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

Unemployment unexpectedly ends, still no job. sm - carolyn

Posted: Nov 16, 2010

Just some history: I have been in denial for over a year thinking that I would easily get another job after being with MQ for nine years. Ha! I resisted going into another field as I really love transcribing and everything medical in general, also a former RN 25 years ago. I have gotten a few offers for IC at a ridiculous rate and declined. Mostly, I have not gotten even a response when applying for a position.

Now comes my belated rude awakening with the notification that my unemployment payments are ending because my state now has one of the lowest unemployment rates and is now not included in the 99 weeks now available to high unemployment states.

Before anyone flames me, I fault myself for not doing more to help myself sooner and for allowing myself to give up, but I am awake now and actively researching my options. Several posters have said that they were MTs and now love coding, fun, interesting, good pay and feeling appreciated. I would love to have that feeling again!

I am thinking of taking the course for outpatient/ambulatory surgery coding. Is there a way to bypass the terminology and AP courses? If studying is done intensively, how long would it take to finish the coding courses? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

All of your informative posts on this board have been very helpful!

Check into the AHIMA online course. I checked and - was going to be able to bypass terminology,dont kn

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

AHIMA - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
With them, if you can show proof that you've completed a college level A & P course they'll let you waive it, I think there was also something there about nurses not having to take it. With some of the on-line programs it's already included in the course so you could always skip through that part if you wanted. With other programs, you might be able to get instructor approval.

Update. Because I am former MQ employee...sm - carolyn

[ In Reply To ..]
I think I am eligible for retraining. I have an appointment with the unemployment office next week to review my options but she did mention that she has coders that cannot find work. Any thoughts?

There are very poor coding courses out there. I talked to a recruiter - See message

[ In Reply To ..]
I talked to a recruiter who told me she doesn't even consider coders from community colleges now, because she has been burned. There are also very poor courses, both on-site and otherwise. I have talked to several more recruiters, one of them yesterday, who have told me that the ability of graduates to become certified is critical. The one yesterday said she will not consider a graduate unless they have gone to a school that prepares students to pass certification exams. I think that's the way it's going these days.

Here is my belief on this topic re: getting a job. - No Name

[ In Reply To ..]
I see ads in the newspaper and all over the place "Become a Medical Coder."

I think a lot of displaced workers see these ads, people w/o any type of medical experience whatsoever. It sounds good to them and they enroll in schools, probably not the best schools but the schools that the government agencies (unemployment based, etc.) are referring them to. They are starting off with no medical experience and getting training that is not that in-depth, and therefore they are not getting hired.

I feel that the combination of previoulsy working as a medical transcriptionist and finding a great course would put you in a position to pass the certification test as well as land a job.

Of course that is just my opinion. I am in the same boat as you. I am a medical transcriptionist deciding on schools at the current time (I think I have decided on Andrews).

Thanks everyone for the input. nm - carolyn

[ In Reply To ..]
.

Thoughts - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Well, ok. She has unemployed coders. I don't doubt that. She also has unemployed CPAs and everybody else. A lot of those people are unemployable for reasons that have nothing to do with their career field--some of them are incompetent, some never show up for work, some worked for companies that went out of business, and others got let go because they were just plain mean.

You should go back and ask her what qualifications those coders have and what school they attended. Is she talking about experienced coders or about new grads who now find they can't get jobs?

You also need to review the salary surveys on the AAPC website. About 30% of coding jobs go unfilled because there is a severe shortage of qualified, i.e., certified, coders. Attend some of your local AAPC chapter meetings to get a better view of what the job market is in your area--you'll meet employed, certified coders there.

The job market in coding is nothing like that in MT. Coders are critical to every type of medical care reimbursement and are becoming more so every day. The AAPC alone has more than 100K members, as I recall, and that is just a part of the industry. Those people wouldn't be there if they weren't heavily invested in their jobs.

I personally am a coder. I work in close proximity to more than 50 coders, am remotely associated with probably a thousand more, and that is BEFORE counting the ones locally. I do not know of any healthcare entity that does not have at least one coder either working there or consulting for them.

If that recruiter has new graduates from college programs who can't find jobs, it's understandable. Those programs often use online course materials instead of qualified instructors, pass students who achieve 70 or 80%, and they think it reasonable for their grads to require 3 years of on the job experience before they can pass a certification exam. If you were an employer, which would you rather have? A three-year training expense or a certified coder?

You should also be aware that a lot of employment people and new coders think that coders are only employed in hospitals. This is not the case. The majority of coders do not work for hospitals--those comprise very few of the available jobs, so if you look only there you will be disappointed. Coders work for physicians and physician groups, clinics, ambulatory facilities, the federal government, and healthcare entities. There are also coders who work for medical instrumentation and drug companies, providing reimbursement advice for physicians, and coders who work for independent auditing and training firms.

Do not doubt that you will need to get realistic training to attain competence in the field, get a certification, and market yourself for a first job. The jobs are there, though.

Your message really makes sense. - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Jobs - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
On-site MT jobs are out there too. The problem is everyone wants/needs to work at home.

I think we've convinced ourselves that we need to work at home - but used to not have that option

[ In Reply To ..]
Most coders work on-site, with very few exceptions. That may change over time, but that's the way it is right now. It is what it is.

Most medical transcription jobs have to be done from your own home these days. It wasn't always like that, but we made do, because we had to. It sure wasn't easy for a single mom as I was at the time.

We used to make it work, going out on interview after interview on-site until we found a job. I remember looking 20 years ago or so and it took 3 months to find something. It wasn't easy. I had to drive. I had to find parking spaces every day. I had to walk. I had to drive home in heavy traffic, bad weather, etc. We did what we had to do, and we didn't gripe back then because those were the options we have.

I think we're back to having fewer options because the American economy has gone down so much. It doesn't seem to be getting better in any sector of our economy and I doubt that it will for years. We'd better take what we can get.

unemployment - Skater

[ In Reply To ..]
I take it that you still hold your license for RN, correct? You would have to check with individual programs, but you maybe able to bypass A&P and terminology, but it would depend on each program.

Skater

Similar Messages:

Jan 21, 2013

My computer was fine last night but this morning had apparently committed suicide during the night. After powering it off and back on, I received the Dell/Windows screen that normally comes up, then it went to a black screen with the message "NO BOOT DEVICE AVAILABLE." Has anyone else ever encountered this and is it fixable? I do have a backup computer but I had a lot of information on the hard drive of the other computer I'd love to be able to recover. TIA! ...

Mar 19, 2011

GI consult and doc says this "patient has no hematemesis, s/o menorrhagia, or bright red blood per rectum." This is an 80-year-old man, so it cANNOT be menorrhagia. So what is a blood-related condition associated with GI problems? I can only think of hemoptysis and I know there are probably a million other things it could be, but I can't think of them. What ends in rhagia for the GI system? ...

Nov 05, 2011

I have been transcribing for over 26 years and now I can't even make ends meet. Does anyone else have the problem of having to be a workaholic or not be able to survive financially? PLEASE give me any hints that have helped you out. I'm tired and frustrated. Thanks! ...

Mar 27, 2013

I have been on training pay at $10 an hour. I have this pay period and half of next pay period left of training pay. Then I will get per line pay. I have been on these accts for 3 weeks now. Accts have lots of ESLs, bad dictators, not good. Straight, no VR. Things is after 3 weeks according to my lines and hours I am not quite making min wage yet. After this pay period and part of the next when I get per line pay if it is not equivalent to min wage what ...

Mar 21, 2015

any questions you may have.....only to completely IGNORE my emails when I do have them. ...

Jul 30, 2010

nm ...

Aug 29, 2012

If you have the Critical Accident, Cancer, Short Term Disability, etc through Alpha Staff, it is ending August 31, I was told by a phone call to Alpha today. Have not heard anything from Colonial yet regarding a new policy. Just to let anyone know who cares. ...

Nov 18, 2012

I am almost 50 and have been in the MT field for over 25 years. Certified, consultant, national sales rep, own company -- did all that and sold the T-shirts too. Finally the stress of being an MTSO adversely affected my health so I resumed just being a regular ole MT. That's a tangent, though... In the last 3 years, two hospital employers outsourced the MT Dept. Of course, both times we were ineligible for unemployment. I went to work for a service who lai ...

Oct 30, 2013

Spring Ahead, Fall Back If you work third shift, Sat-Sun, clock out at 1am, do something productive until 2am is turned back to 1am, unless you have work and need an extra hour of lines. Just saying... ...

Jul 03, 2010

...

May 10, 2011

For those of you interested in Transcend's Q1 public statement, go here: http://www.gurufocus.com/StockLink.php?type=sec&symbol=TRCR&date=2011-05-09&report=10-Q Also, for those Transcend MTs having difficulty making a living...(again, this is public information for their COO) Compensation for 2010 Salary $275,000.00 Bonus $0.00 Restricted stock awards $435,780.00 All other compensation $2,206.00 Option awards $ $0.00 Non-equity i ...

Dec 30, 2012

I am not asking if you are happy. I haven't been happy being an MT for years. I just want to be able to pay my bills, have an income and pay my bills. I'm not making what I made years ago either, but I can pay my bills (not much left over after that's done.) I am stuck with M*Modal for the time being and not of my choice. I have worked for other large nationals that were constantly bad mouthed, and I was able to make a living at them. Does anyon ...

Apr 08, 2013

any help is appreciated. i checked the archives but there is nothing very current. ...

Dec 30, 2010

Wondering....was forced to change from statutory employee to IC status with federal ID number instead of SS# when MDI-MD was rolled into Transcend. Now, Transcend informs that they are NOT going to be employing ICs after Jan 1, 2011. Would like to apply for unemployment, but am being told by a number of people that is not do-able because wages were paid under Federal ID #, not to my social and I signed an IC contract (under great duress, I might add!) Anybody have experience with this, ca ...

Aug 01, 2011

Has anyone applied for unemployment when you have run out of work? Just wondering, you can - even if you have work on and off, but not enough, depending on what your state requirements are. I can no longer survive like this anymore, work then no work - I have only made 100.00 in a week and a half. Anyone in this occupation should be able to be retrained through EDD as this job is disappearing and we are being taken advantage of ....... Just won ...

Oct 16, 2011

If you live in 1 state and work at home but your employer is located in another state, which state pays your unemployment? My state pays relatively low but if I am able to collect from my employer's state, I would receive slightly more money per week. Anyone have any experience with this? ...

Apr 15, 2013

I am being told I have to go through TN since MModal is located there. ...

Oct 05, 2013

Start getting paperwork documentation in order NOW. Here's hoping you don't need it, but you will be that much further ahead if you do. Even if you're not at risk of being fired, laid off could be possible and you would still need this. It could be at least 21 days from the time the question arose, before you receive an answer about benefits. If your case is complicated in any way, it will take longer. Try as hard as you can to save up at least 2, if not ...

Dec 23, 2014

Does anyone know if you would be eligible for unemployment if you get terminated because you are not "meeting contractual obligations" i.e. LPH/QA? ...

Dec 27, 2009

Some of you may know some or all of this about unemployment from the "employer's" perspective but here goes. I just spoke to my brother who is the CEO of his very successful business, with only a handful of employees, but he is looking on netting over 1 mil. next year (!) Anyway, he lives and works in California. He told me that if someone applies for disability, the state contacts him to hear his point-of-view. They tell him why the employee has filed, and he has a ...

Feb 16, 2010

Anyone had luck in getting partial unemployment as a PT employee? I have a record of all NJA which does not happen every day but at least a few times each month. ...

Mar 15, 2010

Can anyone tell me if I were to survive the MQ buy out and was actually hired by MQ but "things" changed quite a bit, would I be eligible to draw unemployment? ...

Sep 15, 2010

Does anyone know if you can collect unemployment if it doesn't work out with a company while you are on probation? In other words, you do your 90 days and either you or the company decides it did not work out. Can you then recieve unemployment? Thanks! ...

Nov 10, 2011

Has anyone ever been offered a job and accepted offer letter only to turn it down and actually not start working at all at the company and then filing for unemployment benefits? This is what has happened to me. This happened to me and now evidently it threw up a red flag to unemployment benefits audit department. Now unemployment has to check with that company I was supposed to start at to verify employment and now I have a 50-50 chance of getting benefits and have to wait a ...

Jan 02, 2012

As usual with the holidays, I've not had work 3 days now. Does anyone know if I can draw unemployment? Has anyone working for MQ been able to draw benefits when there's days with no work? Any help would be appreciated. ...

May 29, 2012

NO WORK CONTINUES.....Time for ALL of us who are being cheated out of a living to head for the unemployment office. How many folks out there will say TODAY...no more?? ...

Jun 18, 2012

So much fun filing for partial unemployment. Have to send in weekly gross wages, which MMODAL say they can't let me know that until 3 days before payday, which does not work, as I have to report WEEKLY or I lose benefits for that one week. Just have to guesstimate what I earned by line counts straight and VR, but can't figure shift differential or what they screw you out of if you send too many QAs. I've reported this to ESD and let them handle it. Tired of messi ...

Sep 22, 2012

YES!!!!!!!! Ladies and gentlemen there IS hope! Because my employer dictated my hours per week, per day and the time I was to work unemployment considered that to be an employee status and NOT IC even though they didn't pay my taxes. This was the decision made after my prior employer appealed my unemployment benefits from them. Please keep the faith that these companies who try to dictate to IC's their hours, ect will NOT get away with it forever! I wish you'all the best of ...

Dec 04, 2012

been working as an IC? Don't know anything about it and just got laid off. Thx ...

Dec 04, 2012

Has anyone out there applied for unemployment and gotten it that had been considered a statutory employee? ...