We had an account that went overseas that when we lost it

• Been undercut, after 4 years, losing account, I am sure. - MTSO
  • Undercut - NE MTSO
  • Keep that account @ .12 cpl - workinfool
    • re. 23 cpl, go to .11 if you have to sm - workinfool
      • .12 not .23 - oh brother, too early! - workin fool
  • Really.... - Kate
  • Same thing happened to me. I dumped them. - A service in CT did it to me.
  • Been there, done that... - K8
    • Very good advice from 'Been there done that.' - Lynn
  • Undercut - Another IC
  • Thanks everyone for the support. Makes feel a bit better. I have other accounts and - MTSO
    • When they come back to you, I think I'd be tempted to say my rates are a bit higher now. sm - MT
  • My experience was - Been in your shoes
  • If 13 is the lowest you can go and still make a profit, - you did the right thing.
  • i'm not an MTSO, - sm
    • We had an account that went overseas that when we lost it - not believing that
  • Yup, if you don't mind losing the account and/or - MT2U
    • The other will be cheaper but no quality - they will come back
      • I've told many accounts . . . - OTHMT

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and of hospitals around here that have gone to EMR, no Transcriptionist is needed.

With VR and EMR, the VR automatically puts their dictation into the patient's record.  They could care less how it looks, their idea is to save money.

I am so upset. I have worked on the same account for 2 years now, ever since I started medical transcription. My computer has been giving me issues now on and off for about a month. This week I have not been able to work because of computer issues. I have spent $800 since December on computers having them upgraded and antivirus and more memory. It is constantly acting up for the last week and they had to reassign my work this week. They just called me and informed me they took my account and gave it to a MT who doesn't have computer issues. Like I chose for my computer to go on the fritz. So now I am a backup MT. I am so hurt that I had the bad luck to have computer issues for the last week and they take my work. How can I help that? I can't. Oh well. I think it is time to get another job.

This is only the second month that I have had this account but they thought that their bill was a little "high" as the doctor does not feel that he should pay for any lines that I have in a template or if the physical is mainly normal and so I have a normal template, etc.  I told them to try to find somone else that was cheaper that gave them the service that I did, with the TAT and quality.  This is a doctor that loves to rib off insurance companies and morally I have been debating about doing this account but felt someone had to do it.  But I told the NP/OM that with the time I spend in delivery and pick-up, paper, etc. I need to make this much per hour and that is about what I make.  This is the first time in a long time I have really stuck up for myself.  She said that their last Transcriptionist had been charging $5 a page and  I said fine I would compare that with my lines but it would be with 1" margins all the way around and a 12 courier font to define "a page" and low and behold it came out about the same as with my line count.   Anyway I am sure that they will begin to look elsewhere and that is fine, I wasn't looking for an account when this one came my way and so somewhere else there is something else.  But it made me feel good to stand up for myself and believe in my skills.  

Well they said today that they were going to investigate other avenues, appreciated my work but did not appreciate that I corrected her when she did not correctly spell Crohn's disease.  She is a PA and knows how to spell so then why did she specifically spell it incorrectly -- anyway am glad as their were a little shady.  She saw the patients, dictated as the doctor, and charged out MD prices instead of PA so am glad I am out of it.  But God gave it to me over Christmas, I was able to pay off one credit card and so it worked out.  Will enjoy the 6 to 8 free hours per week now.  Just thought I would let you all know how it came out.  

Patti

I cannot believe that this happened to me today.  I went into one of my doctor's offices this afternoon to pick up his tape for today.   I was given a tape and told that his wife, who is the office manager, wanted to see me in her office.  I thought nothing of it because she sometimes has extra things that she wants me to type up for her and we talk quite often also.  

She tells me that she just has not gotten around to talking with me yet, but  "tomorrow we will start dictating through a company over the internet".  I was blown away!  She said she wanted to give me a break and that if it does not work out she will let me know.   The whole time she was tell me this she was writing me a check as I had just turned in an invoice.   

My first inclination was to throw that #@%$ tape at her and say "do it yourself", but I knew that wasn't the "professional thing" to do.  I was thinking how could she do this to me, not even a 24 hour notice.  She handed the check to me, I snatched it and walked out. 

I have had this account for five years exactly (began August 1, 2000).   I have never took a day off, never raised my rates, never asked anything of them, and my work has always been the best possible quality.  I have been the most dependable person they have could had.   I have passed up other accounts because of them, and I always put them first.   Thank goodness I have other accounts to fall back on.   In our town, there is only one other transcriptionist besides myself, and we both have more work than we can handle most of the time.

Just thought I'd remind all those other MTs out there that no matter how good we are and no matter how much we try to please everyone we are still not appreciated.  I will never be fooled again.  No one will ever receive the attention from me that I gave them.  

The system is not accepting the 3-digit password, after I write out my message, why not?

A friend of mine is moving to Italy and I am really considering going with her.  Just wanting to know if anyone has lived outside of the US (not necessarily in Italy, just anywhere).

Thanks

When companies state no overseas applications or solicitations does that include Overseas Military?? I have DSL and we have a US Post office here on base. Curious cause i'm about to start school and want to know it wont be wasted while we are stationed overseas.

Thanks!

I don't know where you have been for the past several years but a whole bunch of people are screaming bloody murder about this to their congressmen/women.  There are plenty of petitions being circulated to put a stop to foreign outsourcing.  Most MTs I know have not only sent letters to congress but have called the senators from their states to complain about this.  My friends refuse to see a physician who outsources medical records - and they ask up front who does the transcription and make it know that their records are not to be sent to a foreign country. 

There's lots of stuff going on.  Do a search on the Web and you will more than likely more than you ever imagined.

Does anyone have any sources for info on overseas MT jobs?!  I have been Googling but haven't come up with a single MT position in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, or Costa Rica -- only Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Dubai.

Thanks.

If you worked for an American company say in Scotland all well and good, transcribing for U.S hospitals and the work contained in the U.S., BUT if you transcribe for British or European hospitals/doctors, the work contained in those countries, it is VERY difficult.  The spelling is very different.  I was born and raised in Britain x25 years and when I started working here in the U.S. I found the American spelling very difficult - although less characters per word.  British spelling adds a lot.  Just a thought!  Plus the accents are hard too.  They don't say period, they say full stop which sometimes sounds like part of the text, but you have probably already experienced that.  Good luck, it sounds wonderful.

Can a U.S. citizen travel while working for an American transcription company, as long as they have a legal U.S. residence?  Is there any legal reason not to hire someone who likes to travel and visit foreign countries while they work?  I'm not talking about off-shoring. 

I've been reading some very interesting posts regarding off-shore outsourcing.  I worked as a supervisor in a large MTSO in the 1990s when this subject was being "bantered" around the office, but it was my mistake that I didn't start taking it more seriously at that time.

As I have seen transcription issues evolve over the past 10+ years, I can think back to a time when, in fact, we had lots of "visitors" coming to our office, looking at servers, etc. in what I quite naively thought were server upgrades.  Some of these so-called "visitors" were indeed of foreign descent.  I lived in the southwest at the time so there was a fair amount of "overseas occupants" and I didn't think much about it.  Now, in hindsight, it's plainly and perhaps painfully clear that this was the beginning of outsourcing.

One thing I will say upfront is the fact that overseas outsourcing companies employ smart and very patient people.  I don't doubt this very concept of $.03 cpl transcripton is very palatable to foreign entities where there is so much poverty.  I also remember reading in some of the transcription magazines around that time that doctors and nurses were quitting their jobs in India to transcribe because they made more money!  I laughed outloud when I read that, but I guess the joke was on us.   I also remember reading ads for medical editors in Saudi Arabia for $40-50,000 with a full housing allowance, but the employee had to sign a two-year retainer agreement.  One MT I knew took a job in Saudi Arabia.  I did hear from another MT who was writing to her that there were huge personal safety issues and she would be glad when her time was up so she could "come home."

If we want to know how persistent outsourcers can be, especially with medical office/hospital administrative staff making critical decisions without actual hands-on experience and think MTs are just "typists," just look at our current situation.  We in the USA don't seemingly have the patience to look at the broader picture and the dollars matter more.  Don't get me wrong but the spiraling out-of-control cost of healthcare has always been an issue and with more sophisticated scanners, research, etc. being necessary just to compete with the hospital/clinic across the street, dollars have to be taken from somewhere and voila! it's comes from  'discretionary funds' called MT.  There is only one very large medical institution still in his country who tried outsourcing in the beginning and when the quality of the work was so poor they wouldn't stand for it anymore, they cancelled the remainder of the "standard" contract and vowed never again to outsource whatever the cost.   To this day, they are still one of the most prestigious medical centers in the world and all transcription is being done in-house.

I truly believe there is safety in numbers and hope I live along enough to see a radical change from off-shore outsourcing to bringing MTs "bread-and-butter" home where it belongs!

Maybe we can start by not utilizing their services and getting the word out.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/popups/exporting.america/content.html