Do you want quick or accurate?

• Any Spheris employees notice a drop in PTO time? SM - curious george
  • The PTO is according to your length of service - Justme
    • Thanks, and I agree. NM - curious george
      • Next thing to go will be the retention bonus. NM - Justme
        • I didn't know there was one, how long have you worked there? SM - curious george
          • 5 years, came from HS. nm - Justme
  • Does anyone else see a clear pattern of eroding - benefits/pay?
    • This is how misinformation starts - LK
      • If the company were more forthcoming, we would not have to post here. - Sally
      • Sometimes I get a quicker answer here than with supervisorNM - FYI
        • Do you want quick or accurate? - LK
          • Don't ever forget that HR works for MGMT and not - on MT's side. They may act like a but but are N
          • this is why - me
          • Geez, this is why I quit posting here. - FYI
            • Because someone might ask you a reasonable question? - LK
              • What's wrong with asking other MTs their opinion of - Justme

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The letter stated they will ALWAYS need MTs to do transcription, VR can't do everything.  They also stated that the are evaluating the line rates for when we are on full VR accounts.  Honestly, do you expect to make the same to sit and read through these reports and make a few changes and send on their way as you do to type the whole thing?  I've seen a few VR jobs personally and the software doesn't miss much, so we should be able to pump these jobs out like crazy so a difference in like rate for editing is going to be offset by the fact that we can edit more jobs in a day than we can transcribe.  Industry is going this way and we all have to quit complaining or move on, this isn't new news has been happening over the years with all the bigger companies.

Granted maybe "many" people can make more while editing, but you explained it quite well in your post about the money you earned straight transcribing to the money you make editing.  I'm left wondering if you are new to the field of medical transcription.  There was a time (a year ago) when I could make $22 an hour straight transcribing.  Even on a bad day with lots of interruptions and a queue full of difficult ESLs I was averaging $18 an hour.  Until VR came along. After a year of working on VR, my earnings then dropped from $22 to $9 an hour, and finally averaged at $14 an hour with VR.  That isn't even mentioning the quality of the reports and what we were told to overlook and let go through so that we weren't "over-editing".   I also know that I am not the only one this has happened to. While the money you may make pays YOUR bills a lot faster, it isn't the same for everyone, and that's what we've been saying.

You're also not thinking through your comment about the copier and the PC.  Although we no longer have to do carbon copies manually anymore when the copier came along, WE still made the copies.  The same with the PC.  We may not have had to use the Selectric typewriter anymore, but WE still had to enter the data and text into the PC and produce a professional document from scratch.  WE are not doing that with the VR.  If you want to use an illustration, at least use one that is more accurate.  The more accurate picture is to have the invention of a copier that did absolutely everything and a PC that needed no data entry.  The only manual job left in that office is the cleaning lady.   THAT's how the field has changed.  So why wouldn't some be upset to go from a medical Transcriptionist that took years and years of developing skill and educating to cleaning up after a machine?  After all these years of college, on-the-job training, and continuing education why should I feel happy in my job as a "cleaning lady" at half my wages to the copier that does everything and the PC that can run the office itself?  Just to make those with fewer skills and less experience happy because THEY don't have to work as hard and they're happy being the "cleaning ladies"? 

It's funny you should mention "not fussing" over using expanders.  Even the entries that go into the expanders were created by us, manually programmed by us, and implemented by us.  Someone may have invented the software, but all the data in it for future use was developed by US.  Do you know how long it takes to develop, maintain, and remember tens of thousands of shortcut entries?  It doesn't happen overnight.  So while we may use the expander that doesn't actually "type" each and every entry we now use, we DID type those and did a whole lot more into our expander software.  Furthermore, carpenters use electric nailers now.  Painters use electric air-painters now.  They still get paid the same amount for their work.  Why are we any different?  You use the expanders as a means to bolster your opinion, but just as in the big picture of VR, you haven't quite thought things through to completion.  I have more pride in my profession and my skills to be relegated "cleaning lady" with a false title of editor.  Truthfully if you look at the big picture, if not for VR you wouldn't even have the qualifications of Editor if you're only making $12 an hour straight typing.  THAT's why so many people are upset about what you feel is the future of this profession.  It isn't the technology, it's the fact that those relatively new to the field and lacking the skills will be turning out unprofessional, sloppy, and often incorrect medical documents that will effect EVERY medical transcriptionist and the field as a whole and thinking they've won the jackpot because they're making $13.50 an hour. There was a time when a minimum of 5 years' in-house experience was required to be considered for at-home medical transcription.  Now apparently all it takes is a willingness to be a "cleaning lady".

Just because someone posts that VR is the wave of the future doesn't mean they're in management - they're just being realistic about what is happening in this industry (just as they referred to the copier and PCs).  

Of course if you think it's really going to hurt you to do VR then perhaps you should go back to an IBM typewriter and get your own accounts.  After all - using a PC and expanders is helping you get paid for work you're not actually transcribing (yup, think about those expanders - I bet you're not fussing over getting paid to have those kick in instead of having to type out those words, or consider the header information that blows in for you from an ADT feed that you're not having to manually type). 

nm.

nm