I just sent Bill O'Reilly a copy of letter I sent to President Obama. Anyone who can, email him
Posted By: U.S. MT on 2009-04-01
In Reply to: Bill O'Reilly complaining of wanting medical records on net - anona
while the topic is fresh from his recent show. I do think Bill O'Reilly can at least get this offshoring debate out there, and right now we need publicity and basic facts to reach the viewers.
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FOX NEWS??? BILL O'REILLY???
Great source of "unbiased" news there...lol.
Bill O'Reilly complaining of wanting medical records on net
Bill O'Reilly just stated on his show that Barack Obama wants all medical records put on net and he says that is outrageous and points to camera and says your medical records will be put on computer and someone will hack in, get in, and spread it around, also said more. It sounds like he has no idea they also are offshored and very vulnerable that way too.. He was really upset. Hope some of you can see this on his repeat broadcast on DirecTV or other.
Once President-Elect Obama is in office, we'll
in the last 15+ years to make our voices heard. He, too, wants to tax the crap out of companies that offshore American work, which is as it SHOULD BE! Why should America be ENCOURAGING companies to offshore?
India was one of the few (if any) countries in the world who was not happy to see Obama get elected, and precisely because of his views on offshoring , and taxing the companies that do it. He will be getting his ducks in a row and formulating his agenda in the first months of office, and that is the time to be sure that all members of our government who can be reached by phone, letter, or email, should be given specific feedback on how offshoring medical records is hurting US, as well as patients, and the rest of the country.
That is What I am asking Obama-here's my letter to him (long)
Dear President Obama:
How's the new job? Keeping busy? Financial security? I'll bet. Are the American people keeping the mortgage on the White House up to date? Great. Kids have everything they need? Wonderful. The American dream.
Me? I lost another job to offshoring - AGAIN! It's funny, I can't seem to find any concrete figures on just how many U.S. jobs are offshored. There are only estimations by different agencies and economists. The Population Reference Bureau stated in October 2008 that it was nearly impossible to get an accurate scale and scope on this, but they estimated about 30 million U.S. jobs are offshored and increasing as I write this. Nothing about the tax implications. Does the government know? See what you can find out. I imagine definite figures are a difficult task since the companies do not seem to want to fess up about just what percentage they are offshoring. You stated you were going to eliminate big tax cuts on these companies doing the offshoring. When did you say that was going to happen? Mr. President, I don't think they care. Just this last quarter they have increased the offshoring significantly due to that very fact. Is there a Plan B, because jobs are leaving the U.S. faster than you can create them. Did you take that into account in your stimulus package?
Now about we the people and that stimulus package. I read that these big banks who received stimulus payments of about $150 million actually requested 20,000 new visas for foreign workers (up one-third). That is not going to happen, is it? With our own money? See what you can find out. We the people have always stimulated the economy, worked hard, and paid taxes. You know, the American dream. Now our jobs are being given to foreign workers who do none of those things. What gives? What impact does the loss of tax dollars and funding toward social security have on this country? No one seems to know. See what you can find out about that too. These figures must be astonishing. If that is not a drain on the system, then the people in line for unemployment income certainly is. The stimulus money is not going to trickle down to us. You see what they are doing with it. The best stimulus package you could give we the people is to save our jobs NOW so we can return to stimulating the economy. We can not spend what we do not have, right? Wouldn't this go a long way toward economic recovery? See what you can find out.
While you are checking on these astonishing figures, let me give you mine. The pretty simple fact is that my unemployment income is only going to be 50% of what I was making and only for a period of about 6 months. Now you know companies are not hiring, right? That would mean that in approximately 3 months something in my budget is going to have to be cut; food, health insurance, heat, the mortgage. Which would you choose?
We the people look forward to hearing from you on how we can just simply get back to work. No bonuses thank you, just our jobs. You know, the American dream.
Jobless in the USA
P.S. Mr. President, I know this was way before your time but no one told me. Did bin Laden win back in 2001? See what you kind find out about that too.
GOT A RESPONSE ON THE LETTER TO OBAMA FROM 1 NEWSPAPER - Not Sure What to Do
It is just a small town paper, asking some general questions about outsourcing/offshoring, pay, types of businesses, etc. I told him I could not tell him what I actually do for a living or name my company. Can he find that out?
I also sent the letter to the Washington Post, Fox News, NY Times, Associates Press, 60 Minutes, and USA Today. I inserted in the letter about uncertain figures that by my calculation, the number of jobs offshored would be more or less the equivalent to the total population in 3 states in the U.S.
What will I do if they find out who I am and who I worked for? Can I be sued?
Still waiting for response to my letter sent to President
Bush about Katrina. I called the White House and later sent in fax and so far have no response. Good luck.
My email to the President
I wrote this email to the President this afternoon. I cry each time I read it. I know I may have a few errors in the punctuation but I was very emotional when I wrote it. *Please note I am a newer Transcriptionist hence the money comment.
Dear Mr. President,
I am a medical transcriptionist. I just got laid off this morning from my job due to our largest client taking their work back in-house and sending some offshore. I have worked 3rd shift for a year for not very much money. I have sacrificed family time, personal time, money, and my health. I have rearranged our family schedule and my body clock. I needed to work and did what I had to do. I worked the job I could find. It was not much money but that money paid my mortgage, put food on our table, paid our auto loans, and credit cards. There are very few jobs out there.
What do you suggest I do now? What are you going to do about offshoring? How am I going to tell my husband? I voted for you. How are you going to help me, (Name) the Transcriptionist? Do I now have to work for an overseas transcription company. That seems very un-American to me.
We pay our bills, we are good people, we work hard but it does not seem to matter. I'm a tired American. I'm tired of working so hard for so little. I'm tired of not making ends meet. I'm tired of being told to be patient and it will turn around. I'm tired of the rest of the world taking advantage of our generosity. I'm tired of my husband driving a (Corporate name) truck all day and night and showing very little for his efforts. I'm tired. I'm tired. I'm tired.
Well, I guess I can get some sleep now because I don't have to work tonight.
So Mr. President, my policy questions for you are:
1. When are we going to take our jobs back and take care of our own people?
2. What am I going to do for work now?
Thank you to whoever reads this. It may not be seen by the President but I feel better having told him about yet one more struggle of an American family.
Send him a certified letter with bill demanding payment within
within five days from receipt (make it RRR). You have your proof that you notified him. If it is not picked up or signed for, you have your proof that occurred to. All these things go in your favor when trying to collect money. that's just a starter. I would never have let him get away with it this long. Once would have been it.
another letter that I'll share if anyone wants to copy (long).
President Barack Obama
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
Dear President Obama and Secretary of State Rodham Clinton:
Please take the time to read this important letter from an industry that has remained silent for much too long. I speak for a large number of United States medical transcriptionists, many who have made this their career for 20-30+ years. Our job is one we take great pride in, but are often unheard from because we work "behind closed doors." I'm sure you are aware of what our job entails, but I would like to elaborate. The patient's important medical record starts with verbal dictation by the doctor, nurse, etc. The qualified and experienced medical Transcriptionist produces a formal, legible, and information correct medical record based on this verbal dictation, which is of utmost importance for patient care. As a medical transcriptionist, I take great pride in my job and have spent many years perfecting my skills.
We are experiencing an astonishing number of lost jobs, not because the need for our services is down because of reduced medical doctors visits or hospitalizations by our U.S. citizens, but rather because our U.S. citizens' medical records are being sent offshore to other countries whose medical transcriptionists are being paid at a lower rate. Not only are U.S. medical transcriptionists losing jobs at a rapid rate, but we are allowing medical transcription services that advertise as U.S. transcription companies to shuttle the work offshore for a cheaper rate.
President Obama, many articles have addressed the shortage of U.S. medical transcriptionists. This is simply not true. It is a "cop out" to justify the tragedy that is taking place in the U.S. MT industry with sending medical transcription offshore to countries such as India and the Philippines. There are many experienced and qualified U.S. Medical Transcriptionists, so statements indicating a shortage here in the United States are simply unbelievable in my opinion. Unfortunately, the U.S. medical transcriptionists are losing their jobs to offshoring, and little seems to be happening to make changes to put a stop to offshoring of our citizen's personal medical information.
A large majority of our profession is female. Many have devoted their careers to medical transcription and are close to retirement, others are single mothers who have put themselves through school with hard work and training, and are working hard to raise their family with a full time job without relying on governmental assistance, but are losing their jobs because large national medical transcription companies are being allowed to contract with offshore transcriptionists, thus causing our U.S. transcriptionists to be out of work. The pay scale in our profession is currently comparable to what it was 20 years ago. We have not seen a pay scale raise despite the cost of living increase, but we can even settle for this with the economical turmoil at present, just to keep our jobs. Sadly, we cannot even have our jobs because offshore transcriptionists are doing the work cheaper.
I am not sure how many governmental officials are actually aware of what is happening in the U.S. medical transcription industry. I would estimate that twenty some thousand or more U.S. transcriptions are displaced from work, and sadly because no one will take a stance and put a stop to offshoring our U.S. citizen's medical records. Security risks are high with the age of the Internet, but private citizen medical information is being allowed to leave our country where HIPAA laws are not regulated or enforceable.
These two crucial issues of offshoring medical records for transcription in a foreign country need to stop.
1. We are endangering the confidentiality of our own citizens' medical records by sending them to a foreign country where no regulation such as HIPAA is enforceable.
2. The U.S. medical transcription profession is losing jobs at an astonishing rate, not because the need for our services is down, but because offshoring our citizens' medical records overseas is cheaper and thus foreign workers are replacing us. Why is this being allowed to happen without any legislation against such practice that is not only destroying a U.S. profession, but endangering the security of U.S. citizens?
Please take seriously the need to stop offshoring our citizens' medical records. As a medical transcriptionist, our work has always involved the patient as top priority along with the confidentiality of the work we do. There are great risks being taken when this information leaves our country and laws here in the United States are not applicable once this information leaves our borders. I truly believe with the coming age of the Electronic Medical Record, changes must be made now to keep our citizens information in their own country. Each country, in my opinion, should have access only to their own citizens' medical records. Of course, emergency situations will exist if a patient were traveling abroad, in the military, etc. In this age of security issues and the implementation of Homeland Security, please consider where our citizens' medical records are being allowed to go, and unfortunately many times without the patient's knowledge. As a U.S. citizen, if my doctor was obligated to inform me that my medical records would be leaving the country to be transcribed into a report, I would no authorize this to take place, and if necessary would change to a provider who does not contract with a medical transcription service who sends work outside the U.S. The patient deserves to know this is happening.
Please, Mr. President, give U.S. medical transcriptionists the opportunity to get their jobs back and save our profession by supporting our workers first, as well as protecting our citizens' rights to confidential medical information by keeping this information in their own country.
Please work together with the Dept. of Health and Human Services in revising HIPAA laws to restrict the offshoring of medical transcription. Other countries do not place their citizens' security at risk by sending their personal medical information to the United Sates for transcription purposes, so why are we letting this happen? In the process, we are losing a profession that has been so valued here for many years, but we are a profession that has not been heard from much in the past. It is time we speak our minds on this issue, and we hope that you will sincerely consider making major changes to offshoring medical records for transcription.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration in this matter.
A concerned U.S. Medical Transcriptionist
don't cancel ADVANCE subscriptions - just send an email or letter
detailing how disgusted you are with the fact that they are promoting offshore training and offshoring transcription. This is the third article on this sort of topic that the magazine has done in a year.
I find this particularly offensive because so many hospitals/medical record departments get the magazine and if they see this, then companies like Spheris, CBay, Healthscribe, and others will be getting called to come do their transcription!
So please, don't cancel your subscription, just voice your opinion and comments. Thank you.
Always! When emailing my resume, my email acts as my cover letter and when faxing, I always have a
Your cover letter says much more about you than your resume ever can. Your resume lists your education, your jobs, and highlights your skills. In your cover letter, you have an opportunity to sum up how many years total experience you have and get specific about certain things you've accomplished at certain jobs.
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.
That is "web site" in post above. Also, Auto Copy add-on for Firefox will automatically copy
Auto Copy add-on for Firefox AUTOMATICALLY copies what you select (highlight) on a web site to the clipboard.
Then you can paste it in a document.
It just saves the step of right clicking and then clicking on "copy" to put something on the clipboard. Just select it, and it is on the clipboard.
It only works only on web sites-- only copies stuff you select on web sites, i.e. not in other documents.
Print a copy of the form on your printer, fill it out, copy and send it to your computer via fax may
Just a guess. Or print it, fill it out and fax it to her.
I'll trade you your $88 bill for my $350 bill.
I would love to have such a small bill like that.
O'Reilly??? are you kidding? Not
How do you copy your SH file to text - do you copy each dictionary separately? nm
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I agree, and O'Reilly marketing his books and novelty times
a joke and sad that old folks down in fla watch it and get brainwashed, much like old people get tricked by contractors and other things. I hope I don't lose my marbles when I get old.
Please leave an email or email me at my address....click the email button. Thanks...nm
x
If it's a business letter you use a colon. if it's a personal letter you use a comma. nm
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I do not copy to text. I copy the spf sm
file to a disk and save the whole thing there, update it occasionally.
Obama
Has mentioned numerous times about getting all health records in computer system. I wonder if he is talking about the point and click type? I believe he has mentioned giving funds for getting things going.
Maybe we should write to him to explain it can be done now with our electronic files and that we certianly don't need to use our jobs.? Anyone know how to actually get through to him?
Barack Obama
//
im sorry, you think Obama cares about MTs?
yea, right. im sure all the politicians do, but newsflash Obama as a president is NOT healthy for small businesses
bottom l ine there needs to be a standardized MT industry, but nobody steps up to the plate to create it. The general public has no idea you think? You think they'd like it if their medical records were being done overseas? not so sure most would... they just dont KNOW it. who fights for us anyway?
Obama plan
The company I was working for the past 10 years went digital. It just meant that all records were copied into the computer, including transcribed reports, it had no effect on the transcription department. It only affected those in Medical Records seeing as there was no need to have as many people there anymore to make copies of films, records, etc. I hope this is what he is talking about. There are still alot of companies that have not gone this road and use alot of paper records.
Since Mr. Obama is so wonderful -
By the way, what is Obama's plan to ....sm
address offshoring? I hope he really does do something.
that's why Obama is the most logical choice
x
I've already decided on Obama ----- sm
His opponents and detractors keep saying he's "inexperienced". Yeah, and look what "experienced" politicians have brought to the table in the last few decades.
New ideas are good.
Youth is good.
I think it's time for a new way of doing things in this country, not the same ol'. It's a new world, with new problems (such as the plight of American MTs and other workers), and maybe he'll bring some relief (or at least some new ideas on how to get it) for the dwindling middle class, which has been carrying the weight and finances of this country on its shoulders for too many years.
Time to stop letting our country get s*****d by India, Mexico, Asia, and others. And I think he has the ability to say "no" to these countries without starting a war with them.
Sometimes "inexperience" is a refreshing change.
That's 1 reason why I voted for Obama -
stay in this business is if the tax breaks are ended and the loopholes closed for companies that outsource what used to be good American jobs. Ending offshoring entirely would be nice, but I doubt it'll happen. But it should cost less for companies to hire American workers at a decent, livable wage, than it does to send it offshore. Offshoring should be something they do in a pinch, not as a standard practice. Yeah, so what if they're making more money the way they're doing it now. Doesn't make it right. They're greedy and they're un-American when they put thousands of hard-working American MT's in the poorhouse, or out of a job.
Obama's new task force
Maybe if all of us posted something here about medical transcription jobs being sent overseas, it could help? I'm not exactly sure if this would be the right place, but I think I'm going to write something about it. Have a nice weekend! :)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/strongmiddleclass/
Obama's plan to implement EMR
What do my fellow MTs think about Obama's ambitious plan to implement EMR throughout the US? I had 1 person tell me that means there will not be a need anymore for transcriptionists as physicians/nurses will just input information and create a medical record themselves. Part of me disagrees with this as the work I do is an EMR.
Not just Obama, send to all your representatives
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Obama GUTTING Our Profession!
BO's "stimulus" (StealFromUs is more like it!) will disseminate tons of taxpayer dollars so that doctors will go completely electronic in their recordkeeping (including transcription, not just billing), and the company of George Bush's first cousin, Jonathan Bush (CEO of Athenahealth), is cashing in. Of course, Bush is ecstatic about what Obama is doing (both parties answer to the same puppetmasters, after all, so at the end of the day Bush and Obama aren't too far apart when it comes to the big picture anyway).
So some of you who are so mesmerized with BO, please explain how gutting our profession will "create jobs." 
This simultaneously destroys our livelihood while ensuring another transfer of wealth from the taxpayers to the elites/their cronies. So what else is new?!
Don't forget that Obama is Cheney's cousin, so they are all more "connected" than you think.
VIDEO ("Obama Turning Doctors Digital):
Athenahealth's home page:
Details:
Obama's healthcare plan
Anudder MT, Obama's plan will cost 1 trillion dollars and will only give health care to 16 million people out of the 46 million he keeps talking about. Out of that 46 million, about 15 million aren't even Americans - they're here illegally - and I don't know about you, but I don't want to pay for their healthcare in addition to my own. YOU may be rich, but I'm not, and if that makes me selfish, so be it.
And FYI, in Massachusetts, their mandatory single payer plan was supposed to cost 125 million but 3 years after implementing it, the cost has risen to 800 million. How do you know when a politician is lying? His lips are moving. And I hate to break it to all the Obama fans, but he lied when he said he wanted to rise above politics as usual. He's a Chicago politician, the worst thug of all.
For your information, I voted for Obama already last week, but..
I don't know what politics has to do with my post. I only posted that I greatly increased my personal line rate per hour with sitting my butt down and actually doing my work and not finding other little things to do.
Yes, there are days when I want to pull my hair out with my ESLs and there are days when everything flows just fine. I am in the same boat as everyone else as an MT. And the things you are mentioning are beyond your control - I was increasing my line count with the one thing that is within my control - staying seated and typing.
The new Obama Plan for Health Records
So, anyone out there --- What do u think this new proposed plan of National Health Records being computerized within 5 years? What would this mean for MTs. CNN says it would require thousands of highly skilled Medical Records experts to get it on board. Any comments? Is this a good sign for those of us in the Health Documentation career field. And could it mean tighter control of records going off shore?
Yes! Today the Obama head economist said...sm
no more tax loopholes for companies that outsource American jobs. Now Congress just has to pass the bill!
Please! This is called progress and it was in effect long before Obama came into office.
Try being a freethinker for once and stop following whatever someone else tells you based on supposed "facts."
President's Day
hopefully our next president will see this
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Who was the US president when U first became an MT?
President Clinton for me.
? US PRESIDENT
Gerald Ford
US president
That would have been Daddy Bush.
president
Carter - 1979 - American
If you are having any problems validating your email addy, please email support@mtstars.com
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KVMs $20-60. One internet connection. You'd have no email or a 2nd email acct for your 2nd puter.
s
I don't understand. I didn't get email from MT Stars, I got email from offshore people
is what I'm talking about. I'm not a liar and take offense to your insinuation.
They can send an email that goes to all MTs in one shot. I think she just means a courtesy email
would be nice. MQ is not getting any easier. My account has been picked over thoroughly when it went on DQS by ASR and I get all the remains because they only have a core group doing ASR which I think is wrong because you get all the bad dictators and it would be nice to be acknowledged that at least you know the person you can discuss problems with as they crop up. This is a big one and we have no manager anymore and no one to discuss this with at all in my office so you just sit here very day doing this work and no way to vent to someone that could offer some suggestions on this and other issues that come up to help relieve some of the stress of working this way.
Just send an email to the email link inside the post.
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Someone should have told our President that...nm
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