More at-home transcription questions

Hi everybody. . . I have some more questions about at-home transcription.  Can anybody tell me the definitions to some terms or a glossary where I can find them. What is an IC? What is acute care? What are Basic 4 or Big 4 Reports? Also, when a company advertising for an employee says they will provide the software, does this generally mean just the transcription software? Does this tend to include text Expander and spellchecker as well? Thanks!

• More at-home transcription questions - Scott Schneider
  • A few answers - Dreamweaver
  • ?s - MT

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I just started using Transcription Gear/FTP and have some questions.

Do you keep TG open all the time? Do you keep Gear Export open all the time?

How do you send your work to the doctor? Right now I create my document in Word XP, save it, exit, and then go through several steps to paste the document to the medical records FTP site.  Seems like too many steps.

Any help with this and/or with TG in general would be most welcome.

Thank you.

I am looking for other Transcriptionist that have cardiology and sleep study backgrounds. I am a newer MT, I am starting a cardiology and sleep study transcription account next week and have never transcribed for this specialty.

I wanted to know if there are specific word books or websites that you find helpful and are there specific things that you could tell me about the specialty that may help me?

I would appreciate any feedback

Thanks,

Angie

When you work for yourself which voice player do you prefer?  I have tried all of the above players and all of them seem to distort the voice when you slow it down.  Why can't these players slow down files like the platforms MTSOs use? 

I left a hospital job last year after working there for five years, strictly because of office politics and a hostile environment.  The department managers offered me the "opportunity" to resign because my coworkers found it difficult to work with me, despite my trying very hard every day to be pleasant, cooperative, and a "team player".  The managers didn't care how good my work was, nor how it compared to the other MTs - much less how hard I had tried to fit in in that dog-eat-dog environment.

The radiologists knew that I was the best MT they had, though. The next day one of them called me at home and said, "Who is going to take care of me now??!!!"  I was always catching his mistakes - some of them BIG ones - and bringing them to his attention. None of the other MTs at the hospital did that. I am now doing the overflow work from their outpatient office (along with another part-time job with a local MTSO).

I wouldn't go back to working in a hospital no matter how much they paid me. Yes, at-home transcription pay sucks. But you don't have to put up with all the cr@p that goes on in an office. And if it gets too bad, you can just move on to the next company.

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! 

One on one with a kid is nice, too.

This summer has been absolutely crazy.  I haven't had a moment to myself for three months because all of my kids were home traipsing their friends through the house and yard.  My husband switched his work schedule, too, so he's around more than usual.  However, I like not having to do two loads of dishes and four loads of laundry a day.  There are no toys or clutter dragged out everywhere.  I can clean the house first thing in the morning, and it stays clean until everyone gets home at night.

I even got to relax with a cup of coffee and watch TV for half an hour this morning, something I liked for a change instead of cartoons or kids' movies.  I signed up for an online class that I've been wanting to take.  I can exercise without being interrupted.  Yesterday, I went to the mall and spent all my saved up gift cards.  I got some clothes, books, bath stuff, and a new coffee mug.  My work gets done a lot faster, too.  Call me nuts, but I've never had the luxury of being alone in the house for 14 years.  It's kinda nice.  I love my family with all my heart, but I love having a few hours to myself each week, too.

Except now the cat and dogs have been acting weird since the kids went back to school.  They must think that I need someone or something to clean up after and correct behavior on.  They're getting into everything and racing around the house behind me.

I have an interview today with a hospital...work in-house for 3 months, then go home, paid on production. I don't know as of yet what they pay production, so my question is to anyone who works for a hospital at home AND has also worked for a national at home...

Which would be the best to choose? The hospital offers great benefits, but the national I work for now also has benefits, not as good as the hospital, though.  Any input would be most appreciated!

i am very interested in taking courses on mt and would like some help in guiding me in the right direction....can someone help me on that

If a person takes a job and finds out they aren't happy and then looks for another job, what happens if the recruiter overpromised?  Do they find another job?  And if they find another job and that one is running out of work all the time, do they start the search again? 

Final question....if they do all this, why do so many people on the boards call people who complain about companies good-for-nothing job hoppers who are never happy?

you can be an employee and ask, what will be my new

pay under the new plan.......NOBODY KNOWS.

you can ask what do you pay to be an Editor of voice recognition....

NOBODY KNOWS

But at the same time they want people to work for them.

Now you are saying there's a new mystery something?  This is

hilarious.

No legit company every does business this way.

Is this something that will happen on a regular basis?  How often do bipolar people get like this?  Is this the worst of it?  We both watch each other's kids a lot, and my kids absolutely love her.  But I'm a little worried now that it might not be safe. 

I'm also concerned for her as she just started a new job and is working on her master's degree.  I'm afraid that she may fail at both if she doesn't get this under control.  Is there anything I can do to help her? 

Do you find their work flow to be consistent - you don't run out or anything? It is really hard for me to decide to make a move - am not happy where I am at and want to come back home, but have really good insurance for family - I know there is no perfect place to work, but I would just like to enjoy getting up and working again without all the office politics. Thank you for being so open in talking - I find this board much easier to talk on than the previous one I was on - more open answers. Also, what kind of platform is used. Do you have to type in demographics and if so, do you get paid for them? Do you have a good word Expander and macros? It is so hard to make changes and want to know as many specifics as I can before I apply.

Thank you so much.

Do you charge more for printing?  How did you know the price range to charge? I live in a rural area and I have no idea what people are paying for this and I would feel stupid asking them what they are paying.  Did you go to the office in person and sell yourself or did you do mailings?  I don't know anyone in my area that is doing this so I am kinda walking bling here. I am sure I can do the work, it is just sollicting the accounts that I fear.  THanks to all that responded

To those of you who so kindly gave me advice on working from home:

What kind of equipment should I invest in?  Do most companies us the internet. One company I talked with still has clients that us Lanier equipment.

#1 I would think would be a wav pedal and headset but what about an LX-219?

What do you use?

Thanks

I have an office going to EMR with voice recognition software.  The OM tells me I will still have this account because there is no way the VR will work for their Indian doctor and another doctor that mumbles horribly.  Is there anyone that has experienced this?  Also, will editing of the VR be needed?  The OM mentioned that if it does work, she will need me to edit reports.  How much does one make per line for editing VR?

I know I have lots of questions, but this is my largest account and with a disabled hubby and three kids, I'm a panicked breadwinner right now.

Thanks!

I get the feeling that many MTSO do not liked to be asked questions.  If I am looking to make a switch I am just looking out for myself.  Mind you, I send in the resume and THEY call me. While I may get some that offer 3 insights to the job right off the bat, if I ask if there is a chance to make more of a base pay I either don't hear from them or they think I should look into something else.  I have run across 1 company that was very very informative without me asking too much, but they didn't have direct deposit, and they were on the other side of the country from where I am and was just not too keen on the thought of a check by mail. I guess I'm just kind of feeling not to happy right now with all of this.  Thanks for listening. 

You have several hundred addresses typed out, but are they in a table format or free style?  If table, then keep the doc open, then go to Tools, Envelopes and Labels, select the label you are going to use under options (refer to the Avery label sheet for label number).  Then you click New Document.  Go to the doc where you have the addresses, select all and copy and paste.  You may have to copy and paste by table row, to make it work correctly.

If you are trying to integrate them into a Word Mail Merge doc/letter, I can explain but Word help does a much better job.  Look in Help, Mail Merge, data source, show data source, or something like that.

What companies do you use and what were the up-front costs?  I believe the monthly fee is around 50 dollars from what I've seen.  Thanks in advance.

I work for a small doctor’s office and the time has come for us to have outside transcriptionists working as independent contractors.  How do I set this up for them to send me their completed work via FTP? Help!! The only thing I understand about the FTP is you can transfer files from computer to computer securely – the rest I am totally lost about.  How do I set it up? How/where do I log on to get the work? How/where do they deliver the work?