I heard back from my senator today about outsourcing bill sm
Posted By: Lyndia on 2008-06-06
In Reply to:
He thanked me for my letter, said that as he understood it, this bill didn't cover anything of what I had mentioned. However, he said he would be paying more attention to this bill when it comes before the full senate for a vote. He said he was against outsourcing. Below is my letter to him:
Dear Senator Barrasso:
I am writing to request that you support the above bill. I am a medical Transcriptionist in Wyoming. I moved here 2 years ago from Colorado, bringing my job and income with me. I make an above-average income, which I spend in my community, but my job is at risk because so much of this work is being outsourced, particularly to India. More importantly, the health and privacy of the American public is being put at risk by this practice. First, Indian transcriptionists do their job poorly and inefficiently. The gross errors jeopardize health care. Every error has the potential to injure or poison an American citizen, including many young children for whom accurate diagnoses and medication administration can be a life and death issue. To add insult to injury, Indian transcriptionists are NOT required to honor HIPAA. Once a physician's dictation leaves this country, it is no longer private.
I am a very hard working medical transcriptionist and I am still able to earn a decent living in this industry, but it is certainly not what it used to be. I am paid 9 cents for every 65 Keystrokes I type, whereas an Indian is paid 2 to 3 cents for the same work. This undercutting has hurt this industry and every woman (95% of us are female), many of whom are trying to support families on their own, has been dragged to the poverty line because our wages have not grown with the cost of living. I make 9 cents today and I made 9 cents in 1996, the year my career began.
Please protect the healthcare and privacy of Americans, and help to protect yet another industry from moving to overseas. Support and sign S.810/H.R. 1653.
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PS - just heard back from my state senator
So there!
Congressional bill re outsourcing
Upset about outsourcing? We can do something about it. Let your voice be heard in Washington. Thanks to post from NM in MME thread below.
http://www.rallycongress.com/support-for-h-r-427-nabopia/1585/support-h-r-427-notify-americans-before-outsourcing-personal-information/
Bill in Congress re: offshoring/outsourcing of medical records
Just something to think about.
The link below will take you to a page explaining the House and Senate versions of the bill and a link to send an email to your representatives in Washington indicating that patients have the right to be made aware that their personal information and medical records are being sent overseas for transcription. The letter is already written for you!
PS.. It apparently worked..I heard back and already submitted the paperwork back.
I'm not sure how many people they are hiring but you shouldn't stress too hard over it. Do the best you can.
certainly going back to college doesn't protect from outsourcing..
one of the first things that went to India was accounting...
here's a comment I just heard today
from someone who has been in my house a few hours a day, 5 days a week,(helping with cleaning) for 3 years..that this must be a nice job for someone who wants to stay home with kids, has a husband with a good income and wants to set their own hours. I have not had a husband here all this time..how does she think I am making a living? (I wonder how much money she thinks I make). Although a husband with a good income would be appreciated! And I do have to follow a schedule!
Yes, this is true....Today I heard on TV a
doctor saying that he does not write any prescriptions anymore, but sends it to the pharmacy per EMR.
He said he was relieved by that because is handwriting - as most doctors' is - was almost illigible.
Today I heard you have to had paid that much in taxes
Heard that today and I think it is only fair if they do it that way. Cannot see how this will help as all it does is push this country further into debt. As a nation we cannot pay our bills as such and then they think that by giving people an extra $800 that it will help with our economy -- rather have them keep it and get us out of debt. Here in Oregon, people get money back in state taxes who have not even paid because of the child credit and I do not agree with that -- will get flamed for that I am sure but feel that people need to be responsible for raising their own kids and not ask the government or me to do it.
I think it's unprofessional not to pay..I simply state, if you don't bill, I bill directly...
This has only happened once, and I had my check cut same day. This is business and I will not beg someone to give me my money. I simply stated it as a fact.
To Patti - got back from the CPA today...sm
NONE of the home improvements was deductible nor the office due to the fact the size of the room in comparison to the rest of the place was considered small. Oh well, it's a regular sized bedroom/guestroom/office....not small at all in my mind, think it's 15' x 18'.
Oh well, ya win some, ya lose some, and some get rained out
My back is killing me today. What do
you do for back pains? Any suggestions....
I sent a comment to Advance and heard back from them
supposedly, they are going to put my letter in the next edition in Letter to the Editor .... we'll see. But I did not cancel my subscription.
I have been waiting since I first heard they were coming back last year...
and I'll probably fall asleep before the ending. Happens all the time. 
I'll trade you your $88 bill for my $350 bill.
I would love to have such a small bill like that.
I saw the "per" recommendation over at MT911, emailed my QA and never heard back ... about BOS
I had all my frequencies formatted as
q. 6h.
Then noticed they were being changed to
q.6 h.
Searched my BOS and found one ... very marginal (an exampled within antother entry) citation ...
Sure -- I want to do it the right way ... if only I could know what the "right way" was ...
It would be infinitely easier if some sort of "rationale" or reason for this-not-that were given.
Whatever.
Update on Tom kitty - we brought him home Saturday and he is back to his playful self today. SM
I brought him home from the vet on Saturday. He was still running a temperature, but it was much lower - 103. It had been 106 when we took him to the vet. He was still lethargic, but had started to groom himself. I have antibiotics I have to give him twice a day, by Sunday afternoon he was becoming playful again and was drinking a lot more and started to eat more. Today, he is back to his old self. Attacking my PC wires and walking on my keyboard, trying to get my fingers when I type.
I am so relieved! 
Be sure you ask your senator to vote....sm
to pass the Safe ID act which was presented to congress by Senator Markey. This particular bill would require anyone sending things like medical or banking records out of the US to obtain consent from the consumer/patient ahead of time as well as yearly afterwards. Educate all of your friends, neighbors and family that HIPAA does not cover your medical records leaving the US and therefore when they receive medical services they should request in writing that their medical records remain exclusively in the US.
response from my senator
Thought I would share - still sick over this issue
Thank you for contacting me with your concerns regarding the use of foreign temporary workers and business personnel by U.S. firms, as well as the economic security of our nation as a whole. I appreciated hearing from you on these important issues.
As you may already be aware, the use of temporary foreign workers and business personnel by U.S. companies has gained a considerable amount of attention in the past decade. Foreign nationals admitted to the United States are known as non-immigrants and come to the U.S. on a variety of employment visas, including the predominantly used H-1B visa.
The economic prosperity of the 1990's fueled a drive to increase the levels of employment-based immigration. The nation enjoyed its longest economic expansion, and the unemployment rate had remained low. At that time, both the Congress and the Federal Reserve Board expressed concern that a scarcity of labor could curtail the pace of economic growth. A primary legislative response was to increase the supply of foreign temporary professional workers through fiscal 2003.
The recent economic downturn in the information technology sector may have diminished demand for H-1B workers in that sector and has raised serious questions by many individuals like you about the lay-offs of American workers by U.S.-based corporations in favor of H-1B's non-immigrants.
Proponents of the H-1B argue that increasing the levels in the admission of foreign workers is essential if the United States is to remain globally competitive and that employers should be free to hire the best people for the jobs. Opponents, on the other hand, argue that any further increases, temporary or permanent, are unnecessary as there is no compelling evidence of a labor shortage in these professional areas that cannot be met by newly graduating American students and by retraining the existing U.S. work force.
As you may know, the House passed H.R. 4818, the Omnibus Appropriations bill of 2004. This legislation provided funding for the majority of foreign and domestic federal programs for fiscal 2005. Unfortunately, this bill contained a provision that allowed the first 20,000 H-1B beneficiaries who have earned a master's degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education from being included in the annual H-1B visa cap of 65,000. This provision effectively extended the visa cap to 85,000.
While I support keeping an appropriate level of legal immigration, in my opinion, we must work in Washington to ensure that current American workers are not losing their jobs or being forced to survive on depressed wages because we are voluntarily importing far more foreign workers than we need through the use of nonimmigrant visas. During the 110th Congress, you can rest assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind and take action as appropriate to promote economic growth at home for the benefit of both current U.S. workers and future generations of Americans.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please feel free to contact me again on any issue that concerns you.
I watched this video and sent it to my US Senator and also
.
Not political but re Senator Kennedy's OP:
Wouldn't that have been a great one to transcribe? Not because of who it is, but just due to the type of the surgery he had--open brain surgery with intermittent wakeful testing. I've been an MT for about 27 years, majority in acute care (now clinic--boring), and I absolutely love doing OPs. I really enjoy doing long, complicated, interesting operative reports like I'm sure this one was.
Gruesome? Maybe , but well wishes to the senator in any case.
Have already contacted by state senator and received a response
But of course, all it said was that he was glad to hear my point of view, blah, blah.....no indication of how he was going to vote when it comes up - but at least I let my feelings be known, in no uncertain terms. We have to do SOMETHING, it's just hard to know what.
someone just e-mailed me "how to write a letter to your Senator" -
I responded to this e-mail and attached a sample for her (Sarah) to send to her Senator, but came back as not deliverable. Just speak from your heart when you write. Be respectful, "Dear Senator, thank you for representing our state" And then tell your story so to speak, how things are effecting you. That bringing IT jobs (not just MT, but anything that contains our private information, credit card processing, debt collection, etc.) would not only deter the rampant increase in identity and medical identity theft, but would bring American jobs back to America, American MONEY back to America to be spent in America! Good luck to all
HELP with Shorthand. Suddenly today when I tried to start work today.sm
my ShortHand would type only the first letter of an expansion and then take all the letters away! I checked and the Type It button is grayed out! I have restarted the computer and looked on the Shorthand Help menu but can find nothing that applies. Can anyone please help me ASAP? I am lost without it! TIA
Perhaps you are right. This one is dated today. The original article was on Yahoo today also with
But this article states it would only affect new customers right now. So I am upset over nothing. I went through heck with BellSouth when they charged me a surcharge of an extra 50 a month and then would write a letter saying I had to switch to a long distance service and pay by the minute because of my "excessive" use. They told me the unlimited charge was for an average of an hour a day not somebody who worked out of their home and I needed to switch a business plan at over 200 a month charge. I switched over to cable because of that and then to read that cable was going to charging on a per use fee and not a flat monthly fee it upset me. It is the nature of our work, VR, only paying for VBC, having headers and footers taken away, now being charged for being on line, etc. It just seems that everything is done to keep to insure less money.
I WASN'T GUESSING. I HEARD WHAT I HEARD VERY CLEARLY.
I don't even agree with what QA said, but they are QA. Question them, and your out the door.
Ole Bill for me too...
Believe it or not, my bill was $35.
But then my apartment complex pays for AC and heat - yea!
Bill in NY
The rates in NY have gone up too, but we just paid $175 so I feel very lucky after reading some of the amounts.
$440 last bill
I bill
once a month and pay my MT's once a month. Payable upon receipt. I've only had a few times where the check didn't come but that was a small account at the hospital and the bill was going to the wrong department, etc. As a business owner you should be prepared to have SOME cash flow, just for occurrences such as these. I have had accounts miss a payment but when I send the next month's bill, they paid right away. Then again, there were some months when I forgot to send THEIR bill, so fair enough. I have never really been stiffed.
p.s. a contract is only as good as the two people signing it...
Blasted cold out today. It was 104 degrees last week, but it's 40 degrees today with rain.
However, I do like cozy days like today when I don't have to go anywhere. I'm done working, the house is clean, there's chili on the stove for dinner already, and I'm just putzing around. I think I'll go bake some jalapeno cheese bread to go with the chili.
Yep, except the game with Bill
was minus the odor and the little white crabs marching around the stogie.
Mine went from $19 to $138 from one bill to the next.
We expect it to go even higher despite using wood heat in the shop now.
Heating bill
I just got socked with an over $500 bill for a fill of propane
That is what I am doing now---I bill at .10 a line BUT -sm
it is a 50 character line. I have no idea if the docs know it or now though as I took it over from another MT. So I do my billing with the just the line counts showing, no character totals, and take it from there, comes out to about a .13 line if by 65 characters. I plan on doing the same when soliciting new accounts as no one wants to go over .10 around here. Yes the line blurs a little here but you gotta do what you gotta do--- if the docs weren't such cheapskates maybe the line would not have to be tweaked or crossed.
You know, it may be because of Bill Cosby!
Doesn't that take you back?
bill clinton nm
x
electric bill
Yes, our electric bills have been outrageous. Last month was $199.00, and my new bill came in and is $256.00 also! I too live in California, and we get shafted with the utilities in this state. During winter months my gas bill was as high as $175.00 which is almost five times what it used to be 7 years ago, and my paychecks keep going down in the transcription field!.
how can you *bill for your time* when all that --sm
the MTSO sees is your line count? am I missing something here??? Please explain. thanks
Pt should worry more about the bill
Yuk.
If there is one bill you NEVER ignore
mortgage. Always, always keep in touch with them even if you don't have the payment. Your not alone in your dilemma. The mortage companies have been very flexible and willing to work with payment issues in the past year. Not sure if the options are still available since they've started foreclosure proceedings, but there are payment plans and now the popular "modification" loans. Pick up the phone and call them - do it ASAP. Explain your situation, decreased income, ARM adjustment and see if there is an option to keep you in the home at a payment that is comfortable. I know many of the lenders are waiting for the exact guidelines on March 4th under the new stimulus plan to come out. Hopefully this will be the saving grace some are hoping for.
I wish you luck though, I know you're in a touch situation. I was there too so can truly sympathize. My loan is currently pending modification, but I first started with a payment plan. My fingers and toes are crossed.
it fits the bill for me! i'm frugal too :)
x
FOX NEWS??? BILL O'REILLY???
Great source of "unbiased" news there...lol.
Would rather have Bill and his sexual escapades...
than W with his useless and tragic war anytime...
Does anyone know when the Safe ID bill comes up for vote?
(regarding our medical records being sent out of the country). I have already emailed my senators and am encouraging everyone to do the same.
Mine was a bill collector
You just get yelled at all day and threatened. What a miserable job, listening to people cry about their problems, etc. I felt bad for them.
I worked beside a bill collector once (sm)
and she was NOT very nice. I really think she enjoyed badgering people on the phone. People cussed her, hung up on her. I used to work insurance billing in the same office and once in a while had to call patient's concerning their accounts. I worked with them on payment arrangements, I mean something is better than nothing. I brought in more than she did.
Anyone getting socked by heating bill yet?
My latest was $88 - hmm...I've almost never had my heat going since I use space heaters. Hmm...odd.
Seriously, I think it's Bill Cosby playing...
mind games with us because I do the same thing with Jello! I never make it, but I can say I have at least 3 or more boxes of the pudding and the Jello at all times. My children often see it and beg me to make it. What's the deal? Really, I think it's a leftover 'Bill Cosby' thing for me. I don't know what makes me buy it, I don't even like it. It's an illness. I'm sure of it.
The doc charged $500 I don't see that as a rip off - the hospital bill though - sm
for $5K is a bit outragous and has nothing to do with the doctor actually. I hope she has insurance.
Bet Hillary's is higher than Bill's!?!?!?!
!
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