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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Work at home or in house

Posted By: wondering on 2005-08-27
In Reply to:

What is the difference in training for the two?  Can a person be trained in one and then go into the other right from the start.


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If you're young and don't HAVE to work from home, then working in-house
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Unless you can work in-house somewhere, I feel the at-home MT who can make good money is a
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I think only for those who plan on an in-house job at a hospital. At-home options won't even be
m
Still lots of in-house jobs on the big job search sites. The at-home US MT is going the way
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New MT, Can't find In-house work
As a new graduate everyone keeps telling me to start in-house instead of trying to get on with a national company. Sounds great except that the local hospitals around me all outsource to national companies. I have checked everyone. So where am I supposed to get my experience? Even though I know starting in-house would be the best place for me to learn as a new MT and have other MTs around to help and answer questions I can not find anywhere to work. Frustrated!!
Definitely more jobs available to those that want to work in-house somewhere. Any services local
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You might be able to work at home.
You might be able to work at home if you are successful in passing their course.

Look carefully at schools before you sign up. Andrews and M-Tec both have high graduation rates and their students get jobs easily. They are worth the money.

They are both approved by AHIMA and AAMT, provide personalized instruction with experienced CMT instructors, and have a proven track record. They provide more and that is why they cost more.

Don't try to save money by going with the cheapest school you can find. You'll end up spending twice as much in the long run. You'll spend for books and materials, for references, and in lost time on the job, and you may end up being unemployed for months looking for a job.

I went to CS and work at home, but...
I went to Career Step and had 2 job offers from national companies within a week of graduating. Both of these jobs were to work at home. While I had no trouble finding work, if I had to do it all over again I would have gone to Andrews or M-TEC. Getting feedback from an instructor as compared to just checking your own work would have been invaluable!
I work from home for pvt mds plus....sm

4 days a week I work for private mds from home, and at least 16-20 hours a week for a nat'l also from home.



new mt...need at home work
I am a new MT.....and only a few credits shy of my Associate Degree in Medical Office Specialist field.  I am looking for a transcription job that I can do at home.  I have 3 small children and would like to be at home with them.  If anyone has any info on starting transcription at home, please feel free to post.  Thanks so much!!!
work at home
Do not buy anything. Anyone that wants money for you to work is a SCAM! What are you trained in, MT??
Work at home?
You can get hired after completing a local college program, but it all depends on the college and how local employers view it. Most programs focus on entry-level skills and few employers have entry-level jobs and the time to train people who should have gotten that training in school.

It's very unlikely that you'll be able to even apply at a national service to work from home because they require at least 2 years experience in acute care dictation. They make exceptions for grads of certain schools, like Andrews and M-Tec, because those grads don't have entry-level skills--they look like they have 2 years experience already. They also know those grads have a good chance at making a success of the job.

Ask your instructors which employers will hire you. Ask the employers NOW if they'll hire you. Don't settle for vague promises. If they can't refer you to actual students who got jobs, then cut your losses now and find a better school.

You can find a local job typing for doctors offices, but you'll have to work at it. With your background, you might be able to break into it by getting a job as a medical secretary.
Job Prospects after Course - Work at home
One more question..

How difficult it is to get a job working at home, after finishing an online course?

The MT training companies state they have a good sucess rate of employment at home right after finishing the course.

When I checked a couple of the hiring companies listed on their site, they stated you need previous experience working in a hospital.

Thanks!
If you have a good MT education, work from home. Besides
There's not much help going on at hospitals and clinics these days. At least the national services have someone assigned to help you if you need help from home. I wish they had done that when I was just starting out years ago.

If you have already done the right thing and you have a good MT education, go for the work-at-home job. Good luck with your new career!

If you didn't get a good education, neither on site nor at-home jobs are going to make a difference. Just go get a good education and make things easier on yourself and your potenetial employers.
I work a split shift at home
I work 6 a.m. - 4 p.m. and take either two 1 hour breaks during that time or one 2 hour break, depending on what I need to get done during the day.  Works out great.
Try to get a job in a hospital. Don't try to work at home for a few years of doing this full-tim
x
Great choice for work-at-home jobs
I'm a physical therapist and an MT as well, not bad for a part-time job, plus you have to stay at home; although you are not going to earn as much as you do as RN. Working indirectly with the patient is as exciting as working directly with them. Good Luck!!
Is your coding work done from home? I have heard it was very difficult sm
to get coding work at home, you have to go to work for a company somewhere. Has this changed? I know coders are always needed, but we don't have any openings locally for at-home coding. TIA.
You'll need to work 2 jobs at home to be able to live on MT. Or have a spouse + your income. Best
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Here is what I did...I had a "grandma" come to my house...sm
two days a week to watch my kids while I worked. Found her by placing an ad in the paper, believe it or not, and she was an absolute gem. She loved my kids and my kids loved her. She was retired and just wanted to get out of the house and get a little pocket change so if I worked hard, I was able to come out well ahead. She was happy, my kids were happy, we were all happy. Then I worked around split shifts the rest of the week. If you have family that will gladly watch your 5 year old, why not share the love? It would be good for him to be with someone else who enjoys his company and can give him undivided attention, and you can knock out some big lines while he is visiting with them.
Same in my city -- nothing in-house
The Squid has taken over all the big facilities in my area. I never see ads for hospital MTs either in the paper or on their web sites.

I did go on an interview last year for an in-house MT in a GI practice. While they had upgraded their dictation system, they had no medical spell checker and their sole reference consisted of an old Stedman's GI word book, and this was a dept. of 6 transcriptionists. I didn't get hired. I think I just got called because the lead wanted to ask me questions on the DL about working from home for the Squid.

At any rate, I am leery of small practices as I used to be a legal secretary and had the most horrible experiences in the small legal practices, so I can only assume the doctors aren't much better.
Start in-house!
Meryl, I can't believe no one answered your post! If you are new, I highly recommend that you start in-house, as a lot of us did. You can get the help you need starting out. Benefits are usually good working in a hospital or doctor's office.

If you don't see any jobs in the newspaper locally, put out some feelers. I got my best job, one I have been doing for 13 years, at my daughter's oral surgeon's office. I mentioned I do transcription and asked who did theirs. Turned out the bookkeeper did it when she had time.

It is difficult to work at home just starting out due to the lack of the support you need.

Good luck, Meryl. We all wish you the best.

No In-House Jobs In My Area
Dont know where you live but in my area, there are no in-house MT jobs.
Well, that depends. Some hospitals have in-house sm
and others outsource. I have found it depends what state you live in due to the large corporate health systems.

In my state, there are hospitals that hire for at-home positions after 6 months to 1 year of being in-house.

Other hospitals are hiring in-house only, and others only outsource.
Don't forget...new episode of House tonight!!!!

are there no more in-house hospital jobs left?
it seems to me that way too many of talented MT's are settling for these low-paying companies. Is that all that's left out there for work?
doesn't anybody work in a hospital anymore?
Not the profession. MTs in house at hourly pay do great. The world of the
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Would the place that interned you hire you? Local out of house experience would
nm.
Still plentiful jobs in MT if you want to do it in-house. Lots of jobs
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I've seen awful work from "experienced MTs and good work from new graduates
I've seen awful work from "experienced MTs and good work from new graduates.

Training and education really does make a difference. Some people just have 15 or 20 years of very bad experience. They may be fortunate that one employer was willing to hire and keep them, but if that one closed, they would be in trouble. It all depends on the person. some new graduates are a better bet then some experienced MTs. I would prefer to find an experienced MT with great skills and a teachable attitude, but many experienced MTs know everything and are only willing to do things the way they've always done them.
most psych work is included in multispecialty hospital work..sm
contracted to a medical transcription service that requires multispecialty experience because of the hospital work. Unfortunately, very rarely can a medical Transcriptionist these days be given only one specialty when working for a service or hospital. We have to be well versed in multi specialties. The Turn Around Time on demands have increased, and thus the service or hospital gives the MT many different types of work. Learn as many specialties and gain as much experience in different specialties, which in turn will make you a more valuable MT and more apt to gain employment.
Just be sure not to pay for work. There is an MTSO below who apparently charges to work for them (sm
It might be tempting when you're getting desperate for work to pay someone so you can work for them, but don't do it. You can buy software and a foot pedal on your own, so don't let them fool you. If you are approached via e-mail from this site by an MTSO saying they have work for you, please read the posts below before making any decisions.
Can you share where you work that the work is plentiful? nm
s
mt/at home mom
I am 29 years old. This is literally the perfect career for me. Before, I always thought that work from home jobs were just a scam, until I found out about mt. I bring in an income and i am home for my kids. I went to a local technical school. The course was 4 months long and I got a job 2 weeks out of class. I love it! I used to be an admin assistant and hated it.
Getting that home job

I would go back to those doctors you  know and let them know that you are going into business for yourself.  If they don't need someone, ask them if they know any of their colleagues that does.  Give them some business cards and let them work for you.


Another thing is to get your card into the doctor's lounges at your local hospitals.  Also, make some cold calls to the business/office manger of some other doctor's offices


There are three words you need when you begin marketing.  They are "network, network, network."


 


Hope this helps.


 


Ray


At-Home
I took the course and it will definitely prepare you for the job that you have to do. My first job, almost fell through because I did not have "experience". I literally begged them to let me try at a probationary rate for three months because I knew that I could do the job. When I turned in the first job, they said this is not your first job; you have done this before. I told them only in my training. The probationary rate lasted one week!! This training will not get you a job. Getting your foot in the door is the hardest part because no one wants to help you gain experience. Once you get in, you will be prepared for the job. I finished the course about 6 years ago and although it took me a few months to find my first job, I had actually no trouble getting the second job with good results. I have about five friends who have taken this course. One chooses not to work now, but the other four are employed. Two of these individuals had jobs before they even finished the course.
I am looking for a " at home" MT job
I am expecting a baby in October and I am despritely looking for an at home MT job. I don't have any experience, but I will graduate June 15th in Medical Coding/Billing. I am a fast learner also. If you could e-mail me and let me know any info. I would appreciate it greatly. Thanks, Rachel Link
2nd income MT at home

Does anyone out there do home transcription in the evenings as a second income? I am looking to type about 15 hours a week at home with nonspecific hours. I was wondering if anyone else is doing this or if there is even an opportunity for that available.  Thanks! 


Kristy


2nd income MT home
I do. I work full-time and part-time from my home. I work 12-20 hours per week for my part-time job mostly in the evenings. Is is possible.
Professional at home MT course

I have a name of an excellent at-home MT course.  That is The VLC.  It is an excellent school with all of the latest technology to help you learn all of the things it takes to be an excellent MT.  I know, I graduated from there and got my first job within 2 weeks of graduating, and have been working full time since then.  Do yourself a favor and check it out.


Has anyone taken an At-Home Professions course?
I'm feeling very confused and overwhelmed with what I should do.  I enrolled in an At-Home Profession course last week, but I'm still waiting for my first shipment.  In the meantime, I received an e-mail from M-Tec saying I did pretty good with the enrollment test and they feel I'd be a good candidate to take their course.  I heard good things about M-Tec.  It's a little more expensive than AHP, so I would have to get a student loan.  I guess that's where I worry...MONEY.  I was wondering if there's anyone who has taken the AHP course and what their opinion is on it.  Also, I would love anyone's input on my situation.  Thanks for your help!!
My experience with an at-home course
Hello, I took MTatHome course. You have to learn everything on your own.. which I did. It has helped me alot. I have been testing with MANY companies.. and they tell me that I score around 92 when they prefer 98%. I really dont think 92 for a newbie who had to TRAIN herself and has absolutely ZERO experience is too bad! I will keep training myself by reading sample reports, etc. Oh, I got offered a job at Spheris which I accepted. I hope I can pull it off! Thanks all!
Working at home
Just because you work at home does not automatically mean you get to pick your own hours. MT companies all have different needs, and coverage is needed, in many cases, 24 hours a day. Many companies will allow you to pick your own hours, but they will expect you stick to that schedule. Other companies will let you work anytime in a 12-hour window. It all just depends on the needs of the company.
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
working at home
I was just wondering what insurance company you worked for at home and what the name of the place was in New England. I would settle for something like this until I could get into a hospital.

Thank you!
at home professions course
i have taken 2 courses through them and was very happy with them. since then i have received 4 diplomas in 4 of there programs and am now seeking work as a vet technician and soon to be a private investigator for animal cruelty investigations thanks to AHP
At-Home Professions...
What happened is people finally learned that AHP doesn't teach you more than 1/3 of what you need to know in order to get a job as an MT. Once a company finds out that you got your "education" at AHP, they will not even bother to let you take their employment test. Once so many people learned of this, AHP changed their name so they could keep cheating people by taking their money but NOT teaching them enough of the proper things to get a job as an MT.

Andrews or M-TECH are the two best schools. EVERYONE who graduates from those 2 schools GETS hired afterwards.
At Home Professions
How far into the course are you?
At-Home Professions
I'm taking this course, though I've slowed my studying severely (I really need to get a hot-shot or something to jump start me again). I'm about halfway through also. I have SUM tapes to supplement, and Sierra Transcription also to supplement.

Hopefully, I'll get a foot in the door somewhere sometime. I'm also a scopist - or trying to get the business off the ground, while working part-time.
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


At-Home Professions

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I didn't see anything.


I just went to one of their seminars last night.  I was just wondering if anyone else has gone through them and what they thought about the company?


Thanks a lot!!