Our agreement with our clients regarding referring physician names
Posted By: QA Specialist on 2005-09-06
In Reply to: I pose this question to companiesMTSOs. - just trying to understand from your point of view!
When we accept a new client, we request a listing of all referring physicians and their addresses. We enter those names and addresses into our address database which can be accessed by the MT at any time while transcribing the report. They can search by first name, last name, partial name, city or state. We also instruct the physicians/dictators (and their staff) to SPELL physician names if they have not been provided on the initial list. If the dictator dictates a name not found in the database or does not spell a name, the MT has permission to leave a blank (or spell phonetically with a flag for the dictators staff). Our clients print their own work and can make changes/corrections to documents at their end. Therefore, it is THEIR responsibility to fill in the blanks if the dictator uses a name not provided or if he/she does not spell the name. QA staff does not have TIME to look up addresses, and in my opinion, doing so would be a huge waste of our skill. We edit hundreds of reports daily and if we had to research names and addresses in each report, we would never meet our turn-around time agreement. Additionally, we have a customer service department at our home office who can assist MTs with issues such as this. Check with your supervisor/QA staff to confirm what your company policy is regarding names and addresses. Perhaps blanks are acceptable for physician names. As we all know, even if the dictator dictates John Smith, it's possible the name is spelled Jon Smythe. There is no possible way for you to know that; therefore, it should be the CLIENT'S responsibility to confirm the spelling and add the address.
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Organizing a referring physician list
If you have Excel, just copy and paste it into Excel. You can even export it into Excel from Word, but I usually don't even bother.
Once you've put the list in Excel, you can sort by column B or whatever is the last name field. Be sure to select ALL the text when you sort, or you'll JUST sort the last names.
If the last name and first name are in one cell, you can break the text into 2 columns easily, just look in Excel's help, it'll tell you how to do it.
OP was referring that patient names
being accessible/available to others was in conflict with HIPAA rules. Just stating that they are not and giving examples.
Web sites for locating physician names?
Anyone have a favorite web site for locating physician names? Thank you!
When people use last names for first names.
You can't tell what sex the person is, and it just sounds so pretentious and stupid.
Hunter, Tyler, Taylor, Cameron, Morgan, Parker, Porter.
Really soap-operaish and annoying.
I am in agreement with you. sm
I haven't seen the word type ever, either. I use the hyphen non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Am in 100% agreement with you...
this is what I have been talking about. This is a job and should be treated as such and not just a vehicle for you to be able to stay home. Thanks for the good post. Most of the MTs answering are really, really touchy about this because they are the ones trying to be supermom, wanting to put all else before their job and then wondering why falling short in pay, time to actually work, etc. I have never said not to love your family- you just really need to have a separation of work and family.
I am in agreement.
I doubt anyone is working for a national making that kind of money the OP asks about. You need to cut out the middle man, take the initiative, and gain some accounts for yourself unless of course, you don't want to leave the house and don't want the responsibility of doing just that. It does take more than just sitting at the computer to gain accounts. JMO. I have my own accounts, not large, and I'm not an MTSO, but I'm making $35,000.00 a year, and I don't work that hard, but I do have many, many years of experience. The accounts I have were through the docs watching me transcribe on-site and being impressed and I'm not patting myself on the back, but I do believe being on-site for awhile can do wonders for your career. 
total agreement with you - sm
I myself am in favor of trying to find out which hospitals outsource the work to India and then writing letters to the local newspapers as "letter to the editor" kind of thing to let the residents of the area know that their medical records are being sent out to India. But that's just my opinion.
do NOT sign any such agreement
x
I'm in total agreement with you.....sm
Do not kill them....unless poisonous or unless they strike! They can be caught and released or given to someone or some group who specializes in handling snakes.
Killing is the coward's way out...killing something that you are 10 to 100+ times bigger than......unless of course it's about to strike or is poisonous!
non-compete agreement
GA girl, where are you? Do you have experience with a n.c. agreement in GA?
non-compete agreement
I read the posts below about the n.c. agreement and wonder if you have any knowledge of them. Any info is appreciated. Thanks.
Exactly, a mutual agreement...sm
Where you find someone you can trust to do quality work and help each other out.
As I am preparing to go out on my own also, here's what I was thinking. (Now this is just a thought.)
You tell your prospect up front in the agreement stages of obtaining the account that on the rare occassion that you need to take time off - i.e., vacations, etc., that you will type the most important charts, up to a limited amount of charts, during that timeframe.
I thought I would take a laptop with me (yes, even on vacation) and type 1 hour or so.
Then, when you return, you will have the backlog typed in xxx amount of days at xxx discounted charge.
Just a thought. I'm also trying to network with local Independent Contractors to work out a mutually beneficial relationship with them.
You need to consider formalizing your agreement with them. sm
You don't sound like an IC to me but more like an employee. I would suggest that you clarify your status with this office by way of a contract that states the services you offer and what your charge is for your service. This should include the definition of a line and your per-line rate. Then, if they increase production, you increase your income, and it shouldn't really matter to you if it's thank-you letters or patient notes as long as you're getting paid. This also allows you to outline exactly what you are willing to do for this office. As a compromise, you may want to consider stating that you will supply a missing patient list at the end of each day. Then, stick to it.
This office sounds like it needs a REAL office manager and not the doctor's wife who fills in or a manager who apparently doesn't know how to manage her own job.
Good luck!
I am in total agreement with
I also have many, many years of experience and find it hard to believe that the pay is only 7 cpl when in fact you must have a lot of experience and learn new platforms, accounts, etc. Production suffers initially, and then all of a sudden these MTSOs want to switch you to another account, which makes it almost impossible to make a decent living at 7 cpl. 
another voice in agreement with yours...
I've been doing this 13 years, some of it as a QA Editor (the only time I've ever heard of being promoted to a "higher position" yet making significantly less money...)and I agree with all of the above. My favorite is when you put in for a raise and get ignored, time and again, even though you are called a high producer and put on difficult accounts because you "do so well on them". Also, voice recognition is going to destroy this profession entirely probably sooner than later. It's all changing completely. I finally decided I'd had enough and went back to college a couple years ago to change professions entirely. In a year and a half, I'll have my new degree and be done with MT forever and it will probably be the happiest day of my life.
Here's a wry smile of agreement instead. NM
NM
Confidentiality Agreement
Does anyone have a generic confidentiality agreement that they use for their clients. I have new doc, and I don't have any agreement in my file. I have signed theirs, but do not have one to offer the new doc. Anybody have one or know where I can find one? Thanks so much.
Confidentiality Agreement
There was an Agreement of Confidentialty that was posted on 05/20/09 by DeeAnn. that was really good. Hope this helps.
I just checked my employment agreement and...
it only says you have to return the equipment, it doesn't say who pays for it. Should I just shut my mouth and pay for it so they don't hold my last check for ransom?
The scope of the agreement is much broader
It gives them the right to look at ANY document on your computer, any email you have sent. They want to see who you communicate with, what you say to whom. They want to manage what information about the company is sent out on message boards or anywhere on the internet. They want to restrict any negative comment about the company from being posted anywhere on the internet or in private email.
I am in total agreement with what you have written
This job was quite enjoyable in my younger years and while it sounds like pay was low back in the 1980s, the cost of living was low as well.
Another 4-5 years of serious studying and I could have possibly obtained a degree in an area which had better job security, had a future I could count on and didn't require 50-60 hours of week of work to bring home 50G.
Plus, at 48, my hips, hands, hearing, have taken a beating that I am not really being compensated for, most jobs after 20 yrs, land a person into a supervisory position of some sort that allow the worker to teach what they know, and yes, to relax somehat and let the young and spunky ones keep up the grueling schedules.
So, in retrospect, I would have gotten student loans, applied for grants, did what I had to in order to acquire a higher education (I wanted to be a doctor).
You should have signed a confidentiality agreement which allows you to type this unless-
you do not feel comfortable typing it, in which case I would ask my supe to reassign it.
part of the agreement is to not portray the company in a
.
I'm in TOTAL agreement with you, I just hope they don't retaliate.
x
This is not illegal in most states. Sometimes it's in the divorce agreement.
nm
Try calling back about a payment agreement.
deal with compared to my state department of revenue! I owed taxes over $10,000 in taxes two years in a row to the IRS, so over $20,000, and they let me make payments on it and I got it paid off. I also got the INTENT TO LEVY notices, but when I called and set up a payment agreement they stopped with the threats.
Right now I owe the IRS about $5000 and when I called to set up payments I asked them if I could make payments of $150 a month and they accepted that without question. I was a little afraid to suggest such a small amount, but they took it.
Now my state department of revenue is much meaner than the IRS. They told me to pay what I owe them in six months or else. They put a lien on my house. They will only accept payments if I take the total and divide by 6 and pay that amount each month (impossible for me to pay that much) so I am just in a holding pattern seeing if they are bluffing or if they really are going to do something.
I'd say if you really have nothing of value the IRS can get, then it is to their advantage to work with you. I think you just got a bad agent. Call back and try to get another one that will work with you.
Despite having just read the Subscriber Agreement, Section #10...
Re: Limited warranty on Equipment (stars); their legal people pretty much covered their ass. However, based on my experience with IPs, if you keep plugging away (it may takes months), eventually they will tire, thus removing said charges. Again, be prepared for a long battle and make sure to document everything, and I do mean everything. Please keep me posted.
when you work for a national, you sign a confidentiality agreement...?
the same rules would apply, and you must have signed a confidentiality agreement with whomever you work for. you can be fired, if breached.
my opinion, as a professional, you transcribe it and mums the word...
when I worked in a hospital, someone was caught 'sharing' information about the CEO from a transcription report, and was fired on the spot.
It's a written rule in some companies confidentiality agreement.
I know my company has it as a written rule so it just is not good business. I would think an MT would know this
In total agreement, Chris and ManDIVA rule, Taylor
Does this mean you don't have a business associate contract/agreement in place with your doctors
nm
Which ones are you referring to?
There are people complaining about their companies not paying on time, the platforms they use, changing to voice recognition, not recognizing loyal employees, running out of work. They all come from different companies. Are they ALL disgruntled employees? It's just as sad that some MTs can't recognize that there ARE problems with companies and have to lump all complainers into the disgruntled category.
What are you referring to??? Not getting
your point.
I'm not exactly sure what you are referring to, but
If you are talking about picking a different encounter (perhaps a different DOS), just delete what is in the encounter box and type in a question mark and hit Enter. This will take you to all of the patient's encounters and you can select the one you want. At least this is how it works for me.
Good Luck.
This is the very one I am referring to
That was the worst experience I've had by far. Team leads were friendly, but big liars. Upper management...the nastiest people I've ever encountered. I feel sorry for their recruiter. She certainly doesn't belong with that sour bunch.
What are you referring to? CK-MB?
x
i'm referring to
my footpedal, headset, keyboard and mouse...i have a new laptop that i'd occasionally use for work, needing all these. If i had previously attached them to the laptop, was wondering if i'd damage anything or if they would all work, if i didn't shut down equipment before putting these things back on the laptop (which are usually on my desktop version); and wondering too if i have to do anything before un-attaching them. thanks.
I don't think, if you were referring to my
post, that it was b*tchy. Just stating the facts! Supporting each other does not mean putting down your profession all the time either. We're supposed to encourage and lift others up. I know everyone complains sometime and has a bad day, but not everyday. Put it this way, if you are having more bad days than good, it's time to move on! Life is too short to be so unhappy!
That is mostly what I am referring to
It seems like every time I post on here, someone always attacks me and has something mean to say. I mean, this board reminds me of elementary school girls...never getting along. I just want helpful advice, motivation, positivity, and friendliness. And to the post up above who said maybe I should find another board..I already have and you are one of the ppl I am referring to as always having to attack someone.
I don't know if you are referring to me...sm
as the other poster who was judging. I haven't judged anyone on here. I did state what I thought to that nasty poster who said that if you aren't making good money it is more than likely you. If you are doing good I am happy for you. Some MTs do have plenty of work, and that makes a big difference. If the work is not there, you can't very well make any money. I certainly would never suggest you pad your lines or any of those other things. I try not to judge people.
I was referring to the OP, of course! nm
x
STAPLES is now carrying Dell PCs, laptops, exclusive retail agreement. nm
Paradox
I was referring to the fact that (sm)
it's free, unlike other sites, to post messages and such here. That's what FREE I was referring to! 
No problem -- I was referring to
the poster making snide remarks for MTs to stop being lazy and work 8 hours a day. No need in that mess.
I'm happy to share what has worked for me.
I have used VR before; not currently using it so it would take a while to get back into it. Yes, it can produce some great results but it takes a lot of investment from you to get it there -- training it to recognize your speech, etc.
Good luck.
When you say MDI, are you referring to Maryland or FL??? nm
x
Sorry, that was not the post I was referring to. nm
nm
someone earlier was referring
to the TV show, The Apprentice, with Donald Trump. That's the only postI've seen on here regarding apprentice.
No. I am referring to her first response to a . . .
post of mine. I was offering MY opinion and was not specifically singling her post out. Not at all.
The last time I checked, we are all entitled to our own opinions. If people offer an opinion, albeit one that does not agree with someone else, why is that negative?
Geesh. . . . and the horse you rode in on.
I am not referring to cases
such as you are describing, and I don't get why you're so defensive. Of course that splinter case that you described warrants an ER visit. I am referring to all of the reports that I type of cases that could easily be taken care of by a PCP and in no way should be considered an emergency. Relax...geez.
Is this the article you were referring to?
"Foreign Medical Graduates May Get New Test" in the NY Times? If so, it was printed on May 1, 1988. It also stated that the foreign medical graduates have to take an English profiency exam, NOT that they will NOW have to take one if the new test guidelines occur. The new requirements are that they have to take the United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE) Step 1 and Step 2, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Clinical Skills Assessment. This is before they can even begin a residency in the U.S. Might be nice if you had some reading comprehension skills.
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