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

No raises in MT wages - Deb

Posted: May 10, 2011

Is anyone else fed up with the fact that the wages for MTs never go up? It has been the same low rate for years!

Yes, fed up. You want a cost of living raise? - Work faster/harder.

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There's your well-deserved raise.

I once fell for that. -sm - MT Wordz

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But now that the pay is so low, even if you double your output, the resulting paycheck won't be that much larger that it'll put a dent in our poverty. So I just don't care anymore. I just do what I can, but no longer push to produce high volumes of perfect work. They'll just have to live with low volumes of almost-perfect work, instead.

Until there is actually some kind of BENEFIT TO US, THE MT'S, for working harder and faster, then why should I even care any more? I try to care, but I just don't.

my opinion - just me

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It may be because they MTSOs are not raising their rates for their clients so if they gave MT raises then they wouldn't be in business. Not to be rude, but you should care about the quality of your work because these are lives we're dealing with.

absurd - icedT

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It's ridiculous to state that "you should care about the quality of your work because these are lives we're dealing with" when the OP was referring to the lack of pay raises. Yes, not only is it rude, but it's also condescending. What gave you the impression that she did not care about the quality of her work?

Most working people seek a better wage and lifestyle for themselves and their families. Just because we never get a raise and, in fact, the wages are going DOWN over the past years, has absolutely nothing to do with our attention to the details of our work. As a matter of fact, I would be willing to make a wager that MTs who are paid a higher amount are more likely going to focus on quality instead of lines, lines, lines. Think about it. That's probably the main reason why MTSOs don't pay hourly.

except - LMJ

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she wasn't talking to the OP. Follow the conversation, it makes more sense then.

Except also, :) - (Fussy MTs still have room for more speed.)

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The drop in quality mentioned was clearly referring to the extra polish some of us give--beyond just making sure medical information is related correctly and readably.

For years now, e-mails and training memos from my 2 companies have been telling us NOT to correct to "proper" written language, to accept a "basic communication" level--will they understand it as is? If yes, make sure subject-verb agreement is okay and leave the rest. The hospitals like proper style but most will not pay for it, the MTSOs like it but are not being paid for it, and we haven't been paid for it for a long time, but a whole lot of us are still doing it on our own dime.

Like the poster above, I'm running out of room for improvement in speed just by using technology. That leaves finding more speed in streamlining my corrections toward what is actually required. It fights my picky notions, but there's actually a fair amount of room there for further speed.

As I said on another thread, that final comma between the last 2 objects in a series is history. I don't care if the company did perversely ask for it or if SR is placing it in a lot of places, I'm not bunny-hopping through sentences to drop the missed ones in. And so on. A keyboard that'd slap my hands for misbehaving would be very helpful, but I'm trying to remember that even 20 fewer polish-type corrections to our typically messy SR reports should show noticeable improvement to my line counts.

BTW, although not specifically stated, I do believe my employer expects this as a result of these pay cuts from the many of us who can change our ways. That, of course, still leaves those unfortunate few who simply cannot. Professional counseling would help some of them, but of course nobody'll pay for that either.

I feel the same way - Shirl

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Numbered lists should be lined up with the left margin, but Word always indents it. I'm not going to fix it anymore. Too much hand movement.

One client wants us to "fix" the grammar if it's dictated like "no headache, no dizziness, no loss of consciousness" to "no headache, dizziness or loss of consciousness," yet now they're asking us to remove "unnecessary" hyphens. ??

We can end up not being paid for a report, on top of paying a $25 fee, if there are major patient care errors. What if my leaving out an "unnecessary" hyphen results in no pay? Whose fault is that? According to our contract it's the MT's fault, even if the MTSO played a part in it.

They want it both ways - fewer expenses plus higher quality. Really? Something has got to give.

Wow, Shirl. It sounds like your company is really - turning the screws. Use your

[ In Reply To ..]
valuable time to remove hyphens that are correct, just not "necessary?" Why? So they don't have to pay for them? Seriously, unless there are genuine offsetting benefits, I'd say the situation you describe is sufficient reason to look for a new job. My company isn't perfect, but we're paid for all work and there are no fines (just warnings and firings, no doubt).

Technically, not "fixing" a tidy indented list just so it can look the same as other reports is definitely the sort of genuinely unnecessary time-consumer I was talking about. However, an important point is that it apparently is on your company's to-do list--as opposed to the sort of stuff my last 2 employers would like us to loosen up on so we can get through more reports faster. They'd tell us to please leave the stupid hyphens alone if they're not actually incorrect. :)

Which is why I haven't signed the new contract yet. - Shirl

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I'll be moving up to the north woods soon. The only internet access we can get is through Verizon, and it's limited to 5K per billing cycle. I'll most likely be "forced" to quit.

I don't get this hyphen rule. We get paid whether it's a space or a character. They aren't saving money as far as I know.

Who wants my job? I have more than enough work available. It's an IC position - horrible taxes.

Interesting, Shirl. I'd like to know how you fare - if you try to work from there.

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I suspect there may be a physician within 30 miles who'd be delighted to have you come pick up his tapes, though. :)

Something that crossed my mind was that a client may have fussed about the hyphens. So easy to promise to make them happy and pass the cost on to us. Even somewhat defensible, too. I signed on this morning and learned one of my accounts yesterday is offshore today. Instant wean for those of us who've developed an unfortunate dependence.

You can turn that off in the tool bar - IMANMT2

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the automatic numbering and indenting and number manually and tab for your space over to make everything square and pretty. That automatic indent, numbering, and bullets sometimes get all mixed up in an upload anyway.

I've tried many times to do that. - Shirl

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It rarely sticks. I had a macro for doing numbered lists; it kept disappearing. I've stopped fighting it and just drag and drop the list on the left margin.

READ... - just me

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Maybe you should read her post. She did say...
"So I just don't care anymore. I just do what I can, but no longer push to produce high volumes of perfect work. They'll just have to live with low volumes of almost-perfect work, instead. Until there is actually some kind of BENEFIT TO US, THE MT'S, for working harder and faster, then why should I even care any more? I try to care, but I just don't."

And NO, that's not being rude. That is stating a fact.

Typos don't kill patients. Doctors and nurses do. - n/m

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.

Weeding out the weeds - LMJ

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And you are the kind of MT who is being weeded out and should be, IMO. If you aren't willing to do the job, why even stay?

Because I don't even care enough to quit. - ;p

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They've gone down, Deb. - AnotherDeb

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.

Paycuts - ooo

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At this point I'm just grateful to have a job of any sorts. My company had to have us take pay cuts to keep existing contracts to be competitive. It's gotten to be a real cut-throat business. I think if you want more $$$$ you need to look into another career! Counting days to Social Security here! If I were younger I'd look into billing.

You know, I think this is our industry's version of - the great recession, thus

[ In Reply To ..]
that we've fared somewhat better than many. As the economy improves and the trauma to providers of moving to the EHR settles down, things will improve for us. Many of the forced cutbacks and technical changes so hopefully made are bad for patient care, below a sustainable level, and thus will require rethinking.

The problem is, when the economy picks up again, - MT wages will still be going down. :(

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So the "recession" for people with normal jobs will be over, but for us, faced with even higher prices for everything, yet still-declining wages, it will likely be an all-out DEPRESSION.

Actually, many MT classes are going unfilled (big surprise) and - employers expect a shortage of MTs. SM

[ In Reply To ..]
Wages do not go down in that situation and typically pick up enough to draw more people to that work.

I've also heard, as I think I touched on briefly, that quality is being cut dangerously far in some cases. I used to work in commercial insurance and always figured that one would inevitably eventually create its own correction, also to our benefit.

Also what I was getting at is that, while hundreds of thousands of people in other industries were let go in this recession, in many cases from jobs that will not be coming back, ours has experienced line rate cuts, but no net job loss. It's actually been a pretty safe haven for most of us, lower incomes notwithstanding. (The change to SR so many are struggling with is a different issue.)

In any case, I just thought I'd point some of this stuff out. It's easy to be pessimistic when you're sitting in a hole staring at the wall. :)

Job loss - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
How then, do you explain hospitals and other facilities who lay off entire departments because they decide to outsource? Some of those jobs are retained if the MTs choose to go with the company who gets the contract, but many find themselves out of work. India and other countries are getting a lot of transcription work; those jobs probably are not coming back. VR and point and click technology are also eliminating MT jobs. I'd like to see the statistics that show no net domestic MT job loss.

People with "normal" jobs tend to have no work at all right now - Their jobs probably gone forever overseas

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There are so very many people who have no work at all. Most of them probably aren't coming back. At least some MTs do have work. That's a whole lot better than nothing.

Right now hospitals are hurting because people can't afford medical care - sm

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People who lost jobs have no way to pay for medical care. It's costing the hospitals millions of dollars. It's going to be a long time before the economy picks up and companies start hiring again.

cannot afford the insurace. - anon

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