Questions about Meditech platform...

• Questions about Meditech platform... - Evelyn
  • Thanks, doesn't sound like something I want to work on. nm - Evelyn
  • Yes, there are different versions... - MT
  • Horrible platform. There are different - me

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I just recently went back to work in the office at a local hospital. We type in both Meditech and Cerner, depending on what you are typing, i.e. Medical Records reports versus Radiology.  We are currently typing blindly in Meditech, meaning we do not have access to our line counts and must depend on management to give us our totals.  In Cerner, we are able to run a line count report and print out a hard copy of our line counts at the end of the day.

We are finding that 800 lines in Cerner equals about 500 lines in Meditech.  We are not paid per line nor do we have an incentive plan, but we have a new HIM Director who would like to institute an incentive plan and the administrator over our department has laid down the law and decreed that all transcriptionists not making minimum in the department will be written up.  Problem is according to Meditech line totals that we have been given, that would be about half the department.

The transcription supervisor has taken our concerns to the new director who told the MT Supervisor to hold off on writing people and has taken home all the line counts from the last month and she is going over them with a fine tooth comb this weekend.

I am not a very trusting soul by nature, so I am doing a little research on my own.  I've been in this business for about 15 years.  I started out in a hospital and have worked for a few services at home and am now back in the hospital setting.  So I know a few things about line count and I consider myself to be pretty well informed on trends and technology in the industry.   I would like to walk into our next department meeting armed with as much knowledge as possible.  So I have come up with some questions that I would like some fellow MTs to answer, give opinions, and maybe even direct me to websites or individuals who could give me a better understanding of Meditech and Cerner.  Here are my questions:

1. Is it possible for an MT to have access to her line count in Meditech or is strictly a management function?  Any MTs that work in Meditech on this board, do you currently have access to your line counts and if so, how do you check them?  Is it an option on the main menu after you log into Meditech?


2. How is a line defined in Meditech?  (i.e. 65 cpl, with spaces, without spaces)


3. How is a line defined in Cerner?


4. What abbreviation Expanders work with both Meditech and Cerner?


5. Examples of incentive plans (if anyone would like to share that with me that would be great, if not I completely understand).


6. Measuring productivity by minutes of dictation versus typed lines.




1. What would be the minimum minutes required for an 8-hour day?


2. How would one structure an incentive program based on minutes?

I was thinking of presenting the idea that we keep track of productivity using minutes instead of lines since there is such a discrepancy in Meditech.  I also worry that if an incentive plan is put into place and we are still typing blind into Meditech, what's to keep management from shaving off a few lines here and there?

Feel free to email me or post here any responses.  Either is fine.  I really appreciate any input, comments, or just plain old supportive posts would be nice too! 

Not sure which to go with.  Currently, due to location, have dial-up.  Considered netzero which I guess is still technically dial-up.  I would like to have something that I can travel with, which leaves netzero or satellite.

Will be beginning work with Meditech based program, working directly on company's website.  I'm concered about dail-up being slow with Meditech, but have heard that satellite does not work well with Meditech either.  Any opinions on what to go with or anyone working currently with Meditech on satellite basis?

   SO CONFUSED!           TIA

If a MTSO advertises that the MT works in MS Word and sends dictation by FTP, does this usually mean there will be no demographic/doctor database and the demographics will not be autopopulated?

I got into a mess with a small company (got out real quickly too).  I was required to print out daily email copies of the doctors' office patient schedules (which were barely legible) and type in all information.  I spent more time hunting for the correct patient through pages and pages of these schedules.  Then I had about 25 pages worth of doctor's names that I would have to go through to find the attending, referring, etc.  A total waste of time as I didn’t get paid for that. 

I wish MTSO would give more information as to what platform they use (if any).  Proprietary software is such a generic, totally useless description.  Would they buy a new car that listed, "Car has gasoline operated motor?" 

And for Pete's sakes, why so secretive about the pay?  Give a ballpark figure.  Just say, pay is between 7-12 cpl depending on skill, testing, etc. Tell me if you pay for spaces, headers, etc.  It would save them time because I wouldn’t even apply for a 7 cpl job. 

Before I spend an hour or two testing, I need more information from a company to be sure it is compatible for my needs.  If the MTSO would spend a little time on their website detailing their platform, how they send/receive files, pay rates,  how line rate is determined (spaces/no spaces) employee/IC/SE status, minimal line count, whether work pools consist of 100s of doctors, or smaller pools with 25-50 doctors etc.   Having all this information on their website would save them time and the MTs time.   Phoenix Medcom has a really good layout describing pretty much everything an MT would want to know before testing with them.  I am just tired of testing with a company and then finding out the job wasn’t exactly suited to my needs. 

I've been working for MTSOs for years now, using their templates which sometimes cause productivity problems (macro issues, etc). I'm wondering if productivity is increased when working on a structured platform, such as one that a national company provides for its transcriptionists?  I've never used a platform, but it would seem that all one needs to do is straight type onto the screen and the platform program takes care of margins, page breaks, etc?

Any thoughts (as well as companies who are hiring who use platforms) would be appreciated.  Thanks

Has anyone ever used a word Expander with Meditech? I understand that there are several different versions of this program and we use it for Radiology. We have V. 3.25.  I was specifically thinking about ShortKeys?  Any input would be appreciated.

Hello ladies.  Can any of you give me referral for the name of a good medical transcription service company to work for?  I've been with Spheris for almost 3 years and am looking.  I've been requesting to change from an intimidating and threatening supervisor for months, and it hasn't happened.  MANY PEOPLE are leaving Spheris.  I'm just wondering -- can anyone give me the name of a NICE COMPANY to work for??

Thank you very much.  Have a nice day. 

I work for a hospital and I am forced to use Meditech.  There is nothing to help a Transcriptionist except for autocorrect.  The F11 key is diabled as well as macros.  Any one else experience this problem, and how did you get around it. 

Going crazy without my tools.  I can't stand not being able to F11 to my next stop, let alone make templates, etc.  Autocorrect on this computer is terrible as well.  It will only take words in a line, not a paragraph, for example.  Sheesh..  Any advice???

Companies that have it always seem to want people who are already trained on it.  Is it hard to learn if you have learned many different softwares?

Does anyone know of a website that you can go to and download the Meditech program?  There was a site I went to before, but I cant find it now and need to download Meditech.  Thanx for any help.

T

I remember someone giving instructions on formatting in Meditech, something to do with the F8 key.  Could you please post that information again, I meant to print those instructions out.  Thanks.

When I worked in Meditech, we were told that we were getting paid by the 65-character line even though the Meditech line was 75 characters long.  I used to paste my reports into Word and do a character count and divide by 65, it never worked out.  After many tests, I realized that we were getting paid by the gross line.  Try counting it that way and see if it matches when you get your line counts.  (On that job, the gross lines paid better as it turned out). 

Also, other "tests" I did revealed that the originator of the report was the only who got credit.  Any additions I ever made to someone else's report did not add to my line count.  That part stunk. 

Hope this helps!

could only be accessed via a dial-up modem...and I have high-speed so I was kinda tweeked about paying for high-speed connection yet still having to use that archaic system.  Maybe it's different now, I dunno.  Thankfully I was able to drop that work like a hot potato due to my connection constantly dumping and losing all my work and I don't have to think about it any more.  God I hated that Meditech.  I've read about people having access to different versions of it though and having much better luck than I did.

Good luck with it though. 

When I worked on Meditech, you could not change the original transcriptionist.  If I added or corrected something in a report, I physically typed my initials and date at bottom of report.  There is an option to "delete report" to just start over if that option has been given to you.

for radiology transcription?  Am considering applying for a position using it but do not know a thing about it.  I am currently using Word-based programs and before that have used WP5.1. 

Does it have a built in spellchecker?  Can I use my ShortCut for Windows word Expander program?

Is it cumbersome, hard to learn, take a long time to get *up to speed*???

Any info would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance!

Have used Meditech for 8 years.  I tried IT with Workstation 4 (NUE) and it worked. 

Spellchecker is not accurate for more than 1 letter off and it does not know if word should be capped or not.  It will not pick up 2 letter word errors such as NO, fo, si, etc.  There is no grammer check.

Headers are put in automatically (if facility has it set that way), put in Rad's name, pt. name, chose x-ray from list, type date and body.  F7 to beginning of report, Shift+F1 for Spellcheck, proof, F12 to file.  F10 deletes your line from cursor location on.  Need to be at beginning of line and use F3 to join lines or it will move the text to whereever the cursor is located throughout the rest of the document, major PITA!

There are other screens for mammo codes, report codes (normal, negative, see report, unremarkable, etc.) but may vary in setup from facility to facility.

Good luck!

It very nearly made me quit transcription.  Terrible, terrible, awful piece of you-know-what.

I agree 100% - hate Meditech and going broke using it!

I don't exactly understand your question.  You can type the report right where you would put the cursor to paste it.  Can you be more specific about what you need?  ShortHand does work with Meditech, by the way.

Not sure if we use the same version, but when I go into Meditech I enter 13 to take me to Process Reports. Do you see anything like that? Spellcheck is shift F9 I believe. Just a caveat, however, the spellcheck in Meditech is vitually worthless!

I have the opposite dilemna, I am much more comfortable with the Word-based platform  and miss my Stedman's spellchecker, but there is no way to copy and paste from Word to Meditech

I use Instantext with Meditech. I do know it needs to be "linked" in order to work. Not sure if ShortHand works the same way?

Good luck!

can anyone tell me what are the function keys for Meditech.  I hit F6 and lost a report.  My lead Transcriptionist only "knows" the F keys we use, not any of the others. Shift F6 moves up a line, but what if just plain F6?  Thanks

I do work this platform, have been for years and I do love it.  Once you get used to it, it is very easy to work with.  But, you cannot use outside spell check and unfortunately, the spell check with it is not that great.   But, I use the stedman with my MS Word keeping it flat lined while I work..

The up side is that you are only paid per mean line, not per character... believe me - big plus. 

If you need help, email me ..

email is  marceiaa@yahoo.com