MT schools are in the BUSINESS of selling MT courses.
Posted By: deb on 2009-04-21
In Reply to: Job Hunting! - gul
Of course they are going to paint a rosy picture of this career.
Allied is not a very good course, and the MT companies know it. That's why they say they require 2 years' experience. (But they will waive that for grads of the better schools.)
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People selling MT courses certainly aren't going to warn you
"Don't take my MT course, it's ***edited by Moderator*** and you won't be able to get a job afterwards." It's up to the person interested in becoming an MT to do some research about the job before plunking down money for training. If they do, they will learn that in order to be able to get a decent job, they need the kind of training provided at Andrews School or M-TEC, and not to try to save money on "cheaper" schools.
thinking about selling my transcription business...
 and just wondering if any one has any opinion on interest in that. The person owning the company would make a minimum of $82,500 a year, running the business and doing some transcribing part time. It would be very easy to do some marketing and bring in some new accounts, which could easily push that 82500 to over 100000 a year. I have repetitive stress injury and my doctor has told me I need to find something else to do. I was thinking if there was an MT or a group of MT's (the company is incorporated so shares can be sold) that would like to get together, they can eliminate the middle man, earn retail price for their lines and establish job security, not to mention satisfaction. Price would be around $250,000 but like I said, a group of people could go together to cover that and with a little work in marketing, it could be paid off in three years. The business is about 10 years old and to the point where it is generating its own referrals. It could really go places if someone wanted to spend a little time marketing to a few new hospitals. Any one have any thoughts on this.
Allied Business Schools, Inc.
 Has anyone else out there taken MT courses from Allied Business Schools, Inc. - and if so - have you had any trouble finding a job?
Allied Business Schools
I also graduated from Allied and I have had a terrible time finding employment. I graduated in October and have yet to start working.
Allied Business Schools, Inc.
I graduated from their course in Aug. 2006. I found employment within two weeks, of course, with no help from Allied. I went to Google and found as many transcription companies as I could and applied to all of them that would let me. I did a lot of foot work.
Just keep testing, and eventually, you will find employment. I know it is rough to get started, but it will eventually pay off. I just got a job working at a hospital on an Air Force base (coincidentally the same base my husband is stationed at), and I didn't even apply for the job. The staffing company that has the contract found my resume on Monster.com and called me. I don't work at home anymore, but it is a steady paycheck.
If you are this new to the business, then you might want to consider working outside the home just to get your foot in the door.
Hope this helps! If you have any questions, you can e-mail me, and I will help you out in any way that I can.
Vendor for selling what?
The only vendors I know of are people selling things...what do you mean?
Re: Selling Used Software (sm)
You can sell "used software," just make sure that it is legal! If you have one of the large storage packages, 600 MB for a complete CD are no problem. For some dial up users the upload is the expensive part of it!
You may include your registration details in a file and add it to the software package.
Note: You can sell your used software normally ONE time. If you sell the stuff several times (like an FTP client, etc.) this is surely not legal! So check your license gals!
I'm thinking if I was selling something I wouldn't
point out the bad things about it.
Moving to California and selling a few things
Hi All,
I am taking a long break and moving to California. Yeap that's right I am just up and leaving. So I must travel Lite.
I am in search of a house to rent--so if any of you Californians know of a place I would appreciate it.
I am selling: This would be great for someone thinking of evidently having their own accounts.
C-phone and headset with instruction manual (paid $200)
USB universal foot pedal (paid $100)
Panasonic Cassette transcriber with foot pedal (regular cassette) (paid $250) Great for those doctors still using regular cassettes or great doing general transcription work.
Resource materials:
Medical Transcription Guide Do's and Don'ts 3rd edition (this is the most recent one) (paid $44)
Nurse's Pocket Drug Guide
PDR Nurse's Drug Handbook
Dorland's Pocket Medical Dictionary 27th edition
Sloane's Medical Word Book
The AAMT Book of Style
Stedman's Medical Dictionary (Illustrated in color) 28th edition with CD
The language of Medicine with CD inside
Medical Transcriptionist's Desk Reference (Carolyn Collins-Gates)
CD transcription sample reports
I would like to sell all as one price so best offer.
Still say any prospective customer should take "advice" from any company selling a product...
for what it is - a sales pitch - and should weigh consideration accordingly. I know you mean well, Susan, but c'mon - your friendly, helpful advice also lands you a check and all I said is consumer should keep that in mind. Such as, I've got some ocean front property in Arizona for sale - cheap! You can't go wrong with real estate.
Why do we have to take more courses
Why should we have to take more courses when we just graduated to get hired somewhere. That doesn't make any sense. Are there any companies hiring new graduates without this retarded request?
best on-line courses?
Hi all,
I'd like to take an on-line MT course; can anyone recommend one over any others? I plan on doing an internship for experience when I'm done for a while so I can get an actual paid position. How hard will it be to start working from home as I have a 20 month old that I want to stay at home with.
Thanks!
To compare courses ...
Why don't you check out Andrews and MTec's websites to get an idea of how much actual dictation you should have had to transcribe. Radiology is mostly anatomy, so if you had thorough training in anatomy and physiology along with concentration on acute care, you had proper training for radiology, IMO.
Just like home MT courses, not all SM
community college courses/programs are created equally.
I respectfully disagree with you about community college graduates receiving a sub-par education. Some maybe, but definitely not all.
I attended an EXCELLENT program at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. The program director is a CMT. We had 2 semesters of medical terminology, 2 semesters of anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, a medical calculations class, a medical ethics class, 3 semesters of medical coding, 5 semesters of medical transcription (we transcribed the beginning and advanced SUM tapes two times each), business communication (intense grammar course), a 360-hour externship at a local hospital or MT service, along with all of the general education courses needed to receive an associate's degree.
So, while some CC programs may not put out qualified transcriptionists, others do an excellent job of preparing their students to succeed. I tested with and was hired by Medquist the month before I graduated, and I started the Monday after graduation. Granted I was a newbie and was slow and made some silly mistakes (as all newbies do), but I had a solid education, which made a huge difference.
So if you are trying to decide which program to attend, make sure you do your homework (whether you are choosing a home correspondence course or choosing to attend a community college program). Find out what classes are taught, which transcription tapes they use, whether or not they help with job placement, who is running their program, etc. Knowledge is power! :) Good luck to all of you who are struggling with this important decision. 
Warmly,
Chickadee
Cheap MT courses
A course from M-Tech or Andrews may or may not get you a job right after completion, but that's not the only way to get into the field. I took the good advice of some very helpful MTs from this board and shopped around my area for a job. With my meager PCDI education that I studied over about a year and spent $795 for, I was able to get a position at my local hospital ($15/hour!!). I will be in-house for a while, and then I will have the option of working from home. You do what will work best for you, but I didn't have an extra three grand lying around to train for a job when I could pay out less money and then get paid to better my skills.
cheapie MT courses
Some, not all, seasoned MTs are not very helpful. They can be very discouraging and try to convince new MTs that unless they get their training from some expensive school like M-Tec or the Andrews School that they won't find a job; I wanted to train with one of the aforementioned schools but just could not afford it. Most of my MT training was on the job. In later years, I took a Medical Terminology course. Currently, I am enrolled in a formal training program, because I would like to become an RMT and eventually a CMT. This is how I found a recent MT job: 1) posted my resume on MT daily; 2) posted my resume on Transcription Matters; 3) company contacted me and made me an offer without my even testing with them; all this occurred within little over a week's time. I only have 4 solid years of MT experience (specializing in Urology, Rehabilitative Medicine, and Psychiatry). Hallejulah!
NO courses can offer certification
Just to clarify, there are no courses which can offer "certification" in medical transcription, so there aren't any "certification courses."
If you want certification, you have to take the AAMT certification examination, which, if you pass, will grant the CMT certification.
Other than that, you can take a course which will give you a "certificate of completion." And that is only worth the price of a piece of paper. Having that piece of paper is not what will get you a job.
What gets you a job is the ability to transcribe well enough that an employer doesn't have to train you all over again.
And then you have to keep it, so the transcription skills you pick up in school had better be top-notch or you'll be wishing you had just gotten a job at MacDonald's.
Cheapie Correspondence Courses
Hi everyone,
I really need some advice. I've looked into all sorts of different MT training courses - all I want (and need in the amazing job market in which I live) is a basic course to learn Medical Terminology and basic MT skills.
With this in mind - would taking a course like Stratford Career Institute's course, or ICS Canada's course help me get an entry level MT job? From there, would I be able to train on the job and take additional courses to gain more skills?
I am fortunate to live in a market where there are too many of these jobs and not enough workers. I even heard from one person that with just Medical Terminology you can sometimes get an MT job.
But, I thought at least one of these courses would teach me the very basics. Opinions?
Thanks,
Christina
I'm assuming you didn't take courses from one of the better
schools as they help with job placement. Have you looked into companies offering menitoring programs. I would love to mentor a newbie, but I get paid to produce lines.
They are legit, just not good. To take their courses you have to have
8th grade education, which should tell you they aren't that great right there. My teen son took one of their courses (not MT). It was very poorly written, if you flunk a test you can take it again and they will pass you, even if you flunk it again. There were lots of errors in it too.
I would look into a different program to take or try to find a menitoring program. It is difficult for people who have gone to some of the better schools to get jobs. Penn Foster does not have a good reputation so it will be much more difficult for you to get a job. I would try to find something local where you could work in-house for at least 2 years to get some experience.
Career step and Meditec-sister courses-sm
I understand these are two in the same course ran by sisters. One charges much more than the other. What makes Career Step any better than Meditec if the Meditec course is basically what Career Step is using to begin with, and the Meditec lady wrote the course?
It's sad that people don't find out more about these courses before they slap down money
x
The courses worth taking are M-Tec and Andrews. Their graduates
are usually able to get jobs without 2 years of experience that is normally required. Is if worth it? Do you have small children, a husband, do you want a social life - then no it isn't worth it. If you just want to do this PT, in addition to a FT job, it might be okay for a short time, but it gets harder and harder to make a living as an MT. A lot of companies use offshore MTs, they get the good work and the crap gets left for us, or it all goes and we get stuck editing it for pennies and you end up working for minimum wage. You'll also burn out in a short time trying to do both.
if there is just you and you don't care to have a life then it would be okay and if you have a knack for it you can make some decent money. If you are a respiratory tech in a hospital talk to people in your department. Maybe you can start out doing work-related transcription without having to go to school and you can get a small taste of what it is like to see if you really want to pursue it.
Forget "approved" schools. AAMT set the criteria, then approved schools that didn't meet i
Stick with Andrews or M-Tec (both of which happen to be "approved") but forget about any others, they are not worth it.
should I get into this business
Hello, I have been researching the medical Transcriptionist field for months. I have applied and been accepted into a training program but am finding myself hesitant to move forward for several reasons. Maybe someone could give me some advice? 1) I am seeing more and more comments about MT work being outsources overseas and I am concerned I am moving into a business that will be dying in a matter of a few years 2) I am concerned I am moving into a business that will take me several years to make a solid living wage above poverty(in building a business) as I read so often of those individuals starving to get started the first 2-3 years 3) In searching several boards it seems that many long hours are being put in by individuals just waiting for work, which actually makes the work day significantly longer. I am just expressing what I continue to read over and over again on several sites and hearing from MT's I have been fortunate enough to correspond with. Truthfully, I am a mother trying to ensure I secure a future for myself and my family. I am not trying to be negative, just realistic. I look forward to your advice
Should i get into this business
Medical transcription is a great business to get into. You set yyour own hours, you can work from home. Yes it is true that a lot of companies are outsourcing overseas, but if you look closely, a lot come back to America because they are not happy with the work. If you start working with a company, you can get the experience of doing your own invoicing, and transcription, you will eventually find the time to go out and search for docs in your area that may need a Transcriptionist and that is howu you start your own company. It is a lto of typing but if you put in the hours you are highly rewarded. I took a second job with a company when a doctor that I got on my own, became a hospitalist. I am trying now to find the time to go and look again for doctors on my own but it is hard, when I have one child at home and one child in school part time. GOOD LUCK
I have been trying business with no response
I have taken one test and did not pass because they wanted a 98% accuracy and I believe that I had a 94%. All the other companies that I have applied at tell me that they want experience or I keep bugging them to take their test. I am now cold calling doctor offices to see if they need anything. I know 3 people in this field that work from home and they did not have trouble finding a job at all. They all started about three years ago though.
MT business from home.
Thanks so much for your help. It's people like you that I hope will answer my emails. I'm going to keep making phone calls to schools locally and online. Thanks again Dee
You don't have to know if they checked on your business.
Good grief.
I don't think it is. I would not recommend this business
to anyone. With all the work going offshore or going to VR and the line rates dropping, or not increasing with inflation, plus all the horrible platforms, etc. it just isn't the business I woulud want to retrain for.
Future of MT business
EMR/VR is described in previous post. If you do VR you are an MT and an Editor with a pay of 3 to 4 cpl. Not my cup of tea but some people may prefer it. You will see the large outsourcing companies send work out alot more often now to increase their profit margin - ALOT. Therefore you are going to be limited as to how much you can make with them. If you earned $2500 a month full time, there is someone sitting in India or the Philippines just waiting to do your job for an average of $239 a month. Bottom line is that saving $$ will almost always be the deciding factor. To avoid that situation, I have gone to a company that hires U.S. MTs only. That is proudly posted on their web sites and companies who post on MT Stars. You get paid more, there is steady work, and it will not be outsourced. That is not to say that the client will not end up outsourcing as a cost saving measure. Try to support U.S. companies and help them to grow. They are the ones trying their best to protect U.S. jobs, not the AHDI. If it is up to them, in the future the MT positions will probably be cut in half or more by 2015.
As far as satisfying work. If you have an account that you get good on, maximize your potential, and earn up to $20 or more than hour - that is satisfying!! And by the way, there is no way your husband could ever guess what it is like to be an MT. Stressful, yes. Boring, no. The knowledge and technology training you receive are invaluable, as long as you can make money doing it. Not so easy these days, but possible if you don't mind changing companies/clients until you find the right fit.
starting an mt business from home
Help - I'm currently looking to do medical transcribing from home but don't know where to begin. I'd really like to talk to someone that can help. I worked at a hospital for 2 years in the orthopedic department as an mt. However that was 27 years ago. I have been with a major airline for the past 21 years which is now bankrupt, so I thought I'd go back to MT. At least that way I'll be home once in awhile. Where do I begin. Thanks so much for any information you can give me. I'm in Northern Kentucky if that matters.
help with starting mt from home business
I don't know what online schools are legit! Any suggestions. I'd like a quick refresher course online if possible. I want to get started now. I'm still going to keep my other job and transcribe part time.
Okay, we believe you. We are also aware there is no guarantee any particular business is going to b
I suggest you research companies carefully before accepting employment. I could have taken a job with a brand new company a few years ago, but understanding the risk, I looked for something with a proven track record. That's still not a guarantee, and I am now leaving the company I'm working for because the current manager is so untalented that I am concerned about the expansion she is currently planning. I don't think she's up to the challenge, so I'm getting out before I get burned. Posting about her here won't convince anybody of what it's taken me years to be able to see by close observation.
Many MANY of those places listed are out of business now, though, so
s
Allied Business School
Has anyone out there actually graduated from Allied and found employment? I finised their medical transcription program on 10/25/07 and have yet to get any kind of job offer. I have sent tons of resumes with no luck. I am so frustrated I can't even begin to tell you. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I just want to find somewhere to start. Thank You. 
Millenium Business Solutions
Anyone out there heard of Millenium Business Solutions? Any information you might have would be great. Thank You
I didn't know Allstate went out of business...sm
Do you know why? I did the AIM program and worked for Allstate too.
If you take an MT program at an outside college or business school, you might just be able to take
s
Sorry to hear about your lost business. We aren't seeing that.
I'm seeing more business than ever before. I hope yours will pick up. Don't get discouraged.
MBS (Millenium Business Solutions)/Medlytics
Can anyone please tell me, specifically,
what problem there is with MBS? I was just notified by e-mail to fill out their job application and did so. I have been trying in vain since 11/07 to find a job (new grad from LearnTranscription.com) and am getting desparate!! There is a posting that they are terrible, but not really any specifics about them. Anyone worked for them?
How extremely childish. You are in for a BIG surprise. This is a tough business. nm
"
If you are inadequately prepared, you will be toast. My business is growing.
Please don't put us all in the same box with you. Some of us have nothing to complain about. We're doing well.
You may not like that. It may not make you happy. That doesn't make it any less true. Go ahead and wish the worst for others if it makes you feel better about losing your accounts, but you may have lost them because you aren't very good at what you do.
All we have to go on is what you posted. You are losing work, going out of business, failiing
If you aren't doing well, the wisest thing is to change your situation. Get a better education perhaps. All we know about you is the fact that you have posted that this career is not working for you and some of your friends are also having problems.
How long have you been away? Might need a refresher course from a local college or business school.
s
I'm going to say at an outside source where you attend classes - college, business, or computer
s
I enjoy MT, but I see the writing on the wall. I have started another at-home business....(sm)
I love the tax benefits of working from home, so I have gone into another business. I am probably about six months away from having this business surpass my current income. Once that happens... I am out of MT. Sad, but true.
I don't want to be the last rat off of the sinking ship! (Not that I consider myself a rat, mind you. More like a cute, fuzzy mouse, perhaps...)
Ha ha!
If you can afford it, a college program or business school that teaches it. You'll make contacts,
s
Agree with an outside school, but I went to a business & tech school. Great experience, better
s
MT schools
Thank you for the advice. I have been researching M-Tec and have decided that it seems to be the best choice. Wish me luck.
schools
Can anyone give me any info on Laird's School of Medical Transcription. 
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