A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
Quality and quantity, is it possible? - working for pennies
Posted: Apr 28, 2013
I just got a warning for my LPH being too low, and possible termination if I don't increase them right away. I was taking time to double check my reports and making sure all blanks were filled in, rarely had blanks. With the threat of termination, I have been trying to focus more on quantity. Now I have been going through each report once and hit send. I have seen example reports from MTs who have great LPH, but I have seen the minor mistakes that come with them too.
I figure I need to get the reports out as quickly as possible now. I have also figured that since it is all about production that I will get in trouble with QA/QC with more errors. I feel screwed either way with Nuance. All I know is I had a perfectionist attitude and that is not going to work. I am feeling like I will be fired for not enough lines per hour or too many errors from speeding through reports.
After 14 years of doing this I am just now finding out I suck at it.
LPH - mesuckatittoo
[ In Reply To ..]I'm with you on this. I found out I suck after 12+ years. All I can say is they get what they pay for. They want to pay 0.04 and have volume they are not going to get quality work because we can't afford to give it to them!
Hey me too, 14+ years and apparently I suck as well. - anon
[ In Reply To ..]I am on an account with 99% ESL and getting line count is HARD. I don't even see how to go faster on this account without getting critical errors by the boatload.
It is a lose-lose at this place, for me at least.
I have been doing it 2 years and I suck too - MTgirl
[ In Reply To ..]So I just leave blanks for everything that isn't clearly heard, especially lab values. My blanks are up to 14% because of the quality of the reports I get. When I had incentive, this was 5%. Don't pay me, I am not giving you quality you want.
YOU don't suck at MT. The COMPANY sucks - at MT. The balance between - s/m
[ In Reply To ..]quality and quantity is a delicate one, but a good company should always lean towards quality. Some of them did, back in the day.
But greed has changed all that. Greed, and complete ignorance as to what is actually involved in transcribing medical records.
Now it's becoming quite clear that most MT companies are so invested in their offshore operations that they can't dump their US workforce fast enough. They've made it impossible for us to succeed in this job anymore, and I think, although the rise of "required" line counts and the percentage of accuracy was originally greed-generated, that it's now just a tool to get rid of their remaining US MTs.
I think the low pay, and the recent jumps in the minimum LPH these scum want us to produce on a daily basis, are in place for one main purpose these days, and that is to either force US MTs to quit in utter frustration, or to give the MTSO a "reason" to terminate the MT. The fact that the offshore workers aren't held to these same standards, and at the same time receive better (relatively speaking) pay, plus perks and bonuses that we've never gotten, EVER, and it's so blatantly obvious what they're doing, that it would be laughable if it weren't having such a devastating effect on the income and the psyche of the American medical transcriptionist.
Karma will undoubtedly come back and slap down the owners and management of these morally bankrupt companies, but it's unlikely it'll happen in time to help any of us out. But I'm looking forward to that payback day, because when it finally comes, it'll do a lot of American MT hearts a LOT of good.
I agree!! - Disappointed transcriber
[ In Reply To ..]First off, in my sleepy stupor I accidentally hit dislike which I apologize for now!! Second, I worked for a company 7 years ago that I couldn't praise enough!!! They, unfortunately, were bought out after a few years and started to go down hill. A little over a year ago they were bought out by MModal and since almost the first day, I felt as though they no longer cared for their workers. It seemed the only time you heard from your supervisor was when you had done something wrong. Communication just seemed to almost shut down. My entire medical transcription career, almost 7 years, was spent with the same people. In my last year it became clear that they were trying to 'nudge me out', trying to get me to quit basically. I, having 4 children, one who is autistic, and a new husband, very much needed my job so I held on. On the day that I emailed my supervisor to tell her I needed a Friday off for my grandmother's funeral, she then emailed me back telling me she needed to call me. She then let me know that my position had been eliminated that day and it was my last working day and my services were no longer needed.....but she was sorry about my grandmother. I just want to say that I think very low of this company and I do not and would not ever recommend this company to any MT. The way that I was made to feel since the buyout was horrible. I felt that I was a number, not a person and that no matter what was going on in my life, including a death in my family, was of no regard to them. I am right now trying to find a better company and I hope that all companies have not turned into what MModal is. I long for the days of Spheris, my first company!!!
^ LOL! I just thought the dislike was from a suit! - Loved your post. nm
[ In Reply To ..]
I feel your pain - anon
[ In Reply To ..]I feel I have had to make the same choice. I am not happy about making mistakes but mistakes are going to happen especially when constantly going from doctor to doctor, specialty to specialty, location to location with no consistency in my workload. I have heard that you can get fired for low LPH but was told you would not for low quality, just "mentored"
I guess I suck at it now, too!!
After DECADES as an MT, I too feel worthless - Lily
[ In Reply To ..]I've been an MT for 30 years. Yup, 30. It's so beneath my dignity to be called out and deducted for such minor errors as "THE" hemoglobin" when the doctor said "HER" hemoglobin in an accent that sounds more like Martian than anything heard on this planet. After a very short time, I'm starting to realize that it's an inherently impossible situation. Are there any good MT employers left? If there are, how long will they be able to resist takeover? It's a sad state of affairs, and I'm seriously worried.
I guess I suck too.
Worthless - Chavera
[ In Reply To ..]It is beyond belief that I also have become worthless in just the past few months. Something is seriously wrong! I have always been a cheerleader for this company, but I am now entering my second 3-month period of not qualifying for incentive and having all kinds of issues with FIESA. I have begun doing affirmations to myself that I am worthwhile, I am a good MLS, etc., and am hoping for a fresh start and possibly getting above 97% again. We can always hope. This just cannot continue.
me too - tiredofit
[ In Reply To ..]I have been an MLS for 25 years and have been a team lead as well .. and I am now making over $1000 a month less than I was a year ago at this time because of all of the changes in requirements and rules. That's the goal for this company I am afraid - they want to hire in newbies with no experience and pay them very little to do the job we have been doing for so long, so they don't have to pay us what they did before.
we all suck - workhorse
[ In Reply To ..]Apparently WE ALL SUCK!! That's how the company wants us to view ourselves so we accept their pennies and deductions and don't stir the pot. I say THEY SUCK. I can hardly wait for the day to be done with them. Use to absolutely love my work. It was fun and it paid well. Now? Not so much.
LPH too low - Same thing happened to me
[ In Reply To ..]I was told the same thing. I tried to boost my line count but my quality suffered horribly, so I am back to doing it right, expecting to get fired shortly. I am actually glad this happened. I have known that I need to find another job since the company I worked for was sold to MModal, and things have going gradually going downhill ever since, but I just kept putting the job search off thinking maybe it might get better but now I know I have to knuckle down and find another job. I have had a couple of good interviews this last week, and now that I am out there and really looking, I am gaining some confidence about this. And don't feel bad about being told you are no good at this job after 14 years, I have been doing it for nearly 30 years.
Thank you all for letting me know I am not alone. - working for pennies
[ In Reply To ..]I keep thinking somehow maybe this week will be better than the last, even though it has not worked out that way for me yet. Thanks again for your posts.
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