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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

MTSO's, are most of your applicants qualified to do

Posted By: acute care? sm on 2005-12-14
In Reply to:

I'm curious if most MTs are qualified to "do it all."  Can most of your applicants do ops and ESLs?  Thanks for your input; I've always wondered this.


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Already have 72 applicants

in case you were wondering.


My take on this is that she had several applicants but was interested enough in you to call, then...
When you did not respond, they looked at their other applicants and got responses from people that were actually interested in the new job, so two days later, it was too late. It doesn't seem funny to me.
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.
Ok, thanks. I guess I don't realize the volume of applicants they get. I will call Monday A.M.!!

x


Maybe he's not qualified for the job?
.
How qualified do you have to be...
...to answer the phone in an indiscernible voice and put someone on hold while you "google" their problem on the company's online trouble-shooting manual, then come back with the right answer to another problem because you didn't understand the question in the first place? This is really about not wanting to pay people an honest wage for an honest day's work, not the lack of qualified applicants.
Maybe over qualified for what they want to pay. sm
I am in the same situation. I also have 25 years experience, all work types, preferrably op reports, and I can't get a response either.

I think the recruiter or whomever is intimidated by our experience and the low line rate they want to pay.

I guess we need to "dummy down" our resume. I don't know. I am not willing to accept 7-8 cpl either. So, maybe it is a blessing in disguise. I am baffled myself!!
No I'm not qualified to be a doctor. I only said that it was possible
to do this job without formal training and that I was a nurse before I was an MT  and that did help me get my first job as a transcriptionist. I am not knocking an education, I was just stating a fact.
CMT does not guarantee a qualified MT, maybe
just someone with enough money to play the game and take a test. I personally have worked with and hired MTs with and without the CMT at the end of their name and I really see no difference overall the CMT makes as far as quality of work or fund of knowledge, and there are some with CMTs that make me wonder how they even passed the test. Experience alone is the tell all. I would hire someone with years of experience over someone with only a few with some silly credential behind their name. If you have been in this business for 15+ years, you do not need some credential to prove yourself. Some just need to have somthing to make them feel superior when they actually may not even be that good. Passing a test for CMT looks good on paper, but in my experience does not mean you can actually decipher dictation or produce quality reports in the real world. JMO
No, I am not qualified as Chief of Staff
but I do my job well and I think that is what matters. I took the time to learn what I needed to learn (on-the-job training) and I am very much qualified to work as a medical transcriptionist.
Tell him there is only ONE that is qualified to pass judgment
on you, and he's not the ONE.
Qualified MTs do not work for peanuts. sm
We are looking for GOOD companies to work for (most of them stink), not for 8 cpl either. I am sorry anyone qualified is working for that amount of money.
The best and most qualified QA person they had left. nm

It says you must enter each giveaway to be qualified
I think that means each different one you need to enter separately. that is the way the posts sounded to me anyway.
I had a "friend" who wanted me to get his GF a job .... said she was qualified because,
get this... she is a vet tech.
None ... trained OTJ and am quite qualified as has been proven (sm)

by me having no problem finding a MT job when I needed one.  Now I work for myself so I'm doing just fine.


:)


About "US qualified MT shortage" and s/m
claiming that MTs won't work nights and weekends, I don't know about you, but at my job, God forbid I have a technical issue that's not between 8 AM and 5 PM.  It's the office staff that won't work nights and weekends, not the MTs.
You hit the nail on the head! Qualified sm
IS the operative word. I blame most of this on MT schools that make big promises and cant possibly deliver in the little amount of time they require for schooling. As Travelin MT said, just by the questions on the Word Board it is obvious that even beginning MTs have not been taught the basics. I don't know what the whole answer is but I do know that these schools that promise to turn out MTs in 4-6 months need to rethink their promises.

Also back when I use to do hiring and testing I would get people I knew were not qualified, did not match the qualifications I listed in the ad but would not take no for an answer. I had a few that I just finally brought in for testing and as suspected they could not even finish the test and the parts they finished were horrible.

There has to be an answer to all of this someplace.
What company do you work for? I am very qualified and need a job! nm
x
I think MTs deserve to have QA who know their stuff. QA should be more qualified than an average MT
QA specialists are specialists in the field. Of course there are new things learned every day, but a good QA person KNOWS that melena is different than melanotic...it is a given. There are certain things you have to know and that is one of them.

Many companies *think* they can just hire anyone for QA and call them QA and that is why so many ads you see say they pay 3 cents a line, etc.

QA staff should have megayears of experience in MT as well as at least 3 years of experience doing straight QA with the mentoring factor involved also.

All companies owe this to their MTs and if you are getting less, you are not getting what you deserve from your employer.
You are way out of line. What Bush is saying is that there is no qualified female
PHYSICIAN to lead a woman's health program in the US, and he is going to make sure that women are treated the same way he would treat animals or reptiles.  After all, didn't he get his kicks as a kid by putting cherry bombs down frogs throats and blowing them up.  He has no respect for any female.  
You have got to be kidding!! Good luck getting qualified MTs for that pay (LOL)! nm
x
If I quit MT, I'm only qualified to be a greeter at Wal-Mart. (n/m)
x
I was at a job 2 weeks and qualified. I believe it is immediate, or basically, once you have a polic
nm
Because you're a nurse you also feel qualified to be an M.D. too? (Wink)

In this business in order to remain qualified to receive
those benefits, you must maintain the required line count/pay earned per pay period. Otherwise, you shall find you're working for nothing extra.

It also doesn't matter if your place of employ runs out of work, which in turn hinders you from qualifying for those benefits, you lose them regardless.

Ahh, the joys of the Medical Transcription field.

Best of luck with your new practice.
I disagree, first off, I have a heck of a hard time hiring qualified US MTs
client ready work.  Then, when I do hire MTs I constantly run into the problem of how they only want to work part time or can only work 2 hrs on this day, an hour here, or an hour there, or the next problem is consistency.  Out of the blue, oops, can't work today, or I lost connection to the Internet yet they're too stupid to go offline instant messenger.  One MT owes me money because I was nice enough to help her out (yeah I know my fault) and she screwed me over.  Such drama.  It's a CONSTANT battle to find good US MTs.
Sorry, there is not a list of user names & I didn't know "just me" qualified as a taken nam
x
How about when the acct. mgr. hand-picks easy reports and puts them in the que of less qualified/tal
Then the rest of us are stuck listening to Ho Chi Minh struggling through a neurosurgical op note because we're "more skilled and able to handle it," and end up making about 50 cents an hour. When you think about it, it's easy to get "punished" for not sucking at this job and the rest of us end up pulling the slack for the dead lumber that took a 2-week correspondence course and have to be spoon-fed easy reports for reasons unknown to me.
Which is the one where they are sc*&ing us the standard lines or the qualified lines? SM
Mine show up as STD when I pull up my transcription log.  But I see now there is STD/QT....  So which is the one where they are ripping us off, standard or qualified?  Need to know.  I am about to switch companies and I will not do if they are actually taking lines from me.  Thanks guys. 
what is MTSO?

I'm an MTSO. I can tell you....
We don't hire *anyone* unless they have successfully completed a college education, meaning an associate's degree, in medical transcription.  It doesn't matter if they learned on the job, learned in their garage, learned on their patio, learned it on their own 25 years ago or 25 months ago, taught themselves or  taught the next door neighbor, or if they used to be a nurse, doctor or janitor.  The short and simple of it is:  No formal college training in MT, no job!  (And that includes the "make-$40,000.00-a-year-correspondence-courses, too!).  We've seen the handiwork of those who say they're self-taught, and it's not pretty! 
mtso
Amen!
I'm an MTSO
and trust me I believe in paying above average for an above average job, but when you can't get the docs to cough it up because you've got third-world countries and VR breathing down your neck, not to mention newbies fresh out of school who will do it for even less, well, what do you expect...the MTSO to pull it out of her pocket to pay for you to work.  Never forget ....MTSOs have to make a profit.  They're entitled to that dear....If not, there's no reason to be in business. If you don't like what you're being offered, you're always free to get brave, strike out and get your own accounts. 
When I was an IC I sent my MTSO
Christmas lottery tickets, which he loved. Nothing compared to the $500 bonus he gave me. Now that I am working for a large national, I'm just another number lost in the shuffle. I probably won't send them anything, don't expect anything from them and probably will receive nothing, though a full day's work would be nice once in a while.
I am a MTSO

I am a small MTSO and also IC'd for another company a couple of years ago and something similar happened to me.  However it was probably a little different as I did the pick-up and deliveries although I was an IC for the company.  When she did not bill the clinics so that I could not get paid, I knew the clinics and so I went to them and told them that after a certain date I would not be doing their sevice because I was not being paid -- a little different than your story but you can also let the clinics know how that service is being run.  Again, only after you write your calm, fact filled letter.  But if someone threatened my business with anything like that - going to my accounts -- they would be paid within 24 hours.   Reputation is what counts in this business.   But again, just write to them calmly and with the facts asking them to prove that you had signed a contract, then giving them 48 hours to produce such contract or send you a check for your services or you will see them in court.   Again, I would threaten to go to their accounts to let them know how they run their business but only as a last resort.  But just do it, write them you deserve your money.   Was there problems prior to quitting and that is why you just left suddenly -- I know this leaves them in a lurch but if they were a crummy company they probably deserved it.  Also if you did not sign a contract stating you would not go after any account you worked on for two years go for the accounts. 


 


I'm not a MTSO, but

my hospital's TAT is between 24 and 48 hours depending on type of report.  When I worked in-house, it was from 2 to 48 hours, with Op notes/HP having a 2 hour TAT.   I think it varies a bit between hospitals, but as a general rule most reports are no greater than 24 hours. Sometimes discharge summaries have a longer TAT, such as 48 hours.   I don't have any experience with VA hospitals, but they probably aren't much different.  


What would you do re this MTSO?

I am an IC for a small MTSO.  I have a deduction taken from my invoice every pay period for renting Transnet equipment.  My foot pedal broke and I asked urgently Monday morning for a replacement foot pedal to be Fed Exed to me - work was on the system and needed to get done.  Well, after many many phone calls and e-mails I got the replacement foot pedal via Fed Ex (they shipped on Friday) on Saturday morning.  So I worked all weekend to get caught up on a whole week's worth of work.  Got my invoice yesterday (late - the MTSO has rescheduled their payment schedule as they are not getting promptly paid by their clients - the ICs had to accept the new payment schedule or quit).  There was a deduction for $40.13 for delivery fee for the foot pedal.  The Accounts manager says that "many memos" have been sent out that ICs are responsible for delivery fees.  Huh?  I looked over the memo I received about Transnet rentals and it said our invoice deduction covers maintenance costs for faulty equipment, etc. (the MTSO had originally said I would be billed for a new foot pedal - then I brought up the memo on rentals that covers faulty equipment and that got dropped pretty quickly).  I told the Accts manager that postage is the MTSOs expense, just like it is my IC expense to return the faulty equipment to the MTSO.  I also mentioned that the MTSO pays for phone charges to fax stuff to ICs; likewise the ICs pay for their phone charges for faxing to the MTSO.


What would you do?  I am so fed up with this MTSO...I don't make that much money on Transnet anyway (most of my lines are from microtapes) that I am tempted to just tell her to take all of my doctors on Transnet and quit doing these willy nilly deductions without my approval or knowledge.  This is the third time the Accts manager has taken "deductions" from my invoice without telling me - the last time was for Chicago taxes on rental equipment (totally illegal according to Cook County govn't) - that took 2 weeks to get straightened out!  Arrggghhh!!!


i'm not an MTSO,
but i think you did right and my guess is that within 6 months to a year, they'll come back to you.
MTSO
I have checked the labor sites and just could not find anything. In the beginning, my accountant told me I would need to either collect sales tax or get a wholesale exemption from my client, but after calling the local and state sales tax offices and being told I didn't need one, she changed her mind too. The problem with offices is you don't always get the right answer but you are still responsible for the results. I just thought if nobody else charged, then I could be pretty safe in not charging as well. Thanks for replying anyway!
MTSO??
x
MTSO
I am just starting with an MTSO and looking foward to many, many happy years with them; locally based to my area. Can't wait. Start training tomorrow.
Everyone should be IC/MTSO at least once
it gives you a great prespective on where your money goes and how much goes to taxes... people think that when you are an employee the employer is "giving" them benefits, paying their share of the employee's SS taxes, etc. but actually the employee is paying indirectly, reflected in their wage amount, cpl, etc. They just don't have to write the check for the taxes, it's taken from them before they can see it. The problem with being in this business and being IC is that you need to make a better line rate than an employee and people do not realize that until the tax bill comes. I had to go with a national last year as my large physician group went to an EMR, so I switched to employee status. They were only going to pay the same line rate either way, so it works out better for me now to be an employee. As an IC/MTSO I had alot of deductions, kept every reciept, took depreciation, mileage (a big ded for me as I live in the country), etc. but now with my national position everything is internet, no printing documents, etc. so it only made sense for me to switch to employee. I have another sideline business which provides plenty of deductions right now and not much income. Planning is key whenever taxes are involved, check out the IRS publications or home business books, etc. Some great information to avoid the same tax problems next year.
MTSO
I loved your comment about the outhouse!! :) (And some of the matchbook schools could well BE outhouses for all we know.)
mtso, who?
or stirring up trouble?
As an MTSO, I would want to know

if an MT is directly contacting my client and I would appreciate the tip that I could follow up on.  A good MTSO will be able to handle the situation in a way that would not result in you being in the middle.  Perhaps the MTSO could approach the MT and simply say that the client said that they were contacted by one of the staff about whatever the topic may have been and to no longer make direct contact with the client. 


I wouldn't necessarily say it's none of your business considering that the job you hold is your bread and butter and if your coworker says something to the MTSOs client that could jeapordize the MTSO/client relationship, that COULD affect you, so I believe you have grounds to speak up.


Bad MTSO
I worked for someone like that as well. I bet it was the same company/person. She expected you to work 24/7 so if she needed you all she had to do was IM or email. I wasn't supposed to have a life. I have 2 children and a disabled husband. I did my own accounts -- always on time and when my work was done I had other things to do. Well if your work was caught up you weren't suppose to have a life or rest you were supposed to do more work for her. The paychecks starting coming later and later until one day I had one returned for NSF. I quit at that point. You have every right to vent. Your family comes first. I have had a number of job offers since and I am currently working again with yet another offer on the table. Good Luck!
MTSO here

I am a small MTSO that has two part-time IC's and can only pay them 0.85 cpl to 0.9 but because of the account they can make $45 an hour.  Again, I stress to me it is what I can make an hour.  But it is a psych account, I pick up tapes, meet the gals, and then they have 3 days to do the reports which are long, 10-12 pages but I developed so many templates that they can do them about 60 to 75 minutes.  They E-mail to me and I E-mail the reports to the docs.  We pick up on Thurs, and they have to have to me by 10 on Tues.  My other accounts they sometimes help me with but again I can only pay .85 to 9.  Again though they can make $25 an hour which I don't feel is bad pay.  I just cannot charge the docs more than I do at 11.5 to 12 cpl.  They pay on time, never a bounced check and appreciate what we do so I feel we all benefit.   Also they have been loyal to me and my psych account has been with me for over 16 years.   See what you make per hour. 


That is my Saturday 2 cents worth for the day.  If any typo's cannot find my glasses so sorry if there are.   Patti


That must be one of my MTSO...sm
I know the feeling ALL too well. I have one I help out prn, only if I have the time. I never have any idea when she will need me...a week could go by and I hear nothing, sometimes 2 weeks. I have other large accounts, plenty to stay busy. I check my e-mail in the am, see what needs to be done and get busy.

Well, when she realizes she is in over her head and needs help, she thinks I am sitting on my e-mail and should reply ASAP! I sign off at night, the next morning she has a nasty message in ALL CAPS wanting to know why she hasn't heard from me. Well, for one thing, you sent the e-mail at 10 pm...I am NOT sitting on my e-mail at 10 pm. She then rants and raves about how she is short some MTs, and this account, which she has taken on to help someone else out, is putting her in over her head. She is very short tempered and nasty when she gets herself in these holes and then thinks we should bail her out... and if we are not available, it's somehow our fault.

She preaches on and on about how late she sat up getting the work done, as if it is somehow OUR fault she dug herself in this hole. As I told her, just because you do not want to turn down ANY work, do not expect everyone else to be free to help you out when you get in over your head. And I remind her that IC means just that. After 2 years helping her out, she does not want to pay any more than before. So, when she starts a tantrum, I just remind her that I am working on clients that pay me 2 to 3 cpl MORE than she does, and they are my priority.
MTSO
ok, i give up, what does MTSO mean? i been reading this for months and i can't figure it out. "My Tired Sore Ohhhhhhh...." lol
She's not an MTSO
But if she wants to train MTs for free I am sure nobody is complaining.