same can be said for scented lotions. Make your own potpourri. Mix cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg in water and keep it simmering in a small crock pot. Smells really good and is less expensive than candles. Believe me, I can pinch a penny, but it's really not so bad.
How many accounts?

My national employer has 19 accounts in my queue, though I rarely work in all of them in a week or a month.  Still its too many.  I'll often work 5 or 6 accounts in a single shift, despite the promise of a limit of 2 or 3. 


This is a terrible business practice. If you are a dedicated MT, it requires extensive time to review account-specific instructions, not to mention being unfamiliar with place and people names associated with the different regions.  It is unfair to "quality patient care" to bounce MTs into unfamiliar territory.  After all, how quickly and accurately can one transcribe a record when you are overwhelmed with studying your fifth or sixth different set of instructions in less than 4 hours?  I believe the substantial amount of MT shuffling is to slow us down--they have overstaffed and its to their benefit to force familiarity with odd accounts so they can do it again next time.  They do phase people out of primaries and secondaries and even tertiary accounts once they become proficient.  We hear the work is low due to summer slow down, yet they keep sending their "please welcome our newest recruits" memos.


And, yes, I will definitely be searching for a new company very soon. 


I have 8 accounts and seriously,
they do run out of work, but I change my work hours. I know if I get on at 6:30 a.m., I will get a decent amount of lines done in about 2 hours time with the normal interruptions of kids. I usually do get back on in the afternoon to try to finish up and there usually is work for me at that time too. I was transferred to Amherst when our office closed. I have been with MQ for 4 years. It just stresses me out that people complain so much about Medquist and it is always the same people. Why not get another job????? Why do they continue to come here and complain about the same thing over and over and over again????? It is the most annoying thing I have ever seen. I agree that we all need to vent, I do too. But why remain at MQ if you are all so unhappy? Maybe finding another job with a different company will make you happy, although it seems like people from every other company are complaining, as well.
15 accounts......
Yes, but it is important that we post this information. I believe, or at least I hope, that the people at the top need to hear this.

The people at the top management levels read this board regularly. They are concerned about the bottom line. Three things affect the bottom line: production, TAT, and quality.

If you have 2-3 accounts, you will have much higher production, much better quality and TAT will be better controlled. You will make more money because you are not wasting time jumping from account to account.

I believe the problem is in middle management. They are the ones putting us on 15 accounts at a time. (I actually had a supervisor who told me she had asked the manager while she was throwing me at every problem account and her answer was...."Tough S---" Unbelievable.
These are only for MT's/accounts that are on DQS
If your account has never been switched to DQS, I don't believe you would receive a check. This somehow pertains to DQS. It appears that the longer your account has been on DQS, the larger your check would be. But this is all a mystery to us MT's. It may also pertain to certain accounts/clients that MQ had misbilled, per the law suits against them. At this point, MQ upper mgmt is keeping very quiet about this check, so can't help but think that it pertains to the overbilling that they had done to some MQ clients -- possibly we were the MT's who were worked on those accounts. BUT YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE about the purpose of the check, other than they had to pay back some monies FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER. Will we MT's ever know ????
TOO TOO MANY ON ACCOUNTS
Don't forget to call Human Resources and follow up with a written Employee Complaint with ALL these complaints. They think the complaining is only from an isolated few and won't even take things seriously until the written complaints start to mount up.
Try for your own accounts - How did
xx
Those of you that have your own accounts, what's the

best way of getting your own accounts?  I have one small local account that I got from a newspaper services ad eight years ago.  If I had two or three more like this one, I'd be a happy camper.  I've mailed postcards and made cold calls with no luck whatsoever.  I've even done intro letters with business cards to new providers on the city business license list and in response to help wanted ads.  No nibbles there either.


It doesn't even necessarily have to be a local account.  It could even be Internet based or via mail/UPS.  One guy used to priority mail tapes to me from New York back when I had my virtual assistant/secretarial business.


Any positive suggestions are welcome.  Thank you.


New accounts

It is like selling a house or anything, it takes a large volume of people to get one buyer.  Even if I am not looking hard,  I send out flyers every year or so to keep my name out there -- have a lot of people that are willing to subcontract for me.  I also hit the smaller ones sometimes and do the rounds in the medical office buildings by the hospitals.   Send flyers out to smaller cities/towns if you are set up for digital as those are the ones that are sometimes looking.   Do networking with other MTSO's in your area. I know many in mine and we all network together.  A lot of it is being at the right place at the right time as they often just throw our flyers out and that is why you have to keep sending them out.  Offer something unique -- I cut apart chart notes and that helped with a couple of accounts.   Stupid but they love it.   Also accounts that use transcription services -- take them a flyer personally with some cookies -- it does work to get it to the manager's/doctor's desk it really does.   I have also offered my own accounts a "finder's fee" if I get an account.  Anything works.   I have gotten a few through the yellow pages.  But it takes time and persistence.  One mailing does not usually do it as there are a lot that start up and stop so if they see it once or twice, they remember it.   Good luck.   Keep your prices fair and offer a good service.   Patti


Do 7 different accounts in my
job, 2 programs, and another job with another program. different hospital.  Once you get used to an account and work on it regularly, I have found it does not slow me uip to switch from account to account, keeps me in work.  Also, no problem with doing way over 1000 lines in 8 hours.  But that is just me.  I have been at this 21 years.  I hear others do have problems and sympathize with them.