You do not have to be AHDI member sm
Posted By: CMT on 2009-03-19
In Reply to: And how much do you pay out of pocket for AHDI dues? And required CEUs? - RBD
you only renew CMT credential every 3 years and CE credits are free. The renewal is $50, so that amounts to $16.66 every year. Exam was reimbursed by my employer 100%.
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Anyone a member of AHDI/AAMT? (sm)
I'm interested to find out what benefits you actually get and use for your money, and if any employers are at all interested in the fact that you are a member etc. It's not a inexpensive prospect to become a member, that is why I wonder if the benefits are worthwhile to the working MT.
Thanks
not a member
AAMT must not be there only list because I am not a member and I recently received e-mail from them too.
I have been a member and not
I got nothing out of being a part of it except that it looked good on my evals to be part of an organization, but the raises I was getting didn't justify the cost. I have thought of getting certified, but see no reason are looking at it for a long time.
Reasons I was told to get certified is that you get hired faster if you are certified, especially by the outsource companies, but I do not seem to see people very happy with any company so I will continue to work fo the hospital I do. Plus, the outsource companies are sending work out of the country to get cheaper laborers and are not interested in paying top dollar for certified and competent transcriptionists.
To get hired for hospitals, etc., they are also tightening their belts and I will go with a good non-certified before a certified Transcriptionist and pay less.
This "AHDI" has made themselves "self-proclaimed" association for MTs. I could start one today and if I had investors to get it organized. We have the Joint Commission setting what is acceptable and making the industry unified in the way things are done and that overules ADHI anyway. I think someone is making lots of money off already poor MTs!
JD is the newest member
of INXS. I liked both Mary and JD and especially loved their original songs "Pretty Vegas" and "Trees". I especially loved Marty and plan to download all his tunes he performed on INXS.
Hey, I like that! I'm a member of DUST
Downtrodden US Transcriptionists....
Not sure on this but I think you pay to be listed with the BBB - (join a member) so many probably j
the money to do so. Search the archives or Google them. Otherwise unless they are offering some outragous pay over such as over .12 cpl, then I would not worry about it and go for it.
To Proud Member of AAMT: I think it's just as
Things in this field have changed for the worse over the past years. Salaries have decreased, yet expectations have risen. Benefits are contingent upon production, yet a good share of the time production can't be met due to complications outside of the MT's control. When it comes to taking the losses due to changes in the field such as offshore outsourcing and technologic advancements, it isn't the clients or the service owners taking the major hit. It's the transcriptionists. Yet AAMT has done NOTHING to help the transcriptionists in general. In fact, it has gone out of its way to PROMOTE offshore outsourcing and even to change some of the guidelines in the newly published, amended BOS to accommodate voice recognition and other technology geared to replace the MT or relegate transcription to other forms labeled "editors", which in reality involve retyping whole reports or major portions of reports at a cut in pay, of course.
All anyone, newbies included, needs to do is to look at the history of the medical transcription field, see the changes, and then see how much AAMT did to promote the worth of the Transcriptionist in this country. The depressing message isn't coming from those speaking against AAMT, it is coming from the consequences resulting from the actions of the AAMT. One fact alone can depress a newbie, and that is to look at the average line rate in 1995 compared to the average line rate now in 2005. Thank you, AAMT, for promoting that.
i see you never worked as a union member before lol
/
I quit being a member when I heard they were going....sm
to start holding hands with India. They are not out to help AMERICAN MTs. They don't care one way or another about American MTs anymore. 
Their latest pitch is to the MTs STOP transcribing verbatim. So not only will we have to be language specialists, we'll have to put a doctor's words in "proper English." 
It doesn't matter what the docs want. It's what they want. Baloney. They are not our boss. Our docs are our bosses. If the docs want verbatim, that's what they'll get...at least from me (except for the JAHCO list of unacceptable terminology).
I'm so glad there are hospitals and doctors out there that don't give a hoot about AAMT. I sure don't. Oh, and if anyone noticed, usually buying products through AAMT doesn't save a dang nickel. In fact, you pay just as much, if not more, for the same products you can get by dealing directly with the company that makes them till all is said and done.
I'll save my money and spend it on more important things.
The BTK killer was also respected member of
x
I am. Member discounts on references SM
and continuing education (I am a CMT and need it to maintain) are worth it to me. The discounts I received on those add up to more than I paid for membership.
I'm a member, it costs me $20 to take a webinar.
Over 3 years, 30 CEs at about $20 each.
Over 3 years, CMT differential at $6K a year.
You do the math.
LOL
So sorry for the loss of your precious family member -
My sister's lab has been attacked twice while on a leash in front of his own yard by a pit bull. The attacking dog seems to never been on a leash. Her lab had part of his mouth ripped open and required numerous stitches to reattach it, plus some bites to his back. Something needs to be done to stop people from breeding pit bulls with these temperments!
Tell that to my friend. They had a dog they treated as a member of their family. That is, until it a
Dogs need to be trained and need to know they're lowest in the pack. I tried telling my friend this, but she wouldn't listen and she continued to treat the dog as a member of the family instead of as a dog. And eventually that "member of their family" decided it didn't want any more competition for affection, and attacked their son. Thank God he survived, 92 stitches and some nasty scars tho. If you love your family and you love your dog, then TRAIN your dog. Don't treat him like an extra child.
Very good post - was getting discouraged as a member myself.
x
I have a question regarding a family member and possible cellulitis?
I went to visit my aunt last night. Last week she fell and broke all the bones in her ankle. She has plates and screws. This is her fourth fall this year, but that is another story. I looked at her cast and placed my hand on her leg just above the cast and it was warm. I felt her other leg and it was cool. The more I went up on the broken leg the less warm it got, but all the way up it was definitely significantly warmer than her "good" leg.
My mother is a nurse practitioner and she showed up while I was there. I explained my concern to her (my aunt is also a diabetic) about a possible infection. She wouldn't acknowledge my concern. I repeated myself and still nothing. Lately my mother and I have had a couple issues regarding family members and their heath. I am not a nurse nor do I claim to be, but being in this profession you do learn about the medical field and somtimes I feel I see a different side of things than my mom. I can't figure out why, but she just doesn't see any value in my thoughts regarding medicine, ideas, thoughts, alternatives, etc. In every other way she is the best mom in the world and I love her so much, but I feel she is disrespecting me by not taking my opinions/thoughts into account regarding the field of medicine and our family.
Another example is she has trouble with the pronunciation of medications. I'm not claiming to be a pro, but I hear doctors and nurses says these meds over and over and over and I feel the majority rules in this regard. Again, she thinks I'm wrong and doesn't really listen to what I'm saying. The only reason I correct her is because I think it would be embarrasing to speak with a doctor and not say a med correctly. I think it is a reflection on her. It also helps with dictation too (as we all know).
Any ideas. I don't know what to do. I tried talking to her about this a couple weeks regarding my dad's health and she really didn't listen to what I had to say. With certain things you can just blow it off, but this is the health of my aunt and father and I just couldn't live with myself if something happened to them.
Thanks for listening and for any ideas.
If you are a member of the AAMT, how have you benefitted in her career? CMT? SM
I have been at this for about 15 years and have thought off and on about becoming an AAMT member and about getting my CMT, but always stop short because of the cost and basically the inconvenience of having to find the testing center that seems to be located in some obscure office building I've never even heard of.
However, I have recently started working for a facility that actually encourage their MTs to further their education, to network with one another and share information, and offer pay raises for the CMT credentials. So, once again I am considering the pros and cons of membership and taking the CMT exam.
How do you handle a family member who is a hypochondriac???
Has anyone ever had a family member who they believed is a hypochondriac? We have an individual who seems like he always has something wrong. It is to the point now if he really does get sick I can't believe him anymore. I can't even bring myself to calling him to see how he is feeling when he says he is sick b/c I think he is just making a mountain out of a molehill. Am I being insensitive? I am just so tired of hearing it.
I am sure someone is going to recommend counseling but he already does that. Anyone have any other advice how to handle him?
TIA
Transcribing Report Of Family Member
I am wondering what the proper protocol would be if I ever came across a report that was dictated on one of my family members.
I just started doing transcription for a hospital in a really small town--the ONLY hospital in that town--and it just happens to be the same town were most of my family lives. I know myself well enough to know that I won't break any rules of confidentiality. However, is there anything in the *laws of transcription* that say I legally am not allowed to transcribe reports dictated on relatives??
I am afraid to ask my supervisor this question, as I really like this account and don't want her taking me off of it. It's chopped full of *standards* and the line count/pay just doesn't get any better than this.
transcribing report on family member
When I worked at a hospital, I asked my boss, the director of medical records, if I was allowed to transcribe a report on a family member, and she said "yes".
A member of my team simply did not make contact with
the trainer on the day of her scheduled training session on the secondary account! The primary account is easy for her as she is just off of a major university and now is doing small town work and whipping them out faster than I can log in patient information.
This is not fair, it seems to me. When I contacted her via e-mail to see how the account was going, she simply said that she had not been trained on it yet when I vividly recall that her training date was over a month ago.
AAMT member, yes. Love Texas de Brazil!!
!
I have been AOL member since 1999. Can you bring link to this story to board?
dd
Love to know how far back it goes, was a member for about a year in 1998, we could use $$, furnace b
so its cold here! Actually it broke the 15, the night before we left for Disney on a Make-A-Wish trip for my daughter Jenny....(we had a blast)...got back 2 days ago, it broke again that night (21st). DH got it running again, but the heater guy disassembled it last night and has not returned yet to put it back together and fix it. Luckily we have a propane fireplace or we'd be in big trouble, still chilly though especially since it goes down to 25 at night, brrrr!---so any $$$ if we are included or entitled would be wonderful...but I doubt we will get so lucky since it was so long ago that I was a "member" of AOL. Guess I will just have to work even more to pay for the repair, fun.
Excuse me? Arrogant for buying a house for a family member that was sm
about to become homeless? I think not. You sound like my ungrateful, jealous sister in law who can't stand anyone else to succeed. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. They were unfortunate at the time and we bailed them out! Ask them, they will tell you where they would be had my husband and I not put our credit on the line for them.
Family member got an Acer recently. Working great for her. My PC
s
I was sent a courtesy copy of the office notes for a family member once.
This was soon after I became an MT. I was so appalled at the sloppiness of the typing and the rampant use of inappropriate abbreviations that we switched doctors. At least I knew what the abbreviations were for, not sure the typical lay person would have.
AHDI
I had been a member of AHDI, but when I had a problem with a MTSO not paying I contacted them. The reason I contacted them was to ask in their assistance, not in my instance, but to protect their membership from this type of company. They completely ignored the context of my letter and referred me to local agencies. My thought was that with this industry being so new and unprotected online, that they should take an interest in have legislation passed... went right over their heads. Thus, I did not renew my membership.
SO well-said! I think AHDI should be
nm
what is AHDI and sm
why are only 1/4th of them medical transcriptionists?
Wouldn't you think they all would be?
AHDI
I started a thread below about the government stepping in and making the MTSO companies step up to the plate and conform to a standard form of counting lines for US based medical transcriptionists and to perhaps have a baseline pay so that MTs are not sitting all day long waiting on one more report to try to make a count that is making the MTSOs richer. While not everybody agreed with my points, let me say that there are probably far more MTs in this country who are not independent contractors and who are trying to support themselves than not. ICs would almost be classified as (mini) MTSOs. Not everybody has the luxury of negotiating what they will work for. That whole conversation is moot when we are talking about the industry as a whole. ADHI has spoken for years that they support standardization but when they were recently asked about "policing" the MTSOs methods of counting lines, they dropped the ball. This is just my opinion, but there definitely needs to be an accountability to the U.S. worker concerning this industry. While on one hand we are described as highly skilled workers with a wide base of knowledge, we are then described as home-based, bunny-slippered, pajama mamas. It cannot be both ways. We are highly skilled and do have a wide base of knowledge and we need to band together. I do like the name United States Medical Transcription Association. Works for me.
AHDI
I am not sure it matters who is behind ADHI or their corporate sponsors. The reality is that the U.S. based MTs need to quit taking a knee jerk reaction to them. ADHI started small. Your comment about the displaced workers just proves my point that the government and the Dept of Labor do need to be involved in the restructuring of the MT Industry. When a major MTSO company can initiate a program whereby it cuts the salaries of thousands of it's employees for its own gain, there is a problem there. In the area where I work, there was an article in the newspaper about the outsourcing of the radiology dept on weekends to Australia so that coverage was 24/7. This is a U.S. owned company who employs radiologists from Australia. I am betting those doctors over there do not make less than their counterparts over here. So, it is up to us, the MTs of the U.S. to start to organize in order to reinstate the true value of the work we are entrusted to perform day in and day out.
AHDI
Completely with you. making almost minimum wage for over 30 years of work. mostly because of account specifics, slow platform, always blaming it on the Internet, awful audio.
AHDI: BOS...............
Yes, it is:
For instance:
AHDI tells us:
5cc's was injected.
????
1. Why has there to be an apostrophe cc's? It is just only the plural of cc, css is right, like MTs, the 70s, etc.....
Why 'was' injected; ccs is plural, consequently 'were', this is the right grammar.
But, AHDI says:
'NO, you have to look at it as a UNIT, 5ccs, is a UNIT, so you have to type 'was'. BS!
And there are a lot of these examples.
Yes, but AHDI is quite the
wishy-washy change horses in midstream type - maybe they will smell conflict coming and hop on the no-outsourcing bandwagon if too many MTs lose interest in AHDI membership. At any rate, it will be fun to see what happens.
ahdi
I have been reading the posts here for many months and I agree with everything said above regarding AHDI. I resigned as treasurer of a student chapter after realizing they seemed to care more about foreign MTs than us here in the US.
Now all US transcriptionists have an option. There is a new organization "American Transcription Association", ATA. The mission of this organization is to bring to the forefront the situation here for out MTs and all the off shoring to India and elsewhere. This organization will only accept US transcriptionists.
Check it out at www.ataus.org
Maybe we can make a difference!
This has nothing to do with AAMT/AHDI.
This has to do with a gal going out and taking a difficult test and passing it and wanting a tiny bit of validation from her peers. I am a nurse and lived through globalization with nurses coming into our country from everywhere .. transcription has been left alone for a long time and because it is us, we all scream like crazy. Did you care when it was nurses, or auto workers or garment workers or is it all about you? I am a nurse who came into this grind by choice .. can hear the grass grow and know how to punctuate and create a sentence. I read my account specifics and I follow the rules and make a very good living. Let your politicians fix what they have destroyed. Exercise your arm and vote for people who will not solicit money and gain off the backs of the constituency and turn their backs. Don't beat up a gal who is proud of an accomplishment .. this is part of the reason our industry is a mess, we cannot support each other first and throw out even a crumb of kindness. Stop feeling entitled .. nobody owes us a bloody thing.
AHDI is the new name for the AAMT.
nm
it's AHDI now, not AAMT.....sm
because they became an organization NOT for the American MT - and over the years, many of us griped about it and so FINALLY they changed their name (last year) to AHDI............since they have promoted offshoring for the past 15-20 years...........
AHDI allows scammer because THEY are
x
as long as it has nothing to do with AHDI or whatever - nm
x
AHDI members.
Did you know there is a corporate member of the AHDI that is known to be a scam? I am not allowed to post the name on this board evidently as it keeps refusing my post when I try to post the name saying it is a “bad word,” but it is a company that will train you for free, have you pay $400 for software, and then tells you they will hire you and pay you once you are up to their standards. However, somehow, the MTs they train can never live up to their standards. How do you feel about this company being a member of your organization? Who exactly does AHDI represent? Why do they allow a company that is known to scam MTs and is a complete ripoff to be a member of their organization? Will this company soon be an "approved" school? LOL. Any thoughts on this? Please share.
CE's Online at OA-AHDI
You can get many CEs online through the Online ASsociation of AHDI. They offer live webinars monthly and they are all preapproved for CE credits from AHDI.
You are also able to purcahse downloads of previous presentations and view them at your leisure.
Visit www.oa-ahdi.org and you will find some information there.
No, and I'm am more of an AHDI/BOS-2 supporter.
There are few changes in it and the ones that are there are ridiculous, in my opinion. Makes us (as MTs) look like idiots for following:
No more periods after abbreviated personal and courtesy titles! WHAT? So, now you should write Mr and Mrs Happy (not Mr. and Mrs. Happy).
No more commas to separate names from titles with roman numerals! WHAT? So, now you write Harry Happy II (not Harry Happy, II).
No more hyphens between numbers and their units, even if it is a compouned modifier! WHAT? So, that means you would write ... close the 2 cm incision (not .... closed the 2-cm incision).
Just nitpicking crap to make us look bad and make them more money.
Use the BOS-2, it's much smarter. Use the AHDI for its good stuff and leave the bad stuff alone (i.e., if it benefits you, use it...and BTW, you would just periods with that latin abbreviation any longer, lol).
BTW, the BOS-3 won't be available electronically. Have to buy a book or pay a monthly fee to have web access.
Better stop my rant now. LOL
MTIA **is** AHDI
see "driving directions" in post below.
AHDI Misunderstood?
I do not thnk AHDI is misunderstood at all. I think it is very apparent what they are doing. They are embracing the global atmosphere to make more money for themselves just like the big MTSOs. I personally believe it is time that the Dept. Of Labor get involved with the way American MTs are paid in this country and institute a standardized method of counting lines for all MTSO companie which would include using the same software for all of them. I think that MTs who are paid by the line should have a baseline line pay that is in dollars and cents just like factory workers do who are paid doing piecework. I would bet there are many many MTs in this country who are working for less than minimum wage for these MTSO companies because they pay so little and expect so much.
Why I despise AHDI
see link.
Dropping AHDI and CMT - anyone else?
It took me several years to make up my mind - I decided this year to drop my AHDI membership as well as not do my CEUs for my CMT (due this past January). I've been an MT for over 23 years. I joined AAMT 18 years ago and was thrilled to be part of it including in my local chapter for a long long time. I passed my CMT in 1994 - 15 years ago. I have never been paid any extra for my CMT.
I worked for MQ from 1997 to 2006 and finally found the guts to leave and have been happier for it. I don't make any more money. In fact, I'm making the same cpl that I was in 1997 now - that is no raise in 12 years. That is in spite of my CMT, in spite of taking on every new and difficult account I could, etc., etc.
I will leave AHDI and the certification process because I am finally admitting to myself my thorough disgust with the connection between MQ and AHDI - that started well before this so-called settlement. I sure wish I had checked in here before now, I didn't take note that there was a deadline to send in objections.
Most of my coworkers, with more experience than me and with similar hard-working, transcription loving ethics, long ago left AAMT in disgust at how they were not doing a thing for us to raise wages and how they paid more attention to MTSOs, hospitals, etc... and then, the whole offshore thing.
Anyway, thanks for listening to my 2 cents. I would appreciate hearing from anyone with their thoughts. I've been reading and listening to pro-AAMT stuff trying to wade through and made my decision. My final bottom line was that I listened to my gut, my instincts, and and accepted that I know in my heart and head that for AHDI to still pretend they are for us MTs is a sham - and shameful - and their getting anywhere NEAR a company like Medquist says all that any of us should need to hear. Or, rather, that I need to hear.
AHDI should be investigated by the gov't. - sm
because they've defrauded MTs by leading them to believe they represented THEM. If they can be dishonest in one way, chances are very good that other misrepresentations are taking place. (Such as with the IRS? Labor board?) There's most likely a lot more to this shifty bunch of people than meets the eye.
Not anti-AHDI but pro-US MTs
So, does anyone have any experience starting up groups such as this? Please contact me via email? I work full-time and then some - and don't have oodles of time, but my guess is we are all in this same boat (not having extra time). I would be willing to try to create something for us.
On a tangent - I really struggled over the years about the whole U.S. MTs versus "them." I truly believe we are such a melting pot and feel strong about not excluding anyone. I do not think the us VS them viewpoint is very positive. That being said, I do believe that one of the biggest problems in our economy today is that govt (both sides) let our jobs (of all kinds) go overseas so the corporations could make more money. This left Americans without jobs or having to retrain, etc. I have finally come to conclusion that I am not being exclusionary OR protectionist to want our government AND groups like AAMT to advocate for US first, for those of us who live here, create this economy, and who keep this country going.
In bringing up the idea of having a new group for MTs, I think it is important that we are FOR something (us) and not against something (AHDI, MTSOs, overseas MTs). This is only my opinion. Even though feel angry and disillusioned about what AHDI has allowed to happen, I prefer to find a more positive way to help ourselves. I'm not sure exactly what that is...but eventually it likely will require for us to be proactive and take steps.
Suggestions on how to get the tea party started? I'm willing if others are. Even if just a few of us brainstorming - the point is to set into motion something that gives us hope. Something that will eventually grow and help each other. MT Stars does this in its own way, by providing the avenue to be real and share the good and the not so great about our profession.
Please email me, let me know what you think. Or post here.
The tea party opens...
dropping AHDI
I will also not renew membership to AHDI this year. Haven't been paying that much attention, but now that I have lost my job to VR after 14 years, I am paying attention and don't like what I see. I will not continue to support an association that is supposed to represent me, a hard working U.S. MT, that promotes MTSOs who offshore. I'm just sorry that I didn't realize that fact years ago as I would have dropped membership sooner.
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