29 years, 16 at hospital, 4 as IC, 9 w/national
Posted By: oldtimer on 2008-03-19
In Reply to: MT Poll... - mtr
with the most lucrative income as an IC, although it sucked having to be responsible for accounts 7 days/week with no reliable backup subcontractor(s) for 2 of those years as an IC.
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- MT Poll... - mtr
- 29 years, 16 at hospital, 4 as IC, 9 w/national - oldtimer
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Our hospital laid us all off and I went to work for the national that got the bid. nm
x
Hospital account (National company). nm
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58, AHP/self-taught, trained at hospital 5 years, now with 2 of my own accounts for 10 years, employ
Also worn out 2 keyboards in 4 years. I will never retire. DH will come home some day from work and I'll be slumped over my keyboard. I put in 14 hours a day 7 days a week.
At my national, not MQ, we also are required to use only one space after a period, have for years.nm
x
3 years for hospital sm
but it was from home and they don't really know me.... i've been working IC from home for over 12 years and so it's not likely I will go to a hospital at this point to work
7 years, last 5 at the same hospital. nm.
x
At my hospital, even 25+ years ago, you were required SM
to type 1100 per day. That was with NO spell check, NO expanders. Nothing. Everybody typed a lot more than that.
I think the trouble that you describe must have something to do with working on some company's lame platform. I work in Word, I make my own expanders, my own everything, and work 5 hours a day, if I have 150 minutes to do. That is about 2000-2200 lpd. It is not a problem, because I do what's fastest for ME. The people at the hospital do some kind of merge thing and put everything in their system.
Working on a platform that is designed for anything other than MT will only cost you money. They make these systems to help coding, discharge, everybody but us. I'll never, ever do it again. I'd rather work at Wendy's -- Just kidding! Just kidding! Don't get THAT started.
I worked for a hospital at home for 4 years. sm
We had to work set hours. My advice is allow youself 1/2 hour for lunch, and at least two 15-minute break periods. Work 2 hours, take a break, work 2 hours, take a lunch break, etc. Otherwise, you may find yourself having back, shoulder and hand problems. Working 9 hours may seem like a drag, but not being able to work at all is even worse. Remember, if you were working on site, you would not only have to work 8-1/2 hours, but would have travel time on top of it. Just my experience.
Aeron chair - never would use any other. About eight years ago my hospital
bought all of the transcriptionists Herman Miller chairs and we always say we are taking them when we leave. Yea right, BUT, I would buy one even if I had to pay for it over time. It is so worth it considering we sit all day. It is made of some kind of a nylon mesh that gives to your body weight and is always comfortable. There is tons on line about it. I love my chair, I love my chair, I love my chair.
24 years MT, 7.5 years with the same hospital nm.
x
28 years, 9 years at 1 hospital..sm
9 years at one hospital, 8 years with 2 services, then went out on my own (11 years ago) and got a bunch of surgeons and I moonlight on weekends for a national (9 years with national).
If I knew what I know today, with how the MT business has gone down $$-wise for us over 20+ years, if I had my druthers and could start over again, I would have stayed with CODING/BILLING instead of MT work (though I love MT work) as billing/coding is still lucrative in this country....
just my 3 cents 
32 years, 18 years at hospital...
7 at Medquist, 7 at Spheris. Starting at Transtech Medical tomorrow.
hospital at-home -vs- national at home
I have an interview today with a hospital...work in-house for 3 months, then go home, paid on production. I don't know as of yet what they pay production, so my question is to anyone who works for a hospital at home AND has also worked for a national at home...
Which would be the best to choose? The hospital offers great benefits, but the national I work for now also has benefits, not as good as the hospital, though. Any input would be most appreciated!
Years ago, I used to get a $25 gift card from the hospital I worked for.
I haven't gotten so much as a card in recent years.
In 5 years there won't be any transcription departments in any hospital. All will be outsourced.
Same thing happened to me and if those HIM hags who control our destiny think it's a good thing they are so WRONG. Life has been hard since having to work at a service, and I refused to work for the Monster MTSO that took my job as a matter of principle. I think we should all write to Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Amy Klobuchar (the MT in MN can write to her), etc., and express our strong needs to have MT jobs and American information STAY in America with American MTs.
I've been in MT for 20 years. Started out in the office at a hospital.
Switched to working for services from home for a while and now I work for the same hospital I started out at, but I work from home now. So I guess you can say I've come full circle and now I'm back where I started. I much prefer being an employee of a hospital versus an IC or employee of an MTSO.
It may be that your user profile in EXText is not set up to allow you to add normals. I've found with services they don't give their MTs a whole lot of freedom with their software. 
I meant hospital for 8 years (not months)...going on 15th year.
x
Quit after 2 years. If I wanted to work 8 hours a day, I would have stayed in the hospital. Seemed
to be working all day long just to make a decent living. Although, I wanted to be home with my kids until the baby was at least 5, had to breakdown and return to working outside the home, to make ends meet. Just to stressfull trying to make a good living with the rates they are paying now.
Depends on what kind of hospital? Large urban hospital or small community hospital? SM
Also, is it a large teaching hospital? If so you have to consider there will be A LOT of different residents dictating, usually a lot of ESLs at teaching hospitals, and the residents rotate out and new ones rotate in every summer. So you can't expect to get the same dictators and build up your macros because the dictators change all the time.
I would say 9 cpl would be a pretty good offer for a small to medium community hospital where you will be doing the same dictators on a daily basis. But for bigger, urban or teaching hospitals I would want at least 12 to 15 cpl.
I have 13 years experience and just started a hospital job working from home making $16 an hour
and with a really good incentive plan. I live in the Kansas City area. $10 seems like a low starting point even with only two years experience which is the usual benchmark for hospital MT jobs.
It's been my experience that the low end of the pay scale for hospital employed MTs was around $12 an hour. Also, it's been my experience that the pay offered is usually based on years of experience and how well you perform on the transcription test.
I would say if their pay is that low, they should at least be making it up with incentive and it doesn't sound like they are.
JMO
Lost account of 28 years to Dictaphone because hospital believes it will eliminate all transcription
Curious if any of you are working for Dictaphone or Infomatics and doing an account out of Miami with mainly ESL dictators? I was convinced I would not lose the account after a few days with VR. However Dictaphone is not using VR right away and will transcribe reports the regular way until they have a database. I am certain this hospital will never be done by VR. I posted a job on here about a year ago offering 18 cents per line to help with this account and not one person accepted after hearing the ESL doctors we have. They are that bad. Anyone else have this happen to them? Losing to Dictaphone And we have had to do most of the work for over a month since they supposedly took over because their system is not working.
A small national is a national company that is smaller
than a big national. There are a few "big" nationals, where they have hundreds, if not thousands of employees. I work for what I call a small national, only has about 30 employees. An MTSO could also be considered a small national.
I went from national to small back to national
My large national has all the resources and money to operate successfully and have decent platform, etc., to work on, the small company did not, and I went back to the national.
(1) Don't work for a national. (2) Don't work for a national. (3) Don't work for a nation
If you still want to stay in MTing, which is a dying job, go to a hospital and apply to do radiology. They sometimes hire people just out of transcription schools.
But don't work at home thinking you will make any money at all - even with 20 years of experience - the nationals have wrecked that.
Be under the umbrella of protection at a hospital. That way when your computer breaks, the weather is bad, you are sick, there is no work - you will not be without a paycheck.
The nationals are selling a line of BULL. Gradually they have taken what used to be our built-it benefits------------> and moved it over to their pockets and called it their PROFIT. They are not brilliant - but they are unethical thieves.
Hospital. I wish I'd never left my hospital job.
They'll only take me back if I start off working nights and weekends again at the bottom of the totem pole.
If you work for a hospital - how come no one from the hospital
called you?? Were they in the dark, as well?? How sad, that no one in your hospital communicates with the at home staff.
have you tried another national?
It seems you may have worked for one national, have you tried any others? There are a few good ones. I found a great one, but am keeping my fingers crossed because every time I find one, they start growing and changing (for the worst, in my opinion).
Unfortunately, it seems to be the trend in our profession. It could be we will all be out of jobs one day, just all at once in a heartbeat.
Like the age of automation, didn't people lose jobs and become 'displaced' like all at once?
I hate to say this, really, because I respect your feelings, but a lot of us lately are running out of work with our nationals. Complete flipside - I have been running out almost daily, even on 3, 4 accounts. I just ran out now and am waiting to get some work because I really need the money...
There seem to be no easy answers. We are all at the mercy of our employers and whatever they decide to do. Seems there are no laws for people like us...we are like slave labor.
I hope you find your answers, and I think your Sparkle paper towels are giving some great advice! (smile)
$36.5K, national and
For national MTs: how many different...
accounts does your national have you on...just curious.
I started with one and now am up to three and they're trying to shove two more accounts on me for a total of five. Simply hate it...would love to have just one primary account again with just one back-up.
As soon as I pick up momentum on the account I'm on at the moment, I get switched over to help out on another.
And yes...I have complained to them already...just wondering if this is the norm nowadays.
what national?
At home work or office work? How long did it take you to finish the program? What did you do or say to get hired before graduation?
Does that mean I should keep my job with a national?
Most definitely. Not MQ, another national. sm
I've been going on-line from dawn to midnight to get my hours in. You know, this has happened with every service I ever worked for between Thanksgiving and mid January, so I'm not hysterical YET! 
my national because she is very....sm
Only ONE out of plenty I am sure do I like because she is communicative, will email you your qa'd reports if you want, and will even call you at home if you request.....I have NEVER met another QA person like her and I nominated her for QA of the month (year if they offered that but they do not - *lol*)
To me, it's all about COMMUNICATION!! 
A national,
Can anyone help me out?
Thanks!
national
!
I'm an IC with a national
and transcribe for a hospital. My TAT is normally 24 hours. Also, they hired me right out of school for 8 cpl.
the BIG national........LOL.....nm
for the national now on DQS...sm
but privately, which is my main source of income, (4 MDs), having them for a long time, I do about 300-400 LPH with a 68-72 character line in a DOS program with ShortCuts expansion program.
I used to type 250-300 LPH for the national before they went on DQS 3 years ago. That's been sliced in half.
best of luck to you!!!!! 
7 CPL for a national for VR.....nm
.
I got 9 cpl with a national
at their mercy as well. I'll take the 8 cpl with freedom to work when I want thank you very much and not be at anyone's mercy ESPECIALLY as an independent contractor like some folk do for these companies. I'll take the 8 cpl, but if I don't feel like working then I don't; end of story. I have my own accounts that I make the rules and the line rate, not some MTSO spoon feeding it to me. If I need more money then I'll just go out and get my own accounts. Not getting rich off the companies online that's for sure. Funny thing is whoever thinks that they are going to make top dollar on an account someone else (like a national or even a small MTSO) really has their head in the clouds. If you are good at what you do, you can go and get your own accounts and make 13 cpl or even more... go figure right???? Good luck my fellow MT's. Nationals are not for me.....
I have only tried one national and that was
I have even tried a small MTSO and they didn't want to pay squat either. I had no trouble at all with the dictators, but they still only wanted to pay 7 cpl as an IC and wanted to run my life, quick turnaround, yada, yada, yada. I would have been better off taking the morning shift at Bob Evans restaurant or better yet, the Dunkin Donuts (Indian-run) would probably pay me better than that. I say try your best to gain an account on your own even if it is only just one. You are better off with a small MTSO, but.....they lose accounts too even faster than the nationals, so then what? Put your efforts into finding an account on your own. There have been some suggestions on this board regarding such and someone was even going to hire a business consultant to get her business going. The other option is, if possible, try an on-site job especially at a hospital even if that is only to network. Make sure all of your friends know that you are a medical Transcriptionist with a great worth ethic. Word gets around and you would be surprised what can fall into your lap. Good luck. I do not like the way the nationals or even small MTSOs operate as far as pay and how they treat you especially when you are an IC.
Not at a national, but it was (sm)
most definitely there when previously working in-house.
Is this a national..which one?..
Just curious because I did hear of 1 co that wouldn't let you check your counts, and it seemed to be causing a lot of issues with the MTs of course. It ranged from some MTs feeling they were cheated out of lines to other MTs just wanting to know where they stood as far as their progress for the day.
The thing is, I can't remember the name of that company for the life of me. I thought maybe if I heard it, it would sound familiar if it was the same company.
I have 5 accounts with a national and still run out.
$18,000+, small national. nm
I like my national (PT) but my local is the best.
With my local I know exactly what I'm in for and how long it's going to take me. With my national, I can work hard at it and do the extra or just meet the requirement.
My local has picked up a ton of accounts so I may be able to find a national that doesn't have a "schedule requirement," i.e. 3 hours 4 days a week and one weekend day.
With my local, I can say, "Hey kids, not much work, let's go get ice cream?" They like that, but they hate "Mom's gotta burn the midnight oil."
It's a trade off. I'm not complaining. I burned my nylons in the fireplace last October and I don't miss them!
I work for a national
and I have a ton of doctors (clinic and hospital). I type 1000 lines in 3 to 4 hours. I don't have a lot of normals. There are some but don't use them on a daily basis. I just put my nose to the grind stone and make myself sit there for a certain amount of reports before I let myself get up. It can be done.
Old MT can't adjust to National sm
I am so very aggravated. I started with a medium sized national about a month ago....and today I counted my lines. I made $30 for 7 days of aggravation and a big headache. How am I supposed to make any money when I get a bunch of choppy little reports, followed by a letter - have to spent 15 minutes or so searching through a big database for what sounds like what doc is saying for a name. Then each file gets saved individually, followed by the number of the voice file, and the doctors name. If I have any questions, I must notify QA and see if they can help figure out the problem, but must put # and place in sound file in email, wait for a response, then fill in the blank. Needless to say, I've had it.....I am a good transcriptionist, but I can't get ahead this way, spending all my time on searching up addresses...and other than a few piddly reports, the rest is letters! Yuk....what would you do???? Thank you......
You will not find a National who will
appreciate you; however, if you worked for MQ for 8 years, you might be able to tolerate Spheris. I personally did not like them but hey you might. Transcend is a good company. I have several friends who work there but also have several who work at Spheris. I would just research as many as possible. Personally, I have never heard anything good about Medware. Good luck to you!
do you work for a national?
Then why do you work for them if they are a bunch of crooks stealing from you? That is the only alternative to my theory, if they do not offer benefits, make you test even when you are seasoned, do not give raises, with no good reason other than they are greedy thieves? It doesn't make sense to me.
never a client from a national, but...sm
A client approached me AFTER both HE and I had quit working for this one particular MTSO...I worked for him, she found out and tried to sue ME for $20K.
I sent her back a play $20K bill and told her that was about as much as her "lawsuit" was worth. Never heard another word from her.
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