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

Pay for editing vs. transcribing - embolicetiology

Posted: Jan 27, 2012

Hey guys I was just mulling over the fact that editing accrues 1/2 that of transcribing, yet it tends to be as difficult if not moreso depending on the butchering job it does to the dictation (heavens forbid they have a thick accent. then it truly only stands in the way of progress...)... both I & my mother are MTs & just kind of wondering- does anyone else think this is fair? Is there literally anything fair about this? I mean, even the base rates for transcribing aren't mucho bueno, cut those in half and you have a crappy part time job at best, am I right?!?

They claim.. - MT

[ In Reply To ..]
The software companies go in there to SELL, and they tell the administrators and MR folks that the MTs will be doing TWICE as many lines daily because their system is so "great." That is repeated ALL THROUGH the sales brochures too.

That, in turn, is used by management to cut the pay rate in half (from typing to editing), and they tell the MTs that we will be doing TWICE as many lines.

I have YET to encounter ANYONE who can actually do TWICE as many lines editing than typing, so EVERYONE takes a hit in the pocketbook.

editing vs/ transcribing - embolicetiology

[ In Reply To ..]
thanks for your reply. i have never achieved this alleged 'twice as many lines' during editing either, though i have def. heard that in the rumor mill, as well. i didn't know it was part of the pitch, though i guess i'm not surprised! & obviously you do get faster with time, but i tend to wish i had just deleted the speech rec draft and started from scratch... some are truly absurd.

Editing/transcribing - LeeLee

[ In Reply To ..]
Just got into it pretty hot and heavy with my TL for this very reason. NO ONE on entire team has been able to produce as they "claim" for all the reasons mentioned here. TL basically told me that's the way it is, suck it up. Easy for them to say. They, along with management continue to get their raises, bonuses and benefits while we keep getting cut. Company has had massive turn over, and they just don't care. They all think we are just warm bodies and can easily be replaced. I often wonder what would happen if the SR failed and they had to rely on us old-timers to get the job done the "old-fashioned way". Not too many of the newbies have gone through all the systems we have and cannot produce like we do. Not because they are not good....it is just because they have not been exposed to what we have. Every time I turn in my time logs, I want to gag knowing TLs and further up got a cost of living increase and bonuses and I got a HUGE pay cut.

Editing pay rant - embolicetiology

[ In Reply To ..]
One thing I note from this is what they'd do if "the SR failed...", because the way I see it, it has failed; it creates what appears to me something like a large blanket, perhaps purchased from Goodwill & needing desperately to be sewn & patched in an insane amount of areas, but hey, you got $20 off your blanket, right? just a thought.

& i hear you loud & clear on them receiving bonuses while the rest of us receive cuts every which way; how does that make sense? because we are not higher up in the chain of command? surely that doesn't constitute a company with ethics. i'd venture to say it constitutes the contrary. :/

Editing rate - LeeLee

[ In Reply To ..]
My point to TL exactly. They get their list, I guess, of allowable comments from the COOs. Would like to see some of them do what we do....don't think they could.

Right?! - embolicetiology

[ In Reply To ..]
& doesn't this standard of "it'll be half the time for you guys to complete 'em!" imply directly that it is *easier*?! I really feel like I'm piecing back together a shattered plate of glass, sometimes, shard by shard, yet it's allegedly easier & takes half the time.
This is what happens when US (or Earth in general?) chooses to rely on machines - a lot of pissed off people not understanding how to make ends meet & an INSANE amount of lost jobs. Thanks, CEOs of the establishments creating the software in question, thanks for ripping us off & not even being honest about it.

Re: Editing/transcribing - LeeLee - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
LeeLee is exactly right in her assessment. Here's hoping Karma visits (and bites very hard) that smug TL and any other hypocrite with the ''suck it up'' attitude.

How is this legal... - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
they are making a CLAIM as to what you're productivity will be, and therefore JUSTIFY the pay cut based on that CLAIM. Can an employer make a FALSE CLAIM, and cut your pay accordingly? I think a good lawyer (and probably even a not-so-hot lawyer) could find a legal argument about this, for us to get back wages, since our pay cut is based on a false claim.

Employers cut wages all the time. - OldHand

[ In Reply To ..]
Employers have the right to cut your pay, and you have the right to split the scene (quit).

This isn't a legal claim, it's an internal one. Plus they don't have to justify that pay cut to anyone as long as they aren't violating minimum wage laws.

Claim - embolicetiology

[ In Reply To ..]
With a decent lawyer they surely would have to justify their decisions. & all it takes is one person showing up to fight the battle and, from what I've read on this site and others, a great deal of backup will follow.

Sorry, but that's not true. - IWishItWere

[ In Reply To ..]
Have you even bothered to check your local listings for employment attorneys? In my city they have declined sharply from just a few years ago. Employers have more and more LEGAL power these days, and it just doesn't pay for attorneys to specialize in that area.

They do NOT have to justify a pay cut as you think they do; again, they are protected. As long as they don't violate federal mininum wage laws.

That is the sad truth, friend.

Pay Rates - Emerald Green

[ In Reply To ..]
The only way we're going to get recognized for what we know (if we dont get replaced by self-edit)is to stand up for ourselves and what we're worht. Nurses had to do it way back in the old days and today they make as much as a doc does sometime. We have to know as much as they do at the very least. We also have to know verbage for all specialties.....something most professionals in this field don't have to know. I'm talking about everything from terms,labs,diagnostic testing and drugs. I wonder how many of them could do what we do. Anyway, nurses got recognized and we should too! I thought AAMT was there to do that for us, but I think I was wrong? Any comments on this? I remember a time when doctors had to do their own nursing because the nurses striked. I not too long ago talked to my PCP who was doing self-edit and then quit doing it. I asked why, he said his normal day was 10 hours and when he started doint self-edit, his normal day grew to 12 hours.....I'm hoping the rest of them feel that way too!

To embolicetiology - LeeLee

[ In Reply To ..]
Unfortunately, when push comes to shove, most people have a bark much louder than their bite. Worked with a few that were so gung hoh to "go after the fat cats". When the time came for them to back it up, they were as meek as kittens and did aboslutely nothing, never even opened their mouths to better the situation for all. These were same ones running around screaming for justice all day, every day at work. All spark, no flame. I've done what I could to work within the system to maintain a decent income (not happy with it and always looking to improve it). I pursue other options as they present themselves(i.e., education, different job, different accounts--all the usual). I've never gone into any work situation without a plan B simply because no employer, no matter how good, can guarantee anything. Anyway, it can be a very frustrating process to say the least. :( We have a huge medical community where I am; so, my options are a little broader than others. I really feel for those that are limited by distance or options that just keep gettting squeezed harder.

LeeLee, unfair VR-fixing rates, online petition - embolicetiology

[ In Reply To ..]
I hear you, I do.

I personally could have it much worse, I'm not nearly as impacted as some of my friends/family who have been getting the cuts and need to pay mortgage/fund retirement/feed larger families than my own... This also isn't my target profession, just something I will be pursuing while finishing my current branch of school. I honestly just wanted to see how many others here were with me on the thought that it's ridiculous to call editing worlds easier when in fact, it can take longer, be far more frustrating; I know when I get a from scratch job in, I'm quite glad, like it's 'make-up' time for the lost hours of editing!

and aside the lengthy legal argument/notable loop holes, what if one, such as myself, were to create an/several online petitions regarding bigger company's decisions to employ VR programs which INEVITABLY disintegrate job after job in the US as well as making MTing a truly ridiculous profession to enter in 2012- but yet they still need us to do it... why don't they want to establish fair/*livable* pay for us to do it?

With the proper wording, I feel an online petition could generate enough support to push said companies into a corner where it's only right they reply.

The bigger picture here is that America is employing machines more & more, yet population is growing & growing; for another example, self-checkouts in grocery/other stores. Wikipedia claims that the international plan for these is set to reach nearly half million units throughout the world; how many jobs will be lost due to relying on this machine? Sure, it's faster, it's more convenient, but it is not going to do more help than harm.

VR is becoming the top dog in the MT industry & it's now standing right in front of us, waiting to recognize all the easy words, influence our employers to pay us 1/2 rates, & leave us to decipher the "big" words as well as redo any damage it has left behind. They can make improvements to VR for the rest of time, they'll never give it a set of human ears.

Who else thinks a petition regarding VR's overtaking of the MT industry would have a chance at voicing the problems discussed on this thread as well as educating the public on how technology, in this case and many others, is extracting living-wage jobs from the US?

Online petition-embolicetiology - LeeLee

[ In Reply To ..]
Very informative post. I know when I tell people the problems with VR (that are not associated with this field), they do not believe that there are problems with it. They all think it is more efficient and cost effective...not. What do they think is going to happen to their records when Obamacare kicks in? On top of everything else, all privacy is out the window. I see several posters on here the have no idea how that bill is going to impact them on several levels, and refuse to get a copy of it to read. I personally was the recipient of several errors in my health record due to incorrect info added electronically. I fought and fought and fought and after 7 years, I have no assurance or proof that the errors were ever corrected. It cost me several thousands of dollars. I had been in a severe car accident, went to neurologist, ortho surgeon, general practitioner, ER, chiropractor, you name it. The ortho surgeon entered someone else's "normal" exam in my chart. What a freaking nightmare.

I personally would sign a petition. I know I spend gobs of time redoing what the computer screwed up...shorter to just type the stinking thing from scratch. Funny thing, Walmart in my area did away with all self-checkouts due to errors, problems, incorrect scans. Since they did away with it, you know it was not as good as it was cracked up to be.

Exactly - CB

[ In Reply To ..]
My last company was very fair - cutting the pay of VR to 20% of straight, not half. Of course, they ended up losing accounts because of underbidding by these MTSOs who arbitrarily cut by 50% before testing actual productivity (how does that make business sense?).

re: Pay for editing vs. transcribing - embolicetiology - VTMT

[ In Reply To ..]
You are very correct, in fact sometimes I think I can type faster than some of the drafts that need to be edited. It's all about the rich arrogant heads of the companies filling their pockets and running sweat shops...here and in India!

Sweat shops - embolicetiology

[ In Reply To ..]
Agreed, I say it takes longer by all means with some reports to go through VR- and doesn't this tend to feel like sweat shop work? I'm not saying I don't appreciate having anything in this economy, because I do, but with the crap health package I was offered with the lie upon it claiming it was "insurance", I spy a deep well of unfairness that should really be addressed. Perhaps they keep us underpaid now to prevent us from affording lawyers? LOL

& the only thing I was "insured" of was that I was going to be ripped off solidly by the huge HCP who would in turn burn my $170/month while chuckling @ my $300/year use of medical services.

Fairness = unknown in "remote" MT work?

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