Work but VERY late pay every time

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After reading a post about how greedy MTs are to expect more than $0.05 per line, to expect a gesture of appreciation at Christmas, I must post this.

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It is JUST THAT TYPE OF ATTITUDE, and total acceptance of VR, EMR, and pitifully low pay that have caused MTs to be kicked into the respectless extinction we now face.  It is because of MT's like the GRATEFUL poster with the THANK YOU FOR MY PAYCHECK, KIND SIR sweatshop attitude, that we find ourselves with salaries/hourly/line pay having been cut by 60%, and we are looked upon as mere clerical workers instead of the medical language and computer specialists that we actually are.

Some of us work from home so we can be there for our children or grandchildren, some want to transcribe without having to deal with the politics of an in-house staff, there are others who are physically handicapped and work from home as it is the least painful and most sensible option.

But a small faction of MTs spout ridiculous self-depricating platitudes that we should all be grateful for receiving even a pittance of a paycheck, and a late paycheck, at that, and not expect to be rewarded for dedication and excellence, disregarding the fact that many of us work 10-12 hours per day now to earn what we were able to earn in 4 hours 5 years ago.  The MTSO's and hospital HIM administrators never stood up for us; they sold us out to VR and EMR, yet the GRATEFUL faction would have us believe that we do not DESERVE anything more, and that expecting to be recognized for dedication and job excellence is nothing more than shameful greed.  THEY COULD NOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH,  and the members of the GRATEFULS are slowly ruining this profession with our silent blessing, because we are allowing them to.  The members of this faction, as well as the MTSO owners and hospital members that did not come to our defense, but instead embraced VR and EMR to make the last of their money as our trade was being made extinct, those are the folks that have contributed to the extinction of our trade.  Do any of you know lobbyists who fought to keep medical records in the US?  Most likely not, and the members of the GRATEFUL faction may be jaded and void of self-respect, willing to work for 60% less pay and grateful to receive a pittance for their services, but I am not, and neither should you be.  We work hard for what little we receive, and we need to gather our forces and strengths and stand together against the extinction of our careers.

Unless extinction of our trade is the goal, Medical Language Specialists and CMT's cannot continue to allow medical facilities and MTSO's to manipulate by fear.  MTs must be allowed to speak out without fear of losing jobs.  If we do not unionize, or at least organize and agree on boundaries very soon, our industry will never recover.  VR/EMR will replace us totally IF WE LET IT.  These facilities and MTSO's CANNOT outsource/offshore or jump from full transcription to VR without transition, and THEY CANNOT TRANSITION WITHOUT MTS TO EDIT.

We are the ones who edit the VR reports and I don't know how many of you know this, but in doing so, we are actually TRAINING THE VR SYSTEMS TO RECOGNIZE ALL OF THE WORDS THAT IT DIDN'T CATCH THE FIRST TIME AROUND WHEN NEXT THE DOCTOR MUMBLED THEM INTO THE MICROPHONE, AND THIS ALLOWS THEM TO MOVE FORWARD AT A HEADY PACE TO TOTAL VR WITH NO EDITORS. We laugh about the hilarious mistakes perpetrated by VR, but we are actually help perfect it by editing.  Soon there will be no editing to be done.  

The GRATEFUL FOR A PITIFUL PAYCHECK faction have made us all look like groveling idiots, willing to silently accept AND BE GRATEFUL FOR, a $0.05 per line pittance to edit VR.  We must set boundaries, stand up for ourselves, put guidelines in place and STICK TO THEM, refusing to work for MTSO's or facilities for $0.05 a line for VR editing, without fear as we really have very little to lose at this point, but it is not too late to turn this death of a trade into a rebirth.

We MUST stand up for ourselves, our voices louder than the GRATEFUL FOR ANY KIND OF PAYCHECK faction, as they are actually cutting off their own noses to spite the rest of us, and the days of AAMT are over.  ADHI will not help us, as they support not only offshore but VR/EMR, as well.  ADHI’s views are counterproductive to US MTs now, as they clearly embrace off-shore, VR, and EMR in totality, and are of absolutely no use or help to Jane Doe, CMT.

In Michigan and Indiana the union is almost in place; final legalities are being settled quietly, and I advise the rest of you, if you want to continue transcribing for a living, to continue to make a decent salary doing what you chose as a career, if you want to be paid what you deserve, if you want to see your daughters take up this trade before it is extinct, you need to unite.  Facilities and MTSO's are counting on continuance of MT silence, acceptance and complacency, along with PAYCHECK GRATEFULNESS to keep us in line, at their beck and call, on their terms, cutting our pay and benefits, running remote sweatshops and reaping the benefits as they quickly invest in other businesses because they see the end of the trail for transcription. They count on the fact that we will continue gather in places like this, arguing amongst ourselves, whining about low pay and no benefits, while doing absolutely nothing to reverse our plight.

Unite while we still have the power to command better salary and stop the eradication of our trade, because the scales are slowly tipping against us.

Don't be grateful for the pig swill they're tossing our way.  We are intelligent, talented, skilled tradespeople and we deserve much better than what we receive.

There are clerical workers with less skills than MTs, and they’ve unionized and have won mediations and settlements.  It is possible.  We can save this industry for ourselves.

If you have had enough, if you have even a a modicum of self-respect left, have not been dehumanized to the point of no return, and have a sense of the injustice over what we’ve endured for the past 6 to 8 years, please visit the soon-to-be opened web site of USMLSU (United States Medical Language Specialists Union Initiative).  You can email them at contact.us at usmlsu.org for information.

The following states have local chapters:  Colorado, Delaware, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. If you are in a state not mentioned here, please choose someone from your state to represent you by emailing the USMLSU.

I hope to start seeing many of you at meetings, and organizing your own.  The time is now.

Let me tell what this ONE person achieved on her own and then you can imagine what many of us can do if we stand together.

Two years ago, I was working as an MT for a local hospital.  One day, we were told that our overflow was going to be outsourced to one of the nationals, just the discharge summaries and not even all of those.  Two months after they told us that lie, they called is in one by one and fired us because they were outsourcing the entire dept because it was cost effective.  The service they were using was a very large national who I happened to know had a reputation of offshoring.  And I just knew because our little hospital had easy as pie dictators with maybe 4 out of a staff of 200 that were ESL, our work would most definitely be one of the accounts offshored.

I was angry!  Oh, they offered us jobs at the service and told us we would definitely be working on our hospital, but I'm no fool and I knew it would be a matter of time before we were forced to take secondary accounts which would eventually become our primary accounts and our little hospital would just disappear from our queues. 

I refused the job with the service on moral grounds.  I refused to work for a company that offshored.  And then I decided to channel my anger and outrage into something proactive.  I wrote letters to every newspaper in my area.  Every small farming community newspaper this hospital served, and the big city newspaper in the big city close by.  I never dreamed that anyone would pay attention at one woman's rantings.  But a funny thing happened.  My letter was printed in more than one of the papers I sent it to, and reporter from one of the larger newspapers called me and asked if I would do an interview.  I said absolutely.

Long story short, they did the interview and then interviewed the administrator of the hospital.  They put him in the hot seat and asked him about offshoring health information to India.  He had no definitive answers to give except that he would have to look at the contract and make sure that it was stipulated that his hospital's work was not sent over seas.

It was a small triumph, but I took some satisfaction in it.  Two weeks after that and just when I thought all the hoopla had died on my little letter, another letter appeared in the newspaper -- from an HIM director at another local hospital who said as a result of reading my letter and interview, that she had received a number of calls from concerned people asking if their medical information was being sent and transcribed overseas.  She wanted to write the letter just to set the record straight that her hospital employed their own MTs and did not outsource to a service nor did they offshore any of their work to third-world countries.

And I'm still not done.  Still a few weeks later another letter in the big city paper was printed from another HIM director assuring the community that her hospital employed its own American MTs and did not outsource or offshore.

Now, everything has quieted down since then, but I managed to ruffle some feathers and make a point, and if I (one person, one middle-aged work-at-home mother of two) can cause that much ruckus -- think what a whole bunch of us can do.

I think we, as a group, need to take control of our industry and our career destiny and do something.  Maybe march on Washington DC protesting the offshoring of American jobs -- not just ours, but ALL American jobs that are being offshored.  There are more Americans out of work and losing work to third-world countries and corporate greed than just MTs!  Our government needs to hear our voices!  We need to MAKE ourselves be heard! 

Instead of sitting back and pasting little smiley faces in our posts and saying good luck with that we need to come together.  There is no room for MTs willing to accept lower wages, no room for MTs whose hearts bleed for our third-world counterparts, and no room for MTs who want to sit back and do nothing, but reap the benefits when the strong win the battle.  We've reached a critical turning point and it's time to take up the cause and change the future. 

The phone company doesn't wait, the cable company doesn't wait, and the electric company doesn't wait for their money either - all of which I need to pay in order to do my job.  I work when I am supposed to, I help when behind, and give 110%, and I ask for my check to be on time. 

I think if an MTSO is going to have to mail checks they should do so priority to make up for the delay.

TransTech should not be giving out work to PT people on their DAY OFF, or any other time BEFORE a full-time MT has enough work    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Missing over 30 hours this pay period.

Are there any companies out there that have part-time work available and will just leave you alone and let you do the work?  I produce client-ready material and really need very little attention :)  I already work as an employee with one company and an IC with another.  I'm starting to feel uneasy with my current IC position and am just hoping that there is a company out there that will allow me to do the work without feeling the need to micromanage?

Hoping someone can help me out.  I work full-time already in acute care and would like to find a flexible part-time job.  Benefits aren't important to me since my full-time job takes care of that, so a great line rate is mainly what I'm looking for.  I have 5 years of acute care experience, and am mainly wanting ER work for a part-time job. 

Any suggestions? 

I picked up some part time work by calling  some of the smaller local companies. They often pay better than the large cos and you can almost ways be an IC with them and work very flexible hours. Just a thought!