Wrote this a while back.....sm
Posted By: sonicfingers on 2009-03-18
In Reply to: Get it straight. - Winnie
Never got published, but maybe you can get some points from it....
RE: YOUR CONFIDENTIAL MEDICAL INFORMATION GOING OVERSEAS
I am a medical transcriptionist, and I am also a patient of several doctors in the United States of America.
I have a story that needs to be told to U.S. Citizens. I shall remain anonymous, but I do feel that whoever breaks this story to the public will have done them a great service.
In an effort to save money, at the public’s personal expense, many patient records (voice dictation) from the United States are going overseas to be transcribed (mostly to India). This means that possibly even YOUR confidential medical and personal information (such as your Social Security number, address, phone number, etc.) is going overseas. The world climate in which we are now living makes this is a very dangerous situation.
I do have a financial interests in this issue, but I am also a US citizen who is very concerned about my personal medical information getting into the hands of the wrong people and feel that the US government should put constraints on this.
All people are created equal and I am very sorry for the people who would no longer profit from this business overseas should our government put an end to it; however, I do feel that the US public has a right to know what is happening to their medical records, as they are their legal property. At the very least, they should have to legally consent to their records leaving this country.
Thank you for your attention to this.
Concerned Citizen
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did you see what she wrote
Hey, did you see below where the cheerleader wrote that I need a lawyer? Funny isn't it? Hmmm.... I'm thinking First Amendment applies! Sheeeshhh
Do you see what you just wrote to me? sm
Read your second paragraph with all the caps and personal attacks? I did not do or say anything that justifies you calling me miserable. This is a board where adult professionals post opinions. I posted mine and I guess you don't agree with my opinion. For you to suggest that I need social skill and that I a NASTY as you cap it and MISERABLE is provocative and looking for an argument. I will not take the bait but I just will point out that you are overreacting and provoking here.
Do you see what I wrote under the post?
It does not matter what I believe anyhow. The fact is the company believes you have to be a QA person for 5 years. I believe you should to do their accounts, yes, because their accounts are acute care, in depth
called and wrote
x
I already joined and wrote him! sm
I pray that they will get theirs in the end. Justice will prevail!
Yes, I wrote them twice since testing, but got no
s
Somebody wrote in the forum that they did
nm
I wrote it and can't find it either
I just wrote in about the MT from MDI asking where to go...I can't find my reply either! Glad you saw it. Now I know I'm not going crazy.
Suzanne Gabric
If you read what I wrote more carefully
you would see that I said it is fine as long as they tell you up front. Which they don't. Which means it isn't fine.
In other words, I was being a little sarcastic :)
I just wrote my state senator the following..
Dear Senator: You may or may not know about a recent sale of Medquist, Inc. Transcription Services selling 70% of their stock to an India-owned company as of 5/22/08. In 2007, Medquist fired over 1000 employees to prepare for this sale. CBAY is known for firing US employees and hiring employees in India to do US medical transcription. We desperately need your help to address the issue of outsourcing of US medical records thereby losing confidentiality of our medical information, social security #s, birthdates, and much more. including further loss of jobs for US workers. We urge you to pass the following bill:
S. 810/H.R. 1653
Clinton (D-NY)/Markey (D-MA)
Prohibits American businesses and health care organizations from sharing consumers’ personal information with foreign affiliates or subcontractors without consent from consumers. Allows consumers to “opt out” of having their personal information processed overseas and bars companies from denying service or charging consumers more as a result.
Any and all help you can give us in regard to keeping jobs in the US will be greatly aprpeciated.
I misread what you wrote and apologize.
My response below was a result of my misunderstanding!
My apologies, MtMommyof2!
That sure sounds like AHDI wrote it. It sure is
Or maybe even FBI - one never knows how deep their dishonesty runs.........
Dude, I'm poking fun at what you wrote! LOL.
x
I'm curious who wrote that post...
...if they are WebmedX mgt trying to mislead? I know of no accountso f theirs still on regular transcription and I asked as well. I hate editing. Two years later it hasn't gotten any better and I make SO much less it's rediculous. It's easier the majority of the time to type the whole report from scratch and make pennies on the dollar for doing same. :(
Ok. So for each report you wrote down the word count?
then compared it? Just wondering. I probably won't do it because that would just take up too much of my time but wondered how you did it.
Just to clarify, I wrote the first few MTSO posts
But this is not mine. However, I have to agree that some MTs look much better on paper!!
Based on past interviewed, there is the information I wrote down
I cannot guarantee this information is 100%, and anyone with more accurate information feel free to chime in, but I have interviewed with several companies over the past few months, and here are the notes I have taken on what was offered by Webmedx and Axolotl:
Webmedx Acute Care = probably includes ESL dictators
Axolotl Clinic Work = probably easier/better dictators
VR/ASR:
WMX = Starting to covert accounts to ASR
AX = Unknown
Insurance (Single): Axolotl costs more per pay period than Webmedx.
Pay Days:
WMX = 26 (every 2 weeks)
AX = 24 (twice monthly)
Medical, Dental, Vision Insurance:
WMX = Eligible after 90 days
AX = Eligible after 30 days
Flexible Spending Account:
WMX = None
AX = Eligible after 90 days
401K:
WMX = Eligible after 1 year, with NO MATCH
AX = Eligible after 90 days with partial match
Eligible Tuition Reimbursement:
WMX = Unknown
AX = $2,000 per year
Working Holidays:
WMX = You are expected to work the holiday if it falls during your regular work schedule, unless you request it off in advance and there is enough coverage.
AX = Rotating. If it falls during your regular work schedule, they try to spread it out so no one is working all the major holidays.
Yearly Bonus or Pay Raise:
WMX = never heard of anyone getting a raise
AX = Anniversary $500 bonus (minimum)
ISP, incoming dictation snafu, or Acts of God preventing you from working:
WMX = Full-time: you have to make up the time or take PTO, preferably the same day
AX = Depending on the circumstances, you may still get paid and only have to work your regular schedule
Full-Time Status:
WMX = If you fall below 35 hours per week for three consecutive months (no matter what reason), they automatically drop you to part-time status.
AX = Unknown
I wrote this email and sent it to the Toledo Blade newspaper.
Dear Mr. Zerbey:
I wanted to make you and your readers aware of the situation that took place at Heartland Information Services (owned by HCR Manor Care-parent company-Toledo based company) today, Monday, May 8, 2006. In a mandatory conference call (for the chosen employees) Kathy Clemmons, VP of the US based operations and Colleen Neidert, HR Manager promptly told all of the US based medical transcriptionists and some Quality Assurance employees and auditors, that we no longer had jobs with Heartland Information Services. Kathy Clemmons stated that over the past 4 to 6 months Heartland had been looking at ways to become profitable for HCR Manor Care by increasing their business through new contracts with hospitals and physician practices. Apparently, according to Kathy Clemmons, VP, that did not happen and the company decided to look at ways to cut costs. Kathy Clemmons, VP stated that it cost Heartland 5 times more to pay the US based medical transcriptionists versus what they pay the medical transcriptionists in India. So, needless to say, here I am typing this email to you as one of the employees given a permanent layoff as per Colleen Neidert's (HR manager) words in the meeting. All US based MTs are employed until July 7, 2006 at 2:00pm, at which time, all computers are to be turned off and work as a Heartland employee ceases. They are offering the computers that employees used to work on from home offices for an astounding deal of $800. They are going to show the $800.00 on the time sheets as income and then deduct the federal taxes and then we will also be responsible for the state and local taxes on the computer. This is the severance package. Of course, we can opt not to take the computer and send it back.
Noticeably absent from this mandatory conference call was Dennis Paulik, President of Heartland Information Services. I thought that was rather professional and courteous of him. He destroys the lives of hundreds of employees and their families and then does not have the courtesy of firing his own employees! Great guy he is!
How many more jobs are we, as United States citizens going to lose to India or China? How much longer are we going to turn the other cheek? What is it going to take to stop this raping of our own country of jobs and lives for that matter? Who will have the nerve and strength to say enough is enough?
What will the hospitals and physicians' think when they learn that all of their dictation (legal documents in a court of law if there were to be a lawsuit) are being transcribed by nonEnglish speaking individuals? What will the patients of these facilities think? How is the HIPPA law being enforced overseas to protect the rights of patients?
The bottom line is money obviously, for Heartland and HCR Manor Care, but if given a choice, I know without a doubt, the American patient and American physician and hospital and healthcare facilities would choose quality and accuracy 100% of the time over an underpaid, nonEnglish speaking, half the world away individual listening to and transcribing their vital information pertaining to their actual lives in some cases.
I am one of those unfortunate individuals fired today. I worked my heart out for this company as did so many. We worked weekends, holidays, overtime, we worked when others were sick or on vacation or to cover shifts when individuals did not call in to work. We worked and worked, always grateful in the most humble of ways, grateful for our jobs with Heartland.
Heartland, the name itself, the heartland of America, not India, but America, all of the great American cities such as Toledo, Ohio; Madison, Wisconsin; Omaha, Nebraska, and Rockford, Michigan. What will happen to us now? Where do we go from here? Sure, we will all find ways to continue on, we have to, but what about the next company, the next American citizen working hard to live the true American dream, what happens when it continues to happen? Where does it end?
God Bless us all. May we be blessed with great, American based jobs.
I would be most grateful to you if you would place this email on the Editorial page or even the front page of the Toledo Blade. I am a full-blooded American just telling my story and the story of hundreds of others today. May you find it in your heart to hear the cries of the American worker, simply trying to live the American dream, only to be replaced by the Indian worker, trying to destroy the American dream.
Thank you for listening not only to me, but I hope my words expressed what so many of us former employees are feeling tonight here in the Heartland of America.
I wrote AAMT, the President, and my senators tonight...sm
I'm also going to write my local paper and contact some news organizations.
To Mary K - I totally agree...I thought you wrote a
great letter and I hope you get some response to it on a national level..the public needs to know about this as is concerns THEIR medical records! I applaud your efforts and hope something comes from it!
Oh Geez- i didnt read what I wrote - correction in msg
Has anyone else gotten late paychecks from Meridian in the past.
I was up working half the night. So please dont hound me.
I didn't see that in her post at all. In fact I wrote something similar...please sm
I believe what she meant was similar to what I wrote which was that I felt a majority of the nasty posts probably came from isolated people that take crap all day. These types normally get walked on because they aren't outspoken enough in real life to say what they feel. Then they anonymously come here (or other boards)to take out their pinned up frustrations. It's merely an opinion and you know what they say about those.:)
The reason I believe this to be true is because I've encountered way more nasty people on-line than in real life. If some of the posters said the same nasty remarks to a person's face that they do hiding behind a screen name, #1) They'd get fired. #2) They'd have NO friends.
#3) They'd lose a few teeth.
Think about it.
I wrote to their HR department, which is the only contact I could find for them, last week, but no r
x
I'll say! Wrote off $82 million as "goodwill impairment"
NM
oh geez "always... all the time" I should read what I wrote before I post. sigh
.
I worked in QA for Transcending back in 2000-2001. They were paying hourly back then. SM
The accounts weren't too horribly bad. The reason I ended up leaving was because slowly but surely they began to inch closer and closer to paying QA by production. When I first started, the quota was something like 30 reports a day. We simply had to make sure that we QA'd all reports that were close to being out of TAT first and then do the rest. Then, my supervisor left and they hired a new one who immediately called a big teleconference meeting and said we had to up production to 60 reports a day. Then, they started counting lines. Which was fine because they were still paying hourly.
Next, there was an MT who used VR software because she was blind - yes blind. Again, when I first started, I was told we had to edit her entire reports because she used the VR software and we had to make sure that everything was correct and made sense. Then, we are told only check the blanks. I wasn't comfortable with that and I continued to completely proof every word. Then I was called on the carpet not because I wasn't meeting the production quota, but because I was ONLY meeting the production quota. I told them I was proofing all of the MT's work that used VR, I was told that no one ever told me to proof every word of the VR reports and that I needed to fill in blanks and move on. When I voiced my concerns, I was told that was my job, to fill in blanks and I should move on and strive to product above the standards. Next thing you know, rumors abounded about changing the QA staff to being paid on production. So I left.
There just seemed to me to be too little concern for quality and more emphasis on quantity and I just didn't want to be part of company who would take money out of my pocket just to line their own and that's what they were doing by putting QA on production. I also am not comfortable with the job of QA being thought of as a blank filler. There is much more to the QA profession than just simply filling in blanks.
I don't know if Transcend ever did start paying QA by production, but I could see that the idea was being floated there. Maybe there was a enough protest that they didn't change from hourly.
Good luck to you!
Phoenix Medcom- Another apply a few months back, ask to take a test and never heard back??
I applied a month or two ago, received an email from someone asking if I would take a test and said she was getting ready to go on vacation for a week, so I hurried and immediately and told her I'd love to take the test. I never heard back. I waiting thinking she went on vacation and would contact me when she got back to do the test but nothing...very strange..Just wondered if this happened to anyone else.
Has everyone heard back from Keystrokes yet regarding the email we received a while back?
Just wandering why I haven't heard any response yet.
I sent them an email back in August and never heard back sm
Is this company on Long Island? I checked out their website and even tried calling once. Were you successful in contacting them? All i know is that the company is owned by some doctors.
Hopefully, you will hear back. Unfortunately, I immediately heard back from MD-IT
but somehow with over 16 years of experience, I blew the test. I was soooo disappoionted and yet pretty stunned. I am by no means perfect but I haven't flunked a test in years. I expected it in my early years but not this far down the road. I was so confident and they will not tell you which part you did not pass and why so it really just blew my mind. I must have been in shock for like two hours after I got the email. Oh well, someone will want me....hopefully. I was thinking about OSi but I don't think I could take another rejection if I never heard back.
I had the same thing happen, went back to MQ, went back to KS and could not be sm
happier. I am on a different account then the first time and it is as if it is a different company. I have a great lead who leaves us alone most of the time but is there when I need her. It showed me that you can have a different experience within the same company.
I have to say that in the few weeks since they have the new office, it is much more organized probably because there are a lot of people there all the time. I had the pleasure of speaking to the new HR manager who was HR at a hospital, got my questions answered about insurance as I am going to full time and had a live voice pick up the phone.
Not all change is bad. This is one company that has changed for the better.
I was reading about the back up help. I would like also to have some back up work.
I am not getting anywhere near 12,000 lines this go around. My goal is 12,000 lines each pay period.
Back away from the hoops!! Back away!
I worked for them about 6 months - same mess to get hired - FBI check is right! It was unreal. I was so excited, though - they promised me the moon, and I really thought I had found my new home after centuries with that other company who shall not be named. What a disappointment, to say the least. All around horrible experience, and I would NEVER recommend them. Certainly they were not worth the hoops at all. Total waste of effort.
Back to ya!
--
Thanks for getting back with me!
x
Has anyone gone back
to Transcend after receiving letter asking you to come back? If so, how are things this time around?
I'm not looking for a pat on the back and
I know it is like that everywhere but I'm sick and tired of cleaning up after this person, getting phone calls begging me to fix this or that because they can't count on this other MT; I mean the list goes on and on. I know that in this field flexibility is everything but I'm also not bending over and taking it anymore, I'm flexed out!
They got back to where
Get off of her back!
This was a simple question. If you don't have the answer, don't post. No get in the shower!
Wanna play?
We can BACK IT UP
As a Medquist or MQ employee, and I have seen many on this board, we have legitimate complaints about what has been going on.
The REAL FACT here is that many of our offices are closing or have closed, we have been transferred to the Amherst office, we have no work, no one wants to discuss it and many other issues. There are problems and this is a FACT.
RUN and don't look back.
They are BY FAR the worst company to work for. Pay, even though it is direct deposit, was never on time. Sure, they offered to pay for you overdraft fees, but it took forever to actually get your pay. And they would never tell you in advance that it was going to be late so you could avoid the problems. Plus, they had horrible supervisors that did not know what they were doing. Always were IM you and causing you to lose time while wanting to chit-chat....They had some good accounts but lost them due to being unprofessional and other reasons that I do not know. Stay away! Horrible place!
RUN and don't look back!!!!..sm
I was an employee with them. I can sum it up. If you don't mind not knowing when you are going to receive your payday (even though it is direct deposit) then they are a great company. Honestly, they are horrible. They are the most unprofessional company I have EVER seen and been employed by. It was not just one instance of pay arriving late, but I quit at the third time in a row. And they did not warn you ahead of time....they mentioned it the DAY that you were supposed to be getting your payday, and they did not do that until so many people raised such a stink over it! Plus, the so-called supervisors are a joke. They do not know what they are doing and are the most foul-mouthed individuals I have ever seen. PLUS, they keep IM you ever few minutes to where you cannot get your work done. They had an EXCELLENT account and lost it due to so much unprofessionalism because they could not get their act together. Please, run and don't look back...otherwise, you will just be looking for your paycheck that doesn't arrive until weeks later....
Well, they can come back now!
This is a message on the main page...
MTStars has been staunchly against the offshoring of American Private Health Information, but realizes that MTStars must evolve with the ever changing views of conducting business in the global economy. The hands of time cannot be turned back on the widespread transfer of information globally and as of January 1, 2006, MTStars opened itself up to include the global environment.
Back up help.
If anyone is interested, I have an oral surgery account that I need back-up help with every once in a while. This will be p.r.n. Very easy. 0.07/65-character line with spaces. Will need wave file player and MS Word.
Back-up help
I would be interested in helping you out when you need it? Would you be interested in helping me? I need back up help for a clinic account (2 docs) on occasion also. Do you happen to have a call-in line of some type?
Sue
Exactly! We should be the ones doing the back-
ground checks on some of these companies, right? Unbelievable! Just such a total waste of time, $$, and real ego killers some of these outfits. Its a shame...
Would never go back there
nm
Me too, went back into QA.
Unfortunately though many other recruiters are not MTs, makes sense right? LOL
I came back
I thought the grass was greener, but it was not. I left because I thought a little higher line rate would help my situation. The work was not steady so the higher line rate meant nothing. I called my Medware team leader and since I left on good terms they hired me back and I am so thankful. I like working afternoons so I have the morning to get things done around the house.
RUN AND NEVER LOOK BACK!
I, unfortunately, had the worst experience of my MT career working for Focus for just over a month. They drove me insane, so I quit after only a few weeks. Someone else said that they only talked to one American person the whole time they worked there, and the same goes for me, and that was someone in HR at their office in Massachusetts. Their tech support, QA and account managers are the worst. You can never understand a word they are saying. I even got yelled at one time by one of the techs in India because I was disturbing his work by asking for help when their software locked up my entire computer and I completely lost a 5 page report and never got it back. They kept telling me that my quality was below par, yet at any other company I have always been between 98 and 100%. In fact, the company that I started working for after I quit Focus (and I am still at) took my off full review a month early because I was doing so well. They will belittle any American MT and make you think that you are the worst they have ever seen.
They got back with me the same day, but
I still wouldn't recommend them. They represent some of the same companies that post ads here and the $$ is no different, so you basically just end up testing twice, whereas you can contact the company yourself and test only once.
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