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

AHDI wants to know why folks are not renewing CMT. - So Glad They Asked

Posted: Aug 27, 2012

Can't wait to mail my *reason* back to them.

I can hardly wait for the mailman to collect my reply, and this is just my opinion. I'm sending the below to all three persons at AHDI named on the inquiry.

1. My company (and others nowadays) do not recognize CMT status any longer.

2. Why should I *recertify* myself to obtain a basically minimum wage-paying career, which is what the MT field has become these days, and the pay is getting lower as time goes by.

I do applaud their efforts to turn this trend around, in saying that MTs are underpaid for the skill set it takes to perform this job. Too little, too late.

10 years ago this was a VERY GOOD profession. It can be today if one is super fast reader/typer, and if one can become a *99-percenter* to get the bonus pay.

Reason: Past Presidents Made $ Teaching People Overseas to do our jobs cheaper - Reason: India and Barbados

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The reason for me is, past AAMT/AHDI directors and presidents made money teaching people overseas in India, Barbados, and possibly the Philippines to do our jobs for less money, cutting us out.

I'm still angry about that. What does it have to do with the CMT? Past directors pushed to make sure that those people who wanted to do our work for less than we can afford to charge can take the CMT. They made it easier for them at the same time they were making it hard for us.

They made it irrelevant for American MTs because they took the work away from us. They can't be trusted.

Some of the people who did this and profited on the backs of the American MTs are still there and still active, still thinking of new ways to make money off us. They will sell us out later if given another opportunity.

No thanks. I'm tired of giving them money to use against me.

Totally agree with all the above... so right on... - wise1

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Totally agree... they sold us out...

And now they're lobbying to have the CMT become - mandatory. NO WAY, JOSE!!!!!!!

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Or, No way, Rasheed. - nm

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x

Because they didn't represent us well when they had the chance - No Going Back

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They had the chance to represent us. Instead, they chose to represent their own pocketbooks.

They never, ever, represented MTs at ALL. - All they care about is their own profits.

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AHDI is beyond the point of being able to "turn themselves around". In order to do that, it's likely a lot of their bloated, overpaid management force would have to get acquainted with a little bit of the same austerity we face every d*amned day.

No, I think they should just quietly close down and go away. Because sooner or later, someone's going to decide to investigate them, and FORCE them to shut down.

Now the gray-haired ladies are saying we need higher pay? - This is just another example of how SM

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they change something (Hyphenate one year, no hyphens the next year. No trailing zeros one year, it doesnt matter the next year) every year just to keep selling BOS, make themselve seem relevent and current. They are a joke. Old ladies with too much time on their hands.

And don't forget "disk-vs-disk"! I'm in that - particular Purgatory, myself, today. :(

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LOL - I meant "disk-vs-DISC". - mY Fingerz donnT wErk!

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Book of Style: Excellent - Selling Us Out Overseas: Unacceptable - My Vote if we are voting

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The BOS gives us something on which to base our decisions regarding grammar and punctuation. If you know it well enough, it makes it possible to transcribe better and faster, because you don't have to second-guess yourself.

The CMT also would have been a great idea if the MTSOs had acknowledged it, but they didn't.

The only things I don't like about the organization is, they used contacts made by being officers of the organization to get personal travel and jobs overseas that were against our interests. After they got that done, they decided to sell us any number of products and force-feed seminars and webinars. They gave us the impression if we didn't participate, that we would be losers. I did participate until I realized I wasn't getting anything out of those webinars.

I think we should be honest and give the good with the bad. Many people appreciate the value of the BOS. All of us will probably agree that selling us out by going to other countries to teach them how to charge less and cut us out, was wrong.

They need to acknowledge that, say they're sorry and won't do it again, and put policies in place to make sure that officers never profit at our expense again.

I'll keep my BOS, thank you very much - sm

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I'm very happy with the BOS. Without it, there are no rules or standards at all. Let's be fair. There are lots of things not to like about the organization in question and the executive officers who took advantage of their positions. The BOS is a good idea though. It has made my work much easier and better for me. I'll take every break I can get these days.

ADHI - bye bye

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Ah ha, I think they did not represent the MT well at all. Plus, with earning minimum wage now who can afford to keep up with the credentialing anymore? Looks like it'll be time before they go under.

We can only hope - the sooner the better. nm

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xx

Re: MTs can't afford CMT-fees anymore, LOL!! They - sure shot themselves in the foot, there, didnt the

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Ah-hahahahahahahahahahaha!

Twits.

Because they were always partnering with the MTSOs and vendors - but not with us

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When they started "partnering" with the large MTSOs and vendors to force on us policies, products, and webinars, that we neither wanted nor needed, they lost my respect. None of that was for our good. It was for the good of the people who were creating and promoting these things that benefit nobody but the people creating and promoting them.

Bet they've got a lotta BOS's piling up in their - warehouse, these days! Poor babies! ;p

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They won't get my input unless they PAY ME FOR IT. - I plan to exclude them, the way they did MTs.

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They leave us out of any input or decision-making for HOW many years? Just take our money, and give us nothing but grief in return?

And then they want us to tell them "why we don't renew"? (Or join in the first place, which is even better.)

I think they already know the answer to that question. They're just phishing for info. so that they can start fine-tuning whatever their next big money-making scam is.

As it was in the beginnig, is now, and ever will be - AHDI IS A SCAM.

I wonder why an MT organization - never seemed to be for the MT

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I once emailed them and questioned them on our pay rates and what they are doing about it to fight for the MTs and the response that I received was they couldn't speak to me unless I was a paying member. What a crock. If they are to be an organization for us, they don't help us at all unless we shell out money to help them. The BOS book, what another waste. Its good to know going through school, but after that forget it, you have to do what the company and account specs want, regardless of what BOS says.

There was more money to be made in destroying - the field than there was in supporting it, I guess

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N/M

I cancelled after my first year in 1978. - tynkerbelle

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Seems like they have not accomplished anything since then either.

A Few Bad Apples - see message

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I think they accomplished a lot of good things, then a few bad apples got greedy and messed things up.

The Book of Style is a good thing. I give Claudia credit for that. Her name is on it.

The CMT was an excellent idea. The MTSOs didn't buy into it. That wasn't AAMT/AHDI's fault. A few bad AAMT apples decided that it was more important what the MTSOs wanted than what was good for the MTs. If MTs had been required to have certification, the serious-level CMT, many people who call themselves MTs wouldn't be able to work until they improved their skills. That would be a very good thing for all of us, but a few bad apples didn't let that happen.

Then, greed got into it in a big way. Directors and officers were offered big money to teach MT to people outside the United States. The money took precedence over ethics.

Greed has continued with different groups and individuals pressuring the powers that be at what is now AHDI, to sell their products, webinars, software, etc. I believe AHDI has gone along because they need money, and they get a share of everything that is sold. The problem with that is, it isn't in the best interests of the members. All of those products and webinars haven't done anything but make money for the people selling them.

If they would stop trying to make money off all of us and start trying to let the organization serve the membership, not past presidents and directors, not big corporations, not MTSOs, it would be worth belonging.

Nope. BOS is nitpicky fluff of no consequence. - CMT is a worthless non-certification title.

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It was a get-rich scheme from the very beginning. Brilliant, really. Except that when they championed the offshoring of our work, and the lowering of our wages, they made it so that most MTs with anything between the ears but empty space would question the value of the BOS, the validity of the CMT, and the very existence of this so-called "for-the-MTs" organization.

S - Superficial,
C - Contrived,
A - and
M - Meritless!

You have some good points. sm - Rainy

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Since I am not a formally trained MT, AAMT actually was a great org for me to gain info from. This was in the mid 1980s. But as others pointed out, there were many missteps as well. I wanted to be a CMT but could not justify the cost as more MTSOs stopped offering respect and better pay for it. Also, the membership dues kept going up and my pay down, so my membership went bye-bye.

Everyone should have figured this out back when they changed their name.. sm - anon

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from the American Association for Medical Transcription to AHDI...removing American from their title. Although, I had it figured out loooong before then that they cared naught for the MT and stopped renewing my membership.

Claudia didn't do that one. Peter did. - sm

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I remember when that happened. Claudia had already deserted, uh, I mean moved on. Peter, or whatever his name is, was the one who decided on the name change. There's plenty of mistakes to go around. This one was his.

Instead of being bitter about it - My Plan

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Yes, I'm disgusted with what these leaders did. I will never again put myself in a position of depending on any of those individuals who sold us out. That doesn't mean that they don't recognize that what they did was wrong. Maybe it's time to forgive and forget. I'm not saying that we should ever allow them any power over us, our lives, or our careers ever again, but it's probably time to move on---without them. That's what I hope to do.

You're right. Most of us "got the memo" even before - they changed their name! n/m

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