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

I am a LONG time Medquist'er about to take a leap - anon3

Posted: Dec 05, 2011

I've been with Medquist forEVER but I've been consistently losing income for the past 3 years. Last month, I was forced to go on governmental assistance just to keep a roof over my and my son's heads because of my lack of income with Medquist. This year I may just barely make $10,000. I have been with this company through thick and thin. I have seen thousands of changes, and been through several dozen supervisors. I am a WAY dedicated employee, probably more than I should be ... but as a single mom, the huge decrease in income is just not something I can overcome.

I decided to test and was hired at Transcend and I'm supposed to start training in 2 weeks. After 14 years, the change will be weird but I hope it will be a good change. Is there any other Medquist "long-timer" out there who took the leap? Are you glad you did it?

I am not a Medquist'er but all I do is go to their board and thank my lucky stars - I am not

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.

I have been contemplating this as well - moving

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I am scared to death. Please let me know if the transition was okay. I have been here so long, I am terrified to leave, but I also have been leaning toward Transcend.

To: Moving - anon3

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I was soooo picky about who to apply to because there was no way I was going to take the chance being stuck with a crappy company. This is a HUGE decision for me so I had to be super choosy - but what is NOT going to be an option for me any longer is staying at Medquist. I've been reading all the feedback about Transcend and they seem to have great feedback from their employees.

I'm like you - the change is super scary but not nearly as scary as being homeless, and I'm not exaggerating.

Is it possible for you to try and work at both places for a while? Transcend does have PT positions open, and the pay is comparable to MQ's. I even thought about working PT with MQ and PT at Transcend but later decided it's time to make a clean break.

I was offered much less - sm

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less at Transcend than I make at MQ and would have had to switch to 2nd or 3rd shift for a shift differential. Decided to stay put, can't afford a pay cut. If it's a better fit for you go for it. Good luck

I hear you - anon3

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They were able to fit me with an account that is Sunday-Thursday 8 am - 4 pm so I'm really only giving up a weekend day but for me it will be nice having Fridays and Saturdays off. I'm OK with that. My recruiter has been awesome about fitting me with just the right account.

I would've taken a different shift if I had to though - as I mentioned earlier I'm a single mom trying to keep my financial life together so I'm willing to work whatever shift I have to in order to keep a roof over my head. My case manager at the Food Stamp office took one look at my last 3 months' paychecks from Medquist and said "What on earth took you SO LONG?"

Since when does Transcend offer a shift - differential? NM

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x

Yeah because I sure don't - get one

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I saw that too on a recruiting card I received (even though I work there). I do not get a shift differential and when I asked for one I was told they did not offer it. Yet the card said they had one.

No shift differential AND no incentive plan...that required $900 does not do much for me after $700 comes out between benefits and taxes.

they do - hatemyjob

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They do offer a shift differential. No incentive for production, no holiday pay unless you work it (and before and after), minimal PTO.....but other than that....

I was told no shift diff - and they better have an answer

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I was specifically told that there was no shift differential when I asked because I work third shift. It is time to start making phone calls because if there is one they are going to back pay me for all these months of third shift. Ugh...I cannot wait for school to be done so I can get out of this industry.

I was told - they do

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I work second shift. I think we need to nail this down.

mq leap - did before

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I left in 2008 and that was apparently before all this bad stuff going down. I was making over $20 an hour without a problem, and then the lack of work started back then. They screwed a few of my fellow employees and I big time as we could prove they were screwing with the line counts and one of our group wrote a letter to someone and we all got a call as a group and then one at a time. L and H was bought out by MQ back in the early 2000's and we caught on to their bad stuff even then.

I was offered the chance to go back to transcription as I had been a QA when I worked in the office in CA, but moved out of state. They wanted to offer me $12 an hour to do QA in 2003, but I was making $18 an hour with the old company, but they would not match it. so screwing was going on back then. I was offered 10 cpl for transcription and thought that was great for them, but there was actually work then and I was able to average 20,000 a pay period. Those were the days.

I am glad I left, but I have had 3 jobs just this year because of lack of work and horrible middle of the night shift, so since 2008 when I left I have had about 5 new jobs. So it is really bad everywhere, no matter what you do. But probably not as bad as MQ. I take home about $1400 a month now. My checks at MQ used to be $1300 a paycheck back in the days.

Am I glad I left. Absolutely. But no matter where we work, it all is changing and nothing good about this profession anymore. Used to love it. Now I am here because I am too old to start over. But had I known what I know now about 37 years ago, I NEVER WOULD HAVE started this MT stuff in the first place. I had would have had my internship during my education part back in 1971 I would have never would have returned to school and finish the MT stuff.

Sorry to ramble.

Changing from Medquist to Transend after 14 years because of money. - anon

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I worked for both PT and you truly are one of the lucky ones who took the abuse for many years, I chose to go inhouse, but now that those jobs are all gone...where do you go. Surely in looking from one service to another they are all the same. Isn't 4 cents and 8 cents the same at the poverty salary level? All depends on the account, and again, you cannot prove that they give you all the stuff that needs to be done and nobody else wants, or can do it. All the rules now and foreign doctors that are out there in abundance, just adds up to disaster. I feel your pain but you are the only one who will see what kind of a move you have made. No other move, really so it is just 'Check Mate.'

jumping again - zil95

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Me too, jumped four years ago, only to have the company I jumped to be bought out by the Q this past October. Needless to say...

No safe haven - Dinosaur

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The Q is buying out companies every week, and for the most part only the larger ones make the news. The Q has become the beast with an insatiable appetite, and there is no end in sight for their hunger in acquiring other companies.

Unfortunately,because of this they set the pay grade in the industry. There is no safety net for us, and no one has our back. If you are young enough to get out of this field, please take my advice and get out!

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