I've seen the light., but it appears dim.
Posted By: Tired&CrankyMT on 2008-07-23
In Reply to: You are putting words in my mouth....sm - Country MT
The light you're shedding though seems to be in the rose-colored form, which only means to me that you have been among the few, fortunate MTs, that do not have to put up with the rat race this industry has turned into. The day you remove your rose-colored glasses just might be the day you see how things are for the majority of the working MTs out here.
I despise fighting for files, running out of work, never knowing if I can/will get enough work to earn a decent check. It shouldn't be this way, but it is.
Congrats on your cushy job and all the best to you, I mean that sincerely, but your situation certainly is not the norm in this industry, especially not today.
Check out some recent ads asking for acute care experience. Take a look at the line rates being offered. Then remind yourself of everything you are required to know in order to perform your job successfully as an MT. Think about that for a few, then come back to this board and tell us all how you would feel if you were placed in a position to be looking for a well-paying job, and do let us know how you would honestly feel.
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Obviously not what it appears to be...
I was hired as a CMT in early 2005, had a very good account. In early 2007 I started SR along with MT on same account and was given 2 more accounts. We lost my main account last November 2007. I have 5 accounts I do MT and/or SR work on. I am available 7 days a week and will work all hours that work is available, management knows this. The work is still slow and I'm still waiting. This you see is what it is that I do, thank you.
It appears to me that there MAY BE
some MTSOs or their sidekicks posting here a lot and I suspect they MAY use a lot of different monikers (or lack thereof).
Maybe there is a light at the end of this tunnel!
x
DSL, light or medium
Has anyone used Bellsouth DSL and gone from higher connection down to light and if so, did you notice a difference in the speed? Thanks.
So in light of all of this, Jean, do
They sound a little immature in my opinion. They do frequent this board and say this is a great company, but if they were that busy, who has time for this nonsense that goes on whenever Keystrokes is mentioned on this board. 
Especially in light of above poster
Post above indicates there are 3 clauses in their contract where they can withhold 50% of your earnings, which if they exercise that for whatever reason, brings the rate down to A PENNY A LINE.
I think that's an all-time low.
This might shed some light
I don't work there but you do know they acquired the M-Tec MT school about the same time work started slowing down.
the above poster appears to me to be a....nm
I appears you don't transcribe
From your post, I gather that you are either QA or QA/recruiting (and maybe hourly?). I agree that there are some inflated resumes floating around and many MTs do not put out quality work. Neither of these issues is exclusive to American MTs, though. I also agree that many MTs quit a job quickly - I'm guilty of this, as well. There may be a problem with the platform, the interface, the Internet connection, the sound quality, discrepancies in the schedule agreed upon compared to days/hours actually worked, promised percentage of ESL, ability to utilize templates or playouts, workflow, and pay. These are all issues that can't be foreseen until you actually go to work for a company. Experienced MTs discuss as many issues as possible with the recruiter prior to hire and hope that the recruiter is honest/informed enough to provide the information necessary, but often that is not the case. I'm patient with technical problems, as I know they'll be resolved eventually. But, when you encounter ongoing roadblocks to making a decent living and voicing your concerns to your supervisor/their supervisor/the recruiter gets you nowhere, it's time to move on. In my opinion, at that point the company has voided the contract, not me. Your recruiter friend who generally hires twice as many MTs as she needs and ends up holding onto a fourth of them - she's either misstating the conditions of the job or overhiring and starving out the ones who can't afford to sit and wait for something to show up in their queue. Either way, the MT is the one who loses out.
Zylomed is not what it appears for RAD
Worked there within the last six months. Word-based web platform but tons of demographics and training sucked - not a money maker.
It appears their name is a spoof for (sm)
Medi-Sota, a transcription company. I skimmed through the article and found this as a contact.
Preferred Vendor Agreements – 2004 Update:
****Brinker Transcription and Technology Solutions became Medi-Sota’s first preferred vendor for medical transcription services in August of 2004. Contact Karyn Brinker, at 651-257-6360 if you are interested in using this service.
I feel for you. Glad you saw the light.
Oh, yes, remember that we MT's get to pay our light bills
air conditioning bill, heating bills, phone bills, provide computer equipment and high speed internet, etc., etc.
The office staff get their utilities bill paid for while they work! Maybe they should split the office utility bills among themselves and get a feel of what it is like to be an at-home MT.
Transtech, I do thank you for my paycheck in order to pay all those bills, but we seem to be so underappreciated and are offered less benefits because we work at home -- as compared to the office staff. I thank God every day that He has provided for me another year.
Transtech, please show the number of lines we transcribe on our paycheck stubs so that we have something to compare to and can look at. This is the first company that I have ever seen that does not show the MT the number of lines on the paycheck stub. We have been promised that many months ago, but it has never come to fruition with the new payroll company you hired.
Thank you, Transtech office staff, for being the friendly people you are.
Well it appears that that number has been disconnected.
:
According to a search, appears to be MQ? Correct? nm
x
It Appears Censorship is Alive and Well...
here on the MT boards , as my post in reply in this thread has disappeared.
It has a light touch though. I have had carpal tunnel
surgery and am very picky about keyboards. I was pleasantly surprised that the one they went (Dell) had such a light touch.
Congrats on the job - I think you'll be very happy.
It appears to do only the document you are in. As I trust my co. to tally for me, I don't know m
about the function. You might be able to write a macro to do that...but I have no idea how to do that.
Webmedx bought TransHealth, but it appears
they are still 2 separate companies for now, still using both names. Webmedx had a couple of ads posted this week or last that said they paid QA hourly, but I don't know their rate. I hated it from day one there but I was an MT. I don' know how it is on the QA end, though several or us complained about QA because we never got feedback and work was bypassing QA and going directly to the client. They have overhired MTs, but have severely underhired QA.
The way your grammar appears in this post, TT would probably not want to hire you.
FYI -- you sound like a foreigner to me
I do think it has been light lately, but if you are consistently running out of work try talking to
your account lead and see if there are some answers for you. I have several accounts and don't usually run out, but don't always work on my primary.
I agree. Bad supervisors are common at Spheris it appears. NM.
dd
Are you gay or an actor or both, Seymour. No offense but I like a little light humor to make me sm
smile on a day when I have hit the bottom of the barrel.
The long rant was in regard to Cassie on Guiding Light.
Try Googling Cassie Long transcription.
Posts from last year don't shed a positive light on them, no matter where
s
What good does it do? They've lied, they've betrayed us.
They've taken all they are going to take from me. I am not going to waste any more time being angry. I hate the way things ended, but I refuse to accept the blame for any part of it because I know that was a lie too, even though they did try to blame the MTs. I know part of the problem was quality issues, but QA wasn't to blame for that either, although they have been.
It is time to pick up and move on. I think mgmt will reap what they sow. For those who worked on the main account Webmedx is still hiring, though the best time slots have already been taken.
What the heck? I've never heard that in the 8 yrs I've worked here. sm
Go back to your STM or over his or her head.
Since you've brought it up, I've stopped SM
giving the negative info because every time I have in the past I am called a disgruntled ex-employee or told that my experience has no relation to what the company is like today.
I won't repeat the information I've given in the past, anyone can find it on searches. I've decided to just let the people have their experience with the company and that experience will validate everything I've ever said about those people.
The same people own and run that company--they may have new names doing the management, but it still runs the same way.
You've got it ~ you've hit the nail on the head....
I can Google until dawn and still not find John Smith in NY - you know the neurologist... Cut me a break! I've now learned to ask my online company for a list of referring physicians (since none of the accounts are in my state) and also ask for websites for the hospitals, but I still don't take more than 5 min of my own time to find referring physicians. I send it right through with a verify cc:...
As far as making an educated guess, I would only do that if it was my own account and I know the dictator well. For the online company, it is their responsibility to make that educated guess as it is their client, not mine. I leave that up to the company to make assumptions; this way it is on their back, not mine when it comes to the legality of the report. Ultimately, the physician is responsible when signing that report or there should be clause on those reports that state dictated but not read. If that clause is not there, then it is the physician's responsibility to know the content, not the MT. An MT can only transcribe what they hear and really should not be making educated guesses on anyone since we live in a world of sue-happy patients and their malpractice insurance is so high. If there is a question, it needs to go the dictator to resolve.
JMO - been doing this for over 20 years.
I've been a QA 15 years and I've never heard
of any company only paying for the actual Keystrokes of the blank. You would literally make less than minimum wage that way. Waaay less.
I've come here for as long as I've been...
...an MT, for the same reasons all of you do. I don't scan the boards looking for false accusations, but when something comes up that does involve me, I would like the opportunity to defend myself. That's all...
I've used it before...sm
If you are thinking of going with a company with the beginning letter of "e" and ending in "Z"....you will not be getting paid for spaces. They allow ONLY 8% for spaces, which IMO, is retarded. The platform is very easy, but this particularly company has it set up to NOT count spaces, you will be typing your fingers off it seems.
I've been doing this for more than 11
between 250-350 lines an hour where I am now, without killing myself. At Medware, I was lucky to get 200 lines an hour.
I've only seen 1. sm...
And it was at www.transcriptionoutsourcing.com . It doesn't say this or much of anything else on their website. I think I got this as a link from an MTDaily ad that had a different company name listed and when you clicked their email, the Transcription Outsourcing web site is where it took you. I'll look around and see if I can find the original ad. It was a small company. Good luck in the meantime!
I've got?? i think this is better said I have 12+
nm
I've been there too ... and it's getting very old
I've accepted offers with and tried just about everyone. So far, the one I trained on today has been the best to deal with. The trainer also told me she has been on this account for many, many years - and in that time has only run out of work twice, due to hurricanes. I'm getting very, very tired - I just want to find the right fit. I've found quite a few WRONG fits (and I'm not a newbie - I've got 13+ years on me). I figure, at this point, I want to pick the RIGHT ones, not just ANYone. I think I'll talk to DH some more and see if we can work something out. Who is the *&%* Company, it's late, I'm tired and I can't figure it out. If you want, and can do it, e-mail me separately. I have to make a decision with them soon. Thanks so much for at least your honest, yet positive, input. It's refreshing on these boards.
I've have been doing (sm)
some work for them lately. The stuff is mostly medical conferences and symposiums where people are giving talks. You generally get their Powerpoint presentation to help with drug names and doctor names. I did have one nightmarish assignment where there were about six people sitting around a table all talking at once and I was supposed to figure out who was talking when. The rest of them have been pretty good, though.
Just so you know, this is another CL, not the CL you've seen here for a while now, before the mov
x
Not me, I've been looking for (sm)
minimal part-time at least 9-10 cents per line for a long time. You can find it and get nothing but the bad dictation. BTW, I started typing about 30 years ago. So hang in there if you'd like, I've donated too much of my time to this so-called profession. And there are no hospital jobs around here. I live in a fairly large city and the hospitals are ALL on VR or EMR. It will reach everyone's town before too long. It will be whoever will work the cheapest can have the job. Not me, I'm not that cheap.
Wow! You say you've been an
Again, it is common sense not to post people's names on public forums for any reason. Sometimes, I can't tell if you folks are 12 years old or 98 years old.
Please do not post names.
Well DUH - so do I. That's why I've done
in one form or another (as an employee, as a contractor, as an MTSO) since 1983. And have been with the same small service for many years. And have had my own company/accounts since 1992. But I know my skills are in demand. That certainly seems to bother you a LOT. You sure are defensive about this company, aren't you?
I've been both....sm
There is a little more restriction in my work schedule now as I have to work the hours I committed to in order to help the company keep things in TAT, but there is some flexibility if I need, for example, an hour or two for an appointment. Some companies are more flexible than others in this regard. Also, the amount of time you have to put in to acquire the required line counts is dependent on many things, such as platform, audio quality, dictator mix (ESL:EFL) and the amount of work available to you.
Be prepared to receive much less per line with a national company than you are making right now plus the fact that your taxes and SS will be withheld from your check unless you find a company that offers IC status. The other side of the coin there is that ICs are usually not offered bennies.
Hope you find something that is to your liking and works for you.
You've got that right! nm
Are people still posting complaints on the company board about how they need to apply for food stamps? I'm glad I got out when I did.
I've said that all along.
If we want to take someone's personal advice (and who knows whose advice we are REALLY taking because we don't identify ourselves here) about who NOT to work for, NOT to trust, etc., surely we cannot be surprised that companies would have their own insider list of who does poor work, doesn't stick to schedules, is a lot of difficult to deal with personally, is a complainer, just doesn't produce enough, etc.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander. At least they know each other there.
It doesn't bother me.
No, I've never had to do this...
just had to send a copy of my business license a couple of times. I've worked for about 5-6 different companies as an IC over the years and no one has asked for a copy of my ID.
I've never seen that
Granted, there are cruel sickos everywhere but where I live they chop the chicken's head off quickly before defeathering it. I've never heard of someone dropping a chicken in hot water while it's alive. Cows freely roam in rolling green pastures. Pigs do, too, except when in pens where they love to roll in mud. Your experience with farmers is much different than mine, I suppose, and I'm surrounded by them.
It's the best and I've used several sm
I get a better line count with ExText than any other platform I've used.
I've done
Done MT for 10 years but only for local private practices and clinics. No acute care. Radiology, ortho, ENT, GI, GU, podiatry, even some legal. No hospital tho darn it! That's why I was hoping for the best on this one. Its a hospital acct. I don't think its worth it tho somehow.
I've never used it.
It starts accumulating right away but I've never had to use it. The recruiters are happy to answer any questions you have that I can't. :-)
Just like we've been saying all along. nm
I could've had a V-8!
Guess I had one of those duh! moments (that has lingered awhile). Ha! Thanks ... great idea! -
It's funny, I am pretty new at this, and things will all of a sudden come to me ... like I just recently realized it would be smart to include no phrases ... like: No frequency, dysuria, hematuria; instead of adding the no on separately. (It is usually a no anyway.)
There are so many facets to this field, that it is taking me quite awhile to put it all together. I don't have a lot of medical background either, which doesn't help.
Anyway, thanks again for the idea. I will try to continue to see the larger picture in using the expander.
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