Home     Contact Us    
Main Board Job Seeker's Board Job Wanted Board Resume Bank Company Board Word Help Medquist New MTs Classifieds Offshore Concerns VR/Speech Recognition Tech Help Coding/Medical Billing
Gab Board Politics Comedy Stop Health Issues
ADVERTISEMENT




Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

7 Cents can be good - it all depends how the line is calculated - sm

Posted By: Amy on 2006-07-26
In Reply to: I'd say keep looking - Wouldn't do it

I see posting all the time saying don't accept 7 cents a line that we are worth at least 9 cents or more.  Well it all depends how the line is calculated.  These national companies usually pay character with or without spaces and some of them have their own counting software where you just have to go with what they say and can't actually verify what is really being counted.  With that said you can be paid 7 cents a line counting Keystrokes (bolding, underline, etc - example the word paid is four characters but if you bold it then it is 8 characters and if you underline too then it is 12 characters) which would usually equal around 9-10 cents or more a line depending on the format of the document.  So it is very misleading when some transcriptionists say 7 cents is insulting when actually it is good if you are getting keystrokes with Abacus and you can actually verify it yourself to make sure the company is paying for all the headers, footers, template, shifts, tabs, spaces, returns, bolding, italic, underling, caps, etc.  You really have to investigate how the line is calculated to be able to compare.  So to all you people that keep saying don't accept it....I bet the ones that have are actually getting paid more than you in the long run!




Complete Discussion Below: marks the location of current message within thread

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu


Other related messages found in our database

Good pay at 6 cents a line?
?
good for you! No 4 cents a line
.
Is 14 cents a line for radiology good?
I need some advice on this job offer as an IC for a hospital.  They want to pay me 14 cents a line.  I would like to know is that good?
7 cents a line with no bennies and no taxes taken out is good!
What are we coming to!
Are you guys telling me that you think 7-8 cents per line is good?
x
Good info. In late 1980's I typed for 4 cents a line (sm)
and made over 35,000 a year, which back then was pretty darned good. I had a couple of really hard accounts I did and when the really cheesecake ER accounts that had repetitive dictators came along, they always sent a tape or 2 of that my way as kind of a payback for doing the hard stuff.

That 4 cents a line is unbelievable now, but back then and the area I was in that was the going rate and I worked less than 40 hours a week to make that 35k.
Of course, depends on your line rate, but $700.00 is very good for MT right now. I can make over
that if the work is available, and I put in more than 40 hours.  I think to make $1000.00 you need to have lots of expansions and dictators with which you are familiar, IMHO. 
I also work for 8 cents a line. I left a job typing OPs for 10-11 cents sm
to take a clinic job. I made an average of $17-18 an hour with OPs, now make $16-17 an hour, but the work is easier on me. I do not call that poor pay. I type 200+ lines an hour. True, it isn't the $26-27 an hour I was making 10 years ago at a hospital, but that's gone for good. I have excellent skills, make better than 99% on QA at any company I have worked for, and some of those have been very demanding.

I'm afraid the people that are expecting to make $20-30 an hour in MT are going to be disappointed. A few can still make that amount, but for the average good transcriptionist, the pay is much more likely to run $15-20. Benefits are pretty much gone. However, I feel that what I'm making is considerably above what I could make in another field, unless I decide to teach, which I will not do. Still, I make more than I would at Walmart or Burger King, or even a secretarial job. It's my choice. Good luck to you.
The mentoring program does not pay 8-1/2 cents per line. Believe it is like 6 cents.
n/m
Do they still pay you 5 cents a line and 2 cents if you send anything to QA?
xx
I have a problem with 7 cents and 8 cents a line because
...when I started 15 years ago, my very first MT job started me out at 8 cents a gross line, then went to 9 cents a gross line after only a year. I was SOOO happy and proud of myself for choosing a profession that paid so well - I imagined myself making a lot of $$ once I had 10 or 15 years experience behind me...

Well that never happened; in fact, it all went backwards, pay wise. The company I worked for back then sold out to a national, and of course the pay was cut, and 9 cents a gross line was never to be had again, at least not that I could find. I am considered living in poverty now. I started out great but have ended up very badly.

I think my own personal problem is that it's hard for me to let go the fact that I made good money just starting out and how everything I had ever learned about jobs, careers and pay was that the more experience and education you have in a particular field, the more your pay goes up as each year passes. Well my pay has been consistently taking a nosedive for at least a decade now. I actually have to work MORE to make at least as much as I did years ago, and it's killing me health-wise as far as my wrists, my legs, my neck, my back....

It also kills me that I'm going to have to accept 7 or 8 cents a 65-character line when I made so much more than that 15 years ago.

I suppose to someone who's just starting out, 7 or 8 cents would seem pretty good, though. Maybe that's why I haven't been able to land any jobs with my resume. They may not want me with my years of experience, probably want a newbie who will be more grateful about such low pay. I dunno.

I could just kick myself for wasting money on MT school those years ago when I could've spent it on a career that would actually LAST and where I'd be making great money after being in the same field for 15 years. There's just no reward to this business. None at all, IMO.

I would NOT recommend this field to anyone just getting started. To me, it's a dead field.

I'd have more freedom working at McDonalds (for a number of reasons), and, believe me, I've been considering taking a local job around my home for minimum wage. At least I'd have a consistent paycheck and would know exactly what I'm getting every 2 weeks, then build from there as far as another job or two.

Well anyway that's all. I really need a job. I'm going down, going under, and it's a shame because I do very good work and have all this experience but no one seems to want me, even the low-paying companies. Oh well.
Oh, they make money off us. Line rate is 17 cents a gross line.nm
z
depends; can make more $ on easy platform/7 than hard platofrm/8-9 cents
nm
10 cents per line
so does AccuSTAT, Wisconsin for ER work!!!
This would be cents per line.
If it were more like 65-70 cpl, it would be characters per line.
CPL = cents per line

Then of course you need to know how they define a line.  "Standard" is 65 characters is a line, but that might be with spaces or without spaces being counted.  Also, not all companies a define a line this way, and it could be gross line (anything on a line, even one character is considered a line), or it could be a character line (with or without spaces).


But...CPL means cents per line.


MA 3 cents per line

Yes, yes.  I worked for them for one whole day.  The only reason I applied was because I was born in Mass (but now live in AZ) and it was an editing job, which I wanted to try doing, since I trained MTs for so long and edited their reports, etc.  Anyway, the supervisor, Bobbi, was an absolute tyrant nightmare.  Training was done over the phone, and she was so nasty and bitter, she made you feel like you had never done a thing in the medical field ever before.  For example, I was not following what she was talking about as far as her formatting statements, and she was going on like, what are you talking about???!!!    I had to take a Valium and Rolaids, and then she told me to go ahead and transcribe some reports.......I have been doing transcription over 20-years, and wanted to just edit.  Well, she said she was going out for the evening, but there should be no problem with the system and sending the reports on after I transcribed them.  Well, there sure was.  I contacted the lady that was her assistant, and SHE ragged on me for contacting her.  I said, 'sorry, I can't send the reports.  Something is wrong with the system, so I am just going to email them to you, so you know they have been done at least.   The next morning I woke up and emailed Bobbi that I am not right for this job.  Nobody is.  That has been years ago, and amazingly she cannot hold on to anybody for that Editor job.  It was so bad, I cannot remember the name of the company - Maybe something like Infomatics, or something.  She was an absolute horror.  Don't work for her.  You will not be happy........ 


Deb


QA at 2 cents per line...
Is this fair pay?  Tomorrow I have an interview with a company that pays 2 cents a line for proofreading.  This seems a bit low, but I dont have anything to compare it to.  This might be a good opportunity to learning something new and get some experience in QA - since it seems like QA might be the way to stay in this industry a bit longer with all of the offshoring and VR now.
6 cents a line!?!?!
I have almost seven years experience and some people have the nerve of offering 6 cpl IC status.  I think that is crazy.  Even if it is the same doctors and no ESLs.  I have worked for a couple of places where I make 8 cpl and have the same doctors and no ESLs.  I could understand if I were a newby or I tested for them and did bad.  They never even tested me.  They just send me an email stating what they offer.
at least 4 cents a line
I got my first editing job for 4 cents per line. 2 cents is slave labor.
3 cents per line
Are you sure they didn't mean 3 cents per line added to 7.5 cents per line? 
Their ad says 6 to 9 cents per line; not 6 to 8 (nm)
xx
I get 3-1/2 cents per line..nm
d
8 cents a line...
I regularly see people posting that 0.08/line is very low pay.  I have only been paid by the line for the past 2 years...before that I was paid hourly and worked for a hospital.  When I decided to work at home and saw that I could expect to get paid 7.5 to 8 per line...I thought that was decent.  I regularly type between 200 and 300 lines per hour...so even at my minimum that is $16/hour....I can't make that at Burger King.
6.5 cents a line?!?!?!
No wonder Spheris doesn't give a rip about keeping their top-notch employees.

And why should they care that MTs with decades of experience are walking away in droves, when they can just get some newbie to work for peanuts?

No offense to you personally, but the MTs who are willing to work for next to nothing are driving the entire MT profession down the drain.

I started 23 years ago at 8.5 cents a line.

If we keep devaluing ourselves, how do we expect MTSOs to place any value in us either?

'Nuff said.
6.5 cents per line
sdf
only 6 cents per line
You probably should try to get your own accounts, by calling doctors and/or putting an ad on MTStars like I did with my resume and my specialties, because doctors' staff do look at it.  I should know, I am doing a major account because of it.  I wish you the best.
I believe it was 7.5 cents a line, even
with 17 years' experience. Plus their software and system did not sound efficient.
Umm, take the 4.5 cents/line!

Even at a moderate pace and 100% reading of each report, that is more than $11.00 an hour.


 


5 - 7 cents/line..........
I bet it is for voice recognition
I would do QA for 2 cents/line
If all I had to do was fill in blanks, with ZERO proofreading and feedback. 
At 6 to 8 cents/line?
Are they kidding?
Pay is low - 0.05 cents per line
I'm not sure what platform they use.
It's 8 cents a line, it's in the ad. nm
 
Here is my 3 cents (per line)

I SO agree with what you said.  Loved the platform (EditScript V8) and the account was really not that difficult & good sound quality.  However, they had too many people trying to train the VR and sometimes it was a mess.  The 3 cpl for the VR is RIDICULOUS, especially when on some reports it would be quicker just to manually type the entire report rather than edit.  I was told I could not use a word expansion program, so I HATED that part.  We also could not copy/paste repetitive phrases of dictators from another report due to alleged HIPAA violations.  I truly don't see how a generic phrase or even paragraph for a procedure, as long as patient names are not mentioned, is a violation of HIPAA.  I think it has more to do with training the VR program.


My pay was relatively on time and accurate, but it just was not worth my while at 3 cents per line.  I also hated the panicking e-mails and the nastygram e-mails I received CONSTANTLY.  The nastygrams were just a blanket e-mail to everyone saying if they didn't do this or that they would be TERMINATED and constantly crying wolf about backlogs when at times there was no backlog!  I don't consider 4 jobs to be a backlog.  I now work for a small service where I am getting top dollar (12 cpl weekends) for relatively easy work & am happy that I quit.  Maybe someone else will do fine at TTD and will like to work that way.  Maybe they will make a lot of money at 3 cpl, but it sure wasn't me.


3 cents a line for VR

In order to make $20.00 an hour, which is what I make most days, I would need to edit 666 lines an hour.  Is that even possible? 


Hmm.... 666.....hmmm


 


3 cents a line for VR

In order to make $20.00 an hour, which is what I make most days, I would need to edit 666 lines an hour.  Is that even possible? 


Hmm.... 666.....hmmm


 


Personally, DSG is a good fit for me. Pay is good and on time, sound quality depends on the account
and I like the platform. There is not much weekend work, although sometimes is available.  I get along well with the management, no major complaints.  There is pay incentive once you get over a certain number of lines in a pay period.  I work as an IC, so can't help with benefits, insurance questions, etc.
Huh? When did 9.5 cents base per line become...
nm
I think you said you are making 10.5 cents/line, but you still have - sm
taxes taken out of your pay, approximately 30%, right? I realize you have other benefits, like paid vacation and health benefits, but you are still having taxes taken out.
I was offered 10 cents/line. I think they pay very well! nm
x
Pay is six cents gross line.
x
10 cents/line for radiology at

MDI  in Florida.  if you have Meditech experience.  If you don't, they will train you on it.  Giving sign-on bonus through March.  Diskriter pays by report, 1.05 -1.25.  Just have to do your research.  Its a pain.


 


 


 


I currently make 3.0 cents per line
and I average about 2400 - 3000 lines per day.
1.5 cents per line. nuff said

Or 1.5 cents a line for editing. nm
 
So go out of business. I know I won't help you for 3 cents a line.
I would go on welfare first.
No. But I see they are only paying 7 cents a line
You can get clients if you undercut. But it is getting good transcriptionists that is the trick if you pay so little.
They state they pay up to 12 cents a line - sm
How can that not been good pay?
The overall pay means more than cents per line
Getting really bad ESL or even really sloppy American doctors at 12 cpl is sometimes less profitable than some accounts at much less CPL. The bottom line is making a living and I've found there is not much compensation for doing the crap work in this profession anymore. The more experience, the more crap work you often end up with (and less pay for it).

Do you mean 0.07?? if it is 70 cents a line grab it. (nm)
x