Thanks so much for the realistic point of view.
Posted By: the OP on 2009-05-13
In Reply to: The company I work for went to VR a few months back. I was as terrified as you are. sm - VR MT
I need some reality-based grounding and your post really helps a lot. I don't want to make any rash moves out of fear of the unknown. But it is so hard, as you know, when your bread and butter relies on the unknown (almost). I am sorry the stress is taking its toll on you. I hope that things get better for you. At least the pay has not dropped considerably because that would be really bad. With the econmony the way it is it is impossible to get credit and really it would not be good to live off of credit cards anyway. We have to keep a roof over our heads and it is really scary to try new things while needing the money. Thanks again for your point of view. It really does help.
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My point of view
I don't think anyone is goint to find a perfect company. I have found OSi to be pretty good to work for, comparing to two other nationals I have worked for lately. THe work has been slow because of the holiday and hiring so many people, but I think they're moving people around and evening it out. I have plenty of work now. And I find my coordinator very knowledgeable and professional and very ready to help. There will always be things to gripe about, but I'm making my line count easily and can't complain.
Here's another point of view. SM
No benefits, no direct deposit, run out of work very very often with no compensation, HORRIBLE ESLs, all going to speech recognition and pay is very low for editing. If you can live with that, go for it. I sure couldn't. If you take wonderful money and subtract insurance, taxes, vacation, sick time, you are making about 5 cents a line.
Just a different point of view..
Maybe after questioning something QA did wrong, they're being more attentive to quality. For example, if I get a QA score that isn't acceptable to me as a personal goal, I'll make it a point to be even MORE attentive to my work and quality.
I'm not sure QA gets reprimanded for errors such as yours, but I'm sure they do. That would be an incentive for me to pay better attention, and now for you! :)
QA point of view
Giving feedback slows me down a lot. I try to give feedback to help but people take it as criticism. I get paid by the line, not by the feedback. It would be fine by me to give no feedback. Right now I have an MT who can't do basic 6th grade punctuations and writes me long emails in response to every bit of feedback. The work is so easy and she can't seem to get it. I get the MTs making the same mistakes over and over again. You shouldn't take QA personally. It's an awfully hard job.
QA point of view
Giving feedback slows me down a lot. I try to give feedback to help but people take it as criticism. I get paid by the line, not by the feedback. It would be fine by me to give no feedback. Right now I have an MT who can't do basic 6th grade punctuations and writes me long emails in response to every bit of feedback. The work is so easy and she can't seem to get it. I get the MTs making the same mistakes over and over again. You shouldn't take QA personally. It's an awfully hard job.
And that point-of-view is why we're all suffering huge
They'll pay as little as people will accept, and too many of you will accept anything.
EXCELLENT post. Thank you for a balanced point of view. nm
You make us laff here, girl! Love your point of view! :) nm
s
Interjecting a point of view is fine, but if you find it offensive...sm
people bash their companies, how about people who bash other people and taunt them by posting ridiculous statements about dark evil forces and then give you the Tony Robbins about how they should live you life.
I am a little tired of people saying blowing sunshine out my a$$ is going to pay my bills when work is sparse, wages are being cut by 1/3 to 1/2, and insurance is eating up almost half my paycheck.
I am an adult, I don't need to grow up and look on the bright side, and I don't need to bend over and take it anymore. I need to stand up to the CEOs, COOs, CFOs, department managers, supervisors, recruiters, and company acquisition specialists and tell them that my job is every bit as valuable and technical as theirs is.
They're not sitting in meetings all day groveling about how bad the economy is and how lucky they are to have jobs. They are capitalizing on a bunch of people by forcing their wages down and then saying it is their own fault because there was a typo in a report or transcriptionists in VietNam can do their job just as well and for less.
That is the truth.
Realistic. nm
v
this is not realistic
nm
That is not realistic. sm
You have to decide for yourself. That is the way it is in this cuthroat business. I know DR does not steal lines, and it has been my experience that some, not all, companies do. That is the only company I had experience with in the past, but you are expected just to be a sheep while the bigwigs get rich after your hard work. This is not exclusive to DR, that is the way it is. We really messed up when we gave up our hospital jobs to go home. Good look where you land.
Certainly not realistic for a newbie, but
there are plenty of MTs making 40K or more. I easily make 40 to 45K full time without overtime, strictly 40 hours a week, employee status with very good benefits. It is certainly possible, but MTs should not expect to graduate and make 40K the first year, it may take a couple years.
3 states away? try to be realistic
nm
what? that's what I said.....$14 hour is realistic
I think $14/hour is decent....that is what the poster asked for....decent.
Thanks! Sounds like their pay is more realistic than most! -nm
.
Yeah, that's realistic . .NOT
That's the kind of unrealistic crap that'll keep us down. One of the reasons hospitals outsourced to begin with was because services proved to hospital administrators that their production MTs would produce double, sometimes triple, the volume of in-house hourly MT workers.
There's a fine balance between urging for change, and throwing ourselves off of a cliff. I suggest you don't take another step backwards.
I think the other poster is more realistic
In 2002 I was making 9 cpgl that on average (in a stand-alone DOS working environment) averaged 11 to 13 cpl. When you work on someone else's network through someone else's internet connection, your speed drops and I would be amazed if that 6 cpgl averaged to anything about 8.5 cpl. Nothing to make you shout from the roof tops but more than enough to keep you from qualifying for food stamps.
Be realistic - not everyone can get the smart source
account because not everyone lives in the states that are applicable to those accounts. I was stuck doing the multiple cruddy hospital accounts. It would have been fine if I could have stayed on one hospital, but I was jumped from hospital to hospital and hospital. Let's face it, it gets pretty damn hard to get a 1200 line count when you are being jumped from one account to another to another throughout the day. But I'm sure there are super transcriptionists with every company that can do it; I'm not one of them. I had no problem reaching 1800 on one account, but I had to be left ON ONE ACCOUNT to get to it!
And to the poster above - yes, the recruiterS (with an S) do pose as employees on this board. So keep on laughing. It's not a big secret at the company.
Actually I have a really good attitude towards everything..im just REALISTIC!
Yes you are right the AAMT sets standards then changes them..to make money.
I am a very happy upbeat person and people like you drag the happiness down ... BORING PEOPLE...that is what I would consider a poor attitude LOL.
I was expressing the way things are...realistically...not saying people SHOULD NOT be professional, but you CAN be professional and LAID BACK AT THE SAME TIME..unless you have difficulty with multitasking LOL.
Don't be such a drama queen about it..i'm entitled to my opinion. Don't worry BE HAPPY SWEETIE!! Life is grand...live it to the fullest..arguing makes ya old!
Be realistic. Someone has always had to work the weekends (sm)
Used to be in house we floated them around until you had enough seniority to opt out. Sometimes we got extra people to work weekends. Now we have so many newer MTs who have never had to work in house and put up with holiday and weekend rotation. Not blaming them, of course none of us want to work them. But because we don't/won't work them or the really crappy night hours, MTSO have resorted to using other means to get the work done.
We, and our preference for M-F day shift schedules, have contributed to the outsourcing issues. Like it or not. We have done some of this to ourselves.
Have been doing MT over 30 years and paid my dues as far as weekends/holidays go, but I am still working a Sun-Thur schedule and find a way to make it work. Have never had a problem flexing my schedule around on a Sunday if something comes up I want to do or take a PTO.
This is a real job and if we are not willing to work when they need us, perhaps they won't need us any more.
Thanks, Justme, for an uncommonly realistic input. NM
x
You need to be realistic. Most places do not give you equipment any more. Too many problems. I do
no msge
Why the view on QA?
I've seen some slamming of the QA dept of OSi here. I'm curious to know why the negative view of their QA? What is the reason that you think it's the worse QA department anywhere?
A different view
I'm not sure where the other poster's info regarding mostly verbatim accounts comes from. Not one of the 4 or 5 accounts I've worked on over the years have been verbatim. Ease of production of course depends a great deal on your individual account. I happen to have a good one, although challenging, and I don't have any problem getting my lines on it. Management has been great to me personally, and I have no problem with the company whatsoever.
Osi and another view
On the other side of the coin, yes, being a newbie there was difficult because they threw so much at me at once, so many specialties, over 100 physicians all at once on a verbatim account. Yes, I did get e-mails where I had to go back and point out to QA where they were contradicting the account specifics. They had too much to handle.
BUT -- and this is a HUGE BUT -- I left there knowing so many specialties precisely because I got it all dumped on me at once and it had better be right. It was not a job, it was more like a school and I was being paid a little bit for doing the work.
Where I am now, no matter what they give me I can do it. I've had experience in almost every specialty, close to 30 or more. I've learned to push and push and not give up and take advantage of the overload to better myself. My Stedman's books are loose from the covers at this point. I don't think any school could be harder than OSi because of the pressure, the exposure to so much all at once, and you HAVE to do it as fast as you can because for me at least it was my only income. Sometimes the worst experiences pay off the best in the end. But as of the time that I left which was not that long ago, I would not advise a newbie to go there unless they had another source of income and could afford to get fired. They are VERY strict. I won't even go into the line counting debate.
To the one who has a different view
I agree with you. I think you have hit the nail right on the head. As to what will happen in 2 years, I will be happily retired (hopefully in Florida). Two years until retirement and I can hardly wait. If a child of mine ever wanted to become an MT, I would absolutely discourage them from doing it. Anyway, for what it is worth, I completely agree with your opinion and I have been an MT for a goodly long while!
another view
Hi all. I'm the original poster that caused so much backlash (ss# question). I am very happy to say that the replies to kitty and at the response I got for my seemingly simple minded question have changed my view. Just for the record, I understand HIPAA laws and have seen this before, just not as an IC with no background check, etc. To be honest, I never really paid attention, just did my job and did it well I might add. I'm one of those lucky ones who has never been without work and has had no trouble getting job offers with a respectable line rate. I was so happy to have found a place to communicate with others like me and I guess I kind of got knocked off my square a bit with some of the responses. I'm going to take the advice given and turn the other cheek and stick around. Those of you who are so helpful, pleasant and kind to one another have changed my mind. Thanks again to all of you for showing me the positive side of this site. 
Thanks for a different view
You could be so right about this, just was not thinking that way. I am very careful person and I really pick and choose carefuly when I try to do something. I thought she figured maybe I was on a scam which is far from the truth. My daughter tells me I cannot rescue the world (do animal rescuing also) but gosh, I can give a little of myself sometimes. Thanks for the insight!
curious about your view
Did she not break the law and was it not her own doing? You make it sound like she has had such a hard life. If she has because of this, it is her own fault. She made the choices and now suffers the consequences as we all do. Why are they bringing all this up now? Maybe she is into something she shouldn't be again?
Can you view old reports on Beyond Txt?
Offered position with Transcend on this platform and forgot to ask.
A little more balanced view
It sounds to me like most of you are wanting to throw daggers and justify it by stating these are facts about companies, not just opinions. You feel that stating facts exempts you from wrongdoing. I don't see it that way at all.
All companies and all individuals make mistakes and errors. When even these so-called facts are presented in a way that give a bad light, disparage the character, of the person or company being talked about it, it is simply not okay at all.
The ONLY fair balance I see is this: It is okay for you to speak of every factual error and mistake about a company if the company can name you (you are, after all, naming these companies) and every error you make in your work and every time you are late to work, etc.
It is no more fair for you to sit here under the disguise of anonymity to name companies and attempt to set the world straight about them than it is for them to do the same about you.
I really truly believe in treating others as you would have them treat you. If companies came here and did the same, you'd all be filing into an attorney's office so fast it would make our heads spin.
Just sign me ...
Truth-n-Fair
Believer in the Golden Rule
My view of the VR situation...
Seems to me that the companys that talk the hospital into the VR programs can be slick talkers...basically the hospitals spend VERY BIG money for the system, to just cut our pay and have to use something we DON'T want to use in the first place... They should have forgotten about this new improved program Extext or whatever, and tell the MTs it is beyond their control to make a cut, but let us type, and save the money installing the program... and a smaller cut... most of us would have gone with that. !!! Again the big companies have to much influence on those that decide to buy the equipment...
My new system can't even count the lines... not set up to do that... unbelievable
A typical 'management' view of MTs. So sad. -nm
Personally my view is not that ignoring is
necessarily defending. However, cherry-picking is rampant because cherry-pickers know nothing will be done about it. Thanks to people like you. Cherry-picking is the thing that is pointless and wrong, NOT saying something about it.
Transcend - Positive View
I've read a lot of posts on here since last week about Transcend with quite a few of them being not so nice. I wanted to share some positive views about the company. I started with MDI-FL part-time back in 2001. I liked it so much that I wanted to go full-time so I did in 2003. It was a great company to work for. Then a few years later, we heard the news that the company was merging with Transcend. Did I have some apprehension? Yes, of course. We had a few changes to get used to -- payperiod with pay dates was the biggest -- though our pay rates stayed the same. It didn't take long to get accustomed to it and things have gone pretty well since then. I work in a region of other platforms that does not include BeyondTxt. Does that stop anyone in this region from working on a different platform such as BeyondTxt - No it does not. As Transcend continues to grow, it is opening up other opportunities for everyone. It makes your account possibilities just about endless. With BeyondTxt, once you learn it, you can work on almost any account there is. Do we have slow periods? Yes we do, but that is the way the transcription business is. If your account is slow, request a back up and if you're flexible, you can have multiple back up accounts on different platforms. There is a lot of flexibility at Transcend. All the TLs and ROMs are great people and will work with you. If you need time off for something or need to rearrange your schedule, that can be done. You may be asking - who is this person?. I started as an MLS, worked my way up to TL (team lead) and then into the ROM (manager) position for a few years and because of decisions of my own, am now a TL again. So as you can see, I've worked in different positions and have seen the company from multiple views. Everyone with MDI-MD, or anyone thinking of applying, should give it a chance. Don't go by all the negativity here. If you have any questions that you want to ask, feel free to contact me. My email address is ****** Have a great Monday!
If you can view your paycheck online, you might be able to print W2s. NM
x
Precyse in my rear-view mirror........................
No problem. Feels good to get is off my chest. Don't mind sharing the good, bad and ugly of the job search and its results. With a little luck, I will bag one by the weekend or first of next week. Will follow up on the company board.
I am placing high priority on an hourly wage + benefits position. So much of the pressure would be eliminated and to a certain extent I would accept slightly less $ to get it. They are rare to be sure but not impossible to find with a little persistence.
The jury is still out on the do they still exit query. Over the past 31 years the general progression from good-to-bad followed a gentle and gradual downward slope, punctuated with two major deep dives in my recollection. The first was in the late 80s to early 90s when MTSOs had been around for a few years but were still relatively young. They did not seem to comprehend the concept of employee benefits. IC was their answer and full-employee status all but vanished. This began to turn around in a noticeable way in the late 90s, a full DECADE later. The second and deepest dive is this ASR jolt. We will all end up squaring off with it sooner or later. Generally speaking, small-to-medium size organizations who are competitive in terms of benefit and wages seem to be the most likely place to find a little peace...but meticulous research on those is imperative. I will not rule out anything for the moment. I plan send resumes to as many MTSO companies as possible, even the ones with the bad reps posted on this board, in an attempt to get a phone call PRIOR to what can be the labor-intensive testing phase of the process. I am interested in comparing the various recruiting strategies and offers. I have a copy/fax/scanner on my desk so that really helps in being able to cover a lot of territory.
I also think I will try to edge on out into the general transcription scene just to see what it looks like. Government jobs may be a possiblity as well....they can't age discriminate.
During search, I have found it useful to keep daily notes, tracking the process, contact info, the substance of the conversations, my gut reaction and the time factors. Will post again in a day or 2. Thanks for your interest.
I view it as part of a well orchestrated plan
If you recall what happened to our software/IT people, the companies started offering less and less moneys so that they could say they couldn't find American workers.
The MTSOs are probably doing a similar thing. They can then go to the hospitals, and any that dare say they want American workers doing the work can be told with a straight face that the MTSO has unsuccessfully tried to hire American and there just aren't any to do the work. The hospitals, thinking they at least tried to do the right thing, then is forced to acquiesce to having their work sent overseas.
But I still don't know who was the 2nd shooter on the grassy knoll.
She sounds like Elizabeth on "The View" !
Unrealistic view that a lot of MTs do not understand. The offshore companies sm
have very deep pockets and make it attractive for companies here to use them. Even if every smaller MTSO refused to do it, do you think we would be able to compete with Spheris and C-Bay just to name two of the bigger companies that use the offshore transcriptionists?
Hospitals, unfortuneately, often care more about the bottom line than the perfection we expect from ourselves. Many doctors do not read the reports (most from what I understand) and just care that they have satisfied JACHO requirements by having a record in the charts.
Offshore transcription is not going anywhere. Sad but true. I do not support it but I am a small tree in a very, very, very big forest.
My change of view occured before Transcend mentioned anything
about piloting offshore. For me, it happened when I saw all 3 major credit bureaus outsourcing our financial information offshore and that was before Christmas. Do I like it? No. Do I embrace it? No. Do I accept it? Yes. You can argue about this til doomsday, but the facts are these:
1. Outsourcing offshore is not going away, it's growing.
2. While US transcription is being sent offshore more and more, it opens up US editing positions as offshore entities cannot provide the quality the client contracts for. To offer these jobs through the MTStars website to job seekers, we must include US MTSOs that offshore.
3. Since all 3 of our major credit bureaus are offshoring our financial information and the government is allowing it, then anything is up for grabs.
4. Political intervention has done nothing. Bills that manage to get passed, get slapped down before they can become law.
Different view: If we all went to hourly pay to make sure that we are paid during downtime, it wou
what we earn on production. I make upwards of $30 an hour on production. Most hospitals are under $20 an hour. I think we would lose money if hourly and if they pay us for downtime, I am sure that the money would have to come from somewhere, so they would lower rates.
Anyone work for Axolotl in Mountain View? (see mssg)
If so, what are the pros and cons? What is starting pay? Good accounts? Flexibility? How long in business? Large or small company? etc.....
I didn't view it as a forum to complain. I saw it more as a chance to get to know sm
others who work for the same company. Working at home can feel kind of isolating at times. I do not miss the commute to work, scraping ice off of my car in the winter, backstabbing, gossip, etc., but I sometimes do miss the social aspects of working in an office. I guess my viewpoint is, things are what you make them to be.
I love Transtech and have been a cheerleader for a long time, even to the point of being accused of being management. They have stuck with me through some bad times on my end, and I have no intention of dumping them through these bad times now, although I have gotten a couple of other jobs. With the holidays coming up, especially, it may take all 3 to make ends meet and maybe have a few extras, but that is just part of life.
Not true! I do not view all MTs as "low-down dirty scoundrels" at all...
I am a realist, however, and not everyone is a honest, trustworthy person. A lot of people out there want something for nothing and there are some who even feel entitled to get something for nothing! As a manager, I've seen my share of bad seeds and my share of the cream of the crop. If you don't have minimum requirements, you will always have a few who will abuse your generosity.
I've seen it happen. The supervisor before me wanted to be everybody's friend. The dept., under her tenure, had the highest rate of absenteeism throughout the hospital. Minutes of dictation on the system were out of control and nearly everything work type was 70% out of TAT!
Like us our not, managers are not here to be your friends. We are here to run a department. We want to care about our employees and for the most we do, but there has to be a line or else things fall apart.
When they "link" multiple job numbers for one report, like Four View Of The Feet And Ankles.&#
Excellent point, and point in case
look at the charlatan christian in the
Whitehouse who uses religion to push his agenda...
Christian IS as Christian DOES...
I understand your point, my point is why can't MTs and QA work together..
being QA doesn't mean you are above everyone else, you are just an extra set of ears...and why do so many MTs take offense to QA??? That is my point...you made have had bad experiences in the past with QA but not all QA are bad...
Actually, I can see your point AND the opposing point
.
The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Let's be realistic. sm
Voice recognition is not perfect and works best with a Transcriptionist working on it as well or it does not work. It is VERY expensive, and the estimate is that only 10% of transcription with go this way, and most of that is radiology.
I also believe that offshore transcription will be less and less tolerated by hospitals. The work returned is terrible, the TAT is not what is promised, and the fact that private medical records are leaving the country is a HUGE factor.
I think we just need to work through it, and it will come back to the U.S.
Remember when we were told that computers would replace us???????
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