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Is there anyone who was not negatively impacted by the patient safety compensation plan? - Curious

Posted: Apr 02, 2015

My understanding is that the earnings of Nuance employees in the transcription division were negatively impacted by the initiation of the patient safety compensation plan.

If the original incarnation of the patient safety compensation plan caused an increase in earnings for your specific team, it was quickly amended to not only negate that change, but to also result in a decrease in earnings by 30-70%. Is that correct across the board? Is there anyone who did not receive a pay cut secondary to the implementation of said plan?

Just Me - Meh

[ In Reply To ..]
I heard on this forum about a month ago there was going to be another change in the pay game, but havent' been personally notified of another change. Until that may happen, I've actually had an income increase since the so-called patient safety compensation plan, but that's just me, and prior to the so-called patient safety compensation plan, I was only making 7.5/3.75 pennies a line, so that may be why. It sounds like the majority of Nuance employees must have been making more than 7.5/3.75 pennies per line if the majority are saying they're making less now.

Big pay cut for me. - nm

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x

I think only some had that issue you mention - the rest of us up and down

[ In Reply To ..]
Mostly down.

Personally, I have had a few "good" weeks where they didn't "catch" me in an error and then I made 10-11 cpl, but now the norm seems to be a "critical" error or "major" or something, just one it takes sometimes, and down to 8 cpl, only because I never send more than 10%, or I haven't yet anyway, otherwise it would be 7 cpl.

I find it hard to get enthusiastic or even happy when I make the higher cpl because invariably I get my pay cut the next week and it can be $50-100 less in ONE WEEK.

I just happen to think the errors should not count so much and that we should not be feeling like we are gambling for a living. I have resigned myself to expecting the lower cpl since you cannot be perfect and they often find things that are ridiculous which they mark you off for so even if you disagree tough on you.

Is it too much to ask for a more even pay rate? I guess yes, or I guess the pay rate is truly 8 cpl not 11, that's only once in a great while when they don't get you.

"gambling for a living" ... perfect. - ex-Nuance (nm)

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x

Was making more for a while. Not so much now. - sm

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For a while there was making over 11 cpl and they seemed to be letting small "mistakes" slide. You know, missing comma and such. Now they seem to be getting really picky. How do 2 0.25 point mistakes in a week knock you below 99%? Mistakes that in no way affect patient "safety" cut 100$ a week from your pay. Yah. Well, I am thankful for the time I got the higher pay anyway.

Negative Impact - SadMT

[ In Reply To ..]
The impact on me has been just as you describe. I usually had an increase initially with the original change in the pay plan, and a big decrease with the most recent changes. At the moment, we are able to see both versions of the grid when approving time cards in Webclock. I can compare what I am making now to what that looks like under the newest plan. I can count on a 3-4 cpl decrease when the newest version goes into effect. It is absolutely going to be less than what I was making before the new and exciting changes even took place. So disheartening. :(

I am not certain if this applies "across the board". I know it impacts those utilizing the Bayscribe and Futurenet platforms.

PLEASE READ - Nuance Pay Cuts? - Kitty

[ In Reply To ..]
I was with Nuance for 8 yrs, eventually ending up as one of their so-called Team Leads (not sure what they call them now) and asked for a demotion to QC because I simply didn't like the way they wanted me to dog the MTs. It was absolutely the worst job I ever had and when I finally had enough of them it was like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders and mind. The QC job was absolute horror too. The QCs are graded on how many jobs they QC edit. There are these obscure people who QC the QCs and even more obscure people who QC the QCs who grade the QCs (clear as mud???). Nuance is inundated with people who are given a "title" and they are the ONLY ones who make any money ($14-$16 an hour) and this was the major culprit causing them to not pay the MTs anything to speak of. When the company is making 0.25 cpl and they only pay the MTs 3.75 cpl they are making money hand over fist. The MTs are the core of the company. Now their work has diminished but they always claim they have new accounts coming on board. How long can they pull the wool over people's eyes? Nuance pulls all these creative pay crap things to weed out more MTs rather than having to terminate people. They come up with these things to make you THINK it's going to be beneficial to you but when you do the math you are MAYBE making minimum wage. BOTTOM LINE IS THIS PEOPLE...by January 1, 2016 (it was originally Jan 1, 2015 but the facilities and doctors were given an extension) the government MANDATES that ALL facilities must be converted over to EMR (electronic medical records) or face some pretty stiff monetary penalties, especially where Medicare and Medicaid is concerned. I am working in medical records at this time in a medium sized hospital and the doctors here HATE having to do their own reports and creating them with canned phrases. Dictating was always something they despised anyway and now this. HA! Some physicians have what they are calling "Scribes" who shadow the doctors and even go into the patient rooms with them and create the reports for them.

I feel for the hard working MTs who are consistently led to believe that being an MT in the future will still be a needed and utilized profession. Nuance will continue to dock more and more pay and will give more and more reports to offshore people because they will produce reports for HALF what they are paying onshore MTs until the work is completely nonexistent. It's sad. Be VERY careful when looking online for home-based work. If you fill out one of their forms online for information on home-based jobs, expect to receive, on average, 5 phone calls a day from people who call themselves Sam or Sarah and who can barely speak English, who call you under the pretense of selling you online classes for work from home jobs. Sorry this is so long and depressing. I just want everyone to really know what time it is. It's time to find another job or go to work for another company who will pay you what you deserve for the remainder of time MTs will be creating the reports. Just start looking for some alternate source of income in the meantime. Computers are taking over for real.

One last word to the wise. Don't think Medical Coding will be a long term lucrative field...it's on the way out just as transcription is. New programming (Nuance has their fingers in this pie as well) is in the process of being created that will code out diagnosis/diagnoses when the reports are created. For instance, if the physician or their scribe enters appendicitis for the diagnosis, an insurance claim form will be created for this patient and their diagnosis. The EMR and insurance claim form will work hand in hand.

I wish only the best for each of you and surprise Nuance editors, auditors, leads, supervisors, managers...you're going to have to get a real job!

EMR - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Most hospitals around here are already EMR and I work for a clinic that is EMR but they still need transcription for my specialty so I am going to hang in until there is nothing to hang in for. I thought everyone had EMR now. I pretty much do not see paper charts anywhere anymore except dental offices now.

EMR - Dotts

[ In Reply To ..]
I absolutely LOATHE and DETEST the EMR and voice recognition transcription gibberish. I never said I wanted to be a "machine" doing my work. My new internist I was surprised to find last week still has paper charts and she told me that she absolutely hates voice recognition dictation and also having to deal with electronic medical records. It's like we are given no choice in this matter. The so-called "software geniuses" come up with these grand ideas and we are all stuck with the results.

Did well, but not anymore - HangingInThere

[ In Reply To ..]
Same here. I had a few really great weeks where my pay checks were increased anywhere from $50 to $400. However, the last 3 weeks they have made certain to find errors. I have record of a reversal I got approved 3 weeks ago I think and last week the same error was not reversed. I have done my calculations and with the new plan that takes effect for my team starting 04/11 if I get 100% QA, less than 10% to QC and transcribe the 150 to 160 lines that I normally do my paycheck will be $32.50 more than if I got less than 99%. But if I sent more than 10% to QC my paycheck will be $66 less. There is no way around it and placing both pay grids in our current time cards has indeed proven this.

New pay plan/old pay rate - rock bottom

[ In Reply To ..]
It seems they have got us all completely fooled with their creative math.

The excitement of making 0.10 cpl is dimmed by the fact that it is cut in half to 5 cpl (ASR lines are halved).

I skip the creative math and just compare paychecks. My lines per pay period are fairly constant before and after the pay cut.

Before: Came out to $900 to $1100 per pay check, depending on overtime, average being about $1000.

After: $600 to sometimes $900 per pay check for an average of $725 per pay check.

$1000 - 725 = $275 loss per pay check.

Since being moved to editscript, I'm losing another $150 to $200 per pay check.

That brings my total loss per pay period $425. Based on the money put into my bank account now, compared to before December 6 when we got the exciting new pay plan, my deficit runs $800 per month pay cut.

Mine too. - nm

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...utterly sinful.

What's the Difference Now? - Meh

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I still don't understand why most of you on this forum seem to be getting less instead of more or the same. You say "the excitement of making 0.10 cpl is dimmed by the fact that it is cut in half to 5 cpl (ASR lines are halved)." But wasn't that always the case? I only made 7.5/3.75 before the new pay compensation game, and I make more now because whereas before it was static at that lowly pay rate, now I always make more than that unless my pending to QC is over 10%. Most of you guys must have had a line rate that is a fortune compared to what I got.

Making more consistently - DJ

[ In Reply To ..]
Just to answer the question posted -- for 3 solid months now making considerably more money under the new plan, no big ups and downs in pay. For me, definitely better than before

What the heck is with the "dislikes" - DJ

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The poster asked a simple question, I gave a simple and honest answer and I get 4 dislikes. What the heck? You 4 dislike my post. Sorry, but I am not ever haunting this board again -- won't waste my time even reading it -- will just do my job and make my "disliked" extra money while some of these losers apply for food stamps and apply for bankruptcy. If anyone is here looking for positive comments and trying to make an informed decision -- you can forget it.

I didn't dislike your first post, but this one I do and I will - wannie

[ In Reply To ..]
gladly tell you why. It started out okay until you started slinging insults by calling people losers who apply for food stamps and apply for bankruptcy. I am blessed in that I have not had to do either of those things, partly because I have a husband to help support our family. However, some people are single parents with children to support. For some of us, it is a pay cut if we manage to get knocked off the grid because of even 1 error that is deemed critical or major whether it is or not. Just because someone applies for food stamps or bankruptcy does not automatically make them a loser. At one time in the distant past, I was a single parent, had 2 small children, worked full time, but still applied for and qualified for food stamps in order to feed my children. For those who have done well on the new pay plan, I say kudos to you. For the rest of us who don't always do as well as we did on the old scale, a little sympathy would be nice. The day may come when you are in our shoes.

There Was No Old Scale - Meh

[ In Reply To ..]
There was no scale prior to new compensation plan, was there? Or am I missing something? Instead of those people clicking dislike, however, it would have been more appropriate to explain why they disagree, and is it because they were making a flat 8.5/4.25 pennies a line before this new payment game? I myself was only making 7.5/3.75. This is not about me gloating now because I now make more than before whereas some of you make less now than before. I simply wanted to understand why it sounded like most? of you make less now, since I make more with the new pay game.

It seems to be a pattern - Anon

[ In Reply To ..]
I did dislike the first post because it happens on here so often. People come on and post about how they are making so much money, so happy, etc, etc, and then they get all upset when people dislike their posts. They start slinging insults and pouting and leaving in a huff. It gets tiresome. Like they just say these things to see how many dislikes they get, then the same pattern over and over again. Like someone said below, it's all entertainment for them. They enjoy insulting us and making fun of people on food stamps and those pushed to bankruptcy by this company.

Misinterpretation - Meh

[ In Reply To ..]
I think you and many others on this forum misinterpret these comments that you claim some post about "making so much money, so happy, etc." And I think this is based on your own projection and your justiifed anger at working at Nuance which pays barely over minimum wage. However, I don't think that anyone has ever expressed happiness at making lots of money. In terms of this post we're referring to, the commenter simply gave information to me about whether she happens to be making less or more with the new pay game. It sounds like overall, more people make less, and therefore my conclusion is that most people employed by Nuance were making more than me which I used to make a static and pitiful 7.5/3.75 a line. Yes, it is kind of interesting to read people's bitching. It has a certain "sensationalism" to it, I guess.

new pay plan - rock bottom

[ In Reply To ..]
As I recall in the memo, this exciting new pay plan was going to level the field. Silly me. In my mind, I thought the management would choose the middle, instead they threw everybody to the bottom.

So, my pay went from 8.1/4.63 (reason being a harder platform) down to 7.0/3.5. Anything above 7.0/3.5 comes from higher production along with superb quality and less than 10% to QC.

On the old plan, recall the incentive? If one made 99.3% or above, there was a 10% incentive, and if you were at 99.5% a 10% quarterly bonus and 100%, a 15% quarterly bonus? Remember that?

Now, when I produce the same lines as before, send less than 10% to QC and make 99.3% QA I get 5.5 cpl (11 on the grid).

The trick is their psychological gimmick, something well known to marketing. (How can something be free for only $19.95? But it sells. How can something be 'new' and 'improved' because if it is improved it isn't new. That gimmick works too). Looking at 11 cpl 'feels better' because it is 'more' than we made before until you realize that half your lines were thrown out, so you really are making 5.5 cpl.

Which is why I ignore the grid and look at my weekly lines and my weekly paycheck. My paycheck is running $300 to $400 less per paycheck making the same production and the same quality as before. And, I'm still working on the harder platform. They haven't fixed it yet.

Came on board with Webmedx in early 2010. Made 9/5. Early 2015, making 7/3.5. Four years, 25% pay cut.

So, when you keep looking at the grid, that 10 cpl, 11 cpl, even I hear some making 12 cpl, remember to divide by 2, that is what you are really making.

I Agree - Meh

[ In Reply To ..]
You didn't say anything at all wrong in the other post yet you get 4 dislikes. You were just kindly giving me information as I wanted to understand more what's the situation overall with MTs at Nuance currently as compared to before, as I didn't understand why most seem to be complaining of a pay cut when I myself (as well as apparently you too) have an overall increase, and those who have a pay decrease must have been getting a considerable amount more pennies per line than I was at 7.5/3.75 because now I almost always get more, in spite of pay unpredictability, since the only reason I'd get less pay is if I pend over 10% to QC. Now, in terms of this posting, I don't blame you either, since I understand why you're annoyed by the 4 dislikes in the previous post. This forum has a lot of angry people, and we all like to bitch a lot apparently. I think it would behoove myself not to come here either and use the time instead to make some money on EBAY, but I do find all the bitching to be interesting to read.

To I agree - DJ

[ In Reply To ..]
Well what goes around comes around, karma or whatever -- I just fell off the grid with under 99% QA for the first time. It was bound to happen. Legitimate markdowns, stupid mistakes on my part. I apologize for offending what I called "losers", but you have months of warning signs before losing your home, etc. I wouldn't dream of staying in a job that was causing that. I would take in a roommate, move in with relatives, take a second job or whatever it took to preserve my credit and try to move on from such a company.

In regard to pay -- I was making slightly more than you before - 8. something straight, 4. something edited. Until this week I was at 11 cents a line with the new plan, so of course I'm much happier, but you can't say that here because no one wants to share in your happiness, just want to wallow in misery. No thanks!

curious - damaw

[ In Reply To ..]
No, I have not been impacted by the SCP. In fact I have made more money. There is a lot of negativity on this board. My pay has gone up at least 30%.

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