some answers to your questions, but somebody who has been there longer may be able to help you more
Posted By: new to Keystrokes on 2009-06-03
In Reply to: Requirements at Keystrokes - Anon
Not all accounts require C-phone. The account I'm on does not. Yes you have to provide your own equipment, including footpedal. I already had one from my last job that worked though. The account that I'm on also requires you to have your own text expander and spell checker, which I had to buy both myself. I'm not sure if all accounts are like this, some platforms may come with this already. I am working in Allscripts. Minimum requirement for full time I believe is 12,000 lines per pay period (maybe 12,500) for full time and 6000 lines for part time. They do have insurance, but I cannot provide any details, as I am part-time and have waived the insurance. From the time I sent my resume until the day I started was approximately 3 weeks, but it could take longer, so I myself wouldn't give up too soon. Wait a week or so and if you don't hear back from them, give them a call and see if they are hiring.
I have only been there for 1 week, but so far I like the job. Everyone is very nice and helpful, and easy to talk to.
Good Luck to you!
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- Requirements at Keystrokes - Anon
- some answers to your questions, but somebody who has been there longer may be able to help you more - new to Keystrokes
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Actually I posted looking for answers to my questions above, not looking to answer questions, but
to here goes...firstly, I don't know about the platform, only that it is Word based. Secondly, I have many years cardio, and thirdly, no the test was not hard. Still looking for any answers to my questions above. Thanks in advance.
Answers to questions
There was a little blip about RI further down the page, but it didn't say much. I did a search. Some people like them; a lot of people hate them. Folks, I could really use some specifics here so that I know what I'm getting myself into.
They have made changes in their system so someone who worked for them a while ago may have had a different experience compared to someone working for them now.
Do they run out of work?
Not usually. Lots of work right now. Holiday times can be slow. Accounts are full. I heard new ones are coming on.
How's the communication?
Depends on who you contact. MTs are assigned to an editor. My experience has been good communication.
I've heard they dock pay for mistakes. What kind of mistakes? I mean, there are punctuation problems and then whole medical words that can be misspelled or left out--and there's a huge difference between the two.
They dock for spellcheck errors only. If you run your spellchecker you shouldn't have this issue. MTs can debate it and it can get resolved if there is a discrepancy.
How do they pay? Do they give raises often enough (or at all)?
They pay by the line. It probably depends on experience. Direct deposit twice a month. It’s been my experience to ask for an increase. It wasn't automatically given.
OSI answers to your questions
OSI's platform is Dictaphone Ex-text and just starting with speech when I quit. Ability to make money depends on if you are on an account where they steal your lines, that varies from account to account. Some accounts have statistics disabled so you can't see your true line count.
They are really big on government accounts which requires extensive FBI background check. That put me through the wringer, the FBI called people I knew but did not even like about 10 years ago, it was ridiculous and insulting.
Insurance- They had more than 1 insurance plan, 1 was very costly and the other 1 had a high ded, I did not use either as my DH has good insurance.
They do have set schedules and they call you every day on your day off which is why I quit. I never had a day off where they did not call me to work.
They also force you to use their e-mail system and instant message system and monitor everything so you can't send any e-mails or IM's without everything being logged. Too big brother for me with the logging everything and calling me all the time. Also if you use a company computer they record your keystrokes.
QA dept is the worse I have ever seen anywhere. Very unqualified for the most part and not consistent at all. Half of my errors were QA errors. Very snobbish too.
All in all, I am much happier with another company. I left more than a year ago but from what I hear nothing has changed at all.
How come no one ever answers questions regarding.......nm
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Right. Why ask questions when you know the answers? nm
x
Thanks for the answers... few more questions...
Is the pay decent for someone with 15+ years experience? I see below someone gets 9.5, that's pretty good.
Also, is getting the required minimum lines possible in a shift? Is full-time based on hours worked or production?
Again, TIA... You Keystrokes MTs sure are helpful. Must be a great company...they obviously have good (and nice!) MTs working for them!
Possible answers to questions sm
<I just got an email with an ad from TT looking for new transcriptionists yet almost every day there is a post on this board about lack of work. What is up with this company????> I highly doubt there are postings every day about lack of work. The majority of us have probably have plenty of work to meet at least minimal requirements. It most likely depends on your account and your worktypes you are hired for and whatever personal incentives you try to achieve. There is nothing up with this company. Most likely they are hiring replacements for those who are leaving, have left or desire to transfer around on accounts.
<Why keep hiring when the people you already have working don't have enough work? Is this is a standard in the industry to have more TX than you have work to ensure TAT time?> I do not know the answer to these questions. Maybe they are getting new accounts. Perhaps you should ask the company yourself.
The answers to your questions...
Yes, the tests are timed (terminology and grammar portions), and I was able to use my foot pedal for the typing test. It is E-mailed to you and you download it, so you can do it on your PC. The grammar and medical terminology, like I said are timed, and you get your score as you answer each question. The typing test, I really wouldn't say is timed. You pretty much just type a report (you're not being clocked for this). You can take these tests at your leisure. When I took mine, if I wanted, I could have taken grammar and terminology one day and typing the next day, but I chose to do it all in one day. You then E-mail everything back. Any other questions, you can always E-mail me if you like. (You picked a good one!)
A few answers to your questions
I've been with MDI a little less than a year. The second week I was there, I became very sick and ended up in the ER. I emailed my sup and told her I wouldn't be working the next couple of days. She emailed back, saying to take care of myself and get better. End of story. I came from MQ where you have to make up every second you miss - boy was I shocked when there was no mention made of making it up.
I work Sun-Thu. I've had several weekend plans that have required me to take off my scheduled Sunday shift. Sometimes I make it up, sometimes I don't. That's up to me. I have never been told that I couldn't have a day off. The times I did make up the day, I usually switched it out with a Friday of the following week, essentially working Sun-Thu and then Mon-Fri, because the pay period starts on a Saturday.
MDI is truly the most flexible company I've ever worked for. But as the other poster said, if you're looking for employee status, MDI is not.
Answers to questions...
I survived the merger between TRS and Transcend, I'm still working, I've actually gotten a raise (no, I'm not going to tell you what I make, but it's right in the ballpark) and I am happy with my job. I am still working the same accounts, on the same platform (NOT Transcend's own; the clients have not wanted to switch), the same shift, same team, same QA people, etc.
We too had questions, many of them. For instance, TRS had a production incentive, Transcend did not, and naturally we wanted to know if our incentive was going to stay put. TRS also offered raises to people who passed the RMT and/or the CMT, and for those of us that were studying for the CMT at the time of the merger wanted to know if that too was going to hold true. Those were the two main questions I remember, since they concerned me directly.
Amongst the flurries of e-mails, I even got a personal reply from Larry Gerdes, the CEO of Transcend, assuring me that everything was being looked at and taken into consideration. (Yeah, I know, easy for him to say, but in this case, it actually came true.) We got frequent progress reports on what issues were being addressed, the various questions that people had asked, and the fact that discussions and negotiations to iron everything out were ongoing.
And it was not long at all before we were told that anyone who passed the CMT by a certain date (3 months after the merger) would be grandfathered in with the promised raise; and also the production incentive stayed put, intact. Then, just last week I was told that since I consistently meet the incentive, and it causes a lot of extra work for a lot of people to calculate it and add it on each pay period, effective September 1 the incentive bump will be added to my base rate. They trust, of course, that I will continue to produce at this level, on the average....
So no, in fact they may NOT know all the answers to your questions right now, because things still have to be ironed out. In my own situation, the scheduling and pay rate stayed EXACTLY the same, and the only real visible changes at my end were (a) pay periods went from every 2 weeks to twice a month, and (b) my paycheck came from someplace else. Of course I had to fill out a lot of pesky new-hire and new-insurance paperwork, but once that was done, it was done.
So keep asking your questions, and take advantage of the offers that some Transcend people have made on this board. Take them up on it and e-mail them directly. They might not have specific answers for you yet, but I know they have already told several people here on the board that there's no reason they won't be able to accommodate people's various scheduling requests, for instance.
And feel free to take advantage of their touted open-door policy. Take them up on it. Get online, do your research, find some phone numbers, and start calling people. They wouldn't publish their phone numbers or e-mail addresses if they didn't want you to USE them....
And once again, the disclaimer: I am just another minion (and I like it that way, I've been a manager, no thanks, been there done that, don't want to do it anymore), I speak only from the standpoint of someone who's been through it already and although it was scary, none of the doom-and-gloom I was warned about has actually come to pass. Give it a chance. Let them prove themselves, right or wrong.
And no, they didn't pay me to say all that. (I wish they had. It might help make up for the drop in MT wages over the years....)
I just read over the questions/answers
and I did not really see any more new questions other than the ones already answered in the conference. I do not know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
answers to your specific questions
12 hour window - no, you give them your schedule of hours you want to work and if it works for them, they approve the schedule and you stick to it. However, they are flexible if things come up and you need to start an hour late or early - just let them know ahead of time. Also flexible for appointments or if you need to trade a day for the most part.
Expander Program is ShortHand for PC.
You would have to ask their IT guys about transfering your entries into their computer. I just sat my two PCs next to each other and created the entries on the SH on the work PC, only took an hour or so to do and well worth it.
You'll get all the answers to your questions
and then some on the MQ board. Go check it out.
Here are the answers to the questions you posed (sm)
Graveyard shift: 0.085 cpl; Day: 0.07-0.08 dependent on experience.
F/T status line requirement: 6,000 per week (Sun thru Sat)which equates to 12,000 lines per pay period. Pay is twice monthly via direct deposit (if you prefer this method);
P/T status: ???
ES was in the process of eliminating ICs to all employee status.
Insurance: F/T EMPLOYEE STATUS: Excellus BC/BS - Single: $129.01 per pay check, or $258.02 monthly; Dental: $11.53 per pay, or $23.06 monthly; variable deductible for covered services, WATCH OUT FOR PRE-EXISTING CLAUSE WITH THIS AND OTHER INSURANCE OFFERED.
QA: Never telephone you, but do correspond via email and are on top of maintaining their random QAs; MUST maintain 98.5% accuracy at all times. Approximately this time last year, many many internal changes were made, recruiters gone, head of HR replaced but now gone, et cetera. Totally different company from when I worked there; what attracted me then is gone.
ESL'ers: Varies on account assigned. DO ASK them what percentage of your account will contain ESL.
Platform: ChartScript with text expander/ Word runs remotely in background.
Voice Player: Fusion.
IF ACCEPTED, READ YOUR CONTRACT WITH A FINE TOOTH COMB. Hope this helps. Details listed here may not be completely accurate, as this info is based on how it was, IMO, approximately 1 year ago. Good Luck and best wishes.
Thank you, but I can't seem to find any answers to my questions, guess
I'll just have to send a resume and go from there. Thanks again!
Axolotl posts, questions and answers.
First of all, Axolotl is hiring for a significant amount of work that will begin shortly.
When 90% of your workers want to work 1st shift, there seems to be issues with low work. When workers are willing to work 2nd and 3rd shift, they seem to not run out of work as much, if at all.
The recruiter IS NOT THE SUPERVISOR. Axolotl has a separate recruiter who does applicant screening, initial interviews and testing. If everything goes good with this recruiter, then there will an interview with management, i.e. supervisor and/or manager.
ALSO, DOWNTIME IS NOT DETERMINED BY HOW LONG YOU HAVE BEEN THERE.
I am not a manager or supervisor or QA. I am an MT. I wish people would get all of their facts straight before coming onto a public board and spreading things that are just not true.
I absolutely LOVE this company. They treat people with respect, provide great benefits and GREAT PAY. One should feel lucky to have the opportunity to work for them.
Answers to some questions asked about TransTech out of Houston, TX
Different platforms -- Dictaphone ExText -- very clumbsy/clunky editing platform. Probably 85% ESL now that so much VR/editing being done.
Big push for more editing, so what straight transcription that is kicked out from the voice machine is absolutely horrible on the ears! THE TRUTH and nothing else but the truth !
Answers to some questions asked about TransTech out of Houston, TX
Different platforms -- Dictaphone ExText -- very clumbsy/clunky editing platform. Probably 85%-90% ESL now that so much VR/editing being done.
Big push for more editing, so what straight transcription that is kicked out from the voice machine is absolutely horrible on the ears! THE TRUTH and nothing else but the truth !
Pay half for editing/VR work . . . yuk !
Different strokes for different MT's, but I work to earn a living, not for the fun of it ! Transcription used to be a FUN profession, but lacking now with all the jobs going to VR machine.
It's longer than the "standard" 65-char. line so will take you longer to make those lines!
m
It's been longer than that for me.
I tend to get stuck with a lot of terrible dictations most of the time, which I don't understand either, but maybe that has something to do with why I can't get a decent line count. Every time I get on the system to work, there's always some horrible dictation skipped from earlier in the day just waiting for me. Just got done with a dictation that was 9 minutes long, but took me over 30 minutes to type due to being inaudible in spots and just basically a horrible dictation overall. I didn't even get 100 lines out of it either!!
no longer there but.
Had trouble getting paid on time.
Not for much longer.
I knew going in they were not paying for headers and footers, but did not realize they were going to take the percentage off the total line count. The headers/footers only account for about 5 to 10 lines per report, so they have quite a little scam going.
Whatever, they are no longer there anyway. nm
:+
Not much longer to be an MT
Medical transcription is going the way of the dinosaurs. Voice recognition is coming in fast now. We will be editing for awhile until they perfect it and feed the corrected copies back into the VR engine to train it to understand all the docs. I would give this field 5 more years maybe. We all have to move on and find something else unfortunately:(
Longer than others for me
I think it took them a week and then I didn't even get a pass/fail but a link to go on to the next test, which seemed to be some kind of personality profile. By that time, I had hired on with another company that was my first choice.
No longer a CMT
I WAS a CMT for over 20 years, it never got me any more money, it cost me to re-certify, cost me to go to seminars for CEC's, I had one company I worked for tell me I could only go to the National Convention for 2 days and I would only be paid if I worked their booth for those two days, so what was the use of going if I was going to be stuck in a recruitment booth insead of learning at any of the seminars? I still kept plugging away spending my time and money to keep that CMT behind my name. Then my mom passed away, in all the work of getting her estate settled, condo sold, etc. I forgot to send in my fee and CEC's verification slips. When I realized it had slipped my mind I called and wrote them a letter explaining the circumstances and that I had all the CEC's earned. Even offered to send a copy of the death cert. Their reply....too bad...so sad pay again to take the certification Test. NOT
The longer MQ MT is on DQS, the less lines
we get. There is no "getting used" to the program that is taking our line counts. Very familiar with DQS, have all normals/short cuts in place, very fast typist, and DQS "eats up lines". MedRite did not do that to us. Why do you think MQ changed to DQS ? -- so that the MT's would get more lines per hour ? NOT !
Katie is no longer there either
x
If she's no longer there how will she see it? Ditto for
nm
You are a recruiter? Hopefully not for much longer.
x
This is exactly why I know longer send anything. nm
nm
4-6 weeks...sometimes longer
nm
was it last fall?, or maybe longer, whenever...
nm
I am. I even sent them an e-mail that I no longer
worked for them and they still send me the stuff from Corporate. I don't get any more from the PS though.
Slave No Longer
Ditto to your post. This new compensation plan is insane. I am now having to work 12 hours a day instead of 8, while all the while making less $. I probably make less than the greeters at Wal-Mart. They expect us to be on standby during our scheduled shift, yet there is no work, and we are not compensated for this time with no work. Now I have work at midnight and on weekends in order to get my quota, and end up working what should be paid as overtime. I am going to call the labor board in my state because this cannot be legal. I suggest we all do the same.
Yes, they seem to have put in place a director of OPs that came from MQ, only to now be doing her damage at SPi. I understand she is also busy putting into place managers from MQ, so it is obvious what her agenda is...to mimic MQ, so we know where the direction of SPi is going, and it seems to hold true with this new comp plan.
In a matter of 18 months, SPi has successfully turned what was once a well-respected, successful company with a talented team of MTs and mangers that was once Cymed and turned it into a cold, disorganized machine. They have had to have have lost millions in revenue with all the clients and MTS who have quit them due to poor service and disorganization, including ongoing unresolved IT issues. It's almost as if they want to fail!
Folks, it's tiime we all stand up for what is right and make someone pay attention. What is a transcription company without transcriptionists? We are not slaves and we do have options. If SPi wants to be another MQ, then let's let them have it and see where they end up in the court system.
I have been in this profession long enough to know that you can be successful at whatever you do by working hard, treating people with respect, and never compromising your integrity, a virtue that is foreign to SPi. I for one am sick for us all at the latest turn of events and am going to spend this time when there are no jobs available making the necessary calls and then submit my resignation.
Let's all stand together and see how long this compensation plan works for them when there is no one to do the little work they have. They may have people offshore who will do it for even less than the slave wages they are paying us, so I say let them have it and suffer the consequences when what business they have left walks out the door.
Since you no longer work there
But if you need to keep repeatedly posting about your bad experience there, go ahead, its a free country. I was speaking of my current work volumes there, to another current employee. My post was not addressed former employees, and I made no mention of the validity of your past experience, so I don't understand why you felt the need to respond to my post. As you said, not everyone has the same experience, and I understand that...do you?
KC... It sounds like you are no longer there.
Could you tell me why? Was the pay on time and comparable?
WMX - no longer get hx on jobs - sm
Is this so we no longer can see who kicked back jobs and potentially report them if it is a repeat thing? Not trying to start a fuss, just curious.
I have done transcription probably longer than
you have been on this earth, almost 40 years now. I think I know probably as much about transcribing as most here, worked for all different specialities, please don’t make me lose it tonight with your holier than thou message. Like you are the only little girlie here that can transcribe.
no you haven't done it longer than I have sm
been on the earth! I h ave done this for 32 years myself and alot older than 40. You don't have a clue about me. But you are giving yourself away very rapidly. Don't have a holier than thou message. Why did it hit such a nerve.
Don't make me los it tonight........hmmmmmm are you threatening me??? What you gonna do take my work away?????????
Good grief! Dont believe you have been doing it 40 years either or you wouldn't have the attitude about loving VR!
no you haven't done it longer than I have sm
been on the earth! I h ave done this for 32 years myself and alot older than 40. You don't have a clue about me. But you are giving yourself away very rapidly. Don't have a holier than thou message. Why did it hit such a nerve.
Don't make me los it tonight........hmmmmmm are you threatening me??? What you gonna do take my work away?????????
Good grief! Dont believe you have been doing it 40 years either or you wouldn't have the attitude about loving VR!
I have been doing this for over 35 years, longer than you
and my employer went to VR, a place where I had worked for 12 years at that time so it was either leave and find another job at age 50+ or fit in and thank goodness I decided to stay on. I make over $500 per week and I work part time, yes on VR. I read here people think others liking because of being newbies, slow at transcribing, MTSOs and the like but this is not me at all. Outsourced from my inhouse job, I was lucky to find the people who have the same hospital account and here I am, 19 years and counting for the same account. I am glad I learned VR when I did. So many are totally against when it seems most companies are now headed that way.
Are you 100% sure they no longer offshore anything?
I would have a hard time believing that, but I could be wrong, and it definitely would be a step in the right direction for at least ONE big huge company, hopefully others will follow suit.
it does seem that they are no longer regional
I really do hope that they are not selling themselves as a LOCAL company anymore. Sorry, but they can't have it both ways. The last time I heard, it took approximately 23 hours (counting changing planes, etc.) to get from NYC to Delhi.
I can no longer afford to do anything except
My gift-exchange days are over til i can find a REAL job. You know: one that actually pays you to do it.
link no longer valid - sorry
x
Debbie is no longer the owner.
The previous COO from Heartland is now the President and COO! Watch out! Major outsource lover...
Did, but no longer. Good company however.
Good luck. I was fairly productive, but more so now that I work the same 5 doctors day in an day out, not 100's of doctors. But, to each her own. Like I said, Medware is a good company.
Now try quoting someone who's been there longer than 2 weeks.
Extext is better than Merit or Meditech.
bet if she named the co she would no longer be a recruiter for them.
Some things you have to look at twice because you really don't believe what you read
Then why are you no longer there? Reliablity or something the company did? nm
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