that count on none of us comparing notes...
Posted By: newmt on 2005-09-30
In Reply to: They always say you are the only one. That seems to be the motto at MQ. YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE. - MQPA
what else can they say when confronted? I doubt much of middle management even realizes how easily their line counting system can be manipulated...
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comparing
I work for Medware and their platform is super easy. I was off quality after 5 hours of work. I'm not sure of the benes, but from what I hear they are quite good. Many of my friends work there as well & they love it.
comparing pay
I've always been IC, so I don't know how it compares to employee pay. I can understand how it would be quite a cut in pay for you. The pay is lower than my other job, but I just find I like it more, so I think it's worth it. If I ever stop enjoying it, then I guess the lower pay will be an issue. I had found that I was so horribly bored with my hospital work that I dreaded getting on the system to do it, so I wasn't making a lot of money anyway. So I finally quit and got this job and 2 others, actually, that are small jobs in interesting specialties. I'm also doing more legal work.
Comparing reports
Knowing I was going on DocQscribe, I kept 10 reports from MTs and their line counts and then pasted them into DocQScribe after I had been on it for a time - compared the line counts and they were almost right on - I had to manually subtract the header information in order to make it come out, but we know that we don't get paid for headers anymore.
I know that my biggest problem is the internet - when late afternoon comes and I am pressed to get done, my line count goes way up. If anyone can figure out how to discipline themselves from "surfing" - post it here - a lot of people would be very grateful.
Comparing companies
Currently interviewing for employment with both WebMedx and Medquist and was wondering which company I should choose to transcribe for. I am going in as a part-time employee. I would appreciate any and all feedback and help on this very important decision I am to make in the next few days. Thank you
comparing companies
I'd love to hear from employees of Axoloti, Keystrokes, and WebmedX as to which company pays the best line count and has the best benefits for full time employment. It would also be nice to know if their line count systems are accurate and reliable. 
comparing companies
Thank you so much for writing and sharing your experiences. It's very helpful to hear someone who's been there, done that.
Comparing schools
I took a quick look at their website, what they offer, and how much it costs. Are you interested in this course because they say they often hire top graduates? This course does not guarantee you a job with them. They even say you have to go out and market yourself.
As an M-Tec graduate, I can tell you that if you study hard and after graduation really stick to it, you will find a good job. You receive a large number of real books with M-TEC and not just some workbook. With M-TEC you have your own instructor to answer your questions and guide you through the course. Not to mention the online classes and vast online resources they offer. They have their own IT expert, who will answer your questions and holds online classes. After graduation, they will always be there to help if they can. They help with your resume, and after graduation they provide you with a large list of MT companies that hire new grads. Make a list of questions, submit them to the top 2 or 3 schools, and compare answers. Good education has its price, but it will also open doors for you!!
Yeah, it's sort of like comparing - (sm)
The tone was a bit on the stern side today too, don't you think?
I, too love the current platform. Entirely easy & user-friendly. I worry that the speech-rec part of the new platform will turn this into a boring editing job.
Exactly. Even comparing our industry to carpentry.
industry workers have a plan - a set plan and structure for their trades. You progress up the figurative ladder, gaining more skills and expertise, and you get paid accordingly - money, benefits, where to sit on the scaffolding, etc. LOL. Would a man who was a slacker complain and ridicule his peers when they wished they made more money for their skills? Its so beyond ridiculous that its almost funny, right??? Oh, please, dear employer, I don't want anywhere near what i deserve to be paid. I like making peanuts, because I can play games with my kiddies in my jammies and type a few lines now and again...so, no, please don't pay me more to do so. Heck, making more $$, our happy mom poster could even buy little Jimmy MORE games. Would that maybe strike a cord or flip the light switch on??? Honestly.... I can just see the master carpenters having debates about same.
Comparing a few companies, it seems OSI has a lot to offer!
Whatcha think?
Comparing Cymed counts to Word
I work for Cymed and find that my counts are pretty comparable to what they were when I used Microsoft Word. I've done the same reports in both programs, and they were essentially the same, give or take a space or two. As someone mentioned, they did give you a heads up on not paying for spaces, which I agree doesn't seem fair, considering our thumbs work pretty hard and the report would certainly not be acceptable without them, but apparently you agreed to it.
As far as headers/footers, since I don't have to manipulate that information in any way, I honestly am okay with not getting paid for them. Heck, considering the time I save by not having to name my files, put page breaks, page 2 headings, count my lines, transmit files, etc., I actually am able to get more dictation done in the same amount of time than before in Word.
Curious, though. Since they have several different locations, may I ask which office you work out of?
What I found comparing straight on 1 computer and VR on another....
I was making 30-40 dollars more a day straight typing. i really like the idea of VR it was nice on my wrists but, you are right about the a, an, the, whole sentences left out, etc. I used all the short cuts but figured even with those I couldn't double my line count as easily as it was touted. I don't have 6 months to go down the tube before VR caught on or I did. That is just my opinion. Maybe people with 2 paychecks in their family could do this but I couldn't.
Comparing figs & plums. Advantage/disadvants to
x
In my Extext experience count was about 10% less than the Word count. nm
X
It means to double check what THEY say your count it. Count
uj
Are you aware of how they count your time?.. or don't count it i should say
nm
Why do you think there are so many notes SM
on this board pertaining to how long it takes to get a decent line count?
They will tell you it is a 65 character line. It is not. As stated, more like 75-80. There are ways to work with it, make tons of macros, etc. But it is tough.
I only wish I had ER or OP notes, mostly
consults, discharge summaries, H&Ps and the occasional progress notes. I've been at this for almost 20 years though.
op notes
I do acute care which includes a pretty good many op notes but there are other work types too. I dont know if you are looking strictly for only op notes. I work for Alphamed solutions who is currently hiring. I have DSL. I believe it is required. There is usually plenty of work on my account. I hardly ever get on and no work. Rare. I work on the Dictaphone Extext with Transnet. But they also have other platforms. I hope I was of help.
ERS/OP NOTES
Does anyone remember seeing the job posting for someone to do ERs and op notes? What company was it? I cannot find it.
Can't you do everything but op notes?
H&P reports and consultations are similar whether acute care or clinic work. Discharge summaries aren't that difficult either for someone coming from clinic work. I agree that the op notes will take lots of time to learn. So why not ask if you could just do H&P reports for a while and then consultations, and then discharge summaries and maybe later on the op notes? I just received the opportunity to do discharge summaries after having only clinic work experience, and what I like the most is that this offers the opportunity to expand my knowledge because I get to transcribe reports in so many specialties. I understand that you are mad at the recruiter and somewhat unhappy because of computer issues, which means there are several things going on here. First you might want to figure out whether you want to stay with them or move on. If you like working for Precyse, then I would try to find a solution as mentioned above. If you do not like working for them, then it would be best to move on.
PO/OT notes
I agree. Not only are they boring, good grammar is lacking on many of them; they slur through the reports and don't seem to have any continuity of thought or format. I had one very good dictator the other day; I could have kissed her! Otherwise, I don't consider those medical reports, just a mess of words on a page. This is from my experience. You can also nix about 50% of the psych dictators. Just my take on this.
Vet notes
The trend has always been that vets handwrite their own reports in order to save on costs, but that may be changing now that they are hearing other vet groups are using transcription services? The company I work for only types veterinary ophthalmology reports, along with a few simple op reports. The ophthalmology terms and medications are pretty much the same as those for humans, but the reports can be a lot more interesting at times, since the animals don't always cooperate! Once you are comfortable with the terminology the doctors use on a regular basis and the company guidelines as to how the reports should be formatted, the work is a breeze!
soap notes
Does anyone know of a company that does strictly SOAP notes?
If you like doing chart notes at 7 cpl! (nm)
xx
After reading the below notes sm
After the below notes, along with things posted here in the past, I'm truly beginning to believe it has something to do with who is your supervisor/QA. I have been there for a number of years, have been very happy and still am; however, I have heard a few things about other supervisors that makes me believe I am one of the lucky ones. Sad, but I believe it is true. I believe Amphion's management reads these posts once in a while. Maybe they'll give this some thought.
Surgical Notes
This is a company based in Dallas, Texas. They do surgery centers. QA staff are just ordinary clerks--not transcriptionists. There is a lot of orthopedic, plastic surgery, ENT, and GI surgery. Any work up to 5 p.m. is due by the next day--usually by 9 or 10 a.m. This is for weekdays M-T. Friday's work up to 5 p.m. is due back Monday. After 5 and Sat and Sun due back Tue. Pay is always on time and is very good, 0.09 to 0.12 cents a line.
Why do you prefer OP notes? nm
+++
progress notes
My company, XXX, has been out of work quite a lot lately and their only explanation is you know how it is during the off-season but the off-season now has been pretty much all of this year. My question is are MTs now all paid the same way for notes as opposed to reports. I distinctly remember that MTs who did progress notes and ER notes were generally paid differently because the notes were so short it was next to impossible to get an adequate line count. I feel like I am getting shafted because I am reduced to doing progress notes on a daily basis and I am generally spending 10 hours a day just to make my 1100 lines. Keep in mind that these are still ESL doctors who either don't know or don't care about putting in demographics so that too still has to be looked up and in the end I may get 5 lines per report. I understand that things do change but if its gotten to this point then maybe I need to be the one to make the change.
No ESL docs, no op notes (as far as I know) SM
They are mainly consults, soap notes, some radiology. You use their templates and get paid for headers/footers.
I don't know if everyone makes the same, but I make 8 cpl (55 characters per line) without spaces. I compared it to the normal 65 characters per line with spaces, and it is equivalent to 8 cents per line with spaces. So, not too bad...just average I guess.
But the dictators are really clear and there are a lot of samples. I think the work is pretty easy. I think it makes a really good p.r.n. position.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do. :)
Chickadee
Op notes exclusively
Try Deventure.
Surgical Notes
Yes-- I worked for them indirectly. I subcontracted to a contracting MTSO. Their virtual private network is just horrible. It is slow and you get kicked off frequently. I know of MTs who worked an entire week and only made $10.00 because of the system. They have an FTP site system that I loved. You could just download the voice file and type in Word then return it; however, when they changed over to this new program everything went down hill very quickly. My doctors were not happy with it either. SN raised the rates, went to this system -- by the way you need to buy a 15-pin pedal and forget any tech help. When I was there it was also lacking. Anyway my doctors took their accounts and walked away. I ended up leaving for that and other reasons. I haven't worked indirectly for them since July of 2006.
Surgical Notes
I should also add when I was working for them indirectly, for several English was second language.
My notes from the meeting - s/m
Apparently Acusis started in India, not the US. It's not very old - only 6 years. The CEO seems to know alot about business & making money, but not much about MT-ing. Says he's learning. They apparently have aspirations to be THE largest MT company not only in the US, but globally. He thought he could do it from India, but found he couldn't, partly because of the fact that some US medical institutions don't want offshored work. Others will allow PART of their work offshore (like radiology, etc.), but not other work. So instead this would be what he called a Hybrid US+India company. Hmmm.
So, according to what he said, he feels the best way to grow the company FAST is to also have a US MT force, so clients have a choice. They will have to pay more for US transcription, though he assures us the Indians are also good. (Yeah, RIGHT!) Initially the two-tiered business platform made sense to me. But other comments made later in the meeting made me wonder about what the REAL truth might be. Among other things, they plan to buy many other US MT companies, as well. DRC is just the first. He seems to think bigger is better. Having worked at PAMC since it was smaller, and seeing how nasty it got when it was bigger, I certainly don't agree.
Someone asked the question about the less-skilled, or even the accurate, but slower transcribers' role there. For now he seems to want only top-notch people, but later says how having a plan for bringing less-skilled MTs up to speed would be a good thing. Some questions sounded slightly hedged or evaded, and sometimes had the words for now thrown in, like maybe we weren't going to notice them or something. This had to do mainly with questions about change as it affected us. Red flag.
When asked about all the extra management people after the merge, he said that for now there was a seat for everyone on the bus. But he also allowed as how his company has always tended to have more execs than they really needed. Well, that certainly is one of the problems at PAMC, and it seems to cause them to continually find fault with the MTs, if for no other reason than to make themselves look good. So that was another rather loud warning-bell I heard.....it's a management-heavy company.
Re: Pay/Benefits - He says so far it'll remain the same. He wants it well above average, but doesn't specifically say whether or not MTs are part of that plan. He does say that by improving the software, etc., they can make the MTs more productive, and thus enable them to make more money. I didn't particularly like that part, either.
One thing that DID sound good was that although we would have to change over to Acusis' 401K (and who knows how good it is.....), he says they'll match it with 3%. Well, to me that isn't exactly MATCHING.... but I guess if you put in $100, they put in another $3.
Their company goals were:
- Global world-class customer satisfaction (sounds kinda' generic, but whatever...)
- Service flexibility & choice of options (the Hybrid-thing).
- Create the strongest organization (so they can gobble up & digest the competition?)
- Have the best technology (boys do like their toys.....)
I guess we'll lose the nice DRC software we're using now. He says he wants to have a new, blended software platform that will be called AcuSuite 3.0. It is supposed to have enhanced user-friendliness (hard to believe, if it's not written by someone who knows a LOT about MT!). He also mentions back-end speech-recognition.
He also mentioned that he was a leader in his church. (Oh, pul-eeeze! Not more holy-rollers trying to take over the healthcare industry!?!?) Definitely a red flag in my book.
The Future Plans are:
- To acquire more MT companies.
- To develop a repetitive model to acquire and integrate future acquisitions.
Again, all this talk about growing, merging, acquiring -- has nothing to do with the nuts & bolts of MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION. He talked about MONEY, a LOT. But not MTs making money - but instead about his goal of having this be the world's BIGGEST and WEALTHIEST MT company. I don't think anyone can have those kind of aspirations and stay honest or have their employee's best interests at heart for very long.
One person brought up the fact that the Chief Officer of Acusis-India desires India to dominate the medical information field worldwide, and wanted to know if he intended to convert the clients from US-transcribed to Indian-transcribed. His answer was very ODD, and most certainly got me wondering: It was that it was his belief until 55 minutes ago. (Whaaaat?) He tried to clarify that by saying he used to think domination of the MT industry could be done solely through India, and that now he believes it cannot. But, either way, all this domination talk makes me uneasy.
Another question was How do US clients view the above statement by the C.O.O.? He admits it was viewed with skepticism. He also says hes been trying to take our clients for a long time, now. (What???) (I guess he tried from India, couldn't do it, and so now has come onshore.)
When asked about accrued vacation time, and would the MTs be able to keep it, the answer was YES. (Though said he doesn't yet understand DRCs system of accrual of vacation time according to Keystrokes typed, or how much can be carried.
In the first 100 days they plan to:
- Integrate talent, IT, Processes, Benefits.
- Establish performance goals, alignment.
- Retain only high customer satisfaction performers who get results. (Does this pertain to management? MTs? Everyone? What exactly does this mean? This wasn't clear).
- Continue to have quarterly conference calls. (Jeez .... even semi-annually would be more than I could stand.)
Later he says the MTs are where the rubber meets the road. (Good analogy, but will Acusis follow through on their statement that they consider the US-based MTs to be a valuable part of the company?) I wonder if he is aware of how many people are ready to walk out RIGHT NOW, just based on their strong ties with India?
Well, anyway, that was my take on everything, from all the notes I took. I don't plan to do anything rash.... and will instead just keep on typin' and see what develops. If I like it I'll stay, if I don't, then I guess I'll leave. But I won't cross that bridge 'til I come to it, as it's still too early to tell how the takeover will ultimately go. What we were told could be the truth, or it could all just be smoke and mirrors.
Lotus Notes
Notes is basically a computer program. We type in Word, through Lotus Notes. Notes has several functions. It is where you sign on and receive your work, check your line counts, edited reports, etc.
You also have your account specs there, account address books with doc names, PA names, etc. Your E-mail is also on Notes.
It is a great program. Everything is right there for you. Very user friendly!!!
Yes, it is Lotus Notes and
They supply the computer.
I only know that they use Lotus Notes. Don't
s
What are SOAP notes??
SOAP notes
SOAP stands for subjective, objective, assessment, plan. Those are the headings that usually comprise a clinic note.
I did not agree to OP notes at 7.5 cpl
Thanks for not reading correctly.
I was getting 9 cpl with them and they let me go stating I could not do op notes sm
Op notes are all I do for MQ and my other job. They just didn't want to pay me 9 cpl and they dropped me to 7 cpl on er reports. It is an awful company to work for. I would not go there in any way, shape or form.
I truly despise doing PT/OT notes...
.
surgical notes
Surgical notes outsource to India....90% of the jobs
Surgical Notes
Any info on this company from IC's currently or recently?
9 cpl as an IC doing clinic notes vs. 8 cpl is
still quite a bit of difference, especially 8 cpl as an IC at Softscript...
WMX - line count. Was working along and noted line count accumulation (sm)
signed off the report I was typing. Those lines didn't add immediately, but sometimes they do that. What concerns me is that when I signed that job off and the next one came up, not only were the other lines not added in but they were LESS than they were before I signed off previous job.
I thought I noticed this happening the other day, but figured I just wasn't paying attention. Today I definitely noticed it. For some reason it changed it's mind and took 8 lines off my line count. What the heck?
Am not really ecstatic with the way things are going anyway and then this confuses me.
Please, someone have a realistic explanation so I don't feel paranoid and cheated here.
Love doing psych notes
nm
Any good companies for op notes? nm
nm
These places keep notes on us. I know this from experience. nm
s
Expanders and Lotus Notes
Axolotl uses a great Expander called SpeedType. It is a great program. It will hold reports as long as 8 pages. The platform is one of the best I have used. Very little, if any, demographics to input.
Do you know Lotus Notes? I think that's the software they use. nm
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