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

Just thinking about something related to politics and MT

Posted: Mar 15, 2011

Wouldn't it be great if we had an MT union (not going to happen; too late for that) and we see headlines that say, "We are troubled because union MTs make 12% MORE than non-union MTs." Just a thought. I think that might be a very good thing.

;

About a month or 2 ago - no1joe

[ In Reply To ..]
I brought up the subject of an ME (not MT - you're right... too late for that) union because they still need English-speaking MTs to fix the garbage done by VR, newbs, and India, and, while some did agree, most people blasted the idea. I still don't get it. I've seen ads for 7 cpl for experienced MTs, of course less for editing. When do we decide what the bottom line is?

It's too late for a bottom line - - Zville MT

[ In Reply To ..]
We can complain about the money, the hours, the difficult accents to understand, etc. and the truth is there are way too many people in other countries willing to take all that on for a lot less money than 7 cpl and not complain or threaten to unionize.

Not saying it makes it right or acceptable, but until the governent takes on keeping transcription of medical records within the borders of the US, there's not a whole lot we can do about it. There's the battle we ought to be taking on - getting legisltation to make it harder (if not illegal) for companies to send medical transcription overseas.

I agree with the legislation - no1joe

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to make it harder... 100%. But I disagree about the other countries being able to take a portion of the work at this point. That's why I was talking about starting an editors union (an effective MT union at this point is, well, pointless). If they didn't need us to fix the junk, none of us would have jobs. Indians are not native English speakers, newbs don't have the experience to edit quickly enough, and VR needs to be taught. They still need us, and since they still do, the time to act on it would be now. It's never gonna happen... just an idea.

Then people would scream, - sm

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just like they now scream, "nobody should be forced to join a union" they would be screaming, "nobody should be forced to...(have their work done in the United States) (pay minimum MT wages) (keep medical records in the US) (fill in the end of the sentence with your own favorite).

Okay, so it can all be made a choice. - Zville MT

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You don't have to join a union, it can be optional. You don't have to have your medical records transcribed in the US, you can fill out a form saying it's okay for someone from another country to have access to your personal and medical information. As far as minimum MT wages, what would that be? I guess it would depend on experience of the MT, the difficulty of the dictator, and what the union would demand.

I think a lot of problems with the MT field could be solved with stopping so much of the work going to other countries. The MTSOs would then need more of us here in the US and would be willing to pay decent line counts to keep us (for other reasons than to clean up VR and outsourced transcription).

Even then it won't help....the Indians then - just bring the Indian MTs

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stateside and put them up in apartments with american addresses work from here. They will just do that on work visas on a larger scale if the government said transcription of medical records had to be stateside (which is not going to happen).

The Phillipines (where some work is going) is an American territory so they would be able to take more of the work.

It's insidious now and there is no changing it. And still....costs for everything overhead-related keep going up, and face it, hospitals/clinics can only pay so much...and you are really shooting yourself and the rest of America in the foot anyway, because you are going to pay for higher line rates (if an MTSO could even get them) by higher costs to see the docs at clinic and higher hospital rates.

That is a reality which no one ever seems to address regarding unions. It trickles down all right...to us, the consumer of the product or service.

So basically you're saying that your - no1joe

[ In Reply To ..]
colleagues (if you are an MT/ME) are disposable and easily replaced by VR and offshore. Thanks for that. I, on the other hand, do not think that we are 100% disposable yet. They still need us to fix the garbage India and VR is pumping out, and we deserve to be paid accordingly for our skills and experience. Not enough to buy a yacht, but at least as much as we were making 15 years ago! And to want this is "shooting yourself and the rest of America in the foot?!?" Come on.

If quality wasn't an issue, there would be no QA/QC. Why even pay for it? And if you don't think that offshore and/or VR produces junk, check out the VR/Speech Wreck board. Pssst... If they didn't need us, none of us would have jobs.

Thanks for the encouraging posts though.

Let me say this about that....(lol) - I am not saying we are

[ In Reply To ..]
disposable. What I am saying is that the consumers of our product are: (1) limited. Hospitals/clinics/offices. What kind of facilities are these? Medical. (2) What costs have seen the most increase in the last 15 years? Uh oh...MEDICAL. You are one of the ones who have screamed about medical costs, right...that is why you want universal health care...right? Stay with me now.
(3) When ANY employer has a raise in expenses, he has to raise the cost of his goods or services or go under...and a nonprofit hospital doesn't have a whole lot of wiggle room. So...more increases in medical costs. Honestly, you act like every MTSO out there is cutthroat, getting rich at our expense. Not happening, otherwise Spheris would not have gone chapter 11....????

Please try to think about this from the OTHER side, and as OP keeps saying, when you have done that and can run a successful MTSO paying MTs what you think MTs are worth (you have yet to state that), and still cover your overhead and your own living, THEN you will have some moral high ground from which to shout.

I have been there. I KNOW what clients are paying. And it is NOT enough to pay an MT more than half of what THEY are paying and still survive.

If you want to be in a profession where collective bargaining will work for you, then go to GM, or UPS, or-or-or...and when you do, bear in mind, every time you gouge them for higher pay and more benefits...it is going to cost everybody who buys a car more and everybody who ships a package more.

Those are the facts. You can ignore it all you like, but the market just won't support what you propose. If you think it can, then get out there and prove that it can, and you will be able to steal all of those thousands of underpaid MTs and make a killing for yourself in the process.

Please do! I would LOVE for you to do that.

MTs just keep on licking the foot that kicks 'em. - MT Wordz

[ In Reply To ..]

Right? - no1joe

[ In Reply To ..]
And what really ticks me off is that I think collectively we are NOT a stupid bunch of people. Read the posts on this board. We are bright, articulate, intelligent people (even if I disagree with the content of the post, the writing style suggests intelligence behind it). How did we let this happen to our industry, and why do we keep letting it happen? *End of rant*

We let it happen by . . . - julie

[ In Reply To ..]
continuing to lick those boots. If every MT REFUSED to work for some ridiculous amount like 6-9 cents/line (hasn't changed in at least 15 yrs or more) THEN WHAT WOULD THEY DO?? We allow them to continue to abuse us and then we ask for more. "Yes, PLEASE hire me for slave wages (oxymoron), I beg you." In 1996, my hands broke knocking out lines to support myself and my teenaged son in a very modest manner. As a result, I got carpal tunnel-like symptoms and could not work at all, and ended up losing my house. Now, all these years later, they are still offering the SAME laughable pay AND GETTING AWAY W/IT because we let them. --okay i'm done for now.

Check this out! - no1joe

[ In Reply To ..]
You're right! When are we going to start refusing this? Check out this post on the Job Seeker's Board. Not only is the pay insulting, but check out how it's worded. Bet someone will lick these boots too. It's so freakin' sad.

http://forum.mtstars.com/310146.html

Talk about rude!!! - Zville MT

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I'm tempted to respond to tell her how insulting her notice was - I think the insulting pay speaks for itself!

I think we should all respond - no1joe

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and insult her for her tone and the pay offer (6 cpl IC?! WTH?) by clogging her e-mail. Well, I don't know if it would insult her, but it would probably tick her off.

I'm game. - An entire dept at the hosp

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I worked for, plus the satellite office staff and the tiny agency contracted to do overflow said "no way!" when the big MTSO that took on the acct offered us all 7.5 cpl to continue working for them. Now the docs are getting their money's worth. :)

Email sent... - Zville MT

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that felt good ;) I'll send a couple more tomorrow, just for good measure ;)

Same here :D - no1joe

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It did feel good. The ad is now gone. Too bad, so sad.

It's gone now. What did it say? If you - remember. nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

It was an ad - no1joe

[ In Reply To ..]
for an IC position offering 6 cpl. The overall tone of the ad was extremely condescending, stating something along the lines like "Don't complain about the line rate. Physicians don't pay like they used to, so get over it." I want to say there was something in there along the lines of "We want MTs who will show up." The woman's name was Tonya, but I can't remember the name of the company it was for... it started with an M.

Oh, ok. Well, certainly not Ms. Congeniality... - she was not going to have

[ In Reply To ..]
a lot of takers at 6 cents and the rhetoric probably took everybody out of the picture. Well, good luck to her, she is going to need it. She needs to get up off her lazy rear and type it all herself, then she can have all the $$. lol.

You tell me....what do you think would happen - if all MTs just stopped working.

[ In Reply To ..]
they would point all the work to the Indians, Phillipines, whatever. There will be enough MTs who would not stop working because frankly, they can't. They have mouths to feed and bills to pay.

And by the way...if an MTSO has to bid 14 cents to get the work and pays you a "laughable" 9 cents...that leaves them a nickel for themselves and all the overhead.

If you think hospitals/clinics are paying more than that against Indian competition, you have a serious another think coming.

If you think YOU can operate and MTSO on a nickel and pay yourself, start one. I will come work for you for 9 cents for the 60-90 days you will stay in business.

EXACTLY!!! - julie

[ In Reply To ..]
IT'S CALLED SLAVERY.

As the MTSOs are liking the feet of the hospitals/ - doctors giving them whatever

[ In Reply To ..]
it takes to get/keep their business. I justed started working again in a clinic (not as an MT, and I am sure that his MT has no idea that he is switching over to EMR very shortly. I also have noticed a large portion of referrals that I am getting are from an EMR system. The doctors and hospitals are feeling the crunch of the economy just like everyone else.

I figure we are lucky to have transcription jobs for the moment, but I also know that there is someone out there constantly looking for a new program to do it all, or close enough.

There's no luck about it... - no1joe

[ In Reply To ..]
And the fear of EMR is another threat the MTSOs hang over our heads to keep our pay low, together with the reminder that we are "lucky" to be making what we are. The fact is that most of us are already typing straight into an EMR system. I've been doing so since 2004. All EMR means is that there will be a "paperless chart." The perks to this are 1) It's "green." It saves paper and saves trees. 2) Access to patient records at multiple facilities.

However, the EMR systems being offered are also being offered with front-end speech wreck programs or a "point and click" system of data entry, neither of which doctors are very fond of. Look at job ads at sites other than this one, and you'll notice scribe positions popping up. That's because the doctors who have the point-and-click system can't work it or it's too time consuming. What I've been seeing a lot of, and I predict that it will continue for a while, is doctors no longer dictating a ROS or a noncomplicated past medical history, instead replacing it with "ROS has been reviewed and entered into the EMR." That info is being entered during the reception process from the medical history forms filled out in the waiting room. Detailed MEDHX and ROS are still being dictated. The subjective history, exam findings, assessment, and plan (for standard note) are still being dictated. If that info is going through a back-end wreck system, they need us to fix it. If that info is being straight dictated, they need us to type it. And, as for front-end, how many doctors do you know of would like to sit, dictate, and edit at the same time? Can you really picture a large hospital going 100% front-end in the near future? Can the point-and-click McDonald-ized version of medical documentation have every possible variable imaginable to ensure accuracy? Ever done a psych report? How do you point and click your way through the subjective portion of that? In the near future, again my prediction here, many (not all) small clinics and radiology reports will successfully go either to front-end or point-and-click. The large hospital accounts will still need us to fix the back-end junk or straight type ESLs that are un-VR-able. They will still need us (experienced native-English-speaking MTs) for a while to edit. "Fear of EMR" is just another MTSO tactic to keep our pay low.

The "scribe" position is the most - bizarre way of

[ In Reply To ..]
producing med recs that I have ever seen. A local hospital constantly advertises a scribe position in their ER.

So quit. That'll show'em. - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
There are schools graduating new MTs every day. MTSOs will hire newbies to do their editing. Better than the Indians and they will work for less. Experienced MTs will then have THAT to contend with.

Yeah, form a union and strike'em.

Here, let me hand you the knife to cut your nose off to spite your face.

Hospitals/clinics are not like GM who can raise car prices. There is only so much they can do...how much higher do you want the cost of medical care to go? Because when an employer has to pay out more wages and bennies, they have to raise the cost of their product/service. Just like YOU would if YOU owned a business.

Can you at least look at it realistically?

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