What are the pros/cons of FlashType, IT, Shorthand

• What are the pros/cons of FlashType, IT, Shorthand - and Shortcut? Thanks! nm
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Never once late on paycheck, reasonably good pay, leave you alone, keep you on same primary, inform you of updates, technicians are helpful for the most part, good equipment.

cons:  More like a sweatshopt atmosphere, just shush and do work, hard to get raises, hard to get anything, definitely geared towards the client, not the MT, feel like a number. 

For me the important things are being left alone and a good paycheck, so it works out for me.

There are pros and cons to this.  I have been doing this for almost 20 years.  I have had some accounts for as long as 18 years.  They do expect a LOT.  The office staff is sometimes the hardest as they will sometimes treat you like the janitorial service.  I do envelopes, printing, cutting apart chart notes, cc envelopes, 24 hour turn around is a MUST or else they really come down on you.   Have had one vacation other than a long weekend during the past 4 years.  They do not want me to get others to cover for me and one account has asked that I absoulutely do NOT subcontract any of their work.  So it is waiting for me when I get back and they expect all of that within 48 hours.   But that is just one account.  Also when the doctor is gone, you do not get paid and that happens a lot during the summer time.  I try to get a monthly schedule from my accounts but it is sometimes hard to do.  If you pull on another account to cover for this you sometimes get overloaded and then behind.  If they would all take off at once you could have a vacation.  Usually have to work one day on the weekend to do the Friday dictation to get back on Monday.

So you ask what are the pros:   They do pay me on time within usually 2 days receipt of invoice - never had to ask or had a bounced check.  I do give a 1% discount though for payment within three days. I do get Christmas bonuses even from the one account that treats me a little like hired help.  I do have templates, auto corrects set up, on one account I can make $45 to $50 an hour if they do a lot of consults/letters.  On another I make $30  to $35 doing chart notes.  Still not bad but that has to pay for all my benefits and putting some aside for when the docs are gone. 

Sometimes it scares me as I am single, 58 years old and supporting myself towards retirement and one of my accounts could pull it and I would be out and looking and so guess that is why I try my best.   They also expect 100% correct and when you have to proof your own work it is hard. 

Anyway, would I work for a company, doubt it.  Am going digital by the 1st of the year and will be looking for more accounts and maybe add on some subs.  Have 2 part-timers now.  I do work in a clinic doing their EMR's and that gives me the best of both worlds.  For my business I bring in around $55,000 with probably 6,000 out to subs and my clinic work brings in 12,000.  I put in 40+ hours a week including your unbillable time.  But I have write-offs and pay taxes on less than half, usually abour 20K or less.   Any more questions ask.

Is it more beneficial to be an IC?  Any personal pros and cons on this subject would be extremely helpful and appreciated.

Thanks.

I recently left an in house hospital position to work from home full time.  I had worked from home part time for a national also, before going full time with a different company.  My main reason for making this change is that I wanted to get paid by production and not hourly.  I am now grossing double or more what I made at the in house job.  Benefits are about the same as far as quality, but cost me about $100 more a month (which I make up for many times over). 

If you are not a high producer, as far as money goes, might be better to take an hourly position.  Benefits generally also are more affordable than with a national at home. 

I do miss though the company of the other girls at the hospital and sometimes feel a little isolated.  But given that I am making twice as much at home, I don't think I will be going back any time soon.

I downloaded the Shorthand Expander trial for 30 days.  I like it a lot and am thinking seriously about buying it, but now I wonder about FlashType.  Is it really just like Shorthand?  (if so, I could save $30 with FlashType).  Can I convert my Autocorrect terms to FlashType like I can in Shorthand?  I tried to download FlashType several times to try it out, but I can't open it (something about "proper license not found." 

I have about 20 days left on my Shorthand trial, so I'd appreciate your opinions about both programs.  Thanks!   

click on link below...

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I was taught years ago that generic medications were to be in "lower case."  However, I then worked for a facility (for 14 years) who wanted all medications capitalized.  I am now back to at-home transcription and back to having to transcribe generic medications the correct way, but I am having to look almost all medications up, not for the actual spelling, but to see if it is a generic medication or not.  Any suggestions on how I can streamline this process?  It is really slowing down my production.  TIA

When I was an MTSO I had to go digital because I couldn't find good MTs that were willing to drive.  Pick up and delivery was a big issue.  So the pros to going digital for me was:  My MT pool opened up to include the entire nation, got the office to quit calling for lost reports because I sent them the files - they could look for it themselves, no more printing (the office did it), better sound quality, back up of voice file (no lost tapes), etc.

The key is to keep it simple and there are simple ways to do it - although with the electronic medical record and headers I'm not so sure how I would set that up.