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

Gripe, Gripe, Gripe - HappyMT

Posted: Oct 18, 2012

Sometimes you just cant be happy. MTs have always had it made. Now that real work is involved, and you finally need to put in a full 8-hour day for your paycheck, like many Administrators do, the whining begins. I can work in jammies, not fix my hair, save gas, I can eat/drink/watch TV, not leave home unless I want to run to the local department store or walk the mall for hours. You could come home and put in a couple hours of work it was great - not so easy anymore, is it ? YET, you complain that YOUR company following the wishes of a CLIENT are to blame for your loss of income. NO this WORK is not cushy anymore, no this WORK is not easy, AMERICA WASN'T BUILT ON EASY and I for one am proud to HAVE a job. Stop griping and work. There is someone out there ready to do it for that $.02. I myself am not willing to let that happen ...

Heck, I'll work for FREE cause - I just wanna help people nm

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xx

nah.... - anon39

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she just wants someone to work for HER for free. she does not pay.

I don't mind that it's not easy. - RC

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I mind that it's no longer lucrative (for me, at least).

I have 30 years of work left, but I guess if I were ready to retire, I wouldn't care as much.

You're not willing to let that happen, but what are - you doing to stop it?

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You said we have to work to keep others who would do it for 2 cpl from doing it... Well, what happens when MModal/Nuance decides to drop the ASR rate from 4 to 3, or from 3 to 2?

How are you stopping it? What have you done to keep that from happening? NOTHING! You cant stop it. The MTSOs will deem 3 cpl the standard rate and you will be doing this job for minimum wage. Then the will give you some funky looking new program and tell you to BOOST your production and earn yourself more money, but you know that is a lie and you cant make any more. You are falling behind in bills, you cant pay your rent.

Peoples complaints are valid. Ask yourself why they are complaining, is it because they have nothing better to do, or is it because they are just so darned passionate about the work they do (and have done) and it is falling apart before their very eyes.

Oh Come on already...you guys have ran that script - in the dirt. If you dont like MT anymore then

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start filling in applications and keep filling them out until you find something. Many have mentioned going back to school - great idea, go back to school and get out that way.

If you are nearing retirement, thats good too. Look on the bright side, if you hate it that much you will be out soon enough.

Theh OP is stating her opinion or posting a vent just like everyone else does. Not everyone is behind on bills and rent and not everyone's situation is bad.

Sure this is not the job it was 20 years ago and guess what? It never will be. If you cannot adjust to the changes or make a living anymore then do whats best for you and find something else.

If you don't like reading gripes, then why not leave? - You obviously live in a different universe.

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BTW - OP's stuck-up and accusatory attitude has management written all over it.

She's not a manager, you say?

Well then, she should be.

yep.... - anon

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sounds just like someone I am attempting to work for....VERY accusatory! and maligning, scathing posts about how terrible this MT is that she has. Nobody likes to be talked badly about on this board or any others...sort of decreases ones desire to work for someone like that. I surely would not talk about her behind her back, on this board or any other...but I may just start, if she does not stop soon. These boards are not as "anonymous" as one may think, and it is very easy sometimes to detect who someone is, especially when you are working for them. She should keep that in mind before she starts putting someone down.

Uninformed Admin? - Annie

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You obviously do not speak from experience as a conscientious IC who holds an accuracy standard of 100%. I've been an IC, employee, slave (MTSO employee) and an administrator. I worked long, hard hours in each position, although the administrator job was far less stressful, did not require a fraction of the knowledge I needed to transcribe, yet paid twice as much as the MTs made.

There are two ways to work as an MT: (1) Focus only on line counts without bothering to research because it's easier to leave a blank.
(2)Strive for 100% accuracy and research to your financial detriment to not have to leave a blank.
The OP obviously do not fit into the second category, if you do, in fact, have any MT experience at all, or you may be a different kind of MT: a medical troll?

I vote "troll" - very different kind of MT

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:)

I think it's my ex boss, who really did expect me to work for free : ) - nm

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x

It sounds like my current boss, and I'm not far off - from working for free, or paying to work.

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We all know why management comes on these boards to poke and prod us, and try to further goad us into leaving. They want us GONE. The sooner their companies go to 100% offshore, the sooner their profits go up even further, thus earning them their ill-gotten bonuses.

I hope whatever they purchase with those bonuses turns on them.

Luxury Car - Accelerator sticks & they crash.
Show Dog - Bites 'em.
Show Horse - Kicks 'em.
Show Cat - Scratches 'em.
Beluga Caviar - Gives 'em salmonella.
French Wine - Gives them cirrhosis.
Italian Shoes - Gives 'em corns.
Silk Tie - Chokes 'em.
Hilltop Mansion - Burns down.
Private School - Run by pedophiles.
Superbowl Tickets - Turn out to be counterfeit.
Luxury Cruise - They catch Legionnaire's. Or fall overboard.

I suspect troll too. - nm

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x

Really? - buns

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1. MT was never easy or cushy. On what planet are you employed as an MT? It is a job that requires intelligence and hard work, nothing about that has changed.
2. If you can live on working only 8 hours a day, you are fortunate. Most of us work more than 8 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep our bills paid. Other MTs are doing quite well, that is wonderful.
3. Clear the cobwebs please, just because you are working will not keep someone willing to work for $.02 from taking your job.
4. The mentality that we should be happy to have work is lacking in logic. Having work that pays the bills is what any MT would be happy about. It is quite possible to have work and still not have the basic necessities of life met. We live in America and pay American prices and should have a wage that makes that possible.

If our rates increased at the same rate as cost of health care, we would make .28 cents per line now - Annie

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!

What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? - nm.

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?

Maybe that only the Chinese (and the Indians) - can afford to buy it?

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I think she lives on Planet Management, where all the - inhabitants of the planet wear space SUITS.

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I've always worked a full 8 hour day - at whom is this directed

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I really can't figure out what you are trying to say, but I don't think my loss of income has anything to do with my company following the wishes of a client. I think the decrease in the line rate, and the elimination of any sort of bonus or incentive, is the source of my loss of income.

indeed! - agree

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You forgot to mention fooling around on mssg boards all day. - nm

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x

And we get paid by the line so if no typee - no payee

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So what exactly is your point? Nobody is messing around on anyone else's dime, it's on your own dime!

Try 20+ hour days..... - anon

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I work 18-20+ hour days and during account setup was working several days in a row without sleep on Provigil. I have not had a day off let alone a vacation in 25 years.... Walking in the mall? Hardly.... I am lucky if I can get a few minutes to order something on line. My client specifics include binders upon binders and my OneNote program.

20+ hour days??? - YEAH RIGHT

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Sure you do.

My IC Schedule: 14-17 hrs a day, 7 days week. - Annie

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.

wish I had enough work to do two hours a day.. - anon

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care to share??

I'd hate to have you both type my - sm

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medical records. Who in their right mind would allow you to work THAT many hours? You both are hazards and should be cut down a bit by your employers.

Not necessarily true. I took worked 2 jobs, for a - me

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total of about 105 hours/week. Many weeks my QA score was 100% and my yearly average was 99.9 out of a required 98.5%. Not bad I don't think. I had room to speed up and produce more lines and not be concerned with quality, but I chose to put quality first. I sure could use the lines though.

What employer? Self employed. (nm) - Annie

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.

I would love to work! Where is it all? - Leaving MT

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A few years ago my company had all the work it could handle. We have the exact same accounts, but for the last 2 years the work has slowed down considerably. It's not EMR because the accounts have been on an EMR the whole time - our transcription is uploaded to the EMR system. I suspect that maybe some of the doctors who dictate a lot are starting to retire and the newer guys are more computer savvy and do a lot more documentation themselves. I don't know, though. It's a good company. I would love doing MT for this company if the work had not slowed down so much. I have worked for other MTSOs, and I am just not willing to do that again. I took an editing class thinking I would venture out into VR editing, and then when I found out what it pays per line, I decided to leave the profession. It's just not worth it anymore. I am glad you are happy with it, though.

This is a decade-plus evolution - Sue

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I don't much appreciate your bedside manner, but definitely a point to be made why our cpl has declined.

I don't know from what era you hail, but back in the free-for-all SC/IC days, those who needed to work did and those who just were in it for mall roaming, worked at their convenience.

That left us who needed to work to support the family with all the work we wanted, all the incentive bonuses we could reap (which were plentiful for me), and very high-end cpl, because MTSOs would pay for the MTs they could depend on, even though that point was moot considering we were ICs/SEs. But they knew who we were nonetheless and showed their appreciation. They needed us.

Enter employee status MTSOs had to adopt in order to deal with labor/OT laws, etc. And enter the mall roamers and pocket money MTs new challenge. Do we HAVE to work 40 hours? Can't we just stop when we meet the daily/weekly quota? Do we HAVE to work a schedule?

So now that over the years, as MTing has evolved into, for the most part, a mandatory 40-hour work week and scheduling to meet work flow demands, production has collectively gone up, so the supply and demand theory comes into play.

If anyone reading this has not been an MT for over 10 or 15 years, you may not completely appreciate this evolution, but this, IMO, is one of the reasons we are where we are. Of course, offshore, VR, and now the point-and-click EMR feature are contributing factors to loss of income.

It's just not a great place for many MTs.

Interesting insights - Leaving MT

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I am a newbie MT (only 4+ years of experience), and one of the biggest surprises to me when I finished up training at MTEC and got my first, second, third, and finally fourth MT job (trying to find the right fit and a job that had enough work) was how hard it was to actually work full-time. The fact that there might not be work available on a regular basis and the stars and planets would have to line up perfectly in order to get 8 hours of straight work in a shift on a regular basis was never even on my radar. I don't mean every now and then around holidays, but routinely. Anyway, I think another part of it is shorter turn-around times (15 minutes at one job for H&Ps!). MTSOs have to make sure they are covered, and what if you have only 1 MT working and 3 H&Ps roll in? Not going to meet that TAT, right? That has been my experience, anyway.

Yawn. We see right through this. Anybody who says... - MT

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"...I can eat/drink/watch TV, not leave home unless I want to run to the local department store or walk the mall for hours...come home and put in a couple hours of work"

Sorry. There is no way you've ever in your life worked as a medical transcriptionist. Whatever your agenda, I hope no one else responds further to such nonsense.

Happy MT you will one day be the gripper. - anon

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Happy MT you have hit a raw spot on me. I am unemployed after being an MT for 30 years and I want out. I'm tired of the bitchy companies bitching at every little thing I do wrong. Hey I'm sorry I'm not perfect but I am a human being and proud of it. I will not work for sweat shops anymore. It has always been a lot of hard work mostly boring hard work but now we are not compensated for it. Go on being happy MT and when it all disappears maybe you will change your tune.

Wow - Take your own advice

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It's not easy listening to the truth about mt, is it? Happy mt or happy administrator? Blame it on the mt for changing the industry.

Your last two sentences are a strange contradiction IMO. You gonna BYA editing away for 3-4 cpl so it doesn't become 2 cpl? Show the MTSOs you really love what you do even though they have made it impossible for you to make a living wage, which is a human right? Gonna compete with those willing to do it for 2 cpl and one up them?

This a warning to us, oh mt administrator, that the 2 cpl is on it's way?

I would just love to find a company that is hiring! - mtmama

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I recently lost an account with no warning and was given no new ID for the company. Now I am without a job and looking..... any ideas on good companies who may be hiring?

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