Thanks, this and the system tray note above are fascinating facts.

• In Ex-Text, can I get a detailed breakdown of my - lines using Ctrl-I for previous days? sm
  • Using Ctrl-I, you can get the count - TotallyRadMT
  • You should be able to see weekly and monthly - tnmt
    • Be sure to put ichart "to" time in as 23:59 - NM
      • slightly OT, but can you explain what you mean - tnmt
        • ichart - NM
          • Thanks, this and the system tray note above are fascinating facts. - tnmt

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This comes straight from the SEC filing for year ending December 31, 2008, submitted March 11, 2009.  Yes, it is public information and anyone can look at it.  Keep in mind, all the narrative is from Transcend’s point of view and they are trying to keep and/or get people to buy their stock.  So you will have to read between the lines as far as if they will/can meet the needs/wishes of their MTs/Medical Language Specialists in the years to come, or if they will turn into another company too large to keep their employees happy. 

Regarding the MDI-MD acquisition: 

TRANSCEND SERVICES, INC. (NASDAQ: TRCR), the third largest provider of medical transcription services to the U.S. healthcare market, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Medical Dictation Services, Inc. (MDI) for $16.2 million.

Founded in 1981, and headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, MDI is a leading medical transcription company with approximately 450 employees providing service to approximately 30 customers located predominantly in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, MDI had unaudited revenue of approximately $13.7 million, and currently has an annualized revenue run rate of approximately $14.3 million.

Below are SMALL excerpts of the 64-page SEC filing.  I chose sections which I thought would shed some light on where Transcend currently is and where they plan to go, so not only the new MDI-MD transcriptionists  but also the current Transcend Transcriptionists could possibly stop stressing about what their future holds. 

HOPE THIS IS OF SOME HELP TO YOU. 

TRANSCEND SERVICES, INC.

Transcend Services, Inc. hereafter known as the Company

EMPLOYEES

As of December 31, 2008 the Company had 749 full-time and 423 part-time employees. These included 587 full-time and 418 part-time medical language specialists, virtually all of whom work from home. One hundred and twenty three full-time and three part-time employees work in operations to support and manage customers and medical language specialists. Thirty-nine full time employees and two part time employees work in sales, research and development, implementations, and general administrative functions. Neither the Company nor its employees are currently a party to any collective bargaining agreement. The Company has not experienced any strikes or work stoppages, and believes that relations with employees are good.

As of December, 2008, approximately 65% of the Company’s total volume was processed on the BeyondTXT platform and 35% was processed on other platforms.

Management plans to gradually increase the percentage of voice files processed through BeyondTXT speech recognition from 24% of total volume in the fourth quarter of 2007 and 35% in the fourth quarter of 2008 to approximately 40% by the end of 2009.

Speech recognition technology will allow us to produce the same volume of work with fewer medical language specialists due to the productivity improvements the Company is able to achieve, and may open the market to a new pool of professionals.

In mid-2006, a portion of work began to be processed offshore through partners in India. Volume processed offshore has gradually increased since then.

By the fourth quarter of 2008, the Company had increased the percentage of work processed in India to approximately 19% of total volume. Management plans to increase this percentage gradually over the next several years and believes that in the long-term (5-10 years), market demands could drive the mix closer to 50% domestic and 50% offshore, but in the intermediate term (2-5 years), the mix is expected to gradually grow to about 30% offshore and 70% domestic. At some point in the future, the Company may decide to establish a transcription operation offshore, but currently is relying on partnerships as the preferred solution.

The Company’s income before income taxes has improved in 2006, 2007 and 2008 due in large part to improved customer retention combined with new sales, increased use of speech recognition technology and increased use of offshore transcription partners.

The Company provides medical transcription services to the healthcare industry. The Company’s mission is to provide accurate documentation of the patient / medical provider encounter on-time at a fair price. Transcend’s customers include hospitals, hospital systems, multi-specialty clinics and physician group practices in the United States. Transcription services consist of three primary phases:

The Company provides two primary medical transcription options for customers: (1) the provision of transcription services and technology using the Company’s proprietary BeyondTXT workflow platform or (2) the provision of transcription services using the customer’s proprietary or licensed third party transcription system. If the customer does not have its own transcription technology or no longer has the desire or resources to maintain and upgrade the technology they do have in place, the BeyondTXT platform provides a turnkey solution. If the customer has invested in their own transcription technology and wishes to keep their system in place, the Company’s transcriptionists access the system and perform all transcription services using the customer’s system. Management believes that our ability to serve a customer regardless of their use or non-use of our platform is an important factor in our success. As of December, 2008, approximately 65% of the Company’s total volume was processed on the BeyondTXT platform and 35% was processed on other platforms.

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

Medical transcription is either performed in-house by hospital or clinic personnel or outsourced to local, regional, national or offshore vendors. Hospitals and clinics may choose to outsource for many reasons: (1) the shortage of qualified medical transcriptionists; (2) the unique and burdensome management challenges of managing a 24/7 operation that must deliver critical patient care information quickly; and (3) the high cost of equipping in-house personnel with the hardware, software and support necessary for their jobs. Successful transcription companies make use of technological advances in Internet access, speech recognition, security, software and hardware that allow remotely located, highly trained personnel to function as well as (or better than) in-house employees. Management believes that the principal historical competitive factors of price, accuracy and turnaround time are expanding to include other factors such as speech recognition capability, electronic security, hardware redundancy (to protect against data loss) and data integration. In addition, management believes that the ability to recruit, train and, most importantly, manage personnel nationally and internationally will lead to further outsourcing, and that only those companies prepared to compete using resources outside the customer’s local market will prosper.

The market for medical transcription services is sizable. The total annual market potential for medical transcription is estimated to be $12 billion, of which an estimated $5 billion is outsourced. These figures include not only hospitals, but also physicians’ offices and clinics. The Company focuses primarily on the hospital market. There are approximately 4,900 community-based hospitals in the U.S. (hospitals accessible by the general public) with approximately 800,000 beds that comprise the Company’s primary target market. If the average annual market value of transcription services per hospital is $400,000 (our estimate), the Company’s primary target market is approximately $2.0 billion. The market is highly competitive and fragmented, with several thousand transcription services companies nationally. Management believes only a dozen or so competitors have revenue in excess of $15 million.

Demand for medical transcription services is growing as the demand for healthcare services increases. Macro-economic trends such as the aging of the baby boomer generation are projected to have a major impact on the demand for healthcare services in general and should lead to a corresponding increase in the demand for medical transcription services.

HISTORY OF THE COMPANY

We were incorporated in California in 1976 as TriCare, Inc. (“TriCare”) and reorganized as a Delaware corporation in 1988. TriCare completed an initial public offering of its shares in 1990. In 1995, the Company acquired Transcend Services, Inc., then a Georgia corporation, by the merger of Transcend Services, Inc. into TriCare and changed the name to Transcend Services, Inc. The historical financial statements of the former Transcend Services, Inc. became the financial statements of the Company and include the businesses of both companies as of the effective date of the merger. Between 1993 and 1995, the Company acquired five medical transcription companies.

As a result of these transactions, the Company now operates in one reportable business segment as a provider of medical transcription services to the healthcare industry.

In 2004, the Company introduced the BeyondTXT transcription workflow platform.

On January 31, 2005, the Company acquired Medical Dictation, Inc., (MDI), a Florida-based medical transcription services company. During 2005, the Company’s field operations were reorganized to form customer-centric teams that are responsible for all aspects of production, quality and customer care. Effective December 30, 2005, certain assets of the transcription business unit of PracticeXpert were purchased.

By early 2006, the Company began processing significant volume through the Company’s speech recognition solution and, throughout 2006, 2007 and 2008, have steadily increased the percentage of work which is electronically converted and then edited versus transcribed (typed) from recorded speech. In mid-2006, a portion of work began to be processed offshore through partners in India. Volume processed offshore has gradually increased since then.

On January 16, 2007, the Company purchased certain assets of OTP Technologies, Inc. (OTP), a Chicago area medical transcription company, for a purchase price of $1,110,000.

On January 1, 2009, the Company purchased certain assets of DeVenture Global Health Partners (“DeVenture”), a Canton, Ohio based medical transcription company, for a base purchase price of $4,250,000 plus potential consideration based on results for the first six months of 2009. The Company does not currently expect to pay any additional potential consideration.

BUSINESS STRATEGY

Transcend’s sole focus is providing medical transcription services to the healthcare industry. The Company’s strategy is to succeed in the marketplace by successfully executing six key strategies.

Provide Unparalleled Service to Customers

The key to the Company’s success will always lie first and foremost in providing excellent service to customers. The Company retained 98% of customers in 2007 and 2008, which is believed to be superior to most of our competitors. Management believes that customers who are consistently receiving high quality documents on time at a fair price are likely to remain our customers year after year. Satisfied customers provide sales leads and referrals that help us drive new business. Accordingly, the Company has an ongoing program to monitor and improve customer satisfaction which includes continuous monitoring of transcription production statistics relative to contracted standards, periodic customer surveys and a dedicated regional operations support organization that maintains regular (often daily) contact with customers. Management believes that regional operations managers provide a competitive advantage in sustaining customer satisfaction. As our regional operations managers typically come from a Transcriptionist background, they possess the expertise to continuously improve quality. In addition, they provide customers a central contact person in the organization who is directly responsible for resource scheduling and quality control and can quickly resolve any issues that arise. The Company practices continuous quality improvement with the goal of improving the level of service over time.

Increase Market Penetration

The transcription industry is large and highly fragmented. In addition, it is currently estimated that 60% of transcription volume is still performed in-house. As a result, management believes that the Company is well-positioned to increase market share both by winning contracts with hospitals who are now actively considering an outsourced solution and by taking business from competitors. Management believes that the level of service provided by many of the Company’s competitors can be very inconsistent. As a result, the Company is often asked to submit proposals on new accounts where Transcend will replace a competitor. In addition, the Company believes that smaller competitors are increasingly unable to keep up with advances in technology and lack the capacity to give customers assurance that they can consistently meet turnaround time requirements. As a result, the Company frequently wins new customer accounts from customers who have outgrown the capabilities of their smaller providers. The Company’s tested and proven infrastructure enables it to serve substantially more customers without a significant increase in fixed costs. While continuing to focus on day-to-day customer satisfaction, the Company intends to add new accounts to the existing customer base to efficiently utilize the capacity of the infrastructure and established customer-oriented support organization.

The Company intends to grow by focusing the sales team on potential new accounts and utilizing the operations management team to increase services to the existing customer base. The Company’s target market is focused on community hospitals with over 100 beds. Based on experience, this target market can realize the most benefit from services while still allowing the Company to provide superior customer service at a reasonable profit. The Company targets new business from hospitals where there is not a current relationship as well as affiliated hospitals of existing customers. A telemarketing partner is utilized to help identify hospitals within the Company’s target market that are interested in transcription services. New business leads are also generated from regional operating managers, who receive referrals from the administrators they work with daily. Management anticipates continuing to add sales resources to help deliver revenue growth.

Many hospitals are members of group purchasing organizations (“GPOs”), which provide value to their members by pre-screening the best vendors for a particular product or service and pre-negotiating terms and conditions with the vendors. The Company signed an agreement in 2008 with one 1,400 member GPO and will attempt to secure additional GPO contracts in the future in order to increase market penetration and accelerate growth.

The Company also expects to continue to win new business by working with technology partners. Technology providers, such as Nuance and 3M, license their proprietary transcription platforms to hospitals across the country and refer the transcription work to preferred service providers like us. Management believes Transcend’s size and superior customer service make the Company a preferred provider to these partners.

Speech recognition technology represents a sea of change in the transcription industry. The Company has invested heavily in fully integrating speech recognition technology into the BeyondTXT platform. The Company licenses the speech recognition engine, natural language processor and various editing tools from MultiModal Technologies, a leader in the industry, under a September 2006 agreement that renews annually at Transcend’s sole option through September 2010, with the last such option period ending August 31, 2011, and thereafter if mutually agreed by both parties. The Company’s speech recognition solution requires no physician training or change in physician work habits. Voice files are collected in the same manner regardless of whether the job will be transcribed (typed) or edited using speech recognition technology. Once a physician’s voice profile is built that meets predicted quality criteria, future work from that physician is edited. When a medical language specialist is presented with a draft document, they listen to the voice file and edit the document as necessary. Their edits are fed back into the voice profile, which learns over time in order to continuously improve the quality of draft reports.

The use of speech recognition technology in BeyondTXT results in a more efficient transcription process and leads to lower direct costs and higher gross margins while allowing the Company to offer competitive pricing. The Company’s medical language specialists earn less per line of text for editing, but their increased productivity generally allows their total compensation to remain unchanged or to increase. After the cost paid to MultiModal Technologies, the Company is still able to reduce the average cost per line of text. This is a key defensive strategy against pricing pressure in the industry.

Management plans to gradually increase the percentage of voice files processed through BeyondTXT speech recognition from 24% of total volume in the fourth quarter of 2007 and 35% in the fourth quarter of 2008 to approximately 40% by the end of 2009. Longer-term, the percentage of transcription volume that is edited using speech recognition technology is dependent on such factors as the mix of transcription volume that is processed on the Company’s platform versus customer platforms, the percentage of dictators for whom high quality voice profiles can be built, and the ability to hire, train, and retain editors.

Attract and Retain Professional Staff

One of the Company’s critical success factors is the recruitment and retention of the industry’s best knowledge workers, including medical language specialists, application developers and service professionals. The goal is to be the best company to work for in the industry. Management believes that there will be a shortage of qualified traditional medical language specialists in the future. There are two domestic solutions to this problem. First, workers will be attracted and retained by offering competitive pay and benefits, stable and responsive management, a predictable abundance of work, a stable and efficient platform, career development opportunities and the opportunity to work from home. Second, speech recognition technology will allow us to produce the same volume of work with fewer medical language specialists due to the productivity improvements the Company is able to achieve, and may open the market to a new pool of professionals.

Increase Utilization of Offshore Resources

The Company operates in a global economy in which medical transcription services can be performed efficiently and cost-effectively by offshore medical transcription service organizations. Customers have differing views of offshore production. Some believe it allows them to realize improved turnaround times and sometimes obtain a lower price without sacrificing quality or security of data. Others remain committed to domestic-only medical transcription. From management’s perspective, offshore production allows the Company to improve turnaround time by providing consistent staff at night and on weekends; alleviates the need to hire as many domestic medical language specialists in a tight labor market as would otherwise be needed; and reduces cost. Management plans to meet customers’ needs by providing services using a combination of domestic and offshore labor. In July 2006, the Company began subcontracting a portion of work to offshore medical transcription firms. By the fourth quarter of 2008, the Company had increased the percentage of work processed in India to approximately 19% of total volume. Management plans to increase this percentage gradually over the next several years and believes that in the long-term (5-10 years), market demands could drive the mix closer to 50% domestic and 50% offshore, but in the intermediate term (2-5 years), the mix is expected to gradually grow to about 30% offshore and 70% domestic. The growth in offshore volume is not expected to displace the domestic workforce, which the Company expects to grow over time. At some point in the future, the Company may decide to establish a transcription operation offshore, but currently is relying on partnerships as the preferred solution.

Successfully Complete and Integrate Acquisitions

The Company intends to increase market share through acquisitions and believes that the Company is the third largest of the more than several thousand medical transcription providers in the United States. Technological developments such as voice recognition technology and the need to provide customers with an off-shore solution are making it increasingly difficult for smaller medical transcription businesses to compete effectively. As a result, management believes that the Company will be able to make acquisitions on an opportunistic basis that will enable it to grow the business. When the Company acquires these businesses, it is often able to add the acquired companies’ customers to the BeyondTXT platform and to eliminate a substantial portion of their overhead. It is expected that acquisitions will be financed through a combination of cash on hand, debt, and shares of the Company’s common or preferred stock.

For customers who already have their own transcription workflow system, the Company provides outsourced transcription and/or editing services on the customer’s platform. For example, the Company has a partnership with Nuance to use their eScription platform, which is a popular hosted ASP solution that can be licensed by healthcare organizations. Customers contract directly with Nuance for the system implementation and contract with us for transcription services. eScription is speech recognition-enabled, allowing the Company to provide editing services to those clients in addition to traditional typing services. The primary advantage to this business model is simplicity—there is no proprietary workflow system to develop and maintain. There is, however, less opportunity for the Company to leverage technology to improve profitability. Some customers have legacy systems they have developed themselves. Over time, the Company expects to migrate customers with outdated legacy platforms off of their own systems and onto BeyondTXT. The Company provides services on numerous platforms: other notable examples include ChartScript (a 3M platform), Dictaphone (a Nuance platform) and Meditech.

CUSTOMERS

As of December 31, 2008, the Company delivers dictation and transcription services to approximately 154 hospitals and clinics with recurring revenue generally under long-term contracts or other arrangements. The average level of annual revenue generated by each customer was approximately $316,000 in 2008. The top 10 customers accounted for approximately 27% of 2008 transcription revenue, averaging $1.3 million of revenue each.

Revenue attributable to one contract with Providence Health System—Washington for four hospitals totaled $3,728,000 $3,269,000 and $3,017,000 or 8 %, 8% and 9% of total revenue for 2008, 2007 and 2006, respectively. As of December 31, 2008, the Company had separate agreements with approximately 44 customers who are owned by Health Management Associates, Inc., a single healthcare enterprise. Revenue attributable to members of Health Management Associates, Inc. comprised $10,267,000, $9,611,000 and $8,473,000 or 21%, 23% and 26% of the Company’s total revenue for 2008, 2007 and 2006, respectively.

On January 1, 2009, the Company purchased certain assets of DeVenture Global Partners, Inc. and acquired approximately 30 customers with this transaction.

COMPETITION

The Company experiences competition from many local, regional and national businesses. The medical trans

Just a note here!

A couple of things here...

First of all, I want to thank all who responded to my post about MQ and OSi slamming and stuff like that.  It was interesting to say the least and very informative and I appreciate it.  Although it is sad to see so much bashing and slamming going on here, and quite frankly, I have even seen some very mean posts.  Moderator, thank you for not deleting that post!  And please don't delete  this one either!  Thanks.

Secondly, I noticed a response from RadGuy in that thread that it's good to see another guy on the board!  Yeah, it kinda is.  You see, when I went to college to learn this particular trade, I had no idea it was predominantly a female profession, little did I know!  And eventually, I came across a lady who was looking for someone with five years of experience to do a pathology account for her.  I had NO experience back in 1990.  But she took me on and trained me anyway, and now I LOVE pathology.  Wouldn't trade it for the world. 

Anyways, my point is, you have a RadGuy, now you got a PathGuy!!!!!  yayyyy!!!!

And that is one of the reasons I kept coming to this board was to see if any companies would hire for at-home pathology work.  Much to my dismay, no dice.  I have been offered to test for a job to do veterinary pathology from home though!!   Wow, never thought I would be doing pathology reports on patients named fluffy or spot...LOL!!  But in any case, I would really love to learn radiology in the meantime, so RadGuy (or anyone else for that matter), if you have any information on how to go about that, I would be quite grateful.  What I would like to know is where to get radiology tapes, sample dictation, etc. etc., it would be a great help.

Take care all.........

eternally in PATHOLOGY.......PathGuy!!

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Just a note on this.. You do not have to be on IM
for them to see you are working. They can tell that from the server where your work downloads from.

As far as Timmy, I can take it or leave it. However, I can tell you that some of the MTs that get the extras because they were caught working probably don't mind it a bit. :)

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be sure to note though
if you use the copy/paste function at the left of your text screen, it will also copy the previous patient's name and ADT into your new report, screwing everything up!!

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just a note
Not sure what you mean by EMR (electronic medical record). If what you mean is you are wondering if some of the work is moving to voice recognition, then no, there is no VR at MDI and they have no interest in starting it.

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A note
To Dawn: Since you have posted here and posted your name, I have a suggestion for you. Please proof your emails and IMs prior to sending them out. It looks bad when the person in charge of QA misspells and misuses words in emails and IMs sent to QA and MTs. There is a difference between -your- and -you're-. You should say -you're welcome- NOT -your welcome-. There are many others, but I will spare you as I'm sure you get the point.

I am also glad that the QA line rate was changed to .03 cpl as opposed to $1.35 per report which was a complete rip off. There would be discharge summaries greater than 10 minutes long and greater than 200 lines for which QA was only being paid $1.35 for a report that you may have spent 30 minutes on.

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please also note....

When you pay 2 employees at 6 cpl that produce 100 lph of junk (based on inexperience), and then have to pay QA whatever amount to fix that, you are actually costing your company more $$$$$$.

Why not pay 1 skilled MT/ME 11 cpl to produce 250 lph (and up) of quality work and hire less QA.  Then, the QA staff you have can do their job of an occasional fill in the blank and not the current status of FIX ENTIRE REPORT. 

See how much money you can save??????????

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Just a note to above
When someone loves VR some come here and say must be MTSO or a plant. That is another thing said against anyone who likes VR.

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just a note
I realize that what these women did to us was wrong, but I am not sure that there is anything that can be done about them. I truly feel your pain and hope you get your money and all works out.

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Sent a note, resume, etc.
Just waiting to hear something from them. I heard they are good, too.

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see hiring note above
Thank you!

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E-mail in first note. NM
NM

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so let me get this straight because I am truly - see note

confused on this - REALLY I AM!! Companies that offshore can now post jobs on the job seeker board??  I looked around for the posting that said that companies can do this, but I cannot find it. 

Please do not delete my post.  I am serious about my question and I am not being sarcastic. 

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Perhaps the note from Dictaphone was (sm)

something they just found out and all along it has been giving you MORE lines and this note was to inform that it is now corrected and what you see is truly your line count.  This, of course, would make your true line count seem lower but would now be accurate and all this time you have actually been overpaid?

I am not saying this is the actual case, but the note was very vague and could be a notification to the MT that things were not adding up in the past correctly and the situation has now been resolved.  This would leave the MT thinking they are being skimped now, but in actuality they are now receiving their true line count. 

Just a thought!

 

 

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I just note on my timesheet
In the hours field, I minus how many hours of no work. I figure it's not my fault, it's theirs. What I don't like is that if it picks up later in the week they say we NEED to make up our time. The way I see it, I'm available when scheduled, sometimes I make it up, sometimes I don't. Life is too short to be stressed out about no work or too much work. My job comes second in my life and I have found this to be the best solution. I guess today is going to be bad because I hardly ever run out since I start really early in the morning and only work part time. I do other things while waiting and if it never comes like today, oh well...soon enough we will be swamped again. It always happens that way.

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OSI - I am so sorry - PLEASE NOTE CORRECTION
Note correction in CAPS

If you do control S for a job and click on statistics you will get a number of lines. If you are on OSI's very own line cheating Xpress server, that number will be much HIGHER (NOT LOWER) than the IChart line count. Do this. Do only one job for the day then write down the correct line count using the above method. Go to IChart although it may take hours to show up so you may want to do this on a day off. There is your proof. I-CHART LINES ARE LOWER THAN OSi X-PRESS LINES. The reason the correct statistics are disabled on the XPress server is because OSi is skimming lines and don't want you to see the correct number. OSI is diligently trying to eventually get every possible account on their very own XPress server so they can cheat on all accounts. Rest assured that they are billing the client for the correct line count. I could not make any money with OSI because of their dishonesty. Dictaphone Extext is a good system but OSI could change how it was set up and rip the MT's off.

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Looking for OP note companies.....
Mostly I am interested in the name of the company, what kind of internet connection you have to have and amount of work normally available. Things like that. Thanks for the answers.

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MBS - on a positive note. sm
I have worked with ******* for almost a year. She has always been pleasant, responsive, and pays on time - has actually overpaid me once.

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Please note post on
company board about IRS guidelines and the independent contractor posted today, 7/30.  Looks like some nationals are violating more than 1 guideline when it comes to independent contractors.

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I saw that ad and took special note of it also. (sm)
My first thought was their accounts must be extremely backed up and they (KS) are in danger of losing clients, thus the need hire MTs who are going to be able to pull off that line count within only their first week.

However, there is ALL WAYS more to a story than meets the eye.

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Moderator, please take note
The jobs board is totally cluttered with Focus ads, breaking that 2 ads rule.  I understand wanting to keep the board full of ads, but they don't need to repost over and over.

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Note to Carlotta.
Yes, I used to work for you. Yes, I was one of those people who could not make their committment, but not because of a lack of effort on my part. I was one of those who was put to p.r.n. status at the lower rate. Even though I never understood that. My quality was just as good as the people who were making more, and I should have been compensated in the same manner. Unfortunately, you guys pay according to what a person can produce and not their quality.

For me, the work just was not there and after a year of giving up weekends, staying up all night waiting for the work to come in, I gave up. I was only ever to make about $200 a week at your company. I cannot live off of that.

It is very strange how I am all of sudden able to produce 1000 to 1500 lines a day, every day working for a different company. Strangely enough, they do not overhire and I think that is the main key.

It is sad too, because I really liked the people at MDI and the account I was on was great, but just not enough of it or too many people trying to scramble to get the work.

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On a good note....

I view the purpose of this board as an informative tool for MTs, to be used with discretion of course, as each entry is from personal experience and many factors can be involved.

I have posted regarding a negative experience.

On a positive note, I would like to say that I have been working for Webmedx since 9/2008, and so far, so good. 

I am pleased with my account; do not run out of work; have 1 primary account; backup account is offered if needed; OT is offered on a regular basis.  My hours are supposed to be flexible w/i a 10-hour block and I must admit, I abuse that and get no complaints, as long as I put in my hours and do my lines.  The platform is user-friendly.  Communication is good.  Everyone speaks English.  Pay scale is above average for a new hire, above what others have offered in the past.  Benefits seem adequate.  So far, I have no complaints.  All in all, I would recommend them as a good company to work for. 

Good luck to all looking for work.  I know it is a pain to go through the testing required, then set-up time, then training, etc., only to find out you've been hired by a company that does not meet your needs.  

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A group note was probably sent to
.

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Note to WMX Management
If you truly want to save money, how about cutting out some of the management layers? Do we really need all of the management currently employed? MTs are vital to the organization, another suit is not.

Before you lose your base, you ought to be looking at other options for saving money. Losing all your good MTs QAs will do nothing but lose you even more clients.

Unhappy workers do not put out quality products. Something to chew on while you're collecting your nice, big fat paychecks.

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one more note, then goodbye to you.
YOU are the only one that seems to need the explanation I gave. You admittedly tried to antagonize using the term typist and yet you say I overdramatize? Me thinks you are the drama queen that needs to get over YOURself, with nothing better to do than stir the pot, and YOU are the puffed up one. FYI, no I do not try to impress anyone with my fund of knowledge. You obviously judge others by yourself -- and hopefully you are not too naive to understand what I am saying. Good day troublemaker.

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See SoftScript note below
Thanks for the information.  I wondered when I always saw the ad on MT daily.....

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Facts

Once again, you do NOT have your facts straight.  I never said the doctors were not providing wonderful healthcare to their patients, just not wonderful dictation to MTs.  I'm a damn good MT and I do more than my share of ESLs, but if any MT gets those dictators for 8 hours a day, 98% of the reports, we all know their line count is going to suffer, just of sheer frustration.  Of course, you get any ESLs with any company, but there are better accounts, and any good MT knows they can get better line counts with better dictators.  My point, once again, is if any MT has the skills and experience to get a job where you have better accounts w/better dictators (notice I said dictators this time, not doctors since you seem to be so picky about my wording), then why should anyone have to put up with terrible dictation all the time when you can make a better line rate and get more lines with a different company.  And just so you know, these dictators can't even fill in their own blanks.  I personally played back one particular ESL dictator's report to him and asked him what the blank was.  His reponse was, "I don't have a clue.  Just do the best you can with it."  So, how can they expect us to be able to figure it out without compromising quality? I sent the report with a blank and let him fill it in with whatever he felt should go there.  My attitude is the attitude of any MT out there who is trying to make a decent check, especially if they're single and trying to support a family.  My atttitude is what landed me the job I have now where I make 2 cents more per line than TransHealth, get better benefits, have plenty of opportunity for advancement if I so choose, and have much more flexibility than the job I had with TransHealth.  If you like transcribe ESLs so much, why don't you just move your ESL-loving butt to India?  You will have no problem getting plenty of ESLs there.

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Facts
FACT: There was ONE pay cut, not two, and it was temporary.

FACT: Karen was not let go, she quit. I know that there was a lot of confusion when she left and she still has a lot of files (or did last I heard).

FACT: Although the situation was not discussed with all of us, I asked Lee (when she answered the phone one day) about a discussion I had previously had with Karen and she was not insulting about Karen. She said that the "fit was not right" and that she was sorry that things did not work out as Karen is a wonderful person. I think that all was good when she was a transcriber for the company and that things changed after she did hiring.

FACT: There are over 100 of us (I do not know an exact number) so obviously there is a lot of good at Keystrokes. Their customers are happy or they would not be around for so long.

FACT: You cannot please all the people all the time.

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no facts
No, they don't outsource to anyone else.

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FACTS?

It seems that we live in an age where each person feels that his/her opinions represent true facts.  There are facts and there are opinions.  Most value judgements (such as whether a company is good or bad) are just opinion.  Why can't MTs figure it out that what is good for one may be awful for another?  Seems simple to me.  Now, don't get me wrong.  When a company has some really terrible attributes, such as not paying or paying with bad checks in a setting of doing it over and over and not just making an honest mistake, we are then talking about facts when we call this a bad company.  It is no longer just an opinion.

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You don't have the facts
Interesting.  I got the facts from the recruiter.  So, maybe you don't know what's going on there.

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Your facts just don't add up!
Actually, I just returned from a nice long walk on the beach, thank you! The Pacific Ocean is my backyard, and I spend a lot of time walking, biking, skating, swimming, and playing Volleyball at the beach!

By the way, we do have a short pier that you can take a long walk off when you are done wasting time testing and interviewing with other companies for whom you have no intention of working.

How can you possibly know whether a company is better or worse than Medquist until you actually work for them? You make absolutely no sense whatsoever, which makes you the perfect MedQuist employee!

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You should send your note to Larry...

I would copy it and send it for you. I have only been working for Transcend for 1-1/2 months. The management seems great as well as the non-VR platform, it's easy to use, works very well. Man, why change a good thing? I've been trained on the new platform but have not started on it yet. VERY scared. I hope it works out as I don't want to have to look for a new job right away. I'm also working for a local clinic as an IC, part-time and have another opportunity for the clinic I just left to be a back-up person, probably IC as well. BUT, that won't be enough to pay the bills either.

I think part of the problem with these national companies is that they do look at their MTs as machines. They don't see faces behind the names, just numbers, $$ signs and the like. It is a very strange thing, having this cyber job and not meeting anyone face to face. Maybe if we all emailed Larry with our picture, pictures of our families, he would get the clue to let well-enough alone.

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time to transcribe a note
when I had a transcription service, not MT, the standards we used (put out by a national body) was 4:1, or 4 minutes per 1 minute of dictation (no technical language, 1 voice, no accent). If there was an accent --when isn't there in MT work??? or technical language--also lots in MT work, the time required went up. Of course, if you worked faster, you could do more, but if you charge for straight time you penalize yourself for your skills. I think 1.5-2 minutes as average is not a fair estimate. 4:1 is closer for experience. 16 cents per dictated minute seems pretty low to me.

You need to reach an agreement with her on how she is calculating your pay so that you're both on the same page. Truthfully, what she charges the client is not your business, but you deserve fair pay for your work. If they won't pay you fairly, then move on.

Bottom line--you sell someone your time. You deserve to be paid fairly for it.

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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! 

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Has anyone seen the Deventure ad for VR editors? Note, on a

you know what that translates to.  ESL dictation converted by VR software = COMPLETE REDO! NO THANKS!

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Note to any MTSO who does not pay on time SM
You are going to lose your good people.  Do not go blaming the account for not paying you.  That is not our problem.  We entered into an agreement with YOU.  You should have working capital to pay your ICs.  We are truly more like employees but you get away with not paying our social security and other perks by calling us ICs.  We don't get paid for Christmas or any other holiday, we don't get a Christmas bonus, we don't get paid sick days or vacation.  There are no pension plans.  We work our fingers to the bone, don't take phone calls during our work time, and we give our best to the job.  All we ask is to be paid.  If you cannot manage your business to come up with pay, do not expect the talented workers to stick around.  Then see how much your account wants to pay you when you have only the desperate left working for you.

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Why not a group note? I took no offense. (sm)
I don't expect them to spend all their time monitoring us. We are supposed to be professionals. I like them spending them time on getting new accounts, improving software, etc.

Besides, I received part of a group E-mail. I have no way of knowing what happened to any individuals who were repeat offenders. For all I know they WERE dealt with on a 1:1 basis.

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I have limited op note experience...sm
and I fake it....I can do the work, just takes me a little more time looking things up, and i also HATE OP notes, but If i need a job all i see are acute care.....then I fake it...

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Please note this is Emdat Inscribe--sm
and Inscribe is a dog. You cannot make lines on it easily and it generally sux. hated it.

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I note it said "create 100 jobs" - yet I'm sure

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"shareholder" (note: not plural) gets 2M after a yr
I think your idea is a good one.  While I can't think who it was in the past that embraced that idea or how it worked out, I do not believe the shareholder mentioned in these current events would have settled for such a meager investment.  I imagine someone is having fitful sleep - at our expense.

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"shareholder" (note: not plural) gets 2M after a yr
I think your idea is a good one.  While I can't think who it was in the past that embraced that idea or how it worked out, I do not believe the shareholder mentioned in these current events would have settled for such a meager investment.  I imagine someone is having fitful sleep - at our expense.

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Friendly note to HR people:
I have 20 years of experience. It used to be relatively pain-free to switch jobs in this industry before everyone had Human Resources personnel... The job I just accepted did not call me for endless ridiculous interviews, all of the questions which were answered on my resume and application already. The test didn't take 6 hours. I didn't have to fill out the exact same info over and over again. When I asked a simple question via email, I received a quick simple response via email rather than having an HR person calling on the phone yet again to tie me up for another hour. I was job-shopping and comparing, so I don't have time to sit on the phone with every single one of them when all I need to know is do you hire employee status or IC, for example. You should also know that many of us have been working at home so long and are used to communicating via email & IM that we aren't really phone people anymore anyway. In short, one of the main reasons I went with this company is because the hiring process was pain-free, much like it used to be in the 'old days', so keep that in mind when you're wondering why you can't snag any new hires. Just something to think about....

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Friendly note to HR people
The thing I object to in this hiring process is the 6-hour test. Many companies want you to transcribe 4-6 reports, plus an application of many pages. One company had me transcribe 2 reports, one of which was 4 pages long. The other report wasn't as long, but was really difficult to understand so I left a lot of blanks. After all this was done, they didn't get back to me to tell me how I did on my tests. She said I did fine, but if I was hired as an independent contractor, I would have to pay her $600 for her platform. Why couldn't she have put this in her job post that the job required we pay $600 for her platform. I would not have even taken the test.

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Get your facts straight.
Do you know how many times I went to my company and sent letters, and emails? I mean I went all the way to the TOP.. you know how many responses i got...or offers to call and discuss with the supervisors.. ZIP--NADA...and by the way, these companies should value their MTs... who do you think is doing the bulk of the work... QA and MTs while the others travel around, buy new cars, boast how they have a 6-million dollar business. YES MA'AM. An owner told he has a 6-million dollar business. Hows does that grab ya?

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Get your facts straight. sm
The pay cuts were a business decision not financial problems. I make more here than I ever made anywhere else. Checks bounce? I was one of the 8 and received the letter from the bank, my fees paid, etc. Then they changed banks and there have been no problems. Lack of work? Never. Lack of pay? Never. Maybe you weren't good enough.

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She said they were doing away with all ICs - I have no facts for you. You should ask your team
x

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Yes, these are facts. No doubt about it.
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