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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

does anybody wonder if we get universal healthcare

Posted By: QAgirl on 2007-09-24
In Reply to:

in the coming years that we will see a quick drop in ESL dictators?  I personally know a doctor from Canada that came to the US to work because (she says)  doctors make next to nothing there.  I suspect that is why the dictators from Spanish-speaking countries come here too, though I have no insight at all into thier medical practices/insurance/laws/fees there.  I just wondered if healthcare fees  ever came under strict government guidelines, i.e., not charging $4 for a Tylenol, if we would see a decrease in our difficult dictators....Thoughts?


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If we get universal healthcare ESL docs will be

Do you know in Canada it can take up to FIVE MONTHS to get an MRI done?


I experienced socialized medicine with the military. It SUCKS!


Yes, our system is bad, but let's fix it.


Universal MT Testing

Anyone else out there looking for a job only to be deluged with requests to take applicant testing at mttest.com? 


After taking this test three times for different companies it occurred to me that why not test once or retest for a higher score, etc and be able to share this info with all potential employers. 


After researching this site, I have found out it's all about the mightly dollar.  Did you know the more applicants a company sends for testing, the bigger discount they get?


Urgh.. I have two more invites to take the test in my inbox. 


There has got to be a better way, any ideas?


Universal MT Testing
Our company contracts with Career Step (MTTest.com) to screen and test our applicants. After having tested hundreds of applicants who expect and deserve quick notification, we have found this method to be beneficial not only to our company in recruiting but to the MT who is not really qualified for the position we need filled. Immediate pass/fail notification is a plus I think.

Our old method was to give randomized voice files by speciality (as someone in the string suggested), but the time it took to check the test and get back to the MT took considerable man hours and expense. We have seen numerous complaints posted about MTs who test for various companies who do not hear back immediately from companies they tested for, but who do not bother to call the company in question either. It becomes a catch-22. The company generally will respond to someone who is interested enough to call and inquire how they did on the test if they have not heard back in a week or so following the test. Conversely, there are many times a company does follow up immediately only to find that the MT is no longer available or interested.

The testing site at Career Step screens an applicant. If you pass the screening, you move on to the objective portion (general medical knowledge). If you pass that portion, you move on to the transcription test. You would be amazed at how many do not get through the screening.

I would recommend this type of testing to any service who is recruiting. The cost is minimal when you consider the time saved by ruling out those who are not qualified right off the bat. For those of us who do take trainees, we also have the ability to check the scores on the screening and objective portions and decide to give the MT a try. We've found quite a few diamonds in the rough that way.

The test is randomized and is customized for each company. I believe confidentiality prevents the site from "sharing" applicant scores, but any MT that has taken the test for other companies on the site is welcome to let me know their scores on the screening and objective protion, which might prompt us to pass them on to the transcription portion. It is certainly worth consideration.

We were just there the 16-21 -- Universal was great - sm
I cannot comment on the lines though because we had a special pass due to my daughter being in cancer recovery and it was a Make-A-Wish trip; we went right to the front of the line on each ride basically. There was 1 ride at Universal though when we were there that had a 1 hour wait, forget the exact name, it was the name of a dinasour "P... flyer". The ride was 80 seconds long. I am happy we did not have to wait for that one, nuts. Fun ride but not worth an hour wait. I will definitely miss that pass the next time we go, but it helped us accomplish a lot w/o Jen getting too tired which is the purpose of the pass in the first place. The crowds were not bad until the 19th I thought then it got a bit more crowded at Disney, people coming for Christmas I presume. Animal kindgom was mobbed, but the trails are very skinny there and that was a big part of the problem and why it seemed to crowded. The weather sucked though, rained for 3 days straight, was relatively warm though at 66-68 which was a lot better than the 20 degrees we were coming from at the time. I've been to Disney in April, June, August and December. The best weather and time was probably in April. It's crowded whenever you go of course, so that really is not an issue. Whenever you go, have a good time!-- P.S. I highly recommend Emerils at Universal Studios, expensive but excellent food (this was our 1 splurge for the trip).
Not sure about Universal, but I think you pay the same for Disney whether you pay at the gate or in
x
What pedal is universal so I can test for various companies?
I am going from working locally to searching for a national position and need a pedal to even test most places.  Is there a certain type or brand that works universally to play all types of files?  I'm pretty ignorant about this whole setup.  Also, do I have to purchase software to run the pedal?  What about headphones or can I just use mine through the computer speakers?  Thank you all for your help and expertise.  It's greatly appreciated!
There needs to be a way to provide universal health care BUT sm
I don't believe that a national system is the right answer. If you look to Hawaii which has a law for universal coverage, it works pretty well.

We have had CHiPS which is the child health plan. I know something about that and had it for my own grown kids when it very first started. You get that if you don't qualify for Medicaid, and if your employer doesn't provide or if the premium of what is provided through employment is more than a given percentage of income.

This issue is one that I feel is best handled by the states, not by the feds. All you have to do is look at the No Child Left Behind to see how well that kind of thing works. States know what their demographics look like. They know what sector of the population is without health insurance and they know what funds they provide to various indigent programs to provide for the poor. It is the lower middle class woman and the lower middle class child who is most likely to be uninsured because they make too much for Medicaid and too little for any type of private insurance and most employers in this bracket can't/won't offer anything.

If you look at Medicare, which is a mess actually, and CHiPS which functions better, they are about the same idea for two different sectors of the population. There are HMOs and plans that one chooses. They are all a bit different, but you all know how this works. The companies who insure people through these plans keep costs and premiums down in order to participate.

I am in favor of the federal government figuring out a capitation rate along the lines of Medicare or Medicaid and paying this to the states, but more broadly to cover more people. Then, the states can figure out what they can contribute. If they eliminate funding for indigent services to cover these people under a statewide plan, that can go into the kitty. Every person in every state WITHOUT employer provided insurance, will be required to contribute to the state plan in some way, based on income. Employees with company provided insurance can opt to participate in the state program. The idea is to recoup the money wasted on county, city and state indigent programs and put it to the greater good. With having not to cover unpaid medical bills because there aren't any, anymore, it should help to raise the amount that states and other agencies have to pay into the system. Insurance companies will have to bid lower to participate in this, because I think it is best that they are the ones who administrate, private sector always does better...

well now I am boring you, but I see what I mean! LOL
Soon it will be the government, Universal Health Care, nm
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SPI Healthcare

Has anyone worked for SPI Healthcare Documentation?  If so any type of feedback would be extremely helpful.


TIA


SPI Healthcare
They outsource to the Phillippines - they took over a small company in my hometown and basically destroyed it.  Other than that, I don't know a lot, since I quit before the takeover. 
SPI Healthcare
Nice company to work for. I have no complaints at all.
Healthcare........
When healthcare becomes govt controlled, as in Canada, there is no incentive for people to want to become doctors; therefore, you end up with a doctor shortage, a severe shortage, and thus, longer waiting times... weeks,weeks, and months and months... just for a regular procedure. You better be dying if you want it sooner and then I wouldn't hold my breath.

That is what Obama wants to do to this country, only he tries to disguise it. ANyone with half a brain knows if the govt offers "cheaper" insurance, why in the world would anyone want to pay more? Companies will stop offering insurance to their employees cause they know the "almight government" will give it to them for free.... Obama knows this too!!! And when they do, you have NO incentive for physicians because they will not make money, extremely loaded down with patients....underpaid, overworked, less and less in the profession, and then WE, the citizens of a country where the private sector is supposed to run our country, NOT THE GOVERNMENT, will be another Canada or European country....take your pick!

It's pretty sad when European countries are telling the Obama administration NOT to go down this path... they have socialized medicine, it AIN'T working, and now they are looking are ways to get it back to private insurers.... too bad Obama's ego won't listen!!!

He's gonna save us from ourselves you know!!
Healthcare........
When healthcare becomes govt controlled, as in Canada, there is no incentive for people to want to become doctors; therefore, you end up with a doctor shortage, a severe shortage, and thus, longer waiting times... weeks,weeks, and months and months... just for a regular procedure. You better be dying if you want it sooner and then I wouldn't hold my breath.

That is what Obama wants to do to this country, only he tries to disguise it. ANyone with half a brain knows if the govt offers "cheaper" insurance, why in the world would anyone want to pay more? Companies will stop offering insurance to their employees cause they know the "almight government" will give it to them for free.... Obama knows this too!!! And when they do, you have NO incentive for physicians because they will not make money, extremely loaded down with patients....underpaid, overworked, less and less in the profession, and then WE, the citizens of a country where the private sector is supposed to run our country, NOT THE GOVERNMENT, will be another Canada or European country....take your pick!

It's pretty sad when European countries are telling the Obama administration NOT to go down this path... they have socialized medicine, it AIN'T working, and now they are looking are ways to get it back to private insurers.... too bad Obama's ego won't listen!!!

He's gonna save us from ourselves you know!!
Healthcare........
When healthcare becomes govt controlled, as in Canada, there is no incentive for people to want to become doctors; therefore, you end up with a doctor shortage, a severe shortage, and thus, longer waiting times... weeks,weeks, and months and months... just for a regular procedure. You better be dying if you want it sooner and then I wouldn't hold my breath.

That is what Obama wants to do to this country, only he tries to disguise it. ANyone with half a brain knows if the govt offers "cheaper" insurance, why in the world would anyone want to pay more? Companies will stop offering insurance to their employees cause they know the "almight government" will give it to them for free.... Obama knows this too!!! And when they do, you have NO incentive for physicians because they will not make money, extremely loaded down with patients....underpaid, overworked, less and less in the profession, and then WE, the citizens of a country where the private sector is supposed to run our country, NOT THE GOVERNMENT, will be another Canada or European country....take your pick!

It's pretty sad when European countries are telling the Obama administration NOT to go down this path... they have socialized medicine, it AIN'T working, and now they are looking are ways to get it back to private insurers.... too bad Obama's ego won't listen!!!

He's gonna save us from ourselves you know!!
PS HEALTHCARE WEBSITE
http://www.psfamilycare.com/
How's your healthcare plan going?
Hello management at Medquist. How did it feel having your nuts cut off with the new healthcare plan. Medquist sucks! Face it you'll be out of a job within 6 months. The cuts they have made you will soon be next.

Nice place to work. Now that's funny....

BITE ME MEDQUIST
best in the world? NOT - not in healthcare...

like MM or not, you should open your brain to this flick - even FOX NEWS (who hates MM) loved this movie, as did the current president, GWB............care to move forward in your life a tad?


As with everything else in healthcare, the downslide of MT
u
It looks like the healthcare one is in the lead, but - sm
at least it's a topic that is another one that is related to many of us, since only a certain percentage of US MT's have health insurance at all. And often what we DO have offers inferior care by disallowing care & meds that WORK, and only paying for the absolute minimum, even if it causes the pt. to eventually become sicker and then need LOTS of medical care, even hospitalization. We're getting nickled-and-dimed to death from every angle, and yet look at the high old life the big-shots at the hospitals, HMO's, and insurance companies get to live. IS there even a Middle-Class in America anymore? If so, I sure don't know any of them. There are either the Super-Rich, or us - the Working Poor.
Healthcare or computer...
Those are the 2 things that are going to be around forever.  My dad got his Associate's degree at the age of 62.  He is now working for the college he graduated from in the IT department and working on his Bachelor's so he can teach there too.  My point, it is never too late.  Oh, and as far as competing with the youngsters, employers like maturity, that's my opinion.  I worked at the hospital in the ER for 6 years before doing transcription and I make more now.  So remember, sometimes the pay is not much different w/o a degree.
healthcare in europe
I forgot to mention that I have done some research on healthcare in Poland and don't come up with much, other than one must have proof of insurance upon entrance into the country. My doctors also don't know anything about healthcare in Poland when I ask them.
Healthcare in Europe

I lived in England until the age of 25.  This is how it works there (don't know if Poland runs their healthcare the same way but likely).


Everyone pays for their healthcare at no cost ever via their taxes.  Everyone has a National Health insurance ID number.  Every form of healthcare is free, including medical, dental and podiatry.  If you want private healthcare, you can purchase it.  This system works if you don't mind paying higher taxes.  It is six of one and half a dozen of the other.


If your medical problem needs urgent attention, then it will be taken care of; if not, then you wait.  The doctor, of course, determines your needs.


Hope this info helps!


 


 


Feedback on SPI Healthcare Documentation

Does anybody know anything good or bad about this company?  I am looking for a good MT employment position, and I have been burned before (by Voice Systems--they don't pay!). 


SPI Healthcare Documentation
Contact: Barb Batchelder
417 Welshwood Drive, Suite 201, Nashville, Tennessee 37211
SPI_MTUS@spitech.com
Telephone: 866-624-7672, Fax: 615-301-8423


Quality Healthcare Insurance...SM
Does anyone have this insurance.  According to their website it costs $85.00 a month for individuals.  Sounds too good to be true.  Any info appreciated.
Thank you MTStars and Ascend Healthcare!!!..

Thanks again to MTStars for these great offerings during MT Week....and to Ascend Healthcare for their participation and for the Godiva Chocolate that I have won!!!  I never win anything so this is a very nice thing for me!!!


Thanks again to MTStars.com for everything they do for us!!



 


There is a big healthcare summit going on at the same time--sm
in Washington, DC--Wouldn't you think AAMT would want to be there instead? Guess not.
Thanks MTStars and Ascend Healthcare....sm

  for the Godiva Chocolate I received today!!  Yummmmy.....thanks again for a GREAT WEEK!!!  



Why was question about Healthcare Associated deleted?
nm
My husband, healthcare CEO said preapproval
and that this is an unethical practice, if this goes on Joint Commission will come in and blast them good and they better have a VERY GOOD explanation. If the doctor doesn't do his own dictation, then that's on him, but for medical records to make up a report without prior doctor approval is illegal, PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
And the healthcare industry DOES have integrity?
.
Healthcare - Today's Oprah
THURSDAY'S SHOW: Sick in America: It Can Happen to You

For the first time on TV, the director of Sicko, Michael Moore, and a respected insurance lobbyist face off in a healthcare showdown. Then, Lisa Ling puts some insurance companies on the line. And a discussion of the one question we all need to answer.


Healthcare in America is going down the tubes...
"This is a horrible thing that I read up there and I would like to see what they will try next, maybe have lawyers enter data instead of court reporters? Would you want a lawyer or doctor who wasted their education and time entering data? All of these methods are put forward by "middlemen" who see where they can entice the medical profession into "saving a buck." That savings might cost them plenty in the long haul when their documentation is in questionable shape. If they use it they better be ready for plenty of trouble and humiliation when their "second class documentation" is available for public review to say nothing of the compromise in patient care. "

I can't wait to see what it will be like once the conversion is complete. My boss loves to report in meetings how doctors who used to dictate thousands of lines are now doing less than 50 and how GREAT that is. Let's just see how those records will look and the quality of care patient's will recieve if a doctor is more busy on a laptop than focusing on the patient. What a joke.
I look at it this way...I am part of a healthcare team.
There are other members of this team for a reason. I knew an MT who told me that if she could not put down a word with 100% certainty, she would not leave a blank. She instead would jump through all manner of hoops including pulling and reading the patient's chart, talking to the nurses, or waiting and even talking to the doctor.

In my opinion, this is not the best use of anyone's time, especially hers. While she is wandering the hospital looking for resolution, other reports are waiting and patient care is being compromised. Obviously at the end of the day, no one else is going to sit down and transcribe for her.

A blank is not a failure. It is simply a request for clarification. Some members of the patient's healthcare team are better qualified to provide that information than I am, so I leave it to them.

I don't guess at addresses. If the HIM department at the hospital feels that is information critical to my job, they will provide it for me. That is their job. Once I have that information, I will gladly and accurately type it every single time it is requested.

I don't guess at what *@$%#*@! means in a report. Again, once the interpretation of that is provided to me by the kindly physcian who garbled it, I will gladly and accurately type every single time it is requested.

I honestly don't consider turning in a report punched full of blanks to QA or even the hospital a failure on my part. If the doctor is eating, the report is dictated 30 feet away from the phone, or Mr. In-A-Hurry thinks I can understand his speed mumbling, I still have done my job to the best of my ability, and now it is someone else's turn to work on that record.

What I would really like is the marketing executives or the used-car-salesman-type recruiters that constantly tell you that "of course line rates aren't going up" to have the pleasure of working on these reports. They low-ball the line rates to get the work and then pass that crap on to skilled MTs making it look like Christmas. You know darn well that if they did not ever have the prospect of a raise, they wouldn't be working for this company yet they can spoon-feed you all the reasons why you can't have one.
Association for Healthcare Documentation
"As a patient, I worry less about WHERE my records are being transcribed, and more about WHO is doing the transcription. I would opt for a qualified CMT in India handling my records over an unqualified individual transcribing from their dining room table with little experience and no security - where anyone could walk into their "home office" and access my information."

That's a laugh. She'd rather have a "qualified CMT in India" (where there is no HIPAA or anything like it) than an "unqualified individual transcribing from their dining room table..." Why am I supposed to assume that this picture of a dining room slacker is the opposite of an Indian MT?

How about another option, Ms. Fox: (Lemme guess: Karen Fox???) How about entrusting your records to a highly qualified American MT with professional standards & work ethic & who would do her/his best to protect the confidentiality of your records even if there were no laws against doing so, whose native language is American English, but who hasn't bothered to take some bogus test thought up by the chicks in Modesto to fund themselves, self-appointed guardians of all things MT? Now there's a novel idea.

Apparently she hasn't read the publication
http://mtindia.info/news/latest/heartland-information-services-spryance-inc.-merge.html

which would beg to differ with her contention that Indian MTs don't get any special pricing.

Well heck. My workload was cut to less than half after the hospital I work for began offshoring to people AHDI credentialed, people who have a cost of living that is a small fraction of mine & who can do the work I do for a small fraction of what I can do it for. I feel so much better knowing that at least they don't get a lapel pin.
high healthcare costs

two little words,  consider waste and fraud,   people who have zero hope of meaningful life being on total support which many of them do not want, many disposables could be changed back to reusables by proper sanitation.   up coding to get more $$, etc etc.  there is probably more but those two came to mind. 


 yes $40 an hour seems excessive to me too. 


Government controlled healthcare!!

Obama's healthcare plan

Anudder MT, Obama's plan will cost 1 trillion dollars and will only give health care to 16 million people out of the 46 million he keeps talking about. Out of that 46 million, about 15 million aren't even Americans - they're here illegally - and I don't know about you, but I don't want to pay for their healthcare in addition to my own. YOU may be rich, but I'm not, and if that makes me selfish, so be it.


And FYI, in Massachusetts, their mandatory single payer plan was supposed to cost 125 million but 3 years after implementing it, the cost has risen to 800 million. How do you know when a politician is lying? His lips are moving. And I hate to break it to all the Obama fans, but he lied when he said he wanted to rise above politics as usual. He's a Chicago politician, the worst thug of all.


And I hope it isn't just the healthcare industry, but -(sm)-
ALL sectors of American business where any personal information at all leaves our shores.

The same with customer service departments. I'm so sick of trying to decipher what the dot-heads are saying in the transription I do -- do they really think I want to try to figure out what they're saying when I call customer service about a glitch in my computer? Or a question about my checking account balance? No, I want to speak to someone with a better knowledge of my own native language. If every other person in this country can 'press 2' for Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish, Portugese, Chinese, Hindi, Mandarin, or Czech, then why can't I 'press 1' for ENGLISH?
"Non-insurance solution to healthcare"

Saw this ad in my Sunday paper supplement.  Does anyone know anything about this company or plan, "PS Family Heathcare"?  Not supposed to be insurance--a "non-insurance solution to healthcare."  There is an 800 number to call, but no website.  I'd like to have an idea of questions to ask before I call.  Thanks very much!


 


There is virtually NO adequate healthcare for prisoners.

Spoken like a true healthcare professional.

I know you are looking for BCBS, but my United HealthCare policy SM

will allow my kids to stay on until they are 26 if they are not married and still living at home, whether they are in college or not.  I double checked about it, and it's true.  Also my dental is the same way but a different carrier.


In short, because you work in the healthcare industry. sm
Hospitals don't shut down for the weekend, so neither can we. I don't like it any more than you do, but I understand the need. This is not the job to get into if you need full weekends off. Well, at leat not working for a national MT co.
Yes, instead of healthcare, a luxury industry, one with lots SM
of money to throw around. Just a few weeks ago, there were a whole lot of them seling overpriced goods to people happy to be taken to the cleaners. For the next year or so, though, until those're back to normal, I'd check out government contractors, including war profiteers. Seriously. Many of them are making enormous profit margins on contracts that still have years to run.
In bad times, people ignore healthcare -
some things you have to have even in bad times, but all the elective stuff which keeps a lot of us going is not being done in this time of crisis. I was typing 50-100 GI procedures a day, now I am typing about 20!

The economic crisis is having a big effect on healthcare - don't kid yourself...
In bad times, people ignore healthcare -
some things you have to have even in bad times, but all the elective stuff which keeps a lot of us going is not being done in this time of crisis. I was typing 25-50 GI procedures a day, now I am typing about 15!

The economic crisis is having a big effect on healthcare - don't kid yourself...
Association for Healthcare Documentation in India
Good for you for helping her make an INFORMED decision before taking the CMT exam. I can't imagine anyone knowing the full scope of AHDI's nefarious practices still wanting to take their exam.