I've worked for two services that had VA contracts.
Posted By: yuck to VA on 2005-12-30
In Reply to: any opinion on working for VA hospitals....dont know a thing about them. - bd
It was horrible. Lots of ESLs. High stress MTSOs. No samples or QA feedback.
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
before I worked at home and for services
and when you physically *see* 3-year-old kids with leukemia or others kinds of cancer, it can very well break your heart but you see how brave they are....in dealing with their illnesses. I couldn't take it after about 5-6 years in both radiation oncology and then surgical oncology....
and started working for MT service right after my stint and then from home. I absolutely love transcribing oncology even though it's sad, it is not as sad as physically seeing the patients in person.....
JMHO.....
I've worked for both
I think there are two big differences. (1) Benefits should be much better than the national, and (2) in working for the hospital, you will only be working on one account (which makes a BIG difference in my opinion). I averaged about 225 lines per hour working for national on a main account plus a couple backups. I am averaging 300+ with the hospital.
The only advantage with going with the national might be better job security. If you lost the account, at least they could move you to another one. But personally, I would take the hospital job in a second. Good Luck!
I've worked with one of their
products. It was an excellent transcription product; they basically bought another company and added the product to their line. I've read some about the owner of the company. He seems like a very above-board kind of guy. He values the special knowledge that MTs have, and we used the product without VR, BUT ... he won't be happy until his VR product is worked in to the transcription process. (I think they might focus on radiology only). He is just SURE it can improve turnaround time, but he admits that VR on its own is not very impressive and reports will always need to be tweaked by a knowledgeable MT. What he doesn't realize is that the transcription process is much more active and able to catch errors when the MT is immersed in transcribing the report. I don't believe 95% of MTs could in a time-efficient way get the complete gist of each report and catch as many dictator errors, history errors, as she could when her mind was completely involved in the transcription of every word. Doing radiology, how many times is there just the briefest pause from the dictator and the MT's mind is already filling in the next word or phrase, and then the dictator says something else, and you think - wha?? and then the radiologist realizes his blunder and corrects himself at some point. Or if he doesn't, the MT's mind is reasoning out what is right or wrong and can bring any problem up with that report. Because of noticing, that report will get corrected before it goes out to the referrer and causes a phone call from an angry referrer.
Radiology needs to go out at 100% accurate, and IMO, insisting on the use of VR will lower accuracy rates and won't improve turnaround time much at all. When I was doing radiology, the better radiologists could dictate a note in a quick and efficient manner and the MT would get on and do it within about 3 minutes. Every 20 minutes the good radiolgists would sign a batch and the reports would go out. So it was about a 30-minute turnaround time for those reports that didn't need a different radiologist to read them. Turnaround time had everything to do with which radiologist was reading and how many specialty reports there were and how efficiently the off-site radiolologists were getting on to dictate. It seems like the VR guys think the MT is the slow one, but IT'S NOT THE MT - SPEED IS UP TO THE RADIOLOGISTS.
I've worked for MQ for years and
have NEVER been given the opportunity for bonuses. Those who have gotten them have been lucky.
I've worked for MQ over 4 years now and
I have never been told how many spaces to put or not put after a sentence; I have never been paid for spaces, by my count at least. I occasionally check my reports. I do not get spaces.
I'm not sure why, or actually by the anonymous stature of posters on this board, IF anyone has really been told to limit spaces to one after a sentence.
If MQ really isn't paying for spaces, it wouldn't make any difference monetarily so I cannot see that they would make a stipulation like that.
all the ones I've worked with (6) were gay. Go figure.
The only male MT I've worked with is now ...
one of the MDs I transcribe for now. He worked as an MT for the same small service I did while he was going to school.
I should add, I don't know how they are to work for as I've never worked for them, just saw th
post.
I've worked for several companies using this VR
I make on average $20-$26 an hour with the editing at 4cpl/straight typing 9-10 cpl 65 char with headers and footers and templates. I've been using it for several years though. There are several job ads for this software.
I've worked the same one account...sm
for over 10 years. They know I'm reliable and I know what those docs are going to say before they say it ;0) Seriously, though, I've tried other short term assignments or on-call situations through the years but always come back to my bread and butter. Like anyone, I could of course be let go tomorrow, but in the meantime I'm making good money and doing work that comes second nature by now. Less stress too!
No, not gullible. I've worked in
years and not just in MT. You need to unwrap your mind from around the state of MT of 25 years ago. Those days are long gone. Another unfortunate issue that we're faced with today - new MT graduates. The quality just is not there as it was back in the day. Well, enough said - we obviously will need to agree to disagree. I see it every day the negotiations with major hospitals and offshore. They know what their pennies are getting them and they don't care as long as it's cheap.
What is the best platform you've ever worked on
and why? What do you like about it? Also, what is the worst?
I really like EditScript 8 & although it isn't perfect, I like the fact that I can access other reports on the same patient/same dictator if I need to verify something (although I never trust it 100% lol) One thing I don't like is that I can't use my Expanders (or maybe I can, but don't know how to go about it?)
I don't like ChartScript, as I don't think its very user friendly and those old DOS-based antiquated systems were for the birds!
I've worked and traveled with (sm)
A Verizon Broadband USB device on a 5GB/month plan for $60/month. Anywhere that I can get a Verizon phone signal, I can work. Working on the DQS platform, I could work 24/7 and never approach the 5 GB limit per month, but I'm not sure how other platforms work in that regard.
Europe in general is more sophisticated in their cell phone plans than the US (the majority in Europe use prepaid as opposed to 2-year contract plans). I would think that you could get a USB device over there that is compatible with the cell phone frequencies they use over there.
Hope this helps!
I've worked in-house and at home ....
I find that even when you're in-house, with the nature of the job, there's no time for chit-chat. When I worked in-house we had production minimums and there was incentive to earn if you produced, so who has time to talk? I'm with you. I'm happy being here in my comfy clothing without all that aggravation. Let is snow, I don't have to drive in it!
I don't think so. It sounds like you've never worked for a national.
Nationals DO check references. That's the job of the HR department. They DO run credit reports when you accept a job, and they tell you so on the piece of paper you have to sign giving them permission to do so. They DO prosecute and report to collections against people who don't return equipment. They DO keep deposits on unreturned equipment. They DO get the equipment super cheap anyways in bulk deals through major technology suppliers. Equipment, losses, and shipping are all tax deductible anyway. They DO use QA so that lazy or inexperienced MTs aren't sending garbage straight through to the clients. Most national MTs don't have any contact whatsoever with the clients. In addition, the majority will let you use your own equipment or charge rental fees so it's not coming out of their pocket.
That goes both ways. I can tell you out of all the MTSOs I've worked for,
only a small percentage of them worked out. It's as if they'll tell you anything to get you hired, then reality hits. You tell them when you're available. Oh, OK, no problem. Then the work doesn't show up until your shift is over, but they still expect it done by TAT. Sorry, but I don't work on-call for free 24/7. I'm not sitting around doing nothing all day long waiting for work to come in. I'm not staying up all night without sleep and blowing off my family because the MTSO is in a bind. We're expected to work more than 8 hours a day without overtime or incentive pay.
I've worked on a laptop only for going on 7 years.
I do use an external keyboard the majority of the time though. The USB WiFi does not accept a card, it is small, plugs into a USB port and acts like your card does, you don't use a card. Go to a website like best buy and search for Wireless USB adapters and you'll see what I'm talking about.
I've traveled and worked many times
To try to answer your questions.. Whether your foot pedal will work in your laptop depends on the laptop that you buy. When you're looking to buy one, try to find one with the correct kind of port for your pedal. The one I recently bought doesn't have a serial port, so I bought an adapter at Circuit City that plugs into my USB port, and then I can plug my ergo keyboard and mouse into that. In any case, your laptop will definitely come with at least a couple USB ports, so you could always buy a USB pedal to use with it if you have to. As far as the headphones, every laptop I've ever used has had a place to plug in a pair of headphones so that should be no problem. The thing is...if you're going to buy a laptop specifically for this, then look at the ports on the laptops and make sure it has what you need. I would say if you don't mind buying a USB foot pedal, though, you're not going to have problems because every new laptop will have USB ports, and I'm sure a place for your headphones.
If you're staying in hotels, try to stay in places that have free high speed internet which so many of them have now. You can plug right into that and work. If not, I know Verizon has a wireless broadband service now for around $60 a month you could check into.
I hope this helps some.
They aren't that rare. I've worked with SM
bunches of them. Unfortunately, my experience with them boils down to this: The men who do this usually are the men who can't get along in a work environment with a lot of other men.
I've had this problem and the only thing that worked for me....sm
was to slow down turnaround. They called within a couple of days. Told them I had to take on extra work to meet my own bills by paying customers which slowed down their turnaround. I had my check the next day. Don't know how they managed that, but they did. Since then, there have been a couple of times that it was a week or so late, but not like they used to do. I honestly think as long as they can get away with it, they will. I wonder how long they would last if their paychecks were 2-3 weeks late. Really irks me.
I've worked with much programs that were much worse.
I don't find ExText so bad.
Because I've done radiology, I've been stuck using software that didn't come with a medical spell-checker and was not compatible with any medical spell-checker. It had an English word checker, so we had to add every single medical term manually.
I once had management actually move us BACKWARDS in technology, from Medrite (which was a fine program back then), to the one previous to it. It may have been called MTS, but I can't remember. This was done because of a company merger and the "alpha" company managers were too lazy to learn the Medrite program. Did it matter to them that they were not paid on production and we were? NO! Of course not. So we all stood around as we were trained on this program my jaw dropped to my knees because it was so inefficient. And the spell checker was worse than useless with that program. Say you misspelled Levaquin as Leviquin. Here is a list of the suggestions it offered, and I am not exaggerating:
lewder
lawless
marshmallow
As far as ExText, what I would want fixed would be the ability to speed up or slow the dictation rate with the keyboard. The multi-mouse moves required are a waste of significant time IMO because of the long pauses so many acute care dictators inconsiderately leave in dictations.
I've worked with MTs who work diligently
...to find a way to cherry pick.
The system that you and the poster above you are describing sounds like the one used where I used to work.
One MT fiddled around and wasted who knows how much company time until she figured out how to manipulate the filters component of the system, and set the filters to only route to her jobs from her 3 preferred dictators.
If only these MTs put as much time into actually transcribing as they put into getting around the system they could probably make even more money than they do with the cherry picking.
I've worked for companies that needed people
specifically to do certain reports. I have been hired to exclusively do ERs and discharge summaries before. It wasn't cherry picking either. They needed someone to catch up their backlog and keep the reports within TAT permanently. Evidently, other people were cherry picking and bypassing these report types because they're not as good of money makers as Ops or H&Ps.
No, I've worked in doctor's business office.
That is what the insurance company allows, not what they dictate. Who is to tell the doctor how long he can sit and talk with his patient. It is up to him. True insurance companies get together to decide what is the appropriate amount for the doctor to "charge" for a service but I've literally seen where the doctor sees the patient all of 2 minutes after patient is worked up by techs, but they still get paid for that visit.
We supposedly have Labor Day, but I've worked it for years.
I do respect those that have serious religious holidays though and only hope that the company that they work for understand.
At first I kicked myself for picking Mondays as one of my scheduled work days, as most of our holidays fall on a Monday. But the kids sleep in because they have no school, so it always works, as I only have a 3 hour shift and I'm done before they get up.
I do. I've worked closely with these people for years,
nm
I've tried Vivarin and the 1st two days it worked great
But after that they put me to sleep like anesthesia. Go figure.
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.....
I've worked at home for years and mothered sm
4 babies during that time. Buy a battery-operated swing and put it right beside your desk. I breastfed all of mine, too. They would swing and sleep, then when they woke up I'd take a break and nurse and then put the baby back in the swing. Get one that reclines and the baby will be very comfortable. That battery-operated swing allowed me to continue working. It was worth every penny I paid for it, and then some! Good luck and enjoy your little sweetie. She will grow up much too fast.
And I disagree with that. I've worked home and in-house,
Everyone is different and some people don't rely on jobs to provide social interaction. When it comes to my job, I prefer being at home working independently without a lot of interruptions and enjoy the freedom of working from home. If I were stuck in an office with rigid hours, then I'd be resentful. Personally, I loathe being stuck in an office full of catty backstabbers and love the solitude of home. When I want to socialize, I call one of my friends.
You also have to be able to let QA remarks roll off your back a little, but that only works if you don't have the threat of being docked or terminated as a result of those QA remarks. Find an MTSO that doesn't hold those things over your head (yes, they do exist).
I do think the key IS where you work, but not home versus office - it's finding a company that values MTs, not sees them as mere production machines. They are few and far between, but they're out there. I lived through my share of bad apples in this biz before finding the good ones, so I speak from experience.
I've worked weekends for 10 years, now I want to move onto a company
that does not require at least one weekend day. I realize hospitals are open 24/7 but you would think that companies seeking good MTs would be more willing to offer a M-F shift.
How funny - I've worked in Thibodeaux, Houma, NOLA, =
and almost had a brief spot out in the backwoods town that still uses tapes for their hospital dictation.
I've worked for other nationals. I make more money at Amphion.
The difference in dictation quality, work availability, system stability, and easy platform more than makes up for the lower line rate. They don't micromanage or bully either.
I've had people tell me that I would need to wait to have my questions answered until I worked...
for them. What??? How would I know if I want to work for them if they don't answer my questions.
Go figure.
I've worked on a Dell Inspiron 8600 for 3 years
I've heard they're not as good as they used to be, but so far (knock on wood), I haven't had any problem except last week my AC power pack died. They mailed me a new one within 3-4 days (I was under 4 years parts warranty). I use a USB keyboard and mouse and don't bother to try to use the scrunched up laptop keyboard.
I've always worked for nationals and had direct deposit so I have not experienced this.
I understand your plight, but like you, I have bills to meet and they would not understand for cut me slack if I was late on my payments. So, the first time a check was late, I would just excuse it as an oversight, but if it happened again, I'd politely walk away and neer look back. I think it's rude and unnecessary to treat others that way. Unfortunately too many small MTSO seem to have this problem balancing the checkbook from the sounds of thing on here.
I've worked for svl places that said to change it back to 100% before sending, so it must affect
s
Yeah, cant hurt to ask. I've worked in a similiar situation and I have never been turned down for
Just give him what you have told us..increase in work and wonder if your salary could be adjusted accordingly. Getting a raise from a private doctor is way easier than a national transcription company, let me tell you. Good luck.
Two of the best companies I've worked for didn't make me test. Makes you wonder if...sm
these MTSOs that mandate so many "tests" aren't just trying to see how many actual reports they can get transcribed for free. I could understand maybe a written test and one very in-depth transcription test, but 6 is utterly ridiculous. I would have definitely passed on that too and then told the MTSO exactly why.
Contracts
Does anyone have copies of Independent Contractor contract, Non-compete contract and confidentiality agreement. My hard drive crashed awhile back and all my contracts were on there. I run a small business and can't seem to find these anywhere on the Web. Any contracts e-mailed to me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Robin
Contracts out
To Medquist and OSI. From what I remember, they do not transcribe all that well -- a lot of mistakes.
Contracts
It is true. The only thing is depending on the contract some guidelines are really strict. They usually ask for a 70-character line count, but it is definitely worth bidding for because if you do a good job it is a 5 year contract in most cases?
Contracts
I haven't used a written one for years but I basically just outlined what services I would be providing at what price, TAT, and what I expected from the account. There is usually a 30 day cancellation clause unless it is due to poor quality or not meeting TAT. My accounts now have been on a handshake and a verbal agreement and have lasted for over 15 years.
contracts
Well..that is a subject all right! I bill on the 1st and 15th. On my invoice, it states, "due and payable upon receipt." That way there is no denying they know I want to be paid now. I actually discuss with the Transcription Coordinator at the time of the contract that I expect to be paid promptly, that I am a small business and that I cannot float paying my MTs and that I must pay them or they will not work for me...MTs are sort of like that, if we don't get paid promptly, we don't work. I hope that helps you and good luck with your new contract.
I have no contracts
When I first started out I had contracts wtih some accouints -- I did the work as spcified, they paid as specified and either count cancel with 30 days notice. It worked. I now have 5 accounts, no signed contracts, verbal only. I do the work as promised, I follow HIPAA rules, they pay on time - no bounced checks, I raise my rates when I need to -- they have been with me for 16 to 6 years. No difference. Works for me. You can cancel the service at any time either side, if they don't pay with or without a contract you can go to court. I do the job as promised, they do their part as promised. Works for me.
I do not do contracts
I have worked both ways, as an IC and the MTSO and I do not do contracts but I do try to pay prior to the doctor paying me. But most of the time I do know the IC's quite well as it is a small circle here in Portland and we just work on trust I guess. I have never had anyone try to take my accounts but then I have always been up front and fair with my help. I would ask though when you might expect payment prior to the big project. But like I said, we are all pretty local and if the word ever got out that you either took someone's account or you did not pay, it would be all over and could easily ruin your business. But again, nothing hurt in asking, as a small MTSO I would not have a problem with someone asking me when they might expect payment. Good luck. Patti
need contracts
In hindsight, it would seem a good idea in such a situation would be to have a notarized agreement between yourself and the person you get to fill in for you. This agreement would stipulate that they are only to fill in for you in your absence when requested by YOU and they are not permitted to seek or accept employment with this client as long as you are their transcriptionist, even if it's your best friend. This is business, not a Saturday lunch together.
Then you could also get the facility to sign a notarized agreement with you stating they will not offer employment to your fill-in. They are to understand that this person is only a fill-in for you and is not permitted to solicit your clients because he/she has a legal agreement with you to not do so. Should they violate this, you will pursue legal means, etc. You must protect your job as well as you can.
You can also put in a contract that you have the first right of refusal to turn down work if the workload increases and the facility wishes to hire more staff. Then they can't go behind your back and hire others without offering you the work first. You have yourself covered at both ends this way. I've done such contracts and they befuddle the client so much that they willingly agree to sign because it sounds like I know a whole lot more than they do. Get a lawyer to draw something up so all your bases are covered.
Being nice, honest--that has to do with character and it's wonderful if the people for whom you work are that way. But in business, it's money that comes first. The two are not incompatible but it seems these days they aren't often found together anymore. Do a bullet-proof contract and give it to your clients in a very cordial but professional manner. They will respect you for it. Your business and income are every bit as valuable to you as theirs are to them and explain that to them as you hand over the contract for them to sign. If they can't see that, you don't need to deal with them and move on. Make the playing field level here and protect yourself. You are a professional too!
Contracts
Your information regarding contracts is just what I need. I never thought I would need to get so "formal" but just when you think you are in a comfort zone, you're not. Much appreciated!!!
IC Contracts - sm
I've got a question for those of you who service your own personal accounts. I currently work as an IC for another company and I am getting ready to take on a bunch of radiology reports from one doctor. (I'll work both places) I'm going to be paid by the page. Have any of you asked for a contract for a guarantee of work, i.e. he will guarantee a certain number of reports a week? What about contracts? Is there any place where I can download a contract and use it as a template for a foundation? Thanks guys.
contracts are all different SM
I've had contracts that span from year to year and then new ones are signed (if invited to stay on, sometimes they don't need the same amount of workers from year to year).
All of my contracts have stated some type of notice to be given as this could affect accounts if left short-handed. I give the MTSO forwarning, why not, it's called repect.
Also - contracts can be negotiated, you know. If there is something in there you don't agree with, call and discuss it. Ask questions.
and contracts...works for me 20+ yrs..nm
x
|
