Should I go from national to small company?
Posted By: Undecided on 2007-10-09
In Reply to:
Hello. I am sure many have asked this same thing before, just looking for a rooting section to feel better about this. I currently work for a national. With many changes, not feeling like a person, production sinking, morale gone, on and on and on... I decided to seek PT position with a smaller company. So, I found a second company. They are small, but growing. The director is a former MT. They currently have about 100 MTs. The pay is very standard at 8 cents. Their platform is slowing me down a bit, but they say they are working on upgradiing it. Their communication and personal attention to me has been excellent. I have 1 dictator. I see what work is coming in and have 20 hours to get it done.
Is the small company too good to be true? Being burnt from national, I am finding it hard to grasp that this really could be this good. sure, the pay isn't as great..it is an IC position, rather than employee...but I am not stuck with God knows what work, changing all the time...and I am heard and appreciated.
Do I just bite the bullet and transition the small company into full-time and do the national PT? Any comments, suggestions, etc would be appreciated!
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Small national
Try - www.milnertranscriptionservices.com
14.5 cpl National, 16.0 cpl small MTSO
Happy, both accounts are California accounts which is a higher pay!!!!
Small national companies
I'm trying to find a new company and it is way more involved than I thought. Earlier I asked about larger companies. What are some of the smaller companies that people work for, say not more than 200 MTs?? Thanks for your replies!!
WEBMEDX???? It's a small national, right? Benefits, running out of work, what kind of accounts,
flexible schedule (as in working EVERY weekend mandatory?
Any opinions on the company would be appreciated. Found some in the archives but all mostly from 2004 and 1 recent post but not much info. Thanks.
I work for a small national. I have steady work, usually
extra if I want it. I make 10 cpl as an employee, get vacation, 401K matching, PTO, wonderful QA, lots of ESL dictators but mostly decent ones, direct deposit, no IM, no nasty e-mails, no phone calls asking me to work extra day after day. Saying that MTs are surprised at how much money they make because they have steady work even though the line rate is low sounds like a line a used car salesman would use. A low line rate is a low line and an insult, especially since without the MTs you wouldn't be able to pay your bills.
Just because everyone else sees to be going to India is like the saying you parents would say if everyone else jumped off the bridge .... Many companies sell out, but you don't HAVE to sell out. You choose to get more bang from your buck but I've seen the work that comes back from overseas and I would never put my name to it.
You might can fool some of the people some of the time, but it won't fly with me.
I work for a small national and use FTP, also work for
a small local and use a website. If you check the job boards you'll see lots of companies use FTP.
national company
I have been with a national for about a year - was on one account for about 6 months - then all of a sudden the work load dropped and then was told the hospital went another direction. I waited it out for a month, as they told us that they would place us on other accounts - they finally did - now some of us are being moved to another account - which I don't mind - other than the downtime in learning it - and this is supposed to be helping out another service. I learned today that the reason they lost the first account that I transcribed was because they outsourced it to India and the hospital had specifically had in their contract that their work was not to be outsourced. Why would a company take that kind of risk - and then lose a very large account? Plus lose good transcriptionists who could not wait a month to be reassigned to another account? I now have spoken with the company who has my original account and hopefully will be hired. They know I worked the account for 6 months, so I could just pick up where I left off. How many nationals do this, though, contract for US work and then outsource? I also heard of a company who is hiring only editors to QA and edit work coming back directly from India - now that is a job I want nothing to do with.
Must be a small company. I have never talked to the owner of the company I work for. sm
He wouldn't have time. Why would someone talk directly to the MTSO? Most do not know (or care) about the details just the big picture.
Would a national company hire me?
I have several years experience working for a very prominent healthcare institution doing acute care, clinic, and hospital dictation in every specialty and subspecialty imaginable. We were never assigned accounts, so my exposure to all of the specialties and dictation by hundreds of physicians at our institution was extensive throughout the years.
Over two years ago I had to take employer-paid disability and have yet to return to work. I have hope with my latest treatment that I will be able to return to work soon and have contacted my MT department head, but did not hear back. Although my reviews were always exemplary, my attendance did suffer slightly prior to my taking disability. I say slightly only because I still attempted to work a portion of each day even while ill and the actual amount of days absent was not that high; however, working at a healthcare institution our attendance requirements are necessarily strict.
If my department head is unwilling to take me back into the department, I don't know what I'll do. I love MT, have great skills, am highly accurate, and don't want to give up on this career. If worse comes to worse and a position will not be available for me when I return to work, do you think a national company would hire me with over a two-year lapse in my work record?
Does anyone have any advice or ideas in this regard? I desire to stay with my current employer, but don't want to leave medical transcription. Thank you.
The biggest national MT company....nm
Anyone making more money with national company than (sm)
when you worked for a hospital, taking into account the benefit package you had with the hospital? If so, any explanation as to how you are doing better or worse would be much appreciated.
I've been with this company longer than any other national -sm
I think that says a lot in itself. I've also worked for Edix in the past and Medware. In comparing Precyse to those 2 companies, I feel it's better than Edix was because you do get paid for headings in the report, and you don't have to fish around for those headings either. (I thought that was such a waste of my time as well as an insult to my intelligence.) Of course, there's an upgrade coming up at Precyse, and I'll be sure to let everybody know if anything changes with that. I'm not on it yet, so I can't say.
And Medware, well, I'll just say that's probably a great company for people that don't have that much good experience, because otherwise they waste your time with a lot of things like that list of questions to answer and they send excessive QA feedback (very nitpicky feedback if you ask me) which Precyse doesn't do too much of. (Of course, they do send feedback though, don't get me wrong.) MW also forced me to work on too many different accounts on the weekend. Their way of catching up I guess, but not a good idea for anybody, quality and production-wise. So, if you've got a lot of good experience, really do work well independently, and don't mind having a few accounts, Precyse is a great place to be.
They pay on time and correctly. They offer some really good benefits. The PTO you're allowed to use right off the bat and you'd be surprised how fast it adds up. You can use that PTO any time with no questions asked, even if you didn't take any time off. I don't think it's unreasonable for them to ask for you to pick a schedule and adhere to it either. No professional should have a problem with that. I should mention you do need to type at least 5000 lines per week to keep full-time status and benefits. Of course they give a reasonable time when you're new to work up to that as well as if you start a new account. They really prefer 6000 which gets you a bonus.
Good luck to you with whatever you decide. And remember, if you don't like your supervisor, account or schedule, try asking for a change.
Does anyone what national company has been hired to handle...
ProHealth Care of Wisconsin hospitals. I heard that they have now changed to a national company to do all of their work for all their facilities.
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High insurance costs are a national problem, not just in MT. My husband's company sm
charges us $210.00 per paycheck for him, me and our 2 children. The deductible is $500, each visit costs us $25, prescriptions are $10 for generic and $25 for everything else. It is getting crazy everywhere.
Must be a small company
It is a small company. Sorry if you're not impressed with my work. It works for me. I could do over 1,000 if I wanted to, but this suits me. I have another part time job that supplies me with income also.
Not MDI-MD - they are a small company
x
small company
has anyone ever left a national company to work for a small company? just wondering if its a good choice to make.
A small company usually can't
afford to lose the people they have, so you might want to speak to your manager about this and see what, if anything, can be done. It can be as easy as removing the MT's ability to reject the jobs they don't want to do. Great way to kill morale.
Small company GREAT COMPANY
Axolotl is a WONDERFUL company with great benefits and competitive pay. We have maybe 100 MTs but are growing rapidly.
Same at small company in Ohio sm
I worked for. Owner did all the easy and templated work. I almost went broke working for them. Only paid 8 cpl and have awful accounts. You'd be lucky to get over $400 a week there. Expects people to work 15 to 18 hour days and both weekend days too.
Medtrans the best. Small company sm
but very professional, and pay is excellent & on time. Pay is by the minute or gross line - depends what account you are on.
Even if it is a legitimage company it is a small
company if they can't cover payroll. Your bank isn't going to wait for your mortgage payment until you get paid and I think the majority of us work for the money, not just to give us something to do with our spare time. Too big of a risk to take.
I work as an IC for a small company and
I have worked for nationals and always hated having hundreds of different doctors and all the different account specifics, and above all searching for the demographics that I didn't get paid for. Now I download from a FTP site, transcribe in Word and send it back within 24 to 48 hours (depending on the account). I currently have 3 different doctors that I am very comfortable with and can breeze through. I have no regrets about leaving the big nationals.
Big is Spheris, small is a company SM
with less than 10 accounts, mostly local to the company.
I also work as an IC for a small company
(without a contract too, so you are not alone, but working for me also). I just let my company know when I will be gone with plenty of notice (at least one month ahead of time), especially if I will be gone for an extended period such as a week or longer. Have never had any problems.
For a small company in NJ, not hiring right now though.
x
Not many posts cause small company
You didn't say if you interviewed for acute care or clinic. There is not much chatter on this board because Axolotl is a small company. About 20 to 25 acute care and 20 to 25 clinic MTs.
Your questions:
Platform: can be slow depending on your accounts
Incentives: none to speak of besides overtime
Benefits: comparable to good. Depends on what you need
Communication: Average
Flexibility: If you comit to working 7 am to 3 pm you better be there are 7 am. If you don't call in they might call you to find out where you are because they are so small and need everyone to be there when they say because of turn around time. No timeclock to speak of so you can work as long as you want to get in your 1200 lines per day if there is work. When there is no work you have to leave after your shift even if you have not gotten your minimum lines in.
ESL: If you are acute care you could get stuck on a couple of really nasty ESL accounts where you can go for several days getting mostly ESL and not enough others to average out the lines. So if you are not real strong and love to do ESL getting lines in may be a problem during an 8 hour shift even after several months.
Like any company everyone's experience is different. What is great for one may be a disaster for another. I have been with them less than 9 months and there seem to have been quite a few MTs whose names seem to suddenly disappear so it seems like Axolotl may not have been a good fit for those MTs.
If you have other specific questions, you can E-Mail me.
Good luck in whatever you decide. 
I'm trying to find out a company name. It is a small,
I think just an owner and IT person, company in Wyoming, I believe. I can't remember the name of the company. They offered me a position and I turned them down, but I need to make a list of all the companies I've turned down as many of them continue to contact me and I want to be able to say no right away instead of going through the interview again because I forgot. I know there is a company in Cody, WY, but I don't think that is them. They were extremely disorganized.
Anyone have a clue who is may be? I know I haven't given much info to work with.
Very small company in Florida.
There are only a handfull of us working for this company and so when other MTs cherrypick, it really affects the rest of us. I am constantly stuck working all the difficult doctors and trying to get the reports from going out of TAT while other MTs cherrypick the good doctors, even though their reports are no where near TAT.
This just started recently so I don't know if it is someone they just hired or not, but I am tired of it already. Since this has started happening, I have seen my pay drop as I can't get the same lines I could before with a mix of doctors. Now I regularly transcribe for the same three docs that no one wants to do and I am losing about $4 an hour. I am so tempted to just start cherrypicking myself, but that is not in my nature. I play by the rules, and I am getting dinged for it. Since my account manager could care less, I am looking elsewhere, which will be hard as I really love this account and the flexibility it provides, but I can't afford the loss in pay.
I agree on the small company.
I was my happiest when I was with a small company, but then they were acquired by a larger company and so I left. I guess that's the point I was trying to make. Working for a smaller American-owned MT company that doesn't overhire is a hard job to find simply because they don't overhire. The MTs at that company don't want to leave. The problem comes arises when a lot of larger companies pull the tactics mentioned before and then there are many, many MTs doing what you said...looking for another company. That doesn't leave many smaller companies to chose from because most aren't hiring. I think that's where the problem comes in with a lot of people being frustrated with going from company to company only to end up in the same boat a few years (or less) later. There definitely is a downward trend in this field. Some are fortunate to have the good jobs, but it's not the norm anymore like it used to be.
I work for a small company and
some of the clients have actually threatened to go with the larger companies that offshore to get cheaper rates. I've had to take a pay cut in order to keep the account from going to India. The clients will go where they get the better deal. Many of us will take a pay cut because of the competition regardless of how big the company is. I don't think anywhere is safe. You have to work harder to make up for the cpl loss.
Opinion: Small company vs. larger one?
Just looking for opinions on the positive side and/or negative side of a small company vs. a larger one. Help me out here....please!
At home ideally. Small company
x
I start tomorrow with a small company exactly as you
Hope it works out but I've had good success in the past from companies who don't advertise.
D&L site is medicalreport.com small company
pay is real low
Can you share what small company you found (sm)
that offers benefits (even if it is more costly). It seems that all I have talked to don't offer any and I can't afford to go without health insurance. Thank you so much in advance.
Try PMTKentucy for a small good company
They are small, but they are growing rapidly. They will start you as an IC, but if you are a good MT, you will be made and employee. They have posted several job openingings in the jobseeker section.
It wouldn't be a small company in SW GA would it? If it is, consider yourself lucky you got away
X
I work for a small company in Iowa
The woman that owns the company is crazy. She treats physical therapy like it's acute care. They are office visit notes and she acts like they are Op notes and the doctor is breathing down her back waiting for them to be typed. The physical therapist could care less ------- it's an exercise class lady - get over it. At 6 cpl she wants a miracle.
Must be a small company. 1000 lines/day is not that impressive. nm
nm
Do not be paranoid. I'm not with Shapin. Its a small company in Illinois.
Wow .. thanks for letting me know. They bill themselves as a small, caring company. sm
The pay isn't much, but I was just going to use it to supplement my income while work is light at my regular job. So much for caring ... who needs their pitifully low offerings anyway? Bah humbug ... LOL
Small but growing company, great to work for
Really sharp owner, great QA.
Do what you think is best. I just left a major national, went to another national but after
6 weeks found it did not fit. Just happened to luck into another smaller national and things couldn't be better. There are other jobs out there.
Started small; great company. Rapid growth; not so great company
First year I was there was like heaven. Then the big growth spurt when they hired managers from another company (that I had run away from before because of their bad management) and let them kind of take over. Although I have no proof it was as though I got 'bumped' by these new people when they came in and I lost a good account, good manager, etc. My paycheck went down every month lower and lower, and it became harder and harder to make my minimal lines. Having any kind of advocate was nonexistent.
It depends on you and what kind of MT you are. Seems to me there are pretty much 2 types...
Sports like basketball where you have the pros who play with finesse, and then you have street players who think it is all about physical strength, period. More and more the physical strength is winning but the art of the game gets lost more and more...
As in this country where there are almost 2 sides now, those with intellect and thoughtfulness, and those who think the only way to be strong and be a leader is to beat up everyone who does not agree with you...and force your will on others.
Suffice it to say in my opinion WMX changed its philosophy of the way it treated employees and lost its heart when it grew, and it was literally almost overnight...
If you are a mass producer who has no care of what it takes to make money, if you are a 'street fighter' then it would probably be for you because you WILL have to fight for everything. Fight for the right account, fight for lines, fight to be treated fairly, etc. If you appreciate MTing for the art of MTing or have any kind of joy for the profession, my guess is you will not make it there very long...
This is happening all throughout the what used to be called profession. Seems to happening all through everything these days. Humanity and heart are being pushed down to the bottom...
Has anyone heard of a small company called SRB in Florida. Curious.
:
Probably no "real" company name. I got the impression she was a private owner her own small bu
and..probably not a company we would have heard of before anyway. I applied so we shall see.
NO! Global Transcription in St. Louis is a small company that is slowing growing.
:}
Need good small company to work for with flexible schedule - e-mail me.nm
nm
Is Keystrokes a big company or small? I am thinking of applying. Time to leave the Q. nm
The sad thing is that I do not even think they would notice if I left. I am a high producer but not very vocal and they seem to have forgotten about me :(
but mgmt told me they outsourced some work to a small company at times.
There is no reason for me to lie about this.
I am NOT talking about offshoring, but the company whom they outsource to may offshore . . . I have no idea about that. But straight from the horse's mouth, they have outsourced to a small MTSO before.
You can notice how the work dries up all of a sudden when they turn it over to the service and we have no work.
TT mgmt may not tell that they outsource today, but they definitely told me about 9 months ago when I asked when the work was low. From the way the jobs disappear occasionally, I think it happens quite often.
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