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

Do you support thoughts of a union? - curiousMT

Posted: Aug 23, 2010

If you do, what are your thoughts on CMT?

In reading the thread going on right now, I see MTs saying it's worthless, it's a rip-off, etc. But what do you think a union would really do?

Any PROFESSIONAL organization SHOULD have standards and should have a MINIMUM certification. Like it or not, AHDI is OUR organization and the CMT is what is being pushed as the MINIMUM standard. Credentials do NOT guarantee higher pay. They say you have met the minimum standards for your profession and maintain those standards.

If MTs are not willing to even stand up and say okay, let me get credentialed in my profession, what in the world makes you think a union would have any Positive impact?

I have another profession for which I hold a graduate degree. To become credentialed is costly- much more than the CMT. The AVERAGE pay for my profession is $35-42k. (Can you tell it's social services?) This is about the same as I make doing MT.

If you want to be PROFESSIONALS you have to BEHAVE like a professional. And there are very few times I read posts here and think, now THAT is a professional MT. Putting other posters down, denigrating the CMT and AHDI, while offering very little in the realm of real advice or suggestions as to HOW to land better-paying jobs or increase skills- just makes me wonder.

Until MTs BEHAVE like professionals, we'll just be typists who know anatomy. Getting your certification in your profession shows you care enough about it to want to further it in a positive light. After thirty-some years in the MT business, I still say you couldn't get 25 MTs to agree on lunch, let alone anything more significant.

Still curious as to how many of you scream union and at the same time scream- CMT IS A RIPOFF. ;-)

Can't speak to the CMT, but I'm not a fan of unions - Happy MT Robin

[ In Reply To ..]
I joined AHDI when I first started MT school in mid 2007 but never found the site that useful or informative and the next year didn't have the $85 or whatever it was to renew the membership. I see the anecdotal statements that they are a rip off, etc., plus I have also seen information coming from them that seems to indicate that they are much more concerned with the MTSOs than they are the MTs. I know when I first started looking for jobs at the end of 2007 I would see statements in the ads that said a differential was paid for someone with a CMT, but I don't see that much any more.

As for unions, not a fan in any way shape or form. I think they served a purpose a number of years ago and their time has come and gone. I think the auto industry is a perfect example of unions gone wrong.

The medical records/transcription field is in massive flux right now. There is going to be a lot of attrition in the "rank and file" due to retirement and people leaving the industry. There is always going to be a need for someone to edit what comes out of the speech recognition engines, but the number of people needed in the future is going to be drastically reduced. Likewise, the actual typing involved will become less and less until every one is editing VR work.

Will the wages continue to go down? Don't know. I hope not. VR wages are next to impossible to make a living at at their current rate. Offshoring will continue to remain a concern, but at some point I hope that the pendulum on that particular aspect of this job will swing back our way and MTSOs will either admit that it's a bad idea or they will be legislated into thinking it's a bad idea. Maybe I'm naive on that one, but time will tell.

I personally don't think a union would do anything for us except push even more work overseas.

Agree with you 100%, Robin. Good post. - LK

[ In Reply To ..]
You took the words right out of my mouth. I would never support a union, and the verdict's out on AHDI. I'm not at all opposed to certification, but will only pursue it if there is a tangible benefit to it, such as higher pay or a better shot at being hired. So far I haven't seen that.

excellent post - I agree with your assessment - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Ask the WV miners' surviving family members - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
if they think the unions' time has "come and gone."

Don't know what that means. - Happy MT Robin

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Happy Robin - sm

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this is off topic, but if the miners' union wasn't run off by Massey, those hard-working fathers, brothers, husbands MIGHT still be alive today. Many workers gave their lives in support of a union to make things better for all who came after. Unions are needed more today than ever. ALL of us enjoy a better work life whether in a union or not because of the sacrifices made by the union organizers. Otherwise, we would still not be eligible for overtime,to mention just one victory they secured. No matter how "nice" you think your supervisor may be, the corporations who run our Country are certainly NOT on the side of the workering person.

Union - tlynn

[ In Reply To ..]
I am so glad to see this post!!! I am just completing an MT course with a really good reputable school and I have been in professional capacities my entire working life. I like to think if I put in the effort I can make a good living at this job and after reading many of the posts on here had gotten extremely discouraged so THANK YOU!! May I ask how long you have worked as an MT?

Tlynn - curiousMT

[ In Reply To ..]
I've worked as an MT for over 30 years.

@HappyRobin- Very good points! I do agree the profession is evolving into what it is GOING to be and no one knows yet where that will lead. I do, however, especially with the institution of "standard line counting" think you will see more and more employers wanting CMT.

To tlynn - Aspiring coder

[ In Reply To ..]
Tlynn, I've been an MT for 35 years and love what I do. I've never worked at home so really can't speak to that. You've all made good points in regard to Unions and CMT. I don't think a union would work. In regard to CMT I am neutral on that subject but personally don't think AHDI is quite as bad as it's painted in these message boards. I agree with you that we will probably see more and more employers wanting CMTs. I passed the exam once but no longer hold an active credential. If renewing my CMT became an issue of employment, I would do it again.

I support the idea of a union. I do NOT support CMT, - or AHDI, which is NOT a union,

[ In Reply To ..]
and which indeed is the biggest rip-off ever to come down the pike, in my opinion.

We ARE professionals. But we're in a weird profession where we work hidden away at home, and most of us have never met our employers face-to-face. I wouldn't know the CEO of my company if he walked up and knocked on my front door. Or my supervisor, for that matter. They're simply invisible emails that send me a little bit of money every so often for spending my days and nights chained to my PC.

We ARE "professionals". What is "un-professional" is the way most MTSOs operate, and the way AHDI, which condones this behavior, operates.

- Most MTSOs are dishonest.

- AHDI is a scam company, and should be shut down.

- "CMT" IS a rip-off. It makes a LOT of money for AHDI. And it makes us nothing but FOOLS for falling for it.

I also support the idea of a union - Desperate

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't understand why a union would send more jobs overseas if indeed it was stipulated in a contract that they couldn't go overseas. I mean, on one hand, you have HIPPA, but lo and behold, you have the very same work, steeped in confidentiality, going overseas. How does that happen but by way of the lobbying power in Washington? I am not a fan of unions, either, but if anything screams for it, the medical transcription field does. What hasn't been mentioned as a huge factor in the reduction in pay is speech recognition. It has had marginal returns for the industry itself, yet it has been pushed through, with a huge financial hit on the transcriptionists. All of a sudden, the "big gorilla" was on the scene - 8 cents for transcription, 4 cents for editing, and people who have no clue saying that yes, it can be done, all you have to do is learn keyboard shortcuts and you can make more than you ever did before as a transcriptionists. Yes, there are people who like it and can do well with it (which is relative) and more power to them. I haven't found this to be the case both for myself and many, many others, and I think a lot of MTs would agree. Just like the EMR, which is also of pretty marginal benefit from what I've heard (mainly from physicians) and is something being pushed through by the folks in Washington with the help of the lobbyists. Didn't I just see another post where the MTSOs and the clients were deciding what was going to be the standard method of counting lines for the industry.. with not a mention about a transcriptionist in the whole thing? I applied to one of the "big bloated companies" as someone here so aptly put it, a big VR company, and was quite a way down the line in the process, but then I was put off when I spoke with the IT fellow, who was downloading software onto my computer. He said, and I quote "this is the future (VR)... no longer are there going to be little old ladies sitting at their kitchen tables doing up their grocery lists while they transcribe." (However, this company still desperately needs the old MTs, because VR is not the panacea, and you still need a human being, if for nothing else than to do all the clerical work that the MTs end up doing for free now anyway). That is what we are thought of, because people who haven't got a clue have decided and are still deciding our futures. Why does it make you a professional just to have a CMT at the end of your name? I know people who can transcribe circles around other people with credentials, and they are very professional. I have to agree with the other poster, it doesn't show me much. I suppose, though, as the above poster intimated, in the long run, we will go along to get along, and everything will be reduced to the lowest common denominator, quality and pride in doing a good job out the window. Mediocrity is the name of the game, and the MT field is no exception. But in the meantime, I think all bets are off. As I said, I don't believe unions are the best thing but, at the risk of being blunt, you need thugs in order to deal with thugs. Just my puny thoughts.

VR salesmen are the 21st-Century version of the - snake-oil-salesmen in the olden days. nm

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