Peace will guide the planets! Finally! nm
Posted By: MSMT on 2009-02-12
In Reply to: OK everybody, put your peasant blouses or Neru - jackets on, stick flowers in your hair and go outs
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thank you, Mrs. Peace
It's about time! It's unfortunate that NN couldn't pass a single post without saying something negative, but I still think your gesture is wonderful!
I have enjoyed my day! I love my field! I love my job WITH OSI! I am grateful and blessed!
Thank you, Mrs. Peace! I hope you had a bright and wonderful day!
God's peace to you. . .
and to all of your followers; you need it.
Use TurboTax and it will guide you... excellent
..
Conversation with AHDI, or War is Peace
This is a conversation I had with Karen Fox of AHDI via e-mail back in September of 2007, back when I still (naively) thought that AAMT/AHDI was on my side. (I didn't know they were giving special discounts to Indian CMT test-takers!) This is verbatim other than to reverse the order, so you don't have to read it from the bottom up, & the elimination of a couple of names in order to protect my employer.
****
ME: I'm looking for a position statement on offshoring somewhere on the site & not seeing it. Can you direct me? What is AHDI doing to protect MTs from this?
***
KF: Hi. Where are you from? Do you have a phone number where you can be reached? I have class today so I must focus on transcribing right now but I would be happy to discuss the international transcription topic at a time that is convenient for you.
***
ME: I live in California. Offshoring is such a huge issue, one that is affecting every MT & has recently affected me directly. I'm not seeing how AAMT is intervening in any way. Is there something AAMT, or I guess it's AHDI now, has published that will tell me how the dues that are paid in are going toward remedying this? It's funny. When I first started investigating becoming an MT I thought VR would the biggest threat to continuing a career as a transcriptionist. I thought I was way ahead of the game by knowing about this trend & decided that if I thought it was threatening me in any way I would sign on with a company that used it & become an editor. Once I saw how reluctant doctors are to make any sort of change (evidenced by the number still using cassette tapes) I figured I would be out of danger for the time I expected to be working as an MT. But now there's an even bigger threat, one that I did not see or know about until I was already working as an MT: offshore MTs lined up around the world willing to do my job for 2 or 3 cents a line. I can't compete with that & am working my way out of transcription altogether. I work for an MTSO and am paid relatively well by MT standards, but recently the account I work on decided they wanted to have the work done more cheaply & so gave over a huge chunk of the work to ..... who offshores to India. In order to keep her share of the work my boss, the MTSO owner, had to try to underbid them. She has managed to keep her staff by basically eating the difference, but it's only a matter of time before she can't do this & will have to pass the pay cut on to us, & I don't want to be around when that happens.
I'd like to know, though, what AHDI thinks about all this & what kind of lobbying they are doing, especially with the UCSF debacle a few years back having made HIPAA something of a household word. I'm looking at the AHDI website & any reference to any of this is glaringly absent, unless I'm just missing something obvious or am not looking in the right place. If you could send me the link to a position statement I'd be happy to read it.
I do see:
- Patient safety and continuity of care through documentation standards designed to ensure and protect the integrity of patient health data.
- Consistent, secure and confidential capture of, management of, and access to patient health data
- Workforce development in allied health that will ensure resource longevity in healthcare documentation
- Establishment of a national health technology infrastructure to address patient safety, continuity of care, and healthcare delivery costs.
*...address healthcare delivery costs???????????* The entire focus of these 4 bullets seems to be protection of the medical documents, protection of the public, protection of the doctors. I'm not really seeing how the MT is being protected in all this, & it leaves me wondering whose side AHDI is actually on.
******
KF: You make some very valid observations and echo what other transcriptionists around the country have experienced. Right now, the real numbers are showing that international transcription is absorbing no more than 5% of the total dictation volume generated by the US healthcare system.
******
ME: How do you arrive at this?
******
KF: The position that AHDI has taken is to endorse that international transcriptionists must meet the same high expectations of transcription accuracy and standards as we expect and get from a vast portion of our domestic workforce.
****
ME: This is ridiculous. All it says is that doctors will now get Pakistani transcription equal in quality to that of a US Transcriptionist and still pay 3 cents a line. If the yearly cost of living for someone in a 3rd-world country is something around what I make in a month, there is no way I am going to be able to compete, & if all you do is raise their standards, you still have not raised their cost of living. They still have an incredible margin with which to outbid American companies.
*****
KF: Another reality is that international transcription has created a huge market for transcription editors and higher QA expectations much like speech recognition has. We have also discussed international transcription in our legislative interactions as many of our state and national policy makers have no clue we have international transcriptionists. I have attached a joint statement made back in 2004 when the UCSF transcription issue made headlines. At that time, Senator Figeroa wanted to close down the California border and not allow any transcription to be performed outside of the state. This was not a practical response. The fact is – we are a global economy. Add to that, if you want to limit international transcription so must you limit outsourcing transcription,...
*****
ME: why? Why is it necessary to limit outsourcing within the US as well? I'm not seeing the connection.
*****
KF: ...outsourcing being a primary source of transcription employment for a huge portion of our members, either as a home-based employees or as independent contractors, some using subcontractors.
*****
ME: I don't see how these are related. Outsourcing within the US should be fine for anyone. Outsourcing outside the US should not be. You seem to be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
*****
KF: What we can ask for is full disclosure of where the transcription is being performed – we have those rules in place; they just need to be enforced. What we can ask for is for our domestic MTs to raise the bar and become credentialed to meet the work force need.
*****
ME: I became a CMT but did not renew, for quite a few reasons. My MS in physiology means more to my employer than a CMT. I can teach most of the courses required to renew, & I am so busy living from paycheck to paycheck, I don't have time to write down the literally hundreds of pages of surgical technique on equipment manufacturers' websites that I have read cover to cover, or the e-Medicine account I maintain to read in-depth accounts on every medical condition I come across, or even the MS Word users' websites I frequent in order to become ultra-skilled at MS word. Besides which, at this point I don't really want to support AAMT. I really do feel that your position is completely lukewarm and not representative of your actual constituency, the MTs.
*****
KF: We may not be able to compete on price or on Turn Around Time but we can compete in the arenas of skill and knowledge and show how that skill and knowledge can actually save companies money in the long run.
A bigger threat to our industry and most importantly patient care (after all, that is the business we are in is to provide the highest quality documentation that affords excellent patient safety and care and lower risk management issues) ...
*****
ME: That's the business I am in, definitely. And as an MT it's the business you are in. But as an AAMT representative, it's not the business you are in...
*****
KF: ...besides international transcription is the input from point-and-click technologies, clinician data input with no editing prior to finals being signed, speech recognition reports with no editing before finals, the merged electronic health record that may exponentially repeat a medical error that is now currently housed in one institution in one paper document, an EHR that contains no narrative that affects clinical decision making – these things are a focus of our association and its leaders as far as how to secure a place for the knowledge-based transcriptionist in the healthcare documentation domain.
*****
ME: AAMT's business was, or so I thought, to represent MTs. Liability-wise, it's the doctor's responsibility to ensure the quality of the document in terms of whether s/he chooses to use a point-and-click technology. If they have made an informed decision as to the limitations, there's nothing you or I or anyone else should be able to do about it. If you mean helping them to make an informed decision, then great, but again, it sounds like you have jumped some sort of fence. You are trying to satisfy too many factions & in the end will satisfy no one. I know many, many MTs who have nothing but negative things to say about AAMT specifically because of the lukewarm stances it takes on the issues MTs are most concerned with.
*a focus of our association and its leaders.* What does this mean? That you think about it a lot? I'm not sure how these ideas are translating into action. Do you lobby the AMA? What is the action associated with these ideas?
*****
KF: You mention a focus on the profession versus a focus on the MT needs. This is intentional and while it may feel unfair to the working MT,...
*****
ME: It does indeed. It feels like a form of bait & switch, & it's the reason I & so many others don't really want to be associated with AAMT anymore. Did you ever read Orwell's Animal Farm? AAMT reminds me of the pig. (I'm not saying that to be mean, I'm talking about the actual character.) The pig started out representing the masses & got enough power to rise above & became part of the very thing the masses needed help overcoming. This feels exactly like what has happened to the original organization.
*****
KF: ...another vision includes the broader picture of where MTs fall in the stream of the healthcare client (institutions and the patient) and providing patient care; ensuring we have a place at the table of decision makers and a hook to hang our industry hat on and continue performing our craft. The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) – Capturing America's Healthcare Story is committed to development of a professional association poised to impact heath data technology and patient safety and risk management and ensure our industry is a part of the transition into the next age of healthcare and health information exchange.
All of those things may not solve your individual circumstance and I understand that is very frustrating. I truly believe there will be a pendulum swing in the advent of international transcription when companies start really looking at how many times the report must be touched in order for it to be a final product and I think the cost factors will eventually blur. We are going to see a continued increase in documentation and an even higher demand from the client/consumer for accurate and complete records – hopefully with a human interface. We are already seeing some backlash from some the technology in place, point and click and doctor-input narratives, as the physicians are reading the final reports 3 months later upon patient followup and realizing the mistakes and gross medical errors that are contained within that any transcriptionist worth their salt would have caught and changed. We have made MDs look good for a long, long period of time. The pendulum may need to swing around a bit before it comes back to our court but I think in many instances, this is already happening.
I empathize with the plight of your account and the company you work through. You are not alone in losing accounts to international or just larger MTSOs or technology such as speech recognition or electronic input mechanisms. Hopefully you will continue to see value in what the association does on your behalf.
*****
ME: Continue is not the right word to use here, Karen. I really have not seen what the association does on my behalf for some time, & although I really appreciate the time you have taken to lay all this out, I'm not seeing it now.
*****
KF: While it may not be the blatant denouncement of internal transcription you were hoping for, perhaps I have given you some other ideas to consider and you will support me and your California and AHDI leaders in the cause.
*****
ME: Actually, no. What I think, (& I'm saying this in the most fervent, democratic, question-authority voice possible) is that I'm hearing a lot of political double-talk, the likes of which would make anyone in Washington proud, & I don't mean that in a good way.
*****
KF: In California my primary goal is to build an apprenticeship program in this state so that we can provide a real answer to our workforce need; providing qualified domestic MTs to include those in our military spouse program via the community colleges in California. As Legislative Issues Group chair, another primary purpose I try to achieve is to educate our members nationally so they can tell their unique stories, such as the one you have shared with me, with their elected officials so that ultimately we can have educational programs that invest in this viable career option in allied health much like the international countries are doing and so much more.
*****
ME: It actually feels like not only are you not denouncing international transcription, it seems like the organization now sees itself as some kind of Peace Corps of transcription. I'm not getting where you think an *answer to a workforce need* is any kind of issue. The MT schools are pouring out newbies. Supply is not the problem; in fact, it's quite the opposite, which is the exact reason it's so hard for MTs to make a living. It's because the supply is so abundant that companies can bid each other down to 4, 5, 6 cents a line & still get resumes.
*****
KF: I hope some day to meet you. I live in San Diego but I travel extensively throughout California so maybe we can visit face to face one day. Please let me know if you have further questions and I will be happy to try and answer them.
*****
ME: I think, in truth, that I feel utterly betrayed by AAMT & I'm on my way out of this profession. If you want an earful on what prompted me to write this letter to you in the first place, go to http://forum.mtstars.com/main/v/1/88501.html.
Thanks for your time, Karen.
******
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Peace Corps of transcription. LOL! That
was THE BOMB!! Thanks so much for sharing. We need to be recognized for the highly intelligent and eloquent professionals that we are, and you nailed it! By the way, I canceled my membership as well a while back. Thanks for the great read. Also reminded me that one can never read Animal Farm too many times. The Pig - that was SO great, too. Oh, the burn, yet you did it so honestly and sincerely. Off to read it again! 
Did you find a "style guide?"
I have received no answered to my concerns. There are things that are required that differ from the norm for transcribing. Again, it is unfair to require us to be technicians as well as skilled MTs.
wouldn't her lawyer guide here on that? NM
Z
Passed in Feb 2008-CMT Review Guide
Humans require a leader to guide us.
Or we can lead the pack...if we have leadership qualities recognized by our peers.
I'm on Peace River, Shasta and Carolina Pines. Too much work!!. NM
nm
Yes, I finally did.
Very, very small local company. I'm crossing my fingers that this will be my home for awhile. It's been a difficult journey trying to find some place that did what they said they were going to do, doesn't offshore and has enough work.
FINALLY!
Finally someone saying how pathetic it is to see those types of posts and them not take it off the board! I posted one like that a few months ago and the "board patrol" wiped it off here that day!
You are correct. So many of the people act like teenagers on this board that I have found myself coming here less and less. It's no fun to sit and listen to griping, complaining, cussing, and down right rudeness on here all time time.
We should be coming here to get away from that! Let's party! Have fun! Be happy!!!!
Finally...
I applaud you. The others need to pay attention. I give you A+ for what you said. That was well said.
YEA - SOMEONE finally GETS IT!!!
do you think they are finally (sm)
doing what most others are doing in being so cautious to meet the TAT that there is not enough work to go around? Wondering...
FINALLY!!!
This is a refreshing change. Thank you SO MUCH for not being all doom and gloom like the rest. Its nice to hear that there is a glimmer of hope out there.
PS... We probably don't hear from MTs like you very much because you're actually out there working instead of here (like me) transcribing my thoughts for free.
Hip-hip Hooray, finally
someone explains exactly what is happening at MQ even at ST.Louis office. They put so many people on the accounts, you get switched back and forth from account to account. It is feast or famine in a way. During my scheduled shift, which they asked for, there was no work. If I was willing to switch accounts daily and multiple, and sit on the computer and wait for work, I could make the line count, but I had to sit and wait and watch when the work was available. This was ridiculous.
I finally learned
after three months of lies and late paychecks I quit. Great docs, but if you can't get your money, it doesn't really matter. Don't do it!
FINALLY THE TRUTH ABOUT OSI
About a year ago one of the owners, Andy Renfroe was speaking for all of the owners and sent a companywide email after OSi got caught sending work to India. This is a portion of the email that he sent to OSI employees, and this is why people quit and are still quitting OSI in droves - because OSI never admitted this until they got caught! This is the truth and you can take it with a grain of salt if you want to.
I always did. I finally left. nm
nm
RAD MTS-good pay finally
Just got put on an acct for 9 cents per gross line plus $1.00 per report, did not know how it would work out because by other account pays 14.5 cpl. Well, let me tell you I am making 10-13 dollars more per hour, what about that!!!!
They finally did pay me Friday
Well I finally did get all my pay, minus the western union fees. But what it took me to get it was almost not worth it.
OK finally an answer!
Well I guess you realize you've just identified yourself...
From what I can see you are upset about 50 lines a day; 1/2 of 1% 0.50%. Yes that adds up over a payperiod, but it's still a small difference.
How many lines did you lose doing all this posting? :) kidding.
It's up to you how much you stress over this, but you may see conspiracy here when all it is an internal calculation that doesn't count a signature line for example - where your counters do.
Is it really outside the realm of possibility that there is no intent to defraud here?
finally quit!
just quit my job yesterday and a weight has been lifted. I had been experiencing a lot of issues in the past 6 months and finally thought to my self, I've had enough!
I finally did leave!
Paradise has been found right here in my own back yard. Actually, it was always there, I just needed to kick myself in the arse to make the move back there...so glad I did....like you have no idea how glad! I actually LOVE my job again. Small MTSO, lovely ladies, not too bad pay, and the best part is the the mental anguish has completely disappeared.
I feel so badly for the people still trapped there. There are some fantastic people there who deserve so much better but, like me, have to stay because, well, you gotta do what you gotta do. If I still had to carry insurance for my husband, I'd still be there, pissin' and moanin' and growing more bitter day by day.
My faith in home-based medical transcription has been restored and yes, I feel rejuvenated and back to my old self again. Thanks for askin!
Thanks KS MT...she told me 2/1 so hopefully it will finally be 3/1..otherwise, I will just (sm)
have to drop mine until I find a plan on my own. I just can't afford over $500 per month anymore.
finally someone who knows what they are talking about
wow!
Thanks to both of you for the support. I *think* I am finally done with the Q...sm
after spending a productive day with potential employers.
I'm just afraid someone is going to pinch me and wake me up from my dream of finally escaping.
Finally...somebody..Bingo. Thank you cm... NM
x
finally, someone else who feels the
way that I do. We are all human beings with feelings and deserve to be treated as such. Thank you.
Finally someone speaks up for the MTs...sm
and tells it like it is. It's sad that the MTs, who are the mainstay of the transcription business, consistently get the brown end of the stick. MTSOs and QAs are the only ones that have a right to make a living, right? Our kids deserve to eat 3 meals a day, just like theirs do. The busy MTSO and the QA who thinks filling in blanks or looking something up is beneath him/her needs to wake up. Since when is their time better than ours?
She must have run away finally..what a loon...nm
xx
Hahaha! I think she finally got it...She
should have exited with a formidable
'I screwed up'....LOL,
same with 'deenibeeni' !
The ax finally falls at TT
Email went out today that everyone is now being asked to make speech editing a part of our daily routine! Stated traditional is now the exception and not the rule anymore and we must all move in the same direction to remain competitive.
This was the LAST thing I wanted to hear, but I sure knew it was coming judging by the way work has dwindled compared to what was available a year ago, whether it be holidays or the middle of the year. I have no desire whatsoever to move towards speech and I am very upset knowing I have to. It is not that I am against trying it, I have just gathered the opinion from this board that more than not do not like it and do not make as much money. I absolutely cannot afford to take a cut in my paycheck in these times.
Not even 1 hour later came another email touting the great responses and lots of them! Well, everyone at TT already knew they could try speech at any time...so why wait until today to inquire if they were so excited?
Good day gone bad for me....
I'm glad someone else finally said this...
It seems in some ways as if TT will hire just about ANYBODY. I too have been shocked at the quality of the transcription from some of the other TT MTs. TT just doesn't pay that well, either. I do like the people in the office. They are very nice. But, unfortunately, nice won't pay my bills.
FINALLY, offshoring to take a hit.
 Did anyone see the news conference this morning where the administration is going after the offshore companies? No more tax credits/loop holes for sending OUR jobs overseas. Yay, yay, yay! Now, maybe we can finally turn things around.
Finally, someone with a bit of sense about her
I am glad someone figured this out. You bottom lined it, out of a job, life is going on for the company as before.
I am finally working with KS after 4 times
of tyring to get the hiring process completed. I have to say that I am not at all impressed. I'm glad they don't hassle you but they need to make sure someone is trained properly. I have not received any kind of feedback at all so I supoose I must be doing okay; however, no mention has been made to continue my training after asking several times for a more "proper" training.
I give up! I'm looking AGAIN as I quit my old job, of 3 years, to work for KS. Guess I should have listened to the posts more closely! Live and learn I guess.
Finally found something decent sm
10 cpl weekdays and 14 cpl weekends, YES!!!!! what company you may ask, email me privately, she is in need of at least 3 MTs.
Heartland is finally bought...
Spheris purchases Heartland Information Services... more to come later this week
Gone too. Finally, after long wait.
Too much BS. Either tons of emails, work, work, work for your incentive, not that you EVER see it in your paycheck. Send emails and get your ticket, automatic response, and never an answer from anyone who should answer. Pays promised one day and delivered 4 days later. Done with it and glad to be leaving. Poor management, poor communication, if any, and poor everything. RUN.
FINALLY..A POSITIVE NOTE!!!
I really appreciate this post. There are always two sides of the coin in EVERY profession. I worked in the health insurance industry for 10 years and you always had people that loved it or hated it. MT is no exception. I, personally, enjoy my job as an MT. I'm saving a heck of a lot of money in gas from not having to drive back and forth to an office, work clothes, stress from working in an office in among catty, back-stabbing coworkers, and the list goes on and on. I work for a company that is fair, flexible, keeps me busy, stays off my back, pays me well, and always pays on time. I'm learning new things every day. I schedule MY day as I see fit. At this point, I would not trade that for anything...well, except maybe to come into a large sum of money and never have to work again. LOL! 
Finally a positive post about MT.
I love this job and profession. Yes, things do change, but so does everything else. Change is the only constant in life. I have raised my 3 children and was home with them. I bought the farm that I now live in in a very rural area, the dream of my lifetime, and could not do it if I did not do MT. But because I do and I work at home, I can live anywhere as long as I have electricity and high-speed DSL. I have direct deposit. I don't have to pay 3 bucks a gallon to get to work. I will stay in this profession until the day I retire. I get to be home with my disabled husband, pets, and see my granddaughter when I want, as long as I okay time off with my employer.
For me, this is a GREAT JOB and I love it.
No doom and gloom here.
Thanks! Finally, some good news
.
Congress is jumping in (finally)
Claiming the FDA has been slow to act on this CRISIS!
People criticize activists like PETA all the time, but they have been warning about this issue for a long time.
Apparently people only start to pay attention to (activists) when an issue hits home...
I'm finally on, but now cannot send reports. :(
n
Curious to know what you're finally fed up about. :)
x
Thanks for FINALLY answering the question
.
Thank you TS MT. Finally a response from a current ....sm
Transolutions MT. Thank you for your opinion on their QA. I really don't have any problems with QA from any company - like you said it's part of the job for us to know all that - definitely agree. The QA person I deal with now at MQ is pretty tough but have never had any issues with her.
Do you know anything at all about how the tuition reimbursement works though over there at TS?
TIA.
Hayseed - Did you finally leave the big D?
xx
okay, your emails finally came and I responded
x
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