January 1st doomsday

In my opinion, from the 2nd conference call MDI has no clue what will happen with our pay and schedules come January 1st.  Seems like they would have asked Trascend about their pay scale, etc. but it appears they have no answers to those questions at this time (or they don't want to tell us).

• January 1st doomsday - SadMDIer
  • IMO they certainly know what that ... sm - We'll see
    • From one who's been there, done that... - CrankyBeach
    • Exactly my thoughts/question about falling below 900 for one month - not hopeeful
    • I agree - flowerchild
  • I agree - not hopeful
  • I usually try to give the benefit of the doubt, - sm
  • Yeah, but - Bummed out

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This is the normal situation during the holidays and January and then accounts usually pick back up.  It was that way when I worked in a hospital, that way when I had my own accounts and that way now that I work for a service.  It always picks up.

My husband and son are both in construction for the State of Illinois, working in concrete.  We know that they are always laid off for most of the winter, and we plan around it.  It is part of the job, just like it is in transcription.

Next year,  we're going to be smart about it.  We are both slow at this time of year so we are planning a vacation somewhere warm.  We'll spend on vacation what we'll save on our heating bills, not really but will save something, and on gas in our cars. 

In the next few months, these same people will complain that they have too much work and no time to do anything. 

If you have ever seen VR in action, you would realize it will definitely NOT eliminate the need for quality MTs.  I don't think we are dead yet and VR is a fact of life.  I have worked on a VR account and I made the same pay in the end as I did with straight typing.  The win-win is the MT can usually make the same amount of money and the company gets a huge jump in total production.  The big fear should be that greedy CEOs will think it's an even better deal to send the VR work off-shore because it's "easier."  Are they going to pay us our measly 4 cpl or send it overseas and pay 1 cpl or less.  Our goal really should be to write our representatives asking that they sponser bills banning shipping confidential medical information overseas.  As vocal as some of you folks are, you should really be able to help move that along.  Everyone may not always appreciate what you have to say, but at least you are willing to speak out.   

It shows that they are taking out SS.  At the end of the year am I going to find out they didn't.   If they didn't.  Were is that money going? 

Is that what is going on.  They show that they are taking out and people are finding out that they didn't? 

You have every right to feel paranoid and betrayed.  That is exactly how I felt.  My employer, knew well in advance that they were going to outsource the entire department and yet our supervisor told us in a meeting that they were looking at outside services for overflow work only and that we should not be worried, our jobs were safe.

I was worried and said as much to the other MTs at the Christmas party.  Some agreed with me, but others said there was no way this hospital would even consider outsourcing transcription.  The doctors would hate it and complain. 

Next thing you know, we get an email saying in lieu of our quarterly department meeting, we were going to be scheduled for one on one meetings with the boss.  The first person went in and came back home, emailed us and said guess what, we're fired.  It was horrible, horrible, horrible!  I know that management knew months before that this was in the works.  They knew at our last meeting when they looked us in the eyes and told us not to worry. 

They acted like we should be grateful that the service that had decided to go with was offering us all jobs.  We went from hourly with incentive and excellent benefits to per line, crappy benefits, and facing the possibility of working on other accounts because ours kept running out which meant low production which meant a pay cut.

I refused to go with the service.  Maybe I'm too prideful or too bitter, but I couldn't do it, especially since the service they went with offshores.  So I channeled my bitterness into making it known to the community that their beloved community hospital was now offshoring medical info to India.  I wrote letters to all the local papers, had an interview with a local reporter, and put the hospital administrator on the hot seat for a while because he kept having to talk to the papers telling them he requested his hospital's work not be offshored.

They will not soon forget me and that helped me get over it.  Now, I'm working as an Editor and love it.  I've moved on, but as you can see, I still have bad memories. 

You have every right to feel the way you do and you should be very cautious whatever you decide.  I will never be lured into a false sense of security ever again.  I have come to realize there is no job security in transcription anymore. 

Hope everything works out for you!

in the U.S. by summer along with the QA team.  Come May, I was canned along with a bunch of other QA and management people.  Strange dontcha think?  Now they are singing the same tune to a different audience.  See ya at the unemployment office...