You're thinking of Paradigm.

• Anybody here work for Prium (Duluth, GA)? - NM
  • I think I did... - I think
    • You're thinking of Paradigm. - mt
      • yes that's it! - I think
      • should say last 6 months or so. - mt

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I rarely ever post but I just wanted to let people know what happened to me so they can avoid the same experience I had. i'm not gonna mention the name of the company here,but anyone who works for this company knows the problems they've had with their payroll and getting their direct deposits on time.. and how the owner is uncaring about how many bounce fees she causes everyone to have to pay, or how people can't pay their bills when their DD doesnt show up until Monday. She just turns off her IMs and doesnt answer emails. Really great person to work for..   Well.. aside from those problems, i just wanted to warn people that when you do decide to finally leave the company, just be sure she doesnt owe you anything before you leave. Do a slow down, so that she owes you as little as possible by the time you quit, unless you don't have any equipment, like a foot pedal or anything, that she sent you that she can use to justify holding your final check(s). She has done this to a few people I know of..and I'm sure there's lots more I don't know. I can't say if she pays right away if you don't have equipment,.she probably does ...but I know what happens if you do!!

I had a foot pedal that belonged to her, and she held my final TWO CHECKS on me. She owed me one full check and for two or three days into a new pay period and held them both. When my next to last check didn't show up as expected and I called to ask her about it, she said its "company policy" to roll all money owed into one final check. She happened to be on vacation, so I returned the equipment,but still had to wait from the 4th of April until the 26th when she returned from vacation.. I waited and still didn't receive any money from her, so I emailed her multiple times with no response.. Then i happened to check my bank balance and found out she had deposited the check for the 2-3 days in my account..but the full check she owed me wasn't there.  I had expected a paper check from her, so I didnt check my balance for a while..I just happened to check it. When i emailed her about the money, she didnt even bother to answer me to say she had deposited it, so its a good thing I checked or I'd still be waiting.  I finally called her. since she refuses to answer emails, and she said she would look into what happened with the other check first thing Monday morning...This was last Friday.. today I FINALLY got my money from her.  only more than a full month and 266.00 in bounce fees later!!   So, the good news is she will probably pay you..eventually...but who wants to wait over a month with no check?  I know I had extenuating circumstances because she happened to go on vacation, but she also did payroll early, and there was no way I could have gotten the pedal back to her before she did payroll. She knew she was going to hold both checks and didn't bother to tell me that when I emailed her to tell her I had mailed the pedal back and would be expecting my check as usual on April 14th.. so I got a nice little shock when my DD just didnt show up on the 14th.  Maybe others get their money a little sooner, but still ..who wants to wait for their checks for that long.  Well anyway, I decided to let people know what happened to me, just so they can avoid it happening to them.

In my opinion the problem is that we are in a transition - paradigm shift - between the old way of communicating and the new.  We all transitioned to the computer and now we can work from home in our PJs if we want to instead of having to get dressed and go to an office and work from tapes. 

A similar thing is happening with our phone communication and it is going digital...you will have to get used to it because we ARE going to change.  Most of the rest of the world is way ahead of us on this front.  The technology is trying hard to catch up but meanwhile as we have to have long distance now to work in many cases (see above!) and if we use VoIP/digital we may have to make a few concessions for a bit.  Otherwise, we pay through the nose, have to sneak around and switch phone lines, stuff like that.  I predict it will get better, just like our cell phones got better, our computers got better, etc.

Don't blame the companies we work for...maybe they could help us figure out options but it isn't their fault.  Keystrokes was very upfront about the need for unlimited long distance when I hired on there. 

Well said.  Your post has presented some interesting issues.

There's another way to look at the issue, as well.  How would an MT feel about the offshoring issue if she were to collect commission on every report that were processed overseas?  In other words, the job market is not limited, but the industry is opened up to international profit for all.

While this option for the medical transcription industry may not be open to those of us who are not MTSO owners or stockholders, there are other industries that allow us to profit from the global economy.  I recently joined a company that does business in India.  If I want to, I can recruit Indians and sell my product in India and earn commission on the same.  At this point, my point of view regarding the global market has changed because I now can profit from it rather than lose because of it.

So, regarding the offshoring of medical transcription work, the only ones who do not like it are those who lose money on the deal.  Those who gain from it are not going to stop as long as the payoff is there and it continues to be legal.  Congress may have the control over this activity if they decide to levy heavy taxes on companies that offshore.  Otherwise, MTSOs will continue to do whatever brings them the most profit.  Let's face it; the profit is the main concern. 

So far, I haven't heard of a single company that puts the needs of its US-based workers ahead of profit; at least, not for long..  Have you?

No matter what their objective, no MTSO has the right to treat any of us like equipment.  We certainly need to put a stop to the lies, deception, and oppression that goes along with it.  This business of being required to show up to work to watch an empty queue is absolutely ridiculous.  I sure hope that those who are employees and are entitled to partial unemployment benefits, be sure to apply for those benefits appropriately.

8 of your hours in one weekend day.  There's no extra pay for it though. 

y

I've been an MT for about 20 years - 7 years with MQ.  I used to do on average about 300+ lines per hour on my primary and made a pretty decent living.  With ASR, I've gone down to an average of about 239 lines per hour.  Plus, they pay us about a penny a line less on ASR after you do a 60-day trial.  I tried quitting the ASR, but if you do that, all you get is the really crappy dictation, so the ASR becomes the lesser of two evils. 

My theory is that, since the ASR system apparently learns as we make corrections, that MQ is going to keeping sending it to us while we teach the system.  Then, when the ASR system has learned all it can and is doing perfect work, they'll ship all the work to India and pay them (the Indian ME's) 2 cents a line to edit it. 

If I were you and I were making a decent living doing regular transcription with a high line rate, I would not consider ASR.  I think the only ones who make any money at the MT's who did not produce huge amounts to begin with!! 

I would NEVER recommend MQ.  They're all about the bottom line and I guarantee, MQ ASR will be going to India -- just give the machine enough time to learn. 

I heard back from a position I applied for.  The person is asking me about what I want in an MTSO & I thought I'd share: 

No micromanagement.  I will work the hours I say I will work and if I’m doing so, leave me alone.

I don’t want to hear about everyone else’s mistakes in a nasty e-mail where you threaten to dock everyone’s pay.  Address the issue with the individual.

No demanding I work overtime & then being unwilling to pay extra.  If you ask me in a civilized manner I will see what I can do to help.

No new and creative ways to rip the MT off.  I don’t care about your VBCs.  I want to be paid for my time and typing – including templates and spaces.

A company which pays on time.

Low ESL, while I can do ESL it doesn’t mean I should have to do so continuously because everyone else has cherry-picked or they just can’t do it – they need the practice, I don’t.  While it’s true I can make money on ESLs because they tend to say the same thing over and over, when they don’t, they are a royal pain in the @ss.

Pay equal to my experience level.

State of the art equipment – No DOS!  No cumbersome software wasting MY time looking up patient demographics.

I think I might prefer ER or clinic, I can make more money with those than with op notes, even though they pay less per line.

A company that DOES send positive e-mails and keeps its MTs up-to-date with feedback from the accounts and abreast of latest terms.