This is mot important issue, IMO.
Posted By: nm on 2008-02-12
In Reply to: Able to view line count, see how it is being determined.--sm - ks
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"Downtime" is a very important issue to be discussing. (see msg)
Downtime/system issues beyond your control definitely should be discussed.
Home-based employees are responsible for making up downtime due to increment weather/home power outages and out-of-order phone service. But, will you be compensated (via base rate pay) for the downtime created by SYSTEM issues/IS issues beyond your control?
Will you be required to return in-house to work on a periodic basis?
Flexible scheduling?
All benefits should continue.
Who will be coordinating the dictation for remote employees? Will the QA process remain the same?
Research "Homeworkers Law," which mentions compensation for short preparation time prior to beginning work and ending of shift, travel, time sheet, etc.
A contract will probably be forthcoming; read it carefully!
Do not be afraid to ask if future outsourcing of the entire department is part of this new plan. If so, consider becoming an independent contractor or small MTSO -- this could be your client/account.
Wishing you the very best!!!
Is this a semantics issue or is it a you versus frustrated issue?
Which ever it is, if your feeling superior on a board makes your day go on ahead. I am sure frustrated knows what she is doing and now so does her boss. I am also sure that in the future frustrated with think twice about how she words every sentence perfectly so that you can perceive it correctly. After all, that is what she would rather be doing than kissing her little daughter. NOT.
Good for you frustrated, for handling it in a professional manner. For the other MTs on here who need to get a life, well, maybe they shouldn't bother since feeling superior here seems to suit well. JMHO.
It isn't a Smartype issue it is a Word issue
On the Word toolbar at the top, click on Tools, then Autocorrect, then check the box that says "capitalize first letter of sentence." That will do it for you.
oh, sorry, yes that is important sm
the pay is average for a national. I make $900/week. I think that's pretty darn good! 
How important is it to you ...
How important is it to you that your US medical records are KEPT in the USA?
Does it matter to you? Why or why not?
It's VERY important to me. I don't want anyone in the US much less
outside of the US knowing my business, financial, medical, or otherwise. If I can't sue someone who has used my information for their personal gain then that is a problem for me. It would cost me a fortune to sue someone overseas who say sold my information or threatened to put it on the Internet.
How important is it
Very important. I am HIV and do not want that information going anywhere.
but TAT is what is important and OP...sm
stated that they were having a TAT problem prior - so? TAT is promised, not met, and so the OP didn't meet her/his end of the bargain. I promise 24-48 hour TAT and that's what they have been getting from me for nearly 10 years. 
A deal is a deal is a deal - whether on paper or not on paper - verbal contracts are also recognized - just ask Judge Judy *lol*
To the OP - I hope things go better for you truly - but remember this: A promise made is a debt unpaid....that also is in regards to TAT. Best of luck - things will turn around for you, I am hopeful. 
And this is important. sm
It varies state to state, I am sure. You need to get the house out of your mother's name. Where I live, the house has to come out of their name 2 YEARS before they can get in a decent nursing home. There are a not of variables and when you are running to doctors, doing shopping for 2 people, cleaning, plus working full-time which no one realizes if you are an MT because you are "at home"; you really don't have time to keep all the plates spinning by yourself, with no help, and this issue about my mother's home should have been addressed a long, long time ago.
It's important to ask
questions of a potential employer but sounds like she overdid it.
Have to admit though she certainly doesn't lack confidence!
It is amazing to me how self-important US MTs are ...
You want to point your finger toward offshoring companies using HIPAA as your miserable crutch; however, when it comes to ensuring the legitimacy of who YOU are to handle this sensitive, private, protected information -- well just forget it.
After all, I mean, YOU work at home. And you are a citizen of the US. And no US citizen EVER scammed the public, EVER stole identities, EVER did anything wrong. Talk about self-righteous and self-important. Hahaha
What's wrong? What are you afraid of? Someone might really find out about your lack of control over your own life?
No one has ANY idea what YOU are doing with this information either and if your attitudes and behavior on here were shown to physicians and your own employers (and probably your family and friends), many of you would be out - out of a job, out of respect, out of friends and maybe family, out of most of everything and everyone who has no idea what you are like when you feel your anonymous status is hidden.
I'm entitled to how I feel the same as you are. You might want to get prepared though -- time and the conditions in this world are rooting for my opinion.
With the increasing security risks, insurance costs, etc., in this world -- you might want to get busy cleaning up whatever it is you're hiding because the likelihood of you submitting yourselves to any/all of these things for a job is going up and fast.
Hahaha
If bathing is so important to him
then he could wear some swim trunks in the tub with her. I stated that in my last post also. He would still have the bonding time with her but would be covered so she wouldn't be exposed to that. That was also an idea that was posted by another poster that her brother does I think.
One important point: SM
Spheris insurance is PPO, meaning the insurance is not expensive, however, it does not cover the cost of everything or most things, as does HMO insurance. This is a very important fact. Otherwise, agree with above.
I believe it is important for children too..
That does still does not mean that since you made a mistake in your life that you are not entitled to the same rights as everyone else. Could've, should've, would've. We can point fingers and tell people what they should have done, but the fact is, they have rights like everyone else. Of course you tend to do better financially when you do things in the right order. Life does not always work like you want it to though. I myself got pregnant while on BC with a man I had been with for 4 years. I had my son before I got married. We got married when he was less than a month old. He was our only witness. We have since had another child. I have never been on assistance, but I am lucky enough that we have been able to work out our problems and keep our marriage intact. If I could do it all over again, I would have waited, of course. We have struggled quite a bit by having kids so young. Life just doesn't always work out how you want it to though. I want my daughter to get married first and then have children, as do all mothers. Those are things I will teach her too.
Actually, what the account wants is more important than the BOS.
They sign my paycheck and I will do what they request. Don't care much for the BOS and you need to come off your high horse tell everyone they must be consistent with everything.
Yes, consistency is nice, but if the account wants the numbers spelled out from 1-10 that is what the account is going to get - one, two, three, four, etc. They are the ones putting food on my table.
Thanks for that important bit of advice!
I have been going to try them but I will now wait until my next teeth cleaning next month. I NEVER would have given that a thought before. That would be awful to end up with yellow outlines!
Do you know how it might affect crowns??? I assume it will leave them the same color they are. Mine are a little lighter than my natural teeth.
Although MT accuracy is very important,
I think the source of dosing medication comes mostly from the physician's order sheet. I agree with the other poster that a cascading effect is very possible when later dictation and charting is based on the previous records. Also, there are other safeguards and checks made in terms of operations, and they would not be based simply on the H&P. If a doctor bases any operation on just an H&P I would consider him incompetent. This does not excuse the MT who is not careful in documentation.
Get yourself a system...most important..
With Autocorrect, you have to remember everything! So I had to come up with a system that I would remember them. I use the letter *J* for anything that ends in *tion* or *sion,* the letter *Z* for endings with *ize* or *ization*, *x* for words that start with prefix of *ex*, for capitalizing abbreviations, such as HPI that you want to capitalize in a sentence, would be *xhpi.* I use *U* as in uhpi to bring up History of Physical Illness when needed in a sentence, as *HPI* will come up all caps for headings. I also have a system that I will use the first two letters of two words if I have already used the first letters of two words, such as *cp* for chest pain, *chpr* for chemistry profile. If those first two letters are used for something, I go to the first three letters of the first word and the first two letters of the second word. Also will use maybe the first four or five letters of a word. Also, have phrases, such as *sdnh* for she does not have, *shnos* for she has not seen, and just a lot of those types of things. Saves a lot of time. Also have, of course, what the docs constantly say, their little phrases they use all of the time. However, I do forget I have some of these things in there, and have to keep refreshing myself as with about 5000 abbreviations, it gets wicked!! But it really helps to have a system that helps you to remember what you have in there.
Important - see message
I too use Smartype with 2003 and have the same problem, but I wouldn't give up and found out why. What it is when you have a text box (when you jump around using the F11 key to fill in the box) you have to hit the delete key first before you type. If you type without deleting the box first, it will freeze or lock up.
The same thing happens if you hightlight text and want to type over the text. You have to hit delete first and then type. If you highlight and then type without deleting the text, it will lock up. I have trained myself to use the delete key at these times and rarely does it freeze up now. Every now and then I'll forget or accidently do something that will trigger it to lock, but it is not very often.
You can use it, but you have to train yourself. It is a Word problem I was told. If you have any questions, e-mail me and I will try to help
Important ? re. digital(sm)
I get the heebie jeebies worrying that dictation will be erased/lost in the transfer. Is there any backup which will prevent this happening? Where I live if anything is lost, things fly and tempers flare. Scared to death of this happening. How wonderful that you are sharing, kudos to all of you. We need more of this helping attitude.
The MOST important question is.....
Very important - thanks for your post.
Take care of your kids and be flexible while they are still young. Take the time because they grow so fast. If that means losing a buck here and there, so be it. I for one would not trade getting my son to his ballgame or being able to see my daughter receive an award at school for all of the money in the world. I will carry those memories with me forever. We can work on-site when our children are older and no longer need us so much. What a great feeling! Glad you are making the switch back/welcome once again! We missed you!!!!
Most important I think is spelling
Not the spelling police, but I thought your post was cute! Seasoned???? How about proofing your typing? Just kidding  . I'm joking!!!
That's why it is so important that there is uniformity regarding...SM
style and format which the BOS has tried to do. I don't always agree with the BOS, but at least it is trying to standardize things. Things like spelling and terminology misuse are pretty much black and white -- either you spell correctly or you don't.
Another practice that the MTSOs have gotten into is allowing the clients to dictate their preferences to the point where it is in direct opposition with the accepted norm and sometimes are just totally incorrect! Facilities hire MTSO for their expertise in medical transcription and, therefore, should let us do what we do best rather telling us how to do our job. I don't tell the doctor how to treat the patient and he shouldn't tell me how to do my job.
With the exception of formatting, the MTSOs should be giving the clients a copy of the rules and standards MTs follow. I understand that formatting will change from client to client and in my opinion, that is an acceptable variation.
I worked for an MTSOs who contracted with a client -- a hospital -- whose transcriptionists had "always" typed gravida and para values in Roman numerals, i.e. gravida III, para II. When the MTSO contracted with the hospital, the MTs typed it according to the BOS, but were quickly corrected by a file clerk in the HIM department stating we were doing it wrong. Did the MTSO stick up for its MTs and say we follow the BOS and that is the accepted norma? Nope. An email went to the MTs saying that on this particular account gravida and para should be expressed as Roman numerals!
This shouldn't be happening! We are professionals and should be treated as such. We are not show dogs jumping through hoops!
So see, I'm not some evil QA person who lives to find errors. I am a QA person who sees problems on both side of the issue!
IMPORTANT - Real VNC
Please ladies. If a company ever ever ever installs this on your computer, get rid of it! The program itself is for technical support but it also can enable a company to get into your system without your knowledge. This happened to me and I caught someone from that company remotely taking over my keyboard and mouse!
All they need to get in is your IP address and they can see your whole screen. I was told by an independent IT person that they can log your Keystrokes and get your financial info if you have it stored. I just had to change all of my banking and credit card accounts and run multiple scans on my computer. I am an IC with my own computer and they installed this to run in the background as soon as I boot up the computer even though for tech support we used an entirely different program.
Yes, I absolutely ended that contract, but I just wanted to let everyone know so the same does not happen to them.
It depends on what is really important...s/m
I worked in an ER for 6 years (clerical) and have a sister and a brother-in-law that are nurses. I also worked on the floor at the hospital and knew that I could never be a nurse. Yes, my sister and brother-in-law make great money, but my sister never sleeps (works nights) and both miss holidays all the time. this year, my brother-in-law works Christmas day (11a-11p) and new year's eve (11a-11p). To me, no amount of money is worth missing the holidays with my kids. if you don't have kids then maybe nursing is for you. however, if you have kids and want to be able to go to school functions, not work holidays, and have the flexibility (I'm IC so work my OWN schedule), then I would definitely look into MT. As far as the pay goes, I have only been doing MT for about 5 years and have made the same rate per line since starting. I don't have company benefits (again, IC) but my home benefits outweight the hospital benefits i had when I worked there (not as an MT). On some days (easy doctors), i can make as much as my sister (w/o her night shift) and other days I make average. Sorry, going on and on... but I would definitely consider experiencing each aspect of both fields before putting your money into schooling.
PS: Used to my computer fixing capitals at the beginning of sentences and fixing spelling errors (funny how we get so used to our autocorrect, huh).
DG, critically important, not just SM
an aid. In future no one will be able to make a living at this work without extensively using one, including specifically editing.
You tell the Expander to record the Keystrokes you use to do a correction dozens of times a day and then give those functions one- or two-key abbreviations. That way, a tap of a single key, or maybe 2 taps, will change the case of a letter (delete old one, shift+new letter) or insert the word "The" at the beginning of a sentence and then lower-case the first letter of the next word. A function key can be instructed to open a new screen and send a standard message to QA. That sort of thing.
And you will need a professional-quality expander to do the job.
nope don't think I am important sm
at all, but telling the truth. That is the problem with too many folks, too unwilling to do the work over the years to learn what they need to learn and do what needs to be done. Sorry if I hit a nerve but I didn't say anything that wasn't true!
To me, this is the most important finding: - sm
"The average transcription price ranges from 11.9 cents to 13.2 cents per line, depending on whether the services provided are onshore, offshore or a mix of both."
There are some problems with the methodologies used to produce these KLAS studies, but setting those aside what's instructive here is that around 10 years ago a different study showed the average industry price to be 14 to 17 cents per line. Offshoring and cutthroat competition, and to a much lesser degree technology, have resulted in lower prices, and that can only do one thing - put downward pressure on the wages paid to transcriptionists.
Predictably, then, wages in our segment of the healthcare industry have stagnated or declined, while in most other segments prices and wages have risen - in some cases much more rapidly than the rate of inflation.
Experience is more important than
what school you went to. Experience helps you pass the tests. I'd hire someone with hands-on experience & able to pass the test any day before I'd hire a newbie graduate from CareerStep, Andrews, etc. You'll do fine.
RE: Very important read !!
For those who could not see the URL, I hope you can see it in this mail and EVERYONE sh
Just something to think about.
The link below will take you to a page explaining the House and Senate versions of the bill and a link to send an email to your representatives in Washington indicating that patients have the right to be made aware that their personal information and medical records are being sent overseas for transcription. The letter is already written for you! http://www.rallycongress.com/support-fo ... formation/ |
ould act on this !!
A very important read !!
Just something to think about.
The link below will take you to a page explaining the House and Senate versions of the bill and a link to send an email to your representatives in Washington indicating that patients have the right to be made aware that their personal information and medical records are being sent overseas for transcription. The letter is already written for you! http://www.rallycongress.com/support-fo ... formation/
I forgot the most important thing. SM
Even with a child proof home, 3 kiddies under 5 can still get in plenty of mischief when you take your eyes off them for even a second. Your eyes have to be off them more than a few seconds if you're trying to do a job. HIRE SOMEONE TO HELP YOU, PUT THEM IN DAYCARE OR WORK AT NIGHT WHEN THEY'RE SLEEPING.....PLEASE!
Sometimes it's not the income that's important - it's that you were THERE. Sounds like you
Just get rid of this ball and chain. Remember, when you "get off the train" at a man's station --- that's where you are stuck.
If that station isn't where you want you AND YOUR KIDS to be, even if you just leave with the clothes on your back - LEAVE.
You know in your heart if his lifestyle is what you want for your children. If it isn't, then first get away from him. Men are the biggest energy vampires in the world. They will suck the life right out of you.
Oh! I forgot maybe the most important point
If you are seriously considering a move there, you should know that for your training you MUST go to the office for two days, initially at your own expense. if you stay more than 6 months, you'll get reimbursed.
It is important to note that when you were an employee,
your employer paid half of your Social Security. As an IC, you are responsible for the whole thing, 15%. You'll have no taxes taken out of your pay as an IC, so you must pay both your state and federal income tax on the taxable income. The first year is usually not a huge problem, but after that you must be sure that 90% of these taxes owed are paid by December 15, otherwise the IRS will fine you for underpayment of taxes. It can all get pretty stick. Talk to an accountant and visit the IRS online for more info that you will need. Best of luck.
Some things are more important than money. sm
My time is worth the same as yours, my self-esteem is beyond worth. I am worth more than giving away my hard work to some low life company owner. I don't want to give anyone the idea that I don't think my efforts aren't worth fighting for. I won't let someone walk away with my fruits of my labor in everyday life, I am sure not going to do it in the work place.
More important to me is keeping my financial
info within the US. HIPAA allows many uses of unidentiable medical records to be distributed in many ways even within the US, not to mention overseas. There is no law that keeps my financial information confidential and within the boundaries of the US. Very little truly identifible information to connect medicall record A with a particular person other than by name is sent anywhere, even to MTSOs within the US.
Who wants my medical information? The College of Surgeons to help them identify ethnicities and trends in cancers, the AARP to help target demographic groups for products they sponsor and to "represent" when they pay their professional lobbying group in DC, the auto industry to decide my premiums, and on and on.
I got a Walmart credit card, was 7 days late in sending in my $10 minimum payment and got a call from India for collections. ???? Mailed in the account balance and closed the account. Then called all my credit companies to find out where their call centers were located. I now have only financial business with companies who keep my records in the US. That is my choice. There ARE 2 cases of people who sold US financial records being proscecuted by the Indian government and a total of 5 people are in jail for this.
To the OP, share with us your thoughts.
Michael: You've been missing a lot of work. Peter: I wouldn't really say I've been missing it.
semi right; preops most important......nm
forgot an important one surgical911.com
google anything or webmd anything your bound to come up with links... good luck
Brand of computer not that important.
If you are using other than a USB connection with your foot pedal you'll probably need an adapter. You'll need an external keyboard and may need an adapter to convert it from PS/2 to USB depending on the computer and what keyboard you have. You need to have a wireless/ethernet (which is pretty standard these days). You should also have a dial-up modem just in case. You need 512 RAM and a good sound card.
I have worked on a laptop for 6 years. I also travel a lot. I've had 3 different brands and brand doesn't really matter. Being able to get an internet connection is the difficult part, although with technology advances it isn't as difficult as it used to be.
I think the important part is the network
Homeschooling with others in a network is a little different than just plain homeschooling.
So, how do these children learn to pick their battles? Do you as a homeschooling parent throw an eraser at them once in a while or pass a love note?
I'm not so sure I understand. 
Ahh, so HER problems are more important than yours. I hope you get your $$$. nm
xxxxx
Lunch- -most important meal of the day!
I work 35 hours a week. I have a scheduled 8-hour shift and take a 1-hour lunch break, leaving me with 7 hours of production a day. My advice is to do the 35-hour schedule. You'll probably be more productive (lph) at 35 hours than 40, and you'll always be able to add extra hours later if you want to. Don't skip lunch or eat at your desk. You'll feel so much better if you take a real lunch break everyday.
One important thing to note is - (sm)
how are the MTs at your place being treated? If you're treated less like human beings and more like dirt, that's a HUGE red flag, as it was happening in the hospital I once worked for. Also - are they hiring, or cutting back on MT staff? Have your benefits increased, or been gradually decreased? Red flags.
Our situation was strikingly similar to yours, too. A few people were working at home, but they were mostly 'teacher's pets' - so to speak. Meanwhile, more and more work was being sent out. VR came into the picture, and even though it was working poorly, they were hellbent to keep trying to make it work, regardless.
The rest of us who were originally told we'd eventually be working at home were strung along for about 8 years, and that option never materialized. Meanwhile, the at-home MTs began to lose their 'pet' stature with management, and began to be treated as poorly as the inhouse staff. They were also held to higher line-count minimums per day then the inhouse bunch. Later, about half were let go, and those that remain will likely get the axe before too long. Like your place, radiology was the only work remaining inhouse, as more and more work was sent out. MT's with expert knowlege of all medical specialties were being pigeonholed into radiology-only, which had a difficult platform. Meanwhile, the outside MTs enjoyed using the easier platform for the regular hospital work.
Appalling mistreatment of the MTs continued, and still does to this day. Quite a few of their most productive & experienced MTs flew the coop, and (HUGE RED FLAG) - are not being replaced.
Anyway, it doesn't take a crystal ball to see that the 'master plan' for that place is to have all radiology done by VR, with a few inhouse MTs-turned-editors remaining to clean up the mess that produces. And the remainder of the hospital transcription will most likely get divided up among several MTSOs, depending on the quality of work needed for different specialties.
Anyway, if they've been stringing you along for 6 years, saying one thing and doing another, I'd be a little bit suspicious of their ulterior motives. If they DO send you home, it's a good opportunity to buy yourself a really nice PC, and to put out the feelers for other at-home work, just in case the work at your hospital mysteriously 'dries up', with only VR-radiology remaining.
**It can be important (correction, no message)
x
Important thing when building your...sm
expander, I have found, is to use abbreviations that you will easily remember while you are transcribing. It isn't that important what specific abbr. you use, but you don't want to have to look up an abbr. while you're transcribing. You want it stuck in your memory so that it is automatic. I found it is easiest to keep adding abbrs. to my Expander during the course of typing as a phrase might come up, I'll put it in the expander... takes a few seconds. Also, I have a list of my new Expanders that I've recently added... and might refer to them while I'm learning & memorizing them, once I learn them & use them a few times I'll discard the list.
Agree. Accuracy is most important, and
you can't let pride interfere when it comes to patient safety. This job is a learning process & we will always have new terms to learn & get marked for errors -- it's just part of the job, and you have to learn to look at it as a learning opportunity, not an insult, in order to thrive at this job.
Punctuation "is not important"?!!
Consider these sentences:
The patient said her mother is insane.
The patient, said her mother, is insane.
Two commas that completely reverse the meaning of the sentence. We are not merely "word-slammers". We are expected to convey the meaning of the spoken word, and that is the role of punctuation. Punctuation substitutes for the pauses, etc. that are used in spoken speech to convey how the words are to be interpreted.
I'm no fan of the BOS by any means, but I can't agree with the extreme statements you make here, either.
You don't have to be an "English major" to know the fundamentals of proper punctuation, either. You should have learned that in grade school. And if they ever do scrap the BOS, you can be sure no one is going to scrap the basic rules of English grammar that you're expected to know and apply.
BOS is a crock, but commas are still important!
Especially as demonstrated in the post above. I think we all know (or should know) when a comma will change the meaning of a sentence. I agree that is very important. I believe in the AHDI BOS, Third Edition, it states that comma punctuation points are not deducted on audits because most of them are open to interpretation anyway. Some sentences could take them or leave them, doesn't matter.
Somebody please tell me why these stupid hyphens are so important!!!! How can they change the meaning of a sentence? And another thing, who has the right to change the title punctuation in M.D. to MD. We tried that on our account, HA, HA, HA. Heard from those doctors right away and they did not like it one bit. These things are why I say BOS is designed to cut an MT's pay, make more money for the MTSOs, and to give QA something to do!
missed important email
I work as an IC for a company. They pretty much leave you alone to do the work. No hassles. I never get calls (rarely) and very few e-mails. I guess I slacked off even checking my e-mails. So today I got an e-mail from the "boss" and he asked if I would work extra. Workload was heavy, etc. The only problem is the e-mail is a week old. I feel bad but I can't do much about it now. I did not work any extra last week, totally unaware of the situation. How should I handle this? The reason I ask is because the "boss" is kinda touchy-feely. What little contact I have had with her has been pretty strange. She has a short fuse for sure and I feel that if I say I haven't checked my e-mail in awhile and missed the request that it will fall back on me. Yes, I proly should have checked it but I didn't. Should I ignore it or maybe just write an apology - like oops, didn't see the e-mail. Do you still need help? Also, most of my e-mails come to 2 mailboxes, work and personal e-mail address. This one really slipped through the cracks. Why do I worrry about such things? Anyway, I would be interested in your opinions. Thanks!
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