You hit the nail on the head. No "average" joe is going to go to that degree of applauding the
Posted By: Boy..I agreed on 2007-05-20
In Reply to: You sound like a recruiter. - ang
Good call..
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You hit the nail on the head. They get what they pay for!!
I will all come back to haunt them!
You hit the nail on the head
Unfortunately for the remote MTs, a lot of areas around the country hire very few, if none at all, in-house MTs anymore. Most of the work is done by services. It seems that everyone is trying to cut down their own overhead. The hospitals/clinics by outsourcing to services, and the services by cutting rates and benefits. It all trickles down to the MT who takes the brunt of the cuts, but who is also expected to give back the most. It's really no wonder the morale in this profession is so low. That alone will affect the ability to hire skilled, experienced (more than 10 years) MTs. Maybe I'm alone in my thinking, but it seems like it will breed a whole new generation of MTs that will hold the idea that they will give what they get. And in a way, I can't blame them.
You hit the nail exactly on the head!
I did write in my contract not to ever call into my system with a cell phone. The dictation was as clear as a bell. Now I am working for another service that sucks, garbled doctors putting their phones on the desk while they shuffle through films.... gads....
You hit the nail on the head (sm)
about the location factor. If I lived in Kentucky or something, this would be decent pay. But I don't, I live in San Francisco. Of course, the answer that comes immediately to mind is, Then move! But I've lived here forever, and this is where my life is. I have many friends who left SF for other parts of the country, including CO, TX, NY, MI, GA, etc., and they were all miserable and came back. Once you've lived in SF, it's hard to leave because this place is so unique. Unfortunately, too many other people feel the same way, and housing is insane. The cheapest you can get is maybe a run-down studio condo, and that will run you about $300,000. A house? Forget it - half a million to 3/4 of a million. A friend who is currently house-hunting just looked at a place for a half-mil. that had rats in the kitchen and on the back porch, and mold on the ceiling.
ANYWAY, yes - I forgot to include in my original post that I wish MT companies would adjust salary for location, but then they'd probably never want to hire people who live in CA!
You hit the nail on the head...
we MTs work longer and longer hours for far less money. Nowadays, if I pay my rent, phone bill and car insurance, I'm left with about $20 to eat on for TWO WEEKS. I stopped heating my apt., and I guess the next thing to go will be my health insurance.
LOL... you hit the nail on the head
w/ that! Yep she told me that same phrase hit the ground running. She is a complete fruitcake, believe me. I have all the emails to prove just how inconsistent she is. I am so glad it didn't work out because she has very unrealistic ideals/expectations.
You hit the nail on the head, especially...
when you noted that companies and/or their representatives pose as MTs. I, myself, have been a victim of that. I was very naive and had no idea that grown mature people actually do this. I had inquired about good companies to work for and an employee praised her company up and down, how it was the best job she ever had, would never leave, excellent benefits etc.. She told me to contact her supervisor about this great opportunity. Well, come to find out this great employee and her supervisor a.k.a. recruiter are one and the same, and as far as I know she is still doing that. She gets people sucked in by this praising employee. When I talked to actual employees they stated what a nut job she was etc.. Well, I could not disagree with that as all I could think of is,how could someone do something so deceitful even worse you have to worry WHY they would do that..and I guess it is obvious. If people heard the real truth, then they would not apply there. I think the bottom line is.. at least for me, I take EVERYTHING with a grain of salt. Some people love their jobs and some do not, regardless if the job is good or not. It is all subjective. Some of us have bad days when we are burned out on the profession and do not want to work PERIOD. Others are oblivious and are just happy to be alive so throw them a little extra cash and they are happy. We all come from different backgrounds, personally and professionally. At different times in my life, I would have stressed out about being offered 8 cpl because I needed more money as a single parent. Now, 8 cpl is fine because I am more financially secure. You just have to find your own fit in whatever matters to you..more money or maybe flexibility or perhaps good benefits. We all need something that one company may not be able to accommodate and thus we move on, some more bitter than others.  Sorry for the rambling. I really just wanted to comment on that YES people are deceitful on here so you have to make your own choices and just keep in mind you really do not know whom you are talking to so dont believe everything you hear and there are two sides to every story. I have worked with transcriptionists that were so awful it was unreal. When they were fired, they blamed everyone else and how terrible the supervisor was etc..Those employees no doubt tell everyone who will listen what an awful place to work that is. Yes, I would find them awful too if they expected SOME quality.. NOT..Just goes to show....to each his own perception.
You hit the nail on the head. sm
We ARE working for nothing and who wants to do that if you can make more at Wal-Mart and not have to kill yourself doing it? Not enough qualified MTs, my behind. There are plenty, many have just been forced out of the field by poverty wages that won't feed the family!
I think you hit the nail on the head
too many have MT'ing as a hobby/vanity job...pocket change for the little woman...and no offense to those of you who are lucky enough to have the hubby that pays the bills (boy I wish mine did!!!) but it does create the illusion that this job can be done by anyone and should be paid as such.
Hit the nail right on the head
They are going to VBC. This not only impacts our line counts but how they calculate our holidays and vacation pay as well.
Waiting to hear from my account manager as to what kind of line rate they are going to be offering me before I make any decisions.
Has anyone had this conversation yet?
You hit the nail on the head...
They used to be a great company to work for. Until a few months ago when they got GREEDY. Keep running.
You hit the nail on the head.
They are weeding out anybody no doubt that passed but might be a bit upset when they are told everyone starts out at 8 cpl - no exceptions. Keep looking and you will find a company that thinks experience and good work ethic means something. Good luck.
Hit the nail on the head!!!!
I have been preaching this for years. This is so very logical. Why should we be forced to LOSE money. Also, these companies who call us ICs have the nerve enough to get angry when we don't want to waste our time doing crappy dictators telling us that everyone has to do them. No, you let the people who are paid hourly do them, and if it takes 2 hours to do a 2-min dictation, who cares, the MT is not losing money, and the work is being done still.
Hit the nail on the head--thanks!
...can suck the energy right out of you, distract you from your job...
I can understand if an owner, or anyone else, is under pressure and occasionally has a bad day, but when it becomes the rule rather than the exception, it's time for the basher or the bashee to move on.
If I'm making frequent or careless mistakes, I should expect someone to get cranky about it. Maybe it's carelessness, but it could also be a misunderstanding of a procedure or even a glitch in their program.
To assume carelessness and come down on someone like a ton of bricks for an isolated mistake is unwarranted and demoralizing.
I found myself in such a situation recently and spent way too much time responding to the email, after I peeled myself off the ceiling, mostly trying to tone it down several notches from take this job and shove it.
After several re-writes, I managed simply to point out the glitch in their system and say that I welcomed feedback on recurrent or careless mistakes, if that were truly the case.
In the meantime, I have stepped up my search for another job. I should really be grateful for this proverbial last straw as a motivator not to keep avoiding the dreaded job search for a better fit and trying not to go from the frying pan into the fire.
I'm trusting that time will sort things out. If I'm careless and over-sensitive, I won't be able to keep a job. If an owner or supervisor is unreasonable and under-sensitive, they won't be able to keep workers and clients.
EXACTLY! You hit the nail on the head...(sm)
People say things on this board they would never say to someone's face. They can hide behind their keyboard and type out the nastiest stuff a person can say to someone. But communicating with them face to face is much better because everyone is nice then and you can actually find common ground. So it's just this board and the fact that they can hide and no one can see them, is the reason things get so nasty on here.
Well, ya hit THAT nail right on the head!
I was thinking that...What's the difference if I'm sitting my backside in Rome or Paris or London, when over in India they're cranking out the reports? I wonder if any special provisions would need to be made for the platform or anything.
Hmmmm....
Hit the nail on the head
Transtech unfortunately has a lot of MTs who don't do VR who also do not follow the account specifics. I don't know if they are ever given feedback on their mistakes but I would see the same mistakes over and over again. Some of the quality at Transtech is bad and frankly I did leave Transtech because I never received feedback or audits or anything like that after I was released from QA and I worked there for 3 years. I enjoyed working at the company but I would rather be audited so I will know how I am doing, it may sound strange but true.
You hit the nail on the head.
It's what I said all along. There isn't a shortage of skilled, qualified American MTs. There is a shortage of American MTs who are willing to work whenever/however for what little is being offered. Have you ever looked at the job classification of a medical transcriptionist? It falls under the category of administrative/clerical. It DOES NOT fall under the category of clinical.
In the pre-NAFTA days, the weekend transcription was covered on a rotating basis and there was NEVER a problem getting coverage because coverage was paid at a higher rate. New hires often worked weekends and would earn the seniority to work Monday through Friday, the same as all the other hospital administrative staff. I worked as a transcription manager for years in different hospitals. I never had a problem getting coverage when we had a fully functional transcription department. It was when the work started being shipped offshore in an effort to save money that things started to break down. In fact, if you look at most hospitals that still have in-house transcription, the ONLY work that is outsourced to MTSOs is the overflow work and weekend work.
The MTSOs are the middle men. They stepped in an gobbled up all the independent MTs clients. They are getting the pay that the independent MT used to get. The owners of the MTSO don't work on weekends. The clerical staff of the MTSOs don't work on weekends. But the MTSOs charge the client a much higher rate than what the MTs are being paid...AND they expect the MT to conform to the changes to cover all the promises they make to the clients in order to keep business and be competitive while consistently dropping the rates they are willing to pay the MTs. So, when you squawk about not being able to find American MTs willing to be flexible about their shifts or their workdays, you are forgetting that it is the MTSOs who made this industry the way it is today and it is the hospital/clinic administration looking out for the bottom dollar that have used NAFTA to undercut the MT profession.
The real problem coming into play here is the fact that when clients started using offshore outsourcing they started changing the direction the medical transcription industry was headed. The MTs just worked their jobs and handled their responsibilities with professionalism...until they started seeing their jobs disappear and whole transcription departments disappear. They were FORCED to work for MTSOs and MTSOs could name their terms. Now that clients are starting to see that offshore outsourcing doesn't deliver the same quality, they're requesting domestic transcription again. Now the MTSOs are running into the problem of finding domestic MTs willing to conform to all the demands and changes that the clients/MTSOs created for the LOW RATE that is being offered.
Your last sentence was extremely offensive to many, many skilled professional MTs who have put in years of training, education, and experience to their field. Their knowledge and skill qualifies them as MTs, NOT the fact that they are willing or not willing to conform to the needs of the MTSO. The MTSOs made their beds, now let them lie in it and stop blaming the MTs for the direction this industry has turned. This isn't India. The cost of living here is much higher and it's an insult to experienced MTs to offer them pennies higher than what the offshores are making and expect the same devotion that used to be given in the pre-NAFTA days. It all boils down to what I said in the beginning. There isn't a shortage of American MTs, there is a shortage of American MTs not willing to drop their standards of pay and quality or sacrifice their family life for what little the MTSOs are offering. The MTSOs and clients are starting to reap the consequences of NAFTA. Just quit blaming the American MTs for wanting to keep what they had in the first place.
I think you hit the nail on the head (sm)
She is an unhappy Transcriptionist who works every weekend, does not do anything else by transcribe and tries to stir the pot. And because she does it, she thinks everyone else should. She does not want anyone to have a life. Just feel sorry for her.
Hit the nail on the head
You are absolutely right, the company allowed a knucklehead to take over and run the company for them, Ms. Brenda Finn. She might as well own it, and although the owner is a sweet nice person, she has given up on getting involved in her company altogether. Ms. Brenda Finn doesn't like me, guess I don't kiss up to her enough, so yes, she would have played a big part in the whole ordeal! Funny part of this situation is the fraudulent resignation was written for me 2 days after I contacted the VP with proof that 2 MTs had access to assign and unassign work that they chose not to type until it landed on me who had no choice but to type it. It gets better, one of the MTs is the daughter of Ms. Brenda Finn.
You hit the nail on the head.
When I first started VR, there was plenty of work; in fact, always above and beyond the lines expected. Then I started noticing the work getting slower, pays going down, and now a tooth-and-nail fight for work lately....but let's not forget, the hospitals are loving it, just as much as TT management.
You hit the nail on the head - thanks!
It all be summed up as simply as that!
you hit the nail on the head!!! nm
x
Hit the nail on the head!
I hate to say I told you so but I posted here previously that the MT's who are doing VR are rushing through in a desperate attempt to make a living. You can't blame them. This is what is happening with the low cpl the VR vendors have sold to the hospitals. It is amazing what people will believe in order to hang onto a few lousy bucks that are deductible! Another prediction I have is that eventually, when they start to realize that you can't pay people so little and expect quality, they will be forced to bump up the VR rate for the MTs to be at or near what it is for straight typing.
Very well said! You hit the nail right on the head! nm
nm
Yep, you hit the nail on the head (sm)
Precisely. The money has to be there all at once on payday. They don't get any float on it, and in JLG's case we realized that they had almost a schedule of who got paid on time, then maybe a day later, then maybe 2 days later. The next pay day, the people who got paid 1 day off the paycheck before, then were paid on time. They sort of revolved groups where some, but not all, employees were paid on time. I had heard that some employees had their paychecks bounce, but I personally never experienced that....just ridiculously late paychecks, and I never received my paycheck from FedEx before 3 pm, so it was too late to get it to the bank for deposit that day, so they got a float on that too.
Boy did you hit the nail on the head!
You put into words exactly what I've been thinking for the 2 years I've been with this company.
Bravo - you hit the nail on the head!
I want one of those hourly paid positions they're offering now. I was on a good account, then they switched me to another hospital in that system - and it's AWFUL. And cherry picking GALORE!!! You can watch it happening right before your eyes! Totally absurd. I went from 250-300 lines an hour in training and right after, to 100-150 lines an hour now, if I'm lucky. Pitiful ... totally pitiful.
You hit the nail on the head with this post
Bam!
Jill put nail on head
She did not necessarily hone in on the education and having an ear...I TOTALLY agree with being able to FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS, no online surfing, emails, phone calls, laundry, chit-chatting, etc. That's the hardest part for me. I've been an MT for 36 years and I now work from home on production, doing QA for almost 10 years. I'm having a dickens of a time getting a good line count because of inability to discipline myself. Everyday I tell myself I'm going to go better and then bam! I'm back goofing off.
DISCIPLINE and FOCUS is the key.
You have hit the nail squarely on the head.
I suspect you hit the nail on the head
Years ago when I entered the field (more than I care to admit), the MT was a commodity. Training programs were few and far between (my hospital was training their own since they couldn't find bodies). Now, not only do we have the Indians and other foreign entities and VR, but we also have MT schools on the back of matchbooks, late night TV commercials, and spam mail in our inboxes. Suddenly, millions of people are doing it which, as we all know, not only limits the work each person can get but also drives down the wage, as those of us who have been here a while can verily attest.
I don't think the MTSOs even staff in particular for TAT. I think that's just a bonus. It's much cheaper to pay two or three people part-time hours than have to pay one person benefits.
Chicago, you hit the nail on the head (SM)
Definitely listen to your gut. If it doesn't add up, it doesn't add up...period. No amount of rolling it around in your mind to get it to add up will fix it. Protect yourself and do whatcha gotta do, which is what I'm doing with the information my gut is screaming at me.
Bingo! You hit the nail on the head! When you find sm
a new job, please invest in references or you'll end up fired from there, too. Not any one of us can say we know everything there is to know about the medical language. I've been transcribing 33 years, and keep my reference books updated. I'm in a 99-100% QA category, too, so please heed my advice. This is where your problem lies, not with the account or the company. You need to keep growing, and you can't do it alone. Good luck to you!! :)
I work for Axolotl and you really hit the nail on the head.
They are a great company. I have been there 2 years and I have never worked for a better employer in 14 years of transcribing. Management and editors are wonderful to work for. They treat us with respect. Even high management is very nice to us. We do get a card and Christmas gift every year. I remember one time I got a $25 gift card with a thank you note. I assumed it was working extra when they asked. They pay us for our experience. The platform is great and easy to use. They offer good, affordable insurance. I could go on and on.
If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me.
Totally agree. You hit the nail on the head. nm
xxxx
I think you hit the nail on the head. We blame our company (sm)
and these other countries when in fact it is our very own country that makes it profitable for them to do this.
You hit the nail on the head! Main reason why MT went to production pay.IMO nm
x
you hit the nail on the head. Just wish more could wake up and see this...quit working for outsourci
x
You've got it ~ you've hit the nail on the head....
I can Google until dawn and still not find John Smith in NY - you know the neurologist... Cut me a break! I've now learned to ask my online company for a list of referring physicians (since none of the accounts are in my state) and also ask for websites for the hospitals, but I still don't take more than 5 min of my own time to find referring physicians. I send it right through with a verify cc:...
As far as making an educated guess, I would only do that if it was my own account and I know the dictator well. For the online company, it is their responsibility to make that educated guess as it is their client, not mine. I leave that up to the company to make assumptions; this way it is on their back, not mine when it comes to the legality of the report. Ultimately, the physician is responsible when signing that report or there should be clause on those reports that state dictated but not read. If that clause is not there, then it is the physician's responsibility to know the content, not the MT. An MT can only transcribe what they hear and really should not be making educated guesses on anyone since we live in a world of sue-happy patients and their malpractice insurance is so high. If there is a question, it needs to go the dictator to resolve.
JMO - been doing this for over 20 years. 
That's in the "average" ballpark. Some companies are trying to low ball at 3 cpl and less.
Definitely do not take less than that, as sometimes, you end up having to retype a lot of the text and it really is not worth it when your paid 3 cpl. I would never accept less than 4 cpl. Can I ask who offered you a job, maybe I can give you some insight.
She told me "average" of about 45 lines per page.
nm
I agree, "average" being the operative word here. Most of us are NOT making $500 or more a wee
s
go over the supers head to the head of operations. sm
Any STM that does not reply to her people is a jerk and the head of operations needs to know.
HIM degree here too...sm
I have spent 14 years of my life going bankrupt because of transcription. I can't wait to get out of this profession. I have never, in my whole 43 years on this planet, seen a more fraudulent, lying, scheming profession as medical transcription. I can't wait to be with people every day again. I can't wait to wear nice clothes. I CAN'T WAIT TO EARN A DECENT PAYCHECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What degree do you hold?
I hold a bachelors in psychology and I wouldn't trade my education for anything. By the way, I've left MT and now have a great career in a completely different field thanks to my bachelor's degree. I'm now working towards my masters.
I think they ALL overstaff to a certain degree.
Some, of course, are way, way worse.
I have degree plus some post bac
xx
college degree?
Since when does a Transcriptionist have a college degree? It is not considered a college degree - it is a diploma or a certificate program.
I am very happy at present with my job as a MT. I do wish that I made more money than I did 16 years ago when I started, but I still make more than many college degree people. I am one of the people that spent the last year complaining about my income and you know what - in the last 3 months I sat down and took a good look at what I was doing and realized that a lot of my low income times were my own fault - how much time was I spending on this board, how much time was I spending walking to the laundry room, turning the TV, listening to the radio, fixing lunch for my family? I finally got me a timer and set it for an hour and work my hour instead of getting up and guess what? I consistently make $35-40 an hour - that is not cherry picking my reports, that is taking first in/first out as they come to me from the company I work for. I don't have a small clinic that I get the same doctors over and over, I work on a hospital account and have a lot of doctors and on top of that, I have only been on this job for 3 months so I am not used to these doctors by any means.
Anyway, I understand that we should have higher wages, I understand that we should be upset because our line rates are not going up and seem to be going down, but we cannot say that this profession is not a financially rewarding position if you are willing to work for it.
Where else can I go with a 1-year DIPLOMA and make $40 an hour? Then you add into the fact that yes, my power bill and internet bill is there for me to have to pay, but I am not putting gas in my car at $2.78 a gallon and driving 30 miles one way to an office, that I am not having to eat my lunch out every day, that I don't spend that extra 45 minutes to an hour driving each way every day that I don't get paid for - yes, I think we are still in a financially rewarding career!
Why, if you have master's degree, etc.
are you doing transcription? Hmm, let me guess- so you can stay home with the kids?
I AM SO GLAD I got a degree is something else
and then went on to do MT while I was raising my kids. Falling back on the first degree now, something that took 5 years of college. I'm a bit sad to see MT go, but today I got news that my co. is putting us to voice recognition with a 3CPL pay, and I just can't do it.
Good luck.
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