A couple of MTs have shared this with me. The class action suit brought by a group of medical transcriptionists against MedQuist.
…lawsuit that was brought as a class action on behalf of current and former medical transcriptionist employees of MedQuist Inc. and MedQuist Transcription Ltd. (“MedQuist”). The suite alleges that MedQuist manipulated its company systems to underpay medical transcriptionists for transcription work that was compensated on a per-line basis. Defendants deny that they did anything wrong. The parties have agreed to settle the lawsuit.
So that’s the basics of the lawsuit. The class includes medical transcriptionists who transcribed for MedQuist from November 29, 1998 to August 11, 2008 and were paid on a per-line basis.
That’s all I know about the class action that was brought, so don’t ask for details. I don’t know how long it’s been pending or who originally filed it. If you were an employee of MQ, you received one of these.
What you also know is that the $1.5 million settlement went to AHDI. If you weren’t part of the class action, this may come as a surprise.
…the settlement fund, less Court-approved expenses, shall be distributed to the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (“AHDI”), an association of medical transcription professionals, to fund programs for the general benefit of medical transcriptionists and the medical transcription industry.
I guess nobody told them AHDI’s practitioner membership has shrunk to a mere couple thousand people.
…Qualifying class members will also be eligible to participate in certain AHDI programs free of charge. No payments will be made directly to any individuals.
I can hear all of you charging to send e-mail to AHDI and ask if you’re a qualifying member and what programs you qualify for. Can’t I?
OK, when you find out would you please come back here and say what it is? And while you have them on the line, ask them how they got their fingers in this particular pie.
Oy vey.
Who is behind the USMLSU Initiative?
I just received “Notice of Pendency and Proposed Settlement of Class Action” filed with the United States District Court/District of New Jersey (Camden) reading: Dorothy D. Myers et al., Consolidated Plaintiffs -v- Medquist Inc. and Medquist Transcriptions, Ltd., Consolidated Defendents. This was yesterday 01/12/2009. Clearly, this states exactly what you have posted, i.e. that none of us who were taken advantage of by MedQuist will have any profit from said litigation. I am clearly a disgruntled previous employee, however, I am not willing to participate and am requesting my name be removed from said litigation. If it profits me none……..oh, well I have said my peace…….
I worked for MQ for nearly 2 years and found out, by “accident” that they had “underestimated” my line counts when I received a letter with my final paycheck (I quit after working 14- and 16-hour days for virtually NOTHING) stating that there had been an undercounting of my lines and enclosed was a small check for 100 bucks and change. I later found out that MQ wrote the software that counts the lines. That was the tip of the iceberg……I then discovered that a class-action lawsuit had been filed against MQ…..after 4 years of corresponding with one of the plaintiff attorneys in Atlanta, I stopped hearing from them and assumed that the lawsuit had just vanished. I found out yesterday that a settlement had been reached for $1.5M with $250K off the top to the attorneys. I don’t mind that; they deserve to be paid. What I DO mind is the fact that AHDI is involved in this at all! How did THEY get cheated? Getting a free membership to AHDI and some other “incentives” to join is simply NOT enough…….I firmly believe that EACH and every MT who was cheated on their line counts DESERVES to be compensated in FULL for their time and hard work. This is not an easy business to make a living in….God knows I never have and I have been struggling with this for 17 years to date….but, to know that we were cheated (stolen from, actually) and that AHDI is going to get the pittance of a settlement from MQ makes me LIVID! I am encouraging all the former MQ employees I know to write to the court and to the attorneys of their objections to the settlement and FORCE a trial. It is high time MQ is exposed and I suspect, other companies have been doing the same thing as well. One MT service in particular has instituted a tier program where if you don’t make your line count for even ONE pay period, they can jerk your benefits.
Interesting, isn’t it?
MQ is definitely a rip-off…so many this and that’s, it’s just nuts…the company is making a killing off their MTs and the MTs are making next to nothing…I feel sorry for any MT working for MQ; I know I have had enough. I should have researched this company before taking the position, but I am great at what I do and figured it would be fine; wrong answer; 20+ years experience and then this, not acceptable. I needed a job and thought things would be great, live and learn. I would not recommend this company to anyone!
I agree that AHDI should not be getting the funds. First of all, we don’t need more training or whatever programs they have available. WE didn’t do anything that should require us to have more training. I would hope that the Execs at MedQuist could get some training in morals. But I guess that’s too much to hope for. I am still working for MedQuist, have done transcription now for the last 30 years. It used to be possible to make a living at it, but now I just want to hold on until I can retire. So I work part time, and thank my husband that I am able to do it that way, and am just treading water, so to speak. I objected to the law suit. I did not take myself out of it because I don’t think there will be another one, but I did object to the proposed outcome. This will be decided in March, and we have until February 19 to either opt out of the law suit or object to the proposed settlement. Anyway, don’t really expect much to come of it either way, except maybe now I will be on a MedQuist HIT LIST. Whatever.
You should definitely Object to the settlement & be heard by the judge at the “fairness hearing”
I too received the notice and I wholeheartedy disagree with their settlement proposal. But that is all it is, a proposal. If enough of us write in and do not accept the proposal they will have to come up with something else. MQ knew how much of a hassle and how expensive it would be to accurately determine how much was owed to each employee. They hopped on the settlement bandwagon in a hurry and are hoping we are all dumb enough to think it was a good deal. I looked on the AHDI site and the cost for a year’s membership was $135. I think we are owed a whole lot more than that. I’ve never been involved with AHDI and don’t care to be. We made this money, it belongs to us. I won’t opt out but I will write the letters required to make sure my voice is heard and that I totally disagree with their proposal. I’m hoping enough people do and make them accountable for their deception.
I would encourage all MTs who are “settlement members” to send in their objections to this settlement. To have AHDI benefit from our work is offensive. With 10 years of experience at an MT I feel I have adequate knowledge to perform my job well and am not interested in giving any compensation due me to an organization that will “improve” my skills. Come on! Do they think we’re idiots?
I just got my letter regarding the lawsuit as well. How the heck is this lawsuit on behalf of the transcriptionists, if we will not be receiving any money from this? I want any money due to me, to be sent to me. I never heard of this AHDI place. I have been doing medical transcription since 1993 and I do not need any improvement. I need my money. I worked for Medquist for like 12 years, and I am sure they owe me a lot. They know how much they were skimming off of everyone’s paychecks and should be made to pay it out to the people they stole it from in the first place. If there is a cost to Medquist for figuring out how much they owe each of us, then that should be their penalty for their skimming in the first place. I don’t want to take any courses from AHDI. I am close to retirement age. I will definitely be talking to my lawyer about this. Medquist, it’s time for you to do the right thing and pay the transcriptionists fairly. It’s because of corruption like this that the whole country is going down the drain. Medquist and other companies need to straighten out and fly right.
Just a quick update.
AHDI has posted a FAQ on the settlement here:
http://www.transcriptionistsettlement.com/
Jay Vance has blogged at the Advance Insider Blogs here:
http://www.transcriptionistsettlement.com/index.htm
I’m not sure who put that one up but the domain name owner is a consulting company.
I had been thinking of trying to gain employment with MedQuist, but definitely now will look for employment elsewhere.
Thanks for the info and best of luck to all you hard-working MTs. It’s a tough job these days!
I am angry…..we should be compensated for the work we did. I know for just me, I lost at least 300 lines a day for ove four months. I WANT MY MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I left Medquist in July 2007 – wasn’t there long. I’m working for a hospital and like it a lot. Just got notified that there’s a mandatory meeting – I think the hospital may be selling out to Medquist – I don’t want to work for them – they’re liars and cheats – I’ll have to get my fellow transcriptionistst to read these blogs.
I am new to reading MT news blogs and am not sure of the format of posting a reply; however, I would like to submit a late response to the hallaballoo of the Medquist saga. Having worked there for several years during the dates described in the lawsuit, I know I have been cheated out of a couple hundred lines a day for probably a several-year period. (I left Medquist upon the advice of a fellow employee who witnessed unscrupulous practices occurring in the office involving a paper shredder. Upon receiving the settlement document in the mail, I did some research on line and discovered that the judge presiding over the case had filed a letter to both the defendant and plaintiffs’ counsel asking why the AHDI proposed settlement was fair. He actually described many of the same points of unfairness that are posted in this blog by fellow MTs. It was quite interesting and fueled my motivation to write to the judge and express my disappointment in the proposed settlement. Of course, the date of the fairness hearing has come and gone and I don’t expect anything to come of my letter, but after reading these posts it is comforting to know that I was not the only MT who wrote to the courts complaining about the proposal! It can be a lonely world as an at-home MT and I look forward to keeping up with fellow MTs via cyberspace.
I am worried MedQuist is taking over at our hospital too. They are supposed to only be doing our “backlog” but yet the hospital is downloading the MedQuist program on our computers and we have had an online training session how to use “DocQscribe” and now they say we all need new foot pedals as our foot pedals now won’t work??? Please, has anyone had this happen?
Same thing here!
Fellow MTs: Don’t you think its time we exercise our rights to union representation for fair compensation? Hopefully, this would be a way to be paid for our services performed for Medquist retroactively. Medquist is changing the entire scope of our profession. We are paid as writers are paid. Writers earn a median of $50,000/yr, editors more (not 2/3 salary as Medquist has granted). Do some research. Find the facts. I urge you to contact your local office of Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) today – Medquist west coast region employees contact Y4union@AOL.com. The longer this goes on, the harder it will be to receive any justification.
I worked for Medquist for 1-1/2 years – how I made it that long I’ll never know. They, indeed, are cheats and liars. I am just glad to hear there are others whose opinion of them is not real high. The local hospitals here regret they outsourced any work to them as it is completely unsatisfactory. I am in the process of trying to do something about the way they misrepresented themselves to me but it looks like a long uphill battle. By the time I ended my employment with Medquist my self esteem was at an all-time low and I had to remind myself that I was one of the top transcriptionists at wonderful hospitals in 3 states with over 30 years experience. This company does not deserve to have any hard-working, conscientious employees!!
Has this happened to any of you. You are hired as a transcriptionist because your company outsourced to them. You work for them approximately 2 months as a transcriptionist then suddenly you have no choice but to become an editor at less pay (not that the transcription rate was all that much either). Not only that, then you get a letter stating that your “training” rate decreased because you aren’t meeting line counts even though no one has ever told you before in 9 months that you weren’t meeting the counts, in fact, you keep getting e-mails from your CTL that you are doing a great job. When you try to fight this you just get rubbish sent back and forth to you with your STATS. I guess since I am new to this I must not know the right way to count my lines. I thought if you go into statistics and check your counts for the day that is what you are getting paid for. Obviously, not. I work for them PT- 24 hours – I hate it. Don’t mind transcribing but editing stinks. Want to quit but can’t, I collect unemployment. I should have done what other girls my the same office did when we were outsourced – NOT TAKE THE JOB.
Hey Freddie
Yup I feel your pain. I was hired and about six weeks in I was made an editor at 40% less than my transcribing wage (yes,very low transcribing rate too). I haven’t had any issues with line count yet but my training pay just ended last pay period. I’ve already had to contact BOLI to see if they can pay me production at less than minimum wage and legally they can’t, but I can’t quit because of that. I have to keep track lines and pay, then report them if they don’t pay minimum wage. Like I have time to wait for money in this economy. I too am 24 PT and on unemployment, so you get stuck. Hope you figure something out and please share the wealth. I guess someone could contact the attorneys that handled the case last time. Live and learn.
I too am an ex MQ employee, was employed with them for 6-8 years as an IC right in the midst of the dates described in the lawsuit.
I opted into the class action suit and I too was extremely pi$$ed off at the outcome. It’s bad enough that they robbed me of literally thousands of dollars, but because I chose to stay in the class action suit, I forfeited my right to sue them privately. That’s not a lawsuit, it’s RAPE.
I am still an IC for a different company – a company that also uses DocQScribe and I am in the process of independently verifying the line counts DQS calculates for me.
I’ve been in this business for 30 years and used to make a great living doing it and enjoyed it. Now I’m just barely making minimum wage and have to work 70 hours a week to pay just basic living expenses and mortgage, with *nothing* left over.
I’m getting out but I strongly encourage you younger people just coming in to get organized and get a strong union behind you or these people will rape and rob you blind and leave you penniless and heartsick.
I also wanted to add that I now make 4 cents per line LESS than I made in 1985. If that isn’t criminally negligent on their part, I don’t know what is.
Also, anyone who works for a company with “employee” status and their benefits are dependent upon their line counts (the bar for which they set *just* out of the reach of most transcriptionists) needs to contact their state Labor Department.
Taken from Google:
“The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), formerly the American Association for Medical Transcription, is the world’s largest …”
I find it interesting that 1.25 million of the money went to AAMT. These are the same people we all pay dues to for membership in exchange for their representation of us, our jobs, our working conditions, etc.
What have they done for you lately?
I love the fact that MedQuist and ADHI are spending big money to lobby Washington to keep MTs are part of the healthcare reform– taken from MQ website.
In June, 2009, the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) and the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) hosted the fourth annual Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC, in response to President Barack Obama’s provisions and mandate for EHR adoption under the recent HITECH Act (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health).
Office of Representative Charles Gonzalez’ office (D, TX) – Meeting with Gonzalez’ Health Legislative Assistant, Julie Hart. During the meeting, the group showed Hart the difference between a structured narrative report done by a medical transcriptionist and a report done only by “point and click.” This comparison demonstrated the difference between the two reports and the information that was documented, reinforcing the belief that when complex data is forced into a restricted template the outcome could greatly compromise both the scope and quality of the patient encounter record. Hart indicated that Gonzalez would most likely be willing to sign a letter to Dr. David Blumenthal at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, recommending that transcription be included as an integral component in the definition of “meaningful use”.
Keeping our jobs alive is a noble effort if it were our jobs they were actually fighting for, but MQ isn’t in this for us. Since they outsource to India keeping the MT in the picture is greatly beneficial to their bottom dollar. There are the biggest company in the HIT industy becuase they are beating other American Companies in the bidding war by using MTs in India and in turn American companies are lowering our wages. MQ is as charming as AIG. I quit when I found out they were using MTs in India–I can make a better wage in housekeeping at our local hospital thanks to MQ.
Peter Masanotti became MedQuist’s chief executive officer in September 2008. He has extensive experience leading technology and business service organizations. Prior to joining MedQuist, he was managing director and global head of Business Process Sourcing at Deutsche Bank, where he was responsible for the offshore and onshore labor productivity and efficiency for the investment banking platform.
Previously, he was chief operating officer and executive vice president of OfficeTiger LLC, a judgment-based knowledge process outsourcing firm, servicing major investment banks and Fortune 500 corporations. Prior to that, he was chief operating officer of Geller & Company, a privately held finance and accounting outsourcing firm. He also held executive positions at Baltimore Technologies Inc., a Dublin, Ireland-based e-security solutions provider, and at International Telecommunication Data Systems Inc., a leading billing and customer care solutions provider to the wireless telecommunications industry.
Masanotti began his career at Kleban & Samor P.C., a Connecticut law firm, where he was managing partner. He is a cum laude graduate of Temple University of Law in Philadelphia and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics (magna cum laude) from the University of Connecticut-Storrs.
If by being included in the lawsuit, you forfeited your right to sue them privately, then how about another class action suit, only this time against MQ, against ADHI AND against the judge who allowed this bogus settlement?
And also the lawyers who supposedly “represented” the transcriptionists.
Boy this is hearbreaking. Quality and conscientous medical transcription is backbreaking work and the idea that a cleark in a department store could make more than “highly trained medical editors and transcriptionists” is just plain absurd. Shame on the people who sold us out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well this is heartbreaking. Quality medical transcriptionists and editors do back-breaking work and the idea that you can’t make any more than a department store clerk is just plain absurd.
SHAME ON THE PEOPLE WHO SOLD US OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, MQ is once again not giving credit for all documents typed. I am missing documents at the end of the day almost every work day.
I keep the doc ID and the job ID but you can’t find jobs you did more than a couple of months ago.
Does anyone know how to get into the archives to double check their list against mine?
Thanks in advance!
I worked for MQ at the time of the lawsuit and was notified by snail mail of the intent. I made the mistake of "asking about it" to corporate and lost my job 4 weeks later – just plain BS stuff. I actually won unemployment benefits due to their claim I was "not doing audits" but went to work nursing 2 weeks later. The thing is, I knew they were skimming my paycheck for nearly 2-3 years but for 25 bucks difference each time I actually documented this happening, I was put off and more BS. I finally was glad when I got fired – so-to-speak – as they were not very nice to me at all. With being an RMT with lots of college and working in an OR, I figured it was their loss.
I would wish anyone well as transcriptionists make little money for an extremely stressful employment and lots of being begged to work with little thank yous' – It is really sickening to think how we all were cheated.
I wish I'd found this page sooner. I would have complained to the judge with the rest of you, for whatever good it would have done. At least the principle would have been there. Like Joyce said, I kept myself in the suit, as I didn't think there'd be another. It stinks that you have no idea of what kind of agreement they might reach before you commit yourself, but there it is. I agree that the AHDI settlement is an insult. To add injury to it, AHDI cheated me, too. I decided to take two classes; one being the certification course and one being radiology, as I figured these might (ha) help me make more $ with MQ. The cert class was scheduled first, but then I was unable to do it at the times I had signed up for. I never received notice from AHDI regarding the second course as I had for the first. Maybe they thought as I never did it, they weren't going to follow through and let me do the second one? I never contacted them to argue it; I figured it was probably pointless. See what working for MQ has done to me? Someone used the word heartsick. Yes, that's a good way to put it. Depressed at having to get up and do this work every weekday; that too.
I've had experiences very similar to those mentioned here. At this point, I want to quit but I don't know what else to do. I think I was starting to get burned out on doing transcription when I started working for these greedy jerks (5 years ago, hard to believe!) and working for them sure hasn't helped. Part of me hopes they go ahead and fire me, but I doubt they will. After all, it must be hard to find suckers who willl still work there for the pittance they pay and the way they screw you out of benes, too.
I was just wondering if any of you thought MQ would manipulate data in order to convince a hospital to sign a contract with them? Myself and my coworkers after looking over backlog data and emails from the boss, where have discovered where there is this 2 month window of time where our minutes went miraculously from hovering in the 1500 range to the 4000-5000 range. Even our transcription supervisor questions this saying there are no more new doctors on staff, patient census same and we are all working our hours and getting our production in. Next thing we know, one of those mandatory meetings get called by our CEO and we find out he signed a contract with MQ.
I cannot believe this. I almost applied for an MT job at MedQuist today. I am so thankful I did not. The college I will graduate from in May uses the DocQscribe platform to teach us. Any advice for a newbie? I really do not know where to start and who to trust now. I need to work at home, but do not know who is legitimate and who is not. From the way all of the replies sound, I wonder if I am in the right profession. Please help.
Lilly
I have continued to read all of the replies. I am floored by what has been happening to so many of you. There has got to be a way to stop this. This is very hard work, whether we sit at a desk or not. Something has got to give. This is horrible. I feel for each and every one of you. Have any of you thought about writing to your local congressman? Maybe one of you know them personally? Try the local news. Companies are not supposed to get away with these kinds of things. There has got to be a way to make this BIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Advice for a newbie?
RUN, don't walk, RUN away from this entire profession, as fast as you can, as far as you can.
On a happier note, this was in the news today. (It's at least a step in the right direction).
Labor unions will have an easier time organizing workers at U.S. airline and railroad companies after the Obama administration on Monday changed a 76-year-old rule on union elections.
The change is a major victory for unions that have struggled to reverse years of decline in membership. And it's the most significant so far in a string of White House moves designed to boost organized labor.
The new rule, announced by the three-member National Mediation Board, would recognize a union if a simple majority of workers who cast ballots approve organizing. The previous rule required a majority of the entire work force to favor unionizing. That meant workers choosing not to vote at all were effectively treated as "no" votes.
The most immediate impact of the change would be at Delta Air Lines, where unions are trying to organize about 20,000 flight attendants. Unions are also expected to target workers at smaller carriers, including Allegiant Air, JetBlue Airways, Republic Airways and SkyWest.
http://www.breitbart.com
Wow, I’m amazed by my readings on this blog. I’m not a medical transcriptionist but I work for MedQuist, previously for Spheris. I thought I was shocked to hear of the unscrupulous activities going on behind closed doors at Spheris corporate office, but now I’m REALLY shocked to know my new employer is not only horrible too, but worse!! These types of things make me sick to my stomach and it’s terribly disheartening to know I’m employed by a corrupt, no-good organization. The world is definitely changing for the worst. You almost have to be self-employed to ensure you’re being treated and paid farely anymore. Disgusting!
Since going to work for MedQuist, my income went down a third by the end of the first year, then down to half by the end of this year, my second. If I stay any longer, I will be paying them…though I feel as if I am already paying them with the 20+ years of experience and love of this work that I can no longer justify performing. I will be looking for work outside of this field in the next coming months. At the rate of pay I currently receive with MedQuist, even in this terrible economy, I doubt I will have much trouble finding work that at the very least will be lateral pay, but with none of the mortification and heartbreak associated with working for criminals.
My company (a healthcare co-op) just switched over to using MedQuist’s “DEP” software for transcription. We are union employees, and have a guaranteed “per line” pay through our company, NOT MedQuist. However, since installing this new software, my production has gone down by 20-30% and it’s KILLING me. I’m typing the same speed, but getting less lines. That math just isn’t working for me. Would love to know how much of my paycheck is going straight into MedQuist’s pocket.
I am shocked and very disappointed in knowing there is yet another company stealing from their workers, who MAKE THE MONEY for them in the first place!!! I was interested in applying to Medquist, but I’ll be damned if I will now after reading these blogs. I hope all of you MTs get your money that is owed to you. Being a transcriptionist is hard work, as I have done it for 15 yrs. and know firsthand. How dare any company take what’s coming to all of you. This whole world is full of greed and it needs to stop. Just like the old saying, “The rich get richer, etc.” Shame on Them!!!!!
I’ve been an MT for almost 20 years and used to be able to support myself. Then, in comes voice recognition. Supposedly we can do that faster. What a hoot. And they cut my pay in half. I am so disgusted. I don’t even make $20,000 a year. What a shame. Shame on all MT companies,and I’ve been with several of the large ones, OSI, Precyse Solutions, and another. I am sick and tired of working my fingers to blood for 4 cents a line, not to mention that the line counter is not correct, counting far less lines that I know I’m actually doing. Might as well go to work for Taco Bell and make more. It stinks. I am getting close to retirement, and figured I go out as an MT. I have no idea now. I feel like I’m working in a sweat shop for pennies. I am so flipping mad.
I hear all of you wonderful women; I get screwed on a daily basis, no jobs available, and speech is all I do and it is getting old, cannot make any $$, you get the run around no matter whom you talk to; is it any wonder some of these docs are not done by their “hospital” as you CANNOT understand most and yet you send to QA with less money than the freaking amount for speech! Personally, speech should be more than straight out typing per line for what that’s worth; since I started I may have had 3 reports to actually type, its bullshit; the amount of $$ that company is making and the computer system is sooo slow, there is no communication, it is just a raw deal for everyone and I see no change in the way they manage anytime in the near future; grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…wishing you all a blessed holiday, maybe with my salary I will be able to afford a hot dog! Love you all!
The 7 Most Horrifying Cost-Cutting Measures of All Time
(Note #5)
http://www.cracked.com/article_18884_the-7-most-horrifying-cost-cutting-measures-all-time.html
Just an FYI for anyone who doesn’t already know about this, the American Transcription Association is putting together a petition/list of signatures to present to Congress regarding the ILLEGALITY of sending private medical data overseas to countries like India and Pakistan. Sign the petition here:
http://www.ataus.org/ata-petition/
Welcome to the new world of transcription. MQ is also taking over our hospital too. We are being outsourced. Most of our dictation is being taken over by front end voice recognition and the rest is just editing all the rest of the hard to understand doctors. If I were someone going into a medical transcription school, I would switch majors now, go into electronic medical records or something similar. Health Care will soon belong to the government anyway.
Voice recognition will soon take over all our jobs. Get out and get another job if you can.
Do you think MQ did something “funny” to manipulate data so that your hospital would sign a contract with them? Did your backlog jump up tremendously for no apparent reason?
MT’s used to be paid at a fairly decent rate, line count, incentive pay, night shift differential, etc., after that was “ended” by the hospitals for which we worked–it has turned into a “joke” of a career! There is no “status” that MT’s have any educational background at all–but just try to get a clerk typist to do this work–I would NEVER work for Medquist–am So Glad there was a Class Action Law Suit, wish the settlement had been more, that was just a slap on the hand for Medquist and the $$ they make!
I will support the Petition Re the Illegality of sending Medical Records overseas–the purpose of HIPPA is totally negated by sending personal, supposedly PRIVATE MEDICAL RECORDS to another country–what a sick joke!
I would like to know if there is any action that can be taken against MQ for not holding globals to the same policy and procedures that it holds US MTs to. Specifically, cherry picking, which CCMs and upwards are aware of and turning their heads from, making it even more difficult for US MTs to make a living because they leave us with nothing but the worst of the worst ESL and difficult dictators, and most of that is transcription, which I assume they cannot or will not do either. Any thoughts appreciated. Over the past couple of months we have had CCMs pulling back work from the globals and then telling us we better not refuse these jobs because we ALL have to do some bad dictators, My CMM asked me one morning if I would do an entire day of one certain DD they pulled back because the globals could not do it. Why should we be left with the trash that they refuse to do? I see this as totally unfair labor practices pushing US MTs into ruins.
That’s probably a topic best discussed in the forum at MT Desk..
A class action lawsuit is nothing more than a handshake between the lawyers of the plaintiffs and the corporation being sued. Goes something like this: “We’ll give you *this many* millions of dollars to shut these people up.” The people who were actually hurt, stolen from, ripped off in the first place get to eat dirt.
The MQ lawsuit is case in point.
This settlement was a FRAUD. As a transcriptionist who formerly worked for MedQuist I should have been paid for the lines that were “stolen” from me. The AHDI tapes that I received were JUNK and nothing that I could use and they ended up in the trash heap. This proves one thing – If you are a multi-million dollar company you can break the law and end up as clean as a whistle. I wonder who was “paid off” before this “settlement” was reached.
I feel I am definately being cheated now with my MTSO, as the line counts come out so low compared to the last company I worked for. And they also have told me that I am not allowed to log my true hours, as I am working more than 70 hours per week for what adds up to less than minimum wage, and I am barely making it. I used to make 16 dollars hourly at the hospital more than 5 years ago. Now I barely make 5 dollars an hour and that is when I am hustling hard and with the good dictators. When the dictators are bad, I may end up working for 2 dollars an hour. I have lost my car and now can’t work outside the home…I’m stuck without a choice. What should I do? I want to sue them. Who can I ask this question. I actually received a phone call to tell me that my actual worked hours had to be adjusted down to match my production, this was my first 2 weeks pay period and from there on out, I knew I could not log my true worked hours. What is the reason we cant log our truly worked hours if we are actually paid on production only? Is there something illegal there?
To Cynthia,
If they allow you to log the number of hours you actually work, then they can get in trouble for paying less than minimum wage. It’s all about covering their own butts. I would keep a record of your ACTUAL hours on your own. You could possibly file a lawsuit over this. It likely won’t make you rich, but you’d be at least standing up for your rights.
JMO.
Oh man, this is telling me too much about the industry. I went in in 1999, was making decent lines fof CPS, a small company run by Lanier. Then a few other companies, all of them going to EMR and ending up me losing my job. I get with OSI and they looked good at first, decent pay, but then they merged with Nuance. Yep, you guessed it, I went from making a decent wage to less than $4 an hour part-time. Had to have the surgery for my hand, and they gave me a song and dance about how they’d have to fire me if I was out longer than 4 weeks, etc. – Long story short, the 14th is my last flippin day with these jokers. They are now DEMANDING that we buy software costing at LEAST $200, AND use our PERSONAL computers for work, which then means I have to buy MORE software. I make less than $200 BIWEEKLY with these jerks (PT). I used to enjoy being an MT. Not anymore. If the doctors are willing to settle for cheaply done, voice-recognition gobbeldygook because their CEOs want to save $$, then it’s on them. This is one MT who is done. 12 years doing it and I’m making less than I did when I started. Phooey.
Wow, reading all this has got me concerned. The hospital I have worked for for 8+ years just told us today they will be outsourcing to Medquist and that we will have the option of going on to Medquist and continuing on with the hospital we currently work at as our *PRIMARY* account, meaning we will still be typing all the same doctors.
It definitly was unsetelling the girls in our dept. make anywhere from $14 to $18 an hour on top of incentive, so we have made pretty good money.
I can only shake my head at the things I have read on here and hope for the best. I’m close to 40 so guess I can go back to school to become a nurse or something, but how will I foot my bills while I go to school??…makes me wonder should I just take the severence pay & sign up for college.
Take the severance. This just happened to 30 of us and about half took the job offer (Nuance) and they are already regretting it after only a few weeks. I have been an MT for 20 years and am so discouraged at where this industry is headed. I say a prayer every time me or someone I know goes to the doctor these days. The public DEFINITELY needs to be made aware of this and the effect it will have on their healthcare. I tell every doctor I see they better be paying close attention to their notes and am surprised at how many are not aware of what is going on. I hope they care enough to demand more qualified MTs, but the reality is they have very little say. To bad no one gives a hoot about our bottom line.
Wow! This happened to us last week. About 9 of us were terminated. MQ is who our hospital will be outsourcing too as well. I have been with my hospital 15+ years. We have women there who had 20 to 30 years in. We were completely blindsided because we had ALWAYS kept our backlog manageable. It was so weird….in January our backlog basically miraculously doubled. In a panic our boss put us in overtime, called in the prn workers, etc. The weird thing was our backlog NEVER came down. She implemented different schedule coverages and the dang minutes kept going up. Then, out of the blue, she sends out a memo that per our CEO, no more OT has been approved. Following that we get the email that we have a mandatory meeting. At this meeting the CEO mentions the backlog, brings up potential HIPPA violation and then tells us MQ is taking over. Oh, we were all offered jobs, but we will be taking pay cuts. Talk about stink! We are all still processing this. Several of my coworkers will likely just go on unemployment. Some of them already had bad experiences with MQ and the other handful did their research.
I worked for transcriptions limited for quite a few years from the mid 80’s into the early 90’s. Trust me when I tell you that the issues that the typists have is only one area of TL’s crimes. They used to over bill the hospitals every day. It would be hard to prove when lines were being billed. But it was easy to see when 50 extra pages a day were being added to delivery receipts. Almost no one on the delivery side counted the pages that were being delivered. When you were the one in the office responsibel for counting the pages for the hospitals on your route and the office manager made out the receipt with 50 pages more than the number that he got from the person counting, it’s quite obvious. This was every day! One hospital like U of P at 50 extra pages per day at maybe $5.00 per page. This is thousands of dollars each day. They ripped off employees from profit sharing plans as well. if you saw the greed based on the way the top dogs lived it makes the scenario more dispicable. The stories I could share.
I would love to hear from anybody out there who worked for a hospital and was the victim of an MQ takeover. Myself and my fellow co-workers are particularly interested in what was going on just prior to this takeover. Did your backlog/minutes go up for no apparent reason and no matter how hard you worked and how many hours of overtime you put in they kept rising? Did you notice there were extra seconds and in some case minutes tacked on at the end of the dictation? And did these sudden changes happen quickly and in a matter of weeks you received notice of that mandatory meeting and then find out you were taken over? Please let us know.