Work is way, way harder...
 

I'm a medical transcriptionist for a community hospital. About two years ago the powers that be decided the way they were paying us for home transcription was an "error" :smack - so they cut our pay by about 30%. That was really a budget buster but I was grateful to still have a job. I was recently promoted to lead transcriptionist (after doing the job for several years with no recognition) and got a small raise. I was pretty happy about that as every little bit helps.

I had a meeting with our new manager last week and she's decided to raise the minimum line count by about 30%. At 62 I'm not gaining typing speed - just keeping steady where I am. She also took away a little pay perk I get for being lead, which will cut my pay a bit more (because it was too hard for her to figure it out). I'm very discouraged and tired of feeling like I'm being jerked around. Jobs are scare and I'm only three years away from retirement.

Thanks for reading this. I just needed to vent...

Hate to hear things arent going well for you.... but look on the bright side.... you still have a job.... many have lost theirs thanks to our nations economic woes. And there are a lot of folks that cannot work at all so will have no retirement. Then there are those who simply are no longer with us. :eek: Look around you for all the positives that you do have... It may just perk you up enough to get you through these troubling times. :)

Sorry to hear about the changes in your job! Like a lot of places, it sounds like they are trying to do more with less, putting more burden on the employees they have. They can do it, because there are lines of people looking for jobs. Did you speak up and ask why the changes?

I am sorry that you are in this situation...it is sometimes difficult to "compete" with all the younger people have to offer an employer....especially when the supervisor is the age of your children or younger...some cultures value the wisdom of the elderly...but not here...our society prefers youth...

I'm an MT also, and I feel your pain. Maybe it's different since you're in a hospital, but I'm self-employed and work for services, and they're all saying we won't have jobs after the first of the year due to the EHR (electronic health record) law Obama passed. He destroyed an entire career field with one simple swipe of his hand, thanks BO!

I have numerous health issues and take multiple medications. I can't get any other jobs, although I'm still trying mightily. I've been hanging on by my fingernails, just hoping I could stick with it long enough to reach retirement age, but I'll only be 57 in June, so no way. I may have to become a bag lady after the new year, woo hoo! I honestly don't know what's going to happen, and I have no family to lean on. I've been searching every day for another job for months now without a single lead.

There will still be a few jobs (estimated at about 20% or less compared to the number of MT jobs now), but they'll mostly be records technicians or scribes, jobs which require much more physical labor and pay about a quarter of what I make now. The work is already drying up like crazy, with companies folding and/or transitioning over, and it's only going to get worse over the next 7 months. So enjoy it and be happy now while you still have that job, no matter how miserable it is...and believe me I understand how miserable MT has become over the last 10 years! Sure wish I'd gotten out while the getting was good!

The new manager probably got a raise for figuring out how to cut the payroll, they will be sending the work to China next.

I'm an MT also. The jobs have already gone to India and other places. Plus, what BO has mandated, transcribing is going, going, gone. Younger folks can get education for another career. The older medical language specialists can get government checks. That's the plan, I guess.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. The medical field just baffles me. Some of the most important people in the overall scheme of things are the lowest paid and least respected.

About 7 years ago I worked in a call center. We had one of the big wigs come in and tell us we had better up our Calls per hour, as they already had 1 open call center in India and they payed way less then they paid us and in India the call center operators made more then Doctors and Lawyers. BYE BYE jobs!!!!!

I'm so sorry about this. The heartlessness of those in power knows no limit.

It isn't just those jobs, and it will get much much worse.

I tried to explain some of it in this thread:

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/spe...xtinction.html

Technology is growing at unprecedented rates. Who would ever have thought you would ask your phone questions? Who ever thought that a computer could beat a Jeopardy champion? Those are just the tip of the iceberg.

One thing I like about working for multiple employers is that if anyone attempts to jerk me around, I can walk away without a backward glance.

I did have one employer try it last year -- a move that would have amounted to a pay cut -- but when I promptly tendered my resignation, they backed down.

Is there any way you can market your services to other employers -- private physicians, etc.? Will there be government funding available for retraining when your job goes away for good? Will your skills segue into another field, for instance court reporting?

I'd start looking now. :teehee:

Whoever thought that a cotton gin would replace cotton cards? Whoever thought that Fultons steam boat would ever power ships and barges up and down the Mississippi? Whoever thought that a machine could drive more railroad spikes than John Henry armed with a ten pound hammer?

We are simply going through another "revolution". The industrial revolution of the 1800s changed the landscape of American industry... and that of many other countries world wide. Our nation changed... and changed drastically. Those who resisted that change were simply run over by it. Those who recognized it for what it was and embraced it prospered and did very well. Today (and for the past forty or so years) we are witnessing the age of technology opening its doors upon the world. We can either embrace this inevitable change.... and learn how to prosper from it.... or as surely as John Henry was.... we will be destroyed by it. Now... which would you rather be? A famous (although dead) "folk hero" that songs will be written about and legends passed down through several generations.... or the unsung hero that was able to bend with the changing times and fed their family and watched their children as they lived out their lives in the new age?

Callie and OP,

Just have a second here as I am getting ready for work, but could you look into transitioning over to be a legal transcriptionist? I worked for a court reporter doing transcription and I made a pretty decent part time income, I could have done it full time, but I already had a full time job. Court reporters get overwhelmed and also you could look into the big law firms and see if you could work on their transcription.

Just a thought since it is obvious you can do the transcription and to be honest, legal jargon is easier to me than medical. That field won't be going anywhere as long as there are appeals and what not.

got to run, I am sorry that your field is disappearing, I guess that is what happens when all the consequences of a law are not looked into.

I strongly disagree that recent healthcare reform is the cause of disappearing jobs in our field. It's all about outsourcing. We've been sending our overflow to India for seven years, instead of adding staff to do the work. It's cheaper in the long run - no benefits to pay. The quality is inferior but that doesn't seem to be a concern. Take a look around the Internet - you'll find that outsourcing to be the major problem and it's been going on for quite a while. Big companies like Spheris, Precyse, Medquist, etc are outsourcing like crazy, cutting hours and pay for their US MTs.

The use of voice recognition software over the last few years has changed the profession as well. Less actual transcribing, much more editing. I worked contingent for a large radiology group for a while and it was all editing, no transcription.

I worked at GE for a good many years - they transitioned 90% of their customer service on the A/P to India. In less than 2 years, they brought it back to the US when the quality just wasn't there and that was 8-9 yrs ago. They are still trying to straighten it all out. HA! Serves them right....

As to your issues with work, it makes it really hard to be up attitude and smiley, doesn't it? Is there a class or 2 you could take to become recertified in something close to what you're doing now? Taking the pay cut would tick me off royal - since you're so close to retirement, it will be hard to stick it out for 3 yrs. My sister is in a job she's had for 38 yrs. Changes in management, personnel and these young bucks that don't know what customer service is - makes her job pure you know what..... Do the best you can til you can figure something else out....but work to make yourself happy at it instead. The 3 yrs will go faster....

Yeah, I know, I know, I know....change is inevitable - but that doesn't mean it's all for the best, you know Stan? Somethings are falling by the wayside that - to me - are important.... Common sense, work ethics, customer serivce just to name a couple off the top of my head.

The OP has such a short time b$ retirement, she's in a tough spot.... I think anyone that transcribes anything has a tough job. Couldn't do it....!

Ladies, I've been transcribing for the last 11 years and love it. You all might want to check out Transcend Services. They are getting new accounts all the time and are actively recruiting experienced MLS's. YOu need 5 years experience. If you are full time they have all kinds of benifits available i.e. health, 401K, PTO, etc. You can also work part-time as I do with a flexible schedule you set up.

Oops, I forgot we just merged with Nuance and I can't find the Transcend SErvices site.

Better to call rather than do the online app. Waiting for a phone number from my team lead for a direct line to Transcend - Call Heather Maoury (mawrey) at 1-800-555-8727, Extension 525.

I did medical transcription for years, and some legal transcription, before DH hired me as his medical office manager. I looked into getting back into it, working out of the home, a couple of years ago. A friend's DD in Washington does it. At least then, there were openings for experienced transcriptionists. Surprising that things have changed so quickly. :(

We can generally use the events of the past as a guide to what might occur in the future, but sometimes it just doesn't hold true. I think this is one of those cases. I have had a few jobs "technologied" so that I could never go back. If it had happened to me just once, then I might agree the pace of change is slow enough to make adjustments.

Voice recognition will continue to get better and spread to other areas. In a different area, it is only a matter of time before truck drivers are replaced on major routes by driverless trucks or convoys. We now have the technology so that just about any job that requires large numbers of people is a target for mechanization and computerization.

The economic need for an expanding middle class and lower class is dwindling. That is rarely a good sign.

Bluesky has it exactly right. You can blame Obama if it makes you feel better, but EMRs have been in the works for a lot longer than he's been president. Technology is costing us (MTs) right now. I've been doing this for 20+ years.

Fortunately, I'm with a system right now that looks like most of us will be able to hang on for quite a while. There have been huge changes at this place in the last couple years, and more are coming. While we ARE required to do more for a bit less pay than just a few short years ago, we are fortunate enough to have management that has turned us into a "for profit" dept - although I work for a specific system, we are now taking on physician offices and other types of work very similar to a service. We outsource almost nothing to India anymore.

Voice recognition is hitting hard. Our whole rad section is going to PowerScribe within the next year, which will eventually reduce MT manpower by about 80% in that section; however they are trying to take on enough work from other sources so that not many (if any) will be out. Radiologists are notoriously impatient - I'm curious to see how much self editing they'll really want to do. Our med recs went to VR last year, we lost no one (yet, at least) due to cuts as they've taken on enough work to keep us busy and the dept actually making money for the system. If they continue to do this, most of us will be okay. Our "sister" dept in Columbus has actually grown MT staff by about triple in the last 3 years - I'm hoping that eventually we'll all fall under their umbrella, because those ladies KNOW what they are doing, and doing it well. I'm only 47, so have a long time before retirement (if ever!), and things are changing at warp speed. If you're willing to learn, bend with the changes, and yes, worker harder for less, you can still (at this point) make a decent wage at this job.

In 2006, the system I worked for outsourced our whole dept - I was there for 18 years - but many MTs there were not willing to change and adapt and eventually I think they just got tired of dealing with it - and there was nobody there to turn us into a money-maker.

It's tough times, indeed. Very scary.