Here's the facts that you're not sharing...sm
Posted By: Happy Transcender on 2005-08-13
In Reply to: TRANSCEND SUCKS!!!!...sm - Unhappy Transcender
1. There were many MLS involved in the testing phase for productivity on the SR accounts, and each MLS demonstrated a significant improved productivity. I know because I was part of this testing group and on the conference calls with my coworkers who were also testing it. Sure we all initially doubted this could be done but when we started using the program we saw that we could do it.
2. The CEO admitted in a letter to everyone that he realizes that the high producers will more than likely not double their productivity and those people, as well as anyone who doesn't like editing, will not be forced to move to the editing format as there will always be some dictation that can't be edited, i.e. new accounts, new dictators, etc.
3. You're forgetting that when you're editing a report that you move faster through it because you're given a draft to edit. This means less wear and tear on the hands/arms and you actually have the program do a hunk of work for you. I've seen many drafts come through that needed very minimal editing - so basically I got paid to just read the report, make a few adjustments and send it on through. This is especially great for the bad dictators that the system does a great job interpretering their mess and not making me have to fight so much to get through their mumble jumble crud.
4. You may decide to leave and try to avoid this technology, but it's moving through the industry whether or not you like it and it'll find you eventually where-ever you go. I remember back when computers came out and everyone thought the sky was falling.... and we're all still working!
I encourage you to not fight it until you try it - you may find that you love this technology after all! 
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Big MT...we're sharing the same brain waves again
That's my definition of IC as well. I used to have that position with MQ, but with all of their changes I'm...well...looking elsewhere. I have no problems with promising a number of lines as long as I don't have to do them at a specific time. Things happen, especially when you have kids, but if you have the work ethic you'll still get things done, just not at a specific time. Agree with the pool as well. You'll never have a great line count unless you have consistent dictators. If anyone believes differently, I don't think they've seen how fab your line count can be with the same dictators. Anyway, it sounds like you work for a wonderful place with all the things I'm looking for, i.e., 24-hour TAT and consistent dictators. Would you mind sharing where and if they would by chance have openings you know of? You can email if you don't want to post it. Don't worry, I'm not thinking I'd start at that cpl--I'm sure you had to work up to that:-) I'm really just looking for the other perks.
Well you're the one implying that these facts are nothing but speculation!
and that was the original problem you apparently had with the OSi postings on here. I'll take your changing the subject as an acknowledgement of the validity of these emails that every employee received, read and was disgusted by.
I agree. Without facts, you're all just stirring the rumor mill. sm
If you really have concerns, ask someone. Point blank, ask L if there is any need for concern! I truly, truly do not believe QT would ever outsource their work! I have never been happier with QT and I intend to stay, so if you want to leave, go ahead; more work for me!!!
Transcend-The FACTS and only the FACTS
This comes straight from the SEC filing for year ending December 31, 2008, submitted March 11, 2009. Yes, it is public information and anyone can look at it. Keep in mind, all the narrative is from Transcend’s point of view and they are trying to keep and/or get people to buy their stock. So you will have to read between the lines as far as if they will/can meet the needs/wishes of their MTs/Medical Language Specialists in the years to come, or if they will turn into another company too large to keep their employees happy.
Regarding the MDI-MD acquisition:
TRANSCEND SERVICES, INC. (NASDAQ: TRCR), the third largest provider of medical transcription services to the U.S. healthcare market, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Medical Dictation Services, Inc. (MDI) for $16.2 million.
Founded in 1981, and headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, MDI is a leading medical transcription company with approximately 450 employees providing service to approximately 30 customers located predominantly in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, MDI had unaudited revenue of approximately $13.7 million, and currently has an annualized revenue run rate of approximately $14.3 million.
Below are SMALL excerpts of the 64-page SEC filing. I chose sections which I thought would shed some light on where Transcend currently is and where they plan to go, so not only the new MDI-MD transcriptionists but also the current Transcend Transcriptionists could possibly stop stressing about what their future holds.
HOPE THIS IS OF SOME HELP TO YOU.
TRANSCEND SERVICES, INC.
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Delaware |
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(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
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One Glenlake Parkway, Suite 1325,
Atlanta, GA 30328 |
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Annual report pursuant to section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008 |
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Transcend Services, Inc. hereafter known as the Company
EMPLOYEES
As of December 31, 2008 the Company had 749 full-time and 423 part-time employees. These included 587 full-time and 418 part-time medical language specialists, virtually all of whom work from home. One hundred and twenty three full-time and three part-time employees work in operations to support and manage customers and medical language specialists. Thirty-nine full time employees and two part time employees work in sales, research and development, implementations, and general administrative functions. Neither the Company nor its employees are currently a party to any collective bargaining agreement. The Company has not experienced any strikes or work stoppages, and believes that relations with employees are good.
As of December, 2008, approximately 65% of the Company’s total volume was processed on the BeyondTXT platform and 35% was processed on other platforms.
Management plans to gradually increase the percentage of voice files processed through BeyondTXT speech recognition from 24% of total volume in the fourth quarter of 2007 and 35% in the fourth quarter of 2008 to approximately 40% by the end of 2009.
Speech recognition technology will allow us to produce the same volume of work with fewer medical language specialists due to the productivity improvements the Company is able to achieve, and may open the market to a new pool of professionals.
In mid-2006, a portion of work began to be processed offshore through partners in India. Volume processed offshore has gradually increased since then.
By the fourth quarter of 2008, the Company had increased the percentage of work processed in India to approximately 19% of total volume. Management plans to increase this percentage gradually over the next several years and believes that in the long-term (5-10 years), market demands could drive the mix closer to 50% domestic and 50% offshore, but in the intermediate term (2-5 years), the mix is expected to gradually grow to about 30% offshore and 70% domestic. At some point in the future, the Company may decide to establish a transcription operation offshore, but currently is relying on partnerships as the preferred solution.
The Company’s income before income taxes has improved in 2006, 2007 and 2008 due in large part to improved customer retention combined with new sales, increased use of speech recognition technology and increased use of offshore transcription partners.
The Company provides medical transcription services to the healthcare industry. The Company’s mission is to provide accurate documentation of the patient / medical provider encounter on-time at a fair price. Transcend’s customers include hospitals, hospital systems, multi-specialty clinics and physician group practices in the United States. Transcription services consist of three primary phases:
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Phase I: Dictation Capture. In this phase, a physician dictates the results of a patient encounter or procedure into a number of different voice capture systems, including hand-held devices, dictation capture systems at customer sites and telephone dictation capture systems located in Transcend’s data center in Atlanta, Georgia. The result is an electronic voice file that is ready for processing. |
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Phase II: Voice to Text. Using a workflow system, voice files are either routed directly to medical language specialists (MLS) to be transcribed (typed) or are routed through speech recognition and natural language processing systems which produce a draft which is routed to the MLS for editing. In certain cases, documents are routed through Quality Assurance teams as well. The result is a text-based report that is ready to be returned to the customer. |
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Phase III: Distribution. Completed reports are distributed to the customer electronically and are either interfaced to the customer’s electronic medical record and/or hospital information systems, printed at the customer’s site or faxed to the customer. |
The Company provides two primary medical transcription options for customers: (1) the provision of transcription services and technology using the Company’s proprietary BeyondTXT workflow platform or (2) the provision of transcription services using the customer’s proprietary or licensed third party transcription system. If the customer does not have its own transcription technology or no longer has the desire or resources to maintain and upgrade the technology they do have in place, the BeyondTXT platform provides a turnkey solution. If the customer has invested in their own transcription technology and wishes to keep their system in place, the Company’s transcriptionists access the system and perform all transcription services using the customer’s system. Management believes that our ability to serve a customer regardless of their use or non-use of our platform is an important factor in our success. As of December, 2008, approximately 65% of the Company’s total volume was processed on the BeyondTXT platform and 35% was processed on other platforms.
INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
Medical transcription is either performed in-house by hospital or clinic personnel or outsourced to local, regional, national or offshore vendors. Hospitals and clinics may choose to outsource for many reasons: (1) the shortage of qualified medical transcriptionists; (2) the unique and burdensome management challenges of managing a 24/7 operation that must deliver critical patient care information quickly; and (3) the high cost of equipping in-house personnel with the hardware, software and support necessary for their jobs. Successful transcription companies make use of technological advances in Internet access, speech recognition, security, software and hardware that allow remotely located, highly trained personnel to function as well as (or better than) in-house employees. Management believes that the principal historical competitive factors of price, accuracy and turnaround time are expanding to include other factors such as speech recognition capability, electronic security, hardware redundancy (to protect against data loss) and data integration. In addition, management believes that the ability to recruit, train and, most importantly, manage personnel nationally and internationally will lead to further outsourcing, and that only those companies prepared to compete using resources outside the customer’s local market will prosper.
The market for medical transcription services is sizable. The total annual market potential for medical transcription is estimated to be $12 billion, of which an estimated $5 billion is outsourced. These figures include not only hospitals, but also physicians’ offices and clinics. The Company focuses primarily on the hospital market. There are approximately 4,900 community-based hospitals in the U.S. (hospitals accessible by the general public) with approximately 800,000 beds that comprise the Company’s primary target market. If the average annual market value of transcription services per hospital is $400,000 (our estimate), the Company’s primary target market is approximately $2.0 billion. The market is highly competitive and fragmented, with several thousand transcription services companies nationally. Management believes only a dozen or so competitors have revenue in excess of $15 million.
Demand for medical transcription services is growing as the demand for healthcare services increases. Macro-economic trends such as the aging of the baby boomer generation are projected to have a major impact on the demand for healthcare services in general and should lead to a corresponding increase in the demand for medical transcription services.
HISTORY OF THE COMPANY
We were incorporated in California in 1976 as TriCare, Inc. (“TriCare”) and reorganized as a Delaware corporation in 1988. TriCare completed an initial public offering of its shares in 1990. In 1995, the Company acquired Transcend Services, Inc., then a Georgia corporation, by the merger of Transcend Services, Inc. into TriCare and changed the name to Transcend Services, Inc. The historical financial statements of the former Transcend Services, Inc. became the financial statements of the Company and include the businesses of both companies as of the effective date of the merger. Between 1993 and 1995, the Company acquired five medical transcription companies.
As a result of these transactions, the Company now operates in one reportable business segment as a provider of medical transcription services to the healthcare industry.
In 2004, the Company introduced the BeyondTXT transcription workflow platform.
On January 31, 2005, the Company acquired Medical Dictation, Inc., (MDI), a Florida-based medical transcription services company. During 2005, the Company’s field operations were reorganized to form customer-centric teams that are responsible for all aspects of production, quality and customer care. Effective December 30, 2005, certain assets of the transcription business unit of PracticeXpert were purchased.
By early 2006, the Company began processing significant volume through the Company’s speech recognition solution and, throughout 2006, 2007 and 2008, have steadily increased the percentage of work which is electronically converted and then edited versus transcribed (typed) from recorded speech. In mid-2006, a portion of work began to be processed offshore through partners in India. Volume processed offshore has gradually increased since then.
On January 16, 2007, the Company purchased certain assets of OTP Technologies, Inc. (OTP), a Chicago area medical transcription company, for a purchase price of $1,110,000.
On January 1, 2009, the Company purchased certain assets of DeVenture Global Health Partners (“DeVenture”), a Canton, Ohio based medical transcription company, for a base purchase price of $4,250,000 plus potential consideration based on results for the first six months of 2009. The Company does not currently expect to pay any additional potential consideration.
BUSINESS STRATEGY
Transcend’s sole focus is providing medical transcription services to the healthcare industry. The Company’s strategy is to succeed in the marketplace by successfully executing six key strategies.
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Provide unparalleled service to customers |
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Increase market penetration |
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Sustain technological leadership |
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Attract and retain talented professionals in the U.S. |
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Increase utilization of offshore resources |
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Successfully complete and integrate acquisitions.
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Provide Unparalleled Service to Customers
The key to the Company’s success will always lie first and foremost in providing excellent service to customers. The Company retained 98% of customers in 2007 and 2008, which is believed to be superior to most of our competitors. Management believes that customers who are consistently receiving high quality documents on time at a fair price are likely to remain our customers year after year. Satisfied customers provide sales leads and referrals that help us drive new business. Accordingly, the Company has an ongoing program to monitor and improve customer satisfaction which includes continuous monitoring of transcription production statistics relative to contracted standards, periodic customer surveys and a dedicated regional operations support organization that maintains regular (often daily) contact with customers. Management believes that regional operations managers provide a competitive advantage in sustaining customer satisfaction. As our regional operations managers typically come from a Transcriptionist background, they possess the expertise to continuously improve quality. In addition, they provide customers a central contact person in the organization who is directly responsible for resource scheduling and quality control and can quickly resolve any issues that arise. The Company practices continuous quality improvement with the goal of improving the level of service over time.
Increase Market Penetration
The transcription industry is large and highly fragmented. In addition, it is currently estimated that 60% of transcription volume is still performed in-house. As a result, management believes that the Company is well-positioned to increase market share both by winning contracts with hospitals who are now actively considering an outsourced solution and by taking business from competitors. Management believes that the level of service provided by many of the Company’s competitors can be very inconsistent. As a result, the Company is often asked to submit proposals on new accounts where Transcend will replace a competitor. In addition, the Company believes that smaller competitors are increasingly unable to keep up with advances in technology and lack the capacity to give customers assurance that they can consistently meet turnaround time requirements. As a result, the Company frequently wins new customer accounts from customers who have outgrown the capabilities of their smaller providers. The Company’s tested and proven infrastructure enables it to serve substantially more customers without a significant increase in fixed costs. While continuing to focus on day-to-day customer satisfaction, the Company intends to add new accounts to the existing customer base to efficiently utilize the capacity of the infrastructure and established customer-oriented support organization.
The Company intends to grow by focusing the sales team on potential new accounts and utilizing the operations management team to increase services to the existing customer base. The Company’s target market is focused on community hospitals with over 100 beds. Based on experience, this target market can realize the most benefit from services while still allowing the Company to provide superior customer service at a reasonable profit. The Company targets new business from hospitals where there is not a current relationship as well as affiliated hospitals of existing customers. A telemarketing partner is utilized to help identify hospitals within the Company’s target market that are interested in transcription services. New business leads are also generated from regional operating managers, who receive referrals from the administrators they work with daily. Management anticipates continuing to add sales resources to help deliver revenue growth.
Many hospitals are members of group purchasing organizations (“GPOs”), which provide value to their members by pre-screening the best vendors for a particular product or service and pre-negotiating terms and conditions with the vendors. The Company signed an agreement in 2008 with one 1,400 member GPO and will attempt to secure additional GPO contracts in the future in order to increase market penetration and accelerate growth.
The Company also expects to continue to win new business by working with technology partners. Technology providers, such as Nuance and 3M, license their proprietary transcription platforms to hospitals across the country and refer the transcription work to preferred service providers like us. Management believes Transcend’s size and superior customer service make the Company a preferred provider to these partners.
Speech recognition technology represents a sea of change in the transcription industry. The Company has invested heavily in fully integrating speech recognition technology into the BeyondTXT platform. The Company licenses the speech recognition engine, natural language processor and various editing tools from MultiModal Technologies, a leader in the industry, under a September 2006 agreement that renews annually at Transcend’s sole option through September 2010, with the last such option period ending August 31, 2011, and thereafter if mutually agreed by both parties. The Company’s speech recognition solution requires no physician training or change in physician work habits. Voice files are collected in the same manner regardless of whether the job will be transcribed (typed) or edited using speech recognition technology. Once a physician’s voice profile is built that meets predicted quality criteria, future work from that physician is edited. When a medical language specialist is presented with a draft document, they listen to the voice file and edit the document as necessary. Their edits are fed back into the voice profile, which learns over time in order to continuously improve the quality of draft reports.
The use of speech recognition technology in BeyondTXT results in a more efficient transcription process and leads to lower direct costs and higher gross margins while allowing the Company to offer competitive pricing. The Company’s medical language specialists earn less per line of text for editing, but their increased productivity generally allows their total compensation to remain unchanged or to increase. After the cost paid to MultiModal Technologies, the Company is still able to reduce the average cost per line of text. This is a key defensive strategy against pricing pressure in the industry.
Management plans to gradually increase the percentage of voice files processed through BeyondTXT speech recognition from 24% of total volume in the fourth quarter of 2007 and 35% in the fourth quarter of 2008 to approximately 40% by the end of 2009. Longer-term, the percentage of transcription volume that is edited using speech recognition technology is dependent on such factors as the mix of transcription volume that is processed on the Company’s platform versus customer platforms, the percentage of dictators for whom high quality voice profiles can be built, and the ability to hire, train, and retain editors.
Attract and Retain Professional Staff
One of the Company’s critical success factors is the recruitment and retention of the industry’s best knowledge workers, including medical language specialists, application developers and service professionals. The goal is to be the best company to work for in the industry. Management believes that there will be a shortage of qualified traditional medical language specialists in the future. There are two domestic solutions to this problem. First, workers will be attracted and retained by offering competitive pay and benefits, stable and responsive management, a predictable abundance of work, a stable and efficient platform, career development opportunities and the opportunity to work from home. Second, speech recognition technology will allow us to produce the same volume of work with fewer medical language specialists due to the productivity improvements the Company is able to achieve, and may open the market to a new pool of professionals.
Increase Utilization of Offshore Resources
The Company operates in a global economy in which medical transcription services can be performed efficiently and cost-effectively by offshore medical transcription service organizations. Customers have differing views of offshore production. Some believe it allows them to realize improved turnaround times and sometimes obtain a lower price without sacrificing quality or security of data. Others remain committed to domestic-only medical transcription. From management’s perspective, offshore production allows the Company to improve turnaround time by providing consistent staff at night and on weekends; alleviates the need to hire as many domestic medical language specialists in a tight labor market as would otherwise be needed; and reduces cost. Management plans to meet customers’ needs by providing services using a combination of domestic and offshore labor. In July 2006, the Company began subcontracting a portion of work to offshore medical transcription firms. By the fourth quarter of 2008, the Company had increased the percentage of work processed in India to approximately 19% of total volume. Management plans to increase this percentage gradually over the next several years and believes that in the long-term (5-10 years), market demands could drive the mix closer to 50% domestic and 50% offshore, but in the intermediate term (2-5 years), the mix is expected to gradually grow to about 30% offshore and 70% domestic. The growth in offshore volume is not expected to displace the domestic workforce, which the Company expects to grow over time. At some point in the future, the Company may decide to establish a transcription operation offshore, but currently is relying on partnerships as the preferred solution.
Successfully Complete and Integrate Acquisitions
The Company intends to increase market share through acquisitions and believes that the Company is the third largest of the more than several thousand medical transcription providers in the United States. Technological developments such as voice recognition technology and the need to provide customers with an off-shore solution are making it increasingly difficult for smaller medical transcription businesses to compete effectively. As a result, management believes that the Company will be able to make acquisitions on an opportunistic basis that will enable it to grow the business. When the Company acquires these businesses, it is often able to add the acquired companies’ customers to the BeyondTXT platform and to eliminate a substantial portion of their overhead. It is expected that acquisitions will be financed through a combination of cash on hand, debt, and shares of the Company’s common or preferred stock.
For customers who already have their own transcription workflow system, the Company provides outsourced transcription and/or editing services on the customer’s platform. For example, the Company has a partnership with Nuance to use their eScription platform, which is a popular hosted ASP solution that can be licensed by healthcare organizations. Customers contract directly with Nuance for the system implementation and contract with us for transcription services. eScription is speech recognition-enabled, allowing the Company to provide editing services to those clients in addition to traditional typing services. The primary advantage to this business model is simplicity—there is no proprietary workflow system to develop and maintain. There is, however, less opportunity for the Company to leverage technology to improve profitability. Some customers have legacy systems they have developed themselves. Over time, the Company expects to migrate customers with outdated legacy platforms off of their own systems and onto BeyondTXT. The Company provides services on numerous platforms: other notable examples include ChartScript (a 3M platform), Dictaphone (a Nuance platform) and Meditech.
CUSTOMERS
As of December 31, 2008, the Company delivers dictation and transcription services to approximately 154 hospitals and clinics with recurring revenue generally under long-term contracts or other arrangements. The average level of annual revenue generated by each customer was approximately $316,000 in 2008. The top 10 customers accounted for approximately 27% of 2008 transcription revenue, averaging $1.3 million of revenue each.
Revenue attributable to one contract with Providence Health System—Washington for four hospitals totaled $3,728,000 $3,269,000 and $3,017,000 or 8 %, 8% and 9% of total revenue for 2008, 2007 and 2006, respectively. As of December 31, 2008, the Company had separate agreements with approximately 44 customers who are owned by Health Management Associates, Inc., a single healthcare enterprise. Revenue attributable to members of Health Management Associates, Inc. comprised $10,267,000, $9,611,000 and $8,473,000 or 21%, 23% and 26% of the Company’s total revenue for 2008, 2007 and 2006, respectively.
On January 1, 2009, the Company purchased certain assets of DeVenture Global Partners, Inc. and acquired approximately 30 customers with this transaction.
COMPETITION
The Company experiences competition from many local, regional and national businesses. The medical trans
Thanks for sharing.
x
Thanks for sharing...
It helps to know you guys are happy there and why. It's just hard to know what to do these days, but I think I'll give it a go with applying and see what happens. Thanks again!
Ok, not for me thanks for sharing. I will run away from OSI! nm
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Thank you all for sharing
I appreciate all your feedback. I think I'm going to give it a try and do both for a while.
Wow, thanks for sharing that and sm
good luck to you! I hope you find some good companies to choose from. Post back if you find a good company, not even who, but that you found one! Do they still exist?
thanks for sharing that :-) sm
But you know, I bet some of the meanies here do have good lives. They just don't, can't, or won't understand what it's like to have bad things happen through no fault or even through fault of the individual (human comes to mind here).
When one lives in a protected, happy shell, perfect in their mind, it's hard to think outside that shell.
That's not to say that unhappy people don't post insensitive things either...
My life is not peaches and cream and by no means am I what I would call 'happy,' but I have not desire to spew hurtful, hateful words.
It makes me happy to help and make others feel better. My favorite of your mom's words is the one about keeping yer mouth shut if you can't say anything nice (or constructive so to speak).
But my all time favorite is do unto others. It really covers it all.
Good luck to you and I wish you the best. Your words touched me. :-)
Thanks for sharing this ... sm
It's encouraging to hear. I'd love to try ASR but can't take advantage of the opportunity because I haven't been able to get my lines up to minimum production level for reasons I've stated in another post.
I'm trying to hang in here because aside from the money I think this is a pretty good company. Just keeping my fingers crossed that it will get better for everybody financially across the board.
A lot of sharing
We even set line count goals with each other and don't talk about how to get out of work and stay on a board instead of working. We share pictures and recipes and helpful links etc. This board has been a godsend to me when I was struggling with my line count. TT should be glad that we have it instead of telling everybody it is phony just because they didn't send it. That kind of dampens my spirit about TT but I will try to get past that. I know that we have some management on board because they have posted and there is more than one. All the questions we can't answer on the board we send an email to TT. TT you have no idea how many emails we have saved you! We have nothing to be ashamed of on our board and welcome anybody at TT to read all the messages.
Thanks for sharing your
experience. Do you recall how QA staff was with either of these two companies? Was workflow steady? I just really don't have a good feeling about any of the 3 yet. Usually I have some feeling but I'm at a loss here.
TY so much for sharing this with us!! :-->
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What about MTs sharing one job?
Can that work? I guess it would be subcontracting in a way. Just wondering.
Thanks.
thanks for sharing
Well, now that I have cooled down a bit I wanted to thank you and the other poster for sharing your stories. Sorry to hear about you health troubles. I hope that some day you will overcome those blocks that you have been having. It is such a frustrating disability. My son has come home from school on more than one occasion in tears after a rough day of being made fun of by kids he thought were his friends. I have woken up at night from panic attacks thinking about my son giving oral reports in front of the class. The other poster says that I am too sensitive and I should calm down, but if you discriminate against one stutterer then it is a slap in the face to all stutterers, and I am more than happy give anyone a good tongue lashing for discriminating against anyone who stutters whether it be a neurosurgeon or a janitor. I will say a prayer for your rehabilitation
Thanks for sharing. NM
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wow thanks for sharing. Seems to be come up more and more.
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Thank you so much for sharing this
I think most of us at MDI-MD see right through this facade of 'one big happy family' and are clawing our way out as quickly as possible, and your post just reinforces WHY we need to.
I'm sorry you had to go through it, too.
We MTs, despite our differences, really are a sisterhood or family of sorts, and we really need to stick together and reach out to help one another right now, and I for one am delighted to see the unification of all on this board, especially compared to the usual catfighting and hostility.
Thanks for sharing this............ sm
I appreciate knowing what it's like from someone who is using it as opposed to what management wants us to believe it will be like.
To those who don't mind sharing....
Are there any companies that pay base 10 cpl with opportunity for production and/or QA incentives, employee status, good benefits, and great transcription platform. If so, would you mind sharing the name of your company. I am feeling very unappreciated where I am, and need a change.
I do not mind sharing. SM
However, this is not a large company. This is a local company, and I have just been asked if I knew of anyone who needs the work. If you would like to leave your e-mail, I will be more than happy to share more info.
Appreciate the info sharing
I finally found a job with a good company thanks to this board. I quit putting in applications for job posts until I came here and checked out their reputation.. (finally learned to do this after dealing with one not so good)
I really appreciate MTStars job seekers board and company board.
That's a great tip. Thanks for sharing! nm
x
Recruiters: Thank you for sharing sm
I am really embarrassed for those people, but I am also having a good laugh. I bet you all really need to vent. Do you have a network of recruiters where you can go? I am glad to have a glimpse of your world. Now I know why some of those ads are in caps - YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO DO THIS OR DO NOT APPLY! Honestly, they sound hostile, and I skip by them, but at least now I know why.
Thanks for sharing, I'll sure know to
steer clear of this witch's brew!
LOL Thanks for sharing your pain.
I've had a day or two of those recently as well. ;-)
mind sharing?
you can e-mail me
Thanks for sharing but I applied with them, was
who was telling me I need a 3rd phone line and then finally said that they were intending on phasing out dialup within a year. Why apply for a job just to turn around and find another one when they completely phase out dialup?
Would you mind sharing sm
what the line rates are like and whether or not there are production bonuses?
Truth in Sharing
To: MTHeaded, Stick Figure and Gourd Painter, all of whom claim to make such good money (over $25 per hour for Stick Figure, being one of the highest paid MTs for Gourd Painter, or making $50 to $70 per hour for MTHeaded): Why don't you all share the names of the companies you work for??? Obviously if you're all that good you have nothing to fear as your places are secured in your company, and Gourd Painter is leaving anyway. If you care about your fellow MTs enough to write, why don't you share this information, since you all say it is true???
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I'm just so frustrated. I received more corrected reports. I still can't believe these are my errors. I'm not a newbie. This same particular person was the one who trained me on the platform. At that time I didn't even think she was an MT based on questions I asked (related to BOS). She just sort of glossed over the question and didn't commit to an answer so I figured maybe she's just not an MT person and only the trainer. This particular person has been there a long time from what I understand so I don't see her going anywhere anytime soon. Thanks for commisurating (?sp) with me though 
I'll see what next week brings and then decide what to do. I just wish I hadn't spent the money on the word 2003 for this.
Thanks for sharing. You are my idol.
I'm everything you talked about not wanting to be. I'm stuck on this computer 15 hours a day 7 days a week just to keep our heads above water and it'd just not worth it. The stress is overwhelming. You eat, sleep, and live the debt. It never goes away and I just want that weight to be gone. I want one job and a life. I want to see my last child grow up, but I'm missing it all. I no longer have friends but they don't even bother asking me to do anything but I have to work. Let this be a lesson to everyone. Money truly is the root of all evil. As a society, we have lost the ability to know what is most important in life. Relationships make you happy not materialistic things and there truly are things that money can never buy and that is peace of mind. AMEN.
Would you mind sharing which job
you make better money at? I am looking into coding full time. I don't like the idea of the stress, but I need to make a living where the pay does not continue to go down or nowhere. Do you think there are coding jobs out there that are less stressful than where you are or do you think they are pretty much the same everywhere? Saying you have benefits and work from home, two wonderful things in a job, and you still would leave due to the stress is quite telling about the profession, I must say. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing, very important!!!
Though I did not apply at MDIT, I can relate. United Transcription out of North Carolina used ExpressScribe and MPWord (not MTWord) plus a FTP. The lady VP was not a transcriber so had not ideaaaaaa.
With this setup most of the demographics are entered by the MT (remember her/him making production, not paid unless something on the page).
There were plus 15 different popup screens to click, unclick, delete, type in name, plus flipping back and forth between window screens. Really ridiculous. These things should be put in the system by programmers not the MT EACH REPORT. Image with very small reports, making nothing and those Keystrokes are not paid.
There was no hard copy of doctor roster, so had to scroll through entire list trying to figure out the name referenced. Equally hard to even figure out first letter sometimes. I was told, why didn't you look it up I said I could not even figure out the first letter.
It was a ridiculous way to work. She was probably a good person but she just had not IDEA what MTs need, are about, about platforms. Just got the impression she had not idea how to process pertinence of something as she had bad-mouthed previous MT or MTs during the interview, has general bad thoughts, I told her she was wrong, MTs work their guts out, they are not lazy and on and on, I said they make nothing and go to great efforts to get the answer (I volunteer on 2 Word Help Boards.) Pissed me off her idea what an MT is about.Like sneering (sp?
thanks for sharing. Interesting and sm
sad to see the crumbling of the industry. They keep saying shortness of MLS - do they not see why, cannot make a living providing the same skills and company excpectation on such a wage cut 40-60%. One paragraph says to the effect, can make more or the same. Bull. I worked on Beyond TXT, terrible platform.
Interesting how everything is all boxed up, (shark-like) very little mentioned about the MT (MLS). They will continue to buy up the competition just like MQ did and thus become a monopoly. It is important to get out the calculator and figure out how much you are getting an hour when all is said and done and how many hours you put in for that 2.5 to 4 cents a line.
Just how many lines can listen through, edit during an 8 hour shift.
2500 lines/day at 3 cents is $83 day= $10.37 hr. for all this skill and must keep up with the constant changing medical community. Can you even listen to that much dictation (minutes) and correct.? See why shortage of MT MLS
Would you mind sharing which company this is?
Thanks :-)
Well thank you for sharing your positive experience!
I, for one, am happy to hear that you liked that company. Kudos to you for posting! There's not enough happiness and positivity in the world these days.
Would you mind sharing where you work? nm
X
Do you mind sharing where you work? TIA
xxx
Would you mind sharing where it is you work now? NM
NM
what was the account if you don't mind sharing? nm
,
good to know, thnx for sharing that :)
/
I did for a long time, but job sharing
with another MT. Do you have a friend who is a transcriptionist? My friend and I worked our regular jobs and switched off every other day with the other one. We both made great extra money without feeling like we lived at the keyboard.
Thank you for sharing your story. They do sound
like they were rude and didn't appreciate their MTs. We really have no way of knowing if Missy's story is the same unless she gives us more specific details. Just because her boss takes vacations and wears diamonds doesn't mean she is greedy. For the most part, there is a lot more stress involved in dealing with doctors' offices day in and day out and keeping the clients happy than there is in sitting and transcribing. I'm sure she earns, needs, and deserves her vacations.
I work for a lady now part-time (I have worked for her on and off since 1991) and I am only making 6 cpl on clinic work. However, it is 6 per gross line which works out to be anywhere from 8.2 to 9.4 per 65 character line depending on the doc and his format, so 6 cpl isn't always terrible. If Missy was working for 6 cents per 65-character-line, perhaps she was trying to gain some experience. If that is the case, she should be thankful that somebody gave her a chance. So many are having trouble getting their foot in the door these days. If she agreed to the terms up-front, I just don't see any mistreatment there.
I don't know Missy, but if she is a newbie, she needs to realize that times are tough in transcription nowadays. Rather than bite the hand that feeds her, she should aspire to perhaps one day be as successful. She is free to move on if she needs to, but why trash the lady in the process?
Sharing a chuckle from my granddaughter
She's 7 years old, in Texas. I talked to her last night and told her that I was quitting working. She asked me if I got another job. I said no, that I was going to be retard unless I missed working too much after all these years and she said, Meme, which would you rather do, work or get free money like Pawpaw? Free money. LOL She was talking about Pawpaw when she went to the P. O. with him and picked up his retirement check. He took it to the bank and she asked him how come he got a check when he doesn't work. He told her he was retired and that was the money he got from his retirement. Free money!
Thanks for sharing your information LTMT!
Wow, you have been through a lot and I admire your ability to bounce back. I just know whatever company you choose to work with you will do well, and good luck on your move! Thanks too for the feedback on all the companies. I thought that E-Trans was very nice too, but decided in my heart I did not want shift work, and since it did not work out the first time (the ExText account), I would just pass. I am going to keep Encompass in mind for the future because they seem great like you said, and I have the quality but have been in this for so many years, don't want to be stressed out. Like you, I get insecure, and that is when I do worst. LOL.
I wish you all the best. For me, I am now going with MDI-MD and know that if I maintain my quality and my flexibility I can stay away from shift work. I think we all need to put priorities and what we need to do in life and then hang onto our decision. Rough seas, but if you hang on to the life boat the storm always passes and we always seem to make it.
Thanks for writing and all the best to you! :)
Thanks for sharing your story too. Maybe we can prevent someone else sm
from having a tough time with them as we did. Do you have anymore info than I have? I think we typed the same dictator and I find a location in South Dakota and a location in Iowa for that doc and clinics but nothing on the company.
Thank you for sharing your experience - and a question
Thanks so much for telling your story. It helps understand what the process is going to be like.
I have one question right now though (and maybe more tomorrow after I talk to a lawyer) - when you did this, did the company have to pay for the other employees it misclassified, or did the IRS only take you into consideration and look only at your situation?
Thanks!
DocQ very interesting, thanks for sharing.
Will the manipulation never end, I swear, people make me sick.
"thanks" for sharing this!! Interesting & sm
sad to see the crumbling of the industry. They keep saying shortness of MLS - do they not see why, cannot make a living providing the same skills and company excpectation on such a wage cut 40-60%. One paragraph says to the effect, can make more or the same. Bull. I worked on Beyond TXT, terrible platform.
Interesting how everything is all boxed up, (shark-like) very little mentioned about the MT (MLS). They will continue to buy up the competition just like MQ did and thus become a monopoly. It is important to get out the calculator and figure out how much you are getting an hour when all is said and done and how many hours you put in for that 2.5 to 4 cents a line.
Just how many lines can listen through, edit during an 8 hour shift.
2500 lines/day at 3 cents is $83 day= $10.37 hr. for all this skill and must keep up with the constant changing medical community. Can you even listen to that much dictation (minutes) and correct.? See why shortage of MT MLS
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