I'm beginning to believe its price fixing
Posted By: now watch all the suits deny it... on 2009-09-29
In Reply to: Transcend Cuts Pay rates for All - Discouraged
Seems like reps from all the major MTSOs sat down, came up with a so-called competitive rate, and decided to all cut wages at approximately the same time - so there's really nowhere else to go when MTs want to leave! Greed! Plain and simple!
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
- Transcend Cuts Pay rates for All - Discouraged
- SM - Just got off a conference call
- SM - And I specifically asked
- I'm beginning to believe its price fixing - now watch all the suits deny it...
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Price fixing
It seems that ever since AAMT suggested that the line count should be characters divided by 65 (which cut our gross line pay by 1/3), clients have been insisting that we count that way. So now Escription comes along and tells the client the same thing and they want us to change the way we count. It seems to be there are some antitrust issues lurking here to be plumbed. Isn't that called price fixing? And wouldn't one think that we should check on it like with the attorney general?
Price fixing does not need to be accepted and should not
I see, 5, 6, 7, 8 and should not be accepted. Get your calculater out. Figure out what that would be per hour. Com'on this is a highly highly skilled profession, not just anybody can do it, takes year YEARS and you never know it all, never.
It seems like price fixing in t this industry.
They all pay the same unlivable wages. Anybody know a lawyer? Ask about a price-fixing lawsuit.
What do the MTs get paid for fixing these?
x
How do you get compensated for fixing these?
x
fixing issues/profit
Yeah, guess that is why Transcend had a press release that came out yesterday with a 74% increase in revenue from the prior year quarter. Here is an excerpt from that press release. "Most of the revenue increase of $2,779,000 between the second quarters of 2005 and 2004 is attributable to the acquisition of Medical Dictation, Inc (“MDI”) on January 31, 2005. MDI contributed revenue of $2,294,000 to the second quarter of 2005."
I think my company is fixing to go belly up so
I've decided it is time to start looking. I have been offered a position my Keystrokes and accepted it and then changed my mind before I even started work or they had mailed me equipment.
Medscribe is offering a sign-on bonus, which I could use, and they use the same platform I currently use.
There is so much posted about KS, mostly good. I just read through the archives and other than having to work certain holidays not much bad said about Medscribe.
Has anyone worked for both that can give some feedback? You can e-mail me directly if you'd rather. I have 20 years' experience in acute care, but I've basically only worked for 2 companies my entire career and the thought of having to start over again is stressing me. I have a lot of flexibility where I am currently and easy platform, but I still use WP5.1 so I'd pretty much have to learn Word no matter where I went, switch to a new expander, etc.
I am fixing to find out if E-scription does or not
today. Today is the big day I start with Transcend. I am going to find out as well if I like to edit machines.
for that price?
so if they were to pay you what you thought would be worth it, you would write an MT training program for people in India? That's nice. Don't complain that we are being treated as professionals and that our career has gone downhill when people like you are contributing factors to all of it.
we need to set our price
Upon looking at the job boards, I notice they want us to have 10 years' experience but want to pay only 7-8 cents a line.
It's time we decide on OUR bottom line.
What is the least we will accept as a group for transcription and ASR?
I say no LESS than 8.5 cents a line for transcription and no LESS than 5.5 cents for voice. We do not need to go any lower than that, if maybe that it even too low for some of you out there? I want to hear from you.
We MUST follow this up with action, or nonaction as it were, by not accepting any job for less than our bottom line.
Let's set a new standard for ourselves.
Where did she mention a price?
I didn't see a line rate posted. Usually a rate like 7 cpl is a temporary rate just to see if the person has the experience they claim (9 times out of 10 they don't) or it's temporary rate to offset the cost of editing of new hires.
price point?
Is that a nice way of saying cheap?
I think you are wrong. Everyone has a price. I think she would be sick of all of this by now. xx
xx
This is the price of doing business. If there weren't
something in it for you, you wouldn't be doing it - whether it be money, ego, prestinge, etc.
she didn't mention a price, i said
If you send a professional resume, go through the trouble of testing, passing it with flying colors, 7 cpl should not be anywhere in the offer. Pay a professional what a profession is worth from day one.
You can make more -- negotiate your price. sm
Dorothy is one of the few that pays MTs for their experience and quality.
Good luck!
The competition is in the price NOT quality.
Editors clean up American MTs and Indian MTs. Bottom line is COST!!! DUH! It is just like everything else being made overseas in China, Mexico...IT IS CHEAPER THERE!
Contact me for good price
$60.00 plus shipping for StartStop foot pedal. I got it when I worked for SoftScript before, so know it works well with their program.
Just remember.....everything/anything is for sale for the right price sm
No matter what, everything and anything has a price tag. Good luck to all KS MTs.
How can you compete with the big-company price-wars? - nm
?
Forgot to say that I value accuracy over speed...sure I could go fasther but at what price? NM
xx
You're forgetting the Consumer Price Index has gone up 30% since the 90s
And as for doing well in VR, see this old post about why some people do well and some do not...just because you lucked out doesn't mean others didn't get screwed, and they DO have a right to complain.
http://forum.mtstars.com/main/v/1/131001.html
To quote: *In any of these usually extensive discussions about VR, most complain about how broke they are, and there are always one or two who say they're doing well with VR.
Well, the reason is not that one group is exaggerating or the other group is lying. It's because there are good systems and bad systems, and it's a crapshoot as to which one any of us ends up with.*
So enjoy your $16/hour. With your dearth of sympathy for those less fortunate than you, I'm guessing you'd also step over a homeless man in the street without a second thought.
yeah and the MTSO still charging full price for the work
Most physicians/hospitals don't even know they're dictating into VR so still paying full-on transcription prices while the nationals/MTSOs cut the MT's salary in half. Nice huh?
I have been with QT since the beginning, have been
looking the past year. Every decent offer I've gotten comes from a company who offshores and I've turned it down because I don't support it. M did say there were working on something though back when we were getting the Friday e-mails.
I am beginning to think we all should
and then when we sit, like I did today for four hours with NO WORK, we can jump to the other account.
If they are going to over hire and spread out the work, our response should be similar in logic.
Probably - she has been there since the beginning.
nm
uh uh you never said that in the beginning..
stop confusing yourself
you just said it, right here, that's the beginning
of the end for the MTs.
AVR TO ITS PERFECTION.
DQS was the beginning of the end for me with MQ
That was the first sign of bad things to come for me. My line counts dropped quite a bit, then they added VR, and of course the cesspool soon after, which was disastrous. I went from making 25.00 an hour to maybe 10.00 if I was lucky. However, I did think it was a great platform, only problem was manipulating line counts.
DQS was the beginning of the end for me as well with MQ! nm
..
Thank goodness - I was beginning
to believe this was a company from hell - according to the other posts.
Not related, but they sure like they are beginning to
nm
I had a little trouble in the very beginning
getting my direct deposit going, but on time every time since. I started 6 months ago. I checked BBB and found them to have a BB rating, which is a good rating according to the BBB themselves.
I hate being paid late myself, it is really frustratign and has happened to me far times than I can remember, but I am sure they will work things out with you. 
No other national beginning with "M"...
I worked for Cymed and stayed with SPi. I hate it. Absolutely. TAT is so tightly controlled that there is almost never any work. It totally sucks. And they don't give a damn about us MTs. Just in it for the money. A HORRIBLE company.
I do - have from the beginning - going on 2 years.
I'm beginning to wonder if the person who is using the name (sm)
Keystrokes Recruiter really even works there or is just stirring things up!
it is not actually 30 days, it is just the beginning because....
you get paid on the 15th and last day of the month. You submit your invoice on the 16th and 1st. So right now, if you were working you would submit your invoice on the 16th and get paid on the last day of the month. After that, you would be paid every 2 weeks.
No not now. Through beginning of March I did though.
It was awful, awful, awful.
I actually have a very large primary, so I am quite surprised we were out and you weren't. Usually everyone else is in the pool for 2 or 3 days before I hit it. When it hits us, we know they're very low on work.
A trend beginning...
About 6 months ago, Keystrokes and Transtech were the 2 best companies going on...and now 6 months later, we are reading all negative about the both of them. Go figure. It all comes down to finding the right company for you.
So maybe this is the beginning of a new trend - sm
in American Transcription? Turning it back into a REAL job again! If what this site says is true, I'd be surprised if this didn't become the best MT company and most sought-after employer in the Northeast. I know I'd rather have MY records transcribed at a place like that, and not in Bangalore or Manilla. I wish them every success, and that that other MTOSs will follow suit!
I use it quite a bit, but it was slow in the beginning. sm
If you get the regular version instead of the medical one, you need to program it for drug names, diagnoses, etc because it doesn't know any of them. But you can train it to recognize those words and once you do that, it really goes pretty quick. You still have to watch and go over your work when you're done - kind of like VR editing, because you're never quite sure what it's going to think you said. It's worth a try, espeically if your transcription is a lot of conversational work, like psych reports or H&Ps. Good luck to you! =)
this only in the beginning; doctors have to get used to it!...sm
then it becomes all routine.
When you are put on a new account, they give you also 2 weeks' time to get used to it, isn't it?
I'm beginning to see a pattern
and that being how every time new accounts are brought on, and more MTs hired, then they are 'temporarily' spread onto other accounts, driving the workload into the ground. I am no manager, but there has got to be another way. I've been trying wait for all this to normalize, and every time it does, then it quickly deteriorates into a new account coming on board situation. I cannot keep rearranging my hours dramatically to compensate. Been doing this way to many years to take all the crappy hours/days to make ends meet. As great as MDI is, they must do something differently or else they'll just have to keep retraining, rather than keeping their good help.
I started there at the beginning of this year, and..
have had no problems whatsoever. Never had to call even once about a late paycheck. I have the schedule that they gave me sitting in front of me right now. It gives all of the pay periods through 12/31/05, and the exact date that the check will be deposited in the bank. It has never been late; always on time. You can even go online a few days before your scheduled deposit, and see the amount that is going to be deposited on pay day. Are you sure she worked for the same company?
Terribly unorganized is just the beginning with them
They take your lines from, send rude e-mails daily, never answer your questions, and have about 90% ESL. Too bad you took the job as I would recommend you go elsewhere.
It's been happening since the beginning of time.
Jobs get phased out and are no longer needed.
I don't know any blacksmiths, mule skinners or pony express delivery people.
But live in your world of denial if you want to. That's up to you. I'm going where there is a future, and that's not this industry.
My membership is up beginning of June.
.
Slow going since the beginning of July..nm
/
Just beginning to resume normalcy here.
dd
No other "national" beginning with "M", Ginny! lol
nm
I'm just beginning to job hunt and I'm askeered.
There are like a gazillion MT's looking for work now, right? Why are some MTSO's still offering large hiring bonuses? I'd think they have more candidates than they can handle.
Do you reckon since the MTSO's do have so many applicants right now, that they might overhire just for fun to keep their TAT's down, and there will be a serious lack of work wherever I apply?
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