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Employee. 0.09 cpl, 100s of normals, and downtime paid.

Posted By: I love my job! nm on 2006-02-14
In Reply to: Radioogy Question: What is a good rate of pay on a per report - LAMT

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We DO get paid for expanders & normals
nm
Why do MTs who are paid by the hour cherrypick the normals off accounts.

Line counts shouldn't be that important to them. 


So when you say paid for downtime...

do you mean that they actually pay you if no work available, not just for equipment failure on their part? 


If compensated for times of no work on your schedule (at what rate?  minumum wage or other?), some of the folks on the MQ Board need to hear this, I think. 


Yes, I get paid DOWNTIME when

there is no work around and I also get PTO, paid VISION, very good health insurance with company paying 80%, dental for less than 15 per pay period and a great atmosphere.  Yes, I do have to produce 12000 per pay period.


 


Paid for downtime...
Paid for downtime with Transcend? We don't. We get told to flex out time out.
I get paid per gross line. I utilize normals and macros
as much as possible, though I could do more than I do.   I also type 100+ wpm.  I don' t have demographics to fill in, just patient's name and I type in straight WP5.1, so no cumbersome formats.  I download via FTP and I batch my work insteading of having save each individual report.   I make 8 cpl per gross line.  
Disagree with this. Every company I've worked for paid for normals.
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Do you guys get paid for downtime?

That's one thing about MQ I'm thankful for.  At least we get paid for our downtime.  I don't know if we'll get paid for the jobs we've lost, though.  Some say yes, some say no.  I guess it's up to the PS.


Check out the MQ board - there's a link to check the status of DQS on their site.  The link takes you directly to MQ's DQS, but I would think they offer it for all clients they serve.


Last I checked at 7:30 am EST, it was still down for MQ.  Some MQ MTs are getting work, but I wouldn't until it at least gives you the yellow light (see site). 


It's like a snow day - you're glad to be off unexpectedly, but you know you'll have to make it up!


In our dreams we would get paid for downtime
Kind of like the office staff is still getting paid while the ones producing their income don't.
Last I knew Transolutions paid downtime. sm
It may have changed by now.
Different view: If we all went to hourly pay to make sure that we are paid during downtime, it wou
what we earn on production. I make upwards of $30 an hour on production. Most hospitals are under $20 an hour. I think we would lose money if hourly and if they pay us for downtime, I am sure that the money would have to come from somewhere, so they would lower rates.


No work, no paid downtime, bennies might leave...
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Forget Diskriter! Bunch of smoke! You will NOT get paid for downtime.

Diskriter made MQ look kind.  Diskriter also has had labor board charges in the past. If it sounds too good to be true, I assure you with Diskriter, it is!  This is the first time I've spoken out against them, but honestly the down time paid claim is bogus.


Employee dates did not change; ICs are paid on 2nd and 16th now because
they are not supposed to be paid the same as employees. Were you an IC?
Jax probably got 100s of resumes. Did even 1 MT get a reply
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You did 100s of reports in a day? What are you, wonder woman? nm
LMBO.
Can you imagine the 100s of applicants
I could not even imagine working in HR for TT right now! I would not apply there now, it would be impossible to try to stand out among all the applicants. Its crazy!!!!!
Their ad is still there, dated 7/12. Probably bombarded with 100s of resumes and hired the
s
SGS, cheap and would rather ship your job to india, where they have 100s of MTs taking our jobs!
Yes, on eScription...making about $5 and hour if lucky!  they quote you a pretty good line rate for typing, but half that for editing, and it's mostly editing.  then, with all the crap they throw at you, (this dr. wants this, be sure to fill in that, don't submit a report w/o this, and 30 pages of account specifics?) it's time consuming.  and the templates are a nightmare, the drs. are all over the place on them, not following them, so when editing them it takes forever.  @ 4cpl you can spend 15 minutes on one and make $1.00.  RUN! 
Normals
I have a lot of normals for my primary account but not as many for my secondary as it is a large teaching hospital with more dictators rotating in and out.
Normals
All accounts are verbatim.  What I mean is I have many, many macros set up for PEs, operative reports, etc where the dictators basically say the same thing every time and then I will edit as needed.  Both of my accounts do have a few normals set up in BayScribe by administration for some doctors.  Those are usually operative reports.
There are normals? Never saw one. nm)

can you still use normals?
thanks for your honest feedback.  i appreciate it.  More positions open on your side according to email this morning.  Guess you guys have a lot more work - I have gotten NSA 5 times already this morning! 
Normals/templates
I let my IC's use them especially in my psych accounts.  However there was a time that one of the gals forgot to change the name on the header and I was gone and it went to the doctor directly with the incorrect name on the Header and big, big HIPAA violation and the doctor almost pulled the account since he did not catch it either.  So I understand where your MTSO is coming from but again, I would not keep the help that made these mistakes rather than make the other MT's pay for the incompetent ones and be unable to use their autorcorrect, ShortHand or whatever normals/expanders that they use.  The account stayed with me but we do watch the names closely now.   Why make all suffer for the mistakes of a few.
are they paying you for the normals?
 
Expanders/Normals sm
As the poster below states, the way this is possible is by working an account that uses many normals and that you can utilize your Expanders with.

Chances are whatever national MTSO you work for will begin to use VR technology sooner rather than later.

After all, if you can use your normals/expanders to make astronomical line counts due to the repetitous nature of the accounts, it will be much easier for those accounts to go to VR.

I wish Normals had what I needed.
Most the time, what I am looking for can't be found in Normals, Alt G, or even Echart. I have enough experience on my primary that I know the usual sayings, it is just that I struggle with the not normal sayings that a dictator rambles off so fast, while chewing, yawning, etc. These things can't be found in normals (trust me I look every time before I submit a blank) and so far consist of way more than just 7% of my monthly dictations.

Whatever. I should just quit complaining. I do really like it there other than this part. I know you are trying to help, but I just wanted to point out that I use ALL the resources I can and still send over 7% to QA.
One job I worked for did not pay for normals at all.
They had loads and loads of normals and the docs used them consistently. When I would check my line count it was not where I thought it should be. When I asked I was told they did not pay for normals. That was something they did not tell me before I was hired. It was a company in Florida.
I bet they billed the client for normals
You can make alot of reports nothing but normals if the patient has a normal exam.  I bet that company bills for those normals too.  That is like asking a waitress to work for low wages, and she can't keep the tip!!!!!  What will they think of next?
Yes, their normals, not yours. Not all places are like this apparently. nm
xxx
Do you get enough repetition so that one could create/utilize normals? Nm
nm
All accounts are VERBATIM, so there couldn't be any normals.
x
My MTSO sends us normals for those few doctors

that you them.  They are usually a fill in the blank type thing with the doctors only giving the blanks, so there isn't much to mess up.   We do have a few normals that need to be modified and there are only a few MTs that get these dictators, because of the same issue your MTSO, that changes are not made, etc.   I am allowed to create my own normals and do.   If I have a doctor that needs to have the same normal, but occasionally does change things, I only have my normal including what is ALWAYS the same and then I have macros for statements that are frequently dictated that I can use to piece together the rest of the document.


I can't imagine my company forbiding us to use normals.  My company wants the MTs to be productive, because if they are producing they are making money and if they are making good money they are happy and the MTSO will have good retention of MTs, which they have had.  It also benefits the MTSO to have high producing MTs, so that they can have fewer MTs and less costs/hassle.


 


 


 


I used to be a supervisor and we allowed all MTs to make their own normals, BUT...

it was the responsibility of the MT to listen to the dictation and make sure that the normal reflected exactly what the physician dictated.  And any QA issues specifically attributed to an MT's personal normal resulted in a three-phase disciplinary action, i.e. written up for the first offense, written up and forced to come in-house to work for a determined period of time for the second, and finally termination for the third.  Also any incentive money the MT may have earned for the day of the infraction was forfeited.  It seems extreme, but we had such a problem with QA issues and many complaints from physicians especially with radiology normals that we really had no choice.  We needed to make it clear how vital quality was over quantity.


Now that I work as an IC MT, I create and use my own normals, but I listen to every single dictation and if there is even one tiny, seemingly insignificant change such as the physician says the instead of a, I change it in the report.


I think a company forbidding their MTs from using personal normals will end up costing themselves money in the end.  The solution is to institute very strict policies regarding the use of personal normals and enforce them.  Let the client know that these policies are now being enforced and if they see any mistakes whatsoever, to please let the MTSO know.  It's hard being an MTSO, I'm sure.  Assuring the client that their concerns are your concerns and making the MT's feel respected and appreciated for their hard work is like walking a tightrope sometimes.  The sad fact is that you can't make everyone happy all of the time and in the business world, you have to schmooze the one who writes your paycheck - that goes for MTSO's and MT's alike.


Keystrokes makes you count out for normals.
nm
Co I work for, large national, allows normals. Of course, you must listen
zz
I have normals, lots and a huge expander glossary sm

I also have 20 years in this business, which helps.  I am not a fast typist really and I can't type at all without the expander, not anymore.  I have a photographic memory for terms and how they are spelled...see it once, know it forever. 


There are exceptional MTs and there are very good MTs, there are good ones and ones who can just about pass muster.  Don't beat yourself up trying to be exceptional.  I think exceptional MTs are born, but very good ones can be built from scratch.  There are MANY MANY facets to success as an MT.  You have to have quite an ear for voices and even the very best of us can't do every accent.  You have to either be a great typist and/or Expander user, and you have to know it well (I have used my same one most of my career).  You have to know your terminology inside and out.  You need to know how to properly organize your normals so that they are consistent and easy to use.  You have to have an excellent platform to work on, preferrably a Word client.  You also have to have a company who stands behind you and makes sure you have enough work with QA people who can and will take the time to teach you what you don't know.  My favorite QA gal is a font of knowledge, a BOS2 expert and she even corrects my emails for grammar.  I have learned a lot from her.  It helps to have someone on an IM who can answer questions on the fly for you.  I have had those in the past and now I am one of those who does the answering. 


Most importantly, do your very best at whatever mode of work you are doing.  Show up every day, give it your all.  Don't worry about what the rest of us are doing, be the best you, you can be.  Things fall into place when you do that, I know because this is how I had to approach the early stages of my career.  Persistance pays off.


Sorry to hear that because that was a good account with great normals. Hope
you find a new home where you will be appreciated and with good line counts!
Downtime? What's that?


Downtime
They pay $12/hr downtime, includes system/platform problems (on their end) and periods of no work. It does not cover things on the MT end, including electric failure and internet failure.
Downtime
Can anyone name a few companies that pay downtime?
downtime
Because I hired on as a FT employee and constantly running out of work which is out of my control - I have to sit here and wait while I pay daycare and not make any money - I need 40 hours a week to live - I wasn't looking for parttime work.  I think all companies should pay downtime when it their fault we have no work
Some do pay downtime, not all like MQ.
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Downtime
Thanks, and I will check on that this morning. I will come back and post what I'm told. When I was hired and also during training, they went over the procedures for downtime pay, both no-work and technical. I'll definitely put it on here, though, for confirmation. Thanks, Dolfan!
Don't lie about it. They don't pay for downtime.
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Downtime (sm)
If you're out of work, you are paid downtime, but you have to keep checking back every 10-15 minutes.

Answering of questions isn't as bad as other poster said. First couple weeks it is great, though, when you really need it.

They were up front with me about no shift differential before I took the position and pay, etc.

Yes, there is a lot of preemployment stuff, but it is the hospital requirement and not DR.

If you live in the tricounty area (Dade, Broward, Palm Beach) the health insurance is very good, so the preemployment is kind of worth it if you need insurance.

Regarding samples. I'm not even sure if the other poster was on this account because with the software, you have access to all reports dictated and transcribed by all physicians or any reports typed on the patient you are transcribing. So no samples are really necessary.

Definitely shift intensive. But every job has it's drawbacks. It's all about a good fit. Maybe DR isn't for you, but I just wanted to correct a few incorrect statements by the other poster.
downtime
Does KS have a lot of downtime? Do they pay you for it?
they don't pay for anything, no downtime..sm
no holidays, NO overtime...8 cpl that is it, nada, nothing more. Owners are making a killing tho....
And they don't pay 1 penny of downtime
when the system is down for hours at a time.
I hear they pay for downtime; don't know much else
Never worked there, and of course I would defer to people who have!
What companies pay for downtime? sm
As in, you are an employee (not IC) and you run out of work.