Excellent post with great insight. (NM)
Posted By: :) on 2009-09-08
In Reply to: Well, they have turned into a game... - What an absurdity
dd
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Excellent post, MT! NM
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Excellent post.
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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.
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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.
Excellent post. Agree wholeheartedly. sm
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.
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, Tech Support. You nailed it. nm.
Sigh.
EXCELLENT post. Thank you for a balanced point of view. nm
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.
MDI-Maryland is an excellent company, pay on time all the time, great line rate.
I left also because I went out and got my own client(s).
They are very nice people.
The only negative I can think of were the e-mails from the owner say work, work, work, we are out of TAT.
Other than that, which is very minor, it was a good experience.
Amen Sister, Amen! Excellent post. (nm)
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Great post. ....sm
Very much appreciated after all the negativity. 
Great post!
I post my opinions on companies when people ask, but always try to remind them that that is just my experience, might not be the same for everyone.
Thank you for posting this. It was well said!
Great post!
They should state this upfront- and not wait to be called. This years' winner in a field of ___ contenders, is ___
Great post. nm
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Your post is GREAT
I would only add that perhaps new MTs be allowed to mentor with a seasoned MT. I think it would be difficult for them to get in a hospital or clinic setting.
Great post
My biggest complaint is an MTSO that will attempt to obtain cooperation from bad dictators. Too many companies think that they'll lose an account if they ask for cooperation/consideration, but this work should be viewed as a team effort. Offer your clients a better rate for clean dictation. I'd take a slightly lower rate of pay to keep from pulling my hair out over dictators from _ _ _ _. :)
Great post. . . nm
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Great post, thanks!!! nm
nm
Great post! (SM)
I've been trying to take a look at the really big picture lately. I see almost daily tornadoes ripping our country apart. Wildfires doing the same thing. God only knows what we have in store regarding hurricanes this summer, too.
In addition to that, we have, on almost a daily basis, reports of someone at a school, business or courtroom killing innocent people. We have missing children at an alarming rate. Crane operators and miners are being killed because there's no longer any push for worker safety, and if anyone tries to sue for negligence over the death of a loved one, THEY become the enemy. Our bridges are crumbling from beneath us as we attempt to drive across them. Our children and pets are being poisoned by imported food and toys. There are more people than ever visiting food banks because they simply can't afford to feed their families any longer.
America today seems to be resembling war-ravaged Iraq more than the healthy, thriving, prospering USA I remember.
I honestly don't blame Indians for wanting a better life for themselves and their families. Instead, I blame a GOVERNMENT that would permit such personal items as the transcription of medical records to be outsourced to other countries.
A couple years ago, I worked for a company that (thankfully) didn't outsource (to my knowledge, anyway.)
I began to transcribe the note and started giggling because the patient's name was the same name of a politician whose name was being mentioned at the time as possibly running for President in the 2008 election. I thought, Wow, this person must be teased a lot, but I KNEW this couldn't be the same person because Washington politicians certainly have the best security the USA has to offer, right?
WRONG! As I progressed through the note, my heart sank when I realized that this patient, indeed, WAS that politician.
I have to wonder how many members of Congress have had their personal medical notes transcribed by someone living in perhaps a less than friendly country. If there are any, they probably don't even know, and their physicians, as well, probably don't even know. All these physicians know is they pick up the phone, dictate the note, hang up, and it magically appears in print a short time later.
I was prepared to send mass emails to EACH member of the House and Senate, warning them of what I had just experienced, without divulging the name name or gender of the politician; however, the way their contact emails were set up, if I didn't live in their district, I simply couldn't communicate with them, so I abandoned the effort.
Just as it's recently been discovered that our ports aren't secure, now (along with our borders), almost seven years after 9/11, I wonder how many other lapses of security are present in the USA today.
Outsourcing is okay for some things. Private medical records isn't one of those things.
Great post!
You are 100% correct. Very brave post!
Great Post!!
It is refreshing to hear someone look at the positives for once. I, too, have found a company that I am happy with. I have been with them for almost 3 years now and I am very happy. I feel I am extremely lucky to have such a great employer.
I always have work, a make a good line rate and I have excellent benefits. Do I have to stick to a schedule? YES!! Do I have my work audited and have to provide quality work? YES!!! Do I always agree with everything?? NO!!! Can I support my family and make a decent wage? YES!!! Do I have to pay for clothes to go out to work? NO!!! Do I have to pay for childcare? NO!!! Do I have to pay for gas? NO!!! Most importantly, do I have to put up with the constant drama of working with a bunch of women? NO!!!!
I feel sometimes people in this profession want to have their cake and eat it too as they are always complaining about sticking to a schedule, QA being too harsh and people hurting their feelings when they do something wrong, etc. I think we are lucky to have the opportunity to work at home. We do not have to deal with gas prices and all of the other things that come with working out in the real world.
This is just my opinion. 
Great post!
Many companies take the chance to say you're appreciated to their MTs at this time of year. I work for 2 companies-- One sent a card, one send rather expensive (greater than $50) gift. It's nice to be thanked for doing a good job.
It's not at all greedy or any other negative adjective unless you're an MT that does little but kvetch, rarely hold up your end, etc.
Keep holding on to the positive and let the negative posters simmer in their own words.
GREAT POST!!! nm
Great post
It actually helped me calm down a bit from the past couple days since I received the email. I too have not answered the email to jump in and train on VR, but I do feel it is just a matter of time before they contact me directly as I read it as a direct statement that everyone would have to incorporate this into their daily work...and also I have had next to nothing to type since the day that email appeared....so that is my panic. Has everything gone to VR at TT all of a sudden??? I do 4 different accounts and am only minutes ahead of the dictation for the past 3 days. This has NEVER happened before. I too am single and provide for kids, so I absolutely cannot take a pay cut, but I also do not want to make a move to another company either. So what to do? And you speech presidents, do not bother by responding and calling me a baby, suck it in, learn it, etc. I know that I definitely make more money typing, even though I have not done VR. I have looked at it, and the reports that came up were God-awful. I mean it. The only light I am seeing here is maybe a break in the hands that could ward off carpal tunnel.....but living paycheck to paycheck, I would rather have carpal tunnel release and be off work a couple of days than have no future in earning what I am now! I also am not willing to work any more hours a day than I do now...I just don't know where I would fit them in and still be a hands-on mom...
Great post nm
nm
Great post. And the reason is . .
that people are generally "not nice" is because it is a lot easier to confront someone via phone or the Internet than in person. I bet at least 80% of MTs who do home transcription would not be so quick to judge or "BI*CH" about these big MT companies if they actually had to see their supervisors, bosses, etc., IN PERSON on a day-to-day basis. Ya think? JMO. Something to think about anyway. Of course, same goes for the upper management working for these large companies. Communication goes BOTH ways. 
touche and GREAT post...thanks...nm
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GREAT post. I feel the same way. nm
nm
Great post! In the same shoes you are! sm
I'm not worried anymore, though. I made it through my probationary period with lots of ups and downs, a lot of tough dictators, one that I STILL cannot understand and I do this guy EVERY DAY! But I like the job, like the QA people I have and have finally made it up to line count and I've been there since December. Now, to stay there.... Nice group of people. I like it a lot. Don't know what account you are on but I logged off just a while ago and the stats were still coming in. LOL 
Great post, steph
Dear Tired: They aren't giving you any choices by your description, so beat em at their own game. You should make *at least* as much at home and possibly much more than you think. Play the game for now; learn how to work at home. This transition is not as difficult as you may think, and it shouldn't take long to learn. If the pay works out with the current employer, you are set with a hospital and doctors you *know.* If not, you will then have the know-how to work for other services as a remote scribe.
Most experienced rad MTs make upwards of $18-25 and even more per hour, depending on bennies, etc. So in a short time, you *might* be seeing this situation as a godsend.
Unless you are the only MT at this hospital, perhaps you can get support and help from the others who have been put in this same (unfair) boat.
Good luck!
I so agree w/you - Great post....but....n/m
we can only lead a horse to water, we cannot make them drink it....if they choose to be intolerant, it's their choice as sick as it seems. I choose to go through the life as a loving, compassionate person. Others choose not to go this route.
Yes, racism and neonazism is, unfortunately, alive and well, in the USA and all over the world. So, if we raise our children with our awareness and our love and compassion, hopefully the future generation (our kids) will Do The Right Thing!!
You got it! Great post! Odd thing, though, is
I have always been paid on production, but boy you made me remember the joy, absolute joy, of digging around in med book after med book and finally finding that obscure term! Or drug! It was such a tremendous feeling of accomplishment! And nobody knew we did it, right? It was just a personal triumph, and knowledge gained. Knowledge is so wonderful. But somehow that's what I feel seems to be missing these days - so many MTs don't care about knowledge, nor want it. They have no interest in searching for a term or even trying. That's the part that I don't understand. Again, I was on production, at first holding a baby on my lap while balancing my IBM Selectric, lining up all my colors of paper with carbon, and my bottles and bottles of Liquid Paper in matching colors. One typo and you were looking at half hour of whiting out each copy in its particular color - and trying not to let your tears smudge the rest of the job. But boy did we learn, and boy did we produce nice work! And over the months and years, my production grew and grew with my knowledge. Wish more MTs operated the same way and cared about the knowledge first, production later. Nice meeting you, by the way! Another crispy critter here, too!
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