Clinic should pay 8 cpl and acute care 9 cpl

• What is the word on Encompass out there? - interested party nm
  • A friend of mine works there...(sm) - tnmt
  • From the info they sent me, they require 98.9% accuracy, sm - possibly looking
    • 98.9% QA is NOT that difficult to attain - - Internet MT
      • as the poster below says, clinic work is not easier - see message
      • Clinic should pay 8 cpl and acute care 9 cpl - to start for any national at the very minimum.
        • I work for a major national and starting rate is no where near 9 cpl for acute care. (nm) - kathy
      • Never said it was difficult to attain. I have never had QA issues. sm - possibly looking
    • Encompass - Lillybelle

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

There are a few posts already about Axolotl if you want to do a search.  A lot of negative lately.  Clinic work is not bad but the pay is average.  Acute Care is terrible.  90% ESL on some accounts and every account has conflicting Account Specifics so you really have to pay attention to which account you are on. (for example, if the dictator says 50 cc - you type on one account 50 cc, but on another 50 mL), and QA will nail you on that if you do it wrong.   Work comes in by TAT, so you may switch every other job between 2 or 3 accounts all day or get a string of the same horrible ESL dictator in a row.  No flexibility.  They are a small company with only enough MTs to cover incoming jobs.  You tell them what hours you are going to work and you have to be there at that specific time.  Really depends on what you are looking for in a new job.  Ask lots of questions.  Let us know how it goes. 

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. 

Which do you feel you can get a better line count on and would you take a slight pay cut to do just clinic work?  Most acute care accounts have such difficult dictators and such I was wondering if it would just be better to go to a good clinic account even if it meant less per line.  Opinions? 

I was wondering if it is possible to make a good line count with a multi-speciality clinic.  I was offered a PT position; one with acute care and one with a multi-clinic.  Just wondering what you all thought.

I worked for about 10 years as an IC for clinc work, then lost my account (like you).  I got a job in house at my local hospital and also applied with a national for PT work at home with a teaching hospital.  Things were slow going at first, having to look a lot of things up, etc.  I left the in house job after a couple years to be at home full time again.  Being in house helped a lot because of having the other girls to help and I also learned the ins and outs of HIM dept.  Poster below is correct about teaching hospitals being difficult.  But if you are going to learn acute, you have to do them.  I find the work very interesting.  I now work at home as a full time employee for a teaching hospital and couldn't be happier.

See what companies will test you for acute care even though you don't have experience.  I passed my test by a national.  The test took me a while, looking things up, etc, but it was worth it.  Just remember things will be slow for a while.  I only did about 150 lines an hour in the beginning (now I am at 300+).        

thinking. I started in clinic 15 years ago and at some point the nat'l I work for put me on a hospital account-- ER.  I've been doing multi-speciality and ER reports for hospitals around the country, two different national's ever since (discharge/H and P/consults, etc).  Everything but Op's.

I never thought of it that I was learning acute care, but I guess this means I do have acute care experience?  I've been doing it for around 7 years now.  I don't recall a big transition between the two.

I started out right out of school working for a national doing acute care for a large hospital.  Let me tell you, it was very scary for me.  But, I look back on it now, and I am glad that I had that experience because I learned a lot right from the very beginning.  I have transcribed every type of report in every specialty.  Acute care can be very difficult, but what I like about it is the variety.  For me, it never gets boring.  I am still working for the same company I started out with (along with another) and I am still very happy.

Since you already have quite a bit of experience, you will have a somewhat easier time than I did, but it will still be difficult.  In the beginning you will have to spend a lot of time looking things up and doing research and your production will probably not be that great.  In the long run though, I think you will enjoy it, I know I do.  But, you may also find it is not for you.  You just won't know until you try. 

Probably the hardest thing about working for a large hospital is getting used to the large variety of dictators.  At this point in time, I have approximately 30 doctors that I transcribe for that I would consider my regular docs.  Then, there is a very large pool of approximately 200 doctors, any of whom I may get on any given day.  Rarely a day goes by that I don't get a doctor that is new to me.  But, that is also something about the job that I enjoy because that keeps it from getting old and boring for me.

I have created tons of normals and expansions and that has helped me beyond belief.  I know that is no big secret for someone who has experience such as you.  My advice would be to give it a shot and see how it goes.  It could be the best decision you ever made.  And if you find out you don't like it, at least you will know that for the future.

Best of luck to you!