I worked for a rural doc. So much fun! :)
Posted By: omt on 2006-04-04
In Reply to: Here's a toast to our old family doctors. sm - Millie G.
We even had a patient in the waiting room one day that brought in a paper bag with baby chickens in it as it was too hot to leave them in the car. Nobody in the waiting room gave it a second thought.
It was great fun to work there. They called it a "medical center" but it was in an old house with less than state of the art equipment. The country folk swore by "Doc" and "Doc" didn't think twice about going out at 3:00 a.m. to make a house call.
He never would have dreamed of asking for a co-pay up front and even let one farmer's wife pay with fresh baked pies.
They sure don't make them like they used to.
P.S. We still had typewriters back in 1994. :)
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I worked in a rural physician's practice for years.
He eventually ended up joining a group. He still has his office in the same place, but is financially part of that group. Unless they join some sort of group/organization so that they can get group rates on lab, insurance, etc., it is really hard for them to survive. The community lost its hospital several years ago. You said your community has a hospital, but is it a full-service one? Our next nearest town with a hospital is about 35 minutes away. Now the 2 hospitals in that town each have satellite physician clinics in our little town. When I was working for this physician, we had a total of 4 doctors in town. Now, through these satellite clinics, we have a good number. Before this physician joined this group he recruited numerous physicians over the years. Unfortunately, he was not able to assure them enough of a salary and benefits to keep them. There is simply not enough money coming into these small clinics. They have to satisfy Medicare and insurance regulations, just like the big clinics. The recruited physicians all eventually left for greener pastures after being actively recruited by other facilities. One physician I remember tripled his salary when he left there.
I have the same problem and we are not THAT rural....sm
It is very frustrating to feel so limited in your job choice b/c of something like that. I have never really had any major problems with my dial-up and have been told by two different techs. that I have excellent connection speed considering it is dial-up. Frustrating though....
rural hospitals
If this is an extra job I would certainly make it worth my while. I worked at small hosp. for 5 yrs that did not want to work us from home. Kept saying they could not but I knew better. Eventually I went off on my own and have been home since. We had 3 FT. They hired 2 in my place and 1 PT for wknds. I type at night now to catch them up. They still had 1 PT and 4 FT, but I charge them 15 cpl. I clear in 5-8 hours what they all 4 do in 1 day, literally. Still did not want to put me or others at home. Want me to drive 45 miles 1 way to type, after I've pulled my reg. 8. Now what I do, whether they know it or not, I dial up on my C-phone into thier system and type at home, save it to disc (they monitor email + HIPPA) drive over for about an hour and transfer work into thier system. So if they have a phone in line you might check with them about on call stuff being typed at home, especially if this is stat work. It will certainly get back to them quicker. This is just fear of the unknown. This same hosp. has now, instead of firing those not doing work and hiring a good worker or paying them OT will pay me double the amount. They have also moved the weekend girl to FT and are letting a file clerk/PT IC do the weekend x-rays and still want me to help. That's 5 full time typist and 2 PT for a 43 bed hosp. Thier may reason was not to put thier network on home computers, which they all ready do. Won't give me network access but have given it to the weekend girl. Plus they are paying a consultant out the wazoo to tell them why this is not working!
If you are going to be on call, make sure you have set days or hours that you will be on call and that you are compensated. Don't let them just pay you for the work you do. Your time is worth money also. In other words don't sit home all day 3 nights a week waiting for a phone call and get paid for 1 hours. I have done this in the past where I worked and was on call on weekends for x-rays. There might be 1 or 21 or none. I got paid by the hour. If there were none I got paid for 1 hour for showing up. Ask an x-ray tech or someone who gets on call pay. They get a flat rate for being on call and then they get paid for the individual call.
Actually, I live in a rural community sm
and left a hospital where that was very good pay. Starting wages for MT was $8.00 an hour with a 25 cent raise every year if you were lucky. $11.50 would be like gold for the transcriptionists that work there.
Just moved to a rural area
Have a satellite dish, no cable. The phone company out here does not provide ULD. One job I would like you need ULD, and the other you need internet access, no satellites accepted. Does anyone have any ideas? Is there a way you can get even dialup without having to use long distance?
Rural America wages
Last year interviewed for two transcription jobs. Neurology office $13.50, hospital $16.00. (the most I have ever been offered) I was offered the neurology position, but declined and the hospital job was given to someone with less experience, i.e. less $$$, they were hoping to add an addition MT on, but did not. I have over 15 years multispeciality office transcription experience including running my own business for 10+ years. I basically learned on the job, sort of fell into transcribing 20 years ago. I am also a Certified Medical Assistant (silly me, actually went to school for that), I have worked in physicians office over the past 20 years part-time doing medical assisting and transcribing and worked my way up to $11.50/hr. Unfortunately in the office MAs are being replaced by regular high-school graduates, $7.00 per hour, etc, and of course they can do transcription too.. ha ha. Since I live in a rural area the opportunities are limited and each position would require a lengthy commute and with high gas prices that is just crazy, so I decided to go employee with national. Since I get paid by production I can make more $$$ that way overall but the cpl rate is not nearly what it should be, you just keep working harder for the $$$. I would not recommend anyone get into this field by choice as technology will eventually whittle us away to almost nothing. If you want medical, go for the top.. doctor, RN, nurse practitioner, PA, etc. Decent wage and some respect, too.
Rural doctor situation...
I hate going to the doctors office. My daughter has had a sore throat for a week and went in to see doctor this morning, sat there for three hours. We have gone through six different pediatricians/primary doctors in 11 years. How are they suppose to know if there is something really wrong. Doctor looked at her (daughter, 17) throat and asked why she had not had her tonsils out. Did not ask her history. She has not had a throat infection in over 10 years. As a toddler she had frequent throat infections and naturally large tonsils and doctors never once stated they should come out. Now, she is worried. She is a vocalist and does not want to that to effect her singing. Anyway, I'm getting off the subject here. We went in to see the doctor in clinic to find out he quit Friday and there is an interim doctor (who we've seen in ER and who has filled in for other M.D. in the past and like a lot better than current M.D. Too bad he is not staying). Is it that inconvenient for doctors to locate a practice in a rural area? Our area might not have much but we are only 30 minutes away from one medium city and 45 minutes away from a moderate one. Our little town is now down to one doctor when at one time it had 4-5 family practices. We have a hospital, but no doctors. LOL.
Thanks for letting me vent, but this is really getting riduculous. The doctor today did inform me that he was trying to recruit either some doctors finishing their residency or maybe some middle aged doctor from the N.O. area that would like to start over. We have great facilities, just no doctors.
I give, where in rural Georgia
are you talking about? I think I could put up hearing that more than I can with what I hear out of the Atlanta stations, at least it is not butchering the English language - just maybe their own language like I had mine from moving from Tenn. I understand that nexted above- I have heard that and even worse. I have a daughter-in-law who is parapro right outside of Atlanta (Jonesboro) and supposedly they are not to correct children when they speak incorrectly- she says heck with that and does. Can we say ebonics?
I'm not in a rural area. I'm in a big city and everything is SM
outsourced. My beloved company, run by a very decent man, was bought out by Edix. I thought they were bad until Spheris took them over. God help us.
Then there is the large community hospital, who has a "sweetheart deal" with another outsource company. You would not believe the garbage that goes on in this field.
Regarding unlocked doors, rural or not
My sister once left this true-crime book at my house and I read it, I guess because I wanted to have nightmares for a week. It was about serial rapists (WHY does she read this stuff?) Anyway.... one thing I noticed was that almost ALL of these perps walked into people's houses thru their unlocked doors, usually in the middle of the day. Sure your husband may be right about if someone wants in they'll get it, but just like anyone else, criminals prefer to do things the easy way. Why help them?
I'm an IC for a mid south rural hospital...
Although I get paid per minute of dictation, I have done the math and I make 10-11 cents per line. Patti is right, it doesn't matter per line or per minute. Its what you make per hour. I do radiology and the basic four every day with the same dictators with a new one thrown in every now and then and have been doing so for 13 years and make anywhere from $20-35 an hour working average 5-6 hours a day. Did not ask for a rate increase until my 8th year in which they balked at and began looking elsewhere. Two years later asked for another rate increase in which they readily agreed to but keep better track of what I do. Better to start low and become valuable to them than start too high.
IC working for a small rural hospital
I have worked for a small rural hospital as an IC for 9 years, this year I asked for a raise. Hospital thought about going to a national until they found out how much they charged. They contract their transcription themselves.
In 1995 I was making 12 cpl for a small, rural
Changes were gradual. First, we were allowed to start working at home at 12 cpl, instead of the hourly wage. We still were employees and had the same benefits. This saved the hospital money in overhead and we were all happy. Then they started using outsourcing services for holidays and weekends. Gradually, the whole MT dept was phased out and we had the option of going with the service handling the hospital transcription or finding another job. The service kept us at this rate of pay for a short time and then gradually started implementing "incentive bonuses" and lowering the line rate of pay. It evolved over the years to what it is today. Starting line rates were lower and incentive bonuses done away with. Health insurance is contingent on production, but their platforms crash regularly (as do many, many others) and we either have to work extra to make up the loss or just eat the financial loss altogether. The services overhire to make sure that their TAT is met, which means unstable availability of work, which in turn affects production, in turn affecting benefits.
The logic today behind all the changes is the "lack of experienced MTs in the U.S.", thus the need to hire people outside the country, who have even LESS experience with the English language and slang medical terms, at half the price of hiring American MTs. The MT field in general has to be able to compete and so must lower their rates to keep clients from going offshore at half price. And now with the advent of VR, the MTSOs using it try to justify the cut in line rate to the fact that we're no longer "typing", we're "just editing." It's been a gradual evolution, but not in a positive direction.
And in all of this, AAMT has not come to the aid of the transcriptionist. It has furthered the promotion of offshoring and has developed ways to enhance the MTs adjustment to VR instead of enhancing the MTs value and amount of worked involved in VR. When the AAMT doesn't step up for the very ones it says it represents, why would the ones using the services respect, understand, or value the MT either?
It is pretty rural where I am too, but the sprawl is coming - sm
My friends in the area (been here 8 years now) are people from the old school my kids went to, now a couple parents at the new PS they are going to and my neighbors. I am lucky in that I live on a private road with 14 houses on it. It is our own little world/community and we all get together now and then and have about 2 big parties a year (Daytona and 4th of July). I am close friends with one neighbor. I don't really have a "best" friend here (they are back home where I grew up in PA who I see 3-4 x a year) that I go shopping, etc. with, though Mary and I do things now and then with our kids. See if you can get friendly with your neighbors, good to have a local support system in place if you need it. Maybe a local library or club. Our area is slowly building up, have a supermarket now 5 minutes away versus 30, a local library, 2 dance studios, martial arts, a couple restaurants, Curves, movie store, etc. Try to get involved in some local club or activity, great way to meet people, or voluteer down at your local elementary school 1 day a week or something, they can always use some help. I keep very busy with work, Curves, taking the kids to dance (there are adult classes too), library trips in the summer, etc. I am pretty social though I don't mind being by myself either; so I try to keep a happy medium, but getting out and involved in something is the key to meeting new people. Give it a shot.
Do you think a company pays less for rural pay than city?
Does not make sense to me.
I am am in a rural area with lots of trees - sm
so when I had Bluesky (or what ever the name it) come out they said too many trees for the satellite. My one neighbor just got Directv high speed.....she also has lots of trees. So I may be looking into that (have Directv now just not the internet hookup). But I currently use a Sierra Wireless Aircard 875U. Unlimited and costs me $67 a month. It is through AT&T but I know Verizon has it too, as well as Sprint. You need to make sure it works where you are first though, but their websites can help you there. I love it. Not as fast as DSL but a huge step up from dial-up. I have it set up to use on my desktop, laptop, my backup desktop, and my daughter's computer. The only thing I have with it is it does not work everywhere...when I try to use it on my laptop...unlike the commercial where they show the guy in the middle of Africa or wherever he is. But I have been very happy with it.
just some information for MTs in rural areas where high speed is not available
Hi all,
Was just on the Sprint website a little bit ago and checking out wireless cards for my laptop since I will be moving to an area that doesn't even have landline service available yet. Sprint is now offering a wireless card that is a USB card and apparently will work with both a laptop and a desktop as long as you have an available USB port on your computer. Might be something to think about 
Yep, I agree 100%. I live in such a rural area, though, that my neighbors, the natives, think I'm
NUTS cause I keep my dogs in the house, and actually still walk them on a leash in my yard. We all have about 2 - 5 acres minimum each of woods in our neighborhood, and no real dog laws at all! Dogs run at large 24/7, which is no picnic for me with my dogs on leash, either! And they ALL keep them outdoors, tied up with the chain and the smelly old dog house. I think they just look at dogs strictly as deterents? Not sure really, come to think of it! Cause even if they were getting robbed, Fido couldn't get off the 6 foot chain! Oh well! I used to be sad all the time for the plot of the dogs here, but I can't save them all! Only my guys!
You must live in a metro area because rural areas pay even less per hour.
Of course you can buy a big house for 130,000 in a smaller town and the same amount won't buy you a pot to pee in, in a place like San Diego or the D.C. area. It's all relative.
Opinions please! I have been asked by a small rural hospital to do their overflow. SM
It is clinic notes that are pretty easy to type. Some of the work is digital and some is still on tapes. They want me to come in and pick up tapes, and they want me to print and deliver reports when I pick up the tapes because they don't know much about setting up a remote printer. I made an introductory offer of 12 cpl for the first month and then 15 cpl if we both feel like continuing to work together. I felt that since I am going to be out the cost of gas and ink, my offer was more than reasonable. Well, they countered with a flat 12 cpl period with a one year contract and then we reevaluate at that time. While I was mulling that over, she called back and asked if I would be interested in doing some radiology for them in addition to the clinic work. So basically this account will keep me very busy and is not going to be just overflow.
So now I'm back to thinking 15 cpl and because they balking, not offering the introductory rate anymore.
What does everyone think?
The phone line has to support DSL signals. Most rural lines don't due to distance from central of
x
I live in a small rural area and they housed some evacuees at a nearby military base
crime went UP in our little community that previously HAD a ~very low~ crime rate. It is a FACT. I'm not saying all NO residents are like that, but MANY seem to be.
My mom was raised in conditions like this poster describes. Mom's parents died when she was 7 (father) and 9 (mother). Her teenage sister (newlywed) raised her and 4 other siblings. They had next to nothing. Not ONE of them turned to a life of crime. Not ONE even graduated high school but they still made good lives for themselves. Life was rough for them, but they didn't blame it on everyone else and cry around about what the president should be doing for them. It is all about RESPONSIBILITY and taking what life throws your way. IMO.
Every company is different -- I worked FT for one as an employee but worked a split shift - sm
So I never took breaks. I would work 5 hours, break for about 4 hours then do another 3. Another company I worked for did not care what hours you worked (IC) but wanted a min. amount of work each day, 500 for PT and 1000 for FT-- BUT they paid you by how many lines an hour you put out, the higher the lph the higher up the scale you made per line in pay; they have since changed everyone to a flat rate with incentive. But bottom line, if you are an IC it does not matter what hours you work, though many ask for a schedule and ask you to stick to it, they just want you to meet line requirements daily, i.e. 1000 per day, 1200 per day, whatever it is.
I got up early, worked during naps, and worked when DH got home.
You have to be disciplined to make yourself work when baby is napping instead of maybe watching TV or doing housework, etc.
I might also go the route of having a teen come into your home, or either trying a mother's morning out program at a local church/daycare. I've been home since my youngest was born and he has never been in all-day daycare, but I did have him in a mother's morning out program 15 hours a week at a local church. It didn't help a lot with my work schedule because I had an older son in school and was a room mom and tutored other kids, but that might be an option. The only problem with the mother's morning out program is they are around other kids and tend to pick up every germ. I finally took my DS out of the program because he stayed sick. You were supposed to keep them off if they had green nasal discharge and I did, but no one else did. Every time I got him well after 2 to 3 days back he would be sick again. Other than that it was very good for him because he would not have had a chance to be around kids his age otherwise.
I worked on that system when I worked there...
The thing that chapped my hide about that TWS was that they designed it so that all the headers of each section of the report were canned and thus you were not paid for them, even though you had to take your hand off the keyboard and mouse down a list of paragraph headers to chose the one you needed. Just racking up more profits for themselves. Ticks me off.
that is what is being worked out, and has been worked on for the last few years already...only
why are we just hearing this now? I know voice recog has been around, but this is entirely different. This will also make coding and billing obsolete.
Don't know why, but it just bothers me that one of our 'own' is the one pushing this...and she is also connected with AAMT. Do they support this, and if so, what is their advice I wonder to the MT?
Perhaps that is one question for their website (I do not subscribe to their mag or credentials...)
Thanks, for the input!
Thanks, that worked for me! nm
xx
TY, TY, TY, that worked. nm
This one worked for AT&T. I was trying to pay
my bill in advance, but you cannot just do that, you have to talk to the credit department. Well, too bad, I no longer use AT&T.
I did not say I worked for SS. I don't know
even know what company SS is? I work for a company where I get paid for spaces. As for transcribing about 65% ESL charts, I typed the same 2 doctors over and over yesterday who love to stat their charts. I had nothing but them my first 3 hours of work. I was beginning to think that all the other doctors had quit and left them to do everybody's work because I had nothing but them. It seems on Saturday and Sunday my work is filled with nothing but ESLs because they are the only ones who like working on weekends. The rest of the week is not so bad but the weekends are the worst for ESL coverage.
OSi is probably the BEST I have ever worked for - sm
I have worked for OSi for almost a year now, and they are BY FAR the most flexible, best paying, most caring management, and have never felt like I was "just" a transcriptionist. There are so many bonuses, GIFTS out of the blue.... great company, very stable...
I worked for them
Briefly, it was a major problem. From the training to the getting back with me to helping out and getting things staright. They have a lack of management skills to say the least. I left them due to this. Maybe things would be different for you.
Good LUCK
I worked for a nut (sm)
who always wanted perfect documents. Even worse was when I found out there were other MTs making a bunch of mistakes and leaving a lot of blanks on the same account! So I was to do perfect documents while the others were turning in crap? No less than 8 mistakes or blanks on one page?
I finally wisened up and quit. They're always behind and looking for people, I wonder why, duh.
I also worked for DDI...
when MQ bought them out. I stayed with MQ for about 6 months after that and then moved on.
this is what worked for me...
When I worked 3rd shift, at first I tried going to bed around 10 in the morning and getting up around 5 p.m. when my husband got off work. However, it got to the point that I felt like I didn't have a life at all. I didn't have time to run any errands or even do simple things like clean my house because all I wanted to do was sleep. What worked best was when I started staying up until around 2 p.m and then sleeping from then until around 7:30 p.m. That gave me time to do everything I needed to do during the day and feel like I was able to function, and getting out in daylight instead of only being awake when it's dark definitely improved my mood, too.
It took me a good 2 months before I got adjusted to 3rd shift, but I actually ended up enjoying it more. If you do decide to go to 3rd, put up dark curtains, blinds, whatever you need to do to make your room feel like nighttime when you're trying to sleep. Also make sure you turn off the ringers on your phones because there are always people who don't understand what it's like to work nights and will call you when you're trying to sleep.
As far as staying awake during your shift, make sure you get up and move around every so often, keep the room very bright and a little cool, and keep the Mountain Dew or the coffee handy. Go luck! 
that worked, thank you!
This worked for me
I had trouble getting paid as an IC until I did the following: I started billing on the 1st and 15th of each month. I put a 10-day balance due date on the bill. There is a note at the bottom of the bill that says if any balance is carried more than five days past the due date, the old balance PLUS the new balance is due before transcription services are resumed. Its a bit aggressive, but I was tired of making less because of paying late fees on my bills. Since I started this policy, I'm paid ON TIME by all of my docs. 
I tried everything and this is what worked for me
I had beige carpet, too, tried Resolve, OxyClean, dishwashing soap, etc. The only thing I didn't try was a special cleaner specifically for red stains (Red Out I think it's called), but it was $10 a bottle and I had only one stain. What finally worked for me was saturating the stain with club soda, then lying a dry washcloth on top of it and applying a warm iron on top. It draws the stain up into the washcloth. You could try a paper towel, too. I had a big spot that was a few months old by then, so I had to repeat this twice I think, but it finally came out.
what worked for me
Just look at the symbol: < >
The widest part of the symbol is next to the larger number: 7 < 9
9 is larger than 7
The smaller part of the symbol is next to the smaller number: 10 > 8
8 is smaller than 10
Have you worked for all of them?
If you have actually worked for all of these companies and know this for a fact.....then you have the right to post such a statement. If you have not worked for each and every one of them....it is not a fair statment.
If you have worked for them all, perhaps the problem is with you because that is a lot of job hopping.
Here's what worked....sm
I did turn on the lawn sprinkler and it worked like a charm. The neighbors on both sides also ended up turning theirs own as well to keep the kids away.
I think I started something!
I think I worked for them (sm)
So glad I quit! ![Spaz](http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_1_33.gif")
![](http://www.smileycentral.com/sig.jsp?pc=ZSzeb065&pp=ZNxdm83533")
When I worked in
a hospital as Trans. Supervisor, I actually had several docs who were horrible dictators come listen to their own dictation. Most were embarrassed when they heard how bad they sounded, and many cleaned up their act afterwards.
Yes, that worked for me too
I wish you the VERY best of luck and medical care. I'm a survivor and if you ever need to vent, talk, whatever (even though you don't know me and I don't know you), feel free to email. Sometimes its easier to sound-off at someone you don't know, ya know? Actually what worked best for me was humor, I'd laugh at the silliest (and DUMBEST) stuff!
Incidentally ...... did you find a crockpot or toaster oven in that throwing out stuff?? hehe
I worked for a while on HMA-AIM
Wow, what a mess that was. I never made it past the first two months. It was horrible. Plus I had absolutely no training on the platform at all.
Thanks so much - it worked!!
Almost worked for them.
I was hired by them when I was a student, thought it would at least be experience and a little money. Let me emphasize little. Well, two weeks after I was supposed to start, I still had no foot pedal! I called them and they said they were waiting for a shipment. I quit them right then and there. Student or not, nobody deserves to get jerked around like that.
Good Luck.
I also worked there.....
Never had any trouble with QA. I was never told I had to have AIM on while I was working like the other person mentioned. I usually had it on, though, because of all of the questions I had in the beginning. I was on the oncology account, which was fine at first....they started me on good clear dictators to get me used to the account, but once I was cleared from QA, I got lots of ESLs, plus it was time-consuming having to look up stuff for the demo screen (clinic numbers, doctor IDs, etc.), and at the rate of pay I was getting, it just wasn't worth it to me to stay there. The people are very nice, though, and paychecks were always deposited on time.
I also worked for one
I worked for a chiropractor who uses the Activator method. This is adjustment with a small tool that does not have the "rack them and crack them" dangers. It gently pushes your spine back into place. He also has a holistic apporach to his practice, and life. I was in an accident a few years ago and went into the ER where the rude doc told me that my back and neck had nothing to do with my abdominal cramps, diarrhea, and severe, very severe dizziness, and headache. He thought that I needed to be on narcotics for pain and meclizine. I went to my chiropractor after that frustrating event for an adjustment and never needed either once I was adjusted my problems went away. Then the next day I went to PT and the therapist ran his hand up my occipital nerve and said "I bet this was causing the dizziness" and sure enough hubby said I went sheet white and I felt the dizziness again, and almost passed out. Anyhow, now before I see a medical doctor to be on yet another drug, I go to see my chiropractor. Remember your neck bone is connected to your ankle bone. Good luck!
I have worked for more than one
doctor (4 to be exact) for the last couple of years (They're all small accounts). I have different colored binders for each doctor that I write down all their information in. When I'm working on a certain account I just have their binder out in front of me. I also have clear rubbermaid containers labeled with the doctors name to keep anything pertaining to their account such as their letterhead, envelopes, etc. in. This not only lets me keep track of the right supplies but also keeps them from getting dirty. Good luck.
I worked for a doc . . .
I worked for an ophthalmologist whose techs and secretary in the office dictated his notes. He rarely dictated anything. They dictated by looking at the chart notes. Their initials were put at the end along with his. If it is indeed illegal, I am sure that office is still doing it, although I don't work for them anymore.
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