A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

On-site vs telecommute --- (sm) - I have a question!

Posted: Jun 03, 2010

Have any of you ever applied for a clinic or hospital job you found online where it's an on-site job, and everything about it fits, except that you live too far away to commute? I've found a couple that would work well for me, but I can't do a 3-hour 1-way commute! (I COULD, however, be persuaded to attend a meeting once a month.) Have any of you ever applied to an on-site job and convinced them to let you work directly for them, but from home?

I just thought I'd test the waters here on MTStars before applying to any of those.

Usually they have those policies in place - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Both hospital systems I have worked for already have policies in place of where their MTs worked, either in house or telecommute with training. It is hard to 'convince' them because they have 10 people to get approval from before something like that can be started, and most likely they would send a current employee home before they hired someone new to send home. You would be better off trying to get a small clinic or single doctor to let you do their work digitally. That has been my experience. I applied for an in-house position that I knew that department had at-home employees and I was told under no uncertain terms that you had to work in house for 2 years before they would send you home to work (Even though I had previously worked for that department a few years previous). In my opinion, that manager passed up a good oportunity. They are now using K-force at twice what they would have paid me!

price - curious

[ In Reply To ..]
What do companies like K-force or another of the others charge hospitals? Thanks.

K-force - anonn

[ In Reply To ..]
K-force utilizes MTs whom are willing to travel. The MTS pay for expenses up front, including transportation, food and lodgng and then hopefully getting reimbursed for those expenses after their assignment has been completed -- they may work in a hospital for a few days or a few months -- -did the same thing when I was a CSM although I was promptly reimbursed -- I have heard horror stories with K-Force -- ie -- lets sat $15 base pay per hour and then reimbursement for any expenses you incurred or a "daily stipend," which if you exceed, it is at YOUR expense

I wouldn't mind doing that. - MT2020

[ In Reply To ..]
If I didn't have a youngster at home I would jump at the chance to travel. I've always liked that idea. IF.....I could get reimbursement and paid like I am supposed to, that is.

I have heard both sides, some never have a problem, others not so much - Guess it depends?

[ In Reply To ..]
I've worked with several K-force ladies now and the disparity is amazing. Some have no problems whatsoever with the reimbursement and just love the travel and everything involved. One of them had been stationed at some wonderful little hospital in Maine she immediately fell in love with and worked there for, I believe, 9 months. She was hoping they would offer the position full-time but when they didn't, she returned back home to Nevada to await her next assignment.

Another one, however, just seemed to have one disaster after another with their reimbursement system, which made me wonder if it weren't something SHE was doing incorrectly submitting her paperwork, because it seemed to happen to her every pay period where she wasn't reimbursed enough to pay for her suite (most of them used those extended stay suites with optional housekeeping, etc.). I felt really bad for her, because she'd have to suck up her pride and gather her paperwork, then go plead her case to the suite manager and await her money through FedEx to get caught up.

If I were single, I'd probably save up a couple of thousand of dollars as backup and do the K-Force thing. I think if you're a really good planner, have reliable people to check on your own apartment or house, etc., it would be an amazing opportunity to see a lot of the country and stay in various locations, see different facilities and how they operate, etc.

I think overall you'd have to be a really good planner and good with money, though, to avoid the embarrassing scenarios the one K-force worker I saw go through. I don't think it's something I'd ever do on a lark and would make sure I had enough cash at all times to cover whatever expenses I had. If I never needed to touch my own stash, I'd just consider it a little savings account I had managed to gather as I worked.

K-force - travelinMT

[ In Reply To ..]
I have worked for Kforce for over 6 years and have never had problems with reimbursement, unless it was something I messed up. The majority of the people working for them now have everything direct billed and except for your gas and per diem allowance you never have to worry about it. I prefer to pay it myself on my own personal CC and I get reimbursed faithfully the Friday after it was submitted. There would never be a need to have to go to the hotel manager and plead for anything, unless she had requested to pay for it herself and gone over her limit on her credit card so that the credit card company would not authorize the expenses. You do need to be diligent and pay your bill every time you get a check or it will get out of hand on you. I prefer to pay it myself because I end up getting airline miles from the airline, airline miles from the hotel preferred customer programs and I have a credit card I get airline miles with for every dollar I spend. So when I go on vacation or to see my grandkids, I never have to pay for airfare. My son watches my house and it works out great for me.

Now for the downside...with the economy the way it is the jobs have dramatically fallen off and most facilities do not want travelers anymore. So they want "local" people or people to work remote from home. The days of travel with them are now few and far between. For a company as a whole you couldn't ask for a better company to work for, pay and benefits are great but without a travel assignment you don't get all the perks you get when you travel and when there are no jobs...you are out of work until another assignment comes in. So it is not a job for someone who is struggling under a stack of bills every month.

Yes I have but there is still usually an in-house training period - Which can be any length of time

[ In Reply To ..]
I've done it, but they still have the understandably required in-house training period to make sure you're up to par on the platform, procedures, etc. Depending on how quick you can catch on and convince them you're good to go, this could be anywhere from 1 month to 4 months.

If you catch on really fast and can handle the commute for the training period (and afford the gas, lol!), it might be worth a shot.

Good luck!

Thanks for the input, everybody! - (sm)

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't see why it's so necessary to train for a position on-site, when MTSO's train MTs at home, via the Internet, all the time.

Still, I guess I'll keep on looking then. I really wouldn't mind an in-house position, if I could only find one that wasn't 75-100 miles away. All the hospitals in my immediate area have been taken over an HMOs that seems to prefer the perceived "savings" of having it done offsite. It's hard to find any independent hospitals anymore. They all seem to be part of large, generic healthcare organizations. And we all know what that's done to the quality of care!

I drove about 105 miles round trip to communte - My mother was ill

[ In Reply To ..]
My parents live in the foothills and my mother was sick, so I stayed with them for about a year and made the commute (52 miles each way...ew).

The good part was after being cooped up, I had about a solid hour at the beginning and end of the day, of driving with fresh air, radio blaring, just time to myself, which was nice and much needed.

The downside was the traffic (even on those country roads all the commuters can lead to some nasty traffic jams), and the cost of GAS. It was astronomical. I had a little 5-speed BMW which got decent gas mileage but if I'd have had a bigger car, I'd have probably ended up paying more for gas than I earned, lol!

I did it for a year under extenuating circumstances, but I cannot imagine having to do it indefinitely. It's not just cost-prohibitive but when you're tired or don't feel well, it seems endless and the drive is exhausting. In fact, by the end of the work week, after doing that run 5 times round trip, I was too physically and emotionally exhausted at the end of the week to even think about going anywhere on the weekends. The car was pretty much last on my "things I want to see" list, lol!

Precisely why I wont subject myself & my car to that. - It would eat up any pay increase. nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

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