Besides the fact they've had a freeze for hiring transcriptionists for the past couple years.
Posted By: OHMT on 2009-04-11
In Reply to: Not working for Mt.Carmel, - Columbus MT
The MT I know works a few hours, is required to take 2 hours off, then come back and finish her shift. Plus she has to work 4 hours on the weekend. They do work at home but keep to a strict schedule. I wouldn't want it.
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There have been lots of changes over the past couple of years (sm)
What kind of info are you looking for specifically? Are you asking about posting a resume on the MT Stars site? - or the JLG site? If the latter, I believe JLG takes applications on their web site.
Over the past 33 years, I've often wondered sm
the same, is it worth it? I guess it was for me, as I really don't know what else I would prefer to do (besides crafting, my pets, gardening, and other hobby stuff). I don't think I'd consider starting out now as an MT with things the way they are.
As far as the depression, anxiety, etc., I don't think being at home alone causes these. I think these problems are inherent in those particular people who eventually turn to this type of work.
What I'm saying is (put out the flames) not all or even many of us have these problems, but those who do would find this kind of work attractive.
I think it's important for those of us at home to pursue outside interests to get us in the world. I'm delighted to be able to be home all the time. Sometimes I don't leave the house for 4-5 days at a time. My pets provide a lot of company. When I want people, I email some, or go out somewhere.
I've done a lot of WAHM jobs in the past 15 years.
Is it the typing that's getting you or the subject matter? Maybe try general or insurance transcription? I did secretarial work at home for a while, bookkeeping, typing, resumes, insurance typing, databases, mail merges. I did mystery shopping, but couldn't make any money at it.
I sold on eBay by going to yard sales in the hot afternoon and offering people $1 a box to haul off their leftovers. Or go early in the morning so you can snap up the collectibles. Run an ad in the paper that you're buying certain collectibles. Estate sales and auctions are good sources of stuff, too. I once paid $12 for several boxes of junk that I sold for $800. eBay does get tiring quite often between finding packing materials; finding inventory to sell; answering people's emails because they can't bother to read the auction instructions; nonpaying bidders; blatant liars; driving to the post office every day, etc.
I've done some other WAHM jobs but, again, eBay and transcription make the most money for me from my home.
Well, it seems the norm to me! I've tested with at least 4 co's in the past few years and
the tests were not dictations that I do on an everyday basis. I know they pick and choose carefully what they will test you on because there are always kinks in there where the doc either stumbles, mumbles, or you know you would have to be a genius to figure out what they are saying.
I've tried to quit 6 times in the past 6 years but
always went back to it. The longest I've quit was 3 weeks. My mom died from COPD and she had smoked from age 16. She really enjoyed smoking and although we kept trying, couldn't get her to quit until she was on 24 hour oxygen. She told me if she couldn't enjoy anything in life (smoking), why live. She died 3 months later.
I started smoking at 13...you know, the "try it, you'll like it" phase. We both tried to quit when I was 19 but we only lasted a day. There was only cold turkey then.
I've tried the patch (3 weeks off cigarettes), cold turkey, herbal meds, hynosis (only lasted 5 hours), you name it. I've used all the suggestions possible to no avail.
With a cigarette dangling from my mouth, I told my boys never to start smoking because they'd never be able to quit easily. Two took my advice, one didn't. He also tried to quit smoking but failed. He was on Wellbutrin for it.
My husband started smoking at 8 while working in a coal mine. He quit cold turkey 19 years ago. He was smoking almost 4 packs a day and one day he got so disgusted with it, he just threw them out the window of the car. Never touched one since and smoke from other people doesn't bother him.
He told me you really have to have the willpower and just get disgusted enough to quit. There's no other way. I guess I just don't have that willpower.
I've used it for a couple of years now - sm
It's not really a typing program - Transnet is just the way to send the files over the Internet - you download the file, transcribe it, then sign it off. I do the downloading on one computer then type in Word on another computer. Works really well but has to have its own foot pedal (darn that Dictaphone!).
I've had Bellsouth for a couple years now. Reliable and no problems. nm
xxx
Btw, the fact you will be only MT for couple
x
I use EXText with my current job and I've used at a couple of other jobs I've had. I've ne
used DocQscribe, but I have used Meditech, Cerner, Vianeta, the Precyse platform (I can't remember the name), Dolbey, and Lanier platform I think was called Cequence (?).
Out of all the different platforms I have typed on, I have liked EXText the best. In my opinion, it's very user friendly, easy to learn, and I really like ESP which is the built in abbreviation expander. Plus it is very easy to create your own normals which I love. My fingers literally never leave the keyboard because there are macro keys for everything. You can use your mouse if you prefer or learn the function macros. I love it. I think I'm more productive on EXText than with any other platform.
That is how I have been doing it for the past 2 years -sm
My husband has 2 exemptions, but Married as single, so it is taxed at a higher amount. Covers my taxes (so far) and we still get about $1400 back. I plan to pay some taxes though this year via the electronic Federal site. Have not started yet though as finances are tight at the moment but plan to get on the stick by June with any luck and pay in a couple thousand.
I have kept 1 for the past 4 years but have - sm
moved about a bit trying to find a good FT gig. Have worked for 3 other companies in 5 years trying to find a good fit, no set schedule, good accounts and pay. So far no luck. I do like my PT job now, do about 6000 lines every 2 weeks but would love to find what a few others have, a good account, easy lines and good pay, but those are few are far between I think. I cannot work a set schedule as I have way too much going on, so it makes it harder to acheive nirvana.
for the past 5 years...
i don't pay a thing until i do my taxes, then i pay it all at one time. so i will not pay 2007 taxes until i see my accountant next month.
q.4h. for the past 15 years
I don't remember where I was working when they made us start using that format, but every place I have worked for the past 15 years at least has used that format.
Personally, I think some people at AAMT have too much time on their hands. There are millions of transcribed medical reports out there and there is no single way of doing things that is better than another.
Transcription survived pretty well before AAMT came into existence - we used to be paid a lot better than we are now and we had respect of the doctors.
What we have done in the past 8 years - sm
You can pay it all at the end if you so choose, but you may owe a penalty if you made more than you did last year. No, SS is definitely not optional unless you want to do jail time, LOL! Remember, you being an IC pay both portions of SS yourself (normally employer pays half and you pay half). You can lump it all together in the end moneywise, but it will be broken down on the tax forms themselves. Hope this helps some. 
After 37 years I am mostly past that...
... but I remember in the old days, when I would "work all night in my sleep," as we always said, and when I got up in the morning, gee, none of that work had actually been done! Now THAT is not FAIR!!
I've tried that the past few nights
it gets WAY too frosty!! :)
What company uses this? I've only had ADT or ADP in the past. nm
s
some of us have been pointing to this for the past two years
and there will be others who will reply "plenty of work for GOOD MT's" which I wish they would have posted that for the 150 US Heartland MT's that got canned. You might say "Come ON people! Offer more than that! We are WORTH it!!!" Apparently we aren't worth it or they would offer more. As they say in Economics 101, "the market will only pay what the market will bear." Offshoring, EMR and VR are eating away at MT, the only thing left will be the junk ESL....
Where in the world have I been for the past 40+ years?
I have never, ever been paid for my gas money to come to a job. Where do you live that they do that? I have lived in 2 different states, been working at jobs since 14 and I am amazed to hear someone say this. Totally AMAZED. What planet did you get off of?
Yeah, as a matter of fact, for the last 12 years SM
one kid or the other. LOL.
Just kidding, mine are pretty good, but that daughter of mine, OY!
CMT-me, I am QUITE informed, have sat on the board in past years
I do not believe getting the CMT is as worthy as you say. I believe that it is overrated when it comes to getting paid more my by services and I do speak from experience. I had the CMT for many years and I let it lapse because it was a waste of perfectly good money. Money I choose to keep in my pocket rather than spend putting in AAMTs pocket. No, I am quite happy not having the CMT and earn a living wage even without it. As I said previously, I can say as an informed MT (former CMT) that a good 90% or more transcription services do not care if you have the CMT. All they care about is that you can get the job done and at the cheapest rate of pay possible.
Ex-CMT
I've had problems with Abacus' accuracy in the past.
.
I've worked for attorneys and doctors in the past and ...
I can tell you that attorneys have way more heart. Docs are stone cold. Personally, I can't stand working for them.....
A ballpark figure I've seen in the past is 90 minutes +/- for an
s
I've got a couple, too! :D
My sistern went to high school with a girl who was known throughout high school as just "Cindy". Upon graduation, they made everyone use their full names, and hers was actually "Cinderella"!
I once saw a pt. named "Precious Jewel _____" . I'm sure she got teased a lot in school!
So far in my life I've known a Hope, a Faith, a Charity, and Honor.... the most unusual of the 4 names.
Once typed for a doctor who, whenever he did a report on a pt. named Ying Lo, he'd starting singing, "Ying Lo, sweet char-i-ot....!"
My siblings & I were all avid readers as kids - we'd read anything: the dictionary, cereal boxes, cook books, even the phone book. In the phone book, my brother once found the name, "Itty Bitty Boo". (Sounds like something you'd call a kitten!)
Here's their revenue for the past three years and other financial data.
MQ's debts are not high either.
http://news.biohealthmatics.com/PressReleases/2005/08/19/000000002719.aspx
My goal every year is $52k, which I have done for the past 2 years working sm
for Keystrokes. I do radiology only, I should mention. I took the amount I wanted (actually needed) to make in a year, divided it by 52 weeks, divided it by 5 days, came up with $1000 per week or $200 per day. I divided that by 8 hours and by my report rate ($1.25). I know that I need to transcribe 20 reports per hour on average. I keep a tally. Some days, it takes me longer to do than others, but I sit down and do my 8 hours every single day. I use my Expander a LOT (literally for all but a few words). I am on one account, so I know those doctors inside and out. If I am short at the end of the week, I ask if there is work available on the weekend for me to do. The most I end up with 2 hours to make up what might have been short during the week.
At $40k, you would need to make $153.85 per day, or $19.23 per hour. At $0.07, you need to type 275 lines per hour, or 2200 for the day. This should be very easy to get with using an expander and sitting down with a set schedule.
It takes a while to get used to making sure you hit your internal quota every day. I have to think of it daily and make it up on Saturday or Sunday so that I never start a week behind my personal goal.
I also take an incentives that are handed out (for instance if they are asking for help in a backlog situation at increased rate) and work at least a partial shift on holidays. If I am ahead at the end of the week, I carry it to the next week and know that I have some lines in my internal quota bank.
I know this sounds weird, but it works for me. I have helped a few others to get to their goals as well, and this seems to work for them too.
I would also look for something that is more in the 0.08 to 0.09 per line range. Ask your lead for production tips. Ask other transcriptionists. It is very possible for us to make good money, we just have to focus on our goals.
I have a sales background, which involved sales quotas. This is easier as I am in control of my daily production, not on someone else's decisions.
Good luck!
I did a couple of years ago
I did about two years ago, two years after I got divorced with a lot of debt. At first I tried to settle the debts at 25-40%, and supposedly would have 3 years to do so, but then got sued anyway and had two lawsuits, so I was back to where I started. Spoke to a lawyer about bankruptcy and he said go for it and encouraged me to do it myself. Of course I didn't own anything except for a car that was worth about $200.00, so it was easy. It was the last thing I thought I'd ever do, but it flew through without a hitch and four months from the time I filed it was over. Yes, my credit has been stinky, but it's coming back. Wish I would have filed sooner.
Don't know about your situation, but a lot of lawyers will offer a free consultation so you could see if it would be worth it for you.
Good luck!
A couple of years ago . . .
this lady in California won the lottery. She divorced her husband and didn't tell him about the lottery. He thought she was being very generous because she let them have their house and most everything else. Well, he started getting all this mail for lottery winners and put 2 and 2 together and took her to court. The judge was very hard on her for lying and made her give everything to the husband. Live and learn. 
A couple years ago...
someone told me 15-16 cpl, but I'm sure it's more than that. This person "knew" or so she said.
I tried it a couple of years ago - sm
But I'm a hard stick and they won't do the back of the hand, so I was banned from donating. They did pay me $20 for my time, though, and I think they paid cash on the spot.
Apparently, the more you donate, the more they pay. The place I went to was crowded as heck and there seemed to be a lot of sitting and waiting involved so bring plenty of reading material.
I definitely would have done it on a regular basis had I not been a hard stick.
I've tried phentermine a couple
different times. the first time I did great and lost 15 lbs. I've kept the weight off even without the pills but the second time I tried it I didn't loose anything. I've started it again hoping to shed the last 10 lbs and I feel like it's making me really moody. I was hoping that it'd give me energy and it hasn't...this sedentary job just makes me sleepy!
I've had it a couple of times.
Doctor gave me a sheet of exercises to do on my own which just amounted to moving my head and/or eyes around in different positions. It can be just a horrible thing to have. Yours is probably worse than mine if you have to "have therapy."
In the past when I've needed extra work could get a response from co.'s within a week and be w
Now it's like zip, zero, nothing. No responses whatsoever from my emails to the companies here and on mtjobs.com.
At first I was looking for specifics regarding hospital work, clinic work, days, hours, etc., and choosing those but later got desperate and even with 16 years experience have been applying for 7-cent-a-line clinic jobs.... STILL no response from ANYONE! Well, actually, I get responses but they are automated emails stating I've passed the test(s) and will be contacted in X amount of days/weeks/months. Then I never hear back even with a followup email. In the past, I could get a new job within a week or two.
I don't know. I was thinking maybe they're thinking that with 16 years experience it would be easier to go with someone with less experience (for whatever reasons), so I'm considering just putting down 5 years or so as my experience instead of the truth. Could be they don't want to deal with this old dinosaur and want new blood, I don't know.
I did a couple years ago and it was of no help...just my experience..nm
.
Went BK a couple of years ago. It turned out
to be one of the best things ever. Since then, we only use cash and have been able to save and pay off our house. Unfortunately, the laws have changed and I think it is almost impossible to file a Chapter 7 now. Anyway, good luck to you either way!
We went to Maine a couple of years ago and it
was a MAJOR disappointment. It was nothing at all like you see on TV. We were in southern ME and people didn't keep up their yards, no one had a single flower in their yard, although there were a couple of hanging baskets and people were not very friendly. Went to Portland and couldn't get out of there fast enough. Everyone we met was rude and the place was just so dirty looking.
Same situation with me a couple years ago...
my ex-husband and I still remain friends to this day. We saw a mediator, who pretty much divided everything the way we wanted to. He bought out my half of the house, etc. and I even got spousal support for a 1-1/2 years (and we don't have children) and he paid my health insurance for a year. The mediator will tell you how to file your divorce papers, etc. Cost me about $350 - he just deducted it from what I was getting. Good luck!
Yes. I made that my first couple of years.
Now it's at least twice that when I'm lucky enough to have a half-decent account. (Those are getting fewer and farther between.)
This happened to me a couple years ago
I worked for Golden Isle and they had the wrong state that I lived in. They submitted a revised form AFTER I filed my taxes. They had the state they were located and NOT where I lived. What a mess.
I used Tax Cut and put down document preparation or something similiar every year and never had a problem.
I heard this on the news a couple of years ago, or maybe it was
Paul Harvey. Graduates of the Naval Academy received diplomas with "Navel" Academy on them and they all had to be reprinted. You would think with something like that they would have someone proof and reproof before it went to final printing, and then proof again after printing.
Along with spelling errors that drive me nuts, bad grammar makes me cringe. When I hear someone say "I seen" it is like fingernails on the blackboard.
When I joined a couple of years ago it was something like $30 a month and you could either pay
monthly or have it deducted automatically from your account. If you elected to pay monthly, I think the membership went up about $5 to $10.
There wasn't any high pressure sales. I basically called them and asked could I come in a check it out and they give you like a week trial or two weeks (my memory is sooo bad!). Then if you decide to become a member, you fill out the paperwork and they weigh and measure you (fun, fun) and file it all away. And then periodically they will ask if you want to be weighed and measured to see how much you've lost.
They are really encouraging there (at mine anyway). They gave way prizes for different things like if you came a certain amount of times in like three months, you got a T-shirt. And then there are prizes for when you lose 10, 20, etc pounds. And at mine everyone had a little paper doll that started out at 0 and when you lost weight you moved your little paper doll around on the wall. It was kind of fun.
Well, I've just convinced myself! 
started at about 8K PT 2002, last couple years 12K but
I did not work much in 2005 for about 6 months when my 5-y/o got diagnosed with cancer and going through chemo, etc. So I would have made a bit more. I expect to do about $16K this year. I alternate my hours a lot though, about 60 or so minutes of work during the school year a day, but then only 30 during the summer, plus a side job that fluctuates ($300-500 a month). I am shooting for $20K next year, still not at FT (5-6 hours a day). I'll see how it goes. I think $12K for PT is good, but that is my opinion.
To Sad MT: I've noticed your moniker on a couple of boards. Why are you sad?
x
I've done it a couple of time to a nearby state SM
and a bunch of times to a nearby relative when my house was temporarily unlivable. My company loaded the programs on my laptop for me (but with a previous employer we did copy them from home when I wanted to try working on my new laptop).
I have a wireless keyboard and mouse, and a little electronic doohicky that allows my laptop to work off somebody else's computer (unfortunately I don't travel enough to justify subscribing to my own mobile service, so I could work in the car for instance).
Anyway, it's an easy matter these days. After loading the programs I've never felt a need to bother my employer with details of just where I'm working, and they've never displayed any interest either. I did buy a little $20 folding table from Office Depot so I could set up where and at a height that suited me.
I saw Meatloaf a couple years ago on a news show and...
he looked GREAT. I guess he had had a heart attack and had lost tons of weight and was taking care of himself. Apparently he's back on the McDonalds because he looked very heavy and not well at all. Too bad. He used to have a great sound back in the day.
I started a neighborhood watch a couple of years ago...sm
we were having similar problems to what you're having and they're gone now. Here's what worked for us. I gave every home in the subdvision a flier asking anyone that was interested in forming a neighborhood watch to come to an organization meeting and made the meeting a week later and on a week night, and gave my phone # in the event someone was interested but couldn't attend then. Out of 150 homes in my subdivision we had 40 people show up and 20 called expressing interest.
Everyone had the same complaints on the same "problem" homes and as a group we decided that each time the noise level was high enough to hear outside of the vehicle or house that we'd call the police. We all alternated placing those calls so the police department didn't think it was just 1 person complaining. The police department agreed to increase the patrols for our subdivision at all hours of the day and night and just having people see them ride through every few hours helped significantly cut down on the problems.
Over time the people that were causing problems either put their houses up for sale or moved out of the rental home and left when they saw that we neighbors insisted on a peaceful and quiet living area. It worked! When these problem homes left the problems with the trash thrown on the roads left as well.
In addition we were having some problems with some of the youth hanging out walking the streets at all hours and it was making some of the residents nervous, especially when the youth were walking through yards. So, we told the youth to stick to the roads, ask permission before cutting through yards to find out who cared and didn't care if they walked through them, and one of the men placed a basketball goal at the end of one of the cul-dec-sacs for the kids to play basketball after the neighbors in the cul-dec-sac agreed it would be fine. It worked - some of them started playing basketball there and they honored requests of homeowners that didn't want them walking on their yards.
Good luck to you!
I switched from WP51 to Word a couple years ago
I chose InstantText as my Expander because it would import my PRD list and that was important to me to make me feel comfortable out the gate. Several of my co-workers didn't really like IT but at the time, it was the one that had the easiest import function and I *had* to have my PRD to type! IT's not cheap, but I think it's well worth the investment.
Also, I highly recommend Laura Bryan's book on Word. There is another lady who is a Word guru, Cheryl something (I'm sorry I can't remember her name at the moment) who is also very good. Basically these are MTs who know you have to keep your hands off that mouse to make money, so they show you the keyboard ways to do things, in contrast to other Word how-to books for the general user which focus on the mouse.
It's a moderately painful switch, in my opinion, but once made, definitely makes one feel more 21st century. :)
Best advice - work in-house a couple of years
You really do need hands-on experience in order to be able to do this at home. You will run into terms that you will have no idea how to look up - like "booj aw boo" would you know to look under bougie au boule? Or "terry onal craniotomy" would you know it is "pterional" or would you spends loads of time looking for "T" words? If you work face to face with experienced MTs, they can help you when you run into similar situations. I'm not being snooty, I am only pointing out real situations that you will be faced with and the reasons MTSOs insist that before an MT can work independently at home they have at least 2 years experience. I believe that most of us have worked in-house in the beginning to get to the point where we can do this efficiently at home. Once you do get that experience, though, stand back, the MTSOs will be beating down your door with job offers. Good luck and hang in there! Remember we all had to start somewhere. Best of luck to you!
I switched from SH to Instant Text a couple of years ago and would never go back.
I increased my productivity another 30 percent pretty quickly. And you can still use your old shortcuts with IT. Browse through the IT Commands forum on Productivity Talk for tricks you never thought you could do with a text expander.
I've been doing it at home strictly full time for a couple of monts, but
I have 6 years of inhouse exp where my duties was divied up with other admin work and 1 1/2 years on and off exp doing it as an IC at home....so again, I'm no rookie....which is what is frustrating. My oldest is on sprnig break, so if I haven't been fired by next week, hopefully I will get better by then.
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