MTs have threatened this as far back as 1999. It never happens.

• How many MTs and MEs would be willing to have a walk out - DESPITELY CURIOUS
  • It would just give them more of a reason to send EVERYTHING to India - MQ Slave
    • Good/let them send it all to India! and stop the slow bleed - they are doing to us in the States
      • Brilliant. And put 8K MTs out of work. - Busy MT'ing
        • Busy MT, your statement doesn't make a lot of sense. First of all, if US staff did walk out, MQ - would be in a huge lurch (sm)
  • Haven't read any other posts, but isn't that kind of premature? sm - another MQ MT
  • Try looking outside of MQ. Pay is getting less and less. - Nothing can be done.
  • exactly what would you like to have done? People would need to know what they were (sm - wondering
  • Addendum: But ya'll go ahead! :) - Busy MT'ing
  • Absolutely not. - Busy MT'ing
  • It would never work without EVERYONE sticking together! - and many times, people are all talk
  • Despitely Curious - Carrie
    • I'm glad you asked because I was wondering that, too. nm - x
  • I'm afraid I'm simply too loyal to MQ... - MQFaithful
    • Learn a lesson quickly... - MQ
    • How can you feel loyalty to a company that so clearly has no regard for a large portion of its MTs. - But then, I guess there were some that were loyal
      • About loyalty to MQ, sorry lm - Nanna23
      • loyal to Hitle, (Finish of above post) - nm
    • Personally, I'd be afraid to be loyal to MQ. - couldn't resist
      • mq - sharon brown
  • Ya know - hh
    • MTs have threatened this as far back as 1999. It never happens. - Remember the patients!
    • scare tactic ?? - and your point
      • scare tactics? - hh
  • lets do it - could be done
  • abandoning the wkend - what are you thinking
    • Oh my you would have Amherst in a scramble letting their reports get 2 hours old. Gee, they would - MQMT
  • What is going to be done by Oct 1st? - I would be careful
    • With the many changes efforting the MT/MEs - DESPITELY CURIOUS
      • Why are ME's being cut 20%? - Liz
        • The reason is for ME's 20% pay cut - DES[PITELY CURIOUS
          • Oh, well, by all means if it is HERE then it is the TRUTH. - Busy MT'ing
  • I might consider it - MQ FT
    • Count me in for no working this weekend - MQMT Mi-Florida
    • MQ/ME - michigan MT
      • Are these MEs working on site or at home - MQMT Mi-Fla

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certain posts some months ago essentially about the same subject content as now.  If Jay truly owes previous employees and current employees clearly it would behoove him to do so as it certainly doesn't look very good when his indiscretions are plastered all over MT sites.

Administrator

REMEMBER WHEN THIS STORY BROKE? Finally, somebody is dealing with the issue. Check this out!

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/41035-1.html

VA IT security gaps extend to contractors
06/14/06 -- 04:15 PM
By Mary Mosquera,

Rep. Buyer: Department CIO needs IT security enforcement authority
 
[b]The Veterans Affairs Department said today that it has been investigating allegations that an offshore medical transcription subcontractor last year threatened to expose 30,000 veterans’ electronic health records on the Internet in a payment dispute with a VA contractor. [/b]
The VA assistant inspector general referred to the investigation during questioning in a congressional hearing on VA’s data security environment in the wake of the theft of sensitive data of 26.5 million veterans, active duty military and reserves officers.

The medical transcription incident highlights how gaps in information security also extend to contractors, said Michael Staley, VA’s assistant inspector general for auditing. Some VA medical transcription contractors have used offshore subcontractors in India and Pakistan without VA’s approval and without adequate controls to ensure veterans’ health information was secure under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, according to an audit released today.

“Contracts do not specify criteria for how to protect information,” Staley told the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

Staley enumerated audits of information management security under the Federal Information Security Management Act, the Consolidated Financial Statement and Combined Assessment Program that revealed significant vulnerabilities. These include VA not controlling and monitoring employee access, not restricting users to only the data they need and not terminating accounts of departing employees in a timely manner.

In last year’s FISMA review, the IG provided 16 recommendations, including addressing security vulnerabilities of unauthorized access and misuse of sensitive information and data throughout VA demonstrated during its field testing. All 16 recommendations remain open, he said.

Audits also found instances where out-based employees send veterans’ medical information to the VA regional office through unencrypted e-mail; monitoring remote network access and usage does not routinely occur; and off-duty users’ access to VA computer systems and sensitive information is not restricted.

“VA has implemented some recommendations for specific locations identified but has not made corrections VA-wide,” he said.

From fiscal years 2000 to 2005, the IG identified IT and security deficiencies in 141, or 78 percent, of 181 Veterans Health Administration facilities reviewed, and 37, or 67 percent, of the 55 Veterans Benefits Administration facilities reviewed.

“We recommended that VA pursue a more centralized approach, apply appropriate resources and establish a clear chain of command and accountability structure to implement and enforce IT internal controls,” Staley said.

The underlying situation is the VA’s department CIO does not have authority to enforce compliance with data security and information management and recommendations from GAO, said Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Steve Buyer (R-Ind.).

Buyer traced problems in security enforcement to a memo dated April 2004 from the general counsel that said the department CIO did not have enforcement authority.

The CIO, undersecretaries who lead VA’s benefits, health and burial administrations, and the VA secretary share responsibility for enforcement, said Gregory Wilshusen, director of information security issues for the Government Accountability Office.

“Information security is a governmentwide problem, and we have talked with OMB about that,” said Linda Koontz, director of GAO’s information management issues.

Buyer expressed frustration that there are no consequences for “recalcitrant” agencies that do not correct problems that GAO has repeatedly highlighted. He cited the Privacy Act, which has been strengthened with consequences.

“If you have a bureaucracy so strong in the department that the secretary or political bodies are unable to act, don’t you think the president or vice president or OMB needs to know that because there are monetary consequences behind that inaction? I’m bothered that GAO doesn’t have the higher authority to which they can turn,” Buyer said after the hearing.

After several more hearings this month, Buyer and his committee will make recommendations or craft legislation. He suggested that Congress consider looking at strengthening FISMA.

“We can even come up with that in our language, but we’re not going to have jurisdiction over that. We’ll have to work with Mr. Davis [House Government Reform Committee chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.)] and his committee. I’d be more than happy to do that,” he said.

© 1996-2006 Post-Newsweek Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I'm glad I did.  I haven't had any problems other than the dry eye syndrome, so I use artificial tears every day.  I had both eyes corrected but the right eye regressed leaving me with mono-vision, so I didn't need glasses to drive or to read. By now though I do need reading glasses.  

x

I'm not sure how many people they are hiring but you shouldn't stress too hard over it. Do the best you can.

I actually tried to dump a report today, which I never do, because it somehow got into my pool in error (not my area of expertise), but it jumped right back up at me after the next report.  So I decided to just do it.  I don't know how well I did, but I did it.  It was over 150 lines long and took me forever.  Lo and behold, 5 reports later, same guy, same type of report 145 lines. Second time around was easier and faster though.  The way I see it is that if I get negative feedback, I'll let them know that those kind of reports really shouldn't come my way.

But cherry picking for line count is just plain wrong.

The other jobs I took involved quite a bit of computer use, too.  I got tired of the office politics and other garbage, so I'm doing MT again.  Now, I prop my keyboard up with a block of wood, although you can use a telescoping keyboard drawer/shelf to do the same thing.  I have a habit of letting my wrists rest on the keyboard, so I had to modify it to get my hands into the proper position.  It might have helped if I had taken piano lessons.  LOL  The only time my wrists ache now is if I work too much, which has been the case lately.  I don't know if it would be helpful for you to try.  I've been doing data entry or some form of computer input work for 17 years now, so I'm hoping carpal tunnel or repetitive motion injury isn't definitely in my future.

I was told the same about two years ago by recruiter in Midwest.  She did not give specifics, but basically said that the full time employees would get priority if the work was low. 

I have a 1936 medical dictionary that the hospital I used to work at was going to throw  out. It's leather bound, but the cover is missing. There is actually a section on using leeches for medical treatment.

Think about it. How far back does MT go? The docs used to write notes and then they had the nurses write the notes, but how far back does the first actual typewritten MT report go?  Did they hire someone to type while they talked to them. Someone posted below about an MT that sat in on autopsies to type the findings. Hmmmmm. Interesting.

The old doc I used to work for (with the typewriter) was from the old school and always did handwritten notes until the insurance companies required them either printed or typed. He reluctantly hired a Transcriptionist but this was in the mid-1980's and he was still grumbling about paying someone to type what he could write when I worked there in 1994.