You are so right, I stand chastised, we are responsible!
Posted By: Sugarcane on 2007-12-09
In Reply to: Who do you think controls our government? - Scribbles
nm
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I was properly chastised in another thread below
for explaining about accepting 7 cpl for pay. Those of us old timers remember when the MTs ruled supreme. We were in great demand and the demand would often result in a bidding war for our services. An MT would get an offer of maybe a cent more per line, give notice, and the company he/she worked for would quickly up the ante. That was in the days when MTSOs knew that the only commodity they had was their MTs. We had benefits too, company paid insurance, vacations, sick pay, holidays and no one worked weekends unless they wanted to. Along came the work-at-home privilege and there went all of the above benefits right out the window. I can't even remember when I last had benefits, back in the late 80s maybe? Then came the MT schools promising the moon while working at home in your jammies and kicking out 100s of wantabe MTs every week. So what we have is an over saturated market. Just look at the jobs board. There are hundreds and hundreds of views on each and every ad. It's a jolly wonder anyone ever gets hired. Years of experience most likely isn't an asset in this day and time either. If by chance the recruiter actually gets to a resume with 20 or 30 years experience, it wouldn't surprise me if they would pass right on over it for fear that MT might actually ask for and expect a living wage. Back in the day when we were paid on gross lines one could make a very good living at 6-7 cpl but with a 65-character, no headers, no footers, free demographic typing, etc. there is no way anyone is going to make a living unless they have the best of the best dictators. I don't know about VR but I don't personally know anyone (and I know a LOT of MTs) who is making a living at 4 cpl. I believe them, they have no reason to lie to me. I've done Q.A. which I hate, but being a fast typist, I could type a report faster than I could do a full listen Q.A. so VR would seem about the same to me.
I think that MT may evolve into something different with VR and EMR but I think there will be jobs in the foreseeable future. Likely those jobs are going to require a college education in the not distant future. An RN degree might be worth pursuing. The problem is the pay. Most people need to be able to count on X amount of dollars during a month. I've said before and I say again, MT needs to go back under the DIRECT control of the hospitals. With available technology, there is no need for MTSOs anymore. They used to serve a purpose, not anymore except to provide really good paying jobs for the top brass. Hospitals could not possibly be saving money by outsourcing their MT and there is certainly no excuse for offshoring when there are AMERICANS begging to work and some will work for almost nothing and with the current trend nothing is what they are going to be working for, 2-3 CPL would not support one person let alone a family.
I am doing what I can to help as I feel I owe something to those who come along after me but who are far less fortunate. I'm an old MT with nothing to do but work to try to make life better for others in other areas as well as MT. I have discussed the issue of MT as it relates to health care costs with my Congressman who happens to be a friend and coincidentally is also a physician. He has promised to discuss it with another physician colleague and promised to bring this matter up in Congress. I feel sure he would like to hear other MT stories. I don't know if it would be proper to post his contact information on this board but if anyone would like to email their story and their thoughts to me I would be more than happy to forward them to him or you can find him by researching for the Representative for the Third District of Arkansas. Don't forget to write your own Senator and Congressman! Write and write again until they listen! I know it is hard to trust anyone these days but I assure you I am trustworthy and I would like to help all of you. Sometimes one has to stand up and be counted in order to bring about any kind of change for anything. I could just go away (as some have suggested) and paint my gourds but I really do have a caring heart.
As an IC you are responsible
for all of your taxes, including the employer match portion to social security. As an SE, taxes are taken out and the employer pays their portion of SS. SE is like being an employee without any benefits.
WE are responsible
Nobody is responsible for how we invest our 401K's but US! If you have a 401K and can't tolerate investment risk, don't put your 401K money in the stock market, put it in a fixed investment. The investment company has nothing to do with how we choose to allocate our 401K investments. If you have a 401K and don't understand how it works, learn! This is vital to your personal financial survival!
I am only responsible for me
If others are so against what the companies are doing, then they need to do something as far as turning them in, etc. I hear a lot of complaining on this board but to tell you the truth, I do not think it is going anywhere with actions.
YOU and YOU alone are responsible for
letting people take advantage of you. Who else is to blame? People sit here talking about not being able to go out of the home, sitting waiting on work. Do you think the MTSOs do not read here. I know they do because 1 day I got an email from 1 replying to a posting I made. As long as you allow someone to make a door mat out of you, it will continue. I know exactly what I am saying. I would make suggestion but it might be construed as being ignorant.
ICs are responsible for taxes... sm
and insurance and all withholdings (1099 status). A statutory employee has FICA withheld and usually Social Security (W2 status). Both have to turn in schedules to their companies, but ICs have a little more flexibility. Also, ICs supply their own equipment. Statutories have the option of company supplied (with a rental fee taken from their check, which is waived a lot of times for high production) or use their own equipment. No bennies for either. An IC just usually needs to meet client turnaround times and can stop and start a lot more than a statutory or full employee status person does.
Not sure if company responsible
for this way of counting or not. They don't pay for headers that you have to look up info for which takes time. I would say about a 30% reduction in line count per report disappears. Where it is going? Right back in their pockets I suppose. Im definitely looking elsewhere
Are you responsible for your own taxes?
Do you have benefits? How fast do you type?
Transcend is responsible for this.
That company has some of the worst managers in this business. They do not care about anything but themselves and think if they just slam the accounts with a lot of MLS to keep them current that is called good management. Some of the good managers take the time to balance out the work so everyone has enough but the lazy ones do not care whether or not we can keep our benefits or pay our bills. But you can't do a thing about it, these are the big boss's pets. You can do what I did - find a second company to work for so you do not rely on them for all your income.
Ultimately, doc is responsible.... sm
Ultimately, it comes down to the responsibility of the physician. I used to have physicians that would put things on the reports like, dictated, but not read. and they would think that got them off the hook, but ultimately, it is their responsibility to review the report for accuracy.
MTSO and client responsible here.
As a former transcription manager I can tell you without even thinking about it that ExText does what it is programmed to do. Your MTSO signs a contract with their clients and all of these things are negotiated. Remember that the new ethics takes the consideration out of whether or not the MT can make a living. It is,however, all about cutting the cost of transcription and I would say it is about time MTs made it their business to be informed about how they are paid and then not rushing to work for companies that do not respect their talents. Why validate people who have no respect for what you do to help their business each day.
reflect how responsible you are in other things.
x
Don't jump to conclusions about Wbx being responsible here - sm
you never know what is true in advertising. I'd be questioning the integrity of the J&J recruiters, rather than Webmedx!
who is made responsible for the mistakes
that slip through into a patient's report?
Do you think that all transcribed or VR reports are 100% error free?
This is no reason to stop the ongoing change to EMR.
Same thing.
I would always hope that a responsible intelligent MT...
typed my medical records. However, why should an MT be the ONLY ONE to take the perpetual pay cuts and the increased reponsibilities that should belong to in-house employees...you know those people who get raises and good benefits...such as researching demographics, CCs, etc.
This business is really different than when I got into it almost 10 years ago. I really, really feel for the people who have been in it for longer and have few options for a career change.
Ideally, yes, every member of the team, from those running MTSOs to those in hospital administration, would have patient care uppermost in their minds...but you know without it being said it is all dollars and cents to them.
MTs are just collateral damage, and professional people should not have to take a pay cut for trying to be more professional than the other people on the TEAM.
I shudder at some of the reports that I see, too, but I cannot lay a guilt trip at the feet of MTs trying to make a living when the deck keeps perpetually getting stacked against them.
The last job I went into was exactly this way...if you have a foot pedal and knew speech recognition, you got the job because speech was new to them. Their tech support was also the human resources person, chief salesperson, and CEO, so when my footpedal did not work, I had to figure it out. My QA trial was 3 reports and then off. The office manager sent me the account specifics - updated in 2007, but I had no supervisor. I could e-mail her with questions, do not call please, and she would try to find an answer and e-mail me back. There is no weekend and evening coverage for anything...call Dictaphone if you absolutely cannot work. Otherwise, five blanks is acceptable to send to the client.
To me, these are the people who should be told to buck up, not the MTs. How can you possibly expect to have a quality MT if that is all the time and information you give them? Inferior MTs are being created by the industry and accepted by hospitals so they can pinch a penny.
To ask MTs to switch professions if they cannot cut it is ridiculous, because they will just be replaced by MTs who know less than they do or more work sent overseas because there truly aren't enough American MTs to do the work.
I agree with the OP ... the MT or editor is responsible.
As an employee, the MTSO is responsible.
It is their responsibility to make sure their employees are performing to standards. As a good MT, you try to do the best you can with each and every report, but the responsibility ultimately rests on the MTSO.
No, just someone who is not an accountant. Responsible for 200+ employees, ICs in several states. No
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They take out for FICA. You are responsible for state and fed taxes. nm
Lawsuits? YOU are responsible for final product, sm
VR doesn't claim to put out a perfect product and never will.
No, the MTSO is responsible for the final product,
and when they give you a garbage platform and force you to fly through reports to make minimum wage, it's too easy to make mistakes. They know this & don't care, and THEY are responsible for the product they are selling. If your brand new Toyota explodes, you don't sue the assembly guy, you sue Toyota... so bwahaha to the MTSO.
At least you stand up for yourself!
I am the HR person, QA, and trainer for a small company. We've had the same employees for more than 5 years, some as long as 10. Recently we had to hire a few new people because of growth.
People talk about wanting to be respected and wanting to keep the work here. I agree this needs to be done but in order to do that we have to have qualified people. IF somebody passes our simple test, which is transcribing real files, and we hire them, we tell them their line requirement. We don't even require set hours. We get people who won't do 200 lines per day, much less what is required. We get people who say they have 10 years of experience, yet require total read throughs, which cost us money. The incredibly bad ones we have to let go, which is incredibly hard for me to do, then come here and post how horrible the employer is. They don't mention the fact that 1) they still have our equipment even though they have their last check, 2) they failed to do their required lines per hour, 3) half the time they just didn't work at all PERIOD. Or I invest a great deal of time in training them and they quit with reasons like I didn't realize it would take four hours to work part time and get my lines, I didn't know working at home was like having a REAL job.
I don't know anything about your company at all, but I do know the frustration at being hammered on these forums without the real stories being told, so I think it's great that somebody actually takes up for their company. We do not outsource, but I have edited for companies who do, and the work is there ON TIME, even if it has to have minimal editing. If someone is sick, there's somebody to back them up. No whining, no emails from people who say that for the 10th time this month there was a wreck and their power is off, the dog is sick, I fell and hurt my back again, my dad is going to be ill in December so I'll need time off, my car broke down and I had to walk 5 miles home so that's why I am 8 hours late getting on, I was out all night partying and I have too much of a headache now to work. It's a real shame for the people who actually do work their tails off.
What does TTS stand for? nm
nm
Take a stand.
Lest we get redirected to the politics board, let me make a few general observations. I would not look to the companies for resolution. They are only one player among many whose greed holds our country in their clutch...a tight, squeezing grip that impoverishes the poor, enriches the wealthy and make economic refugees of the ever-shrinking middle class. Look beyond the corruption of the politicians and whatever despair, frustration and hopeless you may feel. For a long and single moment, stare far back into the eyes or our history and ask these questions over and over and over again:
Why are we paid wages like we're a third world country. It'd be nice just to meet the bills, but between low wages and high costs of having insurance, which we have to have because our antidepressant medications are so flipping high, who can survive doing this anymore?
They are your questions. They are mine too. Why, indeed. Go and find your answers. Seek educated and balanced debates pros and cons, right and left. Here's a hint on how to start. You'll have to switch to something besides Fox and CNN to find this. Listen to the candidates. Follow the rhetoric and their platforms. Watch closely and be a tough critic. Put yourself around others who share these perspectives. Listen and contribute, teach and learn from one and the other. Identify your agenda and then go out and promote and support it.
Do this between now and this time next year. Then show up at the polls. You will know what to do. If you don't get what you want from the leadership and the legislators, do not disappear into the corner of the country. Get out there and go for it, over and over. This is not wasted effort. If you were a child of the 60s or 70s, you would believe this. In my life, sweeping, long-reaching and lasting reform has come and gone. Minorities and women still reap the benefits of those efforts from so long ago. The time is ripe for history to repeat itself.
PS: If this were 1970, you and I would be organizing (watch out, here comes that dirty word) LABOR UNIONS.
Could not stand it ..
First post I read was how nobody needs the BOS. Then I read this .. some days you just have to wonder how in the world people make a living if they really feel there need be no rules or standards. Forget India or Manila or Pakistan and for God sake, remember patient safety. There is a reason for standards and every time I come here I see someone shooting themselves in the foot with their incredibly illogical logic. Our jobs are about patient safety .. first, foremost and always.
What does LTS stand for?
nm
Can't stand it.
I hate the way it searches patients, I hate the autotext format...basically can't stand it. I only live with it because I play it in express scribe and type it in word and then copy it over.
what's TT stand for ? nm
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Where is YOG or what does that stand for???
Does this company still exist? I tried to look on Google to see what company this is and cant find it.
What does it stand for, please? (SPi) (nm)
Who is going to stand up for us?
We are all spread out, and the company I just came from kept everyone's name a secret, including how many working on the account, changes in schedules - everything.
And this is exactly why, so we CAN'T do anything about anything.
I was with them about a month. I could not stand the
account they had me on and they got pretty rude about it.
what does MTSO stand for? nm
...
It would only stand to reason that they
ALWAYS on the verge of losing accounts, probably because of the cherry-picking, lazy, idiot MTs they employ.
Also, as was posted by Deb the last time this issue was brought up, it is because it is a different platform. Do they offer any of us without work the chance to train on the new platform? Of course not!
I stand corrected...
If they do not have the integrity to stand up and say they have
enough staff, then I have lost all respect I had for any of them. Most of them have no ability anyway, so when they lose those jobs, they will be on the welfare lines.
I see. I stand corrected.
xx
I absolutely cannot stand it - sm
When people feel the need to correct errors in posts!
Ahh, I stand corrected. nm
nm
We should all take that stand, Angry4U.
In fact, we should take it further than that. We could start by writing letters to congresscritters and to facilities in our own town that use overseas transcriptionists.
Taking a stand
I work for MDI-MD which does not offshore. There ARE companies out there with integrity. I think it behooves all of you who are looking for new jobs to be very clear that you will work only for companies that do NOT offshore. You should also give the AAMT a piece of your mind since they have been supporting (and profiteering from) offshoring for years. Think about that the next time you write your excuse to this pathetic organization.
What does the eMTS stand for?
And do they have a web site? I am looking for a job and would really like to know more about them or how to send a resume. Thanks!
Stand your ground and tell them you would like to
If they don't tell you then move on to the next company. For the posting below re: depending on how you test determines your salary. I would never work for a company that did that. It is not fair. Many of us are great transcriptionist, but test horribly. If a company makes you angy or they don't answer your question, then keep on truckin', there are plenty of them out there! Good Luck
The initials stand for
TTS- Transcription Technology and Support out of New Hampshire.
I stand corrected
No, I did not know many of the things you say here. The only pharmacy techs I know are people with very little training, not like anything you mention, and that does frighten me I must admit.
I do know that many of the newbies seem to have a poor work ethic and don't seem to have had very much training. I see that where I work. And I do know someone who had been in a mentoring program offered by a national and had a horrible experience and barely kept herself alive on what she made.
I did not know the other things you mentioned. I am glad you filled me in on these things. I want to learn all I can about our situation. I welcome feedback and I sure wish the things you mentioned were discussed here. I'd be grateful if you could advise me where to turn to find out such things and keep track of what is really going on, because I apparently am not getting the whole story. I'd also be interested in your ideas for what to do as you seem to know what you're talking about.
I apologize if I offended you or anyone else.
oh - I stand corrected. So who's LK?
I don't come here enough to know the companies that well...what does SGS stand for? TIA (nm)
zzz
what does DH stand for? Sorry to be so slow. nm
.
while it's supposed to stand for that
I use my imagination and have come up with some really good and oh so appopriate ones!
D--- h---
Think about it. LOL
Thanks! Can you stand 1 more question? SM
Does the length of time to get the lines in each day matter, like if it takes me 5 hours to do 600 lines versus 4 hours, do they care about the actual lines per hour you are achieving, or can you work more slowly and accurately and not have to try to fly so fast to cram them in for quota? It would be to my benefit to do more an hour, obviously, to finish more quickly, but wondered if that is an issue that is brought up. Thanks so much, once again.
I stand corrected.....sm
The M-F schedule was not an option when I hired, but that may have just been with the account I hired for.
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