Marie, what type of federal job, is this still medical? nm

• I think my MT days are over.....sm - Marie
  • Hey do you have the account your giving up coveredd? :) I'm interested !! - Donna
  • WTG, Marie! Wish you the best. - RMS
  • Congratulations, Marie! I'm so happy for you!!! - sm
  • Marie, what type of federal job, is this still medical? nm - Curious George
    • No not medical. I was surprised to find out...sm - Marie
  • Congratulations on your promotion! - you'll do great!
  • Good luck. We each do what is best for us. nm - nn

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Marie, congratulations to you, sounds really excellent for you, something you will always remember.  HOWEVER!  May I caution you to WATCH WHAT YOU SAY AND WHO YOU SAY IT TO, due to security reasons.  You have already blabbed over the Internet now that the President is coming to your town, and some pair of eyes somewhere has read that and found out where you posted from (YES, really, don't question that for a nanosecond), and goodness knows what else. 

Remember the old adage from WWII:  "Loose lips sink ships."  So is this a joyful celebration and not a terrorist threat?  Of course it is!  But are you being perhaps way to verbal in your enthusiasm and thus not being careful doing your part in SECURITY?    Hmmm, think about it.  Watch what you say at the donut shop.  Hush and be happy, THEN tell all about the great event! 

I am really considering presenting the idea that we measure productivity on minutes transcribed instead of lines.  I don't know if management will go for it, but it seems like the best scenario considering all the trouble we've had.

Thanks again!

If there is a "mother company" that is overall all the smaller companies sometimes the ID could be the same -- I think.  My husband drove a truck for Dalles Mavis that was owned by Active Transportation that all has other comanies.  All of hs W2 forms, etc. came from Active with their ID number on it though he worked directly for Dallas-Mavis.    Even when he moved to Texas and worked there instead of Oregon, his W2's all came from Active. 

They won't be saving anything since if you made $5000 from Company B and they deduct it from Company A, they will be paying taxes more taxes from Company B and less from Company A but again, if there is a corporation over all of the companies, it will all be merged in together to pay taxes on the "profit" from the corporation.   Just like being married, your husband can over withold and pay for your taxes because you merge your income together.   Just hopefully be requesting that they issue you another 1099 that they don't send both into the IRS and so the IRS thinks you made $10,000 and not $5,000.  

It occurred to me that it may be something we mention when writing/calling our government. 

I know that when Levi Strauss closed their factory in Roswell, NM, and sent it down to Mexico (thanks, NAFTA), they gave their workers money to retrain in a new profession.

Surely this is something that can be fought for.  We know darned well the MTSO's won't take money out of their own pocket to do this, but there was/is a government program called TAA which is supposed to help people who have lost work as a result of imports.  I think a case can be made for medical records transcribed overseas as qualifying as "imports". 

I found an old document on line at http://www.edd.ca.gov/pdf_pub_ctr/de8714x.pdf which describes that 3 or more workers who have been affected by imports can petition for federal money for assistance and retraining.  There's also JTPA/WIA which established one-stop career centers and I believe being laid off because of work being sent offshore (or just laid off, period) would qualify people for this program.

There's also this article, which I included a part of, that is talking about IT workers for Computer Sciences Corp (my brother happens to work for them and has survived the layoffs) filing suit....

*The department has long held that programmers who've lost jobs to cheaper, foreign workers aren't eligible for the TAA program because their employers, or employer's customers, are not importing a physical good in the same way as, say, steel manufacturers. A number of federal and state lawmakers have introduced bills that would automatically grant eligibility under the act to IT workers and other white collar professionals, but none has become law.

The labor department initially said that although CSC moved production of its Vantage-One insurance software from East Hartford to CSC India, the software was not an imported "article" as defined by the act. In a lawsuit, the workers asked the U.S. Court of International Trade to overturn the department's ruling. In January, trade court judge Nicholas Tsoucalas ordered the department to revisit the case, noting that, "Labor's interpretation of the law, that software code must be embodied on a physical medium to be an article under the Trade Act, is arbitrary and capricious."

In a Federal Register note published April 11, the Labor Department conceded the point and ruled that the four CSC workers would be eligible to apply for TAA assistance. In ruling, the department said it would henceforth look upon software, whether shipped into the U.S. on a disc or transmitted into the country via telecommunications networks, as a physical product.

Software and similar intangible goods that would have been considered articles for the purposes of the Trade Act if embodied in a physical medium will now be considered articles regardless of their method of transfer," the department wrote.*

Something to think about.

Also, I'm pretty sure we've been far OVERestimating how much money offshore people are paid for transcription.  Their companies might get 1 cent a line after it goes through 3 or 4 edits, but I'm pretty sure the person typing the report and mangling the English is paid more like 1/5 cent per line, which is still pretty good money for them.  My math is based on there being 40 rupees to a dollar, and 1/40 of 8 cents per line is 1/5 cent.  There was that article quoted on the company board from Manilla where they were gloating that their workers got $1 to $2 an hour and, if they're required to transcribe 1200 lines a day, that comes to 1/10 cent per line.  But that was back in 2005.

Back to the 1/5 cent.  So if the report goes through 3 or 4 edits, each getting paid their 1/5, then the Indian company keeps the 2 cents per line which is left over and our dear old MTSO here in the States charges the hospital what...11 cents?..pays our US MT 3 or 4 cents to edit.  So, 3 cents/line to the offshore company, 4 cents/line to our US editor, and the MTSO still pockets the 4 cents/line left over?  Why do you think we're seeing 7 cents/line more and more often as the going rate of pay?

Well, just some things to think about - I get my best ideas late, late at night!

I think states set their own regulations but I do believe that Federal is all one set of rules/regulations.  The police might be able to tell you but I think you'd find out so much more via the internet if you know what state he is in.  I found someone in jail recently.  I put in her name and she is locked up and probably going to get the books slammed at her.  Very young nonthinking girl too. 

All states and even federales have websites.  You can type in INMATE information and then the state and all kinds of links will come up.  You can probably this way find his name at some institution and if paroled, call the institution he was paroled from and find out more details if possible.

BEST of luck on this!!!  The internet is great for finding even old friends (I found several 30+ years after being in contact).

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

ALL STATES PAY MINIMUM WAGE DIFFERENTLY - i.e., Arizona says *No state minimum wage law.*

Your SS is figured in on your schedule C -- after your deductions you pay on your net income and that is added to your federal taxes and you send in one check and pay it all.  You can do quarterly if you do not have a husband to over withold from or if you are not an employee on another job.  Social Security and Federal taxes are not two entities -- but one.

Patti

and Tessier's The Surgical Word Book, 3rd edition.  Books you could buy used I would say would be Stedman's Pathology and Lab Medicine and Cardiology/Pulmonary word book.  These are all the books I use the most during my day.  You could buy other speciality word books as you need them and could probably go used with those.

I wouldn't bother with buying a drug book, new editions come out every year and I just stick to the FDA website and RXList as my drug references.

Also FYI, not a book, but I use my Stedman's Electronic Medical Dictationary a lot.  It's easier to open the program than it is to pick up a huge 30-pound dictionary.

state attorney general for the state The VLC is located in.  I happened to check it out and they have offices in Niagara Falls, NY and in Ontario.  Be sure to forward copies of every thing your file to them.  You can fill online complaint forms at the FTC website and the NY Attorney General's website.  Print out copies of these forms and mail copies of them after you fill them out to the school with a letter basically stating that you have reported them to these agencies and they will be intervening for you on this matter.

I also like the idea of putting cc's on your correspondence to a local news reporter.  And call them every single day until they are tired of hearing from you!

Good Luck!

among other things.  Basically, federal law states that an employer is not required to offer paid time off or paid holidays.  An employer doesn't have to pay you for time not worked.  It states quite clearly that PTO is an agreement between the employer and employee upon hire.  So, if you have an agreement with your employer stating you accrue PTO and get certain Holidays off with pay, then upon termination or resignation, you are entitled to any unused time you have accrued.  However, since not mandated by any state or federal laws, if an employer refuses to pay you for any unused PTO, you will have to take legal action, likely in small claims court.  You will probably eventually win, but you have to decide is it worth all the trouble and legal fees?

When you actually get right down to it, labor laws really don't do much for the working class.  We are not guaranteed anything except minimum wage and a safe work environment.

background and anatomy and physiology knowledge, a transition into coding wouldn't be hard at all.  From what I can tell by looking through my husband's books, an MT would have to learn insurance regulations and legalities.  We've basically got all the medical background down or we should be if we're worth our salt as an MT.

I even contacted AHIMA and found that the qualifications for taking the CCS or CCP coding exams are completion of the a coding program, RHIT program, or RHIA or related work experience.  Transcription is part of HIM, albeit the red-headed stepchild of the HIM department, but a part nonetheless and so satisfies the qualification of having work experience.

The test is tough though.  My husband didn't pass it his first time out and I think I read something like only 20% or so pass it the first time.  So it would probably be best to take some sort of formal coding class, in my opinion.