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


How many of you have started guessing rather than leave too many blanks? - Invalid Blanks


Posted: Jul 06, 2013

I am so over this company who seems hell bent on destroying the integrity of medical documentation in this country singlehandedly. 

Have you ever heard this quote? - Speculation

[ In Reply To ..]
Not sure who said it (Abraham Lincoln gets credit for it and sometimes Mark Twain), but your question reminds me of the following quote:

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt."

In answer to your question: No. I won't guess. IMO, I think if you have to leave a blank, then you have to leave it. If you're not sure what is being said, guessing is never a good idea.

I suspect other companies will find a way to exploit Nuance's new policies that will encourage and reward the practice of guessing and use it to relieve Nuance of some of their customers.

Sales Pitch: "Nuance's new policies are going to hurt your patients and ultimately end up costing you the money you thought you saved because they now punish their MTs for leaving blanks and reward their Editors for filling in blanks and 'adding value' to your documents. I hope your lousy dictators are good doctors because their reports are going to be loaded with best guesses and misinformation from both ends of the spectrum. Nuance's modus operandi in systematically dismantling the pay structure of their seemingly endless string of acquisitions has virtually guaranteed this outcome. And did I mention that much of this guessing will be done by a large group of employees that call English their second language?"

That sounds about right to me.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the sales pitch!! - I will be copying

[ In Reply To ..]
and saving that one for sure....maybe to paste into an article for the local paper, directed at our local hospitals??? Hmmmmmmmmmm.....

Not singlehandedly. They're partnering with MModal and, ironically, AHDI towards that goal. - Des

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

I never just guess. I've chosen to learn, thereby allowing me to know. - Des

[ In Reply To ..]
Guessing is for scared newbies and lazy MTs/QAs. True medical profressionals NEVER put their own selfishness and ignorance above patient care and safety.

One thing you have to realize is that some MTs - choose laziness over blanks. Not

[ In Reply To ..]
all blanks sent to QA are even possible to fill in. If you've done your research and are unable to fill that blank, chances are the QA people will not be able to either, or will have to really do some research. I left Transcend QA a couple of months ago but I can tell you from my experience, there are some really lazy, inexperienced MTs out there who take advantage and rush through reports leaving holes without any effort whatsover.

Let the bashing begin, but unless you've experienced for yourself what some MTs are capable (or incapable of) don't assume the object here is to search for unjustified blanks and errors.

Blanks - uniquemonique

[ In Reply To ..]
I used to do QA for another company,and our job was to fill in blanks that the MTs could not get. While I do agree that there are some MTs out there who don't want to take the time to do the research, there are also bad bad dictators, who, no matter HOW many resources you check, a blank cannot be gotten for the MT, but perhaps the QA person is used to that dictator and canunderstand it. We are supposed to use 3 resources and take no longer than 3 minutes to fill in a blank and if we don't get it, then we sent it to Qa. and if they are lucky enought to get it, and we are over the ALLOWED SPECS PER SITE FOR BLANKS we still get dinged for blanks that are filled in by QA. That is across the board unfair.

Why assume anything? - Speculation

[ In Reply To ..]
Not trying to bash at all, but you do realize that getting paid to edit a report for errors, fill in as many blanks as you can, and then determine whether each blank is justified in order to calculate a total point value deduction is the actual job, right?

There's actually nothing to assume here. It's the object of the job. You approach each report with the attitude that people are lazy or lousy (as written in your post) and now you can make more money because of it, and the company gets the outcome they want.

leaving blanks - new but old

[ In Reply To ..]
I looked at one of my FIESA reports and they actually marked me off because I left a blank because I could not clearly make out the date that the physician stated, so I left a blank and they marked me off and put down that it was an invalid blank. How can it be invalid if I didn't clearly hear it in the first place????

Not me, but I also do not take it personally when-- - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
QA notes a blank as invalid or whatever. I have been doing this work long enough that I know my capabilities. If it is a term new to me and the physician speaks it clearly, I will spend the time on research. Often times searching for physician names can be a crap-shoot so I will not spend too much time looking for that one in a million. I am not overly worried about my QA score, either. I do my best with every report and if I cannot decipher it, I leave a blank. I am on a no-blank account and even so, my # of reports to QA is within the realm of reason, so no guessing and no getting worked up if QA can get it or not.

Never, one reason I left for amphion is....... - smeeps

[ In Reply To ..]
Same pay but no dings for blanks, actual one on one training, but most of all....respect.

Sorry to be nosey but.... - nosey nellie

[ In Reply To ..]
What does Amphion pay and do they have health benefits? What type of account did you start with? Clinic, Acute Care?


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