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

Wrote my senators, congressman, AND the President - MarineMom

Posted: Jun 15, 2010

Well, we will see what kind of response I get back. I'm not expecting much, but I thought it was high time i did my part in contacting my representatives and the White House about the sad state of OUR union :)

Letter - nan

[ In Reply To ..]
Good job! I've done that and will continue doing that. That's what everybody needs to do but probably won't because it's easier to sit back and complain but not do anything about it. People don't seem to realize that it takes a flood of letters to get them to listen, not just one or two. Some say they have done that and it did no good. People need to keep writing and many people need to write in order for them to listen. You also need to write Dateline, 60 minutes, etc., and keep writing. At some point, the issue will get addressed. If things don't happen overnight, people tend to give up and that is not how it works. You have to keep at them.

call your congressional rep too - MT2stay

[ In Reply To ..]
I emailed my representatives, then one of them called me back. I discussed offshoring as well as the use of ICs. She was very interested and seemed to take a lot of notes. Had no idea medical documentation was being done offshore with no US jurisdiction. I don't know if it will help but if all of us speak up, that's the least we can do.

call - nan

[ In Reply To ..]
Many of the people who represent us are unaware of how bad things are. My senator responded to my letter by stating that he is fighting to change the trade policies to have companies be required the same standards and pay that is in the US when they send work overseas. Personally, I believe this would keep companies from having a need to go overseas. They are doing it because of the substandard quality and slave wages they can get away with by having the work done in other countries. If they can no longer do this, why ship our jobs away. There are 50 states with many senators and representatives, many of which who are uninformed like the one you wrote. We need to write and keep writing so all of them in all 50 states know what is going on and maybe something will be done.

What is your problem with IC's? - 1mt

[ In Reply To ..]
I am an IC. I am an American. I work in the United States. I pay my taxes, even more than you pay out of your pocket, assuming you are an "employee" based on your comment. What is the problem with having IC's doing MT?

I think she means the MTSOs that blur the line between IC and employee. - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
X

May not be helping our cause - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Just remember when talking to our government leaders that it is being pushed for all facilities to have electronic medical records. Since I am a clinic transcriptionist, this is a very big deal. I think offshoring is awful, and I think there are a lot of companies using ICs in maybe a not so correct manner, but I am afraid us complaining to these people about it is just going to make that electronic medical record push harder. Guess maybe this is a good thing for the patient, but not for me the MT.

cause - nan

[ In Reply To ..]
Sorry, but I disagree. The EMR is going to happen or not happen whether we complain or not. Yes, we are worried about our jobs in the transcription field, but it is not just our jobs that are leaving. Companies in general are sending more and more jobs overseas and this in general needs to be stopped. It needs to be made less profitable for companies to continue to do it. You certainly have a right to your opinion, but in my opinion, this country is going down the tubes because people won't get involved in letting our elected officials know that we are not happy with what is going on and demand changes be made. We can all sit around and complain about things like we do here, but we pay our elected officials to do what is right for our country and they are not doing a good job of that and we need to let them know. Again, you can do what you want, but I will continue to write.

EMR - MarineMom

[ In Reply To ..]
Regarding EMR. EVERY single doctor that I have worked for in the last 8 years, or been to, or taken my grandson to, absolutely HATES EMR and wants their MT back. I know that they really don't have a choice, unless they work in "their own" office, but I would think that someone would listen to the doctors who are actually brining the money into the hospitals/clinics?? After doing this job for 8 years, in the last few months this board has made me realize I'm probably not going to be doing this job that I love and fits my personality to a "T" very much longer, and that really saddens me....

US Passport creation is off-shored, too!!!! - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I was watching CNN at the gym yesterday and they had a segment on this. U.S. Passports are created in the Phillipines!!! They even said there is no way to ensure that fake ones weren't being created and sold to the highest bidder - WTH!!!! They interviewed some yahoo from some governmental department who said they believe safeguards are in place. Yeah, right. We are friggin' doomed! I'm sure they don't think corruption exists in the Phillipines.. WAKE UP USA!!!! How can the government justify outsourcing the most important identification document in our country? Oh yeah, it's because they said "there is no company here in the U.S. that can make them." I call total BS on that one! Folks, we really need to rally together on keeping our country and our information OURS.

I agree..this is ridiculous although not surprising - I heard it was being

[ In Reply To ..]
semi-processed (as in the microchip) in Thailand.

Why would we trust our elected leaders and gov't to help us with outsourcing MT jobs when the federal gov't itself has no problem outsourcing our passports and other supposedly confidential and secure documents. Whatever!

Find link? - I cannot find it.

[ In Reply To ..]
Could you possibly find a link to the CNN story and post it? I cannot find it. It was yesterday?

Found it - myself.

[ In Reply To ..]
Previous post helped. It's Thailand, not Phillipines.

Whooops - - sorry..

[ In Reply To ..]
I was at the gym when I saw the piece on CNN on TV. I didn't have the link and obviously got the country wrong :( - but I knew it wasn't done here LOL

make copies -- send monthly or more. SM - not sick, just tired

[ In Reply To ..]
find more places to send them, and offer them to us! I would send to my state and others, but I have no time or skill to write the damn thing.

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