Question about working on Hospital accounts
Posted By: stay at home mom on 2007-08-10
In Reply to:
I have over 5 years of experience unfortunately it is all clinic experience. Are there any companies that will hire a Transcriptionist with this much experience but not in the Acute Care field? I really would like to start doing those types of transcription. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you.
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I get 14 cpl with my hospital accounts and
I pay my subcontractor 11 cents a line. So no, I don't make a huge profit from the work she does, and maybe I don't make any at all with all things considered, but then I've always figured that my income comes from what I transcribe myself. I know you can't run a big business like that, but as a small business with just a contractor or two, it works for me.
I also work for a small national to fill in when my own accounts are slow and I get 10.5 cpl there.
V.A. hospital accounts
DO require a background check. At least the ones I have worked on.
working IN A HOSPITAL is different than working at home.
Someone can steal you identity from the internet if they want to. Why would you go to the time and trouble to jeopardize a job that requires some level of skill to steal someone's identity or medical records? You could get a job as a retail clerk and get info easier than going through the testing required to become an MT.
Local Hospital Accounts
I actually work for a Hospital Transcription Dept. My advice is to ask for the supervisor of transcription or Director as they usually have one or the other.
I actually had a person(who I know was from an outsourcing company from overseas) called and aske me if we were doing any outsourcing. We told her we were not interested, but I actually do send some out to an outsourcing company already. Just wasn't going to do that.
Alot of hospitals around where I live usually are small and have in house transcriptionists. The only reason we have our outsourcing is for people on vacation and when some emergency comes up and we fall short.
Carla
local hospital accounts
do any of you IC people have any tips on what is the best approach on how to find out info on who does transcription for local hospitals? Thanks!
My company forced us to do all accounts for one hospital. SM
They are a group of five hospitals. Those of us who said we did not want to do all five, suddenly had our primary out of work, because the other MT's were doing OUR account. That is how things are now. It seems to be the name of the game.
I work for eTransPlus, hospital accounts, and QA is great - nm
x
Either their own accounts (i.e. not working for someone else) - sm
or they are very, very lucky. I have 5 years exp. and make .09 (w/o spaces though) so it is really about .0775 which is not so wonderful. I am alway looking for something better. I have seen a few that pay well at .10 but they are very hard accounts. You might get paid more but believe me you will earn every penny and probably end up making about the same amount of money you were before due to the difficulty of the account. There are not too many that pay well, probably the small MTSO with less overhead, etc. can and does pay better (granted not all do) but the smaller the company the better off you usually are.
$40K working PT, own accounts.
.
Usually only if working for a VA Hospital but
it really depends on the company. I don't think many do background checks otherwise. What they look for is schooling and experience and work history.
If you have been working for a hospital and SM
never a national before, to be really blunt and I don't really want to be, but you won't know what hit you. You will be truly stunned at how underhanded big business is. You think you know, but you don't, until it happens to you.
I wish I had something positive to say. If I did, I might say simply to find another line of work. When you go to work for Spheris or any other national company, you are in for a shock.
MT working at home for hospital
I just recently was sent home from a local hospital where I work. I make $15.80/hour, no incentive, and we are required to type a minimum of 1200 lines per 8-hour shift.
Does anyone have any good, realistic advice for working on 60 different accounts!?...(exaggeration)
but I am really getting frustrated. I left a company who bumped me off my ERs (which I did for over a year and were my 'bread-and-butter', and the more I complained or asked about it, the worst dictation I got, etc. This was a change of management in which that company went down-hill fast, anyway, as far as the treatment of MTs.
so I left, and now at the 'new' company I am still doing 5, 6 accounts. Forget ERs, I am told.
the question is, I am working on so many accounts, and even accounts with different management, different QA. I am embarrassed to mention I just did a report using the SPECS FROM THE WRONG ACCOUNT. Luckily, I had sent the report to QA, but I get a note from the QA like 'read the specs' (stupid) is how it sounded. Yeah, I did, but for the wrong account.
these companies do not see how making people work on so many accounts is going to be huge negative for them in the long-run. they risk mistakes like this, not me.
how does one keep it all straight, and why do we have to? the only people who are having success, are people who will take any kind of abuse, it seems, and are just making the best of it. does that mean only the aggressive will survive in this business? this gets more ridiculous all the time.
not to mention, pay and money - LIVELIHOOD - severely diminishes the second week of pay-week. anyone else notice that? first week I am flying on the primary, second week in I am like getting scraps, working on 4, 5,6 accounts - there goes all I worked for in the first week.
so these ladies typing 300+ lines/hour and making $50 thou a year, like so many boast on here, how,where, when ???? I am not getting it, and I am a 99-100% quality MT, working 35 hours/week. every company I have worked with, my paycheck is totally dependent on the manager, period.
18 cpl straight from a hospital working at home. nm
x
IC working for a small rural hospital
I have worked for a small rural hospital as an IC for 9 years, this year I asked for a raise. Hospital thought about going to a national until they found out how much they charged. They contract their transcription themselves.
Now that I'm back working directly for the hospital
nm
Key words: Utah and Hospital. Different from working at home and different SM
from working in a state that has low tolerance for drinking.
Try working inhouse at a local clinic or hospital.
That's what many MTs end up having to do to get their foot in the door & gain experience. IMO, that's the best way to start anyway since you have experienced people nearby to ask for help because those first few months can be very difficult. Good luck!
P.S. Agree with the other posters below that you need to specify you have your certificate in MT, not referring to yourself as a Certified MT which is a completely different thing and can only be obtained after a few years of experience & testing with AHDI. However, that brings up another topic... many MTs choose not to become certified now that AHDI has sold us out & encourages offshoring of our work. I've been doing this nearly 20 years and only once have ever been asked if I had my CMT, so it's pretty much irrelevant anyway. As long as you have experience & test well, that's what they care about.
If you are working at an hourly rate in a hospital setting, then you are
going to be in for a shock when you go to production rates. Most of the in-house positions were farmed out years ago. If you were lucky to secure an in-house position for this long, consider yourself blessed.
$15,000.... Hospital employee, telecommuting from home, working less than full-time.
c
I'm a hospital employee, working local at home, so I get a raise every year.
x
I have 13 years experience and just started a hospital job working from home making $16 an hour
and with a really good incentive plan. I live in the Kansas City area. $10 seems like a low starting point even with only two years experience which is the usual benchmark for hospital MT jobs.
It's been my experience that the low end of the pay scale for hospital employed MTs was around $12 an hour. Also, it's been my experience that the pay offered is usually based on years of experience and how well you perform on the transcription test.
I would say if their pay is that low, they should at least be making it up with incentive and it doesn't sound like they are.
JMO
58, AHP/self-taught, trained at hospital 5 years, now with 2 of my own accounts for 10 years, employ
Also worn out 2 keyboards in 4 years. I will never retire. DH will come home some day from work and I'll be slumped over my keyboard. I put in 14 hours a day 7 days a week.
Depends on what kind of hospital? Large urban hospital or small community hospital? SM
Also, is it a large teaching hospital? If so you have to consider there will be A LOT of different residents dictating, usually a lot of ESLs at teaching hospitals, and the residents rotate out and new ones rotate in every summer. So you can't expect to get the same dictators and build up your macros because the dictators change all the time.
I would say 9 cpl would be a pretty good offer for a small to medium community hospital where you will be doing the same dictators on a daily basis. But for bigger, urban or teaching hospitals I would want at least 12 to 15 cpl.
Or after a boring weekend when working at a hospital someone asks "How was your weekend?" and
How about zillions of accounts. MQ has these accounts so overloaded even the new hires dont have any
work. I would love to read some of these reports and then they expect perfect QA and no blanks. Did they lose their minds completely.
The accounts are old and she keeps her accounts TRUSTING she hired the right MTs
who if in doubt will ask questions regarding reports. No one can find all mistakes in all reports and that is human to have a report with perhaps a typo. You think anyone reads through all the reports of a national company before they get to the hospital? Not a chance. Some random QA is supposed to correct all mistakes? Not hardly. Doctors/dictators make mistakes too. We all do. So do QA people. So the thing is this person hires good people who are trustworthy, the hospital likes the way she does their account and life goes on quite nicely w/o hovering editors/QA people. BTW, who QAs the QA people on your accounts. Ever wonder?
Not all accounts are good accounts. One
That should not be the case. Sounds like you need new accountant with strong knowledge of IC deduction. We save a several thousand on what we pay in taxes based on what I can deduct as at home IC, $2000 off the top for what I pay my child to help with office chores, as an example. The measly 7.xx% I pay that an employer would pay is well worth my independence in being my own boss.
You get more working the evening or night shifts and working w/o benefits. And producing like a mad
,
Ditto....granted I am not working much these days, but am currently trying out a new way of working
when I do work which seems to be helping. I am timing myself and keeping a log of how long it takes to to type however many minutes. I am averaging anywhere from 13-18 minutes of dictation an hour now doing this. Granted the time fluctuates between who I am typing, and if I have to look up names, addresses, etc., just depends on the division I am doing at the time. But work that used to take me 3 hours to do is now taking me under 2 hours, I am also trying to put in more macros as I go along, which slows me down initially but pays off in the long run of course. I was working "all the time" before but took forever to get done since I was not applying myself. This new "attitude" has helped me a lot. My goal, in the Fall, is to do 90 minutes a day consistently at 6 hours, and then maybe get up to 120 minutes a day at 8 hours, still while having at least half of the day free (do 60 minutes at night, and the other 60 by Noon). Thereby doing 1200-1400 lines a day. I have never really buckled down and done more than 8000 lines per pay period, so it will be a nice change. Maybe you can do something like that and have a specific knock off time as was suggested below. 
Working holidays? Out shopping in stores where someone IS working
that holiday you refuse to work? Grocery stores, food joints & seems any store is open on holidays and you expect them to be fully staffed, so why shouldn't we?
Yes, I took off for the first time on Christmas day, in 18 years and it was great, but I worked Christmas eve and this whole past weekend.
Someone has to do it!
Hospital. I wish I'd never left my hospital job.
They'll only take me back if I start off working nights and weekends again at the bottom of the totem pole.
If you work for a hospital - how come no one from the hospital
called you?? Were they in the dark, as well?? How sad, that no one in your hospital communicates with the at home staff.
Somehow working at home translates into not really working
My in-laws are the worst. Whenever they plan something last minute and my husband says that I had to work, they say, "but she works at home!". When I one time mentioned I had a "schedule" and basically punch a clock and work full time, I don't think they believed me. They will sometimes call mid-day during the week if they are in the area to see if I want to go for lunch, etc! The best is, my husband doesn't make all that much money, so where is it coming from, the money fairy? I am ready to strangle someone! So I know how you feel and I'm sorry it upset you. You are not alone.
I daydream about NOT working while I'm working.
There are so many other things I need and want to get done. I've been working way too hard lately, and summer is just slipping by again. Well, I'm outty.
How many accounts?
My national employer has 19 accounts in my queue, though I rarely work in all of them in a week or a month. Still its too many. I'll often work 5 or 6 accounts in a single shift, despite the promise of a limit of 2 or 3.
This is a terrible business practice. If you are a dedicated MT, it requires extensive time to review account-specific instructions, not to mention being unfamiliar with place and people names associated with the different regions. It is unfair to "quality patient care" to bounce MTs into unfamiliar territory. After all, how quickly and accurately can one transcribe a record when you are overwhelmed with studying your fifth or sixth different set of instructions in less than 4 hours? I believe the substantial amount of MT shuffling is to slow us down--they have overstaffed and its to their benefit to force familiarity with odd accounts so they can do it again next time. They do phase people out of primaries and secondaries and even tertiary accounts once they become proficient. We hear the work is low due to summer slow down, yet they keep sending their "please welcome our newest recruits" memos.
And, yes, I will definitely be searching for a new company very soon.
I have 8 accounts and seriously,
they do run out of work, but I change my work hours. I know if I get on at 6:30 a.m., I will get a decent amount of lines done in about 2 hours time with the normal interruptions of kids. I usually do get back on in the afternoon to try to finish up and there usually is work for me at that time too. I was transferred to Amherst when our office closed. I have been with MQ for 4 years. It just stresses me out that people complain so much about Medquist and it is always the same people. Why not get another job????? Why do they continue to come here and complain about the same thing over and over and over again????? It is the most annoying thing I have ever seen. I agree that we all need to vent, I do too. But why remain at MQ if you are all so unhappy? Maybe finding another job with a different company will make you happy, although it seems like people from every other company are complaining, as well.
15 accounts......
Yes, but it is important that we post this information. I believe, or at least I hope, that the people at the top need to hear this.
The people at the top management levels read this board regularly. They are concerned about the bottom line. Three things affect the bottom line: production, TAT, and quality.
If you have 2-3 accounts, you will have much higher production, much better quality and TAT will be better controlled. You will make more money because you are not wasting time jumping from account to account.
I believe the problem is in middle management. They are the ones putting us on 15 accounts at a time. (I actually had a supervisor who told me she had asked the manager while she was throwing me at every problem account and her answer was...."Tough S---" Unbelievable.
These are only for MT's/accounts that are on DQS
If your account has never been switched to DQS, I don't believe you would receive a check. This somehow pertains to DQS. It appears that the longer your account has been on DQS, the larger your check would be. But this is all a mystery to us MT's. It may also pertain to certain accounts/clients that MQ had misbilled, per the law suits against them. At this point, MQ upper mgmt is keeping very quiet about this check, so can't help but think that it pertains to the overbilling that they had done to some MQ clients -- possibly we were the MT's who were worked on those accounts. BUT YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE about the purpose of the check, other than they had to pay back some monies FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER. Will we MT's ever know ????
TOO TOO MANY ON ACCOUNTS
Don't forget to call Human Resources and follow up with a written Employee Complaint with ALL these complaints. They think the complaining is only from an isolated few and won't even take things seriously until the written complaints start to mount up.
Try for your own accounts - How did
xx
Those of you that have your own accounts, what's the
best way of getting your own accounts? I have one small local account that I got from a newspaper services ad eight years ago. If I had two or three more like this one, I'd be a happy camper. I've mailed postcards and made cold calls with no luck whatsoever. I've even done intro letters with business cards to new providers on the city business license list and in response to help wanted ads. No nibbles there either.
It doesn't even necessarily have to be a local account. It could even be Internet based or via mail/UPS. One guy used to priority mail tapes to me from New York back when I had my virtual assistant/secretarial business.
Any positive suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
New accounts
It is like selling a house or anything, it takes a large volume of people to get one buyer. Even if I am not looking hard, I send out flyers every year or so to keep my name out there -- have a lot of people that are willing to subcontract for me. I also hit the smaller ones sometimes and do the rounds in the medical office buildings by the hospitals. Send flyers out to smaller cities/towns if you are set up for digital as those are the ones that are sometimes looking. Do networking with other MTSO's in your area. I know many in mine and we all network together. A lot of it is being at the right place at the right time as they often just throw our flyers out and that is why you have to keep sending them out. Offer something unique -- I cut apart chart notes and that helped with a couple of accounts. Stupid but they love it. Also accounts that use transcription services -- take them a flyer personally with some cookies -- it does work to get it to the manager's/doctor's desk it really does. I have also offered my own accounts a "finder's fee" if I get an account. Anything works. I have gotten a few through the yellow pages. But it takes time and persistence. One mailing does not usually do it as there are a lot that start up and stop so if they see it once or twice, they remember it. Good luck. Keep your prices fair and offer a good service. Patti
Do 7 different accounts in my
job, 2 programs, and another job with another program. different hospital. Once you get used to an account and work on it regularly, I have found it does not slow me uip to switch from account to account, keeps me in work. Also, no problem with doing way over 1000 lines in 8 hours. But that is just me. I have been at this 21 years. I hear others do have problems and sympathize with them.
As far as QA and their accounts, sm
this company has the best I have worked with. I have no idea what the QA rate is, but they do have the best QA IMHO, so I am assuming they are paid well.
Accounts
Ihave 4 clinics -- one with two Internal Medicine, one with two surgical oncologist, one with a plastic surgeon and hand surgeon and then my psych. Total in all accounts is about 25 hours per week and gives me about $3000 per month. I work 12 to 20 hours additional at a clinic as an employee doing EMR work and that pays me per hour with benefits. Going digital I hope within the next 2-3 months. No health problems yet. Have had accounts from 5 to 18 years.
If you have your own accounts and
do you feel obligated to share whatever work there is with them, even if it's really only enough for you? In my case they have other work that can do but they make more from my work, so they are anxious for any work I have available. It's overflow, so sometimes there is work and sometimes there's not. The amount of work available right now I could easily do myself.
Usually I share whatever I have with them, but right now I have so many bills and really need to do the work/keep the money myself. But I feel bad about doing that. Should I feel bad? My husband says no. He thinks of it strictly in a business sense.
I believe it with your own accounts.
most MTs do not have their own accounts and have to deal with the company's line counting system as well as being paid a very low rate.
Then again, I could never work 60 hours a week (my body just wouldn't allow it) even with my own accounts so this income is definitely not the norm, but having your own account I feel can really put you in control of your income potential. You go girl or guy, don't know.:)
Own accounts
Do a search on this as we extensively discussed this about a week ago. You have to be ready to do all types of accounts using all types of equipment. The more money sounds good but there is a lot of work to it, no relief for time off, a lot of non billable time. You have to realize that if it is just you will be be seeking out either a one to two doctor clinic as that is about all you could handle at first. Most of these smaller clinics use tapes, you print, pick up and deliver. But if you are going to limit yourself to digital only then you need to expore setting up your own FTP site, know how to transfer back and forth and it is usually a larger clinic which would be hard for one person to handle. I think you need to do a little more investigation and there is no "book" to buy it is through a lot of hard work, sweat, tears and perservence that you keep doing your own accounts. Like I said you are sick, no one to do your work and often times the office understands the first time but when you are new, a second time and they look elsewhere. They have a hard time understanding sick children, relatives, power outages, disc failures, etc. until you have built a reputation and rapport with them. Has taken me 20 years to so do. Good luck, use your own common sense and brains and do a flyer, brochure, letter introducing yourself and send them out. It can be done but it take a while to get started and keep going.
Own accounts
Well how did this office contact you? I would get this one under your belt and use them as a stepping stone and a reference and go from there. It works the same in this field as in any other field you want business, you go out and advertise, do flyers, make phone calls, etc. Most will not come to you unless you have been established for years or have an ad in the yellow pages, etc. So start with this one since they have contacted you and go from there.
I am an IC with my own accounts -
I get 17 cpl for transcription and 12 cpl for editing VR, all acute care.
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