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LINE RATES

Posted By: me on 2007-09-02
In Reply to: Sorry. I'm not sure about the line rate but I DO know in this biz... - WanderingMT

There are companies that do base pay on experience and they are well over 0.85 or 0.825.  You just need to find them. 


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line rates
When I started I was told line rates are based on years of experience and what account you work on.  When you are hired they give you a pay matrix so it is easy to see exactly what you are making.  They also pay a shift differential after 6PM and have an incentive plan that is paid at 12,000 per pay (2 weeks). 
Line rates
Why do all these companies keep dropping their line rates?  The cost of living sure isn't falling. 
Line rates
Because they can get away with it. As an experienced MT, at this point I will go work doing something else before I will take less, but I am frustrated that there are so many out there who are willing to sell themselves short. I also will happily learn voice recognition or do QA but not at my expense. I keep wondering what the fallout in this profession will be.
Line Rates

Hi


Could anyone tell me what to expect for a decent line rate... I never see any ads for more than about 8-9c per line?  Thanks. Lou


TRS ....line rates...etc.

Dear TRS-er --


I worked for TRS for a few months back in 2000 and had a very good experience with them, had to leave for unrelated reasons.  I cannot remember what they paid me per line, but I now have over 20 years of MT experience.  I am looking for 10 cents a line.  Do you think they will pay me that figure, or more?  And what if I take the CMT test (have not taken it yet), how much more will I get?  


Also, do they ever run out of work for more than say a few hours?  


Thanks for your answers...hope to chat more with you very soon, as I want to leave my present company very soon.  


Thanks.


Linda


 


line rates

We have different line rates for different accounts, ranging from 9 to 10 cents per line without spaces but include headers and footers and 8 cents per line with spaces.  Our MTs who transcribe on both platforms say their pay is the same day in and day out..


 


Line rates
experience and what account/schedule you work, that is what their recruiter told me.  Plus they have 2 levels of incentive. I have them in the top 2 choices and will make my decision this weekend, but they seem to have work and offer a nice overall package.  I would rather work for a smaller national that one of the big ones.
line rates
Best I can figure, 8 for 55 is equal to 8.8 at 65.
I have not seen line rates go up! Seems to me
x
VR line rates

I've been doing QA for a long time, but like everything else, the pay has gone down, down, down.  Does anyone know of companies paying better than 4 cpl for VR.  Or companies paying 10 cpl for transcribing?  Getting desperate.  Thanks for any info!


PS:  Please remember to vote for the candidate you believe will get us out of this outsourcing mess that has lowered our wages.


line rates
Higher than where I came from, 8.1 cpl for ERs that are gravy to type.  I get 9-10K lines per week. They have started new accounts this year and we also just got a nice MT Week gift card in the mail.  I think they are a great company and they keep me in work. 
Line rates?
How is their starting line rate? Do they ever give raises?
pay per line rates
The company that bid on the contract and won it sets the rate. If they bid it at 7 cpl and 11 cpl, you are not going to make more than 3/4 and 7/8 cpl. There are a lot of costs involved with hiring MTs. Its not cheap. Getting MTs set up in payroll, getting IDs, shipping equipment, etc costs money. Unfortunately, many MTs accept a position and then turn around and quit. I have seen and experienced it first hand. MTSOs and larger companies cannot afford to pay high rates. They often lose money, especially early on with a new contract.

just saying. take it for what it is worth.


per line rates
What are people getting paid per line that work for MTSO's?
line rates
The line rate for the oncology account varies depending on your oncology experience.  I have found the platform to be very user friendly so I think it depends on your ability to adapt to new things.  Be prepared to be very busy, to learn templates and have good quality.  A good account requiring concentration and a sound knowledge of oncology.
Say No To Low Line Rates!
I did it twice. Just told them I would not even consider working for what they offered. If everybody said that to every low offer maybe the line rates would come up. Then again, could recruiters be getting bonuses for finding people deseprate enough to work for 6 cents a line? Sorry state of affairs, is it not?
Sorry, but line rates have dipped in the SM

past 5 years.  If you can negotiate with any of these companies and get 11 cpl, more power to you.  I have found it difficult to get them to give 9 or 10 cpl myself.


There's also the issue of plenty of work.  Usually, if you are in the 8 cpl-range, there is no problem landing with a company who can keep you busy all the time (but you'll be on a number of different accounts-I can guarantee that).  BUT....there are also plenty of companies talked about on these boards that run out of work frequently, their accounts are overflow (feast or famine), etc.


 


Why do you accept line rates like this? nm
X
Voice Rec. line rates?
I'm considering taking a job doing Voice Recognition editing, but what is the average line rate I can expect for this type of work?  I see some ads for editing, but none of them include the pay rate.  I have 5+ years of experience as an MT.  Thanks!
There are better line rates out there, just have to look and not accept less sm
I currently work for 2 different companies.

My FT employee-status job I make 9.5 cpl, I started at 8.5 cpl and after 6 years worked my way up to 9.5 cpl. I also get an incentive if I type a certain amount over the minimum.

My PT IC job I started at 9 cpl (lower line rate but better system to work on - so lines come easy) Been there 3 months.

There are jobs out there. I have 9.5 years experience and don't know why people who have been in the business for 25 years or more are getting low offers. Perhaps your education isn't what you thought it was. If you have a solid background of A&P, pharmacology, college composition, and a strong work ethic, you should make more than 6-7 cpl. Honestly, you can't get a good education taking a home-based MT course, you need to go to a real college with real teachers and do an internship before you graduate. A good education can almost double your money after 5 years in the industry compared to those who didn't get the training or classes they needed to understand the stuff they type.
why do you all say they have higher line rates? sm
I applied there thinking they would offer me something competetive and I was offered 8 cpl for 6 years' experience. Not on your life.

I turned them down flat.
Higher line rates
When I was with MQ, I was making 9.75 cents a line, but I accepted a position with another company for 8.5 cents a line. The lines are easier to come by with this company, so it equaled out anyway. By the way, have 20 years experience. These companies only pay so much. What do you get per line?
Higher line rates
Yes, worked for the company MQ bought up for about 3 years before that. I left because I was not making money at MQ anymore, was working harder for less money with the cesspool and all, was making about 500.00 less a month. I am back where I was with MQ before all the changes financially, and really like the company I am with. I read on here that MQ was offering 12 cpl (I think) for people to come back. I got a few phone calls, but never called them back.
VR/ASR/MT pay rates & line counts
I've found that editing ASR reports takes me as long as typing them straight would have. Yet getting 60% of the pay rate for those lines makes that a LOSING proposition! I'm wondering if others are just letting the many ASR errors slide through uncorrected as a way of keeping their line rates up? I can't bring myself to do that, but the pay cut is killing my self-esteem.

Is there ANYBODY out here who will admit to being able to make the same amount of money per hour on ASR as on MT?
Axolotl line rates
Could you share a ballpark cpl for someone with 20+ years experience? TIA
MDI-FL is advertising top line rates. Anyone know what amount that is? nm
:
If they keep offering those pathetic line rates
LOL.
RE: Editing at extremely low line rates
If you get a discount on the coffee, I'm in....LOL
Editing at extremely low line rates.
What are the standard rates for Quality Assurance Editing these days? Well, that depends on what you are editing. If you are editing TRAINED Voice Recognition files expect to make less per line, maybe a couple of cents per line. For UNTRAINED Voice Recognition files, you should be earning at least 3 cpl or better. Editing relatively clean reports that require very little change should earn you up to about 4 cpl. Editing transcribed reports by new grad MTs or offshore MTs should earn you 5 to 6 cpl. I really don't think I'm far off base here, but I am certain that if you take a job editing transcribed reports done by offshore MTs, you should not accept anything less than 5 cpl, otherwise you are doing yourself a disservice even if you are trying to break into Editing. Feel free to respond.
Some things to consider that factor into line rates. sm
There are two sides to this. The larger companies like MQ, Spheris, Transcend, Keystrokes, et AL have a lot more accounts and more volume so they make their money on volume and can pay more. They also have more overhead than smaller MTSOs and need payroll people, recruiters, benefits people, etc.

But here is what no one considers: If I pay someone 0.09 per line, I have to pay taxes and unemployment on them. My portion is 15% between SS and unemployment. Benefits such as PTO and the portion I pay for insurance and 401K (there is a fee to the employer to have someone run it at the company that you have your 401K with), etc cost me approximately 22% more. So actually, 9cpl + 37% = 12.3cpl. Add the cost of doing payroll, bank fees, liability insurance, etc. and there is not a whole lot left over. Most hospitals will not pay more than 13cpl, some 14cpl. My break-even is 13.2 cpl. This is normal; I talk to many MTSOs at MTIA meetings and on my own. The big ones above are the only ones that make a lot of money, but their companies produce a lot of lines every month.

Do I make good money? Yes, but I put in a lot of time getting accounts and keeping them happy, doing the juggling act to keep my employees busy on good accounts. Payroll takes time, recruiting takes time, sales take time PLUS a lot of accounts take a lot of day-to-day work.

I am not complaining about being an MTSO, I just want you to know that there are two sides to everything and the industry changes prevent us from paying more than 7 to 9 cpl. Factor in offshore driving our costs down and those companies that undercut everyone, and small MTSOs may go the way of 8-Track Tapes.

I see the industry going to just 10 companies or so and hopefully they can stay in business too with speech recognition, offshore and everything else that comes along.
Focus - what are their average line rates??
You hear good, bad, so-so and ugly about them.  One thing you never see is what exactly are they paying.  I hate to waste my time talking, applying, or testing with anyone who doesn't disclose their pay rates.  I have extensive EXText experience, including the EXSpeech Turbo (which is awesome I might add).  I know that VR doesn't always pay as well as it should, but if it's a productive platform and I don't have to type 50-blue-million ESL guys, I don't expect to make 8 cpl.  However, just exactly what can you expect.  If I have to edit or transcribe quality work that doesn't require you to go back and fix every other report, or if I'm not sending tons of reports to the QA person to figure out my blanks, I expect to be able to make good money for my experience.  Is anyone willing to share what their pay rates are?  If I can't average 22-25 an hour....not worth looking at. 
MQ and Spheris line rates for SR/trans?
Can anyone tell me what editing/trans rates are for these companies? Are there any production incentives?
Spheris line rates & incentives
Some employees at Spheris are now being told that production and QA incentives will be eliminated. The line rate is variable, but in general, the very least you will accept. This used to be a wonderful company. Very little concern now for either employees, quality of work, or serving best interests of clients. Many are leaving.
People discuss line rates, yes, but pay, I still say is not professional
nm
everyone is banned for discussion line rates being offered
nm
But meanwhile as they take accounts probably by offering very low line rates until the client sees
what they got the MTs that lost the accounts scrounge around trying to get new accounts. Rather sad.
Their line rates are competitive, and their bennies are among the best in the business. I'm happ

editing rates are 1.5 cents per line....can you say SLAVE WAGES??
 
Slipping Backward - Line Rates and Cost of Living

This is for those of us who have been in the business awhile. 


 I stumbled across an online calculator that lets you input a dollar amount and a year in the past, and see what it would be today with cost of living increases.  (Link below).


You can use this with line rates and do it two ways - either as cents, which gives you a whole number result, or as dollars, which gives you the decimal portion as well.  In other words, if you made 8 CPL, you can either enter it as $0.08, or you can enter it as $8 and then move the decimal point over to the left two places in the result.  The multiplier is the same either way, so the dollar method with the extra decimal points is more precise.  Just remember to move the decimal point over.


I was making 10 cpl in 1990, so I gave it a spin and ran some different line rates through it using 1990 as the base year:


8 CPL = 12.96 in 2009


9 CPL = 14.6 in 2009


10 CPL = 16.2 in 2009


11 CPL = 17.8 in 2009


12 CPL = 19.4 in 2009


Is there any doubt that if the line rate had even kept up with the cost of living, people would not be feeling the way they do about this industry? 


Then I did something else and tried different input amounts to see what amount in 1990 would have equalled 9 CPL today - a typical line rate.   I had to back off to 5.56.  Someone earning 9 CPL today is making the equivalent of less than 6 CPL in 1990.


It's kinda fascinating playing with this thing (the way watching a train wreck is fascinating, I mean).  Here's a link you can paste into your browser, or you can follow the link at the bottom of the post.


http://www.aier.org/research/worksheets-and-tools/cost-of-living-calculator   


 


 


 


Where is this information coming from about new MQ line rates? I'm a long-time MQer and have nev
nm
Line rates for Dictaphone EXText Correction Client (speech)

What are the going rates for EXText correction client?  Anyone else working on this now?


A line is a line is a line. Doesn't matter if we are talking about radiology or acute care.

1600 is not a fair minimum requirement.  Sure you can achieve 1600, it shouldn't be the required minimum.


Means a line is a line is a line, even if it only has one word on the line
it is considered a line. 
Pay rates
Your pay rate doesn't change. What this policy says is that IF you send a report with a CRITICAL error to a customer and it is returned, you may not be paid for that particular report. I don't see this as unfair frankly because the service can't bill a customer for that serious of a mistake in a document. It's all about us being accountable for our work. We want to be recognized for our value but don't want any of the responsibility that goes with that?
pay rates sm
I turned down a job also because of low pay--company did not want to pay for spaces and added normals themselves so I wouldn't get paid. How low can you go? Wish we all would turn down low pay. Maybe it would send a message. I know this isn't realistic, but I'm wishing :)
pay rates sm
Just curious but which company does not want to pay for spaces? I know of one company that does add the normals and will not pay the MTs but it isn't any of the three mentioned here, can you enlighten us, please?

Thanks!
pay rates
There are two different platforms, one pays 9 cents per line without spaces and one pays 7-8 cents with spaces.
low rates
I have a friend who has a small MT company and she charges her clients 9 to 12 cpl (the 9 cpl accounts she types herself). She has a few ICs locally (usually pays 7 cpl). She is amazed when I tell her what other companies charge their clients but every time she tries to negotiate a little higher rate her clients tell her either it's the same low rate as always or they won't use her services anymore, so she feels stuck. We live in a low cost of living area, so the doctors are generally cheaper here, but for me personally, I wouldn't take that pay if I had to have the hassle of my own accounts, dealing with clients, billing, etc.
Especially re. pay rates....sm
The few MT contracts I have seen, employee or IC, are pretty vague on the subject of compensation, saying something like, ...The agreed-upon rate.  Agreed between whom?  Get a specific figure in writing, esp. re. rates per line, spaces, etc.  They can screw you up here without you knowing it, and how is agreed-upon rate going to hold up anywhere?
rates
Employee rates are 7.5 to 8.5 for dayshift, plus they have an incentive that you can make if you type an additional 200 lines per day.  That will add 1/2 cpl to your rate, they also have an additional 1 cpl for late shift plus the incentive.  The acute care rates are higher than the ER team rates.  They pay by direct deposit every 2 weeks. I started with MedScribe about 6 months ago and like the work and the new platform.
low rates
I have tried to reason with the company I work for, using all my logical arguments - it's best to pay a little more if you expect people to work on their days off, it's better to pay your experienced people a few cents more than to hire in outsiders when work gets behind, especially if your clients are already angry (come on, tell me that someone can just come in and do exceptional work with no experience on an account!), that it would be nice to get a raise or a sick day or some kind of incentive, and it has all fallen on deaf ears.

I believe there is money to be made in this business, but it is not the MTs who will be making it.