A question regarding patients' rights
Posted By: to their test results on 2005-07-27
In Reply to:
I was just wondering this. My mother was recently sent to a "liver specialist" who is local gastrointestinal doctor because of concern over persistently elevated liver function tests. He drew a LOT of blood work on her and only told her that it looks like she might have a fatty liver. He set her up to come back in six weeks to "get the results of her lab tests." SIX WEEKS! With her being very concerned, of course, we immediately searched the net and found out that fatty liver occurs in patients 1). who drink alcohol (she never has), 2). Patients who are overweight (she is not) or 3). Patients with diabetes (she hasn't got that, either). It says that a liver biopsy is how they find this out. He never mentioned doing one of those. My question is.. would a physician want to wait 6 weeks to find out lab results? You know it doesn't take 6 weeks to get the results back, they probably had them back within a day or two. In the meantime, she is stressing big time about what could be wrong. 
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Oh, but THEY all have rights, you know
We can't abuse the rights of all the child molesters and other criminals, but the rest of us are just out of luck. I have a VERY permanent solution for them--it involves a pair of very rusty and dull pinking shears-- use your imagination.
FTP rights
you might want to have your employer check your logon for the FTP site -- they may not have given you rights to delete files. Simple change on their end.
The merchants would be within their rights
to pursue a criminal complaint against the bad check writers. Posting the bad checks is mild punishment by comparison. Your friend should feel relieved not to be going to jail. Bad checks are theft. I'm with the business people. Irresponsible bad-check writers raise prices and fees for honest, financially responsible people. If this were my friend, I'd be reconsidering the friendship.
renters have rights
Ask for a copy of the bill from the cleaning company they hired to clean it. If you had a pet, carpet cleaning comes out the nonrefundable pet deposit. Typically, if you have lived in a place for more than 2 years, the mgmt company has to replace the carpet and repaint the walls anway. Check it out in your state and local community. They have to have a bill for the 160 dollars. They can't just charge fictitious amounts and have their own people do it.
There's really nothing wrong with that at all. She had the same rights as everybody else. nm
x
employee rights
The hospital I work for has called the at home Transcriptionist and told them if they do not meet a 1000 line a day line, with a 10,0000 line pay period they would suspend us for three days, the next time is termination. They also have out sourced alot of the work that has recently been dictated. My question where do I find legal advice for my line of work. I am a full time employee, I recieve insurance and retirement, they tell us when we have to work, adding onto our schedule, then tell us we have to work weekends and holidays to lower the count. We do not receive overtime, holiday pay, vacation time, or sick time. With us being a full time employee, we have also been by passed when across the board raises have been given to other full time employees. I just want to know what the in home transcriptionist legal rights are and don't know where to find them. Thank you in advance for any help you can give.
Help needed...are there any rights/repercussions for an IC...
who was fired after a year of employment as an IC? No warning was given. IC had a problem with TAT one day, rather than MTSO firing that day, waited a week and then was just let go. Is there any way to apply for unemployment....any rights at all for an IC? Now I will have no income until next job starts. I have a family to support and bills that are due. Wow, I am just so surprised!!
Animals have more rights than babies do!
nm
well, I am NOT obsessing over animal rights! sm
What exactly are you doing to make the world a better place? Discussing the killing of dogs in another country sure does help, yeah, uh huh...get over yourself
DeVenture & Human Rights
You may want to check out the Bangor Daily News online State page for August 7 of this week. President, Michael Deville was found liable for employee discrimination. Sounds like a great place to work. In addition, that manager you are speaking of most likely has no backbone when it comes to standing up when it's require of her.
Of course, I know who owns rights to all my software.
You should also know and understand licensing rights. I also want to give my money to the right people.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS-LINES, TIME, PTO
Face it - the nationals are going to outsource alot more. We are no longer immune to the economy. They are just waiting for some of you to leave - and you will. Using your PTO now (at their convenience) just means they don't have to pay it to you later. You can not FIRE someone for lack of performance if there is a lack of work. The number one eligibility for worker's comp is lack of work and the nationals certainly can't deny that. If your income has been cut by one-third for 60 days or more, there are better incomes out there (maybe not with nationals), but the American companies do provide good pay, steady work, and understand and respect your rights as a worker. If it is unemployment you want, do not quit. Find out now how it works in your state. There is about a week's waiting period. You only get about 50% of your income for anywhere from 13-26 weeks.
For those of you who have no choice except to stay - do some research. If you are full time with good performance records, benefits, and PTO - your job is just as legitimate as if you worked in a factory or any institution in YOUR state. Your job has to be defined - hours, work, etc. If your company is not supplying the work, then that changes your job definition. There are laws in every state to protect you as a worker. Know them. They can be different state to state. Remember, standing up for your rights may get you layed off and unemployment only lasts about 6 months.
You would do all MTs a favor if you shared some of your research here on different state laws and better companies to work for.
i'd definitely complain, stand up for your rights to be paid. if you don't say anything, it w
'
I love to see people exercise their minds (and their rights)...will check it out...
Thank you, for sharing...
After all, if no one would have stood up years ago, we would still be called the 'typing pool' and making probably $7/hour, AND answering phones, filing, etc.
AAMT did have a huge role in that happening, but I have not seen them do anything for the American MT in a very long time.
According to the Advance Health mag (which is turning into a 'rag' in my opinion), their latest article is how MTs with disabilities are now being trained in INDIA...and elsewhere overseas, and just how wonderful and joyous that all is - !?#@$#@
Sisters, it is TIME we do something and take a stand.
we should just once, as patients (sm)
go to the dr's office and waste THEIR time!!! Let them know how it feels for a change. But then again, the doc wouldn't wait two seconds on a patient, now would they? Wow, whatta double standard! 
Patients
On a really bad day, I feel like a vampire for making money off of other people's misfortunes.
Maybe sometimes we have too much time to think! I don't know.
Just because 2 patients have the
same dx does not mean they are treated the same and symtoms are the same in many dxs. Do you have your degree?
Well, too bad that they have 30 patients - sm
to see so they don't want to spell things out. Do they cut corners on patient care, as well, when they have 30 patients to see - or is that reserved for us peon MTs? So they're "frustrated" with 30 patients - well, cut your patient load! We're not paid to "guess" or have to look up everything they don't feel like spelling, especially other doc's names. Just won't do it.
By the way, I wonder if they know how many documents we have to type a day (30 maybe?) to even eke out simple minimal wage - but that's OK, I suppose, compared to their 5 or 6-figure salaries.
Just give everybody the bum's rush because you have 30 patients. Suppose we did the same?
A party for our patients...
Every year, the staff in our clinic takes it on ourselves to throw a party for our patients. We all cook finger food, make snack trays, cookies, baked good, cheezes, bread, meat trays, the works. We have breakfast foods and lunch foods. We decorate tables in our lobby to spread this out on. We usually do this one day a week for the four weeks before Christmas so many patients will get to enjoy it. We have coffee, hot chocolate, orange juice, cokes and punch. We have fruits and dips....something for everyone, even diabetics. The patients are touched that we go to the trouble and we are touched by how much they love it! These patients have gone through enough suffering with their diseases and some are elderly and don't have family members. Some tell us this is their only Christmas! We have been doing this several years now and the patients are beginning to tell us to be sure we appoint them to return on the days we are having our "Christmas spread." I just thought I'd share the Christmas party that means the most to me... and this is definitely it! Just the look on their faces as they are enjoying it is Christmas to me.
It is not our job to judges the patients sm
or why or where they seek treatment. It is our job to transcribe the dictated reports. If you don't like the healthcare system, then go out and change it.
Just how many lives do YOUR patients have?
Apparently mine have more than one because I have one dictator who likes to use the following phrase: Patient was told that he might have death and loss of current life. 
Now we have to insist patients
being treated are actually examined before treatment is rendered?
Wasn't it bad enough medicine when ER docs would proclaim a diagnosis before exam, only to have to backpedal after taking a look?? I guess if they are going to do things in that order, doing physical exams is going to result in their looking stuupid, so their solution is not to do that part.
Big grrrr.
If the patients were aware of that, they could
nm
Do any of you ever feel sad for the patients?
Maybe it is because I am on my period and am more emotional than usual, but today typing all these terminal cancer reports is making me want to cry. I feel so sad for the patient and their families. I just cannot imagine being told that I only have a few months left of my life. And the doctors sound so cold about it. I know they are very used to it....I just know that I could never be a doctor. I could never get used to telling someone they are going to die.
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION RULES IN FAVOR OF PAST EMPLOYEE OF DEVENTURE
NOT GOOD!!!
Not sure when doctors graduate their patients but
I have boys and we stopped when my oldest was 11 because they always made them strip down to their undies for checkups and checked their privates and I didn't feel that was necessary and my boys hated it.
No thanks. Anorexic geriatrics patients don't do it for me.
x
Very true, but a list of patients?
An invoice by the patient? Some clients need to do their own book keeping. It is bad enough you have to worry about the content of the reports. To have to retype a patient name into an invoice with the line count is utterly ridiculous especially as an IC. IC's get taken advantage of. As an IC, yes you should be charging for "everything". If you're an employee, they can put it under "other duties as needed". Business is business. If it takes more time, that takes more money. End of story. Don't do nothing for nothing. Your clients sure do not. They go all this time with this Transcriptionist with her invoicing and then all of a sudden decide they want each patient name and line count? Cut me a break. You don't think there should be a charge for that? You can work for free, but I certainly WILL NOT! To make statements like be paid to walk to the computer is really being a bit of a smarty pants in my opinion. Keep it to yourself if you want to work for free, most people don't! Have a great day making nothing to do A LOT!
I read it... does it mean US patients would have to travel - nm
.
A lot of physicians refer to their patients
as heterosexual or having same sex partners, it is very relevant in some aspects, as in exposure to AIDS/HIV, etc.
New Doctor, some patients already typed
I got a new doctor. They girl who had been working for him left him in a big mess, undone dictations, etc. The office gave me a flashdrive to do with about 30 patients on it over the holiday weekend. Today they've told me ten patients had already been typed, how did I want to handle that? It seems they don't want to pay me for these. My husband says to bite the bullet and not charge them, since this is a new account and I'd like to keep it, is possible. What do you think? I know it's a land of confusion there from what is done to what is not done. Thanks!
It's called BEING FAIR TO PATIENTS
. Why should patient care suffer?! The patients haven't done anything wrong, even if management sucks. I thought that's what MTs were ultimately hired to benefit, the patients.
How does outsourcing dictation allow doctors to see more patients?
In an article in the MT News section, it states this. Do they really need to see more patients? Most of them herd them in and out like cows.
And that is because the GYN forgets to tell his patients that when changing pills you have to use an
alternate method of birth control for a month until the new level of hormones in the pills kick in, whether higher or lower. That is how come so many get pregnant on the "pill." The facts...my cousin is GYN and he tells all of his patients that.
Just wondering, for you MTSOs, about how many patients/reports per day...
For, say, an orthopedic surgeon, or a family practice doctor. Or, maybe, how many minutes of transcription on average per day.
THANKS.
these are the docs that I don't think care about their patients. my opinion. nm
ss
The clock does play into how much time is spent with patients
The way the CPT codes bill insurance have guidelines for the physicians built into them that give amounts of time spent with the patient (in addition to certain information covered in the ROS/PE), especially in consultations (whether inpatient or out), hospital discharge codes and critical care time (inpatient or out).
Yes, that computer is in fact billing the insurance company because it not only saves not having to pay an MT, it bypasses a billing clerk (eliminating that salary), and if the doctor's office space is paid for by a hospital, that file is sent to the hospital's database where a *scrubber* compares what the MD submits versus coding guidelines. If it is an independent office, the MD can upload all that day's billing before he walks out the door and leave it unattended to update patient accounts and reconcile the days money intake.
In a nut shell, your doctor is no longer just practicing medicine. Your MD is doing the documentation and billing and saving money on two warm bodies.
I understand your concern as I see it more and more in today's medical care, but yes, this is the way things are going. I am fortunate that my MD has been very computer literate for a long time, so the amount of time he spends with his laptop is minimal. Once he enters the info, he kicks his shoes back and we chat and get into a deeper discussion both professionally and personally (we've known each other a long time). Give your MD a chance to play catch up to what he or she is doing with that computer and you should see a more relaxed physician soon.
Good luck.
We need actual examples of patients harmed by outsourcing
to take to the media. Then we could probably get enough interest for someone to do an expose on it.
I do reports all the time where patients have asthma, COPD, emphysema, and
even cancer and continue to smoke. In our local paper they are following a woman in her battle with cancer. She continues to smoke, as does her husband. They were broke before the cancer diagnosis, having to borrow daughter's babysitting money to pay bills. Just think how much money they've blown on cigarettes.
I've even known one man with a trach who smoked through his trach.
I wasn't clear. I guess patients' names is what irks me the most. SM
and you know how famous they are for dictating "Krenazcyssky, Jane, that's J-A-N-E.
neat web site 'chemo angels'. Help cancer patients
http://www.chemoangels.com/
Doctors patrolling themselves? What a joke! They barely have time to see ALL their patients....
Doctors today are totally incompetent for the most part. YOU cannot worry about it when it comes to transcribing their gawd awful reports. THAT is between the patient and the doc. Just knock the report out as fast as you can and make sure it's accurate and then after that, forget about it.
The docs make the big bucks - you don't! Let THEM worry about things that will eventually catch up with them, one of which is called the Karma bug, and that little bug ALWAYS bites those who don't deal fairly right in the butt! And big time, too! 
My nurse said most patients make calls with their cell, no problem
x
Contract/no contract -- same rights
You do not have to have a written contract to take them to court. All you have to do is to prove you have been providing work to him, past statements/invoice will do that, you just fill out the small claims forms and go to court. But first of all I would personally go in and talk with someone about it. Could be the office manager/bookkeeper and not the doctor that is not paying you. He may not know anything about it. And please do not make the "joke" as above mentioned, that is very LOW class, tacky and not professional at all. Especially if you are in a small area -- you need to conduct like a professional. But call and make an "appointment" to talk with the doctor either in person or through a phone call. Some doctors do not know what is going on in their office and perhaps the office manager wants to be paid first. If the doctor does know, then in person or over the telephone inform him that you have no other choice but to pursue the debt just as they would if someone did not pay their bill and if that involves going to small claims court, then that is the route you must take. Good luck. I did take one to court without a contract and won.
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