Excellent post. Agree wholeheartedly. sm
Posted By: fn on 2007-04-18
In Reply to: Medical language specialist is a title made up by MTs. The truth is...sm - vb89
The dictator must take responsibility for what is dictated. In addition, today's MTs aren't as adept at editing as those of us who had proper training, use the appropriate resources, and do not use Google as our exclusive resource.
If you frequent the word boards, you will see what I mean. A couple of days ago, an MT posed a question that her ESL doc said that the patient worked in a laundry. She wanted to change it to laundramat. The MT admitted she did not know that a laundry was a place! These new MTs don't even own an English dictionary.
I initially had a hard time dealing with the verbatim concept. After seeing several reasons for its initiation, I've happily resigned myself to light editing as client allows. I got over it. Look around you and you will also see how this industry has changed in the last 10 years. It ain't what it used to be. Time to roll with the changes.
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I also wholeheartedly agree with this post.
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I wholeheartedly agree
The idea is to get people who want to work weekends. Do not eliminate good candidates just because they cannnot work weekends. This is why Transcend is having a problem. Plenty of people would work Mon-Fri.
I agree wholeheartedly
Transtech used to give a bonus if you sent less than a certain percentage of reports to QA but the problem was that the MT would type anything to avoid a blank and send it on without bothering to double-check.
On the flip side, a lot of people apparently didn't care about the QA bonus and they left the reports for QA to fill in because they were either not knowledgeable or resourceful enough to complete the reports themselves, so they left the dirty work to QA. Then, QA had to look up information that the MT should have looked up in the first place. And nothing was ever done about it. Laziness was rewarded at TT.
I used to work in QA at Transtech and I speak the truth. Quality work was not rewarded there. What was rewarded was sending any old garbage to the client, but when garbage was sent to QA - nothing was done about it.
I moved to a job where QA actually means something. Where quality actually means something. I never got that vibe during my employment at TransTech. They were nice people but the QA process was sorely lacking. I hope that has changed over the past year but I really doubt it.
And, no, there was no way that every employee at TransTech had at least 5 years' experience.
I agree wholeheartedly
Just wanted to let the person know that overall they are a good company, not perfect, but good enough for me to recommend them. I worked for them for almost 3 years.
i wholeheartedly agree!!
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Thank you, Admin. I agree wholeheartedly. NM
..
I wholeheartedly agree, stay away from SPi
or you are just looking to get into a bad situation.
I wholeheartedly agree. They start everyone no
matter how experienced, no matter how well you aced the testing on a tier system of pay, everyone starting out around 7.5 cents per line.
You get no respect from this company!
I agree wholeheartedly but look at CBay
they are still thriving, and more and more companies are at least dabbling in overseas, certain percentages. Not to mention, I am seeing a lot of companies downsizing, like MQ, where hoardes of people are shifting right now, and many smaller companies are getting bombarded with applications so getting a job right now is incredibly hard because if you do not accept the pay they offer, or their insurance they just hire the next MT.
Something I have discovered is health insurance is almost nonexistent anymore, I mean how did that happen in the last 6 months, and right under our noses -
my health insurance went up almost double in July, and now my pay went down due to lack of work/more difficult work...
many companies also dangle the health insurance in front of you now to take it away if you do not meet their almost impossible criteria of keeping it.
from what I see it is getting worse every month so I am not sure how we can make a difference.
I knew what you meant, and I wholeheartedly agree!
If one cannot trust their hourly employees to do a good job especially when on the norm there are evaluations on employees at some point time, then what have we got here? To simply say there must be a minimum production is like saying we're slaves to the grind.
Countless and I mean countless times when I worked on-site, I was pulled to a different area to help answer phones and even perform EKGs (yup), and I never bellyached that my typing was getting behind UNTIL the manager wanted the TAT report from me. Oh yeah, every so often, she needed to report to her superiors what day we were working on. What a joke! 
No matter how hard we tried, we were treated like the machines people expect us to be with not even a thanks. 
I agree wholeheartedly! I stand my ground. USA only. sm
I have had clients threaten to look elsewhere for a lower price and I tell them, please do so. I have to agree with you here, they always come back willing to pay the rate and happy to have the quality and service I provide.
I have never lost a client forever to offshore, will never offshore, and sooner or later all MT work will be back on US soil again. Believe me, it will happen eventually.
Wholeheartedly agree - wouldn't bother with test (sm)
You would have felt really good after you left.
I agree wholeheartedly. The owner is not a timid person and has
and even though I don't work for her, I'd stand up for her any day of the week. If the original poster has an ax to grind, it certainly doesn't make him/her come across as a _professional_ by making a slanderous remark and then acting like a juvenile. It is certainly the owner's right to conduct business in a manner that is best for the company and changing one's mind about who to do business with is her right in order serve her company, clients and employees best interests.
Excellent post, MT! NM
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Excellent post.
.
Excellent Post
So much of what you said is true - you commented briefly about how much the leads do for the MTs and so much of what they is not paid for. Medware keeps track of their employees time by Merit Minutes. Merit Minutes constitutes the time spent TYPING in a chart. If you need to research a drug name and spend more than 5 minutes looking for it, Merit automatically shuts off the clock. So you have spend your time researching an item but you do not get paid for your time after 5 minutes. Lately, it also seems harder and harder to achieve the minutes needed to equal 8 hours. I know several people, myself included, who have made comments that it seems like 10 hours are needed before the 8 hours mark is reached. Additionally, if you have phone your supervisor for something, if you run out of jobs and have to email the lead MT (who no longer exists) for more work, that is time spent which you don't get paid for. If Medware's computer goes down or they experience a power outage, you have to make up the time for it later. If Medware performs a maintenance check on Merit, you have to wait and make up the time later. In a real world office, you would be paid for that time, but not at Medware. And taking time off for yourself? That is definitely frowned upon by certain team leaders. Taking sick time? They will actually ask you to make up that time later even if you have accured the sick time benefits!
Even though Medware will tout itself as the AAMT employer of the year, not once or twice, they certainly do not treat their employees well. For MT week the lead MTs positions were eliminated. About 6 months ago the MTs who review the offshore work, listening to the reports word for word, fixing dosage errors, incorrect words, grammar, punctuation, and often fixing complete sentences which were creatively transcribed, found out that their hourly salary was about to be cut in half. They would now make $8.00 an hour plus an incentive bonus for editing over 2000 lines a day. Nothing changed for them, the same quality demands were still in place, the offshore work remained the same, not better, but suddenly they had to produce twice as much as work in the same amount of time in order to keep their salary at or close to the level it had been. Additionally, their vacation pay, which they had earned during the time when they made $14.00 or $15.00 an hour, was suddenly decreased to $12.00 an hour. And this is the company who wins the coveted employee of the year award?
This company looks out for number 1, themselves, and no one else. They deserve to lose their lead MTs and anyone else who is disgusted with the self-serving practices. Maybe if enough people leave, Medware will wake up and smell the coffee and remember that it takes management and employees working together to make a company productive.
Excellent post.
.
Excellent post!!
Good luck in your nursing career - and that is something that cannot be outsourced! I have 25 years of MT experience, and I make a good deal less than I did 10 years ago. I think I am going to go door to door to local physician offices and see if I can steal back any work that has been lost to the big nationals. I also think I am going to charge hourly if I am successful. I am so tired of production. Too old for the stress.
EXCELLENT POST!
NM
Excellent post! sm
So many ICs on here feel it's THEIR own responsibility to find a replacement for when they are unavailable, and I've always scratched my head at that one.
Female guilt rears it's unly head!
Excellent post...
but I'll tell you where the SoftScript employee is. The Softscript employees that I know choose to use their time in a more productive manner and NOT post useless repsonses to worhtless accusations and rumors They have incredible work ethics and a true sense of organizational loyalty and support. They love their work, and they are good at it. They know if they screw off on wasteful sites like this, they risk losing a client and we risk losing business. They EARN their money, and they read the headlines everyday where they know how important it is to have a job and make good money in this economy. They don't want to risk that.They also love their bonuses, and extra perks that the company is only too happy to share. They do not have the time nor the inclination to be whining about this recruiter or this MT or whatever aimless, mind-numbing posts that get posted everyday. While some on this site choose to spread gossip, rumors and simply bitch about everyone and every place, in between a Twinkie or a pound cake or two, the Softscript employee is currently speaking to a large group of MT's that are coming over to us from yet another new client, preventing overseas outsourcing (100% American-based, baby!). They are training new grads and helping them become successful and productive employees. They are creating and contributing articles for the company newsletter. They are heading up fundraisers for our company's numerous charitable organizations. They are also taking up collections or baking cookies to send to one of their fellow employees who recently lost a loved one. That's what the SoftScript employee is doing. What have YOU done today that didn't sound like a whine, complaint or rumormongering?
Wow, very excellent post!
I'm tempted to print it out and hand it to anybody professing interest in this field, LOL!
I agree that some people have it, and some don't. Also, this is not a profession where you can just graduate, get a job and coast through your day, its always a challenge, always learning, and often a struggle, but some of us enjoy that. Its about challenging yourself and beating your personal best, and of course you have to have a professional work ethic.
Many people have a lousy work ethic, and it reflects on their paycheck. My boss actually told me that she has to call and nag/beg my teammates to work their scheduled shifts! Their loss is my gain, there's always work for me.
Personally, I never want to work a job that doesn't pay production again - because finally I now I get paid what I'm worth, I work hard and I have the paycheck to prove it. If I get lazy, down goes my paycheck. I've met many folks like you described, there's always envy, excuses, and a thousand reasons why they can't do what I do. Maybe they can't, but they have equal opportunity to do it. Its up to each of us to maximize those opportunities instead of wishing we could be better.
Excellent Post
The biting your hand analogy--perfect.
excellent post nm
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EXCELLENT POST!
I feel for you all. My company is a small one, having financial difficulty, lost some accounts - one to Transcend - and I am sure we will be one of the next companies to be sold to a large MTSO. When that day comes, I am done. I WILL NOT work for a company who will screw American workers all over the almighty dollar.
And I hope these clients enjoy the half-ass work the Indians are giving them. You get what you pay for.
Here! Here! Excellent Post
Very well thought out and well stated.
Truly an excellent post, but with
You're assuming they want to reduce hiring and improve employee retention. I don't believe that's the case, unfortunately.
While I wish the WMX executives would take what you've said to heart, I think the whole reason they won't is that overhiring is a deliberate WMX strategy.
Hire an MT with little professional experience, perhaps straight out of MT school, and you can pay her a lower line rate.
You don't have to pay her benefits for the first 90 days of employment.
You do get to charge her installments on the equipment you send out. And with brand-new netbook computers retailing around $350, I very much doubt refurbished no-frills desktops really cost the company $250 each.
You don't have to budget for sick time or vacation time.
You do have to pay him or her a training rate for the first (15? 30?) days, but this is more than made up for by not having to pay medical, vision, or dental.
If s/he quits in frustration somewhere around the 90-day mark, you can just fill that vacancy with another warm body to whom you don't have to pay benefits and from whom you will be pocketing $250 in equipment fees, less the actual cost of said equipment, which I expect is much lower.
Finally, overhiring helps WMX by reducing the amount they spend paying employee bonuses (with so many MTs chasing work, it's become increasingly difficult to reach the upper bonus tiers). Overhiring can even bump full-time employees out of the minimum bracket, at which point they, too, become employees for whom WMX does not have to pay benefits.
Anyone working on Enterprise will see this happening just by accessing e-chart: The names of the transcriptionists change constantly now. There are always new names, but they don't stay long. Enterprise MTs have probably also noticed the decrease in the quality of reports they find in e-chart, or at least I have. More and more I see newbie errors, errors I made myself back when I was just starting out, errors that would be understandable coming from a newbie MT but unforgivable coming from one with any significant experience. There are errors now that a truly professional MTSO should be horrified to send out to clients.
I would even imagine that such low-quality reports are then used to persuade clients to adopt voice recognition. You'll see fewer errors with voice recognition, because the software transcribes EXACTLY what you say!
Maintaining executive profits by decreasing worker costs is a deliberate strategy on the part of WMX, and likely on the part of most other MTSOs. They do not care about quality, so long as they can maintain it just slightly above the level at which clients start to complain. They do not care about employee retention, since employee retention costs them more than accelerated hiring & firing does. They do not care about anyone but themselves, period.
I hope some other organization implements your excellent suggestions, though. That would be an organization for which I'd be PROUD to work.
Webmedx is not that organization.
Excellent post...
Let's see anyone who tries to claim it is merely ''typing'' actually sit down and produce -- from dictation-- an accurate medical document (that could potentially be used in court).
Excellent post MTness
I'm with you all the way. Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me.
Excellent post -- thanks Amber!!!! - nm
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Excellent post! Congrats to you!
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Good job...Excellent Post!!!
You could not have said it better or more straight forward.
An excellent post and ditto, right there with you. nm
nm
excellent for you to take time to post. sm
It does not apply to me but it WILL inform many I am sure.
Thanks for helping other MTs find their way through a difficult process. Why should anyone need to accept that term, MISCONDUCT if innocent as you and many others have clearly been. GOOD JOB reporting.
Bravo!!!!! Excellent post. 30 years here.
I just wanted to be left alone so I could do my work. I came in on most calls to help out. Quality meant everything as did TAT. Did that matter to management? That I was not talkative on the telephone (Small talk eludes me for some reason) during chats with these people has cost me a fortune. And pretending to be someone I am not is just not something I am capable of though I must say I wish I could be a talkative person just so my personality would be more obvious in this so often unfair telecommunation job, where after all I have given, I am treated no better than a newbie, even with disrepect, biting e-mails by moody unprofessional management.
Excellent post? She misunderstood the whole issue...nm
nm
Excellent post with great insight. (NM)
dd
I so wholeheartedly agree with you. Don't work for KS but work for SS - another company bashed
Works GREAT for me and I love SS. I never really care what the negatives are as I have found they are usually people that can't make their lines, don't work the hours they commit to or just overall do not care!
Excellent post, Tech Support. You nailed it. nm.
Sigh.
EXCELLENT post. Thank you for a balanced point of view. nm
Excellent points. I totally agree.
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see message this post is excellent a fair representation of KS..I copied it from below.
You know who I am. I'm the one who hooked up the Foley at the beginning of my shift. I'm the one who worked extra each and every time I was asked. I'm the one who went into the office to transcribe when it was needed. I'm the one who went on site to help with a new account (and this account actually wanted me to work for them!). I'm the one who transcribed tapes when asked. I'm the one who did the 3-page reports and the docs that no one else wanted when you cut our pay. And I'm the one who worked an 8-hour shift when my air conditioning broke down last summer during one of the hottest days of the year. No one just handed me that huge paycheck, I worked for it.
And now I'm the one who works on two accounts that consider my transcription excellent. As a matter of fact, one account doesn't want anyone BUT me. During my career I was told by one manager and one MTSO that they wished they had 10 of me. I also came highly recommended to you. That speaks volumes about my reliability, stability, flexibility, and quality.
You offer some flexibility. Zero tolerance would be more like it. I had to take three days off for jury duty, my electricity went out twice, and workers cut my cable line, all of which were out of my control. I took five days off in a row once in two years for a very good reason and it was not a vacation. If I had to take time off during my shift, I made up my time that same day. Unfortunately my dentist doesn't have hours on Sunday. I also worked when I was sick. Is that what you mean by not a good fit? I was an IC not an employee.
The kicker for me was when I found out that your coordinator went to the client to find out if I was skipping reports. I have never skipped a report in my entire career. I don't have to. I love what I do and I love a challenge. She also told another employee that no one can do that many specials. I could and I did until she made certain that I didn't.
This field is stressful enough. I certainly don't want to work for someone who places more stress on me, especially when I'm already giving 110%.
When it was all over, I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. It was then that I decided I would rather be appreciated than used and abused.
Amen Sister, Amen! Excellent post. (nm)
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I believe you wholeheartedly....
Your debit card is another..... Your resume posted on the internet is another way to find out about you..... Online banking can be a great tracker and so can facebook... the list goes on and on........ 
I'd have to disagree with you wholeheartedly.
I worked there for years and saw large groups of people leaving at least on 3 or 4 different occasions. They are always advertising for new MTs, and a good majority of their work is VR with heavy turnover in accounts. VR is supposed to cut down on the need for new MTs, so do the math yourself. They always say that they're getting new accounts, but it doesn't make much difference if getting 2 small accounts and a huge one dumps them or the 2 new accounts go VR and they only need half the MTs they needed to go-live. They are NOT one of the better companies to work for and many, many people have had the same bad experiences with them. Just read the archives.
RE: I'd have to disagree with you wholeheartedly.
Don't need to read archives. Work there currently and do not have the problems you describe.
I agree with your post,
I don't agree that MQ sucks! I happen to like it "here". In other words, I like my job. Sorry if everyone else feels differently. But, as stated before, MQ isn't the only job or company with quirks. Every one of them do...move on if you're not happy with your job! (Not specifically you, original poster)...
I agree with your post
I was hired on an account and there was no work available during my shift all the time. I wonder if this is happening to my account as well. I left. Thank goodness. It was a very bad experience for me. I called the office and asked questions, they said they would put me on another account. The account I received still had no work available and when I did receive work it was ESL or very hard to hear. I used my best judgement and resigned and now have a new position.
I agree with your post!
I do believe that some are having a hard time of it, but I know there are others who still like the company and are happy. Do I have problems with Beyond TXT? Sure. Who doesnt. It is a new platform. I'm quite sure that every platform has its issues in the beginning phase of usage, but those issues can and will be resolved. The platform is really quite good. Once the trouble spots are ironed out, it will be quite a great tool for us. As far as the editing goes, I believe that too will improve with time. I also believe that once it is in full swing and becomes the norm, our pay will be restructured again - to our benefit. Change takes time. There are always hardships along the way. Each MLS has to decide whether to stick it out or not. But you shouldn't be misleading to outsiders who cannot form a realistic opinion on their own. I am sure there are some MLS's that cannot make what they used to. However, there are some that can. Why this is I don't know. It may be due to experience, the account, how well they work on the platform. Who knows. The company is still going strong, however, and if there were not some content MTs, I would think Transcend would not have a staff.
One more thing, the post about MTs losing reports, well yes that is happening. But the poster didn't tell the rest of the story. If you lose a report it is due to an issue with BTXT. The company has said time and again to send in an incident report stating which job was lost and you will be paid for it. What more do you want?
I agree with your post. I also had the very
same experience as you. I was very loyal to the company for two years when my supe went nuts on me claiming I took time off without her permission. WHAT?!?! She had never treated me like that before. I was the better person and apologized, though I had nothing to apologize for and she was extremely rude to me in response. That is not a company you want to work for, I totally, 100% agree!! I got out after that thankfully, but unfortunately, there are no companies any better:(
I agree with this post.........
I had nearly the same experience. I started out with what was shaping up to be a fairly easy account in the first 2-3 days I worked for them. Then after I had been working for only just a few days and starting to get the feel of it they switched me to an account that was 95% ESL. Very difficult and hard to make production. I ended up leaving them after a few months. The supervisor was not very helpful. I gave it all I could but I was just not making anything with them.
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