You can do it; just have to plan and think about your priorities
Posted By: Gotta be organized on 2007-06-19
In Reply to: Attn: people with 3 jobs - romey
I work a lot more than 3 jobs, in between a full-time position and several part-time jobs (not all of these are MT-related). I have a very understanding husband, no children at home, and am extremely self-disciplined (really, scared of failure!). Why do I do this? Workaholic, I guess. My husband is self-employed, so I'm the steady source of income for our household. I'm thinking of cutting back, but for those who NEED to work long and crazy hours, my advice is:
1. Schedule down time deliberately and DO NOT fill that with anything. Schedule it just like another job.
2. Get reacquainted with your slow-cooker and use it. There's something comforting about a hot meal and you don't have to stand over it.
3. Schedule rewards for yourself for all the hard work-- a nice trip, new bicycle, whatever floats your boat.
4. Thank your lucky stars you have all these opportunities and DO NOT GROUCH about your work. You are choosing a rough schedule on purpose because you have things you want/need to do with the money. Be positive about achieving those goals, not negative about how tired you are (and you will be!).
5. Keep up with your health. Walk daily. Time is your most valuable commodity with a hectic schedule, and you MUST spend some of it on yourself in order to be productive in the work environment.
Good luck!!
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You're confusing the new QA plan with the new pay plan. New pay plan is still completely under wr
Shhhhhhhhhhh....
Our priorities are different.
I had a child so that I could raise that child, not someone else. Fancy home, cars and expensive vacations are not a top priority to me. Spending time with my child is. That is why I am not willing to work outside the home.
I am not lazy, am not on any kind of aid, just am having a hard time but not hard enough that I am going to put my baby in daycare!
This is where our priorities are so confused.
Media needs advertising and advertisers tell us if we don't have everything they sell, we don't measure up. To obtain everything they sell, we have to work ourselves silly. Then, our children are put in front of the t.v. while we rest and there they are fed more corporate America's "buy this now and ~be somebody~".
In the meantime, teachers who have graduated at the bottom of their college class are teaching our kids in a half hearted manner in the public school system, cuts in funding for programs is having detrimental effect on the gifted few and we are being fed a diet of sugar and chemicals that has us so over nourished we are dangerously obese.
Who is running the show in this country and what are they thinking????
Honestly, it comes down to priorities and enforcement.
First, you have to put work as a high priority on your list. After all, it is how you draw your income and make provisions for your family. It is part of caring for them.
Second, you have to let everyone know that you need peace and quiet and to be left alone during such hours so that you can do your job....then enforce it.
Sometimes daycare is the best option for young ones. Pets can be put into other rooms until break times. Plan your cooking and errands.
Having raised my children while working from home and doing it for more than 15 years from home ... it all comes down to you.
No one is realizing how they impact your work because you have not made it known.
It sounds like you do too much for everyone else.
Protect your income.
Yes, I do come first, thankfully. I have a good man with his priorities straight! sm
Marriage is a difficult road sometimes with many obstacles. We just have to have the patience and strength to get over them or move those obstacles out of the way. I think early in our marriage, I was not #1, as his mother had a very tight hold... but I am now and have been for about 10 years now. We were married for 18 years November 14th, and the first 7-8 years were very tough at times, but it is smooth sailing now!
We remind each other that before the kids, it was him and me and we take at least one night a week for each other to be together and romantic.
He does put be first above all and won't make plans without asking me if it interferes with our family plans or schedule. The best thing of all, every day before he goes to work he always kisses me on the cheek goodbye, even when I am half asleep. I open my one eye just to acknowledge him and go back to sleep! I just love that.
I am talking about the QA plan I dont know what the new pay plan is.
:
I plan to..
I knew they did that at the hospital I worked for at home but never imagined it would be done through an internet based company...that is ridiculous!!!!
Don't plan to either
THAT IS CRAZY!!!!! Those people should not even be allowed to have such access.
How is everyone doing with MQ's new QA plan?
nm
What plan?
What QA? WTF?
So WHAT'S THE PLAN?
That's the question. Plain and simple.
WE KNOW!! What IS the new QA plan?!?! nm
..
MQ new pay plan
It is based on a combination of your line count and QA scores, maintaining 98% or better. I've heard "mention" of it since I'm trying to get on full time, at the moment I am an IC. What he told me is you will get raises every six months if you produce a certain amount and maintain a good QA score. For example, right now you are required to do 12,000 lines per pay period. If you maintain above average, lets say you're right around 14,000 average for six months while maintaining 98% QA, your higher pay is locked in for the next six months. So its a combo of the two. He was very vague, didnt say how much, if it were half cent, a quarter cent or whatever, but he seemed to be thrilled to death about it. Now I noticed on this board that someone keeps posting about the new MQ pay plan and have we heard of it. Just spill the beans if you have more accurate information please? Thanks.
Regarding the MQ new pay plan for SE that is to come out, does anyone know or at least think that
this pay plan will reduce the line rate of those that have been with MQ for many years and have worked up to a higher base line rate. I wonder if we will all be moved to a base rate at the same level and then have a tier. Does that mean it will be starting over for those of us with higher line rates now.
New SE/Pay Plan- LM
I want to offer my congratulations also & wish you the very best. I'm sorry you've received so many negative comments, but, maybe a little history should have been included to possibly offer some insight as to where some of the
"long-term" statutories are coming from & why they now possibly feel insecure because of the new plan that has been offered to you.
Around 1999, at "my" office, at-home employees had a minimum production of 12,000 lines/pay period 65- character line that they had to meet. At home statutory employees had a minimum of 4,000 65-character lines each pay period; 10,000 lines or more a bonus of $50; $10 for each 1,000 lines over 10,000; 11,000, $60; 15,000, $100.
The new incentive pay plan for a statutory employee has obviously raised the standards beyond what was at one time expected of their
"employees." Medquist is obviously raising the ante quite higher & those that only wanted a "part-time" job with flexibility with fewer hours & minimum lines are going to find this new minimum impossible to meet unless they work full-time. This, coupled with the fact that many are making 6-8 cents/hr & have been there for years, is going to cause tremendous resentment on their part.
I believe most statutory transcriptionists who have been with Medquist for years will feel this is their way to effectively "weed out" part-time statutories and, in fact, gain full-time "statutory employees" while still offering no benefits. Many, many transcriptionists chose Medquist because they had the flexibility to work a few hours a week, pick up maybe 4,000 lines/pay period - just enough to help them through their rough times while caring for their elderly parents, etc. I now see this as impossible for many & part-time work for them nonexistent! Their income, no matter the amount, probably helped fill a void that was absolutely neccessary due to their circumstances. Medquist, as far as my knowledge, was the only National to offer this flexibility in earnings for a statutory at-home employee.
Mind you, I may be wrong in my perception, but I feel this is why you've gotten the negative responses that should be directed to Medquist & not to you!!
Just thought a little background from my perspective might help you understand why you've been bombarded, albeit unjustly.
Again, wishing you the best!
new pay plan
You will be offered squat diddly. I have 20 years exp, am a CMT for many years, also asked for a pay raise and told I'm already above the highest level for an MT, (.875)so raise declined. Instead, they reduced by base rate to .0700 or ASR reports, so that is your answer. Don't get too excited
new pmt plan
I'm confused. I will have been with MQ 6 years this Nov, and I do Nuc Med, Uro, Cardio, Pulmo, Neuro, Psych, Ortho, Specs Rad, Onco, you name it. Does that mean I'll get a 100% rate increase from my base? Yea, right. PA'LEEZE.
I'll be sure to mention all my specialities and the fact that I have been a MT for 18 years now. Sure that'll make a big difference.
new pay plan
This letter of 9/2/05 states nothing really! I thought our pay rates were already supposed to be based on skill and experience. Daily incentive pay? I'd like to see the bookkeeping program they wrote for that one! Evening and night premium pay - nothing new (they just didn't want us to know about it). What is the difference in an MT/ME, an ME who does QA and QA? Already looking for another job in a totally different field!
new pay plan
How do you know you are a level 3? I did not know that MQ even had "levels." Is there a way I can tell on the F9 statistics page? Also, what is the difference in an MT, ME, QA/ME, and QA? How does one become an ME. I am still a lowly MT.
what do you mean, new plan, they don't pay
for that stuff NOW
Yes, I know of plan sm
1-1/2 years ago we did massive home improvements and racked up about $25,000 in debt. It is on 2 no interest credit cards and I have it paid down by about 1/2 by putting every extra penny towards it. When I seen something I might want to buy, I just remind myself how good it is going to feel when I get this debt paid off. I can't wait until the time that my money is mine again. I am working 2 MT/ED jobs, which is getting tough, but you do whatcha gotta do. Btw, we are putting out DD through commumity college and also have 15 yo son.
Yes, you need to plan for it - sm
If you are married, you can have you husband either take less exceptions (thereby having more taxes taken out), or have additional taken out on top of what he normally has taken for his taxes. My DH takes less exemptions and is taxed as "single but married" and instead of 4 exemptions we do 1 or 2 (forget which it is). Or if you are not married, then you need to do estimated SE tax payments, either quarterly via the mail with a little booklet they will send you ; or via this electronic system I mentioned above. Go to irs.gov to check it out. Someone else mentioned it here a while ago and that is what put me onto it. If you don't pay anything throughout the year and owe (which you probably will), it is said that they will assess penalities against you. I have never owed so I don't know about that. Remember to right off anything and everything pertaining to your job on your Sch. C, I usually have about $2K in write-offs a year, though I do not write off my home office, but everything else pertaining to it, electric, phone, internet, heat, office supplies, etc. Have fun.
Well, here is my plan
if India takes over the MT world to the degree that I cannot make a good living MTing in America then I will become a legal Transcriptionist specializing in medical malpractice lawsuits. BECAUSE when all of the crappy work these Indians are putting out become major medical errors (unfortunate for the patient, I know) then I will be ready to be a part of the action plan that does something about it!!!!!!!!
They let you set up a plan?
The rep I got said that I owed too much to do that (roughly $4000.) I got on their website and found that unless you owe over $10,000, they have to work out a plan if you can get it paid within 3 years. I guess I'll have to keep trying to get a person with halfway decent manners....if that's possible with the IRS!!!
Which plan?
I am told that DSL is coming very soon to my neighborhood and I am wondering which plan I should go with. Verizon has 2 DSL plans. One is the "Starter Plan" and it is 768Kbps/128Kbps and the other plan is "Power Plan" it is 3 Mbps/768Kbps. OK this might as well be in another language because I really do not know what these numbers mean. I am going to be doing VR/SR MT work so would the "starter plan" be good enough for VR/SR work?
Thanks
Your plan is my plan
I explained to my doctor everything that you said in your post. That I could do a better service for THEM if the dictation was digital. Then a tape broke and he had to redictate 4 patients. Then I got a little behind and I told them I'd be typing right behind his dictation if it was digital. A day or 2 later, I brought it up again and not only was he in agreement but he bought the 2 recorders they need and some software, all told more than $700. Take a typed tape in there, pull its guts out and tell them that this could happen tomorrow! but would never happen with digital. If you have to, go buy one, put it in his hand with some very simple instructions and let him play with it. Then gently remind him/her that tapes are an old, unreliable technology. :-) I want about 25 accounts this way. My wrists hurt and I probably need to stop typing in the next 2-3 years so its my plan to build a small company that I can run/edit/shmooze the doc's offices....
OUTSOURCING PLAN...
Okay, here is the plan. For all of these hospitals with heavy ESL dictation loads, outsource these yourselves to India, Pakistan, Trinidad or where ever they speak that English as an unknown language. It won't matter if it is correct as typing those documents is just a best guess scenario anyway. Leave all of the English as a First Language (EFL) here in the US for those of us to type as we have been working long and hard to gain our experience and deserve to have decent work. If a hospital has a lot of ESLs that they have brought stateside to staff their hospitals as hospitalists as they work cheaper then it should be their responsibility to give them English classes and monitor their progress until they can speak English clearly, concisely, and accurately. The solution to this problem with ESLs is in our HANDS and we know it. The large companies and hospital clients need to take note before it is too late and we are all retired. You need us more than we need you.
OUTSOURCING PLAN...
And it is you and your "oh so thankful to have a job" kind that have gotten those of us that are MTs and will never be MLSs into this ESL cesspool by allowing it to happen. Anything for money, right??
OUTSOURCING PLAN...
Sure, my world is called Affirmative Reaction, taking back what was ours by right of being an MT before the almighty dollar spoke and we allowed our hospitals to actively solicit these ESLs, bring them stateside, pay for their malpractice coverage, and employ them as hospitalists, and now we are stuck with a language barrier that, in all other fields, requires a certified translator but now that we have been awarded the title of MLS we are supposed to type an accurate medical document while listening to an ESL's attempt to speak English?? This is your world now, I have done my time, and you are welcomed to all the ESLs you can handle or rather fool yourself into believing that you can do so very accurately.
OUTSOURCING PLAN...
Okay, this string is not a question of what our ancestors did, it is to get those of you that are new to the MT business to realize that if we don't do something about this outsourcing of medical transcription, your "oh so wonderful jobs" may be forfeit. Look at IBM, laying off over 13K stateside and hiring 14K in India. Any Capitol One sending all of its customer service to Manila--that's right, your credit information. Think money has anything to do with that?? Open your eyes, your job is slipping through your fingers...
OUTSOURCING PLAN...
If these ESL doctors are such wonderful humans, why don't they stay in their homelands and help their own people? There would be no third-world problems if the privileged and educated people stayed in their homeland and actively helped their own, rather than fleeing to the US to live the good life that their own countrymen will never see. Charity starts at home, remember.
OUTSOURCING PLAN...
How could it happen? Very easily. Many of the national companies actually have policies in which they state that, should an MT notify them of a difficult/hard to understand dictator, they will alert that dictator and work with him/her to enhance their dictating skills, along with notifying the client that a particular dictator presents an accuracy problem in that their English is not clearly understandable in order to be transcribed accurately. Unfortunately, most of these companies do not enforce their policies and allow the client to send these dictators as overload work since their own in-house staff doesn't want to type them either. These national companies could address these issues, the dictator would benefit from the help provided, and the MT would be able to produce an accurate product. There are even self-help tools for these ESLs to better their dictating skills. If these clients/hospitals do not choose to help their ESL dictators, then they should either type their dictated product in-house or pay more for the handling of such a poor dictation product. MTs are not the garbage men or clean-up crew. If one wants an accurate medical document, one must provide an accurate and understandable dictated product. We are not magicians, we are MTs.
OUTSOURCING PLAN...
No, not a newbie, more notches on my belt from nursing and working as an MT than you will ever see...
OUTSOURCING PLAN...
Not off base at all. Yes, they are part of the healthcare system, and their documentation is very important. But if the dictation that constitutes their documentation is substandard then the risk of mistakes rises and patient care is at risk. Having worked with these doctors, I know that they generally do take constructive criticism well and do try to make things better once the problem has been pointed out and a solution offered. You can't solve a problem by ignoring it exists.
OUTSOURCING PLAN...
It does exist, won't name the companies without their permission, but even the in-house supervisors will attest to the fact that they do offer suggestions to these difficult dictators in hopes of making the dictated product better. Guess you haven't looked in the right places??
OUTSOURCING PLAN...
Soy intelligente y no necessito trabajar mas! Y tu??
ya, what plan? never heard of it
.
This is a plan to cut QA personnel and cut pay for MTs
Even if you tried, you cannot learn ESLs when they come from different specialities and different languages in a big hospital. I am a production typist paid 8 cpl and to take the time to "learn" ESL designates a CUT IN PAY for me. So you may THINK you are making more money but if you factor in listening and listening and listening over and over, making sure you have commas where there should be commas, agonizing over sentence structure, what to type vs whether to cut a run on sentence, that is nothing but a plot to make us THINK we are getting a raise but we are taking a cut on hourly wage.
outsourcing plan
I totally agree with you grandma, but please, let us not forget the American Docs who can barely speak English or don't care enough to slow down so that we can understand them. What about that?
maybe its part of the new MQ pay plan
THIS IS AN MLM PLAN, NOT INSURANCE.
MY FORMER COWORKER TRIED TO RECRUIT ME FOR IT. I'VE SEEN ALL THEIR INFORMATION ON THE "INSURANCE". I REPEAT, IT IS NOT INSURANCE. IT IS A DISCOUNT PLAN; HOWEVER, NOBODY IN MY ENTIRE STATE ACCEPTS IT. PEOPLE ARE JUST TRYING TO RECRUIT OTHERS TO MAKE MONEY OFF OF THEM.
New pay plan letter ? Can you tell us what was in it? (sm)
I am an SE and I think they mail this info out alphabetically or maybe to employees first. My friend usually gets her info 4-5 days before me. Her last name starts with a C and mine an M.
Congrats on the $400.
new pay plan letter
They are going to reduce your base pay for ASR reports, if you type them aka speech recognition. Your base pay will be reduced by 20% for ASR reports. I just added it up and it makes a huge difference to the tune of hundreds of dollars a month if you type a lot of ASR, like I do.
scared of the MQ pay plan
I think its going to be a raw deal for those of us who have been here awhile. Only because it will be based on higher pay for harder work. In all honesty, I do not see them paying more than 10 cpl, and if they hand pick the worst of the worst, all day every day for those of us who can eek by and do them, we will be screwed. Honestly would rather have lower pay (no lower than 8 cpl) for easier work to keep my line count up. I've already been told many times that they give me the harder work because I can do it, but all day every day I would lose money.
They should base pay on experience, period the end! Keep the pool completely open to whatever work comes up, do not special assign harder work to those of us who can do it, because it slows us down incredibly! I agree, newbies need a chance to get their foot in the door with some easier dictation, but how are they going to learn if thats all theyre getting, and how about those of us who have been around the block, how are we going to earn a living for paying our dues in this business. Thats why i'm scared. Buh bye experienced MTs or what? What do you guys think?
changes in bene's and pay plan.
x
I am on the residental plan. I don't know sm
how many minutes I use but I work an average of 50 hours a week using Lanier. So I will say I use about 17,000 minutes a month for $28.00.
Are you using their residential plan or
My phone line isn't a 'business' line, just residential. If I did or do have to chose the small business plan, could that end up in conflicts with me not declaring my phone line as 'business' too?
Thanks!
I use the residential plan and they have
said nothing about it. I use it strictly for work.
DH and I both feel that God has a plan, we just
can't figure it out - LOL.
AT&T will catch on if you use their plan a lot. SM
They will (1) dump you from their plan, (2) send you a $4000 LD bill (back charges and (3) send a fraud investigator to your home. Been there, done that.
I don't like their dental plan. nm
nm
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