Please everyone write your congress people!!

• To Proud Member of AAMT: I think it's just as - depressing for newbies to see the changes in MT
  • I saw the writing on the wall with them - typingal
  • depressing changes in MT - nowRNwasMT
    • What "stuffs" do you mean? - nm
      • "stuffs" - nowRNwasMT
  • Please everyone write your congress people!! - outraged
  • Adios - Mad and Sad
    • Agree with Mad and Sad - Mad, Sad and Hurt
  • I for one was shocked at the line rate - at my company compared to 10 years ago
    • And that 0.0775 was just STARTING rate. MTs - with exp. were getting 12, 13, 14 cpl and up. sm
      • I had no idea pay was ever that high - How did they justify cutting your pay
        • In 1995 I was making 12 cpl for a small, rural - hospital. sm
          • sounds like its the corp money grubbing middle men - who ruined things for hospitals and MTs
        • the supply slowly dwindles, and you give up and go elsewhere...sm - gto
      • And the result is like a Catch-22. Clients/MTSOs - say there aren't enough experienced MTs,
  • We should start a petition, sign it, and send it to AAMT, and all other associations - agreeMT
    • not only that, but most co's do not supply...sm - gto
  • Excellent post and info...a must read.nm - gto

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After thinking a while about some of the posts I have read here regarding pros and cons of unions, I decided to actually sit down and write my congresswoman about our work being taken over by ILPs.  This has nothing to do with ASR, just ILP.  Maybe if enough people write to our representatives, that would be a start to doing something proactively to try to save our profession and maybe, just maybe we could see things turn around in the next year and keep our jobs here in our own country instead of sending them overseas..  If anyone is interested, here is a copy of the letter I have sent and you could use the same letter to send to your congress person.

Dear Congresswoman/man _______,
I am writing to you regarding the issue of U.S. jobs going overseas to foreign countries.  Specifically, I am a medical Transcriptionist (MT) working out of my home for a large MTSO (Medical Transcription Service Organization) named _____ and am personally experiencing the downfall of the MT industry due to several factors, one of the largest being that our work is sent overseas to India.  I frequent a website, mtstars.com, specifically for MTs to express their thoughts on a number of issues regarding the MT profession.  You would be very interested to read some of the posts written there and get a good idea of the frustrations of MTs due to our work being taken over by International Labor Partners (ILP).  I consider myself a professional in the health care field with the knowledge that I have acquired over the years to contribute to excellent quality patient care.  An accurate medical document is a legal and very important part of the health care industry and can positively or negatively affect patient care.  Disturbingly, MTSOs are becoming less and less concerned about quality patient care and are instead focusing more on saving money by sending our work overseas because it is cheaper.  As a MT working for a MTSO, I get paid on a production basis, per line that I transcribe.  As an example, I get paid ____ cents per line whereas a MT in India is paid 2-3 cents per line.  Yes, it is much cheaper for the MT in India but at what price are we sacrificing U.S. jobs?  We need to keep our jobs here in the U.S.  For one there is the issue of patient confidentiality.  Many times there are Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and other personal identifying information that is being sent to another country.  In watching the news, India lately has been in political turmoil by terrorists.  Imagine what would happen if those terrorists obtained personal information from medical records data.

Another issue is the quality of the completed transcribed report by an Indian MT.  These reports are to be transcribed in the English language as they will legally be placed into a patient's medical chart here in the U.S.  Indian MTs just cannot have the necessary proficiency of the English language to be able to accurately complete a legal medical report so that it can be easily read and understood.  This will ultimately have a negative impact on quality patient care and could seriously endanger the life of a person who is ill and in need of medical attention and treatment.

So many U.S. industries have gone overseas and good American people have and still are losing their jobs.  Long ago it used to be the fear in the MT profession that hospitals would outsource their work to a MTSO and a MT would lose his/her job.  That fear became a reality and now most hospitals are outsourcing a portion, if not all, their work.  Now the fear is that MTSOs are outsourcing all their work overseas and more MTs are losing their jobs or are just plain quitting the MT profession altogether because it isn't a viable occupation in which to make a decent wage to actually live on.  Many MTs who just a few years ago were making $40,000 to $50,000 a year are now faced with the reality that they are making just minimum wage, all due to the fact that MTSOs are trying to save money by sending work overseas for cheap labor.  It is abhorable to think this is happening in our country, but it is.

I am writing to you today as a plea to do what you can to put a stop to this.  We need government protection to keep our jobs here in the U.S.  I don't know what the answer is - more taxes for companies that offshore, eliminating offshore altogether.  It just is not right that U.S. jobs are being sacrificed and eliminated by being sent to foreign countries all for the sake of saving money.

Thank you for taking the time to read my plea for help.

Sincerely,

job numbers.  How do you keep record of work completed each day?

Anyone know if we can write off our losses in the stock market last year.  I have no clue as I have always made money.  I sure my accountant is busy or I would call him.  Just curious, as my hubby took a big hit, should have listened to the bunionmeister.    Listen next time hubby. 

tell them why we don't want to be members.  Seriously - although the following quote comes to mind: 

I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member - Groucho Marx

a lot, using a lot of fine motor grip, took maybe 2 years.  Typing doesn't bother me unless I do a 12 hour day, but then with rest it is usually better.

I suggest wearing a splint/splints to bed because you may bend your wrists in your sleep and that will contribute to the problem.  Keeping them straight really helps.  My orthopod recommended 15 minute soaks - cold, hot, and then cold again.

I recommend lowering your keyboard tray if possible and putting a pillow in your lap and then the keyboard on your pillow.  This helps take a lot of the stress off.  I also find that I sit straighter with my back pressed against the back of my chair.   If that doesn't work for you put a towel, folded at least once, under your keyboard on your tray and that will help take some of the stress off also, though not as much as the pillow.  If you use a normal-sized bed pillow there is enough pillow to also rest your wrists on and to me is just more comfortable than having an edge of  the wrist pad.  I couldn't get used to a gel one.   If you are using a mouse have it on your keyboard tray where you don't have to bend your wrist as much to use it.

There are vitamins/supplements that are supposed to help  too.  I'm sorry I can't remember when they are but you can Google it. 

My last surgery was 17 years ago and I find that when I grip things, like a rake when doing yard work that my wrists hurt, but it doesn't hurt when I type, different muscles I guess.   I have lost some strength in my hand.  I was the one that always opened the jars no one else could and now I'm not able to open them.

to get into.  As far as blocking your schedule, that's your fault, not the office's fault.  Would you charge an online company a "sit and wait" for dictation charge because you blocked your morning?  Hello?  You have to be very flexible in this business.  I have gone and there's only 1 tape to pick-up.  I really don't care to know the doctor's daily schedule because I have enough to worry about, but high-paying jobs are hard to find.  It sounds like you've made up your mind in that you don't like the driving, office, or the dictator himself, so what kind of advice are you looking for?  If you just want to know whether to charge for a pick-up that brings you home empty-handed, then no do not charge.  Why don't you talk to your overflow account and find out if this happens can you take work?  I just don't get some of you gals...  Really this allergist does not "owe you a tape" everytime you come in and I'm wondering if you are going to return reports.  If you are returning reports, then your trip was not wasted.   

P/S:  It could be worse; they could NOT PAY!!!!!  LOL  Good luck...

of apartment/house used for work.  In the area where it reads, "rents," you can write off percentage of house used.

Brother is a tax attorney and helped me out with this.  I used to pay a fortune, but no more!  On top of that, if you are claiming under $25,000.00 they don't even check for small businesses anymore.

Just trying to help.  You sound like a tax man!  A tax man will say the same thing, you can't write off this, you can't write off that, but if you read the IRS publications there are a lot of things you can write off.  They don't want to end up in tax court, want to run through your return and get it done.  They don't care if you pay a fortune.  If you have receipts for everything what are they going to do?  The IRS is not going to bother with our piddly incomes.

Just wanting some ideas on what everyone uses as deductions.  Im going to get hit hard this year and just seeing what everyone else does.

TIA,

Was writing fast as she just E-mailed me that she felt it was unfair that I was able to make mistakes as last week to make her feel better I told her about one stupid mistake that I had just made but she could not.  And that she would type his reports when she did during the 4 days but not send them to me until they are due and HOPEFULLY THEY WILL BE PERFECT.  So I think we have come to a parting of ways.  This is worse than fighting with your husband.   Thanks for all the input.  Like I said for probably 11 hours of work she made $325.