Let the docs use their reports transcribed in India as a defense! LOL
Posted By: mstudent on 2007-06-11
In Reply to: WELL SAID!!! - mk
The doc can sit there while the personal injury lawyer shows the jury a grieving family and the messed up report.
US MTs should not accept sweat shop wages or conditions. We are providing a service to them! We are their first defense!:) :) :)
If US MTs stoped working for low wages, the physicians who value patient safety and their livelihood would pay a descent wage. The other ones can try to explain the report being done in India to the personal injury lawyer tearing him apart.
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It is 10 reports transcribed for free.
The OP states the account goes through transcriptionists. I wonder why? The OP states later on in the thread they go through transcriptionists.
I'm trying to protect Lisa from getting abused from the get-go. All she has to say is "my charge is" and go from there.
Too bad if they were already transcribed. Does that mean Lisa should take the loss? NO. Absolutely not.
Again, read above where the OP states "they can't seem to keep a transcriptionist."
To the OP: Charge them! You won't regret it. If you are an IC, you have every right to charge them.
Plus, look at rockinMT's post. She bent over backwards for an account and what happened? It turns out she was spending more time than it was worth.
These are all my opinions, and I am trying to give my opinion on what the OP should do in regards to reports that she transcribed and should, yes, be paid for since she was not aware ahead of time and especially because it is a new account.
What do I know? Ya know? I mean really? Just looking out for the best interest of the OP, but hey, that's just me.
The reports that are transcribed get scanned into
the EMR record. They do the same thing with the lab slips, x-ray reports, etc. The transcription is still performed in the usual way it has always been done.
copies of previously transcribed reports
What I always found helped, make copies of reports from the medical record charts. Make a few copies of each doctor and keep them in your desk that way you can refer back to the report when doing the doctor. You will get the hang of it. No hospital wants to go through the money and time hiring someone just to let them go right away. Usually you get about a three to six month probation period.
Meds are not given based on transcribed reports
Meds in hospitals are not given based on what is in transcribed reports. There are so many errors with transcribed material that everyone expects there to be errors in meds, either because it was dictated incorrectly or transcribed incorrectly.
Physicians write orders for drugs, treatments, tests, and procedures. They're in a different part of the record entirely. They're either handwritten or they are in electronic form.
That's not saying there are no medication administration errors, but just saying the likelihood of an error stemming from a transcribed report are almost nil.
They don't remove eyes based on transcribed medical reports. SM
Hate to burst your bubble - we're important, but not that important.
I take great pride in doing great work and doing a bunch of it.
If India pays its docs so poorly that they have to do MT - s/m
in order to supplement their income, remind me never to get medical care of ANY kind in India! (In fact, better yet not to ever GO to India.)
A lifeguard and now an MT without training! Bahhaaa! No wonder the docs are offshoring to India! C
---
I don't know, recently was editing and the reports from India
looked better than the American reports.
There are a LOT of uneducated people right here in the good old USA being offered MT jobs. Who else would work for close to minimum wage?
:)
I have been printing my docs reports for six years - sm
I charge $4.50 per page for the original letters. I do not charge for copies because I am averaging about $120 for 30-60 minutes of work for each tape. If I started charging the copies with that, I would be making about $250-300 for 30-60 minutes of work, and my docs just will not pay that kind of money for transcription work that takes 1 hour of my time to do.
Now - trying to find someone to cover for me while I'm on vacation is a nightmare because NO ONE WANTS TO PRINT THE LETTERS. Go figure. How hard is it to print letters. The docs provide all the paper and envelopes and blank paper. I pay about $32/month for ink. But if I'm being paid $600-800/month for my transcription, $32 is practically nothing - a business expense.
IC Question: How long do you keep your reports for your docs?
ICs, I was curious to see how long do you keep your reports on your computer for the doctors? Is there a usual time limit?
Thank you!
Unfortunately most docs don't care; they don't even read the reports most of the time.
It's OUR job to comply with quality standards.
Yer right... half the time the docs dont even read the reports. (nm)
.
INDIA, INDIA, NEWBIE LOOKING FOR INDIAN-OWNED COMPANY-FORGET AMERICA COMPANIES HIRING NEWBIES!!!!
  Our country sucks when it comes to teamwork. My experience is in hospital transcription and 95% foreign dictators. Most of my dictators are from India and surrounding countries. Give up you all,  India is already way ahead of us!
thank you for coming to my defense (sm)
Of course I know my financial situation, but we have missed a few payments, have tried to contact the lein holder, but to no avail.
The best defense for a child...
As heart tugging as they are, accurate transcription is sooooo important for any person, there is a lot at stake and your best effort at triple checking what you have typed is our little helping hand at helping those seeking help. Flag ANYTHING you doubt, if you get lost in the "he said, she said," someone else will too and calling attention to those items WILL HELP to ensure the reports are easily read and understood. Keep up the good work, the job we do IS IMPORTANT! Any complaint or abuse is paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, just be sure those you do are the cream to help those who in need.
In defense of Dano....
Further down on this board, someone posted a very rude post that implied that people who didn't think a college degree was important were inferior. Dano requested that the poster not put people down that way. So it's very understandable why she would ask this question.
But you already know that, don't you? You responded to that post by telling her she has issues.
Since you obviously have you own issues concerning your abilities to understand how this board works, the most current posts are at the top, which means the less current posts are at the bottom, which means she posted her request to stop putting down posters BEFORE she asked the above question.
You're even more rude than the *superior feeling* poster who started all this.
In defense of kids
I only have a niece and a nephew, but they tell me the same thing. I was stressed out at the time and probably bit their heads off. On further reflection, they were doing their best to be caring and supportive. They can see what the upheaval at the Q is doing to me, and they're smart enough to know it's not good. As my niece said, You work all the time, you have no money and you're no fun! She's got that right! They both think their aunt could do better and deserves better, as I suspect your children do for you. They still believe in us - that we're smart enough to learn and/or do something else. They're trying to give us the kick in the butt to look beyond the obvious - there are other in-hospital jobs we could learn and do and there are other jobs besides K-Mart (at least where I live) - and to get out there and try for them, as scary a thought as that is. They still have the optimism of the young, and maybe us old folks could use a bit of that right now. At least we know they love us, and that's not a bad thing either.
Not in defense of errors or anything, but - sm
one reason the QA field has exploded is the low wages. Taking the time to proofread is costly for an MT racing through the day's work in order to make a line count that will even pay her electric bill for that day. We shouldn't have to work that way. It would be easier to take pride in one's work as an MT if we were afforded the luxury of a living wage, so we would slow down a little and produce an even higher-quality document.
Used to think we were using India, but now realize India is using us for our med. info, jobs,
:{
Ok, in my husband's defense, he apologized.
Then he made breakfast, lunch, and dinner yesterday for all of us, did the grocery shopping, mowed the lawn, put up a swingset for our little one, fixed our broken outdoor faucet, set up the pool for the kids, gave me a foot massage, cleaned the house, and washed my car. I think I'll keep him....
In her defense, there are far too many men out there that really should come with warning labels. nm
nm
Conversely.... in defense of the MTSOs..
.....where would the MTs be if the MTSOs just quit?
I realize this commentary may raise the ire of some MTs out there, but I believe the long-time MTs and MTSOs will understand what I am saying.
It really isn't as easy at might seem to some managing multiple accounts, turnarounds, IC flexible schedules, covering for the ICs when they want to take off for the afternoon and go shopping or to the park with the kids, doing the QA on the blanks to find that medication or doctor's name that the IC did't feel like spending the time looking up in the resources available, and still meet our contracted turnaround with the client.
The sending of work offshore has drastically reduced the amount clients pay and I can tell you from personal experience that most MTSOs are rolling in the dough, living in fancy houses and driving fancy cars. We are making pennies, just the same as the ICs are. We are not the national corporations and we are not sending work off shore. We are the moderate to small MTSOs that respect the fact that experienced transcriptionists with good work ethics are hard to come by. Most of us pay our ICs based on the average national rate.
You can certainly do the math if you're interested. Average line rate (in our area) is 0.12 per line, 0.14 if we are REALLY lucky. Most want to pay 0.10 or 0.11. Telephone, internet and system costs (with maintenance) cost an average of 0.02 per line. Experienced MT average rate nationwide is 0.08 per line. So, we hire trainees right out of school rather than sending work offshore for 0.04 a line and may the trainees 0.06 a line to learn the accounts we are getting 0.10 for, paying 0.03 for QA on those if we can afford a QA person and giving them incremental increases as they improve, keeping the experienced MTs on the 0.11 accounts, and paying our non-QA-requring MTs 0.09 to 0.095 per line.
Even if a service bills out $2,000,000 (yep, two million dollars) per year, $40,000 isn't a whole bunch of money. Some of us could make that much managing an office for a national. But then who would hire the ICs that want a really flexible work schedule, do not want to do ESL work, will not be available for STATS and want their own primary account to work on when they want to, and have someone else cover when they're out for an afternoon with the kids.
Hmmmm.. seems like there's not much left for the cars and groceries of the MTSO either.
Transcription is a profession, not just a job. If you want 0.11 or 0.12 per line, feel free to go find and manage your own accounts. If you want a "job" with steady hours and steady pay.. I think they're hiring at our local fast food restaurant.
What works for me is I take a women's self defense class . .
twice a week. I get to beat up on a man for an hour. Great fun and stress reliever. Also a kick-boxing class. I just imagine I'm kicking the doctor in the you know what. LOL
Uh yeah, in a debate there's usually defense and an offense. Hence someone is always "on the
defensive." I simply posted my opinion about non-compete clauses and my experience with an untrustworthy service and how I handled it and then I'm called unethical and unprofessional. That kind of puts me on the defensive, dontcha think? Kind of begs me to defend my actions... 
Self Defense, pure and simple. I am leaving this board as of --sm
today because of you and your obnoxious attitude. I know you don't care, but you should, being a *fellow MT*, but everything revolves around you and you always being right. You remind me of KiKi. YOu like to take cheap shots at everybody who does not have the same opinion as you about anything, just as long as you can start an argument and keep it going. You are vicious, rude, crude, and a definite infant. I will pray for you. good bye.
The MR reports were being filed. Referring physicians/medical care providers reports were not.
This is a hospital radiology department with in-house MTs and a clerk who is in charge of the report distribution.
The two sentence normal reports will balance out the 3 page reports.
I am Wendy too
If you have not transcribed using BOS
guidelines that is probably the problem. See which version they are using and get a copy.
and this is how our records are transcribed =(
x
I have not strictly transcribed in about 10 yrs.sm
I work full-time doing medical transcription but I also have other duties that do not involve transcribing so I don't keep up with lines or anything like that; I get paid by the hour. I have worked 3-4 hours in the evenings for one of the national companies for a little over a month but I can't seem to get my line count up. I've only been able to do around 100 lph. I know it will take longer than it would if I worked 8 hours just transcribing. I would like to quit the other job and just work from home transcribing but I'm afraid if I can't get my line count up I won't be able to maintain my current income. I'm not a blazing fast typist, I probably type 75-80 wpm without any kind of expanders. Any helpful advice or encouragement on whether you guys think at my typing speed it is within reason to think I can make it to 150-200 lph? I've done straight transcription in the past but I never had to keep up with lines. I have 30+ years of experience. I just need to decide whether to keep things the way they are now or take the chance on income by production only. BYW, I transcribe acute care for the national.
Your transcribed report would be your testimony, if anybody, for whatever SM
bizarre reason decided your input would be needed. Why the heck do you think you'd get called to court?
I got charged $75 for a copy of my old MRs, even though I transcribed it!!! n/m
:p
QA Help: Earlier I transcribed a report where
the doctor used a really offensive curse phrase. He was actually quoting what the patient said (ER report). He said place this in quotes. It was a really ugly thing to say (mother F word). Even though it's in quotes as what the patient apparently said, I felt uncomfortable actually transcribing it. And believe me I'm no prude. I've heard it all (and said some of it). However, it just seemed really unprofessional and not appropriate in a medical document. It's not like it was a psych report. In fact, it really had no relevance whatsoever, in my opinion, but I could be wrong I guess. So, I left a blank. But now I'm thinking, was that really not my call? Should I have just transcribed it? What would any of you out there have done? QA? What do you advise in cases like this? It's happened before but never as filthy as this. 
Contact the clients you transcribed for
n/m
VA accts transcribed offshore
My first editing job was for a company located in Virginia that has since closed and one of their largest accounts was for a network of VA Hospitals. I always wondered if they (the VA) had any clue that the actual transcription was being done in India.
I have transcribed from handwritten notes
and it was a nightmare. Sometimes the info was missing and my neck hurt like heck looking down and up, down and up. I charged per page. This dr went from dictating to these 5 page forms that he would fill out when he saw the patient. He scribbled and it was horrible. It wrecked my neck, so I gave it up. I was better off straight transcribing at lower pay than when I had to keep looking up and down from a page and no a stand for the forms didn't help because my eyes kept leaving the monitor, so it was hard to get back in gear only to have to take my eyes back to the handwritten form.
MTs by definition are hired to transcribed - sm
what the doctor dictates. We can't be expected to have to catch their mistakes - they're supposed to catch their own. That's why they're being paid the big bucks and we're note. Years back, we weren't expected to know all this stuff -- the meaning of every word we transcribed, the normal/abnormal lab values, what a particular drug is used for, and I could go on and on, and we were paid better, appreciated more & respected more.
I do agree that we must know how to spell medical words and words of English usage. That's what they get for their 7-8-8.5 cents per line. I do NOT believe that we should have to look up doctor's names, on our time, when the dictator has it right in front of him/her and would take him/her only 2-3 seconds to spell it, thus also avoiding any confusion. But I guess that would be too easy.
I didn't always feel this way. Years back, when I was treated as a professional and compensated accordingly, I performed as such. If I want to flag a doc's mistake, I do it for the PATIENT'S sake (but for the grace of God it could be me or a loved one lying in that hospital bed) - and as a courtesy to the doctor. But they really expect too much for too little.
I swear, I just transcribed Bill Cosby! sm
you know that voice that Bill Cosby does, kinda sounds like he's drunk? Well, this doc I just transcribed sounded like that!!! and it's workers' comp, no less. Just had to vent a little! It's still too early for all this! 
Not an MQ employee but have always transcribed via turnaround pool.
The office manager I worked for set it up so they could bill faster, i.e., ERs in 24 hours or less, op notes, discharge summaries, etc. She said it made for a better cash flow for the hospital. That's probably what MQ is trying to accomplish, maybe per client request.
Well, I just transcribed 1500 lines in 3 hours. sm
I work on the same account every day, same dictators, lots of templated reports I did myself and put them into auto correct. I get up early, start at 7 am and today I was done by 10 am. Cleaning the house now. Also, the line pay is slightly higher than most, so 1500 lines is fine for me today.
On harder days when the account is really behind, I get up and vacuum the house after 3 hours of transcribing then come back for 1 hour. If things are caught up, I stop for the day. If not, I will go back in the evening.
I can't sit for 6-8 hours straight. Making $160 bucks in 3 hours is good for me and enough. Tomorrow is another day!
Use templates and short cuts - that will help! I have whole reports in my auto correct, but you have to listen through and change and correct things as each patient is a different case.
I do have to tell you, I do not get this many lines every day in such short a time. It just happened that today was a good day. 
Hope this helps.
Guidelines are one thing, but if your client wants it transcribed a certain way, just do it.
p
My grandmother transcribed part time into her mid 70s.
,
I am filling out a job app and they want transcribed words per minute.
Thanks.
I have transcribed for doctors in the past who have dictated...sm
that the patient is heterosexual. I'm not much on what is politically correct or not, I just transcribe what the doctor dictates.
Pull up the whole period for which transcribed...see more inside
Say July 1 was the first day and July 14 was the last day - are you able to do a date-specific count? If so, get that on the screen, hit the "Print Screen" button (above SysRq next to Scroll Lock). Then open a Word document or go to Accessories and get either Word Pad or Notebook. Do a control C, which is the Word command for copy. This will copy the whole screen shot into that new document. Go to "file" on the task bar, do a "Save as" and name it what you want, say 07012008to07142008 or something so you will be able to recognize it. This will now give you a document that you can email to their payroll period with a nice little message something to the tune of "WHAT GIVES" or other equally professional question - just kidding, but now you have proof of what your total lines were and a bargaining tool. If you can only do it 1 day at a time, you can still use the screen shot method, but you will have a lot of documents to email if it comes to that.
Be sure to question them verbally by phone first as that might clear up any confusion. If not, then you can tell them YOUR line count and ask why your figures are so different. Just a thought. Good luck!
"For 30 years, I've transcribed things by what is..SM
correct." This is where the problem is. Do you know that some of the most stubborn, difficult, argumentative, inflexible MTs I have ever met in the course of my career are the ones who parrot that particular sentence?
What was done or has been done for 30 years is not necessarily the correct way now. Language has changed. With the advent of VR, the way we transcribe is now more of a verbatim way than ever.
These 30-year MTs are still adding 's on to Down syndrome, still typing out the word "centimeter" even though it is no longer accepted as anything but line-padding....get my drift?
We're paying 9 cpl and everything transcribed plus spaces is paid for.
/
Depends. Did you just study or have you actually transcribed lots of tapes as sm
part of your training? If you can't put down on your resume that your home study included multiple tapes in many specialties, etc. you are going to be hard pressed to find a good job.
On the other hand, you might be able to type some orthopedics or pt notes (and then at least have some experience to put on your resume.) Orthopedic doctors have TONS of dictation. Besides their clinic notes, etc, most of them do IME (independent medical evaluations) which are fairly easy to do. You'll need some good ortho books to get you started, but most will let you start without the experience if you can demonstrate you know the terminology. Good luck. Get some experience and the doors will start opening REALLY fast for you. Sometimes, taking a low paying job is okay in the beginning just to get the experience. If you can possibly get in a PCP's office to help out with clinic notes (even offering to to backlog/vacation stuff, you will get good experience and your resume will look great for the future stuff that comes up. Good Luck to You. Hang in there and learn everything you can.
IMO, you violated a patient's confidentiality by even posting about this - that you transcribed t
I know you didn't give any personal info, but even mentioning this in a public forum on the "world wide web" - I don't know, I would consider that a violation of medical record confidentiality. I know some may post a sentence or a blooper or something, but this is probably something I would have kept to myself... I am sure you thought what an interesting coincidence when you show the show, but my opinion is you should have kept it to yourself, and if I was the transcription supervisor at your hospital and I found out you had posted on this.... well I would think that would be reason for discipline. No offense meant, just my opinion.
Here is my understanding of conversions of time dictated to transcribed
I was told once that the ratio of dictated to transcribed minutes was approximately 1:4 for an average MT for average dictation. So, if you've been given 300 minutes of dictation it might take you 1200 minutes to finish it, divided by 60 minutes equals about 20 hours. Obviously this is just an estimate and could very depending on a lot of factors, but this might give you some idea.
Another conversion I've heard is that one 65-character line equals 6 seconds of audio and so 1 minute of audio equals 10 lines. So, if you are charging by 65-character line, you may be looking at 3000 lines or so, which when using the above formula would have you typing at about 150 lines per hour for 20 hours, giving you about 3000 lines.
Sounds like this is very doable, typing for 7-8 hours per day if you have until the end of Wednesday. If it has to be back by Wednesday morning, you will have to work 10+ hours per day on it today and tomorrow.
;)
Christine
Thank you for response. :( I figured it was nearly impossible for transcribed lines.
I think my co. wants me to quit...
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