A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
paycheck! - poor MT
Posted: Jun 25, 2012
Hi All,
Well, my hospital was outsourced to Nuance a couple of months back. Of course, I noticed right off what the pay was offered and knew it was going to be low, but since we weren't paid by the line, I had no idea how much lower it was going to turn out to be. In the last couple of months, I have been getting used to their time keeping program and other changes that they have implemented since they took over. I feel like for the last pay period or two I am finally up to what I would consider full production.
WOW! I had no idea I was going to suffer such a dramatic cut in pay! I am making about half of what I was and that is with working more hours! Full time was considered 32 hours where I was before and that was all I usually needed to get a decent check. Now, with nearly 40 hours a week, I am SHOCKED by how little the pay is in comparison!
How do you all do it? I mean take that kind of cut. Did you have to take a secondary job of some sort or cut back dramatically on your way of life to make ends meet? I have been looking, and most MT jobs in my area pay better than this, so have sent out some resumes and made a few calls and am waiting to hear back on a couple of leads. I can't imagine anyone transitioning over from a hospital accepting this is the best there is out there. Given the cut in PTO, cut in benefits, cut in pay, I just can't do this long term!
I feel your pain - anon
[ In Reply To ..]Believe me, I understand your frustration. Unfortunately, that's how Nuance convinces all the hospitals to outsource to them--they show the $$$ they're spending on their transcription costs and promise to decrease that significantly. What the hospitals do NOT realize is that they will end up spending more in the long run--just not on MTs but on the grand and glorious technology. What a conflict of interest--the Mighty N employing the same MTs they displace and making more in the end by hawking their technology. They're ripping the people right out of the industry. I think we should get off the anti-AHDI bandwagon and go after Nuance.
paycheck - mt20years
[ In Reply To ..]I feel your pain as well. Have been with Nuance 6+ months and I would be homeless if not for my husband paying all the bills. Nuance has made MTs eligible for food stamps and government assistance. They call this a job?
I could have written your post... - (see message)
[ In Reply To ..]Poor MT -- like you, my hospital closed our dept and outsourced to an MTSO (not Nuance or M*Modal but a smaller one). Like you, I also worked 32 hours at my hospital, which constituted full-time there. Like you, I had no idea how much I could earn with the MTSO because I had been paid hourly at the hospital. I had been there so long that I was at the top of the pay grade, plus very healthy bonuses for production. But still, I had great production, so I figured I'd have to wait and see how I did at the MTSO, allowing some time to get up to full production, like you did....hoping it would be comparable, or at least close. My pay dropped from roughly $20-$22/hr to an average of $9.81/hr with the MTSO....and that was only if I didn't count any minutes where I went to the bathroom, got up for a few minutes to stretch, took a coffee break....all the things that MOST employees get paid for when they work elsewhere. Not counting all those minutes, I would end up investing 10-12 hours of my day to put in 8 hours of typing time, and then only earning less than $10/hr for it. If I counted all my time waiting during NJA periods, conference calls, quick bathroom breaks, etc., I would've dropped to about $5-$6/hr....not even min. wage. There is something so terribly demoralizing about that--realizing that you aren't even earning what a high school kid earns at an after-school job.
The local MT jobs left around here for hospitals are only wanting 2nd & 3rd shift and weekends, which doesn't work for me. The doctor's office who DO still use MTs (and I don't think there are tons of them) typically have clunky or frustrating transcription programs--sometimes difficult to make that switch when we've been used to top-notch systems in a hospital setting.
For the time being, I've quit doing MT and am searching for other job opportunities. I loved MT'ing over the years and do miss it and would go back to it if I could find the right job.
In the meantime, fortunate that my husband works and makes enough for us to "get by," we've cut back on every single extra expense we could...got our cable TV service reduced, dropped Netflix, didn't re-join Amazon Prime when it was up, reduced the amount I was putting into a savings account every month, bargain shop better now that I have the time (LOL), quit getting pedicures, increased the length of time between hair coloring, negotiated with our trash hauler for a lower rate, quit looking at sales ads in the paper (sometimes don't even realize I NEED a product until I see it--haha), switched from organic produce to conventionally grown, figured out a way to get off of a very expen$ive hormone replacement I was using....I've found lots and lots of ways to reduce what we spend. Again, I was earning so little with the MTSO that all these things add up to more than cover the income I lost, so we're not worse off in that respect! I'm hoping some of these measures are only for a while...we'll see what the future holds.
Sorry, this is so long.....good luck to you!!
There was a show on Dateline NBC last night about - poverty in Suburbia - how people (sm)
[ In Reply To ..]came to be below poverty-level, and how they were coping with it. And the one thing that struck me about all of those families featured was that even on UE, they still had considerably more in terms of assets than most of us MTs have. Certainly more than me!
My pay cut (as of June 2012 compared to my old inhouse job) was big - now I'm making a less than half my previous pay, for a lot more work, and a lot more time spent to produce that work, since the MT company' software sucks so bad.
I'm hanging on by one toenail. My total monthly pay only covers the rent most of the time, with NOTHING left over. Any "extras", such as food, car insurance or gasoline, comes out of my savings. Once that's gone, (likely by January 2013), if I still haven't found another job by then, I'll have to start raiding what's left of my 401K with some sort of a hardship early withdrawal, if that's even allowed. Originally I wasn't supposed to start collecting on it until 2020, but I can't wait that long.
I only buy a little bit of "healthy" food, mainly because most of it (fresh fruits, meat and veggies) are so perishable. (No big food freezer here, and nowhere to put one if I had it). I usually eat the salads and fruits the first couple of days, then concentrate on cheeze & sandwich meats for the next week, then the last week it's pretty much just bread & butter, punctuated by an occasional frozen dinner (only the ones on sale for 99 cents).
I drive the car as little as possible, partly to save gas, and partly because it hasn't seen any maintenance service for 3+ years.
I go to the dentist only for check-ups/cleanings, and so far have had to ignore his recommendations on restorative care.
I blew off physical exams, mammograms, skin checks, colonoscopies, etc. Will just have to take my chances. Same with my pets and vet visits. I can feed them (barely) but I can't vaccinate them any longer.
I supplement my crappy MT income with whatever comes my way, such as petsitting, general typing, or sewing. I ask for cash so the gov'mt. won't see a penny of it. (They haven't earned it!)
Don't have pay TV, only whatever comes in through the antenna. I buy only secondhand clothes - never new. Not even shoes.
I rarely use the phone, especially for outgoing calls. I try to have those who want to talk to me call ME. I never have more than one light bulb on at a time at night.
I shop at a discount market and buy off brands. I've learned to be very flexible in that regard. If the bread is too pricey that week, then I switch to using tortillas instead.
I don't get my hair done, or even professionally cut. Just lettin' it grow. Once in a while I reach behind my back and trim the ends whenever it reaches waist length.
I do bartering whenever possible, such as trading my apricots for someone else's lemons, etc. I juggle the bills, sometimes paying the minimum amount, sometimes more, sometimes skipping one to pay another. I stopped giving or receiving X-mas or B-day presents. That makes life a LOT simpler!
Meanwhile, I keep hoping against hope that someday, one of the places I apply and interview for work will actually pick ME for the job, instead of always somebody else.
I'm so sorry.... - (see message)
[ In Reply To ..]I'm very sorry about your situation. It sounds like you have it very tough. It's just not right for someone who is working and trying to do what they can to have to live without ANY of the "niceties" of life....just barely surviving. To have to blow off mammograms and skin checks--it's just not right in a country as proud as ours seems to be. Hope things turn around dramatically for you. ((Hugs))
Just realized... - (see message)
[ In Reply To ..]Re-reading my post, I just realized it sounded like I was listing mammograms and skin checks as "niceties" of life. I didn't mean that. Those are necessities as far as I'm concerned. No U.S. citizen should have to eliminate regular health maintenance as an "extra." How do we find that acceptable? There's something really wrong with that picture.
In other countries, healthcare is a right. In the US, - only the "privileged" have it. (n/m)
[ In Reply To ..];lkj
Tell me about it - StarvingMT
[ In Reply To ..]I'm right there with you guys! I don't have a husband to lean on as I am divoriced and have 3 kids, one who is 20 and just found a full time job and left college behind so she could help me out (definitely NOT what I wanted). I'm on the verge of losing my house, within weeks, no savings, no 401K to borrow from because lets face it who can put money into 401K. I've been looking into getting a second job and have had 2 interviews with 1 place and waiting on a call back for a third interview. IDK what will happen.
starvingMT - mt20years
[ In Reply To ..]I feel the same way. I have 2 kids in college and dont know what I am going to do. Just wanted you to know that I feel your pain, but i feel too old to go back to school. I am looking for a job as well, anything except MT.
Your paycheck - I know how you feel
[ In Reply To ..]So typical of Puke-ance. They destroyed the MT profession. That's why it's a revolving door there. All shouldn't worry about their posts on MTjobs.com. It's because it's a revolving door there and cannot find anyone to stay long term. Who would want to stay at Puke-ance??? They pay McDonalds employees better than this.
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