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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

They don't go up b/c hospitals have contracts with MTSOs, sm

Posted By: HappyWebX2 on 2008-07-24
In Reply to: rate - looking

saying this is the rate for 2 yrs or whatever. The company may want to pay you more, but they aren't getting reimbursed a high rate from hospitals or clinics.


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They flew out the MTSOs' and the hospitals' windows
BTW - Ever hear of that old,
'He who casts the first stone' saying?
It is not the hospitals on a short TAT it is what MQ wants to make the hospitals very happy with

them. I would assume the accounts are on 12, 24 or 48 TAT but wouldnt they love having their work back no sooner than it is dictated.


contracts
Everyone should keep in mind contracts work both ways. If the company voids the contract in anyway - nonpayment, late pay if stated in the contract a date it is to be - then the entire contract is void. If you have a problem, go through the yellow pages for a free consult with an attorney - but the contract is not just for them it is for you too - so if it states you are to do 1000 lines a day and they do not offer it up, if the wording is proper - they voided the contract not you. If a company says the payday if Friday and you do not recieve it within a standard mail delivery date, they have voided the contract. So yes please everyone review what they sign to see if you can get what you deserve. So many of us just take it, I say get some legal advice - Lawyers hand it out like candy. If we dont - they will continue to bounce checks, pay late, decrease workloads, etc.
contracts
Tried to email you privately but it would not go through. can you send to my email and let me know company name you mean. I would like to know if it is the same one. thank you.
contracts
Anybody have this experience? I was just offered work from a company that sounded wonderful, just what I needed. No set schedule, work anytime, just set number of lines. Then I got the contract which stated basically paid on the 15th and 30th assuming payment received from client. What? I should do the work for their business and then they don't have to pay me until their client pays, if their client pays. I don't think so. The contract obviously precludes the MT from contacting the client so how do I know if the MTSO got paid or not or when they got paid. Just looking for other people's thoughts on this. Am I being paranoid? Have you ever been asked to sign such a contract? I have seen many postings on this board about people not being paid, and I do not want to be in that situation. I do the work for XXX Company. Doesn't XXX company owe me that money either way. I feel it is their responsibility to pay for work done for their company and THEN deal with the client for any nonpayment issues. What do you think? I politely told them I could not sign the contract with that statement included and asked them to reconsider their position, explaining my feelings on the subject.
contracts
Without reading the contracts, I would say that they need to give notice to change it, unless there is a clause in the original contract that they can change it at will. If you see a clause like that don't sign it.


RE: CONTRACTS
Right ... employees, IC or employee status, should have some type of contract with their employer.  But who usually writes the contract?  How many contracts presented by the MTSO actually allow for input from the MT?  For the most part, they are WORTHLESS, often detrimental, to the MT, since they are almost always one-sided favoring you know who.
contracts
Do you then sign a contract you disagree with? I don't understand doing that.

When I'm given a contract, I surely do take my pen and cross out what I do not agree to, add in what I want agreed to, and sign it.

This at the very least opens the door to negotiation of what I see as issues I can't work with. I've turned down contracts where the MTSO wasnt willing to negotiate to meet my terms. And more often than not, the MTSOs have been willing to work with me.
contracts
You can give direction to a contractor. You can tell the plumber you work until noon so he needs to fix your bathtub between 1 and 5. You can tell him you can only have a plumber there on Monday.

Most ICs do not ever bother SUBMITTING a contract to a service, which is just insanity. Instead, they kowtow to the demands of a service (treating them as employees), then kvetch when they aren't treated as ICs.

Education and knowing how to conduct BUSINESS is seemingly lost among way too many MTs.
You need to negotiate better contracts.
.
Depends on Contracts
I do not know whether the contract specifies only that the work be done in US, or that the provider not outsource at all. If so, that could void contracts. But at any rate, they will still need us US employees to do the work.
Some union contracts have more pay for certification. sm
At a facility I worked at for about 11 years, we had that benefit - $1.00 an hour for certification. You would have to find a unionized hospital and see how their contract reads.
Beware of contracts that state
you get paid when we do...  run, run as fast as you can...!  Do not sign it. 
MTSO HOSPITAL CONTRACTS

What duration of time is a contract with a hospital, one year? It is now April, meaning 50+ transcriptionists needed a year ago, means 50+ now fighting for work. ??


I'm an IC and I won't accept contracts that have line

IC.  Those of you who agree to working a certain amount of lines are being taken advantage of, and you also make it harder for us true ICs who know that line quotas should not be enforced.


If these companies worry about keeping the client happy, then hire more people.  The company I work for does just that.  If I can't work for some reason, then someone else picks it up.  If they can't work, then I pick up the slack. 


Those of you who want steady work put up with the rules and accept IC status because you want to work every day.  Well in response to your lazy post, then don't come on here crying when you run out of work because as an IC these companies do not have to promise you any work or provide it all. 


So it doesn't work both ways.  Most ICs, by definition, should really be employees especially with set schedules and set hours. 


As soon I see that I have to work set days or type a certain amount of lines I bypass that crookery of a company.  Sorry, that's how it is and I do fine in the salary and job department, and I am a true IC that makes my own rules.  I am by no means lazy but I will not tolerate set rules when none should be set unless they want to offer me employee status.



P/S:  You all cry when these companies run out of work and when you're an IC, they don't owe you any work; so the joke is on you for not looking out for yourself and instead trying to make excuses for these companies who are getting away with paying ICs and controlling ICs when it's against the law.


 


FUNNY THING ABOUT MT CONTRACTS - SM

They're about as LOPSIDED as a 3-legged dog/horse/donkey - take your pick.  WHO GETS TO WRITE THESE CONTRACTS IN THE FIRST PLACE?? Who has the most to say on what does or doesn't go into it?  Certainly not the MT.  They're almost all written by THEM - with the help of their attorney or in-house legal department - and I can guarantee you they didn't miss a trick.


Case in point:  Ever look at your apartment/house lease, for example - you know the tiny print on the back with about 200 clauses - favoring, guess whom?? IC status might have its merits for the MT - CERTAINLY for the MTSO - no taxes, no SS to pay for you ... no worry about lawsuit for wrongful termination or worry about you applying for Unemployment - but they STILL b---- and moan ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK.   


FUNNY THING ABOUT MT CONTRACTS - SM

They're about as LOPSIDED as a 3-legged dog/horse/donkey - take your pick.  WHO GETS TO WRITE THESE CONTRACTS IN THE FIRST PLACE?? Who has the most to say on what does or doesn't go into it?  Certainly not the MT.  They're almost all written by THEM - with the help of their attorney or in-house legal department - and I can guarantee you they didn't miss a trick.


Case in point:  Ever look at your apartment/house lease, for example - you know the tiny print on the back with about 200 clauses - favoring, guess whom?? IC status might have its merits for the MT - CERTAINLY for the MTSO - no taxes, no SS to pay for you ... no worry about lawsuit for wrongful termination or worry about you applying for Unemployment - but they STILL b---- and moan ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK.   


Yes, the hospital contracts out to the MTSO who is an IC...sm
and has to hire people to fullfill that contract. They have the option of hiring independent contractors with some sort of line quota in a period of time or hire employees who work a schedule enabling them to meet turnaround times more precisely but having to pay employment taxes and give benefits. A company can have of mix of these employees but there is definitely a difference by law. I myself prefer flexible part-time, but so far those jobs have been hard to find.
Our contracts will expire at the end of 2009

at which point we will have to sign all that HIPAA confidentiality stuff and probably noncompete agreements with Transcend too.  While the 2009 MDI contract says they have to pay us a certain line rate for 12 months (and this would be binding on Transcend as well)  I bet what we signed says we cannot compete for at least  couple of years (and this would be binding on us as it pertains to what would now be Transcend accounts.)  Don't have time to hunt up and read my contract right now but I would be very surprised if the noncompete agreement expired at the end of 2009.  Way to easy to walk off with accounts that way. 


 


I'm not posting contracts. You're insane!
I don't care if they don't believe me. I'm the one getting paid. What do I care if they don't believe me? I can understand the problem with others getting hired in at higher rates, but truly that is their situation, not mine.

You're real sharp but not I'm not dull enough to bite that! LMAO
Good Point, But Contracts One-Sided
Sorry for duplication, I now see both your posts. You bring up a good point, though sometimes these contracts are one-sided and allow a lot of manipulation of job pool by client. But fact remains that US-only work remains and someone has to do it, preferably those of us already trained. Hopefully one way or another we will remain working for those clients. ???
Sten-Tel contract, anyone with any info on their contracts? more inside
I received their contract and had my attorney look at it and some red flags came up.  One of the things that is in it is an indemnity clause stating that I an as an IC hold them harmless for ANY liability even if it's THEIR fault.  And there is no guarantee of any certain amount of work or amount of hours in it.  Please help and advise if you can.  I would like to hear from any previous Sten-Tel workers or present ones.  Thanks.
As a service, I do not carry liability insurance...on contracts,
I line out that clause. The liability for MT work is extremely low. I personally have never heard of any MT being brought into court on a transcription. Has anyone else? Therefore, liability insurance is either a) not necessary or b) if purchased, would be really really cheap as the liability is practically nonexistent. None of my clients has ever been offended that I don't carry liability. I simply tell 'em that no body does.
Non-compete clauses in contracts. Has anyone refused to sign this and still got the job? nm
nm
Companies close old and gain new contracts all the time. (SM)
Stop rumoring.

If you have information, share with the Administrator or myself. Otherwise, leave rumoring off the board.

Goldbird

I've got a question about contracts. How legally binding are they?

I was reading the MDI discussion below and a couple of ex-MDI MTs have said that their contracts were changed while they were still employed forcing them to work different days, different schedules, etc.  I worked for JLG not too long ago and they basically did the same thing.  I signed a contract stating a certain wage and then they basically breached the contract and completely changed my wage. 


So what are the deal with contracts anyway?!?!??!?!?!  Why do we bother to sign them if the companies aren't honoring their side of it?  And shouldn't the MT be able to take legal action against an MTSO that has breached their contract?  Shouldn't there be legal ramifications?  The MTSOs make sure to put in noncompete clauses in the contracts so we don't steal any of their clients and try to scare us into believing that if we try to steal their clients, they'll sue, but then they completely disregard the fact that they signed the contract and they could be sued for not meeting their end of the deal!


I HAVE HAD IT!!!!  These MTSOs are getting away with too much!  I have a file folder the size of a freaking PDR with nothing but contracts I've received throughout my career as an MT and I'd bet that if I sit down and go through them, not one of the MTSOs honored them.


When the hospital contracts an MTSO they are abiding by contract
and the hospital CAN ask that the work be done at certain times. That does not make the MTSO an employee now does it?

They CAN contract a person out to do work at certain times with certain turn around times, and that is NOT called an employee. It is called CONTRACTING someone out to do the job they need done when they need it done.


Most contracts said either party can quit or fire at any time. Would be unusual to get locked into
s
HOW DO YOU KNOW THEY ARE GETTING RID OF THE LITTLE HOSPITALS THAT WON'T DQS?
X
So does that mean that the hospitals (sm)
(their website indicates US-based hospitals) that use this company are okay with this level of quality that the QA in India provides?  Thank you.
Is there anyone else who would like to see hospitals (or more hospitals)

offer transcriptionists the opportunity to work at home directly for them, with decent hourly pay that is at least consistent with the cost of living in the employee's particular region (and assuming that the MT would be working at home for a hospital that is in her/his region), with same employee benefits as the on-site employees?


hospitals?

i've been applying to the hospitals in the area about every 6 months, and no one is hiring.  i don't even think hospitals or doctors offices have MTs anymore...not my doctors office, and not another place i applied for a job...they have these little hand held things they dictate into that transcribe their words right there and then, they print it out, sign it, stick it in the chart, over and done. 


if i weren't 10 years away from retirement, there is no way i would get into this business.  having been doing this for over 20 years, its hard to find something else. 


i've got work today, but its crappy work, the national cesspool stuff, and my line count is going to be so far below the minimum requirement it won't be funny. but they shouldn't mind, since it means they won't have to pay too much at the holiday rate. 


but i keep applying and looking and applying and i know something good will hopefully come my way eventually.


in the meantime, i've had to get a 2nd job, part-time, another at home MT job, with a much smaller company, all IC employees, and i'd jump ship in a second and work for them full time if that wasn't the case because they are like night and day from the place i work for full-time now, but i need benefits, am single, own my own home, and will soon be one of those old ladies living out of shopping carts on the street, eating out of dumpsters, at this rate.


 


Yes, I have three hospitals too
and am very pleased. My liaison is awesome. She actually treats me like a human being.
CA Hospitals
I wondered the same thing. So many of the hospitals and clinics rely on MediCal, Medicaid payments. What is going to happen? Does the state have any safety net built into the system? What if the insurance companies go belly-up and quit paying as well? Domino effect!!! Ark!
Plus hospitals don't want to buy sm
the dictation or transcription equipment, just download the completed product into their electronic medical record. How would a bunch of ICs manage that?

Not to mention getting American MTs to all agree to be ICs - personally I wouldn't want to be one. I NEED INSURANCE and want a paid vacation, which I get through my company.
St. Louis Hospitals
Hi!! I, too, would love to chat with fellow STL MTs.  Feel free to e-mail me!
St. Louis Hospitals
Hi!! I, too, would love to chat with fellow STL MTs.  Feel free to e-mail me!
I'm not sure who the other university hospitals use but

I never see anything on their sites or on CareerBuilder about hiring in-house MT's so apparently they're all using an outside service of some type.  Most hospitals I've worked in-house for use Medquist and another service at the same time (without Medquist's knowledge).


The only Phila. area hospital I've ever seen advertising for in-house MT's is Cooper in Camden, NJ (across the river from Philly).


I emailed you with some hospitals to look into - sm
I really hope it helps. In the meantime, I will get in contact with a couple of people I know to see if they hire outside their state.


I think MQ used to have them right. I guess they still have a lot of hospitals in the
Philly area.
hospitals hiring again?
Does anyone know if the east coast transcription scene is any better than other parts of the country, i.e., work?  Are east coast hospitals starting to hire in-house once again?  I am moving back to the east coast mid 2006 and wonder if I will still be working out of my home or can look to applying for an in-house position.  I was gonna post this on the state board of NY but it seems to be quite inactive.  Any information is truly appreciated!
Not that I know of. More likely to find hospitals that do. nm
x
No work on four hospitals
I'd like to know how it happens that four hospitals can suddenly just stop dictating, and work suddenly just get slow, on all of them at the same time, and them not even in the same group.  I think the company has hired too many transcriptionists and can't keep them busy, or is offshoring most everything, but telling us a different story.  Is there any way to find out what's the real case?  XXXXX  It has happened several times like this over the past five years, and I am getting fed up.  Are all companies like this or is this the only one where this sort of thing happens? People get sick and have operations every day of the year.  They don't suddenly stop going to the hospital.  Are they playing on our stupidity, or could this be legitimate? I find it very hard to believe.  I'm a seasoned MT with 15 years' experience, and provide excellent work. What' up? 
Hospitals outsourcing?
Anyone know of any hospitals directly outsourcing to MTs?  My local hospital does - but not hiring now.  I'm w/a great company other than running out of work consistently even on three accounts for months on end ....
Started several new hospitals

is starting at the end of August.  4th was a little slow but only for a few days.  Work is fine and nothing much has changed so all's well.


What I have found is that the hospitals SM
will usually try that as a last resort to get their own transcriptionists to produce more.  When they find out that the production increase isn't that big (or production actually decreases), then they outsource the whole thing and say that they tried everything to keep their own people.
hospitals vs. companies



I am applying at both a hospital for a prn position and with an MT company for part time work. I have the option to work in-house with the hospital, which I may do because I have to drive 25 miles to the city to bring my kids to their preschool anyway.  My question is, what are some of the differences between working for a hospital and working for a company?  (Pros and cons for each)  I have less than 2 years experience, and some of that time was spent doing chiropractic transcription, so I am concerned that I might need more experience or training for the hospital work.  Thanks in advance for any comments.  


hospitals vs. companies
Thanks so much for the input!
Except that the doctors & hospitals - sm
are being swallowed up one by one by the big mega-institutions: Tenet, Sutter Health, Catholic Healthcare, etc. The docs & hospitals have less and less say over who does their transcription (if they even have a clue who does), just like they have less and less control over what procedures they can recommend, and what drugs they can prescribe.

It's all come down to the fat-cats in the 3-piece suits sitting in their high-rise corner offices, dictating what healthcare will be meted out to those of use who need it, and how much the hospitals should pay for 'ancillary' costs such as transcription.

If ever there was a group of people the goverment should be investigating and putting a short leash on, it's the HMOs and the Health Management Corporations, which have ruined almost every corner of the American healthcare industry.
Maybe it should be shared with the hospitals and
clinics that trust AHDI. Show them what a load of ___ that organization really is.
ATLANTA HOSPITALS

I am not sure about St. Joseph, Grady or Atlanta Medical, but my husband used to work at Emory and they have outsourced everything they can..he was laid off during all the change about 3 years ago.


A new nonprofit board just took over running Grady, so no telling what is going on there....


I live south of Atlanta (Griffin area) and all hospitals in this area outsource. 


I heard through the grapevine that Southern Regional (Riverdale) let their radiology transcriptionists go not too long ago, but don't know about HIM. 


But, if you happen to find a hospital that still has in-house, please let me know!!!!