Yeah, cant hurt to ask. I've worked in a similiar situation and I have never been turned down for
Posted By: luvmting on 2007-04-04
In Reply to: IC - Texas MT
Just give him what you have told us..increase in work and wonder if your salary could be adjusted accordingly. Getting a raise from a private doctor is way easier than a national transcription company, let me tell you. Good luck.
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similiar situation
I have a doc who will dictate a letter, have it returned to him to edit and then gives it back for me to change. What I did for him was came up with a template (refused to cut a deal on price as this is still a service he is paying for) where he would just dictate the "fill-in" spots, tell me what he didn't want in the template and came up with a "normal" for many things, like ROS, PE, etc. I would tell your office it would be faster if they dictated as most people can talk faster than they write and if you come up with a template, they will eventually be able to roll-out what they want changed/added/deleted much quicker than you sitting there reading/editing and returning documents due to not being able to read writing, etc. Hope this helps.
HELP! I've turned my screen sideways, I can't straighten it up. I know I've seen sm
this before, but I can't remember what it is. Do you realize how hard it is to read sideways? TIA.
Yeah, but good times or bad, people still get sick, hurt
I do mainly pediatric oncology, orthopedics and GI, and it seems to be increasing, not slowing down.
Bottom line is they need the worked turned around
quickly. Most companies overhire and one of those reasons is because there are lots of MTs who don't work their usual schedule, take a day off w/o notice, etc., so they have to have extra to cover for that. My company does their best not to overhire, but at times that means we have to work like dogs because there is so much work. I think some companies also offer incentives/benefits based on production and if you can't reach them they don't have to compensate you for them. There are times that work is just slow and a company can't give you work they don't have, but not being able to make any lines is a consistent issue then there is a problem. I would call your supervisor and ask for a backup account and/or look for another position.
Yeah, abortion turned into a major issue similar to this!
nm
You've really hurt my feelings - NOT
NM
I've got one, but the cyst itself doesn't hurt -
the osteoarthritis underneath it in my wrist is what hurts. In years past, I could simply give it a rest and wrap it with a compressive wrap, like an Ace bandage, for a while, and it would go away. But now I think I'm stuck with it, as I think the arthritis underneath it has caused to reappear. My dad wanted to hit it with a book when I was in my 20's, but I wouldn't let him! Went to a doc, and he said I could:
a) Leave it alone, or
b) Hit it with a book.
I chose 'a' !!!
I've never known a patient to be turned away
They usually send them to the mental health/crisis unit and get social services involved to arrange coverage. Maybe it's different in different parts of the country, but it has never happened at my hospitals.
They've turned them off. There was a wreck nearby and the SM
emergency vehicles couldn't get there, so he voluntarily turned them off.
I have never worked in a situation like this, but my thinking is --sm
if you are working, getting above the mininum required, and even getting the incentive rate you have nothing to worry about. If for some reason a report takes longer than 'they' think it should, you should document why. You sound like an extremely good worker so you should have an idea of how long each report should normally take and document anything that puts you over that time limit--research/difficult doctor/whatever.
The management may just be justifying their jobs. I agree with your take on leaving high producers alone and dealing with the others individually. Good luck.
Same situation here. When worked in-house or for physicians offices,
never as much as a single episode of no work available. Much to my dismay, I have found out that MTing from home for a nation is so unpredictable, in so far as what your paycheck is going to be every week or 2. They all say "there is plenty of work," which is probably factual. However, the nationals are primarily interested in pleasing the client with their promised swift turn-around-times. What they forget is that if it weren't for the MTs, there would be no turn-around-time whatsoever. It's really very discouraging and quite unfair. Most people try to adhere to their monthly budget, which is impossible when one never knows how much they are going to make from one week to the next. We ARE the providers, not peeons, and resent being treated as such.
I've been going thru similar situation for the last
3 years. Don't be too sure that the person does NOT want to be found. Nobody is that stupid, especially after this amount of time. My person ended up being a criminal - in and out of jail, and still lives in my township. Her car is still registered at my address with motor vehicle - police come by regularly for one reason or another as her kids are criminals as well. I still get all her mail, all her bills - now obviously in collections, etc. I have been to the Postmaster, filed formal complaints with the state head post office - Newark, NJ in my case, and even gone to the police for their help. I DO NOT WANT this person's mail. Same as you - I get nowhere. I either throw it out or leave it in box with a note on it. I also have "accidentally" opened up some mail and called the collectors to tell them wrong address. It is NOT against the law as long as it is accidental - believe me, I've checked with the PO and a lawyer and police - as long as I give no details about her. Just that this address is not valid. It may seem silly to other's reading, but it is a very frustrating situation to live with. I feel your pain!
I've been in this situation and it doesn't
get any better. we were a large facility (3 hospitals total) but since the transcription dept was considered an "overhead" dept they watched every move you made. people who worked on campus (only about 15 out of 50) had to bring their own pens/paper/ref material and anything you might need to get your job done. it would really hit the fan if you ate lunch somewhere other than your desk and bathroom breaks were frowned upon. each year the bennies got worse but got more expensive and then they finally redid the pay scale and that's when the good people started quiting. we had a joke for a base pay but when you met a certain line count there was incentive so what they did to cut costs was to double the minimum line count needed to reach incentive and then cut the pay of each incentive bracket so the slackers were still bringing home the same amount of money because they never got incentive to begin with and the producers got a huge pay cut. this was after, of course, they started outsourcing about 75% of our work and leaving all of the impossible docs for us and we had to fight to get the very minimum just to make line counts.....needless to say, the good ones left. they would print out productivity reports on everyone (about 50 mt) twice a day and if they felt you weren't doing what they thought you should be the would lock you out of the system so you couldn't work. you see, if you quit they don't have to pay unemployment but if they fire you because you're job is outsourced or cut back, then they have to pay unemployment so the more they can micromanage and get under your skin and push your buttons, the more it saves on the bottom line. there's no such thing as caring about the patient's when money is involved.
PS: I've left my bad situation, but am afraid the issues I gained
.
Our stories sound so similiar...listen to this
My daughter was in preschool last year, 3 mornings a week. I would hear the same thing about her all the time. At the end of the year, they wanted her to go to the "junior kindergarten" which the school offered. Looking at the curriculum, it was basically full day preschool, 5 days a week (and since it was a private school, it ran about $310 a month!). Her teacher pulled me aside when I was picking her up one day, just about a year ago, and said that there was no way she was ready for kindergarten. She said she was too "in her own world." She wasn't ready to sit and listen, was immature, etc., etc. I, too, came home and cried. We thought about home school at that point, but I know that I am not disciplined enough for that, just didn't have the time to work and do it as well as seek out social situations for her at the same time. So we just said forget it...we put her in the public school kindergarten. I figured I'd just get calls and notes home from the teacher, until they finally pulled her out when they realized she wasn't ready. So, guess what? No notes, no calls. First teacher conference...she was doing very well. She would ask the teacher a lot of questions that she already knew the answer to, but she was sitting at her table, participating etc. Last teacher conference in March, the teacher said she was just doing amazing. She was an angel and a joy in the class. She does her work, she participates, she gets along with the other kids. On her testing, as far as letters sounds, counting, etc., she's far ahead of where she should be. Again, I went home and cried..because I was so proud and so happy...and yes, I felt that the humiliation of a year ago (that teacher pulled me aside with many other parents around) had been vindicated. Good luck to you. It is going to be okay..really. 
Yeah, me, too! I've been working too much.
I'd like to take a week or two off of work just to catch up around here and do some household stuff in preparation for winter. Oh, well. Progress, not perfection. At least I can see my desk now.
Yeah, I've been thinking about that lately.
We just had a new Starbucks open up here, but it's 10 miles away from my house. No way am I going to drive that far. They only pay their managers $8 an hour. As it is, both times I've been in there, they've messed up my order and the drink wasn't even hot. Yuck. Lukewarm mocha latte.
Yeah, I've been drinking a lot too lately,
coincidentally since 1/1. Oh, you mean coffee... Well that too! 
Yeah, that's where I'm at, too. I've found these
for half the money I used to make. And the work isn't easier, it's harder. I used to do about 8 docs that I knew like the back of my hand. I usually knew what they were going to say before they said it, because their thought patterns had become second nature to me. But now I do several accounts, hundreds of doctors, plus nurses, PA's, med-students, etc. The reports are longer, and it's all straight typing, no templates. Even though I'm home all day, far less gets done around here than before, because I always have to work if I'm going to buy food and pay my rent.
I've worked for both
I think there are two big differences. (1) Benefits should be much better than the national, and (2) in working for the hospital, you will only be working on one account (which makes a BIG difference in my opinion). I averaged about 225 lines per hour working for national on a main account plus a couple backups. I am averaging 300+ with the hospital.
The only advantage with going with the national might be better job security. If you lost the account, at least they could move you to another one. But personally, I would take the hospital job in a second. Good Luck!
I've worked with one of their
products. It was an excellent transcription product; they basically bought another company and added the product to their line. I've read some about the owner of the company. He seems like a very above-board kind of guy. He values the special knowledge that MTs have, and we used the product without VR, BUT ... he won't be happy until his VR product is worked in to the transcription process. (I think they might focus on radiology only). He is just SURE it can improve turnaround time, but he admits that VR on its own is not very impressive and reports will always need to be tweaked by a knowledgeable MT. What he doesn't realize is that the transcription process is much more active and able to catch errors when the MT is immersed in transcribing the report. I don't believe 95% of MTs could in a time-efficient way get the complete gist of each report and catch as many dictator errors, history errors, as she could when her mind was completely involved in the transcription of every word. Doing radiology, how many times is there just the briefest pause from the dictator and the MT's mind is already filling in the next word or phrase, and then the dictator says something else, and you think - wha?? and then the radiologist realizes his blunder and corrects himself at some point. Or if he doesn't, the MT's mind is reasoning out what is right or wrong and can bring any problem up with that report. Because of noticing, that report will get corrected before it goes out to the referrer and causes a phone call from an angry referrer.
Radiology needs to go out at 100% accurate, and IMO, insisting on the use of VR will lower accuracy rates and won't improve turnaround time much at all. When I was doing radiology, the better radiologists could dictate a note in a quick and efficient manner and the MT would get on and do it within about 3 minutes. Every 20 minutes the good radiolgists would sign a batch and the reports would go out. So it was about a 30-minute turnaround time for those reports that didn't need a different radiologist to read them. Turnaround time had everything to do with which radiologist was reading and how many specialty reports there were and how efficiently the off-site radiolologists were getting on to dictate. It seems like the VR guys think the MT is the slow one, but IT'S NOT THE MT - SPEED IS UP TO THE RADIOLOGISTS.
I've worked for MQ for years and
have NEVER been given the opportunity for bonuses. Those who have gotten them have been lucky.
I've worked for MQ over 4 years now and
I have never been told how many spaces to put or not put after a sentence; I have never been paid for spaces, by my count at least. I occasionally check my reports. I do not get spaces.
I'm not sure why, or actually by the anonymous stature of posters on this board, IF anyone has really been told to limit spaces to one after a sentence.
If MQ really isn't paying for spaces, it wouldn't make any difference monetarily so I cannot see that they would make a stipulation like that.
all the ones I've worked with (6) were gay. Go figure.
The only male MT I've worked with is now ...
one of the MDs I transcribe for now. He worked as an MT for the same small service I did while he was going to school.
I should add, I don't know how they are to work for as I've never worked for them, just saw th
post.
I've worked for several companies using this VR
I make on average $20-$26 an hour with the editing at 4cpl/straight typing 9-10 cpl 65 char with headers and footers and templates. I've been using it for several years though. There are several job ads for this software.
I've worked the same one account...sm
for over 10 years. They know I'm reliable and I know what those docs are going to say before they say it ;0) Seriously, though, I've tried other short term assignments or on-call situations through the years but always come back to my bread and butter. Like anyone, I could of course be let go tomorrow, but in the meantime I'm making good money and doing work that comes second nature by now. Less stress too!
No, not gullible. I've worked in
years and not just in MT. You need to unwrap your mind from around the state of MT of 25 years ago. Those days are long gone. Another unfortunate issue that we're faced with today - new MT graduates. The quality just is not there as it was back in the day. Well, enough said - we obviously will need to agree to disagree. I see it every day the negotiations with major hospitals and offshore. They know what their pennies are getting them and they don't care as long as it's cheap.
What is the best platform you've ever worked on
and why? What do you like about it? Also, what is the worst?
I really like EditScript 8 & although it isn't perfect, I like the fact that I can access other reports on the same patient/same dictator if I need to verify something (although I never trust it 100% lol) One thing I don't like is that I can't use my Expanders (or maybe I can, but don't know how to go about it?)
I don't like ChartScript, as I don't think its very user friendly and those old DOS-based antiquated systems were for the birds!
I've worked and traveled with (sm)
A Verizon Broadband USB device on a 5GB/month plan for $60/month. Anywhere that I can get a Verizon phone signal, I can work. Working on the DQS platform, I could work 24/7 and never approach the 5 GB limit per month, but I'm not sure how other platforms work in that regard.
Europe in general is more sophisticated in their cell phone plans than the US (the majority in Europe use prepaid as opposed to 2-year contract plans). I would think that you could get a USB device over there that is compatible with the cell phone frequencies they use over there.
Hope this helps!
Yeah, I've heard of her but never watched or listened to her.
I just wish I could get someone else on board, too.
I've worked in-house and at home ....
I find that even when you're in-house, with the nature of the job, there's no time for chit-chat. When I worked in-house we had production minimums and there was incentive to earn if you produced, so who has time to talk? I'm with you. I'm happy being here in my comfy clothing without all that aggravation. Let is snow, I don't have to drive in it!
I don't think so. It sounds like you've never worked for a national.
Nationals DO check references. That's the job of the HR department. They DO run credit reports when you accept a job, and they tell you so on the piece of paper you have to sign giving them permission to do so. They DO prosecute and report to collections against people who don't return equipment. They DO keep deposits on unreturned equipment. They DO get the equipment super cheap anyways in bulk deals through major technology suppliers. Equipment, losses, and shipping are all tax deductible anyway. They DO use QA so that lazy or inexperienced MTs aren't sending garbage straight through to the clients. Most national MTs don't have any contact whatsoever with the clients. In addition, the majority will let you use your own equipment or charge rental fees so it's not coming out of their pocket.
That goes both ways. I can tell you out of all the MTSOs I've worked for,
only a small percentage of them worked out. It's as if they'll tell you anything to get you hired, then reality hits. You tell them when you're available. Oh, OK, no problem. Then the work doesn't show up until your shift is over, but they still expect it done by TAT. Sorry, but I don't work on-call for free 24/7. I'm not sitting around doing nothing all day long waiting for work to come in. I'm not staying up all night without sleep and blowing off my family because the MTSO is in a bind. We're expected to work more than 8 hours a day without overtime or incentive pay.
I've worked for two services that had VA contracts.
It was horrible. Lots of ESLs. High stress MTSOs. No samples or QA feedback.
I've worked on a laptop only for going on 7 years.
I do use an external keyboard the majority of the time though. The USB WiFi does not accept a card, it is small, plugs into a USB port and acts like your card does, you don't use a card. Go to a website like best buy and search for Wireless USB adapters and you'll see what I'm talking about.
I've traveled and worked many times
To try to answer your questions.. Whether your foot pedal will work in your laptop depends on the laptop that you buy. When you're looking to buy one, try to find one with the correct kind of port for your pedal. The one I recently bought doesn't have a serial port, so I bought an adapter at Circuit City that plugs into my USB port, and then I can plug my ergo keyboard and mouse into that. In any case, your laptop will definitely come with at least a couple USB ports, so you could always buy a USB pedal to use with it if you have to. As far as the headphones, every laptop I've ever used has had a place to plug in a pair of headphones so that should be no problem. The thing is...if you're going to buy a laptop specifically for this, then look at the ports on the laptops and make sure it has what you need. I would say if you don't mind buying a USB foot pedal, though, you're not going to have problems because every new laptop will have USB ports, and I'm sure a place for your headphones.
If you're staying in hotels, try to stay in places that have free high speed internet which so many of them have now. You can plug right into that and work. If not, I know Verizon has a wireless broadband service now for around $60 a month you could check into.
I hope this helps some.
They aren't that rare. I've worked with SM
bunches of them. Unfortunately, my experience with them boils down to this: The men who do this usually are the men who can't get along in a work environment with a lot of other men.
I've had this problem and the only thing that worked for me....sm
was to slow down turnaround. They called within a couple of days. Told them I had to take on extra work to meet my own bills by paying customers which slowed down their turnaround. I had my check the next day. Don't know how they managed that, but they did. Since then, there have been a couple of times that it was a week or so late, but not like they used to do. I honestly think as long as they can get away with it, they will. I wonder how long they would last if their paychecks were 2-3 weeks late. Really irks me.
I've worked with much programs that were much worse.
I don't find ExText so bad.
Because I've done radiology, I've been stuck using software that didn't come with a medical spell-checker and was not compatible with any medical spell-checker. It had an English word checker, so we had to add every single medical term manually.
I once had management actually move us BACKWARDS in technology, from Medrite (which was a fine program back then), to the one previous to it. It may have been called MTS, but I can't remember. This was done because of a company merger and the "alpha" company managers were too lazy to learn the Medrite program. Did it matter to them that they were not paid on production and we were? NO! Of course not. So we all stood around as we were trained on this program my jaw dropped to my knees because it was so inefficient. And the spell checker was worse than useless with that program. Say you misspelled Levaquin as Leviquin. Here is a list of the suggestions it offered, and I am not exaggerating:
lewder
lawless
marshmallow
As far as ExText, what I would want fixed would be the ability to speed up or slow the dictation rate with the keyboard. The multi-mouse moves required are a waste of significant time IMO because of the long pauses so many acute care dictators inconsiderately leave in dictations.
I've worked with MTs who work diligently
...to find a way to cherry pick.
The system that you and the poster above you are describing sounds like the one used where I used to work.
One MT fiddled around and wasted who knows how much company time until she figured out how to manipulate the filters component of the system, and set the filters to only route to her jobs from her 3 preferred dictators.
If only these MTs put as much time into actually transcribing as they put into getting around the system they could probably make even more money than they do with the cherry picking.
I've worked for companies that needed people
specifically to do certain reports. I have been hired to exclusively do ERs and discharge summaries before. It wasn't cherry picking either. They needed someone to catch up their backlog and keep the reports within TAT permanently. Evidently, other people were cherry picking and bypassing these report types because they're not as good of money makers as Ops or H&Ps.
No, I've worked in doctor's business office.
That is what the insurance company allows, not what they dictate. Who is to tell the doctor how long he can sit and talk with his patient. It is up to him. True insurance companies get together to decide what is the appropriate amount for the doctor to "charge" for a service but I've literally seen where the doctor sees the patient all of 2 minutes after patient is worked up by techs, but they still get paid for that visit.
We supposedly have Labor Day, but I've worked it for years.
I do respect those that have serious religious holidays though and only hope that the company that they work for understand.
At first I kicked myself for picking Mondays as one of my scheduled work days, as most of our holidays fall on a Monday. But the kids sleep in because they have no school, so it always works, as I only have a 3 hour shift and I'm done before they get up.
I do. I've worked closely with these people for years,
nm
I've tried Vivarin and the 1st two days it worked great
But after that they put me to sleep like anesthesia. Go figure.
I've worked for attorneys and doctors in the past and ...
I can tell you that attorneys have way more heart. Docs are stone cold. Personally, I can't stand working for them.....
I've worked at home for years and mothered sm
4 babies during that time. Buy a battery-operated swing and put it right beside your desk. I breastfed all of mine, too. They would swing and sleep, then when they woke up I'd take a break and nurse and then put the baby back in the swing. Get one that reclines and the baby will be very comfortable. That battery-operated swing allowed me to continue working. It was worth every penny I paid for it, and then some! Good luck and enjoy your little sweetie. She will grow up much too fast.
And I disagree with that. I've worked home and in-house,
Everyone is different and some people don't rely on jobs to provide social interaction. When it comes to my job, I prefer being at home working independently without a lot of interruptions and enjoy the freedom of working from home. If I were stuck in an office with rigid hours, then I'd be resentful. Personally, I loathe being stuck in an office full of catty backstabbers and love the solitude of home. When I want to socialize, I call one of my friends.
You also have to be able to let QA remarks roll off your back a little, but that only works if you don't have the threat of being docked or terminated as a result of those QA remarks. Find an MTSO that doesn't hold those things over your head (yes, they do exist).
I do think the key IS where you work, but not home versus office - it's finding a company that values MTs, not sees them as mere production machines. They are few and far between, but they're out there. I lived through my share of bad apples in this biz before finding the good ones, so I speak from experience.
I've worked weekends for 10 years, now I want to move onto a company
that does not require at least one weekend day. I realize hospitals are open 24/7 but you would think that companies seeking good MTs would be more willing to offer a M-F shift.
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