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Just got an offer from a local hospital and wanted to run it passed you all before I say yes...

Posted By: IowaMT on 2006-03-10
In Reply to:

Employee status w/benefits


$13.50/hr with 0.05 cpl incentive fo anything above 1200 lpd and $2.00 shift differential (for 2nd shift which I will be working)


1000 lpd minimum productivity requirement


Work in the office first month for training and then home with hospital provided computer.


Dictaphone EXText Word Client transcription platform


Is this a decent offer?  I've worked at the same place in the office forever and haven't actually been out there  looking in several years.  I tried working for a national part time at one time because I wanted to be working from home, but couldn't see how someone could make a living on 0.08 cpl without working yourself into an early grave, so I gave up the part time job and kept the full time in office job.  Now I have a new boss who doesn't know her butt from a hole in the ground and I started looking around and came across this current job and before I jump ship, I want to make sure I'm getting a good deal.


The $13.50 seemed kind of low to me given my years of experience (13 years), but because I was at my other job for so long I maxed out pay wise.




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I wanted to offer ...sm
our RV that is in our yard. DH reminded me that the kids still sleep there because of our house fire (dishwasher door caught fire). Our house is still in disrepair.

I'll have to find another way to help.
Do they not offer job placement? Our local

community college you actually intern somewhere, with a service or in a doctor's office and they offer job placement.


If you don't have experience and don't have job placement your changes of getting a job are very slim.  There are companies that will hire you without experience of you went to Andrews or M-Tec, but very difficult otherwise.


I suggest putting your resume on the various job boards.  There are companies that will hire from resumes only, they don't place ads.  I would also explore your options locally.  A small doctor's office might be willing to give a newbie a chance, might have to perform othe duties also such as filing.  


 


 


most local tech schools offer this course.
x
Call a local camera store and see if they offer this service.

Many times photographers will also provide a similar service.  I personally haven't had it done, but have heard of people doing this for a memorial service or a wedding.   They can take still pictures/slides and incorporate them too. 


 


Call a local school or program and ask. I was asked if I wanted to teach when I
s
local hospital
I work for a local hospital that have all transcriptionists at home except for radiology. I have been working from home with them for about 8 years now. We are hourly employees and clock in and out on computer. We also have an incentive program (which used to be good, but they changed transcription platforms and it's not that good anymore), but it's better than having to drive into the hospital every day. I love it!
local hospital
I worked for local hospital for 11 years, then they decided to go to ASR and the Q took over their account! Seems like most hospitals are finding it more cost-effective to send it to large company with ASR!
I had a local hospital do the same s/m

even after explaining to them what E&O really meant.  Their previous transcription company had E&O, but that was because they had to have it for their copying services as well and the transcription just fell under it.  I found that Farmers carries it, but it was around $1,500 for a year.  They did have payment plans though too. 


Best of luck!


So did I!!! I left a local hospital
because I thought I could make more money working for the nationals.  Ugh, I threw away a good thing.  I tried to go back, but they said I'd have to start all over at the bottom working night shift again.  Not gonna happen.  Well, chin up, things will get better.
I work for a local hospital,
not a company. I know to stay away from Transcend.
local hospital work
i moved from a large city to a small town and i'm thinking about doing what you did. try to go to work for the local hospital. would have to probably work a set schedule, but the town is small so it's not like i'd be driving a long distance and i could go home for lunch. i don't have benefits right now and that's scary, so i'm leaning that way.
at my local hospital, they always call the

I think that is pretty standard. Calling by the first name only would be rather confusing. Especially if it is a busy hospital with a waiting room that is always full, like our local hospital.


I have a "questionable behavior" story for you! I went to the walk-in clinic held at our local hospital b/c I was having pain in my pinky finger. The waiting room was packed, as always. I go in, see the doc, and he tells me to go back to the waiting room until they call my name again. After a few mins in the waiting room, he calls my name & I get up thinking he was going to bring me into a room to privately give me my diagnosis. NOPE! The dope says it to me, loudly - not at all in a whispering tone, in the middle of the waiting room for everyone to hear!! He said "I think it is some kind of fungal infection" His actions were not only humiliating, but wrong! It was not an infection, rather a blood clot that developed on my nerve that needed to be removed surgically! Now, that, I think qualifies for a HIPAA violation!!  (Yes I did file a complaint with the Patient Care Rep)


I also work for a local hospital which is
growing in volume of work minute by minute. We have 52 remote transcriptions and still we need to send out work to two venders.
Local Hospital Accounts

I actually work for a Hospital Transcription Dept. My advice is to ask for the supervisor of transcription or Director as they usually have one or the other.


I actually had a person(who I know was from an outsourcing company from overseas) called and aske me if we were doing any outsourcing. We told her we were not interested, but I actually do send some out to an outsourcing company already. Just wasn't going to do that.


Alot of hospitals around where I live usually are small and have in house transcriptionists. The only reason we have our outsourcing is for people on vacation and when some emergency comes up and we fall short.


Carla


local hospital accounts
do any of you IC people have any tips on what is the best approach on how to find out info on who does transcription for local hospitals?  Thanks! 
I worked at a local hospital

It had its good points and bad points.  The good being it paid better and had better benefits than most outsourcing companies. We had a 4 tier incentive program.  The lowest pay being 0.087 and the highest being 0.10 cpl. You had a choice of working in-house or at home and we were all paid the same either way.   Also, if there was little work or no work you had the choice of using PTO or working in medical records at an hourly rate which gave us a little break from MT and a feel for something else.   


 


The bad, if you were at home they would pull you in at any time just because.  Also, at home we had a lot of problems with their computer locking up, getting kicked off the VPN, slow moving from one screen to the next etc.  The tech support always blamed it on our ISP.  Also, they always made sure you never moved up to the next pay tier.  Only their favorite ones could do that.  They made excuses of why you cannot move up even though the numbers were there.  The one they used on me was that I took off a day during the last 6 weeks.    They told another girl she walked around in the halls and talked too much to bump to the next level.   However, if you did not get your line count they were all over moving you down.


Look at your local hospital's websites
jobs open.  The reason you don't see them advertised is a lot of hospitals outsource all their dictation.  But some still have in-house (or at home) MTs.
When I worked at a local hospital
this happened.  I just transcribed it like any other report.  I would not even mention it to the family member.  When you work for a small local hospital it is bound to happen. 
Wanna tell that to the local hospital MTs whose....sm
...staff was just decreased because EHR came to town? They were told only a few would be staying now because even in the hospital most reports could be handled by EHR. I think you need to reserve your opinion till we really find out what O has in mind for this field.
I worked at home for the local hospital here.
It was fine. They paid hourly and provided equipment. We had plenty of work and had to stick to a set schedule. They do use a service or two for overflow, but it is strictly overflow. The hospital still has employees working at home. They don't ALL outsource. (And ironically, some hospitals are taking back their transcription and hiring in-house and at-home MTs!)
Quit after 2 years. If I wanted to work 8 hours a day, I would have stayed in the hospital. Seemed
to be working all day long just to make a decent living.  Although, I wanted to be home with my kids until the baby was at least 5, had to breakdown and return to working outside the home, to make ends meet. Just to stressfull trying to make a good living with the rates they are paying now. 
Wow! VERY well written and said! My husband works for a local hospital and
there is one patient who is an illegal that has been in the hospital there for 2 weeks and has racked up a bill that is now over $200,000.  One of the other nurses on staff there called the police department and explained the situation and they are in the process of deporting the patient back to Mexico and admitted to a Mexican hospital.  We can't cover the cost of every single person in the world.  The US is just so big and sorry, but my family, all American citizens comes first.  Does that make me a cold hearted person?  I don't think so.
I worked for a local hospital that used the same formula for our incentive pay.
x
I tested at a local hospital on the East Coast...
The pay was $14.82 per hour to start. They were paying medical unit secretaries $14.60. Also the job was per diem, needless to say I didn't take it.
The easy answer is to go to a local hospital and get experience.
The other answer is to ask anyone and everyone out there to give you a test, prove yourself, put your best foot forward.

Be very careful tough, because in your post you even used a wrong word "there" for "their" and I just wanted to bring this to your attention not to give you a kick but to caution you that you really need to "know your stuff" to get into this business. What you put out there tells about you, so make sure it's your best.
How do I find out if a local hospital's transcription is done in-house or not?
Can someone please give me some advice?  I am trying to find out if one of our local hospitals has in-house transcription or what company they use for their transcription.  I called the MR Dept. and the lady acted like she did not want to tell me anything.  She said some was done in-house but most of it was done electronically and would not elaborate as to what company they used.  How can I go about finding out who does their transcription for them.  I never see any actual job opening in the MR Dept. or for transcription for them, so I am assuming they outsource most to a transcription company.
Try calling your hospital or local medical providers.
I've been uninsured and in pain for about two years now requiring surgery. I've tried finding a job with insurance. I've tried working extra to save up the money to pay for the surgery. I just found out that the local hospital has a program in place for people who can't afford surgery or medical bills. Their income limit isn't really low either. If I had known this, I would have had the surgery two years ago instead of living with a ticking time bomb inside me and daily pain.
Try working inhouse at a local clinic or hospital.
That's what many MTs end up having to do to get their foot in the door & gain experience. IMO, that's the best way to start anyway since you have experienced people nearby to ask for help because those first few months can be very difficult. Good luck!

P.S. Agree with the other posters below that you need to specify you have your certificate in MT, not referring to yourself as a Certified MT which is a completely different thing and can only be obtained after a few years of experience & testing with AHDI. However, that brings up another topic... many MTs choose not to become certified now that AHDI has sold us out & encourages offshoring of our work. I've been doing this nearly 20 years and only once have ever been asked if I had my CMT, so it's pretty much irrelevant anyway. As long as you have experience & test well, that's what they care about.
Mammograms are going to PenRad in the local hospital's Radiology dept.
dd
Local hospital and state sponsored class. (see message)

This was way back in 1980-81 (age 19) in a pretty small town.  Our local hospital in cooperation with state funding had 3 different programs:  Medical Secretary (note--not transcriptionist) which was an 8-month program, as well as Respiratory Therapist and LPN, which were both 2 years if I recall correctly. 


The cost was about $300 (my parents paid) and included ALL materials (books, paper and pencils) for classes 8 hours per day, M-F, from Sept thru May.  The classes consisted of anatomy/physiology, medical terminology, typing and transcribing, English, accounting, and general office practices, all, in 1 room with about 10-12 students in the entire program. 


The last month was spent doing 1 week of practicum for 4 weeks.  We could pick just about any situation we wanted and as long as there was approval by those "offices," it was all right.  I did 1 week in that hospital's pathology dept (transcribing, charting, answering phones--almost got to see an autopsy but was a burn victim, so couldn't); 1 week in another town's hospital MR dept (spending a day or so in each subsection--MT, coding, filing, etc); 1 week our local area's cancer treatment center (again, in each MR subsection), and the final week at our area's tumor registry.  I felt sorry for the 2 girls in the latter; they had ARTs (don't even know if that still exists as a 2-year associate's degree for "accredited records technician"), and all they did was file cards all day long. 


After that, we graduated with a "Certified Medical Secretary" certificate and pin.  I've been an MT ever since, working inhouse (both hospitals and service office for 10 years) and now at home for the past 17 years. 


 


When the kids started school I wanted a job in my home town. A hospital clerk position (sm)
came open. You started compiling charts, making copies, etc. Then I was promoted after a few months and began learning transcription and did that part of the day. Then a few months later they taught me coding and abstracting and I did that part of the day. It was a great learning experience to learn things from the bottom up. Needless to say, I am an old dog here who has been doing this more than 25 years now.
When the kids started school I wanted a job in my home town. A hospital clerk position (sm)
came open. You started compiling charts, making copies, etc. Then I was promoted after a few months and began learning transcription and did that part of the day. Then a few months later they taught me coding and abstracting and I did that part of the day. It was a great learning experience to learn things from the bottom up. Needless to say, I am an old dog here who has been doing this more than 25 years now.
Keep applying at jobs is my opinion. Find out where your local hospital transcription is done
dd
I'm a hospital employee, working local at home, so I get a raise every year.
x
Any chance of taking a tiny ad out on local hospital websites, if not too expensive? Perhaps Drs wo
xxx
If you want to work at a local hospital or doctor's office, go to community college. Otherwise
if you want to work from home, for a national company, you need to take the course from either Andrews School or M-TEC. It does you no good to save money by taking the Penn Foster course, because most companies will NOT hire grads from that school, it is a poor course and does NOT prepare you sufficiently for MT work.
Offer 1 week notice, but willing to offer 2 if they would be in a bind. Also, (sm)
make sure your resignation letter is written with class.  Never good to burn your bridges.
New. Wanted to put in a better card to support a game my 17yo DD wanted to play.
x
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. 


Buy local. The local stores pay taxes to support your city and state. (SM)
Using online and catalogues does nothing to promote the local economy.  We complain about outsourcing and about the big companies gobbling up all the work so the jobs at local hospitals are gone, yet we do the same thing when we buy on ebay, catalog, and these web sites that may be located any place in the world as their primary business location. 
I went local. Great local tech support, they know what I do and were able to set it up just for me
:)
wanted to try it but wanted to make sure
nm
thanks everyone! I've passed all of this
info to my mother. i'm so glad it's her house and not mine :)
Oh how sad! I did not know she had passed.
I agree, RIP Shelly!!
Just passed the CMT...sm
I'm just bragging on myself.  I have 2 years' experience.  The transcription was easier than I thought!
yea - i passed
had gotten an error message - emailed the site - and was supposed to get back a response - of course, on this board, the response has never come. Not surprising. They don't care unless you post something controversial - then they are all up in arms and kick you off the boards - we all figure out how to get back on - though - we're never gone for long.
I passed it!!!
I was really shocked!!! It was not as hard as the review guide so that was a good thing. I finished the entire test in 2.5 hours but you have 6 total for both portions.

I'm going to repost at the top so maybe others can see my response and it can hopefully help others!

Thanks for asking!!!
Ok, I give up. My dad passed away

a year ago today and weird things have been happening since. On his birthday the coffee pot stopped working, which was a gift from him. On father's day, the washer stopped working, another gift from him. Today, the dryer decided it didn't like the new washing machine and decided to join its old counterpart in appliance heaven. That was another gift from him. All these items were less than 2 years old. Either he's a bad gift giver or he's messing with my head. Don't know whether to laugh or cry at all the crazy coincidences or call out ghostbusters. Why can't he break the stupid things like the lawnmower?


Ok, I give up. My dad passed away

a year ago today and weird things have been happening since. On his birthday the coffee pot stopped working, which was a gift from him. On father's day, the washer stopped working, another gift from him. Today, the dryer decided it didn't like the new washing machine and decided to join its old counterpart in appliance heaven. That was another gift from him. All these items were less than 2 years old. Either he's a bad gift giver or he's messing with my head. Don't know whether to laugh or cry at all the crazy coincidences or call out ghostbusters. Why can't he break the stupid things like the lawnmower?


passed/past
/
I passed the RMT exam! sm
Sheesh!  It took them long enough to give me the results.  I was thinking I'd be eligible for the CMT before I received the RMT results.  The earth didn't shake for me when I received the results like when I found out I passed my nursing boards, but I'll take it.