Good job...Excellent Post!!!
Posted By: me on 2006-07-13
In Reply to: I have come to the conclusion that - Weary and tired MT
You could not have said it better or more straight forward.
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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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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 with great insight. (NM)
dd
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.
Is $15.00 per hour with excellent benefits good pay for a pathology transcriptionist
There is an ad in my local newspaper for this position, and I am considering applying. It doesn't mention anything about incentive, so I doubt that there is any, but the way the transcription industry is going, I think this may be my best shot for the next 15 years. As I turned 50 yesterday and looking to retire at 65. They have pension plan and 401K with match, long and short term disability.
Amen Sister, Amen! Excellent post. (nm)
xx
Good post
These are all things many MTs apparently don't look at. Low rates offered because you can work at home. The only thing you save is commuting cost. They save tons and tons. You should be getting pd more for at-home work, not less.
From what I see in the MT world, these folks are so busy trying to undercut each other's prices rather than acknowledging the amount of education needed to do a good job and getting higher rates.
Did you know that the AAMT was trying to get legislation passed that will prohibit anyone not certified by them from working in the field? You think about that next time you think those little initials at $350 mean something.
Good post. (nm)
(no really - no message). :oD
Good post!
Totally agree with you, Sally!!
Good post...
nm
Good post.!
''language barrier''--LOL.
Good post. One has to have...
a cushion in this business. If you have done this work for any length of time you should know that there are times of feast or famine. BTW, love Dave Ramsey, hubby and I are going to see him in a couple of weeks. He has good, sound advice regarding money management and not living beyond your means.
Good post. (nm)
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Good Post
You've got some valid points. I am definitely one of the wounded from MQ, but to be honest, I have not been with TT long enough to encounter any major issues...and for that matter, I never really checked my lines at MQ either. I could have been totally ripped off and never knew it. To me, it is of great comfort to work where I feel appreciated, and yes....part of that is a result of the wounding. I guess maybe my head is somewhere else....I am second income, I don't want to dig that deep to make sure I am getting every single penny and line. I come from the Good Ol Days, when a line was a line and boy....did we get paid well, from the days of Pica and Elite, and everyone got Pica, because that was only 10 characters to an inch. Any of you newbies out there won't understand what the heck I'm talking about....but those were the days. I feel sorry for all of Veteran MTer's, who knew the day of $1000.00 a week paychecks...but those days are gone. We were so busy making money then, that the technology just went behind our backs and kicked our butts. So, well....what do we do about it? We could be a nurse, or we could go out and start looking for another career at our ages. Me? NO THANKS! I'm happy and content, and feel blessed with TT that I can still sit in the comfort of my home (making half the money I used to mind you), but TT still has that MA and PA type feel. I love it. Go back to work and put up with peers? NO THANKS! Sometimes when I read these boards...I reinforce my feelings as to WHY I still work at home and make half the money. Okay....enough running on. Gotta go. Gotta work later. Gonna go pay some much-deserved attention to my family that they never got when I worked for the Q. Bye-bye everybody. Have a blessed day.
Very good post
You bring up some very good points.
The big picture is quite scary. I experienced Katrina on the coast, and I kept feeling like I was in a war zone, the devastated environment, the (temporary) martial law in effect, confusion and chaos, reporters obessing on certain story angles and completely ignoring other more vital ones, and all the bureaucratic bunging before during and after....and I realized America is not equipped to handle big disasters, yet we remain in denial and have learned very little from that experience.
Yes, we pay lip service to privacy with HIPAA regulations for ourselves, then send our medical records overseas where the laws don't apply. Every time I am made to comply with another restriction to satisfy HIPAA, I wonder why we bother - so we can delude ourselves that everything is safe and secure? We KNOW it isn't. God forbid I should copy a medical record (without patient identifiers) in order to do a better job tomorrow - it might be a privacy violation! - but its perfectly fine to send it overseas where some disgruntled person can email it all over the world with no legal repurcussions! Or use it for dark political motives, should the record belong to someone famous, or get rich tattling the details to a tabloid.
Its insane that we voluntarily give up more and more freedoms in this country to artificially bump up our sense of security, while undermining that security in a big way by deliberately giving other countries the opportunity to take our jobs, take our private information, and take our way of life, piece by piece. Why are we doing this, and why don't we stop? Are we so short-sighted that we blame the economy for our economic woes without realizing that we are undermining that economy by giving our jobs away and buying cheap imported products?
Why doesn't anybody see the cause and effect? They outsource a job, someone here loses theirs, has financial woes, has to get by cheap, purchases cheap imports, which causes a local factory to go belly up or outsource, and the spiral continues downward. Who will be the consumers of American products - the foreigners who took our jobs? Or will there simply no longer be American products, and no American jobs as a result?
good post
You hit the head on the nail.
Good post!!
I'm always amused at the posts wanting info on the same companies over and over again. Most of us who have been in this business a long time have a fellow MT working for just about every MT company so it is easy to get the poopy-scoopy first hand. Just look at the views on the jobs board. I wager most of these views are not from 30 year veterans! The companies do not care who does the work or whether it is fair or not.
I would never tolerate being out of work either. My contract (or employment) was between myself and the company I worked for, NOT with my fellow MTs. Has nothing to do with being selfish or considerate. If you don't take the work when it's there someone else will do it and keep right on doing it so likely you will never have any work.
There were a number of factors that made me make the decision to retire. Probably would have gone to work for another company, even considered it, then I got the poopy-scoopy from an insider that said that heretofore good company was on a downhill slide. So I'm done with it. MT is no longer a desirable career IMHO.
Very good and thorough post, and you are
can you help me with my problem above? LOL. All kidding aside, I truly believe in books of labor practices, somewhere, there must be something that prohibits employers or management from posing as lower level employees and misrepresenting the aspects of their job. I just have to find it and I will. Liar, liar, pants on fire! 
Now YOURS is a good post! sm
The companies don't *owe you* a living because you can't make ends meet. You either get better at what you do (work smarter, not harder) or pick up extra work with another company. You can't expect them to pay you for NOT WORKING because you can't make money.
The handwriting is on the wall in this industry and if we don't all change and adapt, we should get into another profession.
good post.
x
Good post.
I know someone who was just hired though. I also remember the threads on the newcomers only able to transcribe 5 reports a day until they were off QA. Oh yeah, I totally see that as looking out for your contractors... NOT! I'd go broke! If I'm not mistaken, Transcend pays their employees during their training period an hourly rate. Now that's what I call looking out for the newcomer!  I don't work for them either.
Everyone knows you get more bees with honey!
No, they are not the only company out there that hires great MTs, are nice - which is important to so many on this board, and give you flexibility..... You just have to look for them; that's all....
Good post.
I know someone who was just hired though. I also remember the threads on the newcomers only able to transcribe 5 reports a day until they were off QA. Oh yeah, I totally see that as looking out for your contractors... NOT! I'd go broke! If I'm not mistaken, Transcend pays their employees during their training period an hourly rate. Now that's what I call looking out for the newcomer! I don't work for them either.
Everyone knows you get more bees with honey!
No, they are not the only company out there that hires great MTs, are nice - which is important to so many on this board, and give you flexibility..... You just have to look for them; that's all....
Good post....just an FYI
For those considering applying for unemployment, be prepared that it may take months, not weeks, especially considering how many people are on and applying for unemployment these days. I have a friend who applied in September 2008 and, after appeal, did not receive a final decision until Februrary 2009, which was a denial. If you can afford to do it, then go for it, but do not plan on receiving the money and do not borrow money to cover your expenses during that time, as there is a good possibility that you will not ever receive compensation.
This is a really good post. sm
I agree with a lot of what you said. The field is changing and we have to adapt, but then again, isn't EVERY field changing, even globally? We started out with G6 summits, then went to G8, now it's G20. One comment I wanted to share though is that even though the fields are changing, the economic climate is changing for the worst. Capitalism has now become a dirty word because it isn't what it used to be. In the 60s, capitalism stood for the American Dream. Michael Moore (and PLEASE don't think I'm a fan b/c I'm not!) had it right when he said in this day and age capitalism is nothing more than legalized greed. You touched on that when you said that corporations are MANDATED to bring in the most money for their shareholders. Now unfortunately, the gap between the 'average' middle-income American and those at the top is widening at a frightening rate, with us middle-income people racing towards the poverty level.
Diversifying means of income isn't really going to change that. It might put a Band-Aid on a lacerated jugular vein. Real change is only going to happen when the laws governing capitalism are changed. Sadly, I don't see that happening too soon since most of the legislators are those same 'shareholders' and those at the top. These are really scary times that we live in. So, at the very least, coming on this board and screaming at the top of our lungs about MTSOs is really the only release we have...the last little bit of control we have. And, to be honest, a lot of times we do it, not because of capitalism and the fact that these huge conglomerates and CEOs get away with what they do, but because of the way we are treated by the management that represents them. Some management is good...some isn't. We scream at the top of our lungs because we know THEY read it. Unfortunately for them, the good ones are caught in the crossfire. It's really no different than the excellent MTs being caught in the crossfire of the angry managers who send out scathing emails regarding accounts being out of TAT. It just happens.
I say if we want to use this board to scream away, HAVE AT IT. We know we can't really change a whole lot here, but boy it feels good to let off that steam. Off my soapbox now. lol
but this is why it's better to post the good things
Take cpl to email. You can post great things about a company, but once you post how much you make (no matter what company), you are going to upset a lot of people who are inevitably making less than you do. If you must, post a pay range because you can't say they pay 10 cpl period, because obviously they don't.
Nothing good. Recent post says you get
paid when they get paid.
Good post. But hopefully they will just fade
.
Very good post. Unfortunately I think its too late for them
to wake up and smell the coffee. They have already lost many of their very good MTs and editors. If they keep on going the way they are now, they will lose accounts.
I just want to comment about the AAMT selection of employer of the year. I did not know how the winner of the award was chosen, and I'm not saying management would send in those forms for themselves, BUT I highly doubt that anyone who works at Medware would send in a nomination on their behalf these days.
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