Obama GUTTING Our Profession!
Posted By: equineluvr on 2009-05-04
In Reply to:
BO's "stimulus" (StealFromUs is more like it!) will disseminate tons of taxpayer dollars so that doctors will go completely electronic in their recordkeeping (including transcription, not just billing), and the company of George Bush's first cousin, Jonathan Bush (CEO of Athenahealth), is cashing in. Of course, Bush is ecstatic about what Obama is doing (both parties answer to the same puppetmasters, after all, so at the end of the day Bush and Obama aren't too far apart when it comes to the big picture anyway).
So some of you who are so mesmerized with BO, please explain how gutting our profession will "create jobs." 
This simultaneously destroys our livelihood while ensuring another transfer of wealth from the taxpayers to the elites/their cronies. So what else is new?!
Don't forget that Obama is Cheney's cousin, so they are all more "connected" than you think.
VIDEO ("Obama Turning Doctors Digital):
Athenahealth's home page:
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This is our profession -- a profession which is dying, I might add. SM
So I should get a hobby so I won't care, like you? A hobby isn't going to pay the bills. I can't afford a hobby because in addition to working for a living, I also have to study in a different career field in my spare for fear that eventually transcription will be strictly an offshore operation!
Obama
Has mentioned numerous times about getting all health records in computer system. I wonder if he is talking about the point and click type? I believe he has mentioned giving funds for getting things going.
Maybe we should write to him to explain it can be done now with our electronic files and that we certianly don't need to use our jobs.? Anyone know how to actually get through to him?
Barack Obama
//
im sorry, you think Obama cares about MTs?
yea, right. im sure all the politicians do, but newsflash Obama as a president is NOT healthy for small businesses
bottom l ine there needs to be a standardized MT industry, but nobody steps up to the plate to create it. The general public has no idea you think? You think they'd like it if their medical records were being done overseas? not so sure most would... they just dont KNOW it. who fights for us anyway?
Obama plan
The company I was working for the past 10 years went digital. It just meant that all records were copied into the computer, including transcribed reports, it had no effect on the transcription department. It only affected those in Medical Records seeing as there was no need to have as many people there anymore to make copies of films, records, etc. I hope this is what he is talking about. There are still alot of companies that have not gone this road and use alot of paper records.
Since Mr. Obama is so wonderful -
By the way, what is Obama's plan to ....sm
address offshoring? I hope he really does do something.
that's why Obama is the most logical choice
x
I've already decided on Obama ----- sm
His opponents and detractors keep saying he's "inexperienced". Yeah, and look what "experienced" politicians have brought to the table in the last few decades.
New ideas are good.
Youth is good.
I think it's time for a new way of doing things in this country, not the same ol'. It's a new world, with new problems (such as the plight of American MTs and other workers), and maybe he'll bring some relief (or at least some new ideas on how to get it) for the dwindling middle class, which has been carrying the weight and finances of this country on its shoulders for too many years.
Time to stop letting our country get s*****d by India, Mexico, Asia, and others. And I think he has the ability to say "no" to these countries without starting a war with them.
Sometimes "inexperience" is a refreshing change.
That's 1 reason why I voted for Obama -
stay in this business is if the tax breaks are ended and the loopholes closed for companies that outsource what used to be good American jobs. Ending offshoring entirely would be nice, but I doubt it'll happen. But it should cost less for companies to hire American workers at a decent, livable wage, than it does to send it offshore. Offshoring should be something they do in a pinch, not as a standard practice. Yeah, so what if they're making more money the way they're doing it now. Doesn't make it right. They're greedy and they're un-American when they put thousands of hard-working American MT's in the poorhouse, or out of a job.
Obama's new task force
Maybe if all of us posted something here about medical transcription jobs being sent overseas, it could help? I'm not exactly sure if this would be the right place, but I think I'm going to write something about it. Have a nice weekend! :)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/strongmiddleclass/
Obama's plan to implement EMR
What do my fellow MTs think about Obama's ambitious plan to implement EMR throughout the US? I had 1 person tell me that means there will not be a need anymore for transcriptionists as physicians/nurses will just input information and create a medical record themselves. Part of me disagrees with this as the work I do is an EMR.
That is What I am asking Obama-here's my letter to him (long)
Dear President Obama:
How's the new job? Keeping busy? Financial security? I'll bet. Are the American people keeping the mortgage on the White House up to date? Great. Kids have everything they need? Wonderful. The American dream.
Me? I lost another job to offshoring - AGAIN! It's funny, I can't seem to find any concrete figures on just how many U.S. jobs are offshored. There are only estimations by different agencies and economists. The Population Reference Bureau stated in October 2008 that it was nearly impossible to get an accurate scale and scope on this, but they estimated about 30 million U.S. jobs are offshored and increasing as I write this. Nothing about the tax implications. Does the government know? See what you can find out. I imagine definite figures are a difficult task since the companies do not seem to want to fess up about just what percentage they are offshoring. You stated you were going to eliminate big tax cuts on these companies doing the offshoring. When did you say that was going to happen? Mr. President, I don't think they care. Just this last quarter they have increased the offshoring significantly due to that very fact. Is there a Plan B, because jobs are leaving the U.S. faster than you can create them. Did you take that into account in your stimulus package?
Now about we the people and that stimulus package. I read that these big banks who received stimulus payments of about $150 million actually requested 20,000 new visas for foreign workers (up one-third). That is not going to happen, is it? With our own money? See what you can find out. We the people have always stimulated the economy, worked hard, and paid taxes. You know, the American dream. Now our jobs are being given to foreign workers who do none of those things. What gives? What impact does the loss of tax dollars and funding toward social security have on this country? No one seems to know. See what you can find out about that too. These figures must be astonishing. If that is not a drain on the system, then the people in line for unemployment income certainly is. The stimulus money is not going to trickle down to us. You see what they are doing with it. The best stimulus package you could give we the people is to save our jobs NOW so we can return to stimulating the economy. We can not spend what we do not have, right? Wouldn't this go a long way toward economic recovery? See what you can find out.
While you are checking on these astonishing figures, let me give you mine. The pretty simple fact is that my unemployment income is only going to be 50% of what I was making and only for a period of about 6 months. Now you know companies are not hiring, right? That would mean that in approximately 3 months something in my budget is going to have to be cut; food, health insurance, heat, the mortgage. Which would you choose?
We the people look forward to hearing from you on how we can just simply get back to work. No bonuses thank you, just our jobs. You know, the American dream.
Jobless in the USA
P.S. Mr. President, I know this was way before your time but no one told me. Did bin Laden win back in 2001? See what you kind find out about that too.
Not just Obama, send to all your representatives
x
Obama's healthcare plan
Anudder MT, Obama's plan will cost 1 trillion dollars and will only give health care to 16 million people out of the 46 million he keeps talking about. Out of that 46 million, about 15 million aren't even Americans - they're here illegally - and I don't know about you, but I don't want to pay for their healthcare in addition to my own. YOU may be rich, but I'm not, and if that makes me selfish, so be it.
And FYI, in Massachusetts, their mandatory single payer plan was supposed to cost 125 million but 3 years after implementing it, the cost has risen to 800 million. How do you know when a politician is lying? His lips are moving. And I hate to break it to all the Obama fans, but he lied when he said he wanted to rise above politics as usual. He's a Chicago politician, the worst thug of all.
For your information, I voted for Obama already last week, but..
I don't know what politics has to do with my post. I only posted that I greatly increased my personal line rate per hour with sitting my butt down and actually doing my work and not finding other little things to do.
Yes, there are days when I want to pull my hair out with my ESLs and there are days when everything flows just fine. I am in the same boat as everyone else as an MT. And the things you are mentioning are beyond your control - I was increasing my line count with the one thing that is within my control - staying seated and typing.
The new Obama Plan for Health Records
So, anyone out there --- What do u think this new proposed plan of National Health Records being computerized within 5 years? What would this mean for MTs. CNN says it would require thousands of highly skilled Medical Records experts to get it on board. Any comments? Is this a good sign for those of us in the Health Documentation career field. And could it mean tighter control of records going off shore?
Yes! Today the Obama head economist said...sm
no more tax loopholes for companies that outsource American jobs. Now Congress just has to pass the bill!
GOT A RESPONSE ON THE LETTER TO OBAMA FROM 1 NEWSPAPER - Not Sure What to Do
It is just a small town paper, asking some general questions about outsourcing/offshoring, pay, types of businesses, etc. I told him I could not tell him what I actually do for a living or name my company. Can he find that out?
I also sent the letter to the Washington Post, Fox News, NY Times, Associates Press, 60 Minutes, and USA Today. I inserted in the letter about uncertain figures that by my calculation, the number of jobs offshored would be more or less the equivalent to the total population in 3 states in the U.S.
What will I do if they find out who I am and who I worked for? Can I be sued?
Once President-Elect Obama is in office, we'll
in the last 15+ years to make our voices heard. He, too, wants to tax the crap out of companies that offshore American work, which is as it SHOULD BE! Why should America be ENCOURAGING companies to offshore?
India was one of the few (if any) countries in the world who was not happy to see Obama get elected, and precisely because of his views on offshoring , and taxing the companies that do it. He will be getting his ducks in a row and formulating his agenda in the first months of office, and that is the time to be sure that all members of our government who can be reached by phone, letter, or email, should be given specific feedback on how offshoring medical records is hurting US, as well as patients, and the rest of the country.
Please! This is called progress and it was in effect long before Obama came into office.
Try being a freethinker for once and stop following whatever someone else tells you based on supposed "facts."
I just sent Bill O'Reilly a copy of letter I sent to President Obama. Anyone who can, email him
while the topic is fresh from his recent show. I do think Bill O'Reilly can at least get this offshoring debate out there, and right now we need publicity and basic facts to reach the viewers.
Welcome to the profession. Get used to it.
x
Consider another profession?
To standardize testing you have to have every single company use one lone resource. What if company A is more concerned with ESL skills, company B is more concerned with oncology, and company C would like to know whether you rock at op notes? How do you standardize testing to cover every area that a given employer might want to concentrate on?
Definitely a profession. This is a
you will get a lot of pessimism and negativity. I definitely have made tons of money in my own business. Sounds like low self-esteem on the posters below, unhappy, depressed.
This is not just in this profession but
all over. I sat and waited on a call yesterday (my off day) regarding a piece of property I have up for sale. No call at all. I really hate to leave a message on a recording because most of the time you are ignored. Times have changed and not for the good. I think the majority of my family including my mother and my grandmother who are deceased would probably be shocked at today's life as we live it.
which profession
would you let us know what you decided to do? I'm wondering what I want to do next.
re: which profession
Dental Hygiene...usually takes 2 years but have to do it part time so I can still earn a living so is taking me 4 - I'm more than halfway done though, so can't complain...
our profession
 This is old, but has anyone read this?? I must research further what the final outcome was. While I totally agree with what they are doing and why, I totally DISAGREE with their final recommendation for standardizing line counts. VBC is not the way to do it.
You ask anybody in any profession
They will say they are worth more than they are being paid. That's the way it is everywhere. I make good money sitting at home. My local hospital pays their transcriptionists 9.40/hr. Big deal! I'll rather stick with a MTSO any day.
Our profession/New job
About three weeks ago I began a position with a local health care company (transcribing for local acute care hospitals but part of a national chain).
We are not really transcribing, at least not by my definition (21 years of experience). Rather, we are recording medical ShortHand (abbreviations [even in DIAGNOSES section], shortened medication names, slang, contractions, etc.). On the one hand, they claim they want you to type it verbatim (no expansions, additions, etc.), yet OTOH they say to delete redundancies, repetitions, etc., which is hardly verbatim. We are not allowed to expand, add to, or correct ANYTHING except number and tense dictated by ESL docs, who comprise about 60% of the dictators. In addition, certain dictated terms are to be abbreviated (e.g., "emergency room" transcribed as "ER").
The supervisor had the gall to look me right in the eye and deliver a harangue about how these are "legal documents, and we have to transcribe EXACTLY what they say." (Conveniently disregarding the bit about deleting redundancies and the other "allowed" changes.) So ALL of my previous employers, AAMT, etc. did it wrong, and THEIR crackerjack legal department is smarter than everyone else?! Don't think so. Cutting costs is the game they're playing; everyone can see that.
Excerpt from a typical report looks like this: Wrote scrip for vanco 100, patient also to take aspirin 81 and will return next week. I don't think .... [blah blah blah]
AAMT taught me to create a complete, coherent, grammatically correct document that doesn't look like alphabet soup. Needless to say, I don't feel good about what I am creating and HATE THIS JOB!!
I'm just curious if this is happening elsewhere. With all of the emphasis on "cutting costs," I have to think that it is.
Thanks for listening to my splenic venting. 
A - No future in this profession.
Get a 4-year degree and open up your options.
Is our profession drying up?
I'm an independent contractor and have just lost an orthopaedic clinic account to EMR. Also, I've been sending out hundreds of letters for new accounts, and I'm hearing nothing back!
Is our profession (clinic work) drying up? This is getting very scary!
Could someone either (1) comfort me with "it's not true" news and there's more than enough clinic work out there to go around, or if you find that it is, indeed, drying up, write back and tell me of your experience.
Thank you `` Nancy in Alpharetta, Georgia
Good for you... and for our profession.
x
Find a new profession!
You never told us you had another job as a fortune teller! PUHLEEZ - your crystal ball is nothing more than an average bowling ball!
Stop trying to stir up trouble!
MT Dying profession
I don't agree with you. I'm betting that MT is good for MAYBE 5 more years. Maybe. Thinking they won't perfect VR is only fooling ourselves....they will. I wouldn't recommend MT to anyone looking to enter the field. Money better spent on something with a better future but what that would be, I don't know. Seems everything that can possibly be offshored is being offshored. Maybe we should move to China Then we can be sure to have jobs seeing nearly everything in the U.S. comes from there anyway. Or maybe, the way things are going we had all better learn to like rice, cuz that's probably all we'll be eating before long.
Regarding MT being a dying profession...
I have actually read in numerous places that MT is a job with future opportunity, in light of the baby boomers beginning to get old and sick. That's going to supply us with a lot of medical reports for a very long time. As for voice recognition taking over...I'll believe it when I see it. I know an MR who does VR and I've seen the gobbledegook that it comes up with. Eventually all these companies will realize that they were sold a bill of goods by these VR vendors, but because they've invested so much in this technology, they're going to stick with it until the bitter end. Just my opinion of course. Finally, outsourcing. I'm pretty confident that something will happen that will put the kybosh on sending private medical records off to Calcutta for transcription. I think that practice will also stop eventually. I could be totally wrong and maybe I'll have to put away my rose colored glasses, but for now, that's my prediction.
MT Dying Profession
Sad when you work for a company that you thought was great and all of a sudden the work is yanked away and you sit with nothing yet you see the company advertising multiple times. When you look at what many posters say, that seems to be one major problem with this profession. The companies have no loyalty to transcriptionists. The best places to work are small local services, if you can find them. I don't recommend to anyone who asks me that they get into this profession. I used to, but not any more.
MT dying profession
I totally agree, Dano. They have absolutely no loyalty to MTs OR QA for that matter - we are nothing to them. I don't feel like a respected professional who is rewarded for her expertise and hard work anymore; I feel like a factory worker in an assembly line (no disrespect to those who work in factories, BTW)who just has to pump out the work as soon as possible - it's all about numbers to them. That's why in addition to working in this field, which I have been doing for 10 years (and would have quit by now if I could!), I am going back to college to get my degree in dental hygiene. I can't wait to get out of here. Used to make good money - no more. Used to be respected -no more. They only want cheap labor. Anyone looking to get into this profession - don't be fooled by the lies - do something else!
definitely NOT a profession...criteria are...sm
criteria for a profession are extensive college required, also person's work autonomous. Separate body of knowledge required for work. Think of lawyers. Extensive college, they work independently, i.e. they don't have supervisors, editors, etc., and law has its own body of knowledge. Even nursing is on the edge as far as being a profession, not quite autonomous enough. MT certainly doesn't fit the definition of profession.
There's a difference between a profession and a job.
Dictionary.com states that a PROFESSION is, "An occupation, such as law, medicine, or engineering, that requires considerable training and specialized study."
That means MT, being that most MT's have no post-secondary education, or at most bare minimum "MT school" training. O-net on-line (occupation information network) states that 14% of MT's have a bachelor's degree or higher.
This is a joe-job, plain and simple.
here's some dict def's, i think it IS a profession.
noun: an occupation requiring special education (especially in the liberal arts or sciences)
noun: the body of people in a learned occupation
Word origin info is available.
Wow, maybe you are in the WRONG profession then, you think? nm
New MTs entering this profession
I don't think it is so much about MTs being all for themselves.
Virtually every newbie needs a great deal of QA support. It is costly. The first urgency of this field is turn-around-time. Slowing down TAT because all of your reports have to be QA'd costs. Having to stop and give you feedback so you don't continue in the same path slows QA down ... again, TAT suffers and this costs. Newbie work needs the QA because quality is the 2nd urgency of this business.
So, it's not your coworkers fault. Not really the MT service companies' fault either. This is the nature of this very competitive business.
It's always better for newbies to go to work inhouse in a hospital and get their experience before working from home. You have to be really self-sufficient to work from home and make it profitable for both yourself and your employer.
Defined by profession
I have never met so many people quick to judge and I realized that these folks must be defined by their profession which is really sad. Really sad. What's even worse, is like you said, they obviously need respect from others to feel satisfied by what they do. I made no assumptions in my initial post. Sure, I can type, would it have been better had I said I can't type for a darn but want to do MT??? Sheesh. I thought it was more important that I stated my computer skills in general are top notch.
I am not looking for something to make a living at. I already have a career that I love and am passionate about. Was just looking to find out what kind of training I should do, or if I should even do training, so I can do something involving computers from home.
Every job, like you said, has those that think they are better because of this skill or that skill that you don't have. I may be an engineer, but I'm a young female in an all male industry. Talk about fun earning respect with that! But I'm not defined by my choice of profession. I love what I do and that's all that matters to me.
Gee...isn't that the profession YOU signed up for as well?
Constantly correcting mistakes?
I would like to retire in this profession too
but fear for my job's safety. I unfortunately think the bottom line for a lot of these hospitals and doctors is the $$ and nothing more. They want to save money and don't care about the quality of the reports any more. I hope I'm wrong but I don't think so.
Not just in the medical profession
I've seen the same thing with executives and non-execs in many fields. I've had to listen to dead space, too, and yes, it's a waste of my time. Unfortunately, there are lots of time wasters for everybody, and after the post on turnabout is fair play, I can't seem to have such animosity about it. I can speed the dead space up and chat on the board or do some of my correspondence, etc while I'm listening to the dead space.
This is why MT profession is in bad shape
For some reason, some MTs think since they work from home they can do the job "their way." This in turn, has caused the MTSO to impose such strict requirements regarding TAT, daily line counts, etc. Remember - they DO have to meet the obligations of their clients.
There are truly some great MTs that really require a flexible schedule, etc, but these "no-show, no-brain" MTs are ruining a good profession for the rest of us. I admit, it is hard to test for MT companies especially when the tests are long, but I can't blame them a bit - at least it weeds out some of the airheads.
I am not a MTSO and never have been. But, because of this situation it is hard for me to find a decent job because of the need for a flexible schedule and because I am not a fast/high line producer.
This godforsaken profession has no
nm
Wrong profession?
I know there was a post about this yesterday, but I did not want to taker hers over. I am just wondering if I can really do this. I have been doing this 3 years and have been at the same company. I just got back 5 reports this morning that just have me almost in tears. Granted, some of my mistakes were stupid and should not have been made. But, others that were sent back to me I really have issues with. Some of the "mistakes" were not typing "Jane Doe" in the report instead of typing "the patient," which directly goes against my account instructions. Also, was told not to expand an abbreviation in the diagnosis section because my account is verbatim. I just do not agree with this!!!! Plus, had different instructions on the same thing. The QA is totally inconsistent, and let the QA manager know what I thought of some of their changes.
I do think that I am a good MT. I have a new position starting with a great company soon, and I just want to know that I really can do this!!! Any advice??
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