Downhill trend
Posted By: PoP on 2007-08-11
In Reply to: what??? - me
Not that many years ago, only ITs had to supply their own equipment.
It's sad that the large companies expect MTs to foot the bill for all the equipment, especially with the trend of giving MTs less and less of the profit pie.
I mean, when was the last time an MT got a cost of living increase? Or profit sharing payouts? Or any of the other perks of being part of a successful, profitable business?
A carpenter that is self-employed SHOULD pay for his own stuff. An MT who is an EMPLOYEE should not. Simple logic.
Do you think physicians have to buy their own MRI machines? Do you think police officers have to buy their own squad cars?
The transcription profession feels like a sinking ship. I pity people who are only now getting started. The hey day of this profession is long gone. (Sniff. Sigh.)
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They have gone WAY downhill...I quit
I just left SPI a few weeks ago after a year. When I first started back in February 0f '06, it was still Cymed and was a decent place to work. Then, a couple of months after the SPI buyout, my account manager quit, a lot of MTs who had been there for a while quit, and I got a new manager who just doesn't care and does not know what she is doing. She put us all in these awful work pools, making it nearly impossible to get a decent line count without working about 14 hours a day. I started getting nothing but heavy ESLs and lost a lot of money. They even screwed up my last pay check. Also, they demanded a lot of overtime, and would not pay us any extra for it. I quit right away and went to another company and am SO MUCH HAPPIER! I make much more money now and I am actually able to enjoy my days off and not have to worry about working!
You know what flows downhill?
The supervisors (for the most part) were just trying to make the best of a bad situation. I believe their hands were tied at SPI. But, starting from the top layers on down to the supervisors, everything was in such chaos, with no answers being given, no timely decisions made, no pre-planning, no standardization that, to quote Yeats (I think - correct me if I'm wrong) *Things fall apart, the center does not hold*, and no truer description of SPI/Cymed.
Downhill, I agree
Nono No, the suck it up reply was not normal. Her behavior was so needlessly cruel and aggressive that I can only assume she is not a prima prime example of mental health. She might consider counseling by a professional.
Last 5 years downhill decline
is what I have seen in the MTSO/working from home environment. I had an easier time finding a job (5 years ago or so) with half the experience that I have now. It is my opinion that a lot of this is happening because of the MTs coming on in this timeframe. Their education is not of the same quality for the most part. I cannot imagine learning this at home and being good at it. I had a hard school and it was still very hard when I had my first on-site job. As far as the overseas thing, call me hopeful but I'm hoping within time, it will decrease. Here's why: In my own experience, a US company is happy to pay me say 5 cpl to edit reports typed 100% overseas by say India. Now the quality of these reports is AWFUL when they get to me. The process to get them to me is this: They get typed by an overseas MT. Then they get edited by overseas QA. Then they would come to me for 100% editing (mandatory on every report). Imagine the delay of time this causes and how can they make a profit paying me 5 cpl to edit when its already went through at least 2 other people? Wouldn't it be cheaper, faster, less of a risk as far as quality and as far as privacy (as they don't have to abide by our HIPPA laws) to just pay a good US MT say 8 cpl to type it to begin with? Give it some time. We are all pioneers in this work-from-home career. No one has done it before. We are all learning as we go and our companies will learn as well. Eventually the cost of shipping vital information overseas with no regard for privacy laws will become more of a financial risk than it is worth. If my health records with my private info went overseas and my identity was stolen because of it, you can sure bet I'd be suing the MT company who sent it there. It sucks right now but here's hoping the good US MTs and QA will keep their heads held high and have a positive outlook for the future. :)
Yes, I think you're right about expecting downhill with them.
I've been attempting QA with them and not only is the software slow with numerous problems for QA, but the reports I'm getting to QA basically need to be redone. I find it hard to believe that an MT actually typed some of the sloppy, full of error reports I've seen, and 4 cpl is not enough money to sit around redoing every report. I'm afraid I'm finished with this place.
Absolutely not, things just keep going downhill. NM
NM
Don't have mine yet either...agree with above post about company going downhill..sm
A constant lack of work since November. One day we are working and then the next day we are told to sign off because of no work and to not sign in until they tell us. In total since November I have missed 17 days due to no work. That is a lot of money for me. Hard to get another job because I need my insurance.
Glad you're happy, that place has gone WAY DOWNHILL.
x
Good riddance! They have gone way downhill in the last few years and do an awful job.
Thats why we fired them.
It seems that this became a trend
with a lot of companies several years back, with companies beginning to give psychological/personality evaluations to help determine a candidate's suitability for a particular position/company setting, etc. I was not an MT at the time, and have not yet encountered this since becoming an MT. I think it is a bit costly, but for companies who do it, I believe their financial return is expected/gained in less employee turnover and finding a good fit for the company *family*. This began around the time a lot companies started throwing around all the Quality Assurance business (again, not MT/QA, but the whole customer service QA and considering colleagues within the same company as *customers*. The company that I was with at that time was a fairly small company, but they spent a pretty penny on having people come in to conduct several meetings regarding this.
That seems to be the trend
Either payroll is correct and the management is bad, or management is great and payroll sucks.
That seems to be the trend lately sm
However, at MDI, we only have set days that we are to work and we were given the choice of Sun-Thu or Tue-Sat. No set hours, though, just a 24-hour window to get your counts in. Gotta love it!!!!!
ANOTHER NEW TREND
One more thing that has not been mentioned here. I would like to see dictating clinicians be given more mandatory training and subsequent responsibility for the quality of their dictations. It is about time that we stop accepting bad dictation habits as status quo and something that we have to accept as normal. I'm talking here about the usual bad habits, which include, but are not limited to, fast talking, slurred speech, eating while dictating, carrying on unrelated conversations with others while the tape is still running, talking while yawning, talking over background noises, etc., etc. Oh, and one more thing. Inform the dictating clinicians that many of us are long-distance and not familiar with their local geography, nicknames of local doctors, first names of which Dr. Smith or Jones that he or she is referring to, etc..
Didn't they partner up with an Indian company? Expect downhill from Dictaphone.
nm
Disturbing trend
Ms. Shapin, I know nothing about your company, nor would I criticize you or your company since I don't work for you. I empathize with your responsiblities as a business owner having been one myself. What is gravely disturbing to me in your post is a glimpse of your mindset about the offshore worker. Your view of the offshore worker is similar to disturbing trends by many other business owners who flock to third world countries where there is no protection for the worker, where there are no labor laws, where there are no standard work ethics. Yes, these people in third world countries are hungry for work. They will work any hours, any days, and be extremely grateful for a few pennies. They have no protection, and until they become tired, and worn down, they will serve their bosses well. One day though, American companies will become so dependent on workers from third world countries. These workers will become more intelligently aware of human rights, that they too, will someday voice their concern for the same things we want here in America - decent pay, job security, the ability to take some reasonable time off from a very, very demanding occupation, benefits, etc. Ms. Shapin, I would be careful about praising a worker from a third world country who is so hungry to rise up from poverty. It serves you well now. You, me, and so many others, have the same human wants and needs. Think about it. If there was more decency from businesses and corporations about workers' rights, ethical practices from all sides, and a fair way to meet the same goal, perhaps you would not be attacked. The American Transcriptionist is just having to fight for every penny these days, fight to have benefits from a job, fight to work decent hours, fight to keep afloat. We all want the same thing. Decency.
A trend beginning...
About 6 months ago, Keystrokes and Transtech were the 2 best companies going on...and now 6 months later, we are reading all negative about the both of them. Go figure. It all comes down to finding the right company for you.
So maybe this is the beginning of a new trend - sm
in American Transcription? Turning it back into a REAL job again! If what this site says is true, I'd be surprised if this didn't become the best MT company and most sought-after employer in the Northeast. I know I'd rather have MY records transcribed at a place like that, and not in Bangalore or Manilla. I wish them every success, and that that other MTOSs will follow suit!
A trend emerges
So it seems that those who like VR are the ones who started out in-house and were there for a long time. Then they were switched to VR and made an easy transition. Well, good for them! But that's not most of us and if you jump into a VR account cold, it doesn't go so smooth. Plus you spend as much or more time on it than you would if you had transcribed it yourself. So if VR is the future, then pay me for my time. And not 3 cpl. Otherwise, I will and am finding something else to do and all of my years and expertise will not be utilized as they could have been.
This is the trend for all companies now. sm
Paying substantially less, 50% or so, for pre-transcribed (voice or speech recognition) jobs is now the trend.
Since the industry giants/leaders do it, I don't see it ever changing.
And why should it? Everyone accepts it and does it. Therefore, they don't have to pay more.
It is sad.
It seems to be the new trend - many companies hiring
inexperienced people or clerks (if you will) to manage MTs. It's definitely now all about money, folks. Never thought I'd see the day where folks would take approximately 10 bucks an hour, be paid salary, and work 60 hrs a week, but they are! You have to hand it to them though, this will definitely build up their resumes for the future. Can you imagine who will be managing the industry in say ten years? For once I AM GLAD I'm old. lol
Their trend is to keep their posts on top over weekends
Their pay is low, so people with a lot of experience never get replies to their applications. They want fresh meat, thus the multiple posts. I think people are figuring out that they aren't all that in the MTSO world. Personally, I would applaud this site for asking them to limit their posts to no more than twice per month, but that would be taking money out of the mouth of the board owners (no offense intended here - business is business and I understand that). It is just getting to the point that seeing these ads are making me stay away from that board and look at jobs on other sites.
The trend is passing of indian MTs as US
I am not saying in this exact case and/or company, but many times over this has happened. Buy up the US based company and use the good US MTs to edit the crap and save big bucks on the Indian MTs. Clients don't know it is happening, but those that inadvertently find out will drop them...sometimes.
Again, not every company has done this but MANY have. I understand the fears, and i would never work for any organization that offshores or supports that in any way.
I'm with you and hoping this is not gonna be the next trend...
I'm a confirmed second shifter for many years and for many reasons and recently started at a different company, doing Sun-Thurs evenings. Long story short, have been there 2 months and frequently run out of work on my Sunday night, and I'm infuriated (and maybe naive, have rarely in 30-odd years run out of work and especially not the first day of my week). Of course that means I have to make the work up, so I do that on my Friday off, though I take care to do it after 3:30. Needless to say, I deeply resent working on my day off. Like you, I say this is sacred and my wrists need it, and I'm a good employee. I'm biding my time to see how this all pans out; I may see if I can negotiate something different if possible. I was one of five new people hired on this account, (hopefully not an overhire, things are fine other than this). Anyway, NO, it just ain't right to in effect force us to compete for jobs in this way.
EHR Deinstallation Trend Hits Phoenix
Publish Date: 7/30/09 - By Allison Tsai
Source: Medical Economics
Though the Phoenix area has seen a high adoption rate for electronic health records, it also is the first region to experience a “deinstallation” trend, according to a HealthLeaders-InterStudy report.
The trend to cancel EHR contracts, especially prevalent among smaller physician groups, is a result of training, functionality or affordability issues, and highlights the need for an affordable solution, according to the Phoenix Market Overview report.
The rapid adoption of EHR technology in Arizona stems from a 2005 executive order by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, requiring that all healthcare providers install an EHR by 2010. The top hospital systems in the area, Banner Health and Catholic Healthcare West, along with several others, have installed EHRs, but are struggling with the same financial constraints as the small physician groups. EHRs require a significant financial investment in addition to expensive upgrades, according to the report.
Long-term benefits of the technology include reduced transcription costs, lower chart and file storage expenses and the potential for reduced premiums on malpractice insurance, but in areas like Miami, where the recession is threatening the profitability of hospitals, EHR installation has been slow due to lack of funding for such projects.
Chris Clancy, a market analyst with HealthLeaders-InterStudy, says Phoenix may be the first area to experience the deinstallation trend due to its aggressive adoption of the technology, but will likely not be the last. In addition, physician shortages in Phoenix make it difficult for doctors and staff to carve out time for EHR training, Clancy says.
In response to Disturbing Trend posted by MTness
Bravo! Where I have no opinion either way about Ms. Shapin or her company, this attitude is what is killing America. Our daily needs cost more because of our hungry politicians and situations created by these type of businesses who feel that off-shore people are grateful for the opportunity to work for an American company who they know is taking advantage of them. I do not know if any of you recall, but a few years ago in a hospital local to our area, one of the Indian doctors shared what the American MTs were making compared to what a relative was making in India. This MT was enraged and threatened to release countless numbers of medical records of American patients on to the internet if her needs were not met. Not much information was given in followup and probably compressed by foreign diplomats. This is one of the major issues of outsourcing.
I agree with you, all we want is the right to survive in OUR OWN COUNTRY.
This seems to be the trend now. I have had to change jobs 3 times this year
due to this very fact. I'm at my third one now, and it is still happening. I've decided to just work 2 jobs. One part time and the other supposedly full time, but it is like a part time. The only reason I am staying at the third is because, I need the insurance, and changing between jobs before the 90 day probation has landed me without insurance, as I have had to change jobs before the 90 days are up.
Transcend's positive posts stay here cause negatives are deleted! That's the trend!
You cannot rely on honest referrals on this board, especially the archives. They are edited and deleted forever. Just as the negative posts on the Transcend forum "magically" disappear once discovered...Don't be so naive, unless you're the one "editing"!
I did notice that one job posting stating exactly that, haven't followed the trend closely, thoug
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