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

More bad news for MQ MT/MEs - shipwrecked

Posted: Jan 29, 2010

I got the below link from my MQ Google Alert. If Speris tanks, there's gonna be a ton of MQs scrambling for jobs. I'm sure the Q will see this as the perfect opportunity to cut our salaries again as we fear for our jobs.

http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2010/02/01/story1.html?b=1265000400%5E2811471

sorry spheris, thats what happens - laughing

[ In Reply To ..]
I totally think that this is the total result of offshoring in the first place. You gave the hospitals the choice to drop prices, you offered them less money for less quality and now it is making your pockets empty... oh, boo hoo!

You big wigs could not leave things the way they were, with Americans doing the work for yes, big pay, and making you billions! Think back before the offshoring, think how much you were making...

Now, your considering bankruptcy! HA FLIPPIN HA! You have finally found the hole that you put us all in.

The only day that will be sweeter in my life will be the day CBAY files bankruptcy. Its a coming, wait and see!

AMERICAN PROUD!

I hope you are right about this. Like your post. - I wish us MTs could buy the company.

[ In Reply To ..]
Could you imagine? HOW COOL THAT WOULD BE! We all would have stock in the company like Southwest Airlines and we run the show and then someday buy CBAY/MQ out!!!

Laughing - American Proud Also

[ In Reply To ..]
Nothing would please me more than to see MQ/CBAY fall right into the bankruptcy latrine but think of this: Is it possible that this whole Spheris bankruptcy thing has been orchestrated so CBay can buy Spheris without getting into issues of monopolies, restraint of trade or other trade issues? Just a thought. And I am with you--if CBAY went bankrupt I would weep for joy. The worst that could happen to them would not be enough for all they have done to the American MT.

Remember years ago? - No MTSOs?

[ In Reply To ..]
We used to be MT's working in the hospitals. Then the hospitals got rid of us to the MTSO's for lower costs. Now it is being outsourced for lower costs.

I wonder if hospitals will ever say it is enough and let us get back our MT's.

And did any of the suits take pay cuts? - gonzo

[ In Reply To ..]
Even to save the company? I highly doubt it. And when the company crashes, I bet every one of them will have a golden parachute.

I am afraid you are correct. - I believe there are 22 on the board.

[ In Reply To ..]
They start about 250,000 up to 500,000 and that DOES NOT include the bonuses, and everything else they get.

Not only do we have one Lamborghini but 22 of them with this company.

I will be happy if my 1995 holds up.

Oh crap! - Unbelievable.

[ In Reply To ..]
So, Spheris, NO.2, was at 40 million second quarter of 2009, but now owe 75 million plus 150 million to the higher ups. Does not look good and states CBAY trying to buy them out.

MQ is an estimated 12-15 BILLION industry? And SOME of us MT's get abused. Unbelievable.

This is not good at all!!!

Shipwrecked - love that Google. Also of interest - Dinosaur

[ In Reply To ..]
I have automatic Google searches for MQ, Spheris and CBay.

I have been following this story since about October 2009. Myself, I thought this was inevitable, but there was no hard evidence at the time, only speculation. Recently they missed an interest payment and had 30 days to pay up. It is my understanding they have had financial trouble for years, and they do not have the recent technology (not even simple programs which MQ had in place before we used DQS). It would not surprise me at all if in the future they sold out to the Q/CBay entirely. Below are a couple of links to older articles and information I had received from my automatic Google search.

http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2010/02/01/story1.html?b=1265000400%5E2811471

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2009/12/14/daily15.html?s=industry&i=health_care

In your opinion, if sold out, - what will happen?

[ In Reply To ..]
What would happen to all the MT's,if there is any left, at Spheris? Was most of the work done by India?

Would there be a mass index of MT's that will be hired by MQ? Would there be more work for MQ?

Could MQ go down someday like Spheris?

Is this why we are having a new upgrade system on the 7th?

In answer to your questions, my thoughts for their future.... - Dinosaur

[ In Reply To ..]
Spheris has been losing MTs over the years the same as MQ. I know a couple of MTs who work at Spheris and it is my understanding they treat their MTs as poorly as MQ has treated many of us. While much of the work from Spheris is done in India, they still have a few thousand U.S. based MTs.

If and/or when Cbay buys all of Spheris we would absorb their MTs the same as the Q has absorbed the MTs from the U.S. companies it has purchased over the years. I don't think that the Q's hiring practices would increase as they would absorb U.S. based MTs from Spheris.

MQ would have more accounts as a result of buying out Spheris, but that does not necessarily translate into more work for us. We would regain the accounts that Spheris obtained by under bidding MQ. This is just one of the things that landed Spheris in trouble in the first place. Many accounts still want their work done in the U.S., Spheris under bid MQ for some of these accounts. However, you have to pay a U.S. employee minimum wage in USD not Rupees and they lost money.

Could MQ go down like Spheris? Never say never, but there is a big difference between MQ/CBay and Spheris. MQ/CBay is in a much more stable situation than Spheris financially as well as technologically. Hospitals have become used to these bargain prices and will probably never go back to in house as the cost is much more than what they are paying now. MT, ME services (or future variations of those services) will be needed, at least until technology advances to the point where human scrutiny of these records is no longer required, and I don't see that happening in any of our lifetimes.

MQ technology exceeds that of Spheris and has for some time now. The new upgrade we will be experiencing will put MQ much farther ahead than we were already.

Something else scary I heard - Epic - shipwrecked

[ In Reply To ..]
A couple years ago, an account I'd had for 10 years was sent to India. They were gone about 3 months, we were in the cesspool, and then my supervisor called to say the hospital was unhappy, and they were coming back if they could have their former MTs back. They signed a 1 year contract. Life was good.

Bear with me... In the months the client was back with us, they were exploring in-house systems. Our first clue was they were dictatiang differently, in some kind of "format." We lost them permanently to Epic. I'm not sure what Epic is, or how it works, but...

According to my CCM, my Very Large account is testing Epic. Does anyone know what Epic is? If this is some kind of in-house system, I think the hospitals are probably so disgusted that they will be looking for an alternative to out-sourcing (to us) and off-shoring (to India).

What is Epic? It kind of sounds like a threat.

I just read an article on this recently... - Dinosaur

[ In Reply To ..]
Maybe 1 or 2 months ago. It was about cost analysis, but let me give you some background info first.

The Epic program has been in the works for a couple of years now. It was originally designed to obtain instant access to medical records from anywhere in the country. If you live in Florida and you were vacationing in California and ended up in the hospital, the physician would have instant access to your records. With the current HIPAA laws, I'm not sure how that would work, too many variables.

In any case, the program evolved to replace the traditional way medical transcription was done. Basically it would make your physician responsible for keeping your medical records current. Herein lies the problem, we all know doctors don't want to be bothered with such things, sometimes to the point where their privileges are suspended for delinquent reports (not to mention Joint Commission). This brings me to the recent article I read. Health care providors have found that the traditional MT costs on average are $4.00 per report, cost average for Epic about $30.00 per medical record. A doctor's time is worth considerably more than an MT dollar for dollar. Furthermore, an ME for ASR/VR is considerably less than that. So far voice recognition is by far the most cost effective. Personally when I am visiting my doctor I don't want him/her distracted by entering my information while I'm there.

Considering AT&T was the first company in the United States to demonstrate the voice recognition technology in 1927, Epic may have a long way to go.

If I can find that article again, I will post the link here so you can read it.

Here is another website I just found. - CBAY, Spheris, and MQ, or are they all CBAY now.

[ In Reply To ..]
http://kooldudz.blogspot.com/2010/01/cbay-spheris-medquist-or-they-are-all.html

Making me want to run to college for another career.

Similar Messages:

Mar 10, 2011

nm ...

Jan 27, 2010

I opened a ticket yesterday for ASR, asking them to have H and H expand out to hemoglobin and hematocrit for my account, and less than 24 hours I got a message saying it was done! Unbelievable. Seems crazy we would all have to do this, but if we all do this, maybe some positive change could actually come. I gave them the account, an internal job number, and my contact number and just stated what the problem was. My understanding is this was corrected for this ...

Jul 10, 2011

Most of the companies are paying 8 cpl for transcription and 4 cpl for editing. MQ is not going to stop until they reach that rate even though they may do it gradually as they have been doing. ...

Jun 07, 2012

Has anyone heard anything further about the work (or lack of) situation? Was really low this pay period. ...

Sep 02, 2012

Check out the new eligibility requirements for sitting for the CCS that will go into effect on January 1, 2013. No longer just a high school diploma. : http://www.ahima.org/downloads/pdfs/certification/Candidate_Guide.pdf ...

Jul 07, 2013

Curious. ...

Aug 29, 2013

Fox News just did a segment on TAA cons/pros... but I missed most of it... anyone see it and have input? ...

Oct 29, 2014

Any opinions on the news today of office closing? Not many were named as being shifted to working at home. I hope that doesn't mean everyone else was let go. ...

Nov 04, 2009

Does anyone know if there is another conference call scheduled soon? I have not received notification, but it seems there should have been another scheduled for today if they are still doing the every-other-week thing as the last one was 2 weeks ago today. Also, didn't they say packets would be distributed the first week of November? ...

May 26, 2010

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100526/NEWS02/5260344/1003/NEWS02 Now our job pool is going to get smaller. :( ...

Jul 24, 2010

Good morning, In your browser type in india.com and you will get "The Economic Times", one of India's newspapers. Interesting. What is even more interesting is to put in CBay up in the search bar (top right side) and watch what comes up. More information on CBay, but from India's newspaper perspective. Interesting to say the least. Always good to get an objective opinion!! ...

Aug 08, 2010

Any news on Acusis? I am just wondering if they are worth testing for. ...

Apr 05, 2011

McDonald's adding 50,000 new jobs! Yay! ...

Jul 05, 2011

This whole thing makes absolutely zero sense to me. Webmedx has 500+ employees, right? What management is going to make an announcement regarding a publicly traded company and then tell employees not to talk? I would think announcing changes like that would put them at risk of actually influencing the stock. And they have to know it's ridiculous to think that many people are going to keep the announcement confidential. To me, it seems extremely irresponsible of Webmedx any way I look at it ...

Sep 20, 2011

http://nashvillepost.com/news/2011/9/20/medquist_pops_on_california_contract ...

Jun 29, 2012

My hospital, which we were told in February was going to be outsourcing all of our work to Nuance, backed off and we were informed today that we'll all still continue to be employed!!!! Oh, Happy Day! I'm one of the last MTs in the country that still gets paid well, and I was sweating it! ...

Aug 03, 2012

hospitals going to Epic or outsourcing, and MTSOs pulling the plug on their employees. Am I right? I wonder if this thing isn't starting to snowball. ...

Mar 19, 2014

I interviewed for a job at a local, major hospital. It was interesting to learn that the HIM department is in the process of bringing transcription back in house, at least partially. It was claimed that their transcription company was not doing a satisfactory job. This might be good news my MT friends. Maybe this will be a trend? I'm certainly hoping so and I mentioned how excited I was about the possibility of in-house transcription jobs being available in th ...

Jun 23, 2014

I hadn't heard much about this, but with all the problems they are having hiring and training, offering bonuses to sign on, etc. maybe (I might be dreaming) the changes will be for once to our benefit. Plan on sticking it out to see for sure. Call me a fool or an optimist --we will see which in October. ...

Sep 24, 2014

Does anybody have a clue what's coming down next week? Got a strange email (don't want to post what was said to give myself away) not from my TL but from her boss (which I have never gotten anything from her before) referring to my production, etc. and alluding to things changing next month. ...

Oct 10, 2014

Anyone have any new news on them? Been pretty quiet. ...

Nov 01, 2014

x ...

Nov 03, 2014

xx ...

Nov 12, 2014

http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/7112077-74/excela-nuance-jennings#axzz3Inb8FMZc ...

Nov 14, 2014

Responses to the original post include a copy of the article, not just the link. Oh, forgot, you might have to go down a ways on the page, as the discussion began on the 12th. Look for the initial post "Nuance in the news again," then the actual article appears in one of the subsequent posts. ...

Dec 10, 2014

Hey MTs who work for Nuts, In my opinion, with the system being down and Nuts hurting to get the work back to their clients, and Christmas almost here, what a GREAT TIME to say: "I have some EXCITING NEWS! Here is my resignation, effective immediately! MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Think of the impact if MTs joined this bandwagon!!! Who cares, let Nuts send the work to India. See what happens! ...

Feb 27, 2015

After losing my long-time transcription position last year (along with many other people) and applying for a variety of jobs over the past several months, I have been hired by a medical facility as a HIMS Tech. I am also relieved to have found something with a decent commute. This is the area I wanted to transition into, so I am glad to be moving in a new direction which I think will suit me well. ...

Mar 19, 2015

There have been no conference calls for me? I emailed my TSM about this and he just simply said it doesn't apply to everyone and not to "get excited about nothing"....His typical short and condescending response to everything. Nothing? It's NEVER nothing with this place. I guess it doesn't apply to those of eScription....at least not YET..... This place is something else.......... ...

Dec 07, 2009

I've been following the MT boards and what I mostly read are MTs complaining about losing jobs, lower pay scales, outsourcing, offshoring, voice recognition, electronic records, and other technology enhancements that seem to be putting MTs out of work. Is there any future for the MT profession? Is there any good news or is this profession going the way of the buggy whip? I would certainly like to read some good news about the future prospects of MT. Thanks Hopeful in Hob ...

Dec 24, 2009

I spoke to a representative of the Trade Act in person today to ask some questions. I learned this and want to share it to help empower those who feel hopeless this season: -All states are participating in the Trade Act. -There was an old version of the Trade Act which necessitated that you be laid off by your company to benefit with the Trade Act. The new version (ending with #7, not #6) starting in February 2009 allows those still working to enroll in the program. -Medquis ...