USATasp is an easy to use, EXTREMELY cost effective solution.
Posted By: sm on 2006-02-21
In Reply to: I just started using "mydocsonline" - no extra fees unlike the one advertising above this - sm - Laura E.
Contact sales@usatasp.com for a free demo!
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Mydocsonline is much cheaper, about $8 a month vs. the $28 USAtasp would cost me - nm
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I can't help with cost effective comparisons, but
C phone is basically a glorified telephone. It sends additional signals besides just your normal phone beeps. For example if the dictation system has a certain tone it requires for "next job" you can program your c-phone to match that, so that when you press the button, it gives you the next report. Your programming information you find with your phone, the system information you get from your work or client.
There are several brands of C-phones out there of varying affordability.
Hope that helps and apologies in advance if it's not what you're looking for. Good luck!
cost effective approach???
Okay, I am ready to start out with my own "company". I don't want the inconvenience of tapes yet the equipment to setup my own dial-up service is prohibitively expensive. Does anyone provide cost effective services where I can offer a 800 dial up service? OR, any rental options? Is anyone using this kind of service? What does it cost? Thanks.
quality apparently isn't cost-effective,
so it's time for us all to be very afraid - not only for our jobs, but for the accuracy of our personal medical records and those of the people we love.
I thought I had a career for life, but I was so wrong.
I needed way too much SJW to take the edge off. Wasn't cost effective for me. nm
s
Easy solution for you...
It is an OPEN forum. People will complain. They will also joke, take polls, discuss physicians, etc.... If it pains you, your solution is an easy one...stay away...we won't miss you one bit, I promise. Some of us come here to vent and for support....not to be further put down...like we need that in our line of work....give it up, okay? Just stay away!
If you have only been on QA for no more than 1 day then you either have extremely easy accounts....s
Or you are one heck of a MT. If that is the case whoever you work for should hold on to you. I just don't think it is common unless it is a certain specialty you are just real familiar with.
Easy file transfer solution
Please e-mail me - I have a solution that's very easy and customers like it.
low cost easy digital software
After 10 years of working for somebody else, I am looking into starting up my own transcription business. Does anyone have any information on low-cost, easy start-up digital software? Thanks!
USATasp information please..
I saw an ad on this site a few days ago, so I'm guessing they are still in business. My question is, how do I get in contact with them?? I have called the 800 number and that is no longer in service. I did a search on this board and called a 623 number, that is out of service. I have left an e-mail for their salesperson almost two weeks ago. I am interested in their services, but cannot seem to get any answers.
Has anybody used them, and if so did/do you like them? How is the tech support if you are actually able to contact someone and get started with them? What about the start-up costs?
Thanks in advance.
USATasp is 100% US owned & operated.
/
USATasp is application service provider.
TASP - Stands for "Transcription Application Service Provider". They aren't the MTSO, but providing Voice and Text solutions/platforms to MTSOs to utilize.
P.S. USATasp is the subsidiary of MTStars :)
Email info@usatasp.com and someone will contact you. The website is
l
USATasp charges 10 cents per minute for voice & 1/2 cent per line
email to info@usatasp.com and we'll get back to you.
not 100% effective for me and I went
That's one of the most effective things any MT (sm)
can do currently, and individually. Set a higher personal minimum than the shameful "national average", and stick to it. Every drop in the bucket counts. If US MTs (AND editors, by the way!)demand a fair wage, it won't matter how much work they think they can send offshore, if they can't get any quality workers to clean it up for them. Editors, you are totally being GYPPED! You not only have to know MT inside and out, but you have to sit there and stare at someone else's work, while listening to the doctors drone on and on. You're considered the last line of defense before the finished work goes off to the doc for a signature. You should be making MORE every year, not LESS! You, too, are putting yourselves *on sale* if you accept the paltry pay the nationals offer you.
I wondered if it would be effective
To train a voice recognition to your voice, listen to the dictation and just restate it into your VR. Seems if the software learns you well, there'd be very little keyboarding needed. No more carpal tunnel, and typing speed would be irrelevant.
Anyone use this method?
Wouldn't it be more effective....
if you did not mention the MT business. I think the larger scale of things is more effective - 30 MILLION jobs, AT LEAST, and counting. As I mentioned, that is the equivalent of the total population in 3 U.S. states!! Talk about this hurting Uncle Sam's income. I did not want to sound like a small group of typists who make no difference in the grand scheme of things. Share your letter with us, will you?
Oops! .. Fever few probably not effective for
headaches related to tension/muscle strain.
As we all know, the only effective way to lose weight
is diet and exercise. I have tried MediFast, SlimFast, phentermine, all of them. In the end, the only that really worked and help maintain my figure is eating right and exercise, exercise and more exercise.
I always wanted the fast road to a "skinny" body, but guess way, the weight crept back on faster than I lost it. So, I decided to just eat right, limit fatty foods and carbs, and exercise. I joined a gym and go 3x a week. It really does stimulate you.
Good luck to you, but really none of those plans work unless you change your lifestyle.
I use Koss headphones. They are huge, but effective.
aa
Including refusing to work effective now? nm
x
Thank you for this info!! Texas has passed law to be effective sept. 1, 2006!!!! nm
;
Your insurance benefits will be effective through the period of time you have paid them which...sm
could be the end of the week or the end of the month or the day that the company calls the insurance company to cancel them. You cannot depend on thinking if you quit in the middle of the month you will be covered through the end of the month. You have to find out exactly from your company. Also for COBRA benefits you are eligible for up to 18 months or perhaps longer in special circumstances but yes you have to pay the premium all by yourself, the company doesn't chip in at all. The plus side is you are still in a group plan. You cannot get individual insurance unless you have NOTHING at all wrong with you, no high blood pressure, no depression, nothing. It is very important to not have a lapse in coverage greater than 60 days. If you do, you will lose coverage for any preexisting conditions when you go to your next GROUP insurance (this is the other part of HIPAA - portability). If for example you are covered for high blood pressure and you don't choose COBRA and your insurance lapses for more than 60 days, when you get on the next group plan, they will not cover your high blood pressure M.D. visits or medications for up to 1 year.
You can get relatively cheep individual coverage if you choose a high deductible, to carry you through. That is, if you can get it. Good luck.
The easy answer, taking all the easy work and
x
Most recent Consumer Reports magazine did an article about this. Most effective was hormone replac
.
Well, Word is easy to buy and easy to install. Word 97 works great. Cheap. SM
I still would not work anywhere I could not use a spell checker with grammar checker and a Steadman's Medical Spell Checker.
IF they want people to TRANSCRIBE MEDICAL REPORTS, then I guess they better get the programs they need.
It's like probably 110% easier to buy and install Word 97 than to try to program their own programming. And, yes, I do mean Microsoft Word 97. Why? Because you can install it unlimited times, in case you need to install the operating system again. And it has a few features that Microsoft, in its un-wisdom, took away in Word 2000 and 20003 and 2007. So, yes, I'd go with Word 97 for its cheapness and it works better than the later versions. Just my opinion, with 20 years experience being an MT. So what if they "don't have it" on their computer? It's easy to get.
Solution........sm
I live in Florida and have Adelphia cable which is lightening fast, WHEN it's working. I was losing connection while working at least two or three times a month, which you obviously know, can be a nightmare, especially when it's down for hours at a time. I have the solution. I got BellSouth Fast Access DSL as a backup. It works through my telephone line. It costs me about $50 a month, but it is soooo worth it. Now when my cable goes down, I just swith over to DSL and I'm back to work in a snap ! 
I have the solution..
Lets all move to India and only work for companies THERE that offshore!!! 
a solution
There is probably a quicker way, but here is how I do it:
1. Go to google.com, highlight, right click and copy everything in the address bar. Minimize explorer.
2. Right click on desktop and select new > shortcut. A window will open. Paste (control-V)the Google info in the "location of the item" field, click next, name it, click on finish.
3. You will then have a new icon on your desktop which is clickable to google. Drag that icon down onto the toolbar next to the start button.
There is a solution that they don't tell you about. SBC/ATT have
a business plan that is called Complete Business Solution that is unlimited local, local toll and long distance. It is $59.99 in my area for this and they switched my residential line to a business line for $12. This is less than I was paying for my residential line and there is no limit on the unlimited calls, length, etc as long as you are not a telemarketing center. My boss (who has been slammed here too often for me to say her name without causing flames) researched this and let me know because I got the .19 per minute letter from SBC. No problems since and it was over a year ago!
Possible solution?
Okay, ethics is questionable here, but at times you need to fight fire with fire. At one MTSO all of the formats were templated. They charged the client, but didn't pay us. So...Many MTs would delete the template as soon as it popped in and put in a matching one of their own. They got the lines, the client got the template, and no one was ever the wiser (so far).
Would something like that work for you? It might be dodgy, but if they are going to play this game you could conceivably play right back. I know I'm going to get flamed, but MTSOs are looking for every opportunity to take food out of the mouths of our children, and at some point we need to say NO.
Got a solution...Buy a new/used one from me;) s/m
I have a couple of extras I'm getting ready to list on Ebay. Would you like to make me an offer? Just send me an email. Thanks.
Here's one solution
Send all the ESL dictations over there! It seems really wrong to me that I'm sitting here typing ESL for residents with heavy Indian accents and they're sitting over there typing american doctors, and we're all struggling to understand! Seems like everyone would be happier if those docs could dictate in their native language, those overseas MTs could type it in that same language, and then they could run it through translation software to come up with a report in English. I know a lot of american patients don't wamt a doctor treat them that they can barely understand, and I often wonder why so many ESL folks want to practice here, dictate here and have americans type the dictation! Why don't they sent THAT work oversease, and quit driving the rest of us nuts!
My solution
Recently I changed my working schedule in that I work three-hour stretches. It has definitely made a difference in my productivity, as well as decreasing the total time per day I spend transcribing (I'm an IC). This works for me, although the downside is that for anyone, three hours without a break is a long time to transcribe. I would recommend working up to what would be the longest time you could tolerate.
Somewhat of a Solution
Actually, I was able to copy the whole contents of the document and paste it into a new document, and the marks disappeared. Just in case anyone was curious.
Here is a solution.
If you have access to the folder containing those files. Right click on that folder, go to properties ...
and set it Owner can 'read', 'write' and 'execute'. In Unix/FTP terms it's known as chmod 777 permission. Try googling chmod 777.
BTW, which FTP client you are using? CuteFTP? or WS_FTP?. Sometime, you need to set options within the FTP client program as well.
no solution here yet either
I have been at this for over 7 years now and still have not found a solution to this problem. My situation is not nearly as bad as yours, but I have always said that my husband's mouth was connected to my pedal. I press play and he starts talking LOL
Me too and solution
I use Escription as well and I think you're referring to something that reads ProcMon or something? Well I disabled the darn thing and nobody said anything. Didn't realize it was a monitoring tool but IMO unless you are going to provide me with a computer then you have no business montioring me especially without telling me.
So here are some instructions. Go to Control Panel. Click on Administrative Tools. Click on Services. Find EditScript Process Monitor (assuming this is what the process is you have that I have). Double click on it. Under the General tab there is a drop down menu that says Startup type. Choose Disabled. Click Apply then OK.
Make sure this is the same exact thing you are seeing. NEVER change any process that you do not know what it is. This is something that is best left to someone in the IT field. It so happens my husband was a Senior Network Engineer (he's since moved on to development) and these instructions come from him. But be very careful as you could turn off something important!
RIGHT HERE is the solution sm
We could mount a campaign to make outsourcing of medical transcription illegal, or at the very least tax the crap out of it until it is not practical. Write your representatives, write to the political talk shows, write to Oprah, write to news magazine programs, write the New York Post. Get on the phone and talk to people who can make a difference!!!!
The end result? There are NOT enough highly qualified MTs to do the work that needs to be done. So, supply and demand will work FOR us. Benefits and wages will have to go up so that companies can attract the best, most productive MTs and keep them. Gone will be days when we work for such a pittance. We will be in demand.
Well, for both of you I have a solution
that is going to sound reeaally strange. I got the suggestion from my chiropractor when I complained of sore lower back and sore hiney. He suggested that I buy one of those large (about 24" round) inflatable pilates exercise balls and sit on that. He had one in his physical therapy department and I gave it a test sit. Felt pretty good.
STOP LAUGHING, I KNOW HOW WEIRD THIS IDEA SOUNDS and the visual image is a scream. Yes, yes, I know. You think that would be a totally unworkable situation and so did I. But I was ready to try just about anything and this $20 idea seemed affordable, so I went for it. The theory is that you learn to hold yourself straight by strengthening your core muscles instead of leaning against a chair back. And the seat is very yielding under your butt. I initially had a problem with my ball/chair rolling away every time I stood, but I solved that by getting a giant heavy plastic flower pot saucer to set the ball in. Voila! Looked weird, worked well.
Takes some getting used to, but I eventually did. My back was more tired than ever for about a week, but my bum was in heaven. Then I got the hang of it and it was great. I sort of got away from the system when I broke my arm and the cast was throwing my balance way off so that I had trouble with my..uh... mount and dismount. After tipping over a couple of times, I deflated the ball and stored it, rolled in a regular chair so I could one-handed hunt and peck for e-mails and internet.
Been back transcribing for over a year, but never got back 'on the ball.' Now that I mention it, though, I think I'll reinflate that sucker and try it again. I SAID QUIT LAUGHING, BOTH OF YOU!
best solution to this
Better Business Bureau, file complaint under misleading advertising. Bring the complaint here and ask everyone who views it to make a complaint to the BBB. It would shut them down. I filed one on Transcription for Dummies website www.transcriptionfor dummies.com!
no solution for me,
other than positioning in the shade, with sun not shining on the screen. Its so nice to be out there working in the fresh air, but much less convenient for me (even with the minimal items packed along, and the various concerns, animals knocking something over, dust, wind, bugs...)
Extremely helpful - thank you!!! nm
nm
It was extremely perverted.
Be grateful they took it off. I would repost whatever you had to say.
this is extremely sad. I started on with MQ
0.0775 cpl. You're only going to get desperate newbies with that pay. If you want an "experienced" MT as you say, pay them what their experience is worth.
They are extremely close.
From what I know of both companies, oddly enough it is MQ catching up to changing its operations to par with Spheris with the new Rewards Plan.
However, while Spheris has already had their compensation/benefits package settled for a while, they seem to be aggressively pursuing purchasing other companies and increasing their offshore entities.
MQ seems to be focusing on it's US clientele.
MQ has ASR and if Spheris has it, I haven't heard of it yet. I would imagine ASR came in with a recent purchase if Spheris has much in the way of it right now.
You are welcome.
ok now I see it - extremely annoying. NM
x
I am extremely careful
Geesh, June. I am extremely careful, and my girls have been told not to open the door unless they know the person on the other side. You know children do not always listen. I had been down the hall using the bathroom, and my 13yo thought the 16yo had stepped outside and locked herself out. Since it was a soft knock and a familiar one, she thought she knew who was on the other side. When she realized it wasn't who she thought it was, she shut the door right away and came and told me there was a man in our garage. We've lived here for 10 years, and this is the first time anyone other than family has knocked on that door. There isn't a lot of crime in our area, and we leave our garage door most of the time. We never have any problems. I know...there's always a first time....never say never and all that...but I am careful.
A couple of weeks ago, religious solicitors walked up to our door. I was working, and my 16yo opened the door to them because they were women. Not anyone she knew, but she opened the door because she didn't find women to be intimidating. That's why I say children don't always listen to what you say.
After those Missouri boys were abducted in rural areas, I've talked to my girls again about being careful, beiing aware and watching out for each other.
My hubby thinks I'm paranoid. I'm the type to keep my doors locked at all times, day or night, and he thinks it's silly because we're in a rural area and probably fine. When I dispute the point with stories from the news, his rebuttal is that a locked door will not keep out someone who wants in. Maybe not...but they'll be a lot more noisy trying to get past that locked door than they would an unlocked door.
It works extremely well for me. sm
I am in a very, very rural area as stated; all woods. I was also told it works as good as your cell works. Our cells are "patchy" in this area, but are fine in our home and we have all metal roof too, which usually causes outages but not in our case. I was constantly frustrated with Wildblue and no signals on bright sunny days even. Like I said, in 3 months I have not had one problem with losing a signal and I am on the net 24/7 almost literally, lol. I know in my case, they gave a 30-day refund in case it didn't work out for you. So I would say give it a try first and if it doesn't pick up well for you, then look into HughesNet. The wireless was the BEST move I have made period and I am extremely happy. I did call tech suport on it when first setting up and the hold was very minimal and tech was very helpful. I was fixed and up and running within 5 mins with AT&T. Now I will say my first bill was also about $170 as they bill in advance so I had to pay first month and then 2nd month, but to get started all I paid was for the USB thing itself. Oh, if you do go with wireless, don't get the "cards", get a USB one that way you can change it from different computers and be mobile with it rather than just working in 1 computer. Say if you have laptop and desktop you would switch the USB between computers and if you got a "card" it would only work in one of the computers, the one which you bought it for. 
Anybody else notice extremely low IC pay?
I have always worked as an IC acute care transcriptionist. My line rates have always exceeded what an MT can make as an employee, which is only logical because as an IC, you have to pay your own taxes, no benefits, etc. I always peruse job listings on this and other boards, just to see what's out there. Lately, I have noticed a disturbing trend. It seems like most MT companies/MTSOs are only offering .08/line for IC. Unless that is for a gross line (and goodness knows gross lines are a thing of the past), that is outrageous!! When you consider that an IC has to pay approximately 15% of his/her income in self-employment taxes alone, that means a net rate of about .068/line! While .08/line for employee status is still low (in my opinion), at least social security and medicaid taxes are paid, and there are usually benefits, PTO, etc.
If I were an MTSO, I would be embarrassed to offer .08/line to any quality IC MT. For a newbie, sure. But for any MT worth his/her salt, .08/line for IC is an insult.
I know that competition with overseas firms makes it seem necessary for American transcription companies to lower their MT pay in order to be competitive. However, American MTSOs will never be able to compete solely on price; overseas transcription companies will always be able to do it cheaper. It is a slippery slope that has already lead to the failure of many American transcribing firms. The question for American transcription companies should not be can we do it cheaper, but can we do it better??
In today's market, American MTSOs need to stand their ground and quit underselling themselves and undervaluing the value of their American transcription workforce. American MTSOs need to start marketing themselves differently, stressing quality, accuracy, dependability, security, and good old fashioned patriotism. I don't care how low the overseas companies can bid a job. There is no way they can compete with the quality and accuracy of American transcriptionists. I myself have worked for an MTSO who lost a contract to a firm in India, only to have them beg her to take them back a few months later because the quality of the overseas work was so horrible. I am quite sure this is not an isolated incident.
While there are always going to be hospitals that will try to get by on the cheap, there are also hospitals and doctor's offices who realize that they get what they pay for and will put quality first. If you compare transcription services to cars, overseas work is the Hyundai while American transcriptionists are the Cadillac. Cadillac would never slash its prices to compete with the cheaper imports. They know that they have to cater to their own market, people with more discriminating tastes.
I am fortunate enough to work for a company that realizes the value of its services and takes the stronger, wiser stance. They are not after contracts at any cost. They will pass up work if they have to bid ridiculously low just to get it. And guess what? Any bid that only allows you to offer your IC transcriptionists .08/line IS TOO LOW!! And any quality MT is not going to stick around at those rates.
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