Mac she asked reasonable questions

For once can you ditch the negativity, try having a positive attitude and be a little gracious??

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taking the position. I used to take a list I prepared myself of questions to ask on my first day. It usually worked out fine.

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I just recently went back to work in the office at a local hospital. We type in both Meditech and Cerner, depending on what you are typing, i.e. Medical Records reports versus Radiology.  We are currently typing blindly in Meditech, meaning we do not have access to our line counts and must depend on management to give us our totals.  In Cerner, we are able to run a line count report and print out a hard copy of our line counts at the end of the day.

We are finding that 800 lines in Cerner equals about 500 lines in Meditech.  We are not paid per line nor do we have an incentive plan, but we have a new HIM Director who would like to institute an incentive plan and the administrator over our department has laid down the law and decreed that all transcriptionists not making minimum in the department will be written up.  Problem is according to Meditech line totals that we have been given, that would be about half the department.

The transcription supervisor has taken our concerns to the new director who told the MT Supervisor to hold off on writing people and has taken home all the line counts from the last month and she is going over them with a fine tooth comb this weekend.

I am not a very trusting soul by nature, so I am doing a little research on my own.  I've been in this business for about 15 years.  I started out in a hospital and have worked for a few services at home and am now back in the hospital setting.  So I know a few things about line count and I consider myself to be pretty well informed on trends and technology in the industry.   I would like to walk into our next department meeting armed with as much knowledge as possible.  So I have come up with some questions that I would like some fellow MTs to answer, give opinions, and maybe even direct me to websites or individuals who could give me a better understanding of Meditech and Cerner.  Here are my questions:

1. Is it possible for an MT to have access to her line count in Meditech or is strictly a management function?  Any MTs that work in Meditech on this board, do you currently have access to your line counts and if so, how do you check them?  Is it an option on the main menu after you log into Meditech?


2. How is a line defined in Meditech?  (i.e. 65 cpl, with spaces, without spaces)


3. How is a line defined in Cerner?


4. What abbreviation Expanders work with both Meditech and Cerner?


5. Examples of incentive plans (if anyone would like to share that with me that would be great, if not I completely understand).


6. Measuring productivity by minutes of dictation versus typed lines.




1. What would be the minimum minutes required for an 8-hour day?


2. How would one structure an incentive program based on minutes?

I was thinking of presenting the idea that we keep track of productivity using minutes instead of lines since there is such a discrepancy in Meditech.  I also worry that if an incentive plan is put into place and we are still typing blind into Meditech, what's to keep management from shaving off a few lines here and there?

Feel free to email me or post here any responses.  Either is fine.  I really appreciate any input, comments, or just plain old supportive posts would be nice too! 

I am an IC and considering buying a VR program, but I would like to know which is the most accurate, and also cost is a factor too.  Does anyone have any recommendations, good or bad?  I hear a lot about Dragon, but I am hesitant because I have heard it takes a long time to train it to your voice.   

Thanks for any and all advice. 

What would be a reasonable cpl to expect as full-time employee (not IC) with a national if you have no experience but do have MT education from one of the AAMT-approved schools?

My docs have now switched to a new platform, which does not utilize counting lines, which is how I am paid now.  They suggested paying by time, but that would be irritating for me to have to keep track and multiply and do all sorts of other stuff by hand (rather than having software to do it).

I have thought about asking them to pay me on salary.  I have been with them for 7 years with no raise.  NO RAISE EVER.  Seven years this September, and I have made between 25 and 28 thousand dollars each year with them.

I am thinking of asking for $36,000 a year and was wondering how reasonable that is.  I get absolutely no benefits from them and in turn, have to pay my own health insurance, retirement, taxes, etc. (so really it would be about 24K a year).

Any advice?   thanks so much

I take of a penny a line for each of these things:

1.  Digital. 2. No printing.

Or you can start at your bottom line and add a penny for 1. Pickup 2. Printing. 3. Delivery.

That's just how I do it.

notify them that you will be filing complaints with the Department of Labor, the BBB, the FTC, the state attorney general's office, and small claims court.

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just keep it in mind for the future. www.chad.org. Also there are some informative videos at coolnurse.com. About 10 videos regarding ADHD. you will have do a search on the site but it's worth it. If it's in her father's family it could be possible that she has it, and if so, you needed to get educated about it and be her advocate. School systems respond very well to confident, well prepared parents who come in to meet for a plan that allows for reasonable accomodations. I've been doing it for years.

Multivitamin - prenatal (as directed by GYN dr, I'm perimenopausal)

flaxseed oil (1,000 mg) once daily)

Chromium picolinate (500 mcg) one daily

B-150 vitamin one daily

Green Tea capsule (315 mg)  one daily

Calcium, magnesium and Zinc (combined tablet)

I can skip a few days and can really tell it. My energy level really decreases.

I have people I do not know that heard from someone that I work at home and want to know what it takes to get into it.  Until this discovering this board this year, I would tell them that I lucked up into the job.  I worked at the hospital and because of a sick child I was allowed to go home to work aftering working in a clinic setting for four years and hospital for two years.  I also tell them it takes a lot of discipline to work and not do other things that needs to be done around the house.  I don't mind explaining to them.  I give them the pros and cons.  What I can't understand is why do they think they can call me during working hours and keep me on the phone with questions?

My mother, God bless her, was adamant in her wishes to be placed in a nursing home when the time came so that she wouldn't be a burden on any of us, although we all would have taken her in.  She took care of her mother who was very ill for a long time and she told all of us that she did not want any of us to take her in because of what she went through.

She lived on her own until she was almost 80, despite failing health and my dad having died 15 years before.  When the time came that she knew she didn't have much longer she insisted on the nursing home and stayed there for a short time until she passed away and was buried next to my father on what would have been their 60th wedding anniversary.

I took in my grandmother (my mom's mother) for 3 months back when my mom and dad wanted to go to their winter home. It was hard, as gram was so sick, and I found myself at times wishing I hadn't agreed, but it was one of the best experiences of my life taking care of my grandmother and I'm glad that I had that time with her.

Would I have taken my mom in if she had asked?  You betcha.  In a heartbeat.