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JMO, but I don't think you should. As long as she is doing her job at your hospital SM

Posted By: My opinion on 2005-08-23
In Reply to: Need Advice! What would you do? - tina21

I think you should just try to mind your own business (I know that sounds snotty, and I don't mean it that way...just don't how to say it "nicely"). A lot of MTs have accounts on the side. I don't think it is a conflict of interest.


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ATTENTION all MTSO and hospital...please get 1-800 numbers...UNLIMITED LONG DISTANCE is being canned
This is going to be a HUGE problem for everyone involved.  The long distance companies are watching and they DO NOT LIKE what we do over their lines, so please, consider getting 1-800 numbers.  You could possibly charge each MT a small amount each month to cover the bill.  Seems like a logical way to go!  What does everyone think?
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. 


I hate Instant Text. It is expensive, long long learning
curve, and too much distraction for me.
How long should I wait after applying for a position before I follow-up. It has been as long as two
without hearing from some.  Just wondering if I should send an e-mail to follow-up to see if they received my resume or not.  I don't want to offend anyone but feel two weeks should be long enough for someone to at least acknowledge my resume and that I have applied for a position.  Right now I would accept anything even a note saying no thanks.  Any advice would be appreciated.  I haven't had to apply for a job for the past 10 years so I am a bit rusty at this.  Thanks again for any advice. 
Congrats! How long have you been a MLS and how long did you study for the test!

Please see message. I have three daughters with long, long hair.
I also have long hair down to my waist and my three girls have hair that long too. My daughter brought them home from school last year. I was devestated and grossed out!!!! I have never had to deal with lice. Anyway, we did the treatments and two of my girls broke out in a severe rash with the OTC stuff. Their little heads were so sore!! I thought I was being meticulous with eggs, only to find them hatching again down the road. A nurse at the pediatricians office suggested I try oil to suffocate them since my girls were allergic to the lice solution. I bought a huge bottle of veggie oil and dumped it on all three heads, plus my own. I then wrapped the heads in platic wrap and then a towel. I left this on for 30 minutes. It takes a while to wash out the oil, but we never, ever had the lice or eggs again!!! If you try this, make sure you put on an old shirt and put a towel around your shoulders. Obviously we were desperate, but we all have such long hair and very thick hair so I was willing to try anything. And I figured there was no chemicals involved so that was pretty safe. And it sure did help my littles ones since their scalps were pretty raw from the solution. Hope this helps and Good luck!
It's been a long, long time since I've used a C-phone, sm
but I do think jobs can be paused.
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.
I had a problem with this for a long, long time sm
I have always worked days, like from 6-3. Over the last few years, it didn't matter how much sleep I got, I became real groggy between 7 and 11. Really shoots the day. Talked to my doctor and he said my blood pressure pills were the culprit but he refused to change me to another brand or dosage since I have multiple aneurysms (2 in the brain). My BP has been stable for a long time and he wants to "keep it on the low side". I tried taking them before I went to bed instead of early in the morning, but then I had headaches all day. So, I am changing to a night shift for a few months so I can sleep when those pills kick in and so far it is working pretty good. I stay mostly awake during my shift and die when I hit the bed from 6 am to 10 am, then I lay down again later in the afternoon for 2-3 hours. I still get 6-7 hours of sleep, it's just split up during the day, plus I am mostly awake now when I sit down to type. I don't have to deal with the heat in my office, either. It tends to warm up real fast in here with the south sun on the house and 2 pc's running all day, even with the air conditioner on.
Way back when, a long, long time
ago and in a galaxy far, far away, I had my own accounts also and some years cleared $75,000.  Yes it can be done, but you need to have your own accounts.  Also lots of delivery, and other duties involved.  I work for a large national now and make much less, but I got tired of accountants, having to deal with hardware problems, deadlines, driving deliveries, printing, printers, etc.  So I decided to simplify my taxes and stay home and just type.  Don't have to worry about computers either, because the company will just send me a new one. 
Long, long files. Seemed like they'd never end! I'd never go back to VA again. nm
s
I've been doing this a long, long time...

I used to make $70,000 and up a year and did so for most of the late 80s and 90s (one girl used to make six figures a year working 7 days a week!)  Because we were making more money than the supervisors and Medical Records Directors in hospitals, they began to switch to transcription services which were sprouting up all over the place.  Plus AAMT came into existence and even though in the beginning it claimed it was to fight for transcriptionists (although assured us it was NOT a union), they eventually morphed into an organization that was more management friendly.  They developed the "guidelines" and the 65-char line.  That was the beginning of the end for those high-end wages.  Then all those mickey mouse transcription schools popped up, and now outsourcing overseas.  YES, we're complaining. 


Been in this biz a long, long time, 30+ years and....sm
I love/loved MTing. However, things have changed so much during these years. The job definitely gets easier; don't have to look up much, can decipher ESLs much easier, in other words, you get pretty comfortable with things and you have confidence in yourself. The more experience you have the easier the job, but....

I actually made more money 10 years ago!! We didn't have speech recognition and you actually got paid for headers/footers, demographics, carbon copies, etc., you got paid for what you did fairly; today, I am not so sure.

You will feel burned out at times, but that passes and you find you like your job again.

Good luck to you!!
A long, long time ago, I was going thru
a really bad time emotionally and physically. I was suffering, and my transcribing suffered. I assure you - if you are to the point of not paying your rent, literally, and needing food stamps, there is something else going on in your life than current transcription rates. We are all in this industry and many are thriving, most getting along comfortably. If you are literally to the point of food stamps, you honestly would be a fool to continue. I blamed it on my job, on my line rate, on everything but the honest truth that I was ill and was NOT working as I should or could. It is a really sad thing that you keep spreading this propaganda that MTs in our culture are doomed and now destined for food stamps. Food stamps are not something to toss around lightly, as you would know if you ever had to use them. Please let's not be quite so dramatic. Again, if you are really in those dire straits, you really need to face that MTing is not the fit for you, personally, and do something about it rather than blame our industry. You dwell on the past, but we can't do that. While you may have made other wages 20 years ago, may I remind you that we were pounding away on IBM Selectrics using layers of paper and bottles of white out, going crazy trying to rewind tapes over and over to get that dang word, with no idea what an Expander was. Technology is fantastic. Things have changed, but things are still great in this industry, and in this world. Those who change and can adapt will be fine, but you need to recognize that most of us are not ready for food stamps.  
Sure did...you been around for a long, long year

A gross line IS a gross line regardless if it's 90 characters long or 1 character long... SM

I'm very sorry that your lines are 90 characters line and you get paid by gross lines.  You are cheating yourself - that's not my fault.  You cannot change the definition of a gross line.  So I gues I'm not understanding what you are trying to say.  Now if you are trying to say that your line equals 90 characters and that's how you figure your lines, than you are not using gross lines.  You have defined a line to be 90 characters, whereas most MTSOs define a line as 65 characters.  If that is the case, then I must say again, you are cheating yourself.


So which is it, do you get paid by gross lines or by a 90 character line?


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