A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
ridiculous reduction in pay - fed up
Posted: Jul 28, 2010
As with most of you, my pay from Medquist has taken a total nose dive ever since ASR went to 85% while at the same time cutting our transcription rate down for ASR from 70% to 60%. That's a 40% pay cut!!! I've had to take another job elsewhere to try to make ends meet. Besides that, our health benefits are the absolute worst and get worse every year. Can anyone ever remember any kind of cost of living raise? I used to make $36,000 annually, now I'm down to $23,000 and I'm working the same amount of hours. I just posted all of these facts on the mtquestions.com site and will be waiting for a reply. Perhaps many of us should address it as obviously we are all in the same boat, and see if we get some sort of response from Tony! This is outrageous. Ive' been working in the same field for a total of 23 years and now I see my pay is actually decreasing instead of increasing through no fault of my own. What's wrong with this picture We need to make our voices heard.
pay reduction - fed up
[ In Reply To ..]Oops, I meant to say Peter as in Masanotti, not Tony. Hard to keep up with all those personnel changes.
You just described my situation! - Hey, Tony!
[ In Reply To ..]How do I go into that MT questions thing? I've also had to take a second job, now making me work 60 hours a week and still am not making what I used to make working 40 hours at MQ. Now they're deciding who has to work weekends which would mean I could no longer have that part-time job. I get these "bennies" from MQ so think that should be my priority, but MQ doesn't pay the weekend differential I get at that weekend job. What's an MT to do?? I'm "going postal."
reduction in pay - fedup
[ In Reply To ..]The easiest way is to just e-mail mtquestions@medquist.com, you don't even have to be logged on to MQCentral. I found that e-mail address under Hot Topics and Links on MQCentral. I went under MT News and info and then when the blue box appeared I clicked on MT INFO. Thanks for reading!
Ridiculous reduction in pay - PedalPshr
[ In Reply To ..]'Make our voices heard' would be quitting the Q and find work elsewhere that PAYS BETTER/has better things to offer for YOU. Why stick with something that used to work but doesn't anymore? MQ is one of MANY companies. Agree that it's harder these days to make money as an MT, it's more of a challenge; there are more companies than there were 10-15 years ago netting more revenue and not properly compensating the MTs. MTs have to do the same; get more revenue for themselves and if it takes company-shopping and a bit of time searching then so be it. JMHO
agree with leaving but know MQ doesn't care - NE MT
[ In Reply To ..]With the old MQ they used to try to retain their employees but now they are hiring new employees at 5 cents a line- why in the world would they care if an employee making 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 cpl quits? What a deal, they can hire 2 MTs for the price of 1. Then they can claim that there are no qualified MTs in the US and ship everything over to India.
Disclaimer: I found a job that pays better and I plan to be out of here as soon as I can. Like I said, they won't care anyway and can't wait to hire 2 people to replace me.
You got my vote. I been singing this song for - anonymous
[ In Reply To ..]a while now. I didn't mind biting the bullet temporarily while Q recouped from the SEC problems, but this is absolutely absurd.
Disclaimer: Too old and broke to go back to school. Like my schedule. Don't want to take more of a cut in pay and have to work nights and/or weekends so please do not flame me and offer these suggestions. I just want to make a living at my craft and share in some of the profits that I believe MQ and C-Bay are bringing in. I believe that what we do is worth more than flipping burgers at McDonald's.
me too, not going to flame you, right with you - so outa here
[ In Reply To ..]except for one thing, if the TAA program will pay for me to go to school to be retrained, I'm going to try that, along with taking a pretty much entry-level job that pays BY THE HOUR (so excited about that) and selling my house (yes, for less than I paid for it but getting out from under that mortgage which I can no longer afford because of pay cuts).
Caution on selling your house - Adios
[ In Reply To ..]Be care if you are selling your house for less than you owe. My husband and I recently did that and if you settle for less with the mortgage company, the difference is reported to IRS as income. If you don't settle, they will go legal, if you pay $10 starting out a month on the short bal, nothing will happen. This was on a second mortgage, not the first, which was paid off, so do a lot of homework. We thought we were doing the right thing since we could no longer afford maintenance, utilities, etc., due to 40% reduction in income.
Hopefully you only have a first and hopefully it will not apply to you, but ask lots and lots of questions and get straight answers.
selling house - outa here
[ In Reply To ..]Not less than I owe! Less than I paid for it. Thank heavens the amount I owe is not extraordinary compared to what it's worth. I bought it 6 years ago so I have a little equity.
40% pay cut - SM
[ In Reply To ..]MQ set the industry standard for voice recognition pay cuts. They must have pulled the so-called 30-40% increased productivity out of their hats. In no other field does advanced technology equate to such a drastic cut in pay. Doctors now have the assistance of robots to help with their surgeries. Perhaps it makes them 30-40% more efficient, but the doctors would NEVER accept a 30-40% cut in their salary. Why do we?
Agree, agree, agree - Adios
[ In Reply To ..]I am trying to get out of transcription altogether. Breaks my heart but it will not get better because MQ is too big, everybody will have to follow their lead or go out of business.
I would stay if only one thing would happen, ASR would do what they pretend it will do. If I could produce more and make up the 40%, fine, I would be a happy employee.
But it is not going to do that without them fixing it and I don't see where they have any intention of fixing it.
Who is ASR for? I have asked that before. The doctors couldn't care less. It doesn't change anything on their end. It does nothing for us. We haven't increased production with it, but we have taken a pay cut with it.
Who is ASR for? Who does it benefit?
Not us, not the dictators.
In case anybody says I am complaining and they are tired of it, I am trying to do something about it. I am trying to get out. Not a lot of jobs out there for me, after spending 15 years in transcription, but I am not giving up.
I agree with whoever said why would they care if we leave. They are hiring newbies at crazy rates. And they seem okay with the quality, based on what I see when I am looking up old reports to fill in blanks.
Not the same place. Not a place I am proud to be part of. I will be gone, will just take longer based on what I am trying to achieve. Meanwhile I will continue to speak out against the injustice.
"benefit" of ASR pfftt - DONE
[ In Reply To ..]ASR is time saving, supposedly, and most definitely cost saving, for the institution (e.g., hospital) That's a whole pool of transcriptionists that don't have to be paid and given benefits. It's a machine. Just wait. Quality is suffering already. They got rid of us necessary documentation professionals and there will be repercussions, not from us, but just in the lack of quality of patient care. Business success should be measured in reviews by the customers, like it used to be. Not in cost cutting. (Look what happened to BP in the name of cost cutting.)
Wow! Your post is identical to what I would write. - Same thing with pay and years worked.
[ In Reply To ..]Tony and MQ could careless. They are selfish.
Vote with your feet - LK
[ In Reply To ..]MQ obviously doesn't give a rip about what's happening to your pay. You stay there and let them walk all over you and they are laughing all the way to the bank. You need to leave or accept your fate. People continuing to stay is what allows them to keep taking actions that lower pay. Because they can.
exactly what I was thinking. - Carol
[ In Reply To ..]With your experience, why are you staying on with them? Start looking for another job where you will be valued. If you are a good MT, another MTSO will be happy to hire you.
Because India will buy most companies. - Did you read Kumar intentions.
[ In Reply To ..]HE IS TAKING OVER! Read posts from a few days ago. He is going full speed ahead with a whole bunch of acquisitions. Spheris was nothing; just a start.
He is also taking over support, IT, coding, billing to United State Hospitals. He will soon be running the healthcare in the United States.
Forget going to another MTSO. GET OUT AND RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN FROM BEING AN MT! DO SOMETHING ELSE.
I believe in Karma. - Whatever!
[ In Reply To ..]I believe in Karma. I betcha India will soon get rid MQ board of directors. Will not need them in the future.
If it is true karma, they will slowly demote them, - anon
[ In Reply To ..]reduce their pay, and strip them of any self-esteem they ever possessed -- then replace them with Indians and stupid Americans willing to work for a penny.
EXACTLY! My husband worked - for an India owned company
[ In Reply To ..]run by a bunch of Indians. I know this sounds horrible and I am not prejudice. I currently have friends who are from India and are very nice.
But the company my husband worked for was for power, money, greed and only cared about their stocks. Sound familiar? It seems CBAY Systems is that way.
My husband only lasted 4 months, even though he needed a job really bad. My husband hated the bosses the first day he started working. My husband thought he could handle it for 1 year and then he was going elsewhere.
Well, the company used him and abused him, wined him and dined him so my husband could get the stuff done that the company wanted and then? YOU DISMISSED. WE DO NOT NEED YOU ANYMORE.
Boom, my husband was out of a job. My husband also found out he was the 12th person in the last 3 years working for this company in his position.
Just thought of something that I am going to post up above!
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