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So are all you Spheris posters able to make pretty good money there? .... sm

Posted By: Ready for a change on 2006-02-03
In Reply to: What else about Sheris can you tell me - I know about outsourcing.

I have more than 25 years in this business, and I have always just steered clear of this company, but I either need to change who I work for or I need to supplement. 


I see they have production incentives, which I like.  I'm guessing you all like their system, if you are happy there.  How about their benefits - are they affordable?  Do you think their base pay is fair?  Are they flexible at all when it comes to you working your hours?  Are you happy with your account(s)?  Thanks for any specific info! 




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At Spheris, if you want to make more money
you have to go to a higher level account, period.

That is the only fair way to do this, in my opinion.
Spheris pays for training. It used to be pretty good. Don't know what
xx
Used to make good money
My income has dropped by $20,000 in the past 2 years working at Spheris, and from what I understand new hires get paid even less.
Its sad that we dont believe MTs can make good money at this job....

In the past 7 years that I have been an at-home IC (left my hospital job), I have made no less than $50k and this year, will hit my all-time high of $62K.  There are still good accounts out there, with great dictators that pay .10 to .11 cpl and if you are fast, with great macros and expanders, you can still make $40-$50/hr.  Experience and reliability are what get you top dollar and there are companies willing to pay.   Its sad we doubt those that make the good money.  Maybe there is a tad bit of jealousy there!


I don't struggle. I make good money.
But then again I have been doing this for 21 years, work for a national at nearly top pay. Not sure why the ones who are complaining do it. Well...actually I do think I know why SOME do it. They got fooled by the false advertising of MT schools. Work at home and make $50,000 per year. Yeah right. Not right out of school, nope! That would be the RARE case. And even being able to work from home right away would be difficult IMO. I learned SO MUCH from my coworkers during those first 10 years when I worked in office and in house at the hospital. All of that on the job experience made a big difference when I went home to work. Had I started working from home with just my MT school education....I would probably hate it too.


I make far more money on VR. I also get paid a good SM
line rate for it, so that helps. I am paid 7 cpl for VR.
You were given too many specialties/accts to make any good money.
s
Keystrokes clinic MTs, do you make good money?

IME it's hard to make good money doing clinic when paid by the line; some of the notes are only two sentences long.  Just wondering if it's any better at Keystrokes, i.e., good combination of short and long notes.


I make good money with them and love working there. sm
Here is why: I have one account with a backup account that I have only used twice and both times because they needed help not because my primary was slow. I do 1600+ lines in 8 hours. I started at 8 cpl and was raised to 9 cpl at 90 days. I have as much work as I want and while my PTO days are less than the last place I was for 8 years, I make more during the year. I literally made $17K more with KS last year than I did with MQ the year before. I am higher this year.

I love Chartscript. The account I am on is wonderful and yes, I use ShortHand with it.

Good to me? I made $61K last year with them and so far this year, I am at $56K, so I will pass that for sure.

No to paid holidays but if you work them, it is time and a half.

If my account needs extra help, they offer time and a half for weekends.

I would rather work for less per line and be able to do more lines than make more per line but struggle to get 1000 lines in a day.

There are nay-sayers for KS. They are strict on quality and expect everyone to work their schedule. Not all accounts are great, but that's anywhere. The only people I know who left were either let go for either quality or not working their shift or they quit because their lead was about to fire them.
I totally disagree, love VR and can make good money at it
I have been doing now for about 4-5 years and hate it when I have anything straight to type. I have done this for over 30 years, have excellent speed at straight but Escription is a bowl of cherries where I work. I would never want to completely straight type again, never.
WWWaah. I used to make good money til the health problems hit, now it seems hardly worth my time!
x
Amherst so we make less money and they get more money for MQ and bigger bonuses. Our guidelines came
from Amherst.
yep, gotta spend money to make money. NM
.
No, I am pretty sure that she knew exactly what she was doing with her money. This is apparently a p
.
I doubt you will make enough money in 5 hours a week to make
nm
Does anyone recommend a pretty good company that is good to work for, pay always on time and plenty
of work.  I know that is asking a lot, but just curious?
Trust me - I thought QA would be a pretty way to make
decent money also but when the company hires brand spanking new MTs and the doctors are absolutely horrible and the MTs leave 30 blanks and what they have typed is usually wrong - there is little to no money to make.... but my MT skills have suffered in the last 4 years - it takes a whole different set of skills to QA - crazy as it seems it really does. Reading/reviewing something already typed is easier but you have to go through it at break-neck speed to make any decent money and you cannot take for granted that what is typed is correct.  Tired tonight so not making much sense - but trust me when I say it's not all gravy - if it was I would be one happy camper and off on a boat or in an RV for the weekend and not searching the job board!
I'm with them. Good work environment, easy accounts and I'm making really good money. nm

I know.. she's pretty ridiculous and doesn't make much sense
You don't want to steal their expansion program, right? You just want the expansions that YOU thought up and that YOU put in. Not a problem in my eyes. Just figure out where the file is, copy it on to a disk or a little flash drive or something.
Again, we make pretty big concessions to be in our line of work ...
First of all, I'd like to see this 'lucky enough to work out of the comfort of our own homes' stuff abolished. Many, many professions now work at home, and they do NOT accept a substandard quality of treatment because of that.

I know dozens upon dozens of coders, graphic designers, and support staff who work at home - BY THE HOUR - and get paid for the time in which they are working (or the time in which they are scheduled to be working, but have no work to do).

Let's say I make 9 cpl doing clinic notes (which is a really good gig, if I did that, but that's definitely NOT standard), and I make $19 an hour.

However, the first half hour that I work is answering work emails, starting my day, gathering the info I need, etc. Then, there's another half hour throughout my day that I spend answering emails or instant messages. Then, there's an hour or two during my day where I'm out of work because the company has over hired. Then, at the end of my day, I spend another half hour tallying my line counts, finishing up emails, and filling out a time sheet.

How much am I actually making per hour now?

Now, as a true fact, back when I started in transcription 12 years ago, I did start at 9 cpl. And I had an IC job that paid 13 cpl.

Earlier this year, I had to look for a new company to work for, and I was blatantly told several times by several 'reputable' companies that they would absolutely not start anyone, regardless of experience, over 8 cpl.

In no other profession would you find this, except maybe (MAYBE) fast food or waitressing.

The bitterness many MTs feel makes sense. We are asked to do many things outside of our work time that brings our actual hourly wages down. We are asked to sit for hours and scrounge for work, all without pay. We are consistently stripped of benefits like holiday pay and vacation pay. We are never rewarded for the years we have put into our careers or the knowledge we've gained because of that. We are very, very occasionally thanked (in mass emails) for the hard work we put in, and then immediately asked to flex our time regardless of the lives we have planned in order to suit the needs of our company. Our only hope for more money is to work more hours, or to somehow make our fingers faster and the dictators more audible. We are never, ever able to be dependent on our paychecks, because our line counts vary paycheck to paycheck due to fluctuating work. And, more than anything, we're treated as numbers (by many, but not all), and expendable because we're faceless, personality-less drones.

But it's our fault as much as it's the companies' faults. We've allowed ourselves to be treated this way. We've told ourselves things like, 'Oh well. At least I can do this in my pajamas.'

Can you imagine a coder in a hospital being asked to leave for three hours a day on random days of the week, only to be asked to come back and work those three hours at some time after 7 p.m.? Can you imagine an accountant being told that they are not to conduct company business like responding to or sending emails during their work hours, and that they have to do it on their own time without pay?

I don't condone whining, and I don't think dwelling in negativity is the answer to our problems. I also agree that the complaining can be easily misconstrued as selfish.

But I DO congratulate those who are constructively doing something to elevate our profession to a new level. Even if it backfires, even if it's all for naught, and even if it's misguided, at least it's not just sitting around and complaining anymore.

You won't be able to make any money there.
Especially if you have to enter ALL of the patient info.
MAKE MONEY ?
How on earth can anybody make a decent pay with this editing crap?? It is not user-friendly...it is slow and they pay is even more crapier !
Can you make any money?

Hi all,


Just wondering if if is possible to make much money doing transcription for these companies at home.  I just started with one and they are very nice, professional, etc. etc., however I feel I am moving along at quite a good pace and am just making a little over $10 an hour.  I was hoping for more like $25.  Is it possible anywhere?  Let me know what the average pay is?


I wish I would get more OPS, always make more money with them.
nm
I think MTs believe NO ONE should make money but them!
If no profit is to be made, no one will be in business - whether it is a small MTSO, an MT on her own, or a national. Heck, even a hospital will close if it isn't making profit!

Business is to make money. Competition is so high for companies/MTSOs. It's not the MTSOs fault, is it? No. They have a right to make a profit for their work.

I'm like you: I don't agree with everything going on in the profession but I am very happy with my work and always have been. I can accept the things that I cannot change. Otherwise, if I am unhappy, I move on. No sense sitting around being glib about something you have every opportunity to change.
Sometimes you make LESS money
Because of having rounded experience, you sometimes get all the crap/scrap work.

How do you make money like this?
Are most of the reports full listens? Does it balance out with lots of reports with only 1 or 2 blanks? I'm considering an offer and need to know if I can make any money with Focus on escription?
How do you make money on VR?
Please tell me how to make $50 an hour with Escription.  I need to be making more than 7cpl.  My husband can't work so I have to take care of my kids.  Please email me any info on how to make money on Escription.  Thanks so much
At TT, can I really make as much money with VR
nm
Pay offered last year was 8 cpl/w on 1100 lpd. Some posters said they lost all their good accts
s
make more money at Wal-Mart
and they give you a piece of the company


lol
Etransplus--can you make money there
Does anyone know about etransplus.  Upon until now the feedback I have gotten has been pretty good looking through the posts.  I was really taken aback by the amount of styles they have.  Wow, what a change for me.  I know I can get used to it, but I know I'm going to probably take some time.  How do their line counts jive with a character count line?  I really liked the fact that they offered insurance for 900 lines a day.  That is great.  I hope I can bang out the lines!
so why not buy a few shares and make money off them anyway?
x
I make great money there
I do not do radiology, but ER and basic 4, and I make 10 cpl, have tons of work, and make a great living there. That is just my own experience. Others may have had different experiences there.
You can make a lot more money than that at home
NO MSG
MT's often make more money than managers too
.
hard to make money
One account has a rotten platform that doesn't work half the time and has a long record of miscounting lines.  Just about everything is 100% listen which makes it even harder to make money by the line.  Big turnover in account managers lately so expect to work for phone clerks and HR clerks who have been promoted to account manager (cheaper that way) and people who have no acute care experience whatsoever.  You've probably already been told there is no holiday pay, the vacation time sucks, and the insurance is horrible.  If you just need editing experience to move on, that that's the place.  
i make more money at home but
you must be disciplined to sit and not get distracted. There are a lot of distractions at home.. I do know I save a lot of money not using my car.
And that might just explain why MTs can't make any money. nm
x
I beg to differ, I make more money on VR sm
than regular transcription now.
Me too. You work, you make money. SM
You work well, you make more money. You work smart, you make more money. You work long, you make more money. You work hard, you make more money. The key word all else depends on isn't zone, it's work.
Gosh you can make a lot more money in QA
:)
Could you expand on that? Why can't you make any money with it?
x
make better money coding...sm
I do earn more money coding, mainly because it is hourly pay (so no fluctuations like you get with line counts) and the value of the benefits. I do think there are coding jobs which are much less stressful than where I work. Actually, I think most of them are. Our facility is huge, actually has it's own little city, with 3 hospitals, one with a level 1 trauma center which is shared with a children's hospital, 150-some clinics, an eye institute, and a cancer center plus is a teaching facility so we do the coding for the college facilities. Most coding jobs in my area (midwest) are working from home. Our benefits include health, dental, life, disability and vision insurance, FSA and HSA accounts, tuition reimbursement, AHIMA membership paid, 403B match, 4.6 hours of earned vacation and 1.8 hours of sick time per pay period (2 weeks) so they're pretty good. I do know coders in other facilities around here who do not have the same stressful conditions which we have and who love their jobs. Much of it is due to size and our remote management. I used to work at a smaller hospital and really liked coding there. I left when my daughter became ill and needed me home. I ended up at the facility I am with now because they were one of the few places who did have home coding available at the time that i started. Now I just think I am too darned old to start over someplace else and give up my seniority, vacation accrual, etc., so I will stick it out until I can retire. So it's my own fault I'm miserable 'cuz I don't make the change! If you go into coding, I hope you get to be one of the people who does love it and would venture a guess you would not find the stress level to be what ours is unless you work for one of the largest of facilities.
I couldn't make any money with them
for pretty much the same reason -- and I usually do pretty well with ESL dictators, but combined with the dictation quality it was rough. I think they started at 0.0875 per line, with maybe more per line depending on how many lines you produced. I don't remember for sure about that though.
I asked for and make no money with the
rescue group. I do not file on any taxes, I did not incorporate it, my only thing is to be able to interact with the animals and rescue from otherwise the animals being put down. I did not go into for the money. If others make money off of it, that is up to them. I only finance.
I do VR and love it and yes you can make money but
you need a good platform to be able to do it. I work on Escription, possibly the best according to others who work on it also. I make 4 cents a line,the biggest percentage of my work day is VR but also have some straight thrown in. I do NOT use any keys to help me. I have done MTing now over 30+ years, no newbie here and fast speed of 120+. I usually average over $20 per hour. I am very familiar with my acct (same hospital job now for 19 years), hold my pedal down and fast forward as much as humanly possible and really like it much better than straight anymore. No secret on my end, just able to edit fast and yes, I do read each and every word and do not just let the work go through in order to make what I would consider decent money.
I never said I didn't make money being an MT. sm
I simply was exploring what would happen when a manager was informed they would take home half their pay in October. I don't know if I'll make money when my pay is cut. Will you when yours is cut?

Kudos for the rolling eyes, I wouldn't have thought of that.
I would rather work on 1 account and make more money, than 5 different ones! No thanks. sm
I think their new program absolutely sucks and there are a heck of a lot of people who say the sound quality is horrendous. I wasn't sticking around to find out. I made my decision as soon as I saw what it was about and knew it would slow me way down. Hey, to each their own. If you like it, fine. I am happy about my decision and glad I did it.
Maybe they are like me, love the platform, but can't make money with it
xx
Too many companies invested money in VR, and they are going to make
sure they can use it, no matter what. So even if it can only type if, and and the correctly, it will be put into VR and the poor MT that has to straighten that garbage out will be paid a big fat amount of around 4 cpl. These companies are the greediest bunch I have ever seen. None of them are worth the ground they sit on.