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that is an average of 9 lines a report, were

Posted By: nss on 2005-08-03
In Reply to: Soft Script - seeing the light

they that short? I'd be moving on too!


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What is, on average, a normal weekly IC report production?

I need your opinions please….


 


I am an IC who works for four doctors who each dictate approximately 100 or more reports a week.  They send them via over to their personal website and I download and transfer to Express Scribe (awesome program by the way).  They tend to call me often and will ask for one or more patient’s report to be faxed over immediately for insurance purposes.  Of course, they have no idea how complicating and time consuming this is on me, when I have to search for these specific voice files, one by one, and then transcribe the report, etc.  I felt a bit of an attitude the other day when it took longer to perform my task. 


 


I am wondering, am I just too slow?  Is completing 400 or more reports (on average half page reports) a week slow, including transcribing these special request reports?  I feel so stressed all the time now; their phone calls for insurance purposes are becoming more constant.  I am wondering if they realize that I am not an employee, but an IC, and that there is a difference.  How may reports do most full time IC’s complete within a week, plus deliver 2-3 times per week?


 


Thanks for any and all advice. 


I don't - try to average 500 lines a day - I'd have too much - sm
going on to try to do more -- though some days I do about 800 between my 2 jobs, varies from week to week.
Average lines/day
How many lines do you average a day or how many lines do you need to type in a day? Just curious to see what everyone types. Thanks. Happy typing!!
Average lines

Where do all you guys work ? I am looking for a good company.


The average lines per day at most companies (SM)
is 1200 lines (or 150 lines per hour). So, I respectfully disagree with the poster below.

I think about 75 lines per hour would be more realistic for an MT student. Don't forget, they need to look up a lot of words and their ears are not trained yet.

Good luck to you and your students.

Chickadee
I average 300 lines per hour
for acute care, mostly OP notes, 65/char line, which would be 19,500 characters per hour.      
For my work, it seems to average out to about 10-11 lines per
I can very safely do 20 minutes of dictation in an hour, sometimes 25-30 minutes of dictation in an hour.

There are times it is slower but not often.

Now many lines are there in an average page?

M


I average only 1100 lines per day (sm)

Does anyone know some ways I can increase my productivity.  I have many expansions...maybe not enough.  I do a variety of clinics, so there are not many norms or standards (which would help).


 


Thanks for any info.  Have a great day!


If gross lines average is 1500 nm
nn
What is the average lines per hour for radiology?
A lot of companies are now paying per line now rather than by report or per page.  I just wondered if it differed from other transcription as I do both but do not have a line counter for radiology in the system I type into.
I average 600 lines an hour on ES - editing, sm
transcribing 400 lph.

I have been working this platform for about 3 years now.

Using the shortcut keys and not the mouse helps tremendously in an awesome line count average.

Hope this information helps.
I average 1800 lines per 8 hour day, but have
been doing this 20+ years and have zillions of expanders. I still do lots of research and add expansion asll the time.
Average about 2300 lines in 6 hours but
this is a mixed bag of editing and straight typing. The split is usually about 75% editing and 25% typing, If that helps any.
What is an average amount of lines to edit per day?
I am new to editing. I have done straight typing for 2 years in general surgery clinic work. I was canned and put on overflow work because my computer messed up twice in one month. It put them in a bind, which I really had no control over, and they took me off the account as lead MT and put me on overflow only. Well anyway, I got another job doing editing on the Editscript platform. It is acute care. I am not used to acute care that much. I only did it for a few months before. I am not used to editing either so I was wondering if someone could tell me what is an average amount of lines to expect once I get used to it? I have heard nobody gets double the line count editing. So is it one and a half times the line count or what? What is your experience with lines editing versus typing straight?
Calling all ICs. Just curious. How many lines and reports do you average per day at

whatever company you are working at currently? I'm wondering because it seems like I work A LOT (I should actually start counting hours, but I don't) and at the end of the evening my line count is so low and it will say 8 or 9 reports, even though it feels like I have done about 20 or so (this is DQS, but you can answer with whatever co. you work for).


 


Thanks so  much!


About how many lines are expected to be typed each day, minimum, on average? NM

Psychiatric transcription - average # of lines/page
I had an interview with a local MT firm that specializes in psychiatric transcription. The pay rate is .05/line for the initial training period (no timeframe given - training ends when owner feels employee is ready to work independently at home - could be 3 months) & .06/line after that. The owner mentioned that reports sometimes average 10-15 pages, but didn't mention how many lines the average page includes.

I'm trying to figure out what my pay would be. During the training period, the owner wants employees to train out of her house (20 miles from where I live/one way). With the price of gas, I'm trying to figure out if this is a good move financially. The psychiatric transcription definitely interests me, but I'm trying to figure out what my pay would be like. I'm guessing that while I'm in training, I won't receive large reports. The employer is supposed to make her decision within the week, so it's not like I've been offered the job. I just want to educate myself as to:

How many lines the average page of psychiatric transcription might have.
Does 10-15 pages sound right for the average psych report?
Does .05/line during training & .06/line after training sound fair. The owner doesn't give out pay raises or paid time off (I would be an employee, not an IC).
Does it sound reasonable to be in training for 3 months & then be able to work from home after that?

Can anyone help me or direct me to where I might be able to figure this out. I'm currently going thru MT training, so I don't currently have MT work experience. I do have 11 years administrative work experience & 7 years technical writing work experience, so I'm pretty proficient on the keyboard.

Thanks for your assistance.
On average 1000 minutes equals how many lines?
nm
Our department does 1200+ reports a day. They average 11 lines. nm
This is for 2-3 line normal chests to MRIs. They look longer, but if you take 65 characters with spaces, you will be surpised. Here's an example:

CHEST:

INDICATION: Chest pain.

FINDINGS: Heart size within normal limits. Lungs are clear.

IMPRESSION: Normal chest.

This is 116 characters with spaces, which is 3 lines (if you round up - actually 2.55 lines). If by the line, you would make $0.30.

Something to think about.

Do the same with an MRI of the knee. Copy and paste it into word and count it. A very long one I had was only 15 lines.
Line rate isn't the only factor -- your lines/hour average is key, too.
Even at 7 cpl, keeping about 275 lines/hour average keeps you at $19.25 an hour and that is $40,000 a year.

It is a myriad of factors involved. You have to have the knowledge, be decisive, self-sufficient and very focused. Then, you need to negotiate as high a base rate as you can and look toward the incentive plan to increase your paycheck.

With our incentive, it was not worth it if I couldn't hit high lines in a day. So, I changed my schedule to hit those lines.

I am tired after my work days but having the 4 days a week off and a good income makes it worth it for me. It allows me to spend my days off doing things I want to.

Does anybody have program to dle-ck MQ lines? I would like to check every report

to see if all my work is being counted on a 65-character line, including spaces EVERY TIME - or are there occasional reports through the day/times during the day that the lines actually go longer than 65 characters.


At this point I would like to take the time to verify each and every report.  Sometimes it just feels like a report should have had more lines - or that a report goes on over to page 3 and you know it should have more lines and it is not much lines and you are on such a time crunch you don't what to go and count (of course because the report IS long).


So, is there a program out there that I could use as a double check to verify they aren't turning the knob at certain times during the day to make the lines be i.e. 90 lines or so?  I hope I have explained this good enough.


Thanks if anybody knows of one.


It's not personal, it's business.  (I always like that line from "You've Got Mail")


We have the ability to see each others # of reports and # of lines. We are to report to super
visor when one person has done 150 exams a day but only has a minimum of lines typed. In radiology, it tends to average out. They are watching it for morale's sake as well as they figure if the MT who jumps jobs is probably cheating elsewhere in the job or her/his life. Too many ethical ones these days to settle for a cherrypickers.
Oh absolutely! I would get 9 or 10 lines of headers and footers per report on Cottage. sm
So, if you do the math, if I typed 25 reports that day, that makes a total of 250 LINES I no longer get paid for! I truly believe DQS is just a sneaky, smart way that MQ has come up with in order to squeeze line counts and money from under us. Think about it. It is!!! No doubt in my mind, ladies!!

I want to quit to freakin bad this DQS crap! I am making so much more LESS money on DQS it isn't even funny. We should really smarten up about this program.

Also, how about the way you have to look up cc's and addressess and then put it into that stupid ADT field and then you DON'T GET PAID FOR IT!! MAKES ME SICK!

Okay. Done ranting and raving for the day! Let me go look for another job right now.
:(
Ask for a sample report. Count the gross lines on a full page. Then
figure out the line rate you want to make. For example, if there are 30 lines on the page and you would want to charge $0.15 per line, then that would be $4.50 per page. If they would like your hourly rate, figure out how many pages you think you can transcribe in an hour. Using the above example, if you can transcribe 4 pages per hour, then charge $18.00 per hour. In California the going transcription rates are approximately $22-$25 per hour.
Depends on the pay and account. My lowest average is $15.52 an hour (roughly 182.6 lines an hour) w
;'
What average line count do you type per pay period. what is considered above average and how long

how long, on average, average a knee replacement would one be on Oxycontin?(sm)
My DH recently had knee replacement surgery a month and a half ago.  The doctor has been prescribing oxycontin 30 mg this entire time.  Husband has been trying to wean off of it and is down to 10 mg.  He asked the doctor if he could come off it completely and the doc said to "just keep taking it."  His next visit is in two months.  With all the discussion lately about pain medication addiction, is it normal to be on this medication for this long and for the doctor to say "just keep taking it?"  How long should one be on this med?
You do not need the 1099. You just need to report the income. Report the company/person ...sm
to the IRS for not sending out the 1099. 
I charge the same amount for a "normal" report as for any other report.
You still have to listen to the dictation and change anything that's different.  I had one woman try to pull this on me.  She'd dictate, "Just pull up my normal, but change this, change that, switch that around, move that, add this, delete that, and change the other."  Then she'd only want to pay me what equated to $.03 per line.  She wanted 1:1 on her dictation to transcription ratios.  I told her to take her cheap account down the road because I'm worth more than that.
Oh, a report just came in. A report actually just slid in, can you believe it. Hip Hip Hooray. I

had better get that sucker typed before it gets out of ONE MINUTE TAT.


If you are careful with putting the correct report in the correct report shell and patient, you will
not have any problems. I only take away this option when someone is careless. There can be NO room for error on this. One mistake can be very serious. Many do it well though, so just double check and you will be fine.

Aaahhhh, now I get it. Gross lines vs. Character lines. I guess I've just been conditioned to
think in terms of character lines.  One of the perils of working as an IC for somebody who defines what a line is versus owning your own company and defining it yourself.  After working for someone else for 15 years, maybe it's time to bust out on my own.
That is a lot of work/lines for 2 people. I do 3000 lines per day sm
if you times that by 30 days that only comes to 90K lines a month, that is working 7 days a week including weekends. I don't think 2 people can handle that.
900 lines is below 1100 lines, where the bonus starts.
x
Gross lines include all lines containing
printable characters, so a full line and a line with one word on it are charged equally. Straight lines are basically the same as gross lines, but with this method of counting the blank lines are counted as well (again, equally). I have only had one company pay this way, and they are a middle man. I would think the charge would be about the same as for gross lines, and that not too many offices will want their lines counted this way (the one I worked on was probably inherited from someone who had counted the lines that way, so just continued).
The norm is 1 minute = 10 lines; 10 min = 100 lines - sm
granted this varies per dictator. More lines if a fast talker, less if a slow talker.
I went from 2400 lines to 1800 lines

a day when I switched from clinic (through an MTSO)  to hospital work. Not only was the clinic work easier with more macros (and less providers to learn, 12 vs 300+), but I was typing in straight Word (as opposed to Softmed/Chart Script).  So you see, it really varies depending upon the type of work as well as the platform used. That said, I am so much happier typing the 1800 lines per day (I make over $15 per hour plus an incentive for any lines in excess of 1200 per day) plus a great health package/benefits, AND approximately 5 weeks of paid time off per year.  In my opinion, hospitals really are the best employers WHEN they appreciate the work we do.


My advice for you is not to judge a job by any one criterion but rather the entire picture. The 'extra's can really add up.

Good luck in your job!


Which is the one where they are sc*&ing us the standard lines or the qualified lines? SM
Mine show up as STD when I pull up my transcription log.  But I see now there is STD/QT....  So which is the one where they are ripping us off, standard or qualified?  Need to know.  I am about to switch companies and I will not do if they are actually taking lines from me.  Thanks guys. 
Question versus gross lines versus 65-character lines....

I have always charged or been paid by 65 or 60 character lines or per letter or space typed, but have never been paid or charged per gross line.


What is the advantage of this?  If I were to charge 11 cents per 65-character line including spaces, what does this figure out to for an average line rate and how do you do this calculation? 


I'm wondering if it is financially beneficial for me to bill by gross line or to keep it the way I have it.  I do know some accounts will only pay per 65-character line, as this was the deal my first own account I recently acquired.  They were adamant on a 65-character line, but didn't specify with or without spaces and I personally would never not charge for spaces.


Thanks for explaining this.  I appreciate it and hope everyone has a speedy day.


Word count: 824 lines. DocuCount count: 897 lines.
I just counted the same file in Word and then in DocuCount, and DocuCount was higher than Word.

Just as an aside.
average...
I  never heard double - I've been doing this almost 30 years and even back when the dictators were educated and spoke intelligently, it was not possible to do 1 min of dictation in 2 minutes.  I was always told the ratio was  3 or 4:1.  With some of these inarticulate dictators, and not just the ESL, it is probably more like 5 o 6:1 on my primary account.
on average....

How many reports do you type per day, lets say average being 5 min. per report or acute care hospital, which is what I do, and how many average do you send to QA? 


Per day I do on average about 35 reports, average 3 QA'd reports, rarely get one day without sending at least one, and on a really bad day I send around 6 to QA.  This is usually the worst of the worst, bad phone lines, very hurried/slurring/mumbling dictators, or the thick ESLs, and even listening to twice. 


I would say above the average.
Would definitely depend on the accounts and hours worked each day.   But 0.3 cpl would be a safe average.   
I average around 300-325 lph.
It depends on the account, the dictator, and the skill of the transcriptionist. I'm sure you are emphasizing quality over quantity at first. I can go fast because I almost never have to look anything up anymore. When I first started, I was much slower because I had to stop and verify what I was hearing. When I get a new doc for the first time, my production does go down to around 250 lph for awhile until I'm familiar with his/her style, preferred vocabulary, cadence, peculiarities, etc. I don't think students should be concerned about line count at first. Speed and productivity come with time, knowledge, and practice.
I average...
$45,000/year. MQ does offer fairly decent benefits, I think.
Above average MTs ....
should all consider editing, in my opinion. That seems to be where the more secure positions are. Larger MTSOs who outsource overseas need editors. (I don't agree with offshoring, but let's face it--it's not going to change either). MTSOs who are using VR need editors. That's not to say we, as editors, will not be replaced at some point, but it seems that our security will last a little longer than production-based MTs. We also must be willing to adapt with technology changes. Just a few short years ago we all went kicking and screaming fighting every step of the way when WP51 was replaced with MS Word. None of us likes change. All of us wish it could be the way it used to be. The sad fact is, it will never be the same. If we want to stay employed, we must learn to adapt with the changes.
What is the average IQ, if any one knows?
X
I would say about 300 lph is about average to
what I have done and what most QA folks tell me they do. That's why I would never work per line pay. You just cannot do everything and expect to earn money. As QA, you HAVE to do what is necessary to get that report right and feedback the MT. My conscience will not allow me to let something go by without checking it out if I see it looks wrong. I am paid $16.50 an hour. Our co goes by reports per hour BUT that is just a statistic and we all know that these things vary. Some days you will have more, some less. Your company sounds like most--that they are trying to get you to do more and you will be able to do it--it is my guess. I think about 300 is about right. You will get there. If you have just started QAing then it is my guess that it will take you a little longer to get over the "newness" of it, but you sound like you are doing things the right way. That speed will come though I have talked to some editors who say they can do 500 or 600 lph and I just do not see how when you have to do all we have to do. I question the integrity of those reports.
That's about average...
the MTSO's can't even bid a job at 12 anymore - get undercut. So IC prices tend to run about 7 to 8.5...of course, some lucky folks will post exceptions, but I still find that's about average
is it really? 800% above nat'l average?..sm

I hung out there in 1973, and while the *street* was always *the street* - where one has to be careful, like in any bigger city, I don't think it was that bad then. 


800% above, wow...


well, poverty WILL GET to people......sad.....


sad that we are one of the richest countries around and have so many in poverty, homeless (not by choice as ALL homeless don't necessarily choose to be homeless - rather catastrophic events lead some to that situation), and all the other BAD things we have got going on now in the 21st century here.


I'm terribly afraid we are becoming a third-world country and this is not a racist statement and I love all people of all colors, and to me it's all one people/one God no matter how ya pray or color of skin, but I think over-population yields all this stuff......and while there is open land in the country of the USA - the cities are OVER-BOGGED down, stretched beyond their limits....


I don't have the answers - I just ponder it all my entire life - all of these kinds of issues....


Stay safe....