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Clinic notes very rarely delve into

Posted By: sm on 2009-03-24
In Reply to: There's isn't a transition.... - it's one in the same....

specifics like acute care does. There is a difference.


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9 cpl as an IC doing clinic notes vs. 8 cpl is
still quite a bit of difference, especially 8 cpl as an IC at Softscript...
9 cents for clinic notes
nm
Clinic notes 6.65 then 7 when off proofing within 90 days
It was supposed to be 7.5 cents if off proofing within 30 days, but they never did a QA assessment, so got 7 cents after calling and asking for an assessment.
Yes clinic notes go to Cameo India
..
I have very few applicants who can even do easy clinic notes,
Hiring is can be a total nightmare.
Also the Clinic work SOAP notes
*
Clinic notes. SOAP is the format,

subjective


objective


assessment


plan


Clinic notes or physical therapy?

Hello,


Does anyone have suggestions for companies that hire for physical therapy or just general transcription/clinic work?  I've tested at several companies and did not score high enough apparently to do acute care, even though I did not leave so many blanks, I thought.  My problem was with the actual transcription; passed the other part of tests.  Really discouraged right now.  TIA--


 


ExCUUSSE me... she said 7.5cpl for clinic notes,
NOT op-notes. Most places consider clinic notes easier and pay less for them. So if that is the case, the op-notes SHOULD pay more at that job.
Acute care is very different than clinic notes

I have been an MT for 20 years.  I have hired and trained MTs for a service.  There is a HUGE difference between clinic notes and acute care.  The poster who says she made the switch and didn't have problems is lucky and is probably a very good MT, who had a good base of knowledge to start with.  It can be done, but not in every case. 


Some MTs who work on clinic notes work for the same set of dictators every day typing about colds and aches and pains.  Dictators tend to say the same things over and over.  Most clinic notes are only a 2 or 3 paragraphs.  They work for the same set of dictators for years and even have their stuff canned, just pull it in and make the changes.


You put that same MT on an acute care account for a large teaching hospital and they may have a nervous breakdown, I've seen the meltdown, it's not pretty.  On an acute care account like that you may have all the specialities and subspecialties, probably 30-40 or maybe more, adults and peds, with all the dictators, anywhere from 5 to ??  And residents, let's not forget them.  And all the work types.  They are dictating DS, H&Ps, consults, ORs, clinic visits, progress notes, etc.  They are dictating about new procedures and medications that may not even be in reference books yet or that are experimental.  Some of those reports are 20-30 minutes long, 7 or 8 pages.


I'm not knocking the clinic MTs, but don't just assume because one does clinic notes, they can jump into acute care.  That would be very misleading and a total injustice to a newbie who read that and got into an acute care position, possibly setting themselves up for failure. 


 


i would definitely start out with clinic notes first to get a good base.
You need to try to get as much learning as you can in an unrushed way. When you do acute care notes, you are having all medical specialties pushed on you all at once.
are clinic notes productive... 2 and 3 line reports?
Can you turn them around pretty fast or do they slow you down?
Was told recently that they do 70% clinic notes and 30% acute care, very few Ops. Don't know
m
Do you recommend starting with clinic notes or acute care when just starting in the MT field?
!I realize this question may be better suited for the new MT board, but this board is my favorite)

I am considering accepting an acute care position, even though I am just out of MT school. However, I don't want the learning curve to be so steep that I fail before I even begin. I would also like to have a smaller pool of dictators to transcribe from as opposed to many.

Also, are there more ESLs in acute care versus clinic/dr office work?

What has your experience been? Would you do it differently?

Thanks for any insight!
Exactly. Rarely have to do it, but like to know that I can if I have to.
nm
Nothing but nitpicking - very rarely anything useful
nm
No. Very rarely run out of work on my reg (sm)
If I do, like on a Monday morning, I do my #1 backup for an hour or so.  Sometimes when backup #3 is behind, I help out on that.  The others I have only done in a pinch, so I'm not as fast on those and very rarely do them; but at least I know I could if I wanted to.
Why would you never had to type an AB? I think they are rarely done in
an acute care setting, usually performed in a facility just for that purpose.   I think maybe I have done one in 20 years, although I've done several D&Cs for botched ABs.    I wouldn't type them on a regular basis, but not because of my religious values, because of my moral values. 
I very rarely have a problem
x
Very rarely have I run out of work.
There are occasions when I don't feel like working in my backup accounts when that is all I am getting, but I have truly never run out of work completely.
I'm with you - it's very rarely "out of work" for me but (sm)
I've been in this business long enough to take advantage of those times.  It never lasts very long.  It's one of the best companies I have ever worked for, and the support staff is great.  If there is a problem, it's taken care of quickly.  Now with the line counting issues being taken care of too, I'm happy as a clam.
Two are hospitals, one is a clinic. The biggest one is a clinic that only does sm
oncology. We cannot post account names here and do not give out that information until confidentiality forms are signed.

I can tell you that a very, very large oncology hospital will be starting on March 1st that will need 30+ transcriptionists to run smooth.
The archive search rarely works for me either.
I'd try browsing through some of the archives and scanning for it.
Spheris is a huge MTSO; how come it is rarely
nm
I do ops for 3 services, but rarely get the heart stuff.

nm


Don't you miss the correspondance though. I rarely hear
from them either, but it would be nice to have some contact from them even if just a how are things going.  It isn't just them, I have found most companies are like that.  After the first week or so and there are no issues with your work you just don't hear from them. 
Have 3 primaries and then go into the pool rarely, but always have work sm
You get 20 different accounts every day? I feel for you. In the beginning of last year, I was doing as many as 15 accounts. Since at least November, I rarely go into the pool. Maybe you can switch accounts?
I very RARELY have any sound quality issues
x
I guess I must just be lucky with my account. I rarely run s/m
out of work, and if I do, it doesn't last more than 15 minutes or so. Holiday periods will bring longer periods of no work, but still not very long. I can usually take a break, eat, go outside for a few minutes. I love my accounts, too.

That being said, I do feel badly for those who have to deal with this. In the year or more that I have been with the company, I have run out of work maybe 10 times. My accounts have little turnover, and this may be why. I hope it gets better for those who are having this problem frequently. that must be very frustrating :-(
MQ charges $50/computer - $15/wave pedal - and rarely have
for you to make 12,000 a pay period. 
Yeah, and I can bet that account used to be my primary because it rarely has work now!
nm
That's terrific. I rarely hear that a lone MT gets a hospital
account, so more power to ya!
Downside is that there's rarely a steady/even load of work everyday unless there's always a ba
s
Why do you think there are so many notes SM
on this board pertaining to how long it takes to get a decent line count?

They will tell you it is a 65 character line. It is not. As stated, more like 75-80. There are ways to work with it, make tons of macros, etc. But it is tough.
I only wish I had ER or OP notes, mostly
consults, discharge summaries, H&Ps and the occasional progress notes. I've been at this for almost 20 years though.
op notes
I do acute care which includes a pretty good many op notes but there are other work types too. I dont know if you are looking strictly for only op notes. I work for Alphamed solutions who is currently hiring. I have DSL. I believe it is required. There is usually plenty of work on my account. I hardly ever get on and no work. Rare. I work on the Dictaphone Extext with Transnet. But they also have other platforms. I hope I was of help.
ERS/OP NOTES
Does anyone remember seeing the job posting for someone to do ERs and op notes?  What company was it?  I cannot find it.
Can't you do everything but op notes?
H&P reports and consultations are similar whether acute care or clinic work. Discharge summaries aren't that difficult either for someone coming from clinic work. I agree that the op notes will take lots of time to learn. So why not ask if you could just do H&P reports for a while and then consultations, and then discharge summaries and maybe later on the op notes? I just received the opportunity to do discharge summaries after having only clinic work experience, and what I like the most is that this offers the opportunity to expand my knowledge because I get to transcribe reports in so many specialties. I understand that you are mad at the recruiter and somewhat unhappy because of computer issues, which means there are several things going on here. First you might want to figure out whether you want to stay with them or move on. If you like working for Precyse, then I would try to find a solution as mentioned above. If you do not like working for them, then it would be best to move on.
PO/OT notes
I agree. Not only are they boring, good grammar is lacking on many of them; they slur through the reports and don't seem to have any continuity of thought or format. I had one very good dictator the other day; I could have kissed her! Otherwise, I don't consider those medical reports, just a mess of words on a page. This is from my experience. You can also nix about 50% of the psych dictators. Just my take on this.
Vet notes

The trend has always been that vets handwrite their own reports in order to save on costs, but that may be changing now that they are hearing other vet groups are using transcription services?  The company I work for only types veterinary ophthalmology reports, along with a few simple op reports.  The ophthalmology terms and medications are pretty much the same as those for humans, but the reports can be a lot more interesting at times, since the animals don't always cooperate!  Once you are comfortable with the terminology the doctors use on a regular basis and the company guidelines as to how the reports should be formatted, the work is a breeze!


soap notes
Does anyone know of a company that does strictly SOAP notes?
If you like doing chart notes at 7 cpl! (nm)
xx
After reading the below notes sm
After the below notes, along with things posted here in the past, I'm truly beginning to believe it has something to do with who is your supervisor/QA.  I have been there for a number of years, have been very happy and still am; however, I have heard a few things about other supervisors that makes me believe I am one of the lucky ones.  Sad, but I believe it is true.  I believe Amphion's management reads these posts once in a while.  Maybe they'll give this some thought.   
Surgical Notes
This is a company based in Dallas, Texas. They do surgery centers. QA staff are just ordinary clerks--not transcriptionists. There is a lot of orthopedic, plastic surgery, ENT, and GI surgery. Any work up to 5 p.m. is due by the next day--usually by 9 or 10 a.m. This is for weekdays M-T. Friday's work up to 5 p.m. is due back Monday. After 5 and Sat and Sun due back Tue. Pay is always on time and is very good, 0.09 to 0.12 cents a line.
Why do you prefer OP notes? nm

+++


progress notes
My company, XXX, has been out of work quite a lot lately and their only explanation is you know how it is during the off-season but the off-season now has been pretty much all of this year. My question is are MTs now all paid the same way for notes as opposed to reports. I distinctly remember that MTs who did progress notes and ER notes were generally paid differently because the notes were so short it was next to impossible to get an adequate line count. I feel like I am getting shafted because I am reduced to doing progress notes on a daily basis and I am generally spending 10 hours a day just to make my 1100 lines. Keep in mind that these are still ESL doctors who either don't know or don't care about putting in demographics so that too still has to be looked up and in the end I may get 5 lines per report. I understand that things do change but if its gotten to this point then maybe I need to be the one to make the change.
No ESL docs, no op notes (as far as I know) SM

They are mainly consults, soap notes, some radiology.  You use their templates and get paid for headers/footers.


I don't know if everyone makes the same, but I make 8 cpl (55 characters per line) without spaces.  I compared it to the normal 65 characters per line with spaces, and it is equivalent to 8 cents per line with spaces.  So, not too bad...just average I guess. 


But the dictators are really clear and there are a lot of samples.  I think the work is pretty easy.  I think it makes a really good p.r.n. position. 


Good luck with whatever you decide to do. :)


Chickadee


Op notes exclusively

Try Deventure.


 


Surgical Notes
Yes-- I worked for them indirectly. I subcontracted to a contracting MTSO. Their virtual private network is just horrible. It is slow and you get kicked off frequently. I know of MTs who worked an entire week and only made $10.00 because of the system. They have an FTP site system that I loved. You could just download the voice file and type in Word then return it; however, when they changed over to this new program everything went down hill very quickly. My doctors were not happy with it either. SN raised the rates, went to this system -- by the way you need to buy a 15-pin pedal and forget any tech help. When I was there it was also lacking. Anyway my doctors took their accounts and walked away. I ended up leaving for that and other reasons. I haven't worked indirectly for them since July of 2006.
Surgical Notes
I should also add when I was working for them indirectly, for several English was second language.
My notes from the meeting - s/m
Apparently Acusis started in India, not the US. It's not very old - only 6 years. The CEO seems to know alot about business & making money, but not much about MT-ing. Says he's learning. They apparently have aspirations to be THE largest MT company not only in the US, but globally. He thought he could do it from India, but found he couldn't, partly because of the fact that some US medical institutions don't want offshored work. Others will allow PART of their work offshore (like radiology, etc.), but not other work. So instead this would be what he called a Hybrid US+India company. Hmmm.

So, according to what he said, he feels the best way to grow the company FAST is to also have a US MT force, so clients have a choice. They will have to pay more for US transcription, though he assures us the Indians are also good. (Yeah, RIGHT!) Initially the two-tiered business platform made sense to me. But other comments made later in the meeting made me wonder about what the REAL truth might be. Among other things, they plan to buy many other US MT companies, as well. DRC is just the first. He seems to think bigger is better. Having worked at PAMC since it was smaller, and seeing how nasty it got when it was bigger, I certainly don't agree.

Someone asked the question about the less-skilled, or even the accurate, but slower transcribers' role there. For now he seems to want only top-notch people, but later says how having a plan for bringing less-skilled MTs up to speed would be a good thing. Some questions sounded slightly hedged or evaded, and sometimes had the words for now thrown in, like maybe we weren't going to notice them or something. This had to do mainly with questions about change as it affected us. Red flag.

When asked about all the extra management people after the merge, he said that for now there was a seat for everyone on the bus. But he also allowed as how his company has always tended to have more execs than they really needed. Well, that certainly is one of the problems at PAMC, and it seems to cause them to continually find fault with the MTs, if for no other reason than to make themselves look good. So that was another rather loud warning-bell I heard.....it's a management-heavy company.

Re: Pay/Benefits - He says so far it'll remain the same. He wants it well above average, but doesn't specifically say whether or not MTs are part of that plan. He does say that by improving the software, etc., they can make the MTs more productive, and thus enable them to make more money. I didn't particularly like that part, either.

One thing that DID sound good was that although we would have to change over to Acusis' 401K (and who knows how good it is.....), he says they'll match it with 3%. Well, to me that isn't exactly MATCHING.... but I guess if you put in $100, they put in another $3.

Their company goals were:
- Global world-class customer satisfaction (sounds kinda' generic, but whatever...)
- Service flexibility & choice of options (the Hybrid-thing).
- Create the strongest organization (so they can gobble up & digest the competition?)
- Have the best technology (boys do like their toys.....)

I guess we'll lose the nice DRC software we're using now. He says he wants to have a new, blended software platform that will be called AcuSuite 3.0. It is supposed to have enhanced user-friendliness (hard to believe, if it's not written by someone who knows a LOT about MT!). He also mentions back-end speech-recognition.

He also mentioned that he was a leader in his church. (Oh, pul-eeeze! Not more holy-rollers trying to take over the healthcare industry!?!?) Definitely a red flag in my book.

The Future Plans are:
- To acquire more MT companies.
- To develop a repetitive model to acquire and integrate future acquisitions.

Again, all this talk about growing, merging, acquiring -- has nothing to do with the nuts & bolts of MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION. He talked about MONEY, a LOT. But not MTs making money - but instead about his goal of having this be the world's BIGGEST and WEALTHIEST MT company. I don't think anyone can have those kind of aspirations and stay honest or have their employee's best interests at heart for very long.

One person brought up the fact that the Chief Officer of Acusis-India desires India to dominate the medical information field worldwide, and wanted to know if he intended to convert the clients from US-transcribed to Indian-transcribed. His answer was very ODD, and most certainly got me wondering: It was that it was his belief until 55 minutes ago. (Whaaaat?) He tried to clarify that by saying he used to think domination of the MT industry could be done solely through India, and that now he believes it cannot. But, either way, all this domination talk makes me uneasy.

Another question was How do US clients view the above statement by the C.O.O.? He admits it was viewed with skepticism. He also says hes been trying to take our clients for a long time, now. (What???) (I guess he tried from India, couldn't do it, and so now has come onshore.)

When asked about accrued vacation time, and would the MTs be able to keep it, the answer was YES. (Though said he doesn't yet understand DRCs system of accrual of vacation time according to Keystrokes typed, or how much can be carried.

In the first 100 days they plan to:
- Integrate talent, IT, Processes, Benefits.
- Establish performance goals, alignment.
- Retain only high customer satisfaction performers who get results. (Does this pertain to management? MTs? Everyone? What exactly does this mean? This wasn't clear).
- Continue to have quarterly conference calls. (Jeez .... even semi-annually would be more than I could stand.)

Later he says the MTs are where the rubber meets the road. (Good analogy, but will Acusis follow through on their statement that they consider the US-based MTs to be a valuable part of the company?) I wonder if he is aware of how many people are ready to walk out RIGHT NOW, just based on their strong ties with India?

Well, anyway, that was my take on everything, from all the notes I took. I don't plan to do anything rash.... and will instead just keep on typin' and see what develops. If I like it I'll stay, if I don't, then I guess I'll leave. But I won't cross that bridge 'til I come to it, as it's still too early to tell how the takeover will ultimately go. What we were told could be the truth, or it could all just be smoke and mirrors.