Comments on: Medical Transcription: How Did We Become a Commodity?

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:43:24 +0000

Good questions. And you won’t get in trouble here! LOL One of the things I love about our community here is that people can and do speak their minds and we still have respectful conversations about important stuff! Stay tuned later today for a post where I hope we will start some discussion about “how to” do things. Someone just asked me yesterday what can individuals do even if they aren’t members of an organization. We’re going to start having those talks!

By: Denise

Denise — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:29:06 +0000

Thanks for you repy, Kathy. I am not a huge supporter of unions as such either. I always found it better not to insert a third party in my relationship with management but it does not seem to work in this business. And I do believe, with all that is going on with unemployment and finance, people being asked to do more for less if they have a job, regular people are just sick and tired of being at the bottom of the totum pole, and industry in general is practically asking for workers to consider things they would not if treated fairly (eg UNION). At the very least we need an association that will speak up for us instead of supporting the “business.” So what is the alternative? Does anybody have an idea or ideas that could be put into action or does it end here at this website? Working at home keeps us so isolated from our peers and I believe strongly the industry uses this to their advantage. I am very happy to have found this site and hope I don’t get into too much trouble as I’ve always been one to speak my mind. I also worked with onion skin and a typewriter. I think people of my generation are more apt to speak their minds. I am quite willing to work at improving our wages and, just as importantly, demand the respect we deserve. Is anyone else out there willing to step up and where do we start? Remember Norma Rae?

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 06:32:15 +0000

Denise, I do agree that we allow our compensation to be what it is. That’s just sad to me and yet, as MTs, we “settle” sometimes for less than we are worth. I also agree that MTs are some of the brightest women I have ever known. I think there is power in numbers. Don’t know if I think the unions are the way to go simply because I’ve seen that up close and personal when I was at a hospital and they didn’t do a lot to help the MTs. Still I do think there has to be some unity in the profession to make any difference. Thanks for stopping by and adding your comment!

By: Denise

Denise — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 17:04:16 +0000

UNION! If every MT went on strike/walk out for 2 days I believe that would open the industry’s eyes. We are treated and paid like piecemeal factory workers with no skills but expected to be near-perfect in our typing skills, English grammar, spelling, medical nomenclature as well as working as interpreters. They are getting some of the brightest women I have ever known for PEANUTS and I do believe that, as a business vastly predominanted by women, we are discriminated against for just that very reason (and we allow it!). The industry is dehumanizing us. How can we stop this without banding together in numbers to force the issue?

By: Kathy

Kathy — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 19:59:15 +0000

Thanks, Pat. It is about community, which is what we hope to create here!

By: Pat

Pat — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 07:35:29 +0000

I like this website. I find everyone here to be mature and helpful, not like those gripe boards. How can we as a group lobby for better laws and conditions for ourselves?

By: Shirley

Shirley — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 01:11:51 +0000

Don’t get me started. This is one of my soapbox opportunities. Why must we lobby on Capitol Hill – why can we not affect change ourselves within our profession? Why can’t transcription services bring about an hourly rate? How is it that these services continue to propagate this type of compensation. If we “demanded it (production-based pay)” back then, why can we not “demand it (hourly wages) now?” I am a little confused on this issue and somehow find it hard to encourage others to enter this profession knowing that base pay for them may even be below minimum wage as newbies? Fortunately, I do not HAVE to work (I love medical transcription). But what about others who think they will be able to support a family…

By: Kathy

Kathy — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:21:44 +0000

Carol, it IS about the brain in our jobs! I think you also make a good point about it being a bit different when you are in-house as the actual physicians really see MTs now and then and seem to connect differently.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:20:46 +0000

Sherry, you make some great points! And you’ve clearly found a place where you are appreciated. I think it’s important for the newcomers to our profession to know that there ARE good places where your skills are respected. I also agree that we have to change our corner of the world!

By: Sherry Evans

Sherry Evans — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:11:10 +0000

I agree with pretty much what most of you have said, but I want to throw in my 2 cents on something. I work from home as an independent contractor. If my husband didn’t have a good job with good insurance, I’d have to find a different job and quit being able to work from home. MT jobs are few and far between in our area, so I’d have to do something else–and I’d probably end up as a waitress or bartender again and work really cruddy hours. As an IC MT, I have a lot of benefits that go along with having a home office and avoiding that rat race of having to do my hair, make up, have a work wardrobe, drive to and from every day (with all the added cost of more-frequent maintenance, keeping the gas tank full, etc.), etc. I don’t have kids, so I’m not saving anything on childcare (though a lot of at-home MTs do).

Anyway, I’m kind of straying from the point I wanted to make. I take pride in the job I do–I push myself to get done as much as I can, but I do not sacrifice quality for quantity. The lady whose company I contract with knows this, and because she has the faith in me that she has she transferred me from an account where I was being paid 0.065 CPL to one that pays 0.09 CPL! She also knows that I’m available in a crunch, that if she asked me if I could help out on the “old account” because they were in a bind–perhaps too many people being off on the same day or whatever–that I would jump in and help out, even though on that day I would be losing money because of what that account paid. (I wouldn’t want to make a steady habit of it, but she knows she could count on me in a pinch, even though it’s never happened!)

I also used to work in the Transcription Department of a local hospital. When the workload in our department was cut back drastically due to (1) an ambulatory surgery center being opened that could perform outpatient surgeries for patients who were not Medicaid/Medicare and (2) our ED switching to about 90% of their reports being lines filled in on a form that was then scanned into our hospital’s records system, the hospital cut back our department by 6 positions (including not only Transcription but also in all of the Medical Records area). The hospital has 2 unions that cover everyone with the exception of the management (not sure about the docs). Layoffs were made by UNION seniority (which was based on date of employment BY THE HOSPITAL, not by seniority within the Transcription Department), and since another lady who came into the Transcription Department 8 months after I did but who had worked in the hospital 2 months longer than I had, I got chopped. But I will say that when I worked at the hospital, I developed quite a reputation as a transcriptionist, especially with the ED. Those doctors loved me, and I truly enjoyed doing their transcription!

Anyway, I think that as an individual we aren’t going to be able to change the world….but in our little corner of it, we can continue to do our best and develop the best relationship possible with whoever we are getting our paychecks from whether you are an IC like me and have a signed contract with a transcription company or whether you work on-site in some capacity. Unless you’re in a position to change the world, and who is(?), all you can do is your best and hope that you are individually recognized and appreciated for it.