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Paid by the minute?

Posted By: Just Wondering on 2008-11-19
In Reply to:

Does anybody know how getting paid per dictated minute works?  Thanks!


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Paid by the minute... new to me... does $1.14/minute sound reasonable?
x
Paid by minute
I get paid by the minute but I do Basic four and radiology.  Fast/Slow dictators usually balance each other.  Now, if I did just radiology, I would get paid more by the line or report because of the very fast dictation.
paid by the minute
That's why I think it's better to pay by the word or characters, really--pay for what you actually type. I have clients that do the same thing clhmt said--I have one who can do 30 reports in 10 minutes. Other who can't do 1 report in 30 minutes!
If only you were getting paid by the minute instead of cpl! nm
x
I Used to get paid by the minute and
loved those type of reports then. Now I hate them.
You are paid so much per minute of
dictation. However, remember that the rule of thumb is that for every minute of dictation it takes 3 to 5 minutes of transcription time. In some instances you could work all day for not a lot of money, depending on the dictator.
I don't get paid by the minute....sm
I am paid by the line, but my rule is 3 minutes. If I can't find it in 3 minutes, then it goes to QA. I would take more time if I was paid by the hour, but I am not.
I am paid 1.20 per minute (NM)

NM


I am paid by the minute....
It averages to be approximately $15 and hour (a little more or less depending on the dictators.)  I primarily do op reports. I find those dictators tend to get right to the point as many of their reports are basically the same.  Some of them have "standards" we can use which also helps.  Sorry, guess that really doesn't answer your question as much depends on the type of dictators you have, type of reports, etc.
It paid for me! I made $1.15/minute (sm)

Hospital account....it didn't pay good in the beginning because I was just learning to docs, but as I got faster and made my normals, I made good money....very good money....


This, btw, was working 5 1/2-6 hours a day, 5 to 7 days a week. I miss it but needed a job with bennies. I'm no spring chicken, but if I was asked to quit my normal job and come back to them, I'd do it in a minute...if DH would get a real job...(he's self-employed too).


Paid per minute postings
Something rarely seen.  Paid per minute of dictation.  There are two rad jobs listed on MT Jobs board.  I have always gotten paid by minute by my primary account.  After working part-time for a few nationals this past year, I have learned getting paid per minute for radiology is not really worth it.  For normal reports you have to process the report for pennies which in some systems (such as Meditech) takes time going through the different screens.  For anyone applying for these positions, I would be interested in learning how much they are paying per minute.
ICs at our hospital were paid $1.50/minute for the first
Does that help?
Paid by the dictated minute? sm
Is anyone paid by the dictated minute and if so what is a fair rate?  I was offered what I think is a great rate, however, this is my first experience and I would like to compare.  Thanks!
I've always been paid by minute so....

Like anything, it depends on various things.  My regular account on average I do 20-30 minutes of dictation an hour.  But on a new account it could be 10 minutes an hour.  Guidelines for hospital was 120 minutes in an 8 hour day.


paid by minute dictation
It is not a rip off. I work in-house in a hospital and that is what we use to count time, lines, and jobs. It is also used to tie in our production bonus. We have what we call "weighted" dictators - ESLs if you will. The docs are weighted as 1.1, 1.3, 1.5 with 1.5 being the bad dictators. You know the ones, they yawn, chew, and talk at the same time, they have a really thick accent, and talk and chew at the same time. They have more minutes than clear-speaking docs. Multiply your your hours worked (8) X 12.5 that equals 100. You then divide your minutes typed into that number. That gives you your production. Where I work you have to have 85% to be eligble for production bonus. It is not a rip off, it works quite well.
Shuffle Away - I'm paid by the minute !...nm
.
Years ago I was paid $1 per minute.
x
I was paid by the dictation minute for almost 3 years. sm
Most general transcription is paid that way, but only a few MT. Some dictators are fast, others waste a lot of time hemming and hawing and shuffling papers. I though it evens out in the end.

I definitely wouldn't do it for less than $1.00/minute, a bit more if you have lots of experience.
For QA consulting I'm paid per hour; QA instructing (college) paid salary, QA editing paid per li
I am an IC and work for two different MTSOs as well as instruct at a business college.
if mt paid 9, editor paid 4 or 5...how can company charge 14 and make it..sm

I know the going rate in our area is 14 cents per line.  As MTs most companies here pay us 8 or 9 cents a line.  Now add in the Editor rate at 4 or 5 per line..you are paying OUT more than you can charge a line.  How would companies stay in biz?


Unless all work is sent by the company overseas at pennies per line, this would not pay for a company.


just curious how this works out


But how much are the US EDs gonna be paid? Typically this work is paid at 2-3 cpl. nm
:+
You don't get paid an hourly rate you get paid by line - sm
so because of how you are paid (not an hourly rate) you don't get OT, especially if you are an IC.
I would move on. I think it is so unfair not to be paid for spaces! I think we should get paid

per keystroke, but that'll never happen.  I just think that these national companies are going to keep finding ways to cheat us.  I found a job working for a hospital as an employee, paid hourly plus incentive, and they let us expand everything!  Somebody's gonna have to kill me to make me give up this job.  I will never go back to the national's again.


I feel for you though.  I know that for us MTs those good jobs are few and far between and some have little choice but to work for the nationals.  I just happened to luck into the job I have now.  I just applied at the right time. 


Good luck to you whatever you decide.


If those companies paid a fair wage, and paid more
all came out equal, people wouldn't feel the need to try to make up the deficit by going for the good stuff. I actually prefer the harder, juicier reports. But I can't make a living doing only that, because the pay is not commensurate with the difficulty. So even though I prefer not to, sometimes I have to pick up some of the easier, more boring 'line-o-matic' reports just to make ends meet. Tell your MTSO to make it work their while, and MTs will stop taking all the easy work away that you obviously would prefer to keep for yourself.
You wont show UE being paid because it is employer paid -
the employee will never have to pay this.
What you "should" be paid and what you "are" paid

sadly are two very different things.  Good luck on demanding more..because someone else will just come along and take it for what they offer and they know it. 


10$ late if invoice is not paid within 10 days. At day 15 work stops until invoice is paid. Hardly
xx
per minute
I do approximately 15-20 minutes of dictation per hour and/or 150-200 lines per hour.  So figure from there.
one minute, maybe? sm
I was fast already, so faster, not so sure that I could be much faster without compromising my own comfort level with quality, and I don't want to listen to my docs at a distorted speed rate.

I also have an Advant Prime clicky-kinda keyboard and am just as fast on it but prefer this Atech4 as it is quiet and has programmable keys.

hth!
Well, you had me for one minute there.

"Finally, if you love what you're doing, happy with your income and don't want anything to change - fine, get on with it and leave the sniping.  It is only serving to make us suspicous of what the real bottom line is with you.  Are you management?  Are you American administrators of overseas transcription companies?"


Don't assume that just become someone expresses an opinion other than the original poster, they're management or American administrator of overseas transcription companies. Sometimes American workers need to think for themselves and other American workers will ask questions designed to make them think.


Otherwise, the rest of your post was well-thought out, although I would say that my impression from reading most of the nonsense about a strike, etc., was the intent was not to make the public or politicians aware of the situation with HIPAA violations but rather to make life difficult for employers, even to the point of risking patient care--neither of which should ever be consider humorous if you're trying to make a point in a responsible and professional manner.


GBP per minute

I missed this somewhere along the line.  I saw an add on another site for a job that paid xxx per GBP.  What does GBP mean?


By the minute
I'll bet the speediest speed demon dictators are those who are charged by the minute and pay their own bill!  If only they were charged by the line and charged extra for fast talking, I'll bet they would slow down rather quickly!
cpl pay vs per minute
What is the opinion here on pay by line versus pay by the minute?  Pros vs cons and why?  I can figure out for myself that, for example if you are paid 10 cents a line for a 65 cpl and they say nothing but one sentence for 10 minutes and you listen to shuffling of papers you would be much better off by the minute.  I am just curious here what the opinion is and why which one is better. After all these years of being an MT I know companies are always trying to figure out how to make money for them without passing on the rewards to the MT.
They pay per minute dictated. Sux.
Especially when they assign the work. It's not fun when all your work is less than 1 minute, two line reports, ESL docs, etc.
It commonly known that 1.00 a minute is very low...sm
and that is only 60.00 for the hour voice audio... so 20.00 is horrible!!  These guys think we are stupid!!
Yes, I expect any minute now to

get an email from my supe saying the virus is the reason for the lack of work! 


I mean, I have been given every other excuse so I am sure this one will be next...


Now wait just a minute!
"The poor" ?
Hey....just a minute....that's my sister's name and
NM
Could be one 250-minute report or
ten 25-minute reports, or 250 1-minute reports, or 125 2-minute reports, etc., etc., etc. (as the king would say).
Just need to vent a minute...

Why, oh why is it that when a doctor is dictating a list of dianoses, etc. can't they say #1 when they start the list.  Usually I don't let this bother me, but it has happened with almost every report I have transcribed today and it's bugging me!!


If you're gonna dictate a list, start out saying #1.  Don't say the first one and then say #2.  Drives me nuts!


On the reverse I have also had some today that will say "ADMIT DIAGNOSES:  #1:  XYZ".  And then move on without a #2.  If there is only one thing, it doesn't need a number!!


Sorry, this has just been a long day with multiple reports like this and it was getting on my nerves.  I just needed to vent a little.  I feel better now and it's quitting time!


Still here. Now just wait 1 minute!!!!!!
I never said you should say that Laura Bush is a great role model. She obviously is NOT in your opinion. You are entitled to that; however, the thread was asking who people felt were good female role models. The poster who started the thread did not say "Please, anyone who does not like one of these named role models PLEASE, PLEASE turn this into a nasty thread, PLEASE."
The people who named Laura Bush had every right to post her and also had every right for you to keep your opinion to yourself rather than spoil and ruin their post. You could start a separate thread asking who everyone felt were negative female influences. Then you could name Laura Bush. You just like to turn every single thread on this board into one of your nasty little rallies.
Geez. Get a life. You really have some issues sugar -- no make that -- sour foot. LOL.
You had me worried there for a minute! :)
I make a point to take my lunch "breakette" out on the deck. or I'll go stark raving mad!
Pay by minute of dictation

I've been offered a position where the line count is calculated by multiplying the minutes of dictation transcribed by 12.5 (the assumed average number of lines in a minute of dictation). Has anyone had experience being paid in this manner, and how do you feel it compares to the 65-character line?


just did a 58 minute report
shewee.  last one of the day, and i'm pooped, over 400 lines. glad those don't happen often.
Wow, just sit back and think a minute sm
You are getting some good advice on here. As for the company, please, don't worry about them, quitting will not hurt their feelings! Believe me, they wouldn't worry about you, not really. What if something horrible happened and you HAD to quit? They would understand. Hey, instead something wonderful happened. You are very nice to think about the company, and that says you are so nice, you really deserve what you want in your heart. This is your gift. No guilt please! You can be smart and put some away and use some to take some time off. Cover all ideas. Congratulations! javascript:editor_insertHTML('text','');
javascript:editor_insertHTML('text','');
No I don't-- going on the preface that 1 minute- sm
is 10 lines, it would take over 8 hours to do 5000 lines; just listening, that is not stopping to look something up, to retype, fix, etc. So unless you speed the tape up a lot (and can still understand it) I see no way of doing 5000 lines under 10-12 hours. I could see 3000 lines but not 5000.
at 9 cents per minute -- buy on E-bay
I have 4 docs that do an average of 2  to 2.5 hours per week each on tapes sometimes more, sometimes less but lets average 8 hours per week.  That is $43.20 per week I pay you.  My psychologist does 3 to 4 hours in addition to this.   So there is another $20+.   I just bought hand held Olympus recorder on E-Bay for $31.50 and even full price at Amazon was under $100.  So one month of paying you would pay for my 4 hand helds.  I have thought about this but just cannot afford the $150 to $200 it would cost me per month.   And yes, I have had very good luck with buying on E-bay for transcribers, recorders, etc.  So look on there or do a Google for digital recorders by brand, Olympus, etc. and it shows you which store has them for which amount.  The bells and whistles are nice but a basic recorder that holds 2 to 4 hours of dictation is well below $100 and that is all you need to provide them with.    Good luck.   Just setting up an FTP and so don't have much info on that yet but searching it out.    Patti
60 minute tapes

Are they 60 minutes from the same doctor, 20 minutes from 6 docs or what?  If you are doing these doctors on a daily basis, you should have a lot of Expanders or auto corrects so that you are typing about 2/3 of what they say.  Are they chart notes, long reports or what.   What I do is I set up a goal of doing an hour or typing and then take a 15 to 20 minute break.  If an hour is too long, then start out at 30 minutes and take a 10 minute break and slowly over the week increase it to 60 minutes.   Of typing not dictation.  Also check over your work and be sure you are using your expanders/auto corrects to do the work for you part of the time.   Between my 6 docs, I do approximately 120 to 150 minutes of dictation a day and it takes me between 4 to 5 hours typing, then an hour to print and deliver.  And it is 1800 to 2000 lines I have done.   But again,I break mine up in smaller incriments, and set the goals and it is much easier to sit down knowing you are only going to type for an hour with a break or reward and that hour goes by fast.  As an IC you can do this.  Again, I make my computer work for me -- if it can type it for me that is money in my pocket.  Again, you said that you had the same doctors each day so you should be able to do inserts, auto corrects, or use of an Expander if that is your way of doing things.    Good luck.    Patti


60 minute tapes
You need to see how many lines you get and x by 0.12 per line to see if you are even close to the average.  On 30 minutes of chart notes I get approximately  600 lines and that is $72 per 30 minutes that takes me about 1 to 1.5 hours to do.  Also depends on what you are transcribing.   When I do meetings or seminars it is usually over $125 per hour of dictation.   Again, depens on margins, etc.  But I always coung my lines with 1" on sides, Courier 12.   There is no way I would do a 60 minute tape for $60, again check to see how may lines you get and an average for an IC is 0.12 per line.  
The average I have seen here is 1 minute - sm
of dictation averages 3 minutes to type it. But this varies of course. So in theory you should be able to do 20 minutes of dication in 1 hour. Granted this will vary with the ease or difficulty of the doctor. I generally do anywhere from 12-24 minutes an hour depending on the doctor, though I don't get many where I can do 24 minutes in one hour (14 is my average). If full-time most jobs expect 90-120 minutes done a day. I generally do about 100 minutes a day straight typing and maybe another 30 minutes in editing. Lines per minute is generally thought as 1 minute = 10 lines. I work on and off from about 8am until midnight and work around the kids activities, etc.
I take a 10-minute power nap (sm)

When I find myself to the point of not being able to focus, I set my timer for 10 minutes and sleep on the couch. I usually can finish my shift, but I sometimes have to take a little nap again later. I work 5 hours during the day and my last 3 hours from 9 to midnight. Sometimes, I also step outside when it's cold. I hate being cold, so that really wakes me up. No amount of caffeine will wake me up. I am almost to the point of finding just a part-time job during the day because it is hard to be productive at night when all I want to do is crawl into bed. Good luck!