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Also, I saw an ad for them for $12.50/hour. It seems they are leading the charge to push down MT salaries.

In addition, they do not pay based on experience. My 25+ years in acute care teaching hospitals in EVERY specialty counted for nothing.

BTW, when I changed jobs, I spent exactly FIVE reports on full QA and then was turned loose, immediately meeting their daily requirements. So I think Spheris is a better fit for those with very little experience and needing heavy QA. They must pay MTs so little because they have big overhead with QA.

Wow 7 cents and then also the exchange rate, I forget what my MT email friend said it was. Gad you are making zip per hour. Glad you are happy with it. Not me. My friend has some of her own accounts and charges $20 and hour.

I have been looking for an MT Employee job for a couple of months and I have noticed that more and more job opportunities are asking for Independent Contractors rather than Employees. Out of the hundreds of MTSOs out there, I could only count less than 2 dozen MTSOs who offer employee status.

Between off-shoring to India and VR, it has almost become impossible for a single MT to make enough to pay the mortgage, etc. Medical Transcription is becoming a secondary employment in two-worker households. If some of the MTSOs who hire ICs would admit that they are actually hiring employees and treat them as such, MTs might have a better chance of getting paid what they are worth. With less than 2 dozen MTSOs offering employee status, they can pretty much set their wages and we are stuck with it if we want any benefits at all. They are on the verge of almost a type of price-fixing or monopoly. We need more employers to create more competition for the well-trained MTs looking for work.

There is an ad for employment as an INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR � Editor at $10.00 per hour. After the Editor pays taxes and Medicare, etc (which can be 20 to 30%), they are actually working for less than minimum wage.

I am interested in knowing if anyone would take a position for this wage and also if you think this is actually an Independent Contractor or really an employee.

I think if the IRS audits this company, the MT will be stuck dealing with the IRS for years to get their money back.

In determining whether the person providing service is an employee or an independent contractor, all information that provides evidence of the degree of control and independence must be considered.

Facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence fall into three categories:

1. Behavioral: Does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does his or her job?

2. Financial: Are the business aspects of the worker�s job controlled by the payer? (these include things like how worker is paid, whether expenses are reimbursed, who provides tools/supplies, etc.)

3. Type of Relationship: Are there written contracts or employee type benefits (i.e. pension plan, insurance, vacation pay, etc.)? Will the relationship continue and is the work performed a key aspect of the business?

Type of relationship refers to facts that show how the worker and business perceive their relationship to each other.

The factors, for the type of relationship between two parties, generally fall into the categories of:

Although a contract may state that the worker is an employee or an independent contractor, this is not sufficient to determine the worker�s status. The IRS is not required to follow a contract stating that the worker is an independent contractor, responsible for paying his or her own self employment tax. How the parties work together determines whether the worker is an employee or an independent contractor.

Employee benefits include things like insurance, pension plans, paid vacation, sick days, and disability insurance. Businesses generally do not grant these benefits to independent contractors. However, the lack of these types of benefits does not necessarily mean the worker is an independent contractor.

If you hire a worker with the expectation that the relationship will continue indefinitely, rather than for a specific project or period, this is generally considered evidence that the intent was to create an employer-employee relationship.

If a worker provides services that are a key aspect of the business, it is more likely that the business will have the right to direct and control his or her activities. This would indicate an employer-employee relationship.

I'm wondering how it is that a whole group of SR editors allowed JLG to breach their original contract? This just goes to show you that a company can change the rules any time they want. All they have to do is threaten to fire you if you don't agree to whatever changes they feel like making. I wonder if any of the SR editors were able to collect unemployment??

BTW, I was hired by JLG in 2007, but quit on the first day of training. Too many RED Flags made my vision suddenly crystal clear.

It's only human nature to care about your work when it's appreciated and halfway decently compensated. When you have to scratch out a living, though, and feel exploited, well, who cares?

It's not just this industry that does things like this. I spent many years working the front desk in hotels - front desk and night audit. The executive office staff had paid holidays, etc. Heck, they had LUNCH BREAKS that the front desk rarely got. We did get paid time and a half if we worked a holiday, but depending on how cheap the management company was that ran the hotel, there were usually only 6 of those per year.

I worked for 4.5 years for a small, family owned insurance agency. It was amazing to me what the owners/family did that cost the company $$, but god forbid I actually take a day off sick.............

There's always a sort of a double standard between the line employees and people who are considered back office or management, etc. It's just the way the world works. It doesn't bug me. I don't have anyone looking over my shoulder making sure that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing or interrupting me every 5 minutes to ask me to do something else that is an emergency because of their bad planning. I don't have to stop what I'm doing every 5 minutes to answer yet another phone call from a client. I never have to worry that at the end of the day I have 57 things started, but NONE of them are done. I don't have to work till 9 pm at night (having been there since 7 am) in a salaried position because the workday is so frenetic that's the only way to actually get something completed. I don't have to lay in bed at night wondering what is on my desk that I didn't get done that is going to get me and the company sued. I can have my TV on or not as the mood strikes. I can work in a T shirt and pajama pants, or I can get dressed like a real person again as the mood strikes. I don't have to pretend to be sociable to coworkers who make my life a living he!!. I don't have to deal with hotel guests who are unhappy because of incompetent management and complete lack of communication with the front desk staff. I can sit and have my coffee and play with my cats and then just go into the next room and go to work. On my lunch break I can take a walk around the block to clear my head and wave at my neighbors.

Life is pretty good, as far as I'm concerned. It could be and (for me, at least) has been a lot worse.

that's why many are leaving this profession. After 10 years, that is how you're treated. It's a shame - and very degrading.

Try calling your ISP, cell phone carrier, cable or satellite company, etc for company service and more than likely you'll receive someone who isn't in the US.

What about your clothes you're wearing? More than likely not made in America. After all, that's how places like Wal-Mart is able to provide the low prices we want. When I was in high school back in the late 70s a pair of Levi's would cost you around $20. They are still around $20 - and it's almost 30 years later - yet the cost of producing them has gone up so something has to give to keep them cheap.

What about your car? It's hard to find the words American Made Car and Top Quality in the same sentence unless you have $40,000 or more to spend. Most of us can't afford that so we go to cheaper vehicles - that are in part or wholey made out of the US. Kia is building a plant here in Georgia that will open next year - and it cost our state millions to get this deal to provide jobs for Americans. They've already more people asking about jobs with them then they'll have openings for - and they haven't even started hiring yet.

Now look at food. Where does your produce come from? Increasingly from Mexico because of pricing.

Now let's take our situation of healthcare and our jobs as transcriptionists. Hospitals demand lower transcription pricing and get it because of competition. Long gone are the MTSOs getting 20 cpl for a gross line. MTSOs now do good if they get 9-10 cpl for a 65 character line - without headers/footers. The hospitals don't care about the individual Transcriptionist because we don't provide direct patient care that they can bill for - even though if we don't transcribe correctly they can't bill - but they don't view it that way. On the other hand if you're an oncologist or radiologist and want a new play purty you'll probably get it because it'll make them money.

America has always been a free society with free trade, and as long as that continues our jobs will continue to increasingly leave the borders. Will government care? Not really because the lobbyists line pockets with cash and gifts to keep getting what they want. Here in Georgia the head of an area in the state was recently publicized as being unusual because she refuses to accept even a cup of coffee from anyone wanting to do business with the state. That's the way it should be - instead of the exception to the rule.

I thought I had read something recently that stated Nuance/Focus was developing some software that would completely do away with transcriptionists in the next few years. I worked for Focus 5 years ago and they were a terrible company then to work for, I see they have just kept getting worse. You are entitled to minimum wage if you are an employee. If your line count does not come to that contact your local DOL and apply for unemployment benefits. if you don't you are hurting yourselves and other MTs who come after you.

Nuance to Acquire Dictaphone, Accelerating Strategy
to Eliminate Manual Transcription in Healthcare

Acquisition Greatly Expands Nuance Speech Solutions and Channels for Healthcare

BURLINGTON, Mass., and STRATFORD, Conn., February 8, 2006 � Nuance Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: NUAN) and Dictaphone Corporation today announced a definitive agreement whereby Nuance will acquire Dictaphone, the leading provider of dictation and speech recognition solutions for the healthcare industry. This acquisition significantly accelerates Nuance�s strategy to automate manual transcription in healthcare, where an estimated $15 billion is spent worldwide each year.

The acquisition of Dictaphone expands Nuance�s product portfolio, market reach and revenue streams within the large and rapidly growing healthcare vertical. One of the most respected technology solutions vendors in the healthcare industry, Dictaphone has an installed base of dictation and transcription software systems serving over 4,000 hospital and outpatient facilities and approximately 400,000 physicians.

�Improvements in speech technology and pressures on the healthcare industry create a compelling opportunity for our companies to transform manual transcription through speech-enabled solutions,� said Paul Ricci, chairman and CEO at Nuance. �The combined resources, experience and talents of Nuance and Dictaphone will help accelerate the adoption of speech recognition to eliminate most manual transcription for healthcare in North America this decade, delivering over $5 billion in savings to care facilities and transcription service organizations.�

Nuance expects the acquisition to add between $80 million and $85 million in revenue in fiscal year 2006 and between $180 million and $200 million in fiscal year 2007. The transaction is expected to generate cost synergies between $20 million and $25 million per year. The acquisition is expected to be dilutive to earnings on a GAAP basis by approximately $(0.12) to $(0.11) cents per share in fiscal year 2006 and $(0.05) to $(0.02) cents per share in fiscal year 2007. On a non-GAAP basis, the acquisition is expected to be accretive to earnings, excluding amortization, acquisition-related costs and stock-based compensation, by approximately $0.02 to $0.03 cents per share in fiscal year 2006 and $0.06 to $0.09 cents per share in fiscal year 2007.

Under the terms of the agreement, consideration for the transaction is $357 million in cash, subject to adjustments. Nuance has obtained a commitment for a new senior secured credit facility from UBS Investment Bank, Credit Suisse, Citigroup and Bank of America to finance the transaction. The facility comprises a $355 million term loan and a $75 million revolving credit facility. Closing of this commitment is subject to customary conditions.

�We are pleased that the strong cash flows we expect to generate from the synergies of the recent Nuance merger, as well as those from Dictaphone, allowed us to obtain an attractive financing package without issuing additional equity,� added Mr. Ricci.

The acquisition has been approved by both companies� Boards of Directors and is expected to close by March 31, 2006 subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions. Nuance and Dictaphone were represented by Evercore Partners and UBS Investment Bank, respectively.

Dictaphone Brings Extensive Products, Penetration and Expertise for Healthcare

Through the companies� strong partnerships with leading electronic medical records (EMR) vendors, systems integrators, medical transcription service organizations (MTSOs) and Nuance�s established network of Dragon Dictation Solutions VARs, the combined organization will be better positioned to effectively serve this market through an expansive portfolio of technologies and applications, and a deep set of services and capabilities.

�We share with Nuance the strong belief that speech recognition is not only at an inflection point in healthcare, it is also becoming an essential component of the industry�s drive toward cost reduction and clinical automation,� said Rob Schwager, chairman and CEO of Dictaphone. �By combining Dictaphone�s software application skills, understanding of physician documentation needs and workflows, and substantial market presence with Nuance�s deep expertise and innovation in speech recognition technologies, the combined company is extremely well-positioned to lead the market.�

Benefits of the transaction include:

� Enhanced Revenue Streams from Complementary Product Lines � Dictaphone adds significant and stable recurring revenue streams from many of its products and services, including ichart� Web-based speech recognition editing outsourcing service, PowerScribe� speech recognition system for radiology and pathology, EXSpeech� enterprise-level speech recognition platform, and Enterprise Express� voice/text workflow management solution. Further, Dictaphone�s product portfolio complements Nuance�s Dragon Dictation Solutions, with a complete solution set for automating the capture and processing of patient data and clinical documentation.

� Talented and Accomplished Employees � Dictaphone brings a dedicated, talented team of professionals whose healthcare knowledge and expertise has established Dictaphone as the premier provider of dictation and transcription solutions. Part of this employee base includes more than 200 sales and professional services staff that have forged customer relationships with a majority of care facilities in North America. The result is a robust, experienced sales, support and services organization focused on delivering highly accurate speech-enabled solutions to the healthcare industry.

� Strong Customer Relationships � Dictaphone has a track record of selling systems to a wide range of healthcare institutions and has an installed base of approximately 4,000 hospitals, clinics and physician groups, including virtually all of the Top 100 and honors-winning hospitals in the U.S. In addition, Dictaphone�s solutions are currently used by approximately two out of every three physicians in North America. Following the acquisition, Nuance will have one of the industry�s most extensive rosters of IT system deployments.

� Extensive Healthcare Research and Development Resources � Dictaphone has a rich history with more than 75 years of experience and a team of engineers and scientists with years of domain expertise in developing the most innovative and effective speech solutions for healthcare. Following the transaction, Nuance will gain approximately 100 patents and patents pending from Dictaphone, expanding its portfolio of intellectual property to comprise approximately 500 patents protecting the investments made within its range of speech technologies and products.

� Strong Partner and Channel Networks � Nuance and Dictaphone intend to leverage a strong network of product and channel partners to rapidly deliver the benefits of speech recognition throughout the healthcare industry � from healthcare IT and EMR vendors and systems integrators to dictation workflow providers and MTSOs. The combined organization will deliver the most widely used speech technology within healthcare, integrated with solutions from industry leaders such as Cerner, GE/IDX, McKesson, and Misys Healthcare Systems.

Since 2004, Nuance has steadily increased its investments within healthcare, putting substantial resources in product development, sales, business development and marketing behind this effort. The company has continually enhanced its medical version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, formed a dedicated sales and business development organization and recently acquired MedRemote to broaden its solutions portfolio and expand its presence in healthcare. These investments produced record dictation revenues for Nuance in 2005. The success that Nuance has experienced through its healthcare initiatives further validates a compelling opportunity for growth and leadership.

Today, the healthcare industry is under pressure to streamline operations and reduce costs while at the same time find new ways to improve patient care. Analysts predict that clinical automation will become an essential component of healthcare delivery to address these mounting pressures. Gartner, a leading independent research and advisory firm, believes that self-edit or �once and done� speech-based transcription will achieve mainstream market acceptance in two to five years, in which time the benefits of the technology will have been demonstrated.¹ Gartner predicts that care delivery organizations that implement speech-to-text supplementation of transcriptions will save up to 30 percent or more on transcriptions, and in radiology and pathology departments, the savings could be in excess of 50 percent.²

To that end, Nuance sees a significant opportunity based on industry dynamics that include:

� Large Addressable Market � An estimated $10 billion per year in North America and $15 billion worldwide is spent by healthcare organizations to manually convert recorded dictation into electronic transcripts. Unprecedented speech recognition accuracy achieved in recent years has proven the ability of speech-based solutions to generate significant productivity gains compared to manual processing of recorded dictation. The company believes that speech-based transcription technology has penetrated only five to 10 percent of the healthcare market in North America.

� Increasing Electronic Patient Data � An estimated one billion patient records are created each year in North America alone, a volume that is expected to increase as the population ages. The industry�s move to EMRs demands the creation of robust clinical data repositories of patient information. Dictaphone�s natural language processing technology permits extraction of key data from the large volume of narrative medical reports produced every year, offering customers the ability to enrich their data repositories significantly.

� Accelerating Adoption � The ability of speech recognition to deliver real benefits in automating the processing of recorded dictation comes at an ideal time � when organizations have increasing patient reporting requirements, IT spending within healthcare is increasing, and the industry drivers for solutions that promote EMRs and patient safety are strong and growing. In recent years, hospitals, clinics, medical groups, physicians� offices, insurance providers and service organizations have increasingly turned to speech solutions to automate manual processes and accelerate the adoption of EMRs.

� Government Investments and Mandates � Facing rising healthcare costs and aging populations, government agencies worldwide are increasing their investments in healthcare technology, including HealthConnect in Australia, the National Programme for IT in the NHS within the United Kingdom, and the United States National Health Information Infrastructure initiative.

Investor Conference Call Information

In conjunction with this announcement Nuance will broadcast a conference call over the Internet today at 8:30 a.m. ET. Those who wish to listen to the live broadcast should visit the Investor Relations section of the Nuance Web site (www.nuance.com) at least 15 minutes prior to the event and follow the instructions provided to ensure that the necessary audio applications are downloaded and installed. The conference call can be heard live by dialing (800) 230-1092 or (651) 224-7558, five minutes prior to the call and reference conference code 818371. A replay of the call will be available within 24 hours of the announcement. To access the replay, dial (800) 475-6701 or (320) 365-3844 and refer to access code 818371.

About Dictaphone

Dictaphone, ranked 31^st in Healthcare Informatics ranking of top 100 companies by healthcare revenue, is the leading provider of dictation, transcription, speech recognition and natural language processing systems in the healthcare market. Dictaphone�s Integrated Voice Systems division is the leading provider of highly scalable dictation systems focused upon the public safety and legal markets. Dictaphone is headquartered in Stratford, Connecticut, and has worldwide marketing, sales, service and support organizations throughout United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Europe.

Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance (Nasdaq: NUAN) is the leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications. For more information, please visit nuance.com.

Nuance, the Nuance logo, Dragon and NaturallySpeaking are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

# # #

[1] Gartner Research, �Hype Cycle for Healthcare Provider Technologies,� by Barry Runyon, James Gabler, Thomas J. Handler, M.D., Barry R. Hieb, M.D., John-David Lovelock, Wes Rishel, Vi Shaffer. July 14, 2005.

2 Gartner Research, �Underlying Information Technologies in Healthcare in 2004,� by Joanne Galimi, Cynthia E. Burghard, Janice Young. April 16, 2004.

SAFE HARBOR FOR FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements in this document regarding the proposed transaction between Nuance and Dictaphone, amounts spent on manual transcription in the North American healthcare industry, benefits and synergies of the transaction, the expected timetable for completing the transaction, future financial and operating results, expectations that the merger will be accretive to Nuance�s results, the method for financing the transaction, future opportunities for the combined company, the product portfolio of the combined company, the intellectual property portfolio of the combined company, the opportunity for automated speech solutions in the healthcare industry, and any other statements about Nuance or Dictaphone managements' future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words believes, plans, anticipates, expects, estimates and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward looking statements, including: the ability to consummate the transaction; the ability of Nuance to successfully integrate Dictaphone�s operations and employees; the ability to realize anticipated synergies and cost savings; the failure to retain customers; and the other factors described in Nuance�s Annual Report on Form 10 K/A for the year ended September 30, 2005. Nuance disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this document.

Discussion of non-GAAP Financial Measures

Management utilizes a number of different financial measures, both GAAP and non-GAAP, in analyzing and assessing the overall performance of our business, for making operating decisions and for forecasting and planning for future periods. We consider the use of non-GAAP earnings per share particularly helpful in assessing the organic performance of our business from a cash perspective. While our management uses this non-GAAP financial measure as a tool to enhance their understanding of certain aspects of our financial performance and prospects for the future, our management does not consider this measure to be a substitute for, or superior to, the information provided by GAAP earnings per share. When evaluating the prospects of a transaction, one factor our management considers is the impact on, accretion or dilution of, our GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per share. Consistent with this approach, we believe that disclosing Accretion/Dilution of non-GAAP earnings per share provides useful supplemental data that, while not a substitute for Accretion/Dilution of GAAP earnings per share, allows for greater transparency in the review of our prospective financial and operational performance. In assessing the impact of the Dictaphone acquisition, our management has excluded certain acquisition related expenses, each of which are described below.

We excluded certain expense items resulting from acquisitions to allow more accurate comparisons of our financial results to our historical operations, forward looking guidance and the financial results of our peer companies. These items include the following: (i) amortization of intangible assets associated with the acquisition; (ii) acquisition-related costs; and (iii) stock-based compensation. The acquisition of Dictaphone will result in non-continuing operating expenses which would not otherwise have been incurred. We believe that providing non-GAAP information for certain expenses related to this acquisition allows the users of our financial statements to review both the impact of this transaction from a GAAP perspective, as well as from a non-GAAP perspective, thus providing for enhanced understanding of our future financial results. Additionally, had we internally developed the products acquired from Dictaphone, the amortization of intangible assets would have been expensed historically, and we believe the assessment of our operations excluding these costs is relevant to our assessment of internal operations and comparisons to industry performance.

The non-GAAP financial measures described above, and used in this press release, should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Further, investors are cautioned that there are material limitations associated with the use of non-GAAP financial measures as an analytical tool. In particular, many of the adjustments to the Company�s GAAP financial measures reflect the exclusion of items that are recurring and will be reflected in the Company�s financial results for the foreseeable future. In addition, other companies, including other companies in the Company�s industry, may calculate non-GAAP net income (loss) differently than the Company, limiting its usefulness as a comparative tool. Management compensates for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from the non-GAAP financial measures. In addition, as noted above, the Company�s management evaluates the non-GAAP financial measures together with the most directly comparable GAAP financial information.

All of the posts about some potential blacklist started me thinking this week. First, let me say I don't think one exists, and I do think there is an informal network where someone any of us may have worked with might work at a company or whatever and information is shared. But here's my question.

While I don't believe in a blacklist concept, we DO seem to have that with employers here. So my question is, what's the difference? Why is it okay for MTs to say DO NOT work here... and it's not okay for an employer to say DO NOT hire this person... And I'm asking aside from the legal reasons of what can and cannot be given in a formal reference check. I'm talking about the informal network that we have in our industry.

The reality is, like it or not, all MTs are not created equal just like all employers are not created equal. And there is no one size fits all company or MT in our industry.

So what makes this different? Why is okay for MTs to blackball a company and not the other way around? I'm not asking for argument, purely curious about your thoughts on this. Thanks.

And industry would pay the lowest wage possible

Nuance to Acquire Dictaphone, Accelerating Strategy to Eliminate Manual Transcription in Healthcare

Investor Conference Call Information

About Dictaphone

Nuance to Acquire Dictaphone, Accelerating Strategy
to Eliminate Manual Transcription in Healthcare