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

Hey everyone! I am currently taking a Health - Law and Ethics class in college.

Posted: Oct 04, 2011

My teacher IS a lawyer. Any questions I should ask him??? Just read the post below about the old grandfathered. I am a grandfathered employee, but what is "new" grandfathered employee. I had ONE interview back in 1990 and here I am today. Been bought, merged, and aquired with name changes to finally, Medquist and soon, we will probably getting a new name again after all the acquisitions. It seems our company is probably run by a lot of lawyers who know how to handle company situations and walking a fine line with this company or in a gray area of how this company is doing business. It seems, CBAY is HIPAA compliant or shows they try to be.

we all know what MQ does is not ethical - they have no ethics

[ In Reply To ..]
Have no idea what you could ask the teacher about. MQ has the backing of the government. They dont care that our work is going overseas, and there is nothing we can do about. No lawyer can fix it.

sure I got a few - North MT

[ In Reply To ..]
How is it legal for MQ to require us to work a schedule, in fact, fire us if we don't work it and then not provide work during that schedule? How can they pay for some states only 15 minutes of minimum wage to compensate for downtime (oh yeah that $1.75 adds up every day), when in fact most of us are out of work longer than 15 minutes?

The new grandfathered employees are the ones just merging with Medquist- their companies or hospitals just got bought out. Medquist usually signs a contract with the hospital or whatever agreeing to certain terms for the MTs. But the question is does Medquist have to honor those contracts and for how long? Those same contracts were in place for many of the old grandfathered employees who came from corporate offices and ended up taking a huge paycut here recently.

And my last question is it legal to monetarily punish an employee for asking for help? You know I am talking about FTR. THEN the company will turn around and punish the employee for not asking for help and on the audit will say excessive blanks or whatever. Is it legal to terrorize your employees and make them feel like every day they are going to get fired?

Huh, I have those same exact questions. I was wondering - shortcake

[ In Reply To ..]
if the labor board could answer those questions. I have off tomorrow, maybe I will make a call.......

I wrote the post about - Grandfathered MTs

[ In Reply To ..]
What I meant to say is I don't think it is legal for MQ to give all of us old grandfathered employees a decrease in pay and then turn around and buy at least 3 more companies and have those employees (new grandfathered) on a different pay scale. We all work for the same company so I don't see how that is legal. I don't want to see the new employees get a pay cut but I think those of us who did get a pay cut should be able to sue and get some kind of back pay. I also have been through many mergers and changes and it just makes me sick to see how they treat us. Without us, they are nothing. You're right about them walking a fine line. It seems that everything they do is just legal enough to squeak by. Another question you could ask your teacher is if it is legal for them to monopolize the industry like they soon will. When that happens, watch the rules they break then.

One thing I would like to know... - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Ethically, shouldn't patients be told if their hospitals/clinics send US patient info overseas? I'm not talking about one of those generalized release of info forms. Are they specifically told that their info is going overseas?

one thing - Former MT

[ In Reply To ..]
Ethics and MQ, now there are 2 words that don't belong in the same sentance. But yes, I think EVERY PATIENT should be told at point blank and have to sign a specific release!!!

Similar Messages:

Feb 22, 2013

I am learning that this most complicated business of healthcare, in going tech, is trying to basically 'get rid of humans' (what a lecturer actually said) involved in the process of the EHR. he talked about free text being part of mistakes and cost, and to me that means probably reducing or eliminating altogether dictation and rather having templates that a provider will just fill in or check off - or have someone do it, but not an MT. this is just my opinion now, but think about it. ...

May 04, 2010

tell me how that works? I know the insurance premiums are less than a regular health plan. If your company puts 500 in your account, does that mean the first few times, for example, until you use up the 500, you don't pay ANYTHING or is it the opposite...you pay the entire office visit cost until you reach that 500? I would be so grateful for any information about this type of plan. TIA ...

Jun 18, 2012

What the heck is going on here? We're being bought out and paid less than the people cleaning the toilets at the "corportate" offices of the big-three companies. We're scraping by to make one-third of what we used to make. Why? Do you actually believe these companies are charging the hospitals less? We're the only ones getting paid less, and less, and less. The hospitals are getting crappy reports, something they're told can't be helped; there's no other alternat ...

Mar 07, 2014

I checked my pay stubs and, granted, I still was getting production bonus 5-6 months ago, but my pay has decreased so much, like $400-500. Sometimes I wonder what all those "delays" with "uploading the lines" are. Honestly, this company has made me literally into a minimum wage worker. Thanks a lot, Nuance, you will soon get your wish and I will have to subsidize my income with food stamps at this rate. I guess that is your objective, more profits for you, spread the poverty so our taxes are ma ...

Mar 10, 2010

to see what Medquist was looking like. Looks just about like Spheris to me, possibly a little worse. Can anyone say what they are paying per line ASR and regular transcription for a mid-level account? Clinic account? Not sure it is worth the bother to stick around for this change. ...

Mar 15, 2010

I have 2 job offers from 2 different companies, but both of these companies are fairly large and have multiple posts with complaints that there is just not enough work for everyone. Would it be possible to take both offers, on the chance that if one doesn't have work the other will? I might be kinda screwed if they both have a lot of work, but it might be worth it to see how both will work out without closing any doors. Has anyone done this before? Is it possible to run 2 companies differen ...

Sep 01, 2010

If you get NJA on a very regular basis, reply with what state you are in. Apparently, some states require pay for downtime, CA I believe being one of them. I'm not sure of the other states. Obviously, work can be routed to or away from us at will, and I have a feeling they are choosing MTs from the states that mandate downtime pay over states that don't. ...

Jan 05, 2011

I cannot afford the money to go to a college, so I was wondering how good the AAPC course is. HAs anyone taken it? What did you think? ...

Feb 20, 2011

After having been an MT for over half of my life and constantly reading these forums and realizing the shortcomings we are all facing in this industry, I'm taking the plunge. Yesterday my husband and I bought 2 domain names, ordered 500 business cards, my husband is researching MT salaries nationwide, and we're going to start our own MTSO. An MTSO run by HUMAN BEINGS for HUMAN BEINGS. A small one, we're looking at probably 20 or less ICs to ensure ample work for every ...

Jul 24, 2012

suggestion and putting it to use. I can only hope these places will realize what we are disliking!! ...

Nov 03, 2012

I've decided I will go through Andrews school for coding. All that I have to do now is wait until Monday to sign up and enroll. I am so excited!! I was wondering if anyone who has gone though or is currently in the coding course through Andrews could give me some advice. I am currently a medical transcriptionist,so I have medical language behind me...but that is about all. Any study tips or anything else for that matter would be well appreciated. Thanks. ...

Dec 05, 2012

Some have been trying for over 7 years to change things and things haven't changed. Okay. Those of you who are quite certain you want to try to change things, how long have you been doing it? And how much longer are you going to do it? I guess we who have been speaking up for 7 years have been doing it all wrong? ...

Dec 03, 2013

without pay we were given (13 days). If you use this for NJA you will forfeit an entire day of the time off without pay, even if it's just 1 hour. The days off are not hourly. They are daily, so if you had 1 hour left in your shift and had NJA and took the time off without pay, 1 entire day of your time off without pay would be used. Looks like MM screwed us again. ...

Mar 12, 2014

If you think the offer from MMoral to become a coder sounds good, think again. If you start the program and don't finish, you have to pay MM for the full cost of training, and no mention was made of how much that is. If you decide to leave MM for a coding job elsewhere, you probably won't even be considered for a job with decent pay because you didn't train through AHIMA and you will have to pay MM for your worthless training if you leave before 2 years. Lastly, if Obamacare ends ...

Apr 03, 2014

Has anyone read the rule book here? I tried to once but couldnt read through my tears! I believe I was told we can't take days off unless we have the PTO to cover it? This is going to be a problem. I have some important days coming up for my 18 year old daughter with autism, a meeting at school and an awards ceremony and some other things. This would use up the measly PTO hours I have and I would have nothing left to take days off this summer, like my birthday. Does anyone else take da ...

Sep 02, 2014

How many wanna bet the important call is to tell us they have sold out? ...

Feb 02, 2015

I just don't get it. ...

Mar 02, 2015

..so is taking pay off for errors the norm or just the screwy company I work for. :P ...

Apr 08, 2015

Okay, we know we cannot change our personal information that is public on Office365. Simply double click on the image area of any contact and presto, home address, etc. Try to change your own and be instantly denied. But do you know for months that you can go into Exponent, go to Time Reporting, then Additional Options, and click on "View Other Employee Leave" ?? Cute, I have seen this list of full names go from 60 to 31 in a few weeks, not to mention why do we have access to these ...

Apr 17, 2015

This means I'm sitting at my desk for 60-80 hours/week waiting for work. Is this happening to anyone else? Is this the new norm? ...

Jun 01, 2015

Two QC are taking my reports and typing them. ...

Nov 23, 2009

Went to another site and there are tons of positions with other companies in India. Has anyone thought about turning the tables and working for them? Just curious. I mean, its still basically our work. ...

Dec 17, 2009

What would you (if you are MT/ME) if MQ decides to make us all MMEs? I read a post previously that hinted at this. ...

Jan 29, 2010

Hi.. So I just received an email that I need to take a test in order to get my first job. They are telling me to use my FTP program to log on to the IP address.. I can't for the life of me figure out how to do this. I have filezilla and also express scribe. Are these the correct programs I should use? Where do I go on there to type in the IP address? Thank you.. Misty3720 ...

Mar 29, 2010

I was just wondering what the Medquist MTs think about Medquist possibly taking over Spheris, whether good, bad or indifferent. ...

Apr 12, 2010

Don't they still have to pay minimum wage? They can take away that $0.03 per line if we over submit to QA, but don't they still have to pay minimum wage? ...

Apr 16, 2010

Just wanted to hear from some of you more seasoned MTs out there...I am scheduled to sit for the RMT exam on Monday, 4/19 and have been preparing for this since mid-January by taking a review course via M-TEC. Several folks have advised me that rather than waiting the typical 2 years, I should consider studying to take the CMT exam immediately after passing the RMT. My book skills are good, and I graduated from M-TEC with a fairly high GPA. I have only been working for 2 months ...

May 23, 2010

do you spend doing required work that you don't get paid for? For instance: "Simply" punching in for the day, then punching out, in and out again if you take a break or have a split shift on our zippy and oh-so-easy-to navigate ScheduleSource. Keeping an expanded paper file (fills up my desk) of all the client profiles we have to know like the back of our hand (so far 43 for me in the last 18 months). Checking our turbo-charged Medquist mail system just to read the mail let alone a ...

Aug 09, 2010

I have never run into NJA on a Monday morning. I had the hardest time getting the day off yesterday. (I have 3 weeks of accrued PTO which I have to take before December.) My CCM didn't respond for nearly a month. When I started reminding her every day for a response, she responded saying if I get the day off, I have to work a Friday. To make it up? She says she has a hard time staffing Sundays. Well I have a HARDER TIME SACRIFICING THEM FOR THE LAST 9 YEA ...

Sep 29, 2010

Hi All! I am actually thinking about taking my CMT test. I have thought about ioff and on a lot over the years. I have 13 years experience in 3 different hospitals and 3 different well known transcription companies (I know I change jobs a lot), but often times working 2 jobs at once. I know the AAMT Book well. Despite my experience, I'm still afraid I won't pass the test. I have known so, so many transcriptionists over the years and not a one of them have their CMT or at ...