keystrokes vs lines

It is about 644 lines an hour [2008-11-27]
It is about how many lines you can crank out, not about quality. Also about cesspool, wouldn't be happening if we had our primary accounts and were allowed to perform our work properly, few blanks left then from seasoned MTs. Whenexperienced MTs leave that many blanks there is a good reason for it, and it is notthe MTs fault. All about money for the suits. It seems everyone is respected in this job anymore but the MT, the only one who can really produce the work. Ultimately most will move on to some place better.

I did the 500 lines and am not lying nor Stepford wife. [2008-11-25]
I told you all the reasons why I did it and why 644 would be IMPOSSIBLE unless someone was skipping text (though someone else did mention templates, perhaps that would help). How did I get 500 lines an hour? 1. I had my primary ONLY (usually doesn't happen). 2. Most of my ADT screens were filled in (usually doesn't happen either). 3. It was the weekend so mostly the same few docs for a change that I could understand. 4. Put it on FULL SPEED (though that's a bit comical and not very safe, IMO). Slowed down only a few times. 5. Didn't use skip markers. 6. Didn't fix small punctuation errors or missing 'the', etc. 7. Didn't take the allotted breaks. 8. Didn't do it for a full 8 hours. Frankly, I don't think I could. 9. Three cups of coffee. I wasn't trying to brag or mislead anyone. My point was that with EVERYTHING in my favor, AND doing things that are incorrect, such as missing skip markers and ignoring small punctuation, words, etc., I was ONLY able to get 500. How in the H**L could someone do 644 is my point...! Can the dictation go any faster? No. Could I take any less breaks? No. Tonight I'm back to my 200+ lines as usual and don't plan to re-take that challenge. I think it's too risky for patient health (though I did listen extra-carefully to meds, diagnoses, etc), and way too stressful to be on full speed like that for hours on end. Seriously, it's all adrenaline, bab-ee.

It's the same as lines...60% of what you get per report. [2008-11-24]

Is this true..that all extra lines typed over [2008-11-24]
at 0.03/line? So if in a pay period that requires 12,000 lines and you type 18,000 lines...6000 lines are bonused at 0.03/line? Anybody who routinely makes the monthly bonus (NOT THE SPECIAL BONUSE)..know this? thanks

MQ, ASR lines [2008-11-23]
I did the exact thing, but the day after I received the second letter I got a new job and I am quitting MQ. I have put in 20,000 lines in a two week period and I just can't do anymore. I have worked for this company for a long time and I am getting older (54) and I cannot put in those hours. I just can't do it anymore. So maybe they will get the big picture when more MT/MEs decide they have had enough too. Good for you

Try Keystrokes. They have a lot of old MQ accounts and they're hiring. sm [2008-11-23]
I made the move a year ago, and it was the best thing that I ever did. I have held on very part time with MQ because of an outstanding 401k loan but now I am going to be free completely as of 12/10!!!

Last I checked, Keystrokes group insurance was awful. Has it gotten better? [2008-11-23]
nm

1200 lines (a full day's worth) in 2 hours? I'd pay to see that done! [2008-11-22]
x

There is NO WAY 600 lines can be done [2008-11-22]
in an hour....it's a mind game they're playing, saying that if we're not making enough money it's our fault, that we're just not GOOD ENOUGH at what we do. They've been doing it for years. The sad part is it works especially when most transcriptionists are isolated, toiling away like good little worker bees.

I think I heard Indian MTs average about 600 lines a [2008-11-22]
nm

600 lines! [2008-11-22]
Yea, right! Whose going to believe that? I, too, was insulted! I felt like someone was kicking me in the butt and telling me to GO FASTER, GO FASTER!!! Who in their right mind is going to put it on full speed ahead and expect to get an accurate report? And I'd like to know why they keep changing our BOBs and yet expect higher productivity. Oh yes...give me that 4 cents a line...I'll work harder and faster...yea, right!

2000 lines [2008-11-21]
I do 1800-2000 lines per day, but not for MQ. I work for MQ PT (about 12 hours/wk) and average about 200 lines per hour. Before DQS and other changes I did a minumum of 300 lines per hour which, yes, put me at the 2400 per day for an 8-hour day excluding breaks, etc. But that was back when we were paid for headers and had 1 to 3 accounts. To attain that 2000 goal is almost impossible with MQ any more. The reason I achieve it with my other company is because I have only 1 account and the ADT/header screen, although I am not paid for it, is not time-consuming, nor does the company put all the responsibility on the MT to assure its accuracy. IMO, the only way to get good line counts it to have 1 or 2 accounts only. Familiarity is the key to quality and quanity. MQ has forgotten that concept. I've also been around for 3 decades, but I can tell you that my productivity with MQ has suffered as a result of their 'improvements.' Which, of course, is why I am only PT with them.

C'mon, we can all do 650 lines editing. Go girl, go girl, go!!! [2008-11-21]
Okay, maybe too much coffee today. LOL Full speed ahead, that's the ticket to the big money!!

Heck, I just did 650 lines while I was typing up this reply post [2008-11-21]
with one hand. Who needs a drink? **raising hand**

30 minutes - 100 lines [2008-11-20]
dn

How many lines/hour are you doing with all ASR? [2008-11-20]
dn

Yeah, I was thinking something along those lines. [2008-11-17]
I wondered if they are not some made up persona, kind of like an internet profile, with just a picture to go with a name. They are almost never there when you call. Why did they change their phone numbers? I got an email from mine about 3-4 days ago with new contact info. As far as takeovers, they did recently sell to CBay. Everytime something like this goes on they change things.

I only go by lines as length of reports vary too much...nm [2008-11-11]
x

Yes, you can go over the 4,000 lines [2008-11-04]
but it has to be in your part time hours unless they say you canwork more hours. I don't know about the limited because I was part time for about a year, but that was a few years back and that was before the offered limited benefits, but as of the last time I worked part time (little over a year ago) you could go over the 4,000 lines, that was just a minimum requirement. :) hope that helps, but just to be sure you may want to wait and get an answer from someone who is currently part time. :)

I got paid double lines once about 6 or 7 years ago. [2008-10-29]
It was the pay just before Christmas and it was nice. I didn't spend the money right away, though, I just kept waiting to see if they wanted it back. No one ever asked and I didn't tell a soul (until now). It was almost $1000. I figured if anyone ever did ask, I would just say I thought it was my Christmas bonus.

AND we should be showing 30% more lines, but MQ ignores this, if MQ changes ANYTHING it should be th [2008-10-25]

haha if you do 200 lines over your minimum you get 6 bucks! WOW nm [2008-10-24]

I get 24 hours to get my lines done [2008-10-23]
xx

800 lines [2008-10-22]
800 lines in 7 hours. YEAH. Perhaps they will let me get on welfare to supplement what I should be making at MQ. I am so depressed by my line count, I do not even bother to calculate home much I made today because it will just make me angry.

the hours/lines you spend on OT [2008-10-20]
are not included in the calculation formulation...found on MQC policies. Or when you new benefit rate is sent to you, you can double check it and see it is missing. Trust me, I WAS SICK when my it dropped so much, and I cannot get benefit rate back up. Just trying to help my fellow MTs from getting sucker-punched as I did.

Warning?? [2008-12-03]
QA wonders why MTs get ticked off? Nice tone in that message!! ASR does insert milligrams. If I'm editing 644 lines an hour, I don't have time to correct it. You're warning us? You cut it out!

I figured you did not [2008-12-03]
realize that these could be ASR reports. There are many things I used to change to the correct way until the further cut in pay as I was losing money on ASR as it was an now even worse. I think that most MTs are still paying attention and correcting things that would affect patient care and have too many other things to concentrate on rather than padding lines (which Ithink would be counterproductive on ASR anyway)at this point. I did not take your original post as nasty, just uninformed. We are all frustrated these days and sometimes have to read between the lines.

Stern Words Also (sort of) [2008-12-03]
I try to be very clear and concise when sending notes to QA regarding a difficult dictation and why I left blanks, etc. I had a report a few days ago which was over 400 lines. The report ended up being very short and it seemed to me like it ended, especially when the dictator says ending report on (patient name). Well, this report kept going and going and going, making no sense whatsoever. At first I thought the doctor was dictating several reports on one dictation and I was preparing to split them. It sounded like he was dictating on the same patient, giving the same diagnoses, the same physical exam, review of systems, etc. Then the audio got so bad (maybe an SA5 report - I don't remember) I couldn't understand a word that was being dictated. I finally just left the rest of the report as it was and wrote a note regarding the redundancy of the dictation, the audio, etc. The QA note I got back stated that the whole report was not following ASR guidelines. How can one follow guidelines when you have one huge mess. I'm sure I got 644 lines on ASR that day. Okay, maybe 643 lines. Who's counting?

No reassurance to give. [2008-12-03]
Prepare to cry over your loss of income unless you are one of those who can listen to and edit over 600 lines per hour like Mr. 644 claims his top producers do. Of course, one must wonder how that can be done when it normally takes a bit over 60 minutes dictation to get 600 lines. I have suffered a 25% pay loss, and I don't have as much ASR as many other people do, although 644 is promising us more.

new ASR person [2008-12-03]
Well the first month is great because you get paid the same amount that you are making as an hourly wage. But after that, it is all downhill. However, if you are one of those people who can do 644 lines an hour along with regular transcription do another 400 lines an hour, good luck, because you will be knocked down to 4 cents a line. it can become a little bit too much when like me had 90% ASR and 10% typing. I would rather type and get my lines.

600 lph [2008-12-03]
This is the myth that some in the MT field are passing around, including at my company. I pushed for more info on this alleged 600 lines per hour and found out that it is nothing but OP notes, ALL in template form lest the typical change of sex, name, dosing of meds, etc... and this is NOT every day... take heart...it's not an MT doing the work

Yes, we do know that. It's just a such [2008-12-03]
a slap in the face that Mr. Big 644 would wave this in our face. I'm sure he has no idea and does not care what a Transcriptionist does just so long as he appears successful and has a fat salary. It makes me cry that some get the gravy and the rest of us have our health care held hostage because we have difficult accounts - such as ESLs and residents who have no idea what they are saying, change their minds and have dictated the equivalent of two reports, but we only have lines for one. Yes, I have gotten a bit bitter. 644- Share the gravy or don't tell me someone else gets it and hold up their line count to me as your standard.

ohhh, I have a thought... [2008-12-02]
maybe because youve been with that account 7 years you've been able to see a change. I'm on a whole new primary and the ASR is pretty bad, plus I'm bouncing and the ASR seems to bad on that, plus more ESL docs on the accounts I'm bouncing to...maybe that's enough to cause a difference in point of views. My old primary seemed pretty darn good with ASR, I know I got a lot more lines, but they were hardly any of the ESL docs on my old primary that I was taken off when they made these changes mid October...so maybe you are right in regards to yours because you've been there long enough to be able to see changes. :) I hope that makes sense, that's not meant to be offensive if it is, just saying that you may actually have more ability to see the changes since you were there long enough on that account, versus I have all new accounts including primary? :)

25% pay cut [2008-12-02]
Since ASR is _not_ saving me anytime, and I am getting 50% ASR lines, with the new 60% line rate cut, I calculate that I have effectively been given a 25% pay cut.

Ditto - sm [2008-12-02]
I did close to 10,000 lines last pay period and less than 1000 of them were straight typing. I figure that last night I made about $11 an hour, which is better than minimum wage, but if I were getting my full pay would have been closer to $20 an hour. *sigh* Be thankful for that 50%!!!

my letter to mr 644 [2008-12-01]
Dear Mr. 644 You really need to know what Medquists decisions are doing to your Medical Transcriptionists. I have never seen morale so low. We are depressed, barely functioning, and hate our jobs. And Medquist just keeps adding insult to injury. We were already making anywhere from $200 to $400 less a month since the start of medical editing. Whoever had the brilliant idea that ASR would be more productive has obviously never done this work for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. You can sit there for an hour and type your brains out and maybe have a really high score, but it doesn't work over the long term. My production has donenothing but go down since beginning editing. And my self esteem has plummeted to depths I never thought possible. Which in turn hurts quality and productivity. But Medquist has made it clear that quality is not their concern, just quantity. Unfortunately, we MTs were trained to produce a quality product and it is hard for us to turn our backs on that just to increase our line counts so we can pay our bills. Which I haven't been able to do in a year. And then to lower the rates you pay for this already abysmal project of yours, well, talk about a slap in the face. and THEN to heap onto that insult by saying we should be able to edit over 600 lines an hour!!?? omg. unbelievable. it would belaughable if we weren't already crying. Its just too disturbing. I finally ended up going part-time because I simply could not cope. I used to love being a Medical Transcriptionist. Have done this work for over 25 years. Worked at a hospital where I was respected and valued as an employee and had nothing by superior yearly evaluations. Ever since I started working for Medquist 2 years ago, I have done everything possible to look for another job. But jobs being what they are these days, its been difficult. So I've finally had to go part-time for Medquist just to keep from total despair. And I took a different full-time MT job, whereI am once againvalued and respected. Things that I had almost given up hope believing stillexisted since working here. Its just really sad. You have all these great employees, and they really try hard, WE really try hard, to do a good job. And what are our rewards? Work that makes it nearly impossible to hit our minimum line count. And decreased pay rates. Would you work for a company that did these things to you? You might for a while, because you are loyal. That is why we stay. Because we keep hoping for the best, even though time and time again the opposite is what we get. Your MTs are really really frustrated and this company really needs to do something before it not only loses its quality transcriptionists, but what will follow is all your clients leaving because of the poor quality product that makes its way back to them. We don't get paid enough to care anymore. For some reason we still do. Thank you for listening.

Maybe Mr. 644 should send all of the [2008-11-30]
jobs that you presently get to his top producers and see what they can do with them. Do you think they will get 644 lines out of what you do???? How much do you think they would have to send to QA. Again they know how hard our jobs are, but they continue to degrade us and insult us by telling us they could do better, well I say let him and his buddies try it. I say it is time he puts his mouth where the money isn't for a change....

ASR RATE [2008-11-30]
This pay cut starts on the 12/10 paycheck correct? Well I received $7.95 an hour for 30 some-odd hours on my last two paychecks. I did only do like 6,000 lines today in the payperiod, think they are having to pay the min wage to make it legal for those hours worked? I can't imagine what will happen when the new ASR rate kicks in. All they are doing is offering classes on how to get faster on ASR, I don't think they are taking into consideration our feelings and I highly doubt they will change their minds about the pay cut. I need to get a new job. Any ideas on companies to work at home from that provide computers that are hiring?

Mr. 644 is our glorious leader who [2008-11-30]
sent the E-mail telling us supposely how many lines his top performers were doing, which we all know is a bunch of bull, and really technically not even possible, but since we are not allowed to use names or initials here we had to come up with a code to let everyone know who we were talking about...

How about the ones where [2008-11-29]
the CP gives a fewlines of rules and then a whole page of exceptions to those rules, usually15 different dictators each with their own set of rules. Gotta laugh at those.

Word Expanders [2008-11-29]
Thank you. I've tried everything they have told me to do. I will be backing up quite a bit. At least I'm benefitting from ASR. All I have to do is highlight the word, use control + E and type in my WE. I've wasted about 8 hours this week trying to get this fixed and I am going to be under 100 lines (I normally type a lot more than that, closer to about 140 but you know they're going to call me on this even though I have been in touch with my supervisor and tech support every step of the way). BTW, I did buy a flash drive and have it right here but have no idea how to use it. Thanks for getting back to me. Tammy :-)

I went back through my old emails [2008-11-29]
and the one I was thinking of was from my old supervisor, stating we cannot be clocked off and logged into DQS, but when I re-read it, it was in regards to working on DQS and not being logged into e-time where it looks like you are making more lines per hour than you truly are, did not find one stating anything about no work availability. BUT, but my old sup also mentioned in that email that it is best to just clock out of DQS and clock back on every so often to re-check instead of staying on, so it seems was her suggestion that I was remembering. :)

Word expanders screwed up again [2008-11-28]
I'd estimate I have between 600-1,000 WE's. In my haste, I guess I hita wrong key and now I have to go thru each and every one of them and fix them. I know i'm not the only one this has happened to (verified by tech support). Does anyone know of a way to correct them other than gpomg thru each one? I am so furious I could scream. There ought to be a safeguard against this. I never have a problem making my lines. I will this week, as I am constantly having to go into the WE dictionary to correct things. Let them write me up. I am ticked. Tammy

Just FYI. DQS's time is totally off. Just another way to screw us sm [2008-11-27]
I started my shift around midnight tonight (12 a.m. EST) to get an early start, about 2 hours, and then be done for the day. Well, here it is, 1:30 a.m., and ALL of my 200+ lines I've typed since midnight is still being calculated for 11/26, which was yesterday, not today, the 27th. I am so disgusted. I checked my line count for the 27th and it shows ZERO lines, even though I've been typing since midnight. Ooh, I'm so mad I could spit fire......this sucks BIG time. I could have been sleeping instead of typing this crap....So I went to MQCentral and there is NOTHING that states that time holiday lines start...apparently it's not midnight. So, what time is it? 6 a.m???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

It is about 644 lines an hour [2008-11-27]
It is about how many lines you can crank out, not about quality. Also about cesspool, wouldn't be happening if we had our primary accounts and were allowed to perform our work properly, few blanks left then from seasoned MTs. Whenexperienced MTs leave that many blanks there is a good reason for it, and it is notthe MTs fault. All about money for the suits. It seems everyone is respected in this job anymore but the MT, the only one who can really produce the work. Ultimately most will move on to some place better.

Really dumb ?! [2008-11-26]
Okay, don't laugh, but this is not clear to me, for whatever reason. To control volume, it says Control + Numberpad and + or - sign. I'm onw of those weirdos (fossils, maybe?) who types numbers at the top of the keyboard. It's how I've always done it. Also, as luck would have it, the stacked numbers on the keyboard don't work, anyway. Can someone please fill me in here? Also, TG is double lines, correct? Thanks so much, and Happy Thanksgiving!

I so want **** to do ASR for a day in my primary [2008-11-26]
and prove his figures on my primary. I still don't understand how you can listen and edit 60 minutes (600 lines) in 60 minutes - unless of course it is 10 minutes dictation with 50 minutes' worth of fill-in standards.

Do you usually average 230 lph on [2008-11-25]
ASR? You did a great job doing 2000 lines in 4 hours. If you keep that up, your kids won't be fighting because they will be too busy playing with their expensive toys you can buy them with all the money you will be making. You have truly inspired me to go for the Gold! Congratulations!

secret to high line count [2008-11-25]
I now know what new wonder drug those in management/high line count producers must be on: IT IS CALLED - MQrackcocaine. That must surely explain how **** thinks MTs can edit 600-642 lines per hour. I recently had a psychiatric report that was about 4200 seconds, excellent dictator, minimal changes and it generated 425 lines and took me about 1 hour and 20 mins to carefully edit with proofreading of every single word. So unless you upload a pile of jobs without editing, I DO NOT believe (with 30 years experience as an MT/ME, 5.5 years on ASR with MQ) that any MT in their right mind can edit what they state. Sounds to me like they want quality to suffer by cracking the whip (possibly due to crap produced by off-shore, non-English speaking MTs). I also believe that management is posting fake messages on this site that state the 1-hour challange produces 500+ lines per hour. That is utterly ridiculous. Post an actual itemized line count from a specific MT that shows how many jobs are signed off in an hour......then maybe I will believe the claims to fame of producing 500 or more lines per hour. MQ ceases to amaze me. The last thing that shocked the heck out of me is when QASAR first came out and the little explanations that showed depending on what type of error MT made...case in point MT is tossing the job over the fence (not exact words but close enough). The other reasons were nothing but accusatory. The world is not a perfect place, but the longer I work for MQ the more confused I get. Oh well, next ASR report and then later I will go grocery shopping and I had better grab a case of KRAFT dinner. Now that is cheap eating and in several months from now I will have a larger butt to type on. On the good side of things, it is a beautiful winter day with sparkling frost on the ground. HAVE A NICE DAY, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN. Sincerely, fellow MT who shares all of your feelings/opinions/frustrations.

I agree [2008-11-25]
I totally agree with you - I also have been doing this for 25 years and I always considered myself a pretty high producer - so today I kicked it up a notch and tried to type at warp speed and yes my line count improved, but I did leave out some small words that made for a better looking sentence, and still, I was nowhere close to 644 lines an hour - so hard to determine when you get a mix of ASR and straight transcription also. - I would say my average would have been 375/hr. I would be hard pressed to believe anyone is getting even 500/hr.