Strike in Pakistan slowing down offshored work here. Just another example of offshore
Posted By: work is crap. nm on 2006-05-12
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:+
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Offshore typed hamster release instead of hamstring release. As long as work is offshored,
:P
Offshored work
Personally I have also decided to not work for any company at this point that offshores, and I will not edit work that has been outshored. As long as there are choices to work for a domestic company, and there are, I refuse to contribute to cleaning up offshored work. These companies have sold a bill of goods to our medical facilities regarding their quality, cheap prices, etc., and then they have found MTs who are willing to take low rates of pay to clean it all up. This just contributes to making them look competent when they are not. If, on the other hand, these companies could not produce what they say quality-wise, I think it would catch up with them, their contracts would not be renewed, and the work would come back to the US. I think MTs need to have some pride in the job they do and try and be part of the solution instead of the problem.
But I have seen job ads that say the contract prohibits the work being offshored. So, there are
:+
Oh, bull. I'm with a large national and those clients whose work is offshored
That one statement is bunk.
Lot's of people work for cheatin companies. They bide their time and strike when they can.
As for me, I have joined a class action law suit on behalf of shareholders and MTs. Double whammy. Not too dumb. By the way, don't you have some managing to do or are you on duty all day to try to make MTs think MQ is AOK and everything else going on around them financially is just a figment of their imagination. 
Speaking of offshoring MT work, who does not directly send work offshore?
Just curious. Has anyone got a list of companies who do not send work offshore? Precyse? MQ? Spheris?
Offshore Can Work
Dinosaur,
You are also making an assumption that this is a US/Asian thing while it is not. I am in fact an English-speaking South African. The fact is we do not run sweatshops, I earn more from my own doctors here than I do from the US clients I work for. There were various posts, I was not singling out yours, that inferred things like "pseudopsychologists", "sweatshops" and the like. In fact, there were posts that referred to the poor quality of work. I really do think that one of the big reasons offshore does work is because of the time zone difference - and that's not a bad thing if patient's can get back their reports timeously. Is it so foreign an idea that we could possibly work harmoniously together?
AnnieK
Offshore can work? Obviously it can and does....sm
But once again you're missing my point. Yes, the time zone difference makes it advantageous to send work offshore! Yes, it is a good thing to get patient records in as expeditious a manner as possible! I'm glad your not running a sweatshop, however, I never said that offshore transcription companies were running sweatshops! Yes, I am guilty of assuming (based on previous responses to my postings that you were from an Asian country.) Mea Culpa! Sorry, just an incorrect assumption on my part.
But, you are missing my point! Americans cannot compete on an equal basis with countries whose economies make it possible to live well on what is well below the poverty level here in the US. Just a plain, unpalatable fact! As an American I am asking other American transcriptionists to make our Senators and Congressmen (and women) aware of the complexity of offshore outsourcing in all fields. While it has it's benefits it also creates unemployment. America cannot survive if all jobs that CAN BE done by professionals overseas are outsourced. Furthermore, other than the time zone difference, the only reason work is being outsourced is money. Money that is going back into the coffers - not to build up the company, not to expand, but, more and more often only to be placed into the hands of the CEO's. CEO's that get "golden parachutes", CEO's that get fired for mishandling the company and take their 100 million dollar "parachute" and leave - only to take another CEO job that may or may not be good for the company. There is no pre-requisite in their contract that the company make money or do well! That's why we're being nickeled and dimed to death here. Greed and avarice!
I don't believe in socialism, I am a firm believer in democracy. However, I believe in taking responsibility and doing what is not only good for "me" but what is good for the country. Old fashioned and out of date, maybe, but I think if America is to succeed in the 21st century we need to start thinking about what America and Americans need and not just "get mine while the getting is good".
So, I have no problem with working harmoniously with any group of professionals. But I do have a problem with the fact that Americans are losing jobs due to economics. Especially since I believe that the factors leading up to the economics is due to greed and mis-management.
Work is being sent offshore
Healthcare has expanded. Offshoring is a way to have large volumes typed in a short amount of time. Most offshoring is larger hospitals and institutions. Your smaller practices stick with the smaller MTSOs or ICs. Offshoring is not due to crappy MT work. These posters with their greater than thou QA attitudes need to get over themselves. QA is to assure the client receives an accurate document.
I just heard of an institution that I worked for when with a company that offshores. The reports are horrible with a lot of blanks being sent back to the client. So tell me, how is their QA? Notsogood!!! LOL QA is a short sell. It sounds good in the contract. Your reports will be QA'd, bunch a bologna. Oh palleezzz!! Get over it already. I highly doubt there are physicians sitting around saying "Hmmm, this American MT really stinks and leaves a lot of blanks, I think I send my work to India..." Yeah, I'm so sure! 
Too much work is sent offshore so if everyone
quit working for companies that offshore aren't going to be enough positions to provide jobs with companies who don't offshore.
I say let them try to send all of their work offshore
I think they would end up with some unhappy clients.
Are any of you who "edit" offshore work
concerned that by doing this, you are helping yourself out of a job? What if these companies hire nothing but Indian transcriptionists because they are so cheap. Won't that put all of us out of jobs eventually? or am I just being dense. My company recently asked me if I would "edit" (aka "train"), and I refused.
Editing offshore work
Some of their work is better than the work I see by American MTs. Don't be so quick to judge. Yes, they do see editor's feedback and they learn from their mistakes quickly. I have said this before, there is plenty of work to go around. There is no need to worry unless you are one of the lazy American MTs who only want to work when it is convenient for your schedule.
Well, yes, but then the quality of the offshore work (sm)
would be worse than it is now, with not enough people to edit it, it would get way behind TAT, and eventually it will come back to us.
But their work is NEVER allowed offshore, either....
?
Is it possible some of the account work is going overseas. MQ does offshore you know.
:
Their own website says they offshore work to the Phillipines. nm
Equates to sending our work offshore.
I NEVER shop at Walmart. Google their business practices, they are the pits!
As editor, I have yet to see offshore work with correct
df
Slowing us down
If one person is getting great line counts, and she goes on vacation, the account may suffer while she's off. If instead two people are getting mediocre line counts, and one goes on vacation, the account does not take as hard a hit.
A phenomena that easily leads to burnout is being punished for competency by one's employer. I've run into it in other industries, but it happens here too. The more you know and the better and faster you are, the more crap work they'll send your way. If you have a good work ethic and pride yourself on conquering challenges, they'll use it against you by giving you more difficult accounts/jobs, because they know you won't wimp out and complain or quit like others might. The more efficient I become, the more extra difficult work I get. The slower people that goof off are rewarded for that with a light easy work load. Its not very fair, but its certainly been a trend in my experience.
ESL is a particular thorn, because as someone else said, everyone hates to do it. I have one dictator in particular on one of my secondaries that is just impossible. Our QA person chides us for not getting him right, sending snotty emails that we must take the time to look up his old reports, and that it doesn't take much time to do so, even though SHE often has to leave the same blanks in the report that I left, because she can't understand him either. Its a case of the emperor's new clothes - everyone knows this person is impossible, but they think by guilt-tripping us into killing ourselves over each report, somehow they'll get done. Never, never will they tell the doc HE is the problem and its his own fault his reports are such a mess. Maybe ONE report doesn't take that much time, but we don't get just one report. And yes, many reports do take a lot of extra time, and often it doesn't matter how much time you spend, he's simply indecipherable. Still, they'd prefer to try to make us feel incompetent and keep the client, while we all lose money because of him.
Today is different and you cannot fight companies who LEGALLY can offshore work.
So all Americans refuse to buy goods, shop at stores, or work for companies who offshore. That leaves a mess. Do you realize a lot of American companies are actually owned by foreigners? Get real and move into 2005. You are going to spend a lot of time boycotting once you do the research. I doubt you will be able to shop or work at all.
Overloaded with work - MY company doesn't offshore, so no problem for me
Offshore work is rarely client ready. Who is going to edit
p p
Slowing down Dictaphone
When I used it, it was #4, but you'll need to check with your supervisor to make sure that is the right code. Then you do ## to go back to regular speed. This worked on my current transcriber also.
I'm slowing giving up my perfectionism...SM
in that I won't search and search and search for a new/unfamiliar term. I'll do a quick search in my books and Google and maybe ask on the Word Board, but if nothing comes up, I flag it. I used to spend WAY too much time wanting to find these things, mainly because I'm pretty anal, which is generally a good thing in MT but can end up costing you $$$!
Not necessarily...metabolism slowing...
as we get older is a much more likely culprit. At 50, our metabolism is on average 50% lower than at age 16. That is why when we are young we can lose weight easily and rapidly, but as we age it's a tremendous struggle. Exercise is the key, as it not only burns calories but revs up the metabolism for hours following.
I presume you are slowing it down on your player - sm
when you transcribe, if not, obviously try that. If that does not help then either just to the best you can, alert whoever you are sending the work into of the blanks (and why), and just handle it that way. If you just don't want the hassle of them anymore then give them 2 weeks notice that you are dropping them since they cannot seem to follow a simple request and make it so you can turn into them a quality product. With my 1 puny account, I always email them while files have any blanks, and why. I am dealing with the Drs. personal asst. (not the office manager) and she loves that I do this (when I have to), the previous MT did not....just sent it in with the blanks with no heads up or explanation. Good luck!
Slowing down and listening ahead
These are two different things. You have to practice them separately, then eventually merge them.
As for slowing down, that should be the easiest. It means to key at a speed slow enough that you make no typos. None whatsoever--not even one.
Just practice typing one sentence until you can key it correctly without a single error. Go on to a paragraph. You'll settle on a speed that works for you.
You may feel that you are typing s l o o o o w l y, and this may frustrate you, but bear with it for a bit. Practice this every day, slowly and smoothly, giving each letter the same amount of time. No machine-gun rat-a-tat-tat. No speeding up and slowing down.
Your goal is to maintain the same boring, monotonous rate on and on and on. It shouldn't be tiring at all. You'll find it easy and restful, but you'll make better progress because you won't have to stop to fix anything.
To learn to listen ahead, you'll need to pretend that you're working on a typewriter. If you have an actual typewriter, use that. Otherwise, just assume that you CANNOT correct anything. What you type has to stay on the page forever, so it had better be right the first time.
Take a practice report. Listen to the first entire sentence without typing anything. Hold it in your head. Now type it from memory. Do the whole report that way.
You'll have trouble with whole sentences at first. You might have to do just phrases, then longer phrases, then work up to sentences.
Practice that perhaps an hour a day for a week or so. At some point, the process may click for you and you'll figure out the point behind it.
Once you can do whole sentences, you can start typing while listening. Listen to the first sentence, but this time start typing it when you have heard half or all of it. You can pause the tape momentarily at the end of the sentence if you need to, but you should be able to type continuously.
Listen listen listen . . . listentype listentype listentype type type type listentype listentype listentype type type type, etc.
It takes practice, but it's worth it.
Please post offshore topics on Offshore Concerns board. (NM)
Thank you.
Goldbird
Lots of IT being offshored too..just FYI
x
On # of Offshored MT Jobs
I am all for people writing specifically about the MTs. Especially confidentiality issues. What keeps nagging at me is the 30 MILLION that was an "estimate" by the Population Reference Bureau who also said it was "nearly impossible" (their words) to know how many because companies would not fess up to how much they offshored. What if it was 50 million, 60 million? How big a part of that is MT business, I don't know but just as important is the economic impact of a figure that no one seems to know the answer to. How can you make a reporter want to find out? And if he does, what will he do with that information? I believed it would make a bigger impact if you used total number of U.S. jobs offshored. All for one and everything.
When you do your research - see if you can find a credible source. I sure couldn't. What is a realistic number and how big a part of that number are we?
Offshored service reps.
I had to call customer service about a credit card accout. I got someone on the line, foreign accent, and I asked where they were located. Turns out it was India. As if that wasn't bad enough, this person had NO idea what he was talking about. I insisted I talk to an American and finally was given a phone number in Virginia. I called and talked to Jim, who knew just what I needed. From now on, ASK where the person on the other end of the line is located and insist on speaking to an service rep. in USA.
I sold out once to a company that offshored
Still dealing with the ID theft issues. They repeatedly broke into my computer. This was a US company that used offshore MTs, and I am telling you what, it has been a nightmare. I will never work with anyone who will consider offshoring nor will I ever let anyone install a platform on my computer system again. Tsk, Tsk? Say that when you spend a few days on the phone with all of your financial institutions and 6 months later having to scan every piece of info on your credit report. Not every one is shady but think about what you open yourself up to.
Why would billing/coding not be offshored?
x
I wonder why when a department is outsourced/offshored sm
the physicians never have a say in it even though most of them don't like it? They are the ones who bring in the revenue, after all, so why shouldn't they have a say in what goes on as regards patient care?
They answered. Said he was from Pakistan and that all MTs
x
ID being stolen in Pakistan
There is probably less chance of your ID being stolen in Pakistan than the United States, where I had my stolen.
I won't either, although I did in the past before I knew the companies offshored.
For every US MT insult, there is a position offshored to India
...think about it.
You are so hateful to MTSOs, you drive them to offshore.
When I deal with rude US folks, it reinforces the fact that I don't want to work with those people.
Thanks for the reinforcement! :)
PLEASE mention MT & medical records being offshored
& the privacy issues that go along with that!!! There are tens of thousands of MTs, many in nearly every city. There's no way your employer would know it's you.
I'm sure India, Pakistan, Philippines...
and perhaps a few others. But the WORLD...no....not even most healthcare providers in the U.S.A. If you really believe what you said, you've have been misled.
Aim the missles at India & Pakistan
One way to get rid of some of our nuclear arsenal....
Yes, he's from Pakistan. He didn't hire himself though.
x
Advertise in India & Pakistan, not the U.S.
Let's go on strike.
Bombard the board of directors with our complaints. We need to be heard!
Go on strike???
That will just give them more reasons to ship the work all overseas because those people are so "grateful" to have the jobs. The company won't be hurting, but we will when we don't have any money coming in to pay the bills.
on strike
All I know is about 10 years ago, I made what I considered "good" money working for a small company (for a year). THEN, the company was bought by a corporation (which shall remain nameless) and our salaries dropped by 1/3 to 1/2 -- and there was just a helpless feeling of not knowing what to do about it. What do you do when it's a take it or leave it attitude? I always wondered if it is so cheap to do work overseas, what isn't any of that savings coming back to the American MT. Give us a raise with all that savings. I also wonder why they act like they think it is considered a benefit of the job to work at home. Look at all they must save on having us do that. None of us have raised a fuss, so they can get away with just about anything. What does AAMT exist for?
strike
I can't agree more. It is the large corporations like MQ who have the reputation of hiring MTs at a very low line rate, hire more MTs than they can provide work for and then still have the nerve to overbill the clients. Go figure.
on strike
You are so right in all that you say. I've been a rad trans for 30 years and I've watched the pay scales go down instead of up. I truly wish there were something we as a group could do to fight the corporations. And to add insult to injury, some companies advertising for rad trans are paying by the report! Anybody who does transcription and gets paid per report is only encouraging this trend. Yes, I know, you have to work to live but if everyone stopped working for places like this and held out for a better position, we might all be better off. Pay per report is a slap in the face. I work for a teaching hospital on the west coast and often times transcribe 10-12 page neurointerventional reports. And I'd be farther ahead to get paid $1.50 for the report? Give me a big fat break.
I'm in for a 1 day strike
I'm not unhappy with my job - but am disgusted with what has happened to transcription. If we can get enough involved - I do believe that it would have an affect or is it effect (LOL). Let those making the money figure that one out for a day.
so when are we going to go on strike?
nm
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