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

Is it common to have a limited amount of work during the summer season? - CuriousAnon

Posted: Aug 05, 2012

I'm curious if this is throughout a lot of MT companies where the summer seasons are the slowest in terms of receiving work. I used to have an abundunt amount of doctors to transcribe for across multiple accounts, but now all of a sudden that has changed, and I am almost always out of work and I no longer transcribe for what I'm estimating as half to 3/4 of the list of docs. Is this something normal? Do doctors get together and take a 3-month hiatus at once, or something...? I'm praying things will pick up, but it has been going on for almost a month and it is very stressful and frustrating.

Thank you for reading and/or replying :-)

Not uncommon at all - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Feast or Famine is the MT motto.

Summer is slow (everyone takes vacation not just the docs, i.e., less surgeries are scheduled).

same here - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
I have experienced slow times before at various times of the year, but the unusual thing for me is that I am also not getting nearly all the doctors that I was getting just 3 months ago. The work has slowed, and there are fewer dictators. I agree, very stressful. I have been wondering if there is something going on at my MTSO that is reducing the work load though.

When I worked for a hospital, as an employee... - (see message)

[ In Reply To ..]
....there weren't really ANY times that had a limited amount of work. Actually, summers and other break times (like spring break or the winter holiday break periods) sometimes were even busier because of students having elective surgeries so they could recuperate and not have to miss school.

With hospital work, I don't think I EVER noticed that there were certain seasons or periods when you could say, "This is our slow time." Sick and ailing patients know no calendars! I personally found it highly questionable when my MTSO would explain a no-work period as "It's spring break," or "It's President's Day weekend," or "It's Teacher Appreciation Week," (LOL), or whatever. They all felt like lame excuses, since these slowdowns were never my experience when working as a hospital employee; and in hindsight, I'm pretty sure it was just that our work was being spread out to too many other MTs (to keep TAT bonuses coming in), and the work really dried up drastically when they knew they were getting ready for M*Modal to buy the company.

I'm sorry--I don't mean to cause you more anxiety that that's what's going on with YOUR company, and I hope it's not. But I would say trust your gut if you feel that there's a lot less work than you've experienced in the past....it's probably not your imagination. I really WISH I had been more aware and better prepared so I could have been considering my options sooner than I did.

wondering too - kk

[ In Reply To ..]
I've been told by my company that summer is slow. When work was slow this past winter, I was told winter is a slow season.

I don't really buy that any season is slow. My mom was a registered nurse and worked in the OR. She didn't run out of work. Once in a blue moon would she have a "light schedule." They couldn't turn the OR rooms over fast enough to bring the next patient in. Summer was actually busy since more people are outdoors, active and getting hurt. ER knows no off season either, or holidays for that matter.

That's just my observation, so I don't really know what's going on behind the scenes at these companies. Sometimes they beg for us to work overtime, sometimes jobs are few are far between.

Sickness and injuries don't know what season it is. I agree less people schedule procedures during the summer, but elective surgeries are by far the minority of jobs I transcribe anyway.

I do find I might hear a certain few doctors for a week or so. Then not get any more of their dictations for a few months. Then there they are again. And this is on my primary account, a very small hospital. Weird.

Feast or famine is right.

kk: I was typing my post while.... - (see message)

[ In Reply To ..]
....yours was being posted, and it looks like you and I have much the same thoughts about sickness and injuries not knowing what season it is! So very true!

After reading your post, I wanted to add that I would notice certain doctors coming and going for a few months at a time sometimes, too. Don't know if this is the case with you since you're on a very small hospital account; but at my hospital, I think it was a situation where resident physicians were taking various rotations, and then would come back on a certain attending physician's service again. We had SOOOOOO many dictators that I really didn't keep precise track of them, but I'm pretty sure that's why I would have highs and lows with certain docs.

not paranoid, but - kk

[ In Reply To ..]
I've been with several companies working from home, and it seems like the first 6 months to a year, the work on my assigned accounts flows. Then starts getting spotty. Ends up spotty to the point I get other accounts or just put on any account that day that "needs help." I almost wonder if companies keep the new hires in work, to get you used to a paycheck, OT and bonuses, then start spreading the work around after you've been there a while.

I don't mean to sound paranoid, but this has happened with every company I've worked for, except inhouse. Either it's a trend or a coincidence.

Same thing happens to me, but the accounts are going to India - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
We "train" the VR and then the account gets moved overseas.

I get shuffled every few months or so. Eventually there will be nothing left for us.

Slow season - Leaving MT

[ In Reply To ..]
Our slow season is winter due to where our accounts are - a place with harsh winters. A lot of the patients seem to be retired and go to warmer areas in the winter. With that said, I have seen a drop off in work in the summer these past 2 summers as well. It used to be we would have work in the queue 24/7 in the summer and struggle to meet TAT, but these past 2 summers (our busy time), we have been running out of work at points during the day. It has definitely gotten slower where I work all year round. The winters in terms of work are now brutal.

I could vary depending on the hospitals you type - for...sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I know the hospital I worked for was a medium-size hospital and there would be certain times during the year our workload got low. We had a rotation schedule in place for flexing-off and taking PTO whenever that happened.

It did'nt happen a lot, but maybe twice a year and only lasted briefly sometimes a couple days and sometimes a week. I actually welcomed it and would often volunteer for those whose turn it was to flex. But again, thats when I worked directly for a hospital, making good money and did'nt mind taking PTO and having an extra day off from time to time.

Similar Messages:

May 23, 2011

Does anyone who cannot get major medical insurance have any of the limited plans which are not discounts, but limited insurance? I cannot get major medical, but need something. I have diabetes and am wondering if there are any good plans out there. Thanks for any help you can give. ...

Dec 19, 2010

Gift card MUCH appreciated and will be put to some sort of treat for all my hard work, LOL! ...

Nov 22, 2010

Here in South, NJA all last night and again this morning. Cannot get on to MQMail either to contact my CCM. In fact nothing on the message board will come up. I need help from Support because the QCare program will not download either and seems to have disappeared from my computer. Anyone else with NJA last night late (11 pm on) and even this morning. The system says it is green light and all is go. Yeah right. ...

Apr 14, 2011

Searched the boards and cannot find anything about this company out of Virginia. Any news? ...

Jan 11, 2012

Technique - sounds like "missionaire" procotol. TIA! ...

Jul 17, 2012

they said early summer but I think we can safely say it's mid summer now. Where's the compensation plan? ...

Oct 23, 2012

I may have to go to full time with MModal but really hate to. I have always been a part time employee. What is FT limited? I know on full time limited you only have to type 120 lph but is there anything else different between regular full time and limited full time. Is there anywhere on the MModal sites that gives this information? Thanks so much. ...

Jan 18, 2013

So far I am 7.5 hours short due to NJA. I have some PTO time avaialble. I want to put a claim in to get started, because the last time I filed in October 2011 they held myr first week, and I did not get that money and went without pay. I cannot go without pay, so I want to get the ball rolling on the partial UE, then I can get checks and not have to use PTO or worry, since I make about min wage nowadays anyhow. Sorry if this is confusing. ...

May 28, 2010

How do other mothers deal with summer break when their kids are out of school as far as working for a company? Do some companies let you have summers off and then return in the fall? Do some MTs change their schedules around possibly doing work at night, etc? Any companies better about this than others? ...

Jun 19, 2010

I just accepted a job as an office manager in the medical field. It took a lot of work to find a good job that did not feel like a step down, but I did it. There is hope out there folks. There are people that value the skills and expertise that a medical transcriptionist can bring to a company! If you are fed up with this field, press on! There are options out there for us. ...

Aug 19, 2013

for job interview. The internet says there are scams out there for this type of thing. Anyone hear of this company? The job is posted on another board. ...

Jan 30, 2015

Any idea what the "FTC" stands for? It is in the tech's comments section. Thank you! ...

Oct 14, 2011

Are we worth more than a high school student in a temporary summer job because $11/hour is what they get paid in at least one of the cities here. Pretty sad, isn't it? ...

Aug 03, 2010

Hello girls. If you all remember my WONDERFUL husband got me tickets for us to see Bon Jovi at Solider Field for Christmas. I FINALLY go to use them Friday night. Woweeee! Just some background on what is going in with my family.... My husband is an electrician who got laid off in January....still not back to work. Making COBRA payments to keep insurance....sheesh. 12-year-old daughter needs braces....$5000 with $500 downpayment due initially. My father-in-law was diagnosed with Stage 4 ...

Jan 03, 2013

I called them today and I am still insured with them. So, unless this is an error on the person I talked to, my next paycheck will have deductions for that insurance in addition to the deductions for the new 2013 Nuance insurances which are through other vendors. Does anyone know about this? Our policies with Colonial should have been cancelled by Nuance. ...

Apr 13, 2010

After years of thinking about going back to school and then talking myself out of it because I didn't want to face college again at age 40, I decided I need more job security, better pay and growth potential. So I filled out the financial aid forms, enrolled in a couple of classes for the summer, and here I go. I'm a little nervous actually. Been a loooooonnng while since I sat in a classroom, took notes, and took exams. My retention isn't wh ...

Jun 19, 2010

I left my employer of TEN YEARS, the subject of this particular forum, on April 27 after months of dealing with being in what felt like "a constant state of shock" -- while I watched my income plummet, my work pool grow from 2 basic primary hospitals and one seconday to about 25 different hospitals and clinics; it was to the point where I never felt like I knew what I was doing. I was always working in a "different state/city/local region" where all the adjunctive medical facilit ...

Jan 29, 2011

Wow. That stinks. I like to enjoy my summers. I was thinking about applying to them, but I don't know now. I've heard about the same amount of negatives that I've heard positives about this company... Any other opinions out there? ...

Jan 11, 2012

Is is common practice if you are placed on hold to pay them back 3/4 of your pay?? Is everything out there like this? ...

Apr 12, 2012

PLEASE NO NEGATIVE FEEDBACK! This is truly meant to be helpful, not snotty, threatening, or negative so I expect the same in return. Military time: Lately I have seen a lot of reports where people are inserting colons in military time. Colons are NOT used for military time unless the hour, minute, AND seconds are given. If the CP states that time is transcribed "3:00 a.m." this is for "regular" time and not military time. Spacing: TWO spaces after periods that end ...

Jan 08, 2015

During your search for work, if you see a "transcription company" seeking one of us for immediate work due to falling desperaetly behind on contracts, check some of the MT forums. If MT's are trashing said "transcription company" and you see a lengthy, detailed defensive response from said "transcription company"; think......maybe the reason the said "transcription company" is behind on their contracts is because they are not utilizing someone, who has the time and ability to reply at great ...

Dec 04, 2013

Does anyone else suspect their company is fiddling with the software, thereby paying less to MTs for the same amount of work? I switched accounts last summer, within the same company, to a hospital that pays more, sure that my pay would increase. Lo and behold, I just noticed on my paycheck that I'll make about 5,000 to 8,000 less this year than last, and, if anything, I'm working more hours. Truly infuriating because there is no way to prove it. ...

Feb 27, 2014

Tuesday. I need to see how much "time" I need to make up to get my hours in....ugh! ...

Jun 21, 2014

ESL per account for .07 cents a line? I have been getting 2 in 3 ESL for the last 3 months now. Never used to be that way. Not just ESL, but difficult ESL that do 15 to 20 minutes at a time. They changed on me without saying anything. Is this a normal amount or am I being used? ...

Feb 24, 2011

I swear, these so-called intelligent doctors have no common sense at all. Let's see how much noise we can have in the backgroun and talk as fast as we possibly can to see if the transcriptionist can get my dictaion right. This guy talks so fast I don't even know how he can get the words clearly out of his mouth, then he must have called someone on speaker phone because I can hear the phone ringing and ringing and ringing, and then his pager goes off which of course he pulls close ...

Dec 22, 2011

I have a friend who had an accident last weekend, an MT, broke her right arm and right lower leg, she called and left a voice mail wtih her supervisor because she had no other way to contact her on the weekend. She then called again Monday morning before going back for surgery on her leg and left another VR for the supervisor, her daughter followed up with an e-mail explaining what had happened and do you believe this company has not even acknowledge it, not even to say we are so sorry, ho ...

Mar 26, 2012

xx ...

Nov 03, 2012

I used to teach grammar and I now do MT work. One of the most common hyphen errors lies in the short arm cast, long arm cast. This does not get hyphenated. By hyphenating it (short-arm cast), one is actually stating there's also a long arm. It's a short (or long) cast that is worn on the arm, not a cast for a short arm or a long arm. ...

Nov 16, 2009

Doctor says: "She is carrying about 12 to 15 thousand dollars in credit card debt." Do I put it $12 to $15 thousand, $12,000 or $15,000 or as above? Thanks. ...

Aug 06, 2010

I recently started with Zylomed and I am a 'floater'. Does anyone have any experience with this company and if there is enough work as a floater? I am trying to decide if I want to keep doing this or just take on some accounts that would be my own. Thanx!! (: ...