A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
MTs...there is light in another home position - Former MT
Posted: Jul 24, 2014
Hello my fellow beleaguered MTs. I feel your pain when I read these posts about the horrible conditions with the big companies and lack of an honest day's pay for what we do, but about a year ago I switched industries to customer service, working from home. I love that I can work from home still but get paid HOURLY with benefits! I work for Alpine Access/Sykes as an employee but have also worked for Live Ops which hires ICs. If you want to make the switch like I did and "just say no" to 6/7 cpl for 30 years' experience, just Google home call center or home customer service jobs. There are several companies and they are starting to gear up now hiring for holiday help. I wish things would get back to where they were 20+ years ago when I started, but I don't see that happening with offshoring and mega MTSOs getting all the work and controlling the industry. Good luck and I wish you all the best.
I applied with Alpine a while back and was offered - a couple of different jobs.
[ In Reply To ..]But the hours were bad and the pay was only about $9/hr. Has this changed since last year? My daughter also applied in the last 6 months and was offered the same. Still better than nothing I suppose. And definitely better than Nuance.
yes...same company - Former MT
[ In Reply To ..]It was getting to where I was LUCKY to make minimum wage at 7 cpl & especially with the HUGE pools of different doctors dictating. So yes, it is $9.00/hour but at least I'm at home! :)
That's so true. If I didn't get the job I have now - I would have done it too.
[ In Reply To ..]xx
Isn't this the company... - TiredMT
[ In Reply To ..]that requires $200 for background checks or something?
not $200... - Former MT
[ In Reply To ..]I think it was maybe $45.00, but you're handling people's credit card information, etc., so I'd want someone taking MY credit card number to have had a background check, too! But you only pay it if you're offered a position...not up front.
My daughter worked at a call center, not at home and - she also had to pay for her
[ In Reply To ..]background check and drug test. That's pretty much standard practice now.
Thank you - Bear 4
[ In Reply To ..]It was nice of you to come back here and share that information with us. I'm working for a company now that doesn't pay for spaces. If this CS job pays $9/h (like someone else said) it's more than what I'm making now. I'm working hard, have 30 years' experience, almost all ESL work, nasty global e-mails on a daily basis telling us how incompetent we are. I'm sick to death of it. Thanks again and good for you!!
you're very welcome... - Former MT
[ In Reply To ..]I, too, was sick and tired of it. I've never in my life seen or heard of an industry where after 20 years your salary goes BACK to lower than it was when you started! What about inflation? What about the knowledge and expertise required? Why do you think all these mega MTSO's are constantly hiring? Because they treat ICs/employees like CRAP and pay for piecework instead of a salary, which is how it SHOULD be. Only when they can no longer hire competent folks to get the work done will it ever change. OR, MTs go on strike and demand a fair wage for the amount of work. I think it's time for a "Medical Documentation Worders' Union," or actually way past time.
Do they keep you busy or do you have a lot of - down time?
[ In Reply To ..]xx
no down time... - Former MT
[ In Reply To ..]if the calls are slow you work the emails on the account I'm on. They also offer "jump offs" and "jump ons" if they have too much help or too little, but no one has to take it. There is PLENTY of work during your shift but if there isn't you can choose to stay and finish your shift or "jump off" if they're offering them.
Former MT -- THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! - nm
[ In Reply To ..]xx
Another option - Scrambled Eggs
[ In Reply To ..]Thank you, OP, for posting this information. I wanted to let everyone know also that it's worth checking to see if your local hospitals are hiring. I was able to get a position with my local hospital. I still work from home. They had previously been with the big company that starts with "M." The docs complained and local MTs were hired to work from home. I've heard this is going on in other places, as well. I make a very good hourly rate, have benefits and also get a production bonus! I know that a lot of us are in difficult situations and must take what we can get, but if possible, REFUSE to work for such low pay, terrible hours, etc. Good luck everyone!
WOW! - Former MT
[ In Reply To ..]I'm SO GLAD TO HEAR THIS! Let's hope the MTSO monopoly starts crashing down around their greedy, unkind, loathsome ears! In a way, we've let this happen to our industry by not being more proactive, but it spun out of control so quickly it just had to hit bottom sooner or later. For any of you who can just quit and leave them in the lurch, it will speed this process along at warp speed!
Former MT..How did WE make this happen? - Do not agree
[ In Reply To ..]Technology and cost is what did our jobs in, not us. Hospitals were always looking for ways to eliminate FTE's. Their meetings were always on cost and how to cut costs, while we replaced the 'nuns' and the 'brothers' with CEOs and made it a business instead of a caring facility. They have always just wanted those with patient contact to be the primary and somehow move all 'office personnel' off of the payroll if they possibly could. VR did just that. How then are did we make this happen, I wonder. believe it was originated by India and their Dragon program that we knew was in the works for years.
Plus, where I worked they tried to eliminate security and housekeeping first, but found that they had to bring back housekeeping. As far as security....in many cases they got what they paid for. We were the next to go, so do not know how that turned out. Security was a service and they paid them 7-dollars an hour---not professionals and no ethical mannerisms to be working with sick people's lives. Created many problems unforeseen...lessons learned.
Making it happen - Anonymous one
[ In Reply To ..]Your situation sounds a bit extreme, how in the world can you eliminate housekeeping at a health care facility? Something that I have noticed is that when employees are asked to make sacrifices, administration is generally spared. Some health care facilities fell on hard times due to poor financial decision making but it did not happen overnight. My MT department fell to outsourcing a couple of years ago, but now it takes 2 or 3 people to correct mistakes and it has created more problems than it solved. No one cares because I am sure they saved a bundle. We didn't make any of this happen; my facility literally threw money at MT in terms of pay when we were in demand - gave several MTs an additional $1.00 per hour salary increase simply on the basis of seniority and some of those people stunk; that was definitely a decision that came back to bite them. When we went to straight production we all made great money because they were very generous with the incentives. None of this was our doing, but certainly no one complained when times were good. Cost is definitely what did us in, but with the demise of our department went the quality, the prompt turnaround times, and the pride that people took in their work. I agree, lessons learned. Apparently, a multimillion dollar wrongful death suit is more affordable than consistent quality medical documentation. I survived and managed to keep my job working in another role, but I have seen the aftermath and it is not pretty. I understand the need to tighten the belt, but we should all have to do our share, including the administrators who make the decisions.
Oh, it's "easy" to eliminate - eom
[ In Reply To ..]housekeeping at a health facility. I worked for a hospital in Dallas, Texas who did exactly that. They hired an outside company to do it. The service was very poor, the buildings were sloppy, and finding their "managers" was next to impossible. It reflected very poorly on the facility, buy hey, gotta save money - no matter what.
we let it happen by... - Former MT
[ In Reply To ..]not "just saying no" as they lowered our line rate more and more and more; by not forming a union so we'd be a whole and not out there on our own. I still think if a union was formed they'd still have to use USA workers b/c of HIPAA and we'd have bargaining power, but all MTs would have to join it or we'd lose the power.
we let it happen also by - making our job
[ In Reply To ..]look easy. No one understood, by just watching us with headsets and the fingers flying, and geez look at all those shortcuts thought that job must be easy. We worked hard to understand the physicians which we learned as we were familiar with them, actually spoiled them so they got away with being sloppy. The brain power needed for this job has never been taken into consideration, never once has that been recognized or appreciated. Anyone who had a part in the demise of transcription has never spent 8 hours doing this and even though I have tried to get some to, all refused "I can't do that job."
IMPORTANT! - Former MT
[ In Reply To ..]One thing I MUST mention...on some accounts (mostly retail accounts, not so much tech or subscription accounts) they ramp WAY down after the holidays and start giving you less and less hours (one week I had 6!), and for those who have a second job it's not a big deal (I was fortunate enough to have another radiology job I kept in case the customer service gig didn't pan out). Eventually, folks seek other employment and your hours go back up. Mostly the young people figure out they don't like working from home as much as they thought, etc.) so your hours will go back up, but in all fairness I just wanted to disclose this fact. If you're NOT on a retail account that goes nuts during the holidays, this should not be a problem.
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