No reason to become certified. You will not be paid well enough to
Posted By: Forget it! on 2009-02-21
In Reply to: How much studying to take CMT exam? - EmmaMT
compensate for the annual dues, seminars you must attend, etc. to maintain your certification. Not worth it. You do not need it to work as a medical transcriptionist. The AAMT, now ADHI, has been our downfall and a hindrance, not our advocate.
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she should not be paid to commute; and, there is a reason
as I stated below under Specifics post, maybe it is her production, and she needs to ask what the decision to bring them back into the office is. She can ask the office MTs what their production is, to compare, for example, to see if that is part of the problem.
I too am not paid by the line and I do NOT type. I do QA. There is a reason for QA because
MT has taken a toll on my body. Some companies will pull you in there as QA and then try to have you transcribe...if you do it once for them, they will ask you all the time.
Now, as far as pay....$15.50 to $16 is average for non-CMT employee per hour.
Line pay I have paid no attention to because any company that has true QA will not pay by the line. Quality means quality all the way.
For QA consulting I'm paid per hour; QA instructing (college) paid salary, QA editing paid per li
I am an IC and work for two different MTSOs as well as instruct at a business college.
should I get certified?
I'm fairly new to this site, and all of you seem to have so much knowledge and experience. Next month, I will be eligible to take the CMT exam. Currently I work in-house at a hospital. Certification is not a requirement, and I am not even sure if it is recognized. I'm considering certification because of the possible benefit to me if I do need a job elsewhere. In your opinion/experience, is it worth it?
Becoming Certified??
I'm wondering how hard it is to get your certification and what the positives are to becoming certified? Is the pay better? Do you have more opportunites, etc?
Do editors have to be certified? - nm
--
Bad transcriptionsts can get certified,
just like bad teachers. It is just a title.
I agree. I am not certified.
organization that says I am is the answer. I feel if the organization is for MTs, then the test should be free for anyone who wants to take it. I think the fee is all part of the money making scheme set forth by any and all organizations aimed at certain professions.
Experience is the gravy in this main meal. Once you've got it, you pretty much have it in the bag and do not need initials after your name to make you look good.
I would not advise a new MT in this day and age to go straight to online work for a national. Go in-house at least part-time and learn all that you can. That is by far more favorable than initials after your name, for sure, all in my opinion, of course!
yes sent a certified letter ...(sm)
which was an invoice/demand for payment. Then waited 10 days to file in small claims court. This happened in California. I'm not sure how much you're owed, but check with the court to see what their limit is and GO GET YOUR MONEY :D
Good luck to you :D
Certified MT, Is it worth getting??
nt
send a certified letter
to the company, and make sure you put a CC: to an esquire with an address - if you have to, just make up a name, they never check.
Put in the letter that you are sending a CERTIFIED written notice giving them such and such number of days to respond to the letter from the time it is signed for receipt to pay the amount that is owed to you. Notify them in your letter that you will be contacting small claims court to file a suit (which can be done out of state), as well as contacting their state attorney general's office of illegal business practices. Make sure you put down who their state attorney general is so that the company knows you are not kidding around.
You don't need to check out those schools. I am a certified
medical assistant who fell into transcription after only 5 years of doing clinical work. I started doing transcription at home for the same physicians I was working for as an MA. I had the ability to type fast and obviously the knowledge and terminology because of my experience as an MA. After that, I had no trouble whatsoever finding a position with a national. I have since had NO problems AT ALL finding positions without going to a school to learn how to be an MT because of my experience in the field as a medical assistant and the ability to type. If you have 30 years of nursing experience and can type, I would think you shouldn't have a problem finding a position if I didn't.
Question re: certified mail
I wasnt home today when the mail arrived, but the mailman left a postcard that my husband has a piece of certified mail to p/u. The sender is listed as from the Clerk of Courts... What do you think it could be? Nothing good I am sure!!!
Registered/Certified does not get you any more money
in the real world.
I'm a CMA (certified medical assistant)...
and can give injections with a doctor's order, so I assume a CNA would be allowed to also. Not sure about Florida rules though.
A physician won't care if you're certified and neither will his... SM
office manager. When will MTs learn that certification means absolutely, positively nothing?
Butr I digress. I would make the rounds if I were you. Handout business cards, talk to office managers, have brochures ready, and follow up conversations with a letter of thank you and "please keep me in mind." It's hard to say exactly what a physician is looking for regarding transcription. I have found it depends a lot on the age of the doctor. Older doctors are more old school and like the control of having an in-house person typing for them. Younger doctors are technology driven and like the idea of an electronic record and having an MT type outside the office and electronically transfer it in.
Another thing I do is always carry business cards with me to doctor's appointments. One of my accounts is a dermatology practice. I was referred for a mole removal and got to talking to the physician about what I do for a living and she asked me to leave a card with the receptionist on my way out because they were needing more help with their transcription. I did and then sent a letter with another card praising her bedside manner and her office staff and then reminded her that I had left my card and if she ever decided to get some extra help, to please give me a call. She had her office manager call me and it is my main money maker.
Good Luck to you!
Start with a Certified Mail letter.
Make sure you send your letter Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. They will have to sign saying that they received the letter. You should detail the exactly amount you are owed, a date you expect payment by and what your next step will be should they not pay you by that date. Typically, your next step would be Small Claims Court, usually administered by a local District Justice/Justice of the Peace. Be sure that you state in your letter that they would be responsible for any costs incurred should you need to go to the DJ/JP.
Step one, send a Certified Letter...
Return Receipt Requested (CLRRR). Keep the signed receipt as proof that they have received the letter. Your letter to them should outline what service you performed for them and what is owed for that service, the time by which you expect to recieve payment, the form that payment should be in, and what the next step(s) you take will be should they not pay up. Also, if the CLRRR is returned to you, keep it to show that you tried to contact them and go to Step Two, which would be to file a Small Claims judgement against them. Depending on where you live, this can be done at a District Justice's office and does not require the services of a lawyer. If you have to go to that step, make sure that you include the cost of filing that judgement in what you are owed. Just showing that you're smart enough to know what to do and how to get it done should be enough motivation for them to pay up. Good luck!
MTIA...we want you certified, or you won't work. That's what it boils down to.
PRESS RELEASE:
**** Please post URLs, not actual copyrighted materials. ****
My jury duty papers didn't come in certified. sm
They were just left in the mailbox.
You don't get certified taking a program. You test & pass your
s
Send him a certified letter with bill demanding payment within
within five days from receipt (make it RRR). You have your proof that you notified him. If it is not picked up or signed for, you have your proof that occurred to. All these things go in your favor when trying to collect money. that's just a starter. I would never have let him get away with it this long. Once would have been it.
Yes a SCAM, huge email fraud..they would notify you CERTIFIED MAIL or lawyer would call
 I get 2-5 of them a day...ALL FOREIGN using yahoo or hotmail.
if mt paid 9, editor paid 4 or 5...how can company charge 14 and make it..sm
I know the going rate in our area is 14 cents per line. As MTs most companies here pay us 8 or 9 cents a line. Now add in the Editor rate at 4 or 5 per line..you are paying OUT more than you can charge a line. How would companies stay in biz?
Unless all work is sent by the company overseas at pennies per line, this would not pay for a company.
just curious how this works out
But how much are the US EDs gonna be paid? Typically this work is paid at 2-3 cpl. nm
:+
You don't get paid an hourly rate you get paid by line - sm
so because of how you are paid (not an hourly rate) you don't get OT, especially if you are an IC.
I would move on. I think it is so unfair not to be paid for spaces! I think we should get paid
per keystroke, but that'll never happen. I just think that these national companies are going to keep finding ways to cheat us. I found a job working for a hospital as an employee, paid hourly plus incentive, and they let us expand everything! Somebody's gonna have to kill me to make me give up this job. I will never go back to the national's again.
I feel for you though. I know that for us MTs those good jobs are few and far between and some have little choice but to work for the nationals. I just happened to luck into the job I have now. I just applied at the right time.
Good luck to you whatever you decide.
If those companies paid a fair wage, and paid more
all came out equal, people wouldn't feel the need to try to make up the deficit by going for the good stuff. I actually prefer the harder, juicier reports. But I can't make a living doing only that, because the pay is not commensurate with the difficulty. So even though I prefer not to, sometimes I have to pick up some of the easier, more boring 'line-o-matic' reports just to make ends meet. Tell your MTSO to make it work their while, and MTs will stop taking all the easy work away that you obviously would prefer to keep for yourself.
You wont show UE being paid because it is employer paid -
the employee will never have to pay this.
What you "should" be paid and what you "are" paid
sadly are two very different things. Good luck on demanding more..because someone else will just come along and take it for what they offer and they know it. 
10$ late if invoice is not paid within 10 days. At day 15 work stops until invoice is paid. Hardly
xx
the reason you (and I) don't get it is sm
probably cause it is a gross exaggeration of their production. No one could produce that much, unless they kept their fingers glued to the keyboard. I'm sorry, it's just not possible. Don't beat yourself up because of other people. Be proud of who you are and what you do! 
For some reason if you have a different
opinion than the people reading your post, they tend to grow fangs and sharp fingernails and tear you up. I don't understand this as we all have the right to our opinion. We need to work on a solution to resolve this issue not attack one another. We don't know what kind of situation the other posters are in and they don't know what position we are in. Just because one person has a wonderful experience with MQ and DQS does not make the person posting a bad experience with MQ and DQS a liar. It simply means that you are in different situations.
Reason
The reason for that is straightforward: the owner of the other website is very pro-offshore MT transcription and apparently is in cahouts with the MQ execs up to her eyeballs. Nothing wrong with, nothing illegal, all very straight up, but all very you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours. They LIKE each other, and the other website simply will not tolerate any negative MQ comments. And here? Well, the truth is allowed to be aired out. Thank you MT Stars for having the cahoonas!
The reason is for ME's 20% pay cut
They underbid on jobs, telling the client if they use the ASR system they will pay 2 cents less per line, telling them it is such a fast system they can do this. That is not the way it worked out. We are not producing more with it. Expansions were just as good, if not better is some cases and now they have to take the money out of our pockets. (It is on the archives here if you read back through as well.)
There was a reason behind this
As was mentioned, they are not actively seeking offshore. However, in order to keep this very large account (and it is large), they had to use some offshore labor. You know, I don't love it either. However, all of the MTs on this account could have just been out of work. So, now a little of it goes offshore, and the US MTs still have their account and their work. It's not great. It's not the ideal. But, at least we are still working.
You know the reason--
Because some idiot did it and they got sued. When I worked at a hospital years ago, it was July in Phoenix and the temperature was well over 110. We had a guy bring his daughter into the ER with burns on her legs because she went down an outside metal slide at McDonald's and got burns on her legs. His excuse was-- Well, there was no sign on the slide saying it was hot. People are just plain stupid any more.
The reason you don't see many men
in this profession is because they are unwilling to take _____ and they are also unwilling to work so hard for so little pay. I would not recommend this job to anyone just starting out, because I believe it is a dying industry. We are already seeing that now with VR, etc.
One reason why (sm)
Actually, it depends on how the company connects to the internet. At my company we cannot hire any with satellite because we use an IP Sec VPN with our platform (ExText) and there are latency (slowness) issues. If you found a company that uses SSL VPN you would be okay. Here is an article that explains it in a little more technical terms. http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/127542.html
One I like for some reason
"Don't let the screen door hit ya on the way out!"
Perhaps the reason they are
hospitalized is due to a childhood type illness that is better dealt with by a pediatrician.
Reason I'm asking is
I have a friend who uses EXText and says lines seem harder to get with EXText than with other programs. I just interviewed with a company that uses it, and I'm wondering if anyone else has trouble getting lines with this program.
This is another reason why I'm
exploring other career options. Although I've had some bad office experiences I don't think that the constant isolation is good. I agree with the suggestions to get out of the house and away from the computer.
The reason for this...
Many insurance companies are now requiring owners to sign a statement saying they will not knowingly hire anyone who has been convicted of a felony. That's why I believe we are seeing more background checks. Just the nature of the business.
run! run far away! If there was ever a reason for VR, this is IT.
x
And the reason for that is
not that they believe he is the worst. In fact, if you actually look at the site, you will see they are backing him because their whole goal is to "stick it" to AI, Simon, the producers, etc. They are backing Taylor because he is good, he's different, and he's definitely not the manufactured pop star that AI wants. They so don't know what to do with Taylor, just like they didn't know what to do with Clay. I'm sure they would love to have Kat in there because it's easy to market another California diva with the same kind of voice that you hear on the radio every day. Her attitude isn't exactly "idol" material, but then again, I'm sure it's commonplace out there so she'll fit right in. I would have loved to see two polite southern gentleman in the finals. So VFTW is backing Taylor to give a "take that" to AI, and I hope they are successful. I joined the Soul Patrol way back...right after the auditions...and I would love nothing better than to see Taylor make it all the way and welcome any help we can get.
Here's one reason
I didn't know it meant "no message". I just saw it used a lot, so I used it, thinking it was for anyone who didn't want to make up a nickname.
Would the reason you think he
sounds dumb be because of his accent? He's southern. He can't help it. But he is certainly not dumb.
Oh, the other reason is
when she e-mailed me about losing that account, she asked if I had any experience in another specialty, which I had very little of and told her so, and I have not heard back from her.
They do this for a reason. sm
The reason they give you a test that has bad audio or is otherwise difficult is because they want to see how you will handle the situation. On the job, you WILL encounter reports which have bad audio or spots that you cannot understand. It is just a simple fact of life in this field. They need to know what you will do when confronted with this situation. Will you try to gloss over your blanks and guess, or will you flag appropriately? I have worked in QA, and you would be amazed at the number of "transcriptionists" out there who will fill in whatever nonsense sounds close rather than flagging a spot appropriately. It's actually very scary. These companies just want to see if you know how to correctly handle dictation which is unintelligible. They aren't trying to make a mockery of the profession.
well one reason could be
for example, a heart condition runs in my friend's family (the condition that sometimes causes athletes to suddenly drop dead for no apparent reason) and her doctor told her that all her children should be tested because it was a 50/50 chance they would have it too. So I would imagine if her kids were still in school it might benefit the school to know this, especially if the child was involved with sports. Perhaps knowing this the school might invest in a defibrillator.
I don't know if that is the reason they ask about family history but we don't really know why they ask for it so I would probably find out why they needed that information before I either gave it out or assumed they couldn't possibly need it.
I was a little surprised at this response- It didn't sound to me like Pattie was ignoring other people's opinions, just stating her own. I certainly don't think she was trying to offend anyone. Lighten up a little. :)
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