![]() Gilbert, RHIT, CHTS-IM, owner of Gilbert Medical Transcription Services, who also works part time as a speech editor for a national service. In addition to the ear training skills that are the foundation of traditional transcription, today's MTs often need speech editing prowess as well, says Carole J. "Her production by the new standards was so low that the new employer had to add $26.86 to her paycheck just to keep her at minimum wage."Īre such conditions unfair to knowledgeable and often credentialed professionals who deserve better? Or is it simply a sad reality they must face under the strained economic conditions that continue across many health care spectrums? " Cromie, 56, who had worked for UPMC for seven years and had been earning $16.58 an hour, saw her income drop from $1,012 for two weeks of work to $330 with Nuance," the article stated. Instead, a production-based wage of eight cents per line was offered, compensation that left at least one employee struggling to meet minimum wage. According to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, while hospital MTs were offered positions at Nuance, they would no longer receive $12 to $22 per hour. In October 2013, approximately 50 MTs gathered outside the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) offices in Erie, Pennsylvania, to protest the hospital's decision to outsource transcription to Nuance Communications in Massachusetts. Factors such as outsourcing and speech recognition technology have led to many working under production-based pay, if they keep their jobs at all. ![]() Medical transcriptionists (MTs), via social media and other outlets, have been especially vocal about pay concerns, some claiming they struggle to make a living-or even minimum-wage. With more patients requesting care, in part due to the Affordable Care Act, and hospitals pinching pennies to do more with fewer resources, it's probably fair to say most health care professionals believe their paycheck doesn't reflect the true value of what they bring to the table. Salary and other pay gripes may be common water cooler fodder heard in nearly every workplace, but some may argue the health care industry has been squeezed more than most in the last decade. Why? Is it fair? What can be done to remedy the situation? Several factors have led medical transcriptionists to be given short shrift.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |