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Deducting from QA for blanks - Oldie but goodie

Posted: Aug 10, 2013

Is it common for the transcription services to deduct from our QA score now, or is this exclusive to Nuance? I'm pretty frustrated today: VR had said 14 cm, but it sure sounded like 40 cm, but it was an orbital rim fracture (a small area), so I was reluctant to change it to 40 without another pair of ears. I put this in an elaboration (which we're not paid for) and found I was dinged 0.25 for my efforts (only thing "wrong" with the report). I'm not sure I can respect a company that penalizes people when they want to make sure about something. And I don't care to work for a company I can't respect.

blanks - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
If it was a no blank account then that one resolved blank could have been counted against you if it could be resolved. If it was a 1 blank or more account and that was the only blank, then you need to disagree with that. The allowable amount of blanks even resolved many not be counted against you.

If this is true, that's insane - AnonAlso

[ In Reply To ..]
"If it was a no blank account then that one resolved blank could have been counted against you if it could be resolved".

So if you had a question, blanked it, and sent it to QA and they "resolved" it (which is the exact reason it was sent to QA), it counts against you?!

Whether QA resolves it or not - it should not be counted

[ In Reply To ..]
against you. QA/QC is supposed to be in place to HELP US, not penalize us... but wait... they are incentived to penalize us, get it?

Blankety blank - Oldie but goodie

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It's kind of starting to be "last straw" time for me here. First the pay cut, which we were told you could earn back if you meet the 3-pronged incentive system (productivity, percentage sent to QA, and the QA percentage itself), then the supposedly new and improved "eBTXT" (seriously, does anyone prefer this to the old BTXT?), and now having our QA be affected by blanks. In the example I gave in my earlier post, I gave the choice in my own elaboration: To go with the 14 cm VR had come up, or with the 40 cm I felt I was hearing. QA agreed it was 40 cm and dinged me 0.25. Technically, it doesn't really affect me; because although my QA qualifies, I do not get the bonus anyway because my LPH is too low. But based on the "principal of the thing," it really troubles me that sending something to QA could have an effect on an MLS' earnings. I wish I could believe it would never enter into a person's mind when it's time to make the choice (to send or not to send), but let's face it, it will; and that means a less accurate patient record.

Blankety blank.....sm - LoveMT

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I hate EbeyondTXT. It's definitely not even comparable to the old BeyondTXT by any means. It's clunky, slow, locks up constantly, and requires more steps to do certain things that only took 1 step to do before. It's ridiculous because it CANNOT learn the format for specific accounts, causing the MLS to constantly have to make formatting changes to headers, numbered lists, etc., all of which take TIME, which in turn takes MONEY out of our pockets.

As for your being marked off for sending something to QA that was resolved, I had a similar thing happen to me, BUT instead of sending my report into QA or QC for review of a value, I slowed the audio down to 50% to be CERTAIN I was hearing 114 and not 140... And guess what happened?? The report was pulled for post-audit, and I got a critical error (-3.0) because they swear they heard 140... It WAS NOT 140, and I absolutely know this because I listened and relistened to it at the lowest speed possible on EbeyondTXT, and I definitely heard the "teen" at the end of the word. Add a little insult to injury, because of this "error", I had to take a "mandatory" module in Enrich on editing tips and techniques...

So, IF I had done as you did and sent it into QC for review of the value, I might only have been marked off 0.25 after the blank was resolved, but because I chose to take time and slow down the audio all the way, listen and relisten to be absolutely certain of what I was hearing, and then put in exactly what was dictated, I was hit with a critical error deduction and had to take this module in Enrich (that I've already taken TWICE in training prior to this).

By the way, my account is a "NO BLANKS ALLOWED" account, so I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't... It's not going to change the way I do my work though. I refuse to guess and will leave a blank regardless of whether they take off 1 million points and when I'm positive of what is dictated, I'm going to transcribe/edit exactly what it should be, again regardless of whether they take off 1 million points. I have been doing this a whole lot longer than the offshore QA who are auditing my reports, and (not to sound stuck up) I know my work is quality and reflects my experience and expertise.

The whole QA/QC thing makes no logical sense. Why pay people to review a report for a 2nd and 3rd time, "find" errors in that report, and then propose to give them a bonus for those "errors" being resolved or found when costs could be "cut" by eliminating offshore QA with so little experience and having only the MLs to edit the report and ONE set of QA/QC to review/audit the same report?

BLanks - Beatendown

[ In Reply To ..]
I got deducted for NOT leaving blanks. Maybe Mr.India couldn't understand it, but I did. You CANNOT win. India RULES.

Pretty Obvious - kd

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I thought about applying to Nuance and so have been watching this board pretty closely. The question is, WHY???? are they doing all these things. Standing on the outside, it is glaringly obvious that this "company" is making working for them next to IMPOSSIBLE for you because they want to dump their USA transcriptionists, except maybe for some of the new graduates who they can manage and pay less. Then they can say there are not enough qualified USA transcriptionists and justify sending work to India or wherever. Or maybe they have developed new medical record technology for the upcoming healthcare changes and won't need you. If you quit, do you still get unemployment? By the way, I will not be applying at Nuance.

14 versus 40 for orbital rim fracture - MT

[ In Reply To ..]
Think about it a little more. 40 cm = slightly under 16 inches. How on earth could there be a human orbital rim fracture of 16 inches? I'm guessing that the fractional point was deducted because between 14 cm and 40 cm for an orbital rim fracture, there is no question of which is correct. Not trying to be mean at all, just pointing out what I am guessing what the rationale probably was for deduction, kind of like an invalid blank. I don't think there are many invalid blanks, but this would probably qualify.

What's amazing is QC went with 40. - Oldie but goodie

[ In Reply To ..]
I wanted to leave it as 14, believed I was hearing 40; that's why I wanted another pair of ears before changing to 40. But they did change to 40 and hit me with the deduction for questioning it.

Excuse me, it was mm, not cm - Oldie but goodie

[ In Reply To ..]
Sorry. But still . . .

mm not cm - YD

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Good grief. That makes a big difference, and I hope you are challenging your deduction and that it gets reversed. You absolutely did the right thing!

hon, that's a HUGE difference - 14 mm vs 40 mm???

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14 mm is hardly a wound. Are you serious?

dinged for blanks - millie

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I said this earlier on the board, and it was verified by my TL ~~ "they" are doing a "study" at Nuance and are dinging the MLS now 0.25 if they think you have too many blanks on a report; because of this, you'll be seeing a lot more of these 0.25 "errors" for blanks, which is absolutely ridiculous.

I am blissfully unaware of what they are - deducting from my score.

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I simply could not care less. They can take off 300 points on every report--I don't give a rip because I'll never know until they fire my ass.

I was too - wish I had not looked

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But our TLM chased after us, told us she gets a list of those who don't look at FIESA,so I thought I'd take a look. I gave 2 weeks' notice within 3 days of doing so. I will not work for a company that discourages MLS from blanking things they cannot understand. The QA percentage score was bad enough, where with a very long report with even one blank, ALL of the lines are counted as having gone to QA. You can't tell me with technology that can measure if somebody's hands have been off the keyboard for 5 minutes, that they couldn't have the QA percentage be by "blanks per total lines," rather than having all the lines count against your QA percentage when there is one blank. I've been doing this for 40 years. Now looking forward to my last day. Very bittersweet to be sure.

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