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I've made $35,000 for the years I worked there. SM

Posted By: Sally Forth on 2008-11-14
In Reply to: I made in the low 50s at Spheris 4 years ago. - Worked there 3 years.

I would have to kill myself for $50,000 and I don't choose to do that.  I give you credit if you were able to achieve it. 


The pay rate has been lowered there now, due to SR.   The rate of pay at MQ has always been higher, but this field is dying out where ever one goes. 




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I've made in the upper 40s and low 50s for several years now.
From 2 top nationals. Yes, it is possible.

Can everyone do it? No. Some people are better at it than others. Some can put their headset on, hit that pedal and keep on until it's all done. Others cannot sit still, don't have a very good skill set, are easily distracted or listen to too many complaints by others. Never let others help you decide how to feel about YOUR job.

Some of it will rely on your skill set, your mindset and your self-discipline. Some of it will depend on working for a company that you are comfortable with - comfortable with their set up, how work is divided, their base and incentive pay, etc. If you're upset, you'll not perform as well. If you're unhappy, you'll spend more time being upset than working and being productive.


I made 8 cpl when I worked for them 3 years ago. The ESLs were really horrendous, though.
Even the English speaking docs were bad.  I just couldn't make any money with those accounts.  Maybe things have changed in 3 years, but it was not a pleasant experience for me.  It was my very first MT job.
I worked there for abour 4-1/2 years and made excellent money.
I hated to leave but I was only scheduled PT but allowed to work up to 40 hours a week as I wanted. Certain family obligations made me have to choose between FT at Spheris or my local accounts and I chose my local accounts.

I was pulling in about $40,000 a year.
I worked on site for many years. I've been doing this for 10 years... sm
I've worked on site, at home, for small MTSOs, for nationals, for hospitals. I've been paid per line, per minute, and per hour. I've been an MT and a QA. I have ALWAYS worked weekends and ALWAYS worked nights for the shift differential because MTs can't survive on 6 or 7 cents a line. At least I can't and I type 105 wpm.

I've BEEN dedicated from day 1, sister, so you are barking up the wrong tree.
I've worked for MDI-MD for several years and no,
my liason either.  But that's okay. 
I've worked on the DOS system for 4 years
and have never had a problem with it; however, I've never worked for anyone else as an MT and consequently never worked on any other system than DOS. I'm making good money in my opinion and support myself and my daughter just fine on my income.
I disagree. I've worked at home for 10 years
and have enjoyed plentiful work the whole time. I work not to supplement DH's income but my income matches his. I make much more at home than I did working in-house at a hospital. I'm viewed as a professional by my clients and act like one. Most MTs who work in-house (in my experiencey ONLY) do far, far less in the same amount of time that I do at home. Which is great for me. There are pros and cons ot every job and I appreciate every line I earn and every minute of dictation I'm given, especially in this economy. :-)
I've worked there several years, and have never had a late paycheck nm
nm
I've worked there 7 years and had what I thought was a problem with my check, but that was

due to MY mistake. I accidentally counted lines typed after midnight on the last day of the pay period and thought I would get paid for them. It was when I first started. They actually cut me a check for those lines that day. Glad I work close to the office.


Just to clarify for you, Grace does the paychecks on site. If there is a problem with your check, call the 1-800 number and ask for Grace or email Grace@medwaremt.com. She will check the problem and fix it right then and there. Don't go to the team leader, go to the person who does the checks. Her office is also right next to the Flannery's so it not a big thing to get them signed.


I've worked for Ubiqus for 2 years now and I get paid every two weeks.
I really enjoy the work because it's advisory board meetings, round table discussions, and big conferences of all fields of medicine.  I started with them right after I graduated and I've never done any of the doctor dictation, I like this work better.
I've also worked there over 4 years and I have noticed the work drop
Whatever left is the crap. Also, check your line count some time. I swear that they have manipulated that also. I can now do over 2 pages and it comes up with like 50 lines. I used to be able to make a living there but can't anymore. I'll be quitting.
Not sure what you mean. I've worked at home for 18 years. Just fyi: legitamite is incorrect. Spel
xx
Wow, I've never made that much an hour. I do about $18.
nm
I guess you've never made
Grow up.
If that is all you have to complain about you've got it made. And they

probably aren't licking the stamps as they just peel and stick them now. 


I think this is the 3rd post you've made sm
about this.  If you only had 8 days into this job, just let it go and move on.  You sound hysterical.
Babe, I've made...
...the turn so many times in my career (see other posts below).   I was just hoping for a nice short, straight stretch until retirement.  I'm getting really tired of fighting the wheel, hitting potholes, getting flat tires, only to find that I picked the wrong road anyhow.  It's wearying.
What the heck? I've never heard that in the 8 yrs I've worked here. sm
Go back to your STM or over his or her head.
I worked for a temp agency for 3 years..LOVED it. Just worked. No counts, no hassels, GREAT pay..
No benefits at the time.  I even learned pathology while temping (8 months on that assigment).  I loved the variety, the ability to say I'm not available such and such time.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I didn't need benefits.
Me, too. I've made so little money this month that I can't even
make my house payment.  This is getting beyond ridiculous.  If it's not one thing, it's another.  I suppose I could go pawn my computer since I'm not getting any work.
I've made 50K+ in the past, but the variable is
What type of work or accounts you are doing. If you are working as a sub and get put on continually changing unfamiliar work, then you'll be lucky to struggle through 20K. The same person put on work they are good at and familiar with can easily make 30-50K+. Many of MT companies do not match familiarity of work and why many skilled MTs are making less and less.
You are too much...I made almost 60k five years ago
working in a similar recruiting/QA position for a small company. It varies widely. And it is a whole lot nicer position than MTing..well just about anything is IMO. Stop being so envious.
Yes, MTTest does cut you off if you've made too many errors up to that point.
s
I made upper 40s with them 6 years.
My insurance was around $350 a month family coverage. I have been gone from them about a year.


I made $13/hour 14 years ago
nm
I made 20.00 an hour 3 years ago -
Even that was not enough money for all the garbage I had to correct.  I went back to straight typing.  Make more money now with lots less stress!
I have been doing this for over 30 years .. I made more in 1983 than I do now . sm

However, I still make a decent living.  What burns me is when I see these cheesy ads telling women they can take their course  (and spend $$$$) and instantly make $50,000 .... you know that doesn't happen.


I was lucky and had the advantage of being trained on the job when I was a junior in high school (my mom was a lab tech and friends with the director of Medical Records).  No matter how good the at-home course is (or is not), to me, you just can't beat the hands on experience of having the benefit of someone else's ears .. but I guess those days are gone like the wind.


I don't know much about painting gourds, but I thought about sitting on a beach in the carribbean and selling cheap crap to tourists .. care to join me?  


I made in the low 50s at Spheris 4 years ago.
Yes, you can.



I worked for a company that sent us something made

in China with their logo on it every year, most of which I've Freecycled or tossed.  I'd rather not get something at all than get something like that.


KS pays me very well and while they aren't perfect, they are a very good company and have lots and lots and lots of work.  That is worth a lot more than a $25 GC at Christmas.  I wouldn't send it back if I were to get one, but a decent pay for the other 11 months is a much better gift. 


I worked that way once, best money I ever made.
.
When I worked with her, she made calls

to people when there were backlogs to get more help.  She used to ask me what she could do/offer me to get me to come onboard full-time, so I always figured she was in upper management in order to be able to offer that.


Sorry, but I made more than that as a grocery cashier 7 years ago (nm)
x
Are they kidding, made $1.25 per report over 20 years ago. nm
x
What about those who made 12 cents a line only a few years ago
you have no problem with reduction in pay, are you serious? making less money is truly okay with you because you sympathize with those poor administors and owners of the companies who should have the money instead.

I respect your talking about bad work habits but what type of transcription to you do, what percent ESL may I ask? You do realize it is not humanly possible to jump through all the hoops just right now to make that kind of money, not unless you are lucky enough to work on 'good accounts' which are usually saved for those who also do QA, and for new people or whoever gets or however they get it I have no idea.

you must type so many lines a day, but your quality better be 98-100% or you lose benefits and pay and also you must never complain or speak up about anything or you will get the worst dictation on the system only to have your work gone over with people who are paid hourly so they can pretend quality is what matters when we all know what really matters is the hospital saving money for the CEOs and their families.

if anyone cared about the patients, I mean truly cared about the patients as we are expected to do, the whole system would not have gone to capitation and nonprofit to a for-profit business. Halls in hospitals would not be filled with patients who have no one to help them and who lie there moaning and groaning while the nursing staff is cut back to less than skeleton crew, or any kind of ancillary service is outsourced and moved out of the hospital to save money, no matter that elderly people suffer because they may not be able to drive all over.

I could go on and on but it no doubt will be lost on where you are at.

This country seems to be becoming more 'sadistic' and less compassionate day by sorry day.

where were people like you when the money was flowing freely, were you protesting for lower pay - do you want to take lower pay right now because I am sure your boss will oblige...
I've been a QA 15 years and I've never heard
of any company only paying for the actual Keystrokes of the blank. You would literally make less than minimum wage that way. Waaay less.
I have worked in another industry and made twice the amount - but it
didn't last long, about two years. sssiiiiggghhh!
Worked shift/made requirements

I would email them with just what you said, see what they come up with.  This means essentially your kept your requirement to work you shift and made your line count, but it seems then you must MEET YOUR SHIFT AND LINE REQUIREMENT --- BEFORE the actual shift ends.


Post back what was said back, this stinks as usual with what is happening to MTs


Nope...MDI-MD for a long time as well and I have a schedule I have to follow! You've got it made

Yikes, I guess that says it all for this field....I made that over 15 years ago!
Guess it's time to move on :(
Yikes. I made 8 an hour 9 years ago starting. nm
x
They have not had ICs in 5 years but the decision was just recently made to have PT employees. sm
There are pretty strict guidelines they are adhering to with regard to part-timers. They must have a set schedule of 8 hours one weekend day or 8 hours both weekend days and 4 hours at least 3 evenings per week. The days have to be the same every week.

So if you are looking for say MWF 6-10p and all day Saturday, it would work well for you. If you are looking to work whenever you want, it would not.
Why should I go back to making 9 cpl when I make 11 cpl now?? I made 8 cpl over 12 years ago.
nm
This is true..Put it this way. I made $45,000 this year but worked 3 jobs and at least 60
hours a week and sometimes up to 80. I have no desire to do that anymore. I'd be happy with $35,000 working 40 hours a week. What a dream job.
I agree. I was with MQ and made fabulous money and worked for
large universities.  Finally, I had enough and left 2 years ago and never looked back.  It wasnt easy at first learning new hospitals but I am still at that place and am fine.  Actually, I like learning new hospitals every now and then, takes care of the boredom.  Now dont get me wrong, the money isnt as great, but I cant take the boredom.  I lose my focus when I get like that and get sloppy I think.  You just dont watch as closely so every now and then you need a reality check and get pulled back into shape, at least I do.  I focus much more closely on new accounts.
If you made a graph of all the things taken away by Edix/Speris in the last 5 years.....
You would be shocked, although it has been 6 years since it started.....

first charging for errors, about 6 years ago (they stopped that), then insurance changed for the worst, regrading hospitals to their advantage so you would make at least 200. to 300 less a pay period, the list is long, long, long. I can go back 6 years up to 2 years ago when I finally left.
In REPLY TO: What do you call 6.5 cents?? - Geeze, when I started out 15 years ago, I made 8 c
6.5 was the offer for one place and the second offer was 9 cents. I chose the second offer :). Rough out there indeed! There are even places paying per report now... I saw 75 cents, $1.10, $1.15 and $1.25. Ain't good for Rad.
Made 1200-1600 per week paid on a gross line for 5 years!
It CAN be done. The key is either a really high line rate or canned text over and over again with very small accounts. I had a little of both and then some harder stuff thrown in. It also helps if you work like you are on fire most of the day. Needless to say, that gravy train ran out of juice and now I am back to *normal* pay of around $750 per week at another company. SO many variables out there with the *how much do you make?* question.
Isn't Wal-Mart the company that lied/replaced labels several years back with Made in USA? nm
,,
I've been doing it for 4 years now. There are many

options available.   Lots of campgrounds have some type of connection.  Sometimes they just have a central jack for dial-up, sometimes they have connections at each site, though there may only be xx number of lines for the entire campground so that you are still limited with on-line time.  I found that even in this day of technology some dial-up speeds are really, really slow and it may take 4 hours to download a day of work.   A lot of campgrounds now are going to WiFi, especially in the bigger cities.   If you have a wireless card and the campground is a hot spot you can access their network (usually for a fee) and get high-speed access from your RV.   You can use your cell phone, which I have done in a pinch, but we often traveled where there was absolutely no signal of any kind like in the Black Mountains of SD.    There are wireless cards called air cards and this will allow you to access an open hot spot while doing down the road, though most hot spots are not open networks so you can't rely on that 100%.  Places like B&N and Starbucks are hot spots for a few.  You could access them from the parking lot so if you are traveling from point A to point B, you could just stop to rest or have a coffee and download at the same time.  You can also use satellite.  With satellite as long as you have a clear view of the southern sky you can get access, even in the middle of a field with no electricity (as long as you have a generator/inverter).   You can get a system similar to what you would have in a residential situation and set it up every time you move or you can have a system installed on your roof that makes it much easier for about ($5000 and $99/mo).  Downloads are not always high-speed and if weather conditions are severe you might not be able to get a signal or keep it, and uploads are much slower than downloads.   We have utilized all of the above at some time or other.  I had Earthlink as my ISP and they have lots of local access numbers and an 800#.  Only twice in the 9 months we lived on the road full-time was I not able to get a signal of some type (before we got out satellite).


I recommend getting a campground directly from Trailer Life.  You can find it at probably any parts/service center or dealership for campers and may find it at B&N.   The don't list all campgrounds, because you have to pay for a listing, but there are campgrounds all over the U.S. listed and they list amenities, such as if pets are allowed, if they have internet access and what type of access, etc.   This will help you make decisions about where to stay.  You can also go on-line before leaving and print out a list of B&N and Starbucks and the like that have hot spots to use in a pinch.  KOA campgrounds should all have some type of access, but they are more expensive and I don't think they are as nice a campground as some others.


If you don't already, you will want direct deposit setup and have all your bills setup to be viewed on-line, so that if you don't have to worry about having your mail forwarded so often or about paying bills on-time.  I had all regular payments automatically drafted and bills like credit cards I paid on-line.


Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.


 


I've been an MT for over 20 years now.

Others who have seen me type say they've never seen anybody type so fast in their life.  My typing speed has been described as truly amazing by others.  There's no question that I have true natural ability when it comes to being an MT, so my knowledge or abilities are definitely NOT the issue here. 


For years now, I have purposely worked for many of the companies out there in order to evaluate differences between line counts.  I've done every kind of work there is too (Basic 4, ER, radiology, etc...).  I'm a very well rounded MT.


I've found that MDI gives the absolute lowest line counts.  I was able to average anywhere from 250-400 lph with all the other companies I worked for and this was after only 1-2 weeks of working with them as compared to working for MDI for years and knowing the account up, down and sideways!!  So when I see people like you posting they average 300-350 at MDI, I really question this???  Also, I never had to pay long distance for anybody else either.  Most other companies offer an 800 number or went internet files a long time ago. 


I'm sorry you can't stomach the many negativities your company has, but in my experience, there's way better out there and I'm entitled to my opinion.


Merry Christmas :)


I've been doing this 20 years and still need
reference books and need to research.   If you are putting out a poor quality product and you know you are there is no excuse.   You should be proofing your reports or going back and relistening.    I'm sorry life is rough, but that is no excuse for poor quality work.   I don't work for KS, but I think you are wrong in putting the blame on them.