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I have a friend whose mother passed away in March of this year.  She was an IC and thus earned income right up until the time of her death.  Is her daughter now responsible for filing an income tax return and/or paying taxes on this income?  I know an accountant for her would be handy in this situation, but I thought I might get some opinions here as well.  Thanks!!

Is there a way to insert a backspace when adding a new abbreviation?  For example, so that year-old types out as #-year-old and not #(space)-year-old.

TIA!

Hello,

Tax time is here.  I am trying to gather information regarding doing my taxes for the first time as an IC.  Everyone on this board is pretty helpful so I am seeking suggestions regarding doing my taxes this year.  In previous years I have used Turbo Tax and see that Turbo Tax could be used for ICs as well.  Anyone used Turbo as an IC?  Feedback would be appreciated on anything regarding getting taxes done.  I am nervous about it.

Okay.  I just got laid off.  I've been using Meditech server macros for years.  I doubt that they will let us copy the macros off their server, so I have three questions.

How long did it take you to get up to speed loading your Expander from scratch,

and

if you could take your macros with you, is there some way to import them into any expander brand available, and

is/are there brand/s that are more universal than others?

I know from experience that autocorrect is less than easy to export, at least in my personal experience.

Thanks for your help.

This thing is driving me CRAZY.  Yes I know that there are times during the day that a dog is not considered "disturbing the peace," but these people moved in about a year ago and they now have a Yorkie that they leave outside ALL DAY on a 6 foot leash and all that thing does is "yap, yap, yap, yap, yap!"  CONSTANTLY. . . ALL DAY LONG until they finally bring the poor thing in for the night.

We tried to welcome the couple to the neighborhood, but they don't assoiciate with anybody.  When anyone comes near their property, they run inside and lock the doors, leaving the "yapper" outside to "yap" even louder if anyone is within 20  feet from their property.

I've actually resorted to yelling out the window, SOMEBODY MAKE THE DOG STOP!  PLEASE!!!!"

We have a dog, but I wouldn't even get one until we had fenced in the entire back yard and then trained him from a puppy not to bark.  Of course our dog will bark if somebody knocks on thedoor, which is a good thing,  but I shake a coffee can with some pennies in it (Hint from Heloise) and he stops.

I feel bad for the poor Yorkie who never gets walked or paid attention to as he sits all day "yapping" on his 6 foot chain. But I don't want to cause any discord in the neighborhood either. 

What to do?

Hey gang !   Today I went my family's podiatrist for  the first time for an ingrown toenail.  As soon as the doc sat down with me, and saw my chart, he commented on my occupation of "transcriptionist".   Within 30 minutes I left his office minus an ingrown toenail, and plus a new account doing his transcription ! 

And this is going to be a lucrative account - 20-25 office notes per day, x 6 days a week.  Yippee !

Question - how do you guys bill your private docs for office notes?  He said some notes are only 1 paragraph, while some can be 2 pages.  Doc said he'd prefer to pay by the page. So should I charge a 1/4 page price, 1/2 page, full page?  How would you guys handle office note charges ?   I will be emailing the files, btw. 

Thanks !

Anyone ever use MeriT?  I have been employed by a company that uses the MeriT system.  I was on the phone earlier with someone today who helped me get logged in.  Then, there was an update that took from 3:30 pm to 9 pm.  Now, I am at the point where I need to pull a new job and practice the MeriT using the MeriT system and it is doing nothing.  When I click on file, I do not even have the option to pull a new job (the blank peice of paper).  Can anyone help me?  I want to be able to start my training tomorrow and need to get this up and running. 

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

I just wanted to share the ONE piece of equipment that has changed everything for me.  From doctors who whisper, to doctors who talk in noisy backgrounds, and if you have your own background noise at your workstation you need to cancel out...these things absolutely ROCK! 

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6i.aspx

They are expensive but oh so worth it.  They fit right in your ear canal and suddenly the world on the outside is silent, but in your ear the dictator comes in crystal clear as if they were right in your head!  They are super comfortable.  I can't say enough good things about the company...after 2 years of daily use, one side went dead.  I called the company for advice and AT NO CHARGE they sent me an entirely new set.  These things are lifesavers for clearly hearing ESL dictations as well. 

Okay, that's all I wanted to say.  Tootles!

Anyone know if being a transcriptonist and wearing hearing aids are compatible? Thank you.

I work for one doctor only and he has transferred over to EMR. The system is installed, but not quite ready to go. 

I was in the office Saturday and his wife asked me if I wanted to see how EMR was going to work (as far as templates, etc). Of course, I said YES. After explaining briefly, I asked her if they were even still going to need a transcriptionist. She said yes, at least in the beginning? What exactly do you'll think she meant by that? She also mentioned that the doctor decided not to do the point and click option. She said that he is comfortable with dictating. 

I am not quite sure how EMR works, but very insecured with job at this time.

Thanks    

Go to whitehouse.gov/contact or ehow, etc.  I did just that today.  They invited me to e mail the president - so I did.  Not sure he will ever get it but it was a nice friendly letter.  I asked him to find out and report how many jobs are being offshored every single day, faster than he can create them.  I asked him to try to get specific figures on tax implications and our social security system.  No one has ever given out this information, which would probably be a difficult task since the offshoring companies will not fess up to how many jobs really leave the U.S.  I figured if any one could find out it would be President Obama himself.  As an aside I asked him could it be true that the big banks who received approximately $150 billion dollars of our money actually applied for 20,000 new visas for foreign workers (up 1/3).  With our own money?

 I asked him how his stimulus package was supposed to work.  I have always stimulated the economy, worked, and paid taxes.  Now my job has been given to a foreign worker who does not pay taxes.  What gives?  If that is not on a drain on the system, then the lines for unemployment income are.  I mentioned that the stimulus checks handed out were never going to trickle down to the average American citizen.  Look what they are doing with it.  The best stimulus he could give us is to save our jobs.  We can't spend what we don't have.  I also congratulated him on his new job, financial security, the American people keeping the mortgage up to date on the White House, and that his kids certainly seem to have everything they need.  Keep up the good work and get back to me on those huge figures.  Oh, and I gave him my figures, unemployment at 50% of your earnings for 6 months.

Your e mail can be one sentence or up to 5,000 words.  Can you imagine the President receiving e mails from 300-500 MTs in one week.  Do it.

I'd appreciate any recommendations from folks living in central or north-central Oregon and using satellite for transcription.  Thanks!

Why is my curser arbitrarily jumping all over the page, especially if I have brackets in my text.  I switched to the foot pedal from using hot keys in order to speed up my production, but that just ain't happening with this annoying jumping curser.

Anyone else had this problem and how did you fix it?

I have been actively looking for work for the past seven months and had nothing but no luck at all in getting a job. A majority of my experience was with the last company that I worked for (3 years with 99% QA) and we had a disagreement about time off and low and behold they fired me for poor work performance. This didn't go unchallenged but I feel that they are a big reason why I cannot find work. I am just ready to scream. There has to be a way to get past this (like get a job) but how? One transcription company with only one supervisor should not have the say over my future as a transcriptionist! I am so frustrated. Thanks for letting me vent and I would appreciate any ideas out there to help me through this. I am not a bad MT!

Her doc wants her to transcribe and he records on an Olympus digital voice recorder.  When I look up the specific model she said he has, it's this http://www.aaaprice.com/olympusds330.html.  My questions are this?  What does she need to be able to do this work?  She has a .wav pedal.  I don't do this type of stuff working with these particular types of voice files from a single recorder so I'm just trying to help here.  Right now he's given her JUST his little recorder to transcribe from until his software comes in (had to reorder it).  He thinks she should be able to load the software onto HER computer and be good to go.  Is that so?  So right now she either awaits the software or has to sit and transcribe from his recorder w/o any headphones or foot pedals (which will be painstaking, LOL).  Am I right?  Any thoughts are appreciated. 

when I have been working for national company for 15 years and cannot, obviously, list my immediate supervisor or any QA people I have encountered?  The references I have are from several years ago.  Are they still valid?

I'm really confused and upset about this. Do companies expect a list of 3-4 references with names and numbers?

Thank you.

You know, people........ it just makes me want to cry out loud!  I am getting more angry as we speak.. you have all heard from me before about this business, but I'm going to be VERY frank and spill my guts right here in front of you and the whole MT world, hoping that someone who is in the right position will read it and HAVE THE GUTS to make a stance. (Can you say "hospital board of directors?") This is something that AAMT (or whatever the daylights they are now) should be doing for us. It's about time these "high and mighty" doctors listen up!

We are a family of hard-working people who practically have to become doctors just to transcribe these stinking reports.  I don't know about all of you, but I DON'T MAKE A DOCTORS' SALARY! I truly believe that all of you as well as myself try every day like the devil to do the very best we can to participate in patient care and earn a decent living, but as I have said a million times if not more, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE and at this time, there ARE NO ANSWERS TO ALL THIS CHAOS.... 

Actually, I take that back... there are a couple answers..We are all reprimanded for the incompetence of the doctors.  THEY ARE NOT GODS as they would like to believe they are. They put on and take off their pants just like we do and when the he _ _ are they going to take some responsibility?  I, for one, am NOT afraid of them and if I had the chance to do it over again working "in-house", I would have the guts to tell them how bad they are right down to their burping, farting, yawning, chewing, mumbling, whispering, non-English speaking two-sided faces.  Let us not forget the 50 second operative note that should have been dictated clearly in 10 minutes.  Yes, they're busy, but the bottom line on this issue is that they don't want to do a surgery and BE TOLD to go and tell someone about it, so they dictate like their hair is on FIRE. IT JUST MAKES ME SICK.  It's part of THEIR JOB.  If they don't do a good job, how the sh _ _ do they expect us to do a good job!

Let us not forget QA.... We are punished and yelled at for leaving blanks........DUH! and I just hate the thought of a QA person (whose quality of work I don't even know), making corrections to my work - and don't tell me that at times, they are guessing... AND WHOSE NAME IS ON THE REPORT - OURS !!!!!!!!!!  In the end, if there was a lawsuit, we'd most likely be the ones to have to answer to THEIR blunders.  I would rather make my own mistakes and have to answer for them than have one or two opinionated QA people telling me what I did wrong... one telling you one way to do something and another telling you a different way.  I say, "leave the stinking blanks and let these JERKS" remember whose country they are living in.

BOTTOM LINE.......... Make the doctors more responsible... after all, they want to get paid and couldn't without us.  I say, "stand up and be heard", tell them to get with the program and most of all, SPEAK DISTINCT AND PROPER ENGLISH!!  THIS IS AMERICA, NOT PAKISTAN.

Please don't get me wrong.  I love what I do and for the right dictating physician (s), it is a gratifying experience.  Something has GOT to change. Thanks for listening... we're all in it together.  We need some mercy...   it's a thankless job  and   !