A couple of ISP questions/Meditech.

Not sure which to go with.  Currently, due to location, have dial-up.  Considered netzero which I guess is still technically dial-up.  I would like to have something that I can travel with, which leaves netzero or satellite.

Will be beginning work with Meditech based program, working directly on company's website.  I'm concered about dail-up being slow with Meditech, but have heard that satellite does not work well with Meditech either.  Any opinions on what to go with or anyone working currently with Meditech on satellite basis?

   SO CONFUSED!           TIA

• A couple of ISP questions/Meditech. - pdqtrans
  • Meditech & VPN - tbpmtT
  • The only Meditech I ever used (sm) - Hayseed
    • Yes that's true... - pdqtrans

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I just recently went back to work in the office at a local hospital. We type in both Meditech and Cerner, depending on what you are typing, i.e. Medical Records reports versus Radiology.  We are currently typing blindly in Meditech, meaning we do not have access to our line counts and must depend on management to give us our totals.  In Cerner, we are able to run a line count report and print out a hard copy of our line counts at the end of the day.

We are finding that 800 lines in Cerner equals about 500 lines in Meditech.  We are not paid per line nor do we have an incentive plan, but we have a new HIM Director who would like to institute an incentive plan and the administrator over our department has laid down the law and decreed that all transcriptionists not making minimum in the department will be written up.  Problem is according to Meditech line totals that we have been given, that would be about half the department.

The transcription supervisor has taken our concerns to the new director who told the MT Supervisor to hold off on writing people and has taken home all the line counts from the last month and she is going over them with a fine tooth comb this weekend.

I am not a very trusting soul by nature, so I am doing a little research on my own.  I've been in this business for about 15 years.  I started out in a hospital and have worked for a few services at home and am now back in the hospital setting.  So I know a few things about line count and I consider myself to be pretty well informed on trends and technology in the industry.   I would like to walk into our next department meeting armed with as much knowledge as possible.  So I have come up with some questions that I would like some fellow MTs to answer, give opinions, and maybe even direct me to websites or individuals who could give me a better understanding of Meditech and Cerner.  Here are my questions:

1. Is it possible for an MT to have access to her line count in Meditech or is strictly a management function?  Any MTs that work in Meditech on this board, do you currently have access to your line counts and if so, how do you check them?  Is it an option on the main menu after you log into Meditech?


2. How is a line defined in Meditech?  (i.e. 65 cpl, with spaces, without spaces)


3. How is a line defined in Cerner?


4. What abbreviation Expanders work with both Meditech and Cerner?


5. Examples of incentive plans (if anyone would like to share that with me that would be great, if not I completely understand).


6. Measuring productivity by minutes of dictation versus typed lines.




1. What would be the minimum minutes required for an 8-hour day?


2. How would one structure an incentive program based on minutes?

I was thinking of presenting the idea that we keep track of productivity using minutes instead of lines since there is such a discrepancy in Meditech.  I also worry that if an incentive plan is put into place and we are still typing blind into Meditech, what's to keep management from shaving off a few lines here and there?

Feel free to email me or post here any responses.  Either is fine.  I really appreciate any input, comments, or just plain old supportive posts would be nice too! 

First, do you carry error and omissions insurance or a clause in your contract?  Second, when you do your billing--do you find it easier to bill twice monthly (1st and 15th) or once monthly? 

How do I quickly modify an entry?  (I've been pulling up shorthand, putting in the short form, clicking on Dictionary, then modify, then cut and paste....there has to be an easier way).

How do put yo (for year-old) directy behind the age without putting a space (i.e., 32yo instead of 32 yo). 

How do I stop SH from working when I'm in my e-mail or on the Internet for a brief time, but don't want to completely close out the program?

The ShortHand directions I have are very unclearly written, so I'm grateful for any help to these and upcoming Shorthand questions!

I'm a fairly new MT and have done all my MT-ing so far with C-phones.  I am being switched to a Winscribe system.  My question is this:  Will the MTSO be able to monitor how fast or slow I'm transcribing?  I'm not trying to get away with anything.  It's just that I've read horror stories from some MTs on certain platforms where the MTSO can see (and calls) whenever they're "off the system" (bathroom breaks, looking up a word, legitimate coffee-breaks) etc.  I work as an IC and have a window in which to get my work done rather than a set number of hours.  What I'm wondering is if the MTSO, with this new system, will now be able to "see" if I'm not typing every single minute.  TIA

First, A company I worked for briefly at the beginning of 2008 sent me two different W2.  One lists all the pertinent boxes (wages, federal taxes paid, etc).  However, in box 15 where your state and local taxes are listed, they have the wrong state.  It is a state I used to live, but haven't lived there for the past three years.  I definitely did not live there at all in 2008.  The second W2 they sent list nothing in any of the boxes except box 15 where it lists the correct state, income, and taxes I paid.

So does this mean I paid taxes in a state that I didn't even live in?  And if that is the case, do I have to file a return in that state?  Or do I contact the company and ask they correct my W2? 

I am using TurboTax to prepare my return.  My second question is I have a 1099 from IC work I did in 2008 and after I enter the information, the software asks me for a business ID code on attachment form C for my "self-employment business."  I have no idea what to put on this line.  I looked at a list of the codes on the IRS website and there is nothing that is specific to medical transcription.  There is a code for Data entry and then under legal there is a code for document preparation and stenotype.  Those are the only two codes that even come close.

So which one do I use?

Oh, and have I mentioned, I HATE TAX SEASON! 

Has anyone ever used a word Expander with Meditech? I understand that there are several different versions of this program and we use it for Radiology. We have V. 3.25.  I was specifically thinking about ShortKeys?  Any input would be appreciated.

Hello ladies.  Can any of you give me referral for the name of a good medical transcription service company to work for?  I've been with Spheris for almost 3 years and am looking.  I've been requesting to change from an intimidating and threatening supervisor for months, and it hasn't happened.  MANY PEOPLE are leaving Spheris.  I'm just wondering -- can anyone give me the name of a NICE COMPANY to work for??

Thank you very much.  Have a nice day. 

I work for a hospital and I am forced to use Meditech.  There is nothing to help a Transcriptionist except for autocorrect.  The F11 key is diabled as well as macros.  Any one else experience this problem, and how did you get around it. 

Going crazy without my tools.  I can't stand not being able to F11 to my next stop, let alone make templates, etc.  Autocorrect on this computer is terrible as well.  It will only take words in a line, not a paragraph, for example.  Sheesh..  Any advice???

Companies that have it always seem to want people who are already trained on it.  Is it hard to learn if you have learned many different softwares?

Does anyone know of a website that you can go to and download the Meditech program?  There was a site I went to before, but I cant find it now and need to download Meditech.  Thanx for any help.

T

I remember someone giving instructions on formatting in Meditech, something to do with the F8 key.  Could you please post that information again, I meant to print those instructions out.  Thanks.

When I worked in Meditech, we were told that we were getting paid by the 65-character line even though the Meditech line was 75 characters long.  I used to paste my reports into Word and do a character count and divide by 65, it never worked out.  After many tests, I realized that we were getting paid by the gross line.  Try counting it that way and see if it matches when you get your line counts.  (On that job, the gross lines paid better as it turned out). 

Also, other "tests" I did revealed that the originator of the report was the only who got credit.  Any additions I ever made to someone else's report did not add to my line count.  That part stunk. 

Hope this helps!

could only be accessed via a dial-up modem...and I have high-speed so I was kinda tweeked about paying for high-speed connection yet still having to use that archaic system.  Maybe it's different now, I dunno.  Thankfully I was able to drop that work like a hot potato due to my connection constantly dumping and losing all my work and I don't have to think about it any more.  God I hated that Meditech.  I've read about people having access to different versions of it though and having much better luck than I did.

Good luck with it though. 

When I worked on Meditech, you could not change the original transcriptionist.  If I added or corrected something in a report, I physically typed my initials and date at bottom of report.  There is an option to "delete report" to just start over if that option has been given to you.

for radiology transcription?  Am considering applying for a position using it but do not know a thing about it.  I am currently using Word-based programs and before that have used WP5.1. 

Does it have a built in spellchecker?  Can I use my ShortCut for Windows word Expander program?

Is it cumbersome, hard to learn, take a long time to get *up to speed*???

Any info would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance!

Have used Meditech for 8 years.  I tried IT with Workstation 4 (NUE) and it worked. 

Spellchecker is not accurate for more than 1 letter off and it does not know if word should be capped or not.  It will not pick up 2 letter word errors such as NO, fo, si, etc.  There is no grammer check.

Headers are put in automatically (if facility has it set that way), put in Rad's name, pt. name, chose x-ray from list, type date and body.  F7 to beginning of report, Shift+F1 for Spellcheck, proof, F12 to file.  F10 deletes your line from cursor location on.  Need to be at beginning of line and use F3 to join lines or it will move the text to whereever the cursor is located throughout the rest of the document, major PITA!

There are other screens for mammo codes, report codes (normal, negative, see report, unremarkable, etc.) but may vary in setup from facility to facility.

Good luck!