I stopped thinking of this as a profession
Posted By: JC on 2009-09-07
In Reply to: Just wondering - fatcat
and now think of it as a job. Fortunately, in the days of when MTs were of value and were paid accordingly, I paid off my house and don't have that hanging over my head. If I had not, being single, I would not be able to pay my house payment today. No pay raise for so many years I can't remember and now seeing post after post about 7 cents per 65 character line and people taking these jobs, it will be more like community service.
I am making sure I put some money away each payday because when that day comes, I'm going to apply at Target or the local Goodwill. I really do mean that. I have worked for 26 years now doing this. I have a dozen years left to work before I can retire.
We were not overpaid when we were making money. We were paid accordingly.
As far as recommending this line of work to someone, that is something I never would do.
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I stopped thinking of this as a profession
and now think of it as a job. Fortunately, in the days of when MTs were of value and were paid accordingly, I paid off my house and don't have that hanging over my head. If I had not, being single, I would not be able to pay my house payment today. No pay raise for so many years I can't remember and now seeing post after post about 7 cents per 65 character line and people taking these jobs, it will be more like community service.
I am making sure I put some money away each payday because when that day comes, I'm going to apply at Target or the local Goodwill. I really do mean that. I have worked for 26 years now doing this. I have a dozen years left to work before I can retire.
We were not overpaid when we were making money. We were paid accordingly.
As far as recommending this line of work to someone, that is something I never would do.
MDI-FL. thinking of applying. Is medical insurance still high? That is what has stopped me before
I cant remember what the cost was but it seemed to be be high for single and family coverage. Anyone know?
At first I was thinking that you were being unrealistic, not thinking about taxes, benefits, etc. bu
surprised to find that you are not asking the moon. Let me clarify a few things: Rates charged are not as high as 0.25 per line, but no one that has U.S. employees goes as low as 0.115 or they would not be able to pay their bills. A more realistic range is 0.125-0.165, and that top end is hard to find, most falling at 0.14-0.15 per line.
The rates of pay you propose are very reasonable IF the following is true: These are seasoned MTs who do not need a lot of hand-holding, QA or blanks filled in, unless a very difficult/impossible doctor.
How about a scale based on experience and accuracy of 0.09 - 0.105 per line (acute care), and $1.15-$1.30 per report (radiology)?
The VR one is tough as everyone, MTs and MTSOs and facilities are still feeling their way on this. As an MTSO who was an MT, I feel that VR editing is as difficult to do as regular transcription. I don't think that it should be substantially less pay or charged less as the end product is still the same.
Funny thing here? My company already follows that scale. We should work together, not at odds, to reinforce this industry and bring it back to where it should be, right here in the U.S.A. with a decent paycheck.
Why can't they be stopped from doing this? It's been
nm
they used to do it but stopped due to
x
Stopped by to ask the same thing.
nm
Maybe you did not do enough that they would know that you stopped OR maybe they were glad to see you
and you saved them the time of terminating you. HA!
I believe they have stopped hiring PT, only FT
NM
I stopped speaking out because SM
in the past, they had cheerleaders who came to this board who would attack people who gave true information regarding the company. It may look like the archives have little information and the reason they do is because a lot of the posts about DR have been deleted because the threads degenerated into name-calling.
The same people who attacked still work for the company (management), so I wouldn't bet that things have changed there.
Me too. I have stopped even considering anywhere else. I am here until retirement.
And that is such a stress-free thing, never to have to retrain for a new company again!
So what stopped you from speaking SM
to your supervisor before? Are you saying that you've been sitting there feeling bad about your financial situation all this time and just today decided to call and DO something about it?
I think maybe the Grinchy bully (and I am not serious when I say that, I feel he/she was truly helping you) motivated you to take some action.
I stopped about a year ago and
Don't miss it one bit and making more money - including benefits, PAID vacation, no work on weekends and holidays, etc. I'm 52 years old and couldn't be happier with deciding to get out. I still visit this board and the same things are being said about this profession that was said 10+ years ago. This field will NEVER change.....so I did.
I had the same problem with them. I stopped working for them as well. They
kept forgetting to pay me for spaces. At first, I was told that they did not pay for spaces, but I had an email stating that she did pay for spaces; so, I copied the email to them and got a check for the difference. Each paycheck was incorrect and I kept having to call them to get them to correct it. Seach the archives. I am not the only one this happened to. After I stopped working for them, It took them 6 months to send me my last paycheck. 
I can see your point but I stopped beig a
A company I worked for once sent out an email from the OWNER asking all of us loyal to her (cough, spew) would keep a list of screen names of people with bad attitudes so they would be sure to not hire them or to fire them if they were already working for that company. I turned notice that day and went to a professional MTSO.
They must have stopped doing so. I worked there as an IC for a while in the past.
xx
I, for one, am glad those emails stopped:-)
They were constantly interrupting my work and really made no difference to me. I work my shift and I can tell by the times of the jobs if we're on schedule or not. Of course, I'm radiology and for some reason I was also getting acute care updates, so double whammy.
Why has Amphion overtime been stopped?
I was thinking of applying with them mainly because of that. Like the person asked below has the overtime policy changed or are they just caught up?
they stopped due to the banking crisis
oct/nov
I worked for a company that stopped DD as JLG did. They
went belly up a short time later. The company was local to JLG. I didn't buy the bank instability crap that was being posted about JLG. I personally don't know any details, but having been through a similar situation I would be VERY concerned.
I agree 100%, I stopped coming to this
board for a long time because of it and I hesitate to ask a question or make a comment because you never know who will blast you, so
Thank You!!
Progress and change cannot be stopped, nowhere, anywhere...nm
nm
Thought so, I stopped testing! sm
I never finished all the testing and thought it was ridiculous! I felt exactly like you are feeling.
I have been there 5 years. What changed? They stopped catering to sm
employees who walked all over them and started recognizing those of us that do a good job. They took away ICs and made people accountable for their commitments. They added benefits, added direct deposit, got a bigger office, added more staff in the office, and continued to grow.
I honestly believe that it was a very few people who were saying the negative comments but they were loud and had time on their hands.
They then moved to another company and decided to bash them, then another company and bash them, and so on. There are some people that never are happy and those that are let go tend to be the nasty ones on the boards.
The only problem I ever had was one check 4 years ago but direct deposit solved all that.
I think the owner let go a little where needed and stopped taking it all so personally. She is a tough one now but still nice, if that makes sense, just doesn't take cr*p from everyone.
I am on there too. I stopped posting much anymore because the bashers. sm
We were accused by nasty posters that we air dirty laundry on here. Other times, we are too cheerful. Other times, we must be management. Because of that, I tend not to post. Should we ask them to get a yahoo board or something? How about the intranet? Does that have a board?
I hope your friend has stopped working for her.
I just stopped reading it. I scan and read what is useful to me. (nm)
x
Transcription Matchmaker stopped working w/ Cbay
Heard same feedback from other MTs.
I use to work there, question for you, have they stopped the incessant micromanaging
and sending you so many instant messages it is impossible to do your work? I know loads that used to work there, all gone, horrible experiences. What a nightmare!
You are in a profession
of people who really are scrambling for work. It's not like you are a doctor or lawyer. You are a typist and so stop being so uppity about it. your profession. I thought you had friends and that you are a mother, sister, niece.... get lost
Thanks everyone! Due to this profession and
all the garbage that goes along with it, I have accepted a position outside of transcription. Pay is better and bennies to boot! It's sad to see what this profession has lead to . The ungratefulness from MTSOs is growing by leaps and bounds. Please no replies that.... the grass is not always greener, etc. Been there, done that.... I'm very comfy with my decision. I can always fall back on transcription -we are a dime a dozen whether we are seasoned or newbie (unfortuantely)!
This profession... SM
can be a rewarding profession, but definitely not an easy one. There are waves of workflow, waves of pay, waves of anger, waves of joy, waves of guilt, waves of happiness, waves of sadness, waves with a shark lurking (like an ocean). hehe
So what do we do in the ocean? Go with the waves! Surf's Up!!! 
MT isn't the only profession
As a coder, we often work around and in spite of. Their written documentation is just as bad as their dictation. One visit the patient has metastatic cancer, the next visit they have cancer in situ, then they have a history of cancer, etc., etc., etc. One visit HIV positive, next visit AIDS, next visit HIV positive. There is no consistency at all. They come in with a visit diagnosis of Diabetes type 1 but their office note says type 2. MTs have it rough but we're not the only one. I think anything in the HIM field meets these challenges. They're just in such a big hurry to whip through it that they don't pay attention. Most docs consider doing their documentation just too big a bother and scr__ the consequences.
And I think that anyone in this profession that has
in this year 2009, should automatically be a CMT; no test; no money; just grandmothered into a CMT. I am only 38, but I've been transcribing for almost 20 years now and used to have to look every word up in a dictionary and didn't have Google or electronic spell checks to help me do my job. I feel like I should already be a CMT and not have to take the test.
I also think the line rates are very low here lately especially for acute care work that requires evenings and weekends. I know this profession is 24/7, but all MTs deserve more than 7 cpl to work nights and weekends as in any other profession, there is a shift diff that pays.
As far as the ist at the end of my title, I don't mind. A transcriber, in my opinion, sounds more like the name of a machine or office equipment. The ist I feel is derived from the term specialist, so add what you like before the ist and that's what you get; it is not belittling and definitely not feminine when you consider how many male physicians there are in society today. Furthermore, I'd take a male dictator over a female any day of the week.
Okay, I'm done... for whoever cares... 
This is the only profession ......
that the longer you are in it and the more experienced you are, the less you get paid.
If you are in this profession you have to
accept them, they are part of it whether you like it or not, or as you say - get out.
MTs getting out of the profession
I agree with that assessment. My local technical college is discontinuing their MT program because of the changes being made. So what is going to happen is that there is going to be a huge paucity of qualified people who can accurately transcribe and edit the few remaining necessary functions that they now perform and they will then be at a premium and the price will go up. Then once the medical providers figure out that the way they keep records (EMR point and click and VR), while they may be expedient and cheap, are not living up to the hype and hence will get them into trouble legally (due to sloppy entries and slipshod data entry by the physicians themselves), they will reassess the need for those in our profession and go looking for us again. Perhaps we will be there but probably not.
Ditto. I stopped even reading the company board recently
I could not even get through the conversations to the real information on companies. I come here to be informed and to be supportive, but it has gotten tiring going through the constant redundant arguing. I almost gave coming here but it is part of my day. I just come here less now.
to have a real profession
So before you going calling anyone dumb.... think about just how skilled you aren't. MQ'ER move along.
Don't let this sour you on this profession. sm
There are great companies out there and horrible ones. What was horrible for you might be a good fit for someone else.
the problem with this profession..
is..... it is very ill defined. nothing is measured, nothing is objective, at least consistently. 7 cpl is equal to 10 cpl somewhere else. a few examples. people don't say they are acute care MTs to annoy you, there are a million different scenarios and a whole lot of jargon being thrown around, and i guess i'd be wondering what a person is called that does acute care but no ops. a whole half a company where i work are like that. so.. uh...see. every scenario is different... which is a major part of the problem.
but, in response to your note, i disagree with a whole lot of it, and it's due mainly to what i say above. i chose to work at home because i dont want to work at an office so i am sure as heck not interested in turning this environment into the very thing i left.
any, may i submit to you, and many others speaking in these forums.... it's fine to express opinions; it's not heard with much regard when it is touted as fact. you see divas. i see an industry of people who have been taken advantage of like no other. there is no accountability from the doctor, the hospital, or the MTSO... it all runs down hill to the MT. laws are blatantly ignored and policies rarely written with any definition. if you want to compare the way we work to traditional offices, when was the last time you worked at an office where you worked 10 hours to get in 8, and you only got paid for some of the work, but not all. it's come to be the norm here.
some heavy duty revamping needs to take place... and i'm working on it. everyone put their thinking caps on about what's really at the root of these problems, and stop arguing for crying out loud. never seen so many arguers in my life. it's apples and oranges that everyone is arguing over.... little bites of fact taken out of context. no big picture.
i will be back over the next few months to hear them. let's get down and serious and fix this chaos. look underneath what got you ramped up.. the ramping isn't valuable, but figuring out what is driving it is. i say we start a revolution.
You are a traitor to this profession.
What you are doing is the reason why MTs are in the fix they're in. You are selling US out for profit. Pray tell, how do you plan to ensure patient confidentiality in the jungle?
I would! This profession is all but dead
@
If we were men, I seriously doubt our profession
nm
that is why the profession is swirling sm
around the toilet bowl because no one will stand up and tell the truth about these companies AND the ones who do stand up and tell the truth get blasted. Hey, if no one wants to list and wants to sit back and watch it happen without a fight, then don't gripe when its over!
The nosedive this profession took was because
meaningless little spats and email wars between MTs.
Or you could choose to look for a different profession, sm
where you are not so demoralized that you feel (jokingly or not) that you are a victim.
Do you really think that this profession requires MORE than others? sm
Come on, nurses, teachers, most other *professions* have to keep CEs updated, etc. Wages are stagnant in *most* fields right now, not just this one.
If you feel like a victim, find something that makes you happier and feel empowered. That's not anything but truth.
A disgrace to the profession???
Years and years ago before I had much experience I took a job for 6.5 cpl. I had no choice. However, it was an easy clinic account that I could do 1800-2000 lines a day. I only worked 30 hours a week so the $16 - $18 an hour was not bad back then. The same would be true today for a newbie. It may be the only thing they can get until they gain more actual working experience. Kidding right? - Do you remember being a newbie? They are a disgrace to the profession? Could it be perhaps that you are the MT who keeps going from board to board, posting under different aliases, and just dogging anyone's post that you can. What kind of witch hunt are you on? YOU are calling someone a disgrace to the profession?
VR, Transcend, MT profession, etc. Long msg
Difficult as it will be, it's time we, as a profession, unite and put our collective foot down on this crap. We are quickly running out of time to be able to do anything about this stuff, and this may, in fact, be our last shot at making a difference. Therefore, my suggestion for those being replaced by a technology that still can't even do the work without our help is to immediately look for work with other companies that are not yet going to strictly editing positions through VR, and do it quickly and as a mass exit. Any company experiencing a mass exit like that I don't think can survive it. There are a lot of companies looking for good, experienced transcriptionists, so the time is right for making an immediate move. Such a move will send the message that giving our work away is synonymous with losing accounts. By watching the aftershock of such a response from the MTs, other companies will hopefully think twice about following the same path.
The point is, if we don't strike a plan and do something, and quick, we are all going to be looking for another line of work anyway. My position is, if the doctors want to use VR, then get it right. If I am going to have to hang back in the wings and fix it for them for less pay and longer hours, then my answer to that is, no thanks; do it yourself. The point is, of course, at least for right now, they can't do it themselves and don't have the time to do it even if they could. This is the best opportunity any of us will have to make a stand (and a statement) while keeping the pain we individually experience as a result at a minimum. Test for another company and move on as quickly as you can. If a company engaging in this cut-throat activity gives no notice (as the posts suggest happened in the case with Transcend concerning wage and work cuts), then don't feel obligated to give any notice that you are leaving. If you are working for a company that is considering such a move in the future and has stated as much, then make plans to move on right now, and when you have secured another position, let them know you are leaving and why.
You can't wait on this. Don't give them time to figure anything out. Just leave them high and dry the way they eventually intend to do you (us). They're doing what they are doing because they want to be richer. You'll be doing what you do because you need to survive and put food on the table. BIG DIFFERENCE!!
The results will be that the other companies that are looking for good help will get all that they need, which will make their accounts happier because TAT is being met like never before. In turn, the companies that experience such a mass exit will have their accounts looking around for a new home because of the backlog that develops, and that in turn will cost them money rather than such a move having made them money as originally thought. And, where do you suppose those fleeing accounts will have to go? To companies that are well staffed because they don't take their MTs for granted. This will give such companies a big boost economically, which will be yet further incentive to maintain a happy work force and not be willing to cut the throats of their work force when it comes to work availability.
This will not prevent VR from continuing to progress and develop, but it will stop the tide that is beginning to take shape and perhaps even shift it once the doctors and the companies realize that, if they are going to use it, they are on their own because we will not help them put us out of work. The technology is still not to the point where it can stand on its own yet, so those that would see MTs out of work will have to rethink their position for the time being, and that in turn will give our profession more time to find a way to organize and make a permanent stand for the benefit of our own self-preservation as an industry. They're slowly pulling the rug out from under us, and we are just standing here letting them do it because we don't see how there is anything we can do about it. But there is something we can do. We just have to buck up and do it.
Don't tell me this is idealistic either. That's all I have heard from fellow MTs when it comes to making any kind of a stand. It's only idealistic because you aren't willing to do what it takes to change it. If we stand together and refuse to go along with this, these companies will have to rethink their position. If we wait until they are in a position to survive without us, then they will do just that. Either way, we're all going to be out of a profession anyway, so why not make a stand right now while there's a chance it could make a difference, especially when there is still work to be had in this field with other companies that have not yet sold us out. 
Well if you've seen the profession erode so much,
That's one of the biggest eroders! And you act as thought the AAMT only does what its membership wants. Bull hoggy!! It does whatever it darn well feels like doing--whatever will line its pockets!
I have 10 years in this profession and have a different viewpoint
I started out with a small MTSO doing clinic only and got bored after 5 years so struck out on my own after waiting out a hostile takeover by that big bully company and the clinic going back to original group. I then learned just how unstable this business can be. In the next 3 years had my own hospital accounts and worked for about 4 nationals - had very good experiences. I then QA'd for a very stable company who decided to get out of the MT business and sold their accounts to a company who had their own editors. For 4 months I looked for a stable company, I tested and interviewed and made comparisons. You would not in your wildest imagination believe what is out there - I kid you not. I will not go into all the horrible details - you can either believe me or not. But some of the posters have real valid points here and I for one appreciate their comments. I take the good with the bad - realizing there are some sour grapes but that is to be expected. All and all I think there is a pretty good and caring support system here and I appreciate it very much! :)
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