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I recently had a call for family practice dictation and I offered 12 cents per line.  Have always charged by the gross line and was charging 14 cents, which I thought was too high, so lowered it to 12 cents.  However, the more I am reading I see that 65 character seems to be the way everything is getting billed.  I also realize at 12 cents per line I lose a lot going to 65 character lines. 

I also realize with family practice that they might have a lot of times where there is one or two words on a line and probably wouldn't be too happy about paying for gross lines. 

I guess I'm looking for advice on charging.  Is charging for gross lines unheard of anymore? I have already quoted the 12 cents, so that will have to be my charge.  But as far as gross or 65 character, I haven't been asked that yet but would need to have that absolutely straight with them before starting.  Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.  I know I'm a little behind the times and am trying to catch up and stay competitive also. 

Thanks!

One suggestion that I have for all of you that are questioning IC taxes is to look at your past tax refunds when you were an employee and see what percentage was withheld and do about the same.  Yes there is that extra 7.5 for SS but it  is also a deduction and you can look to find 7.5% of your pay as a deduction whether it be in the form of your own retirement fund, etc.  When I saw that I was paying so much to the IRS, I decided that if I could afford that I could start my own retirement fund and did it.  I now contribute close to $1000 to it per month.  So go online, get an old copy of Turbo Tax and run off the schedule C's and see what deductions can be taken for a small business and then see what you can do to save in taxes.   Look at your old tax returns and if you are married have your husband over withold if you can't do it yourself.  You are not paying that much more when you work for yourself you are just in charge of paying them yourself and not allowing someone else to hold it out from your check.   But look at old returns, plan, plan and plan.  When you look at your net vs your gross that will tell you what percentage your employer is holding out.   Either as an employee or an IC we all pay our "OWN" taxes but as an employee someone just does it for you.   Good  luck to all of you.   Patti

This article was part of a reading assignment I had for one of my HIM classes.  It is an old article, but I think MTs can understand this situation quite well.  It just goes to show how quality is becoming decreasingly important in the healthcare industry.

http://www.nurseweek.com/features/99-5/allied.html

Hi fellow MTs:

Just wanting opinions.  I find some days, my fingers/brain are really "on" with transcribing, but then I have other days, where reaching my line count is a struggle.  Obviously, I'd prefer to all "on" days and I'm wondering if any of you have suggestions on being "on" more than off.

Thanks in advance and happy typing!

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If you could give two or three tips to a newer MT regarding how to increase line count, what they be?  Can you think of anything other than the normal things like expansions that you stumbled onto that might not be thought to help speed?

I'm anxious to see the list we come up with. 

or other family member and is having a hard time getting through it, my heart just sinks and I feel so bad for them.  It is amazing the empathy we can feel for people we don't know.  This pt is having a hard time today because it is the one-year anniversary of her father's and sister's death.  How very sad.

Recently, my father cancelled his JCPenney credit card b/c he was furious that they had outsourced their customer service dept to India. Long story short, he cancelled his credit card & wrote them a letter complaining about the language barrier and told them that if they want to accept American dollars, they should hire American workers.

A few days ago, he received an incorrect billing statement from him. He called the customer service dept and quickly realized he was speaking to an American. The woman on the phone told him that JCP had received so many complaints, that they are closing their India office and bringing the jobs back to America. She said it was b/c of the lay-offs in India is how she got her job.

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone had any good/bad info on this company. I can't seem to find much information on them. Thanks.

Jen

minutes of dictation is? This is for a radiology account.

My company tells us the backlog in minutes and when I ask them about how many reports that is, they can't tell me either.

Just curious and to help me decide how many hours to work also.

the light is off on the porch and it's getting late, i.e. after 9 p.m.   It amazes me the # of kids .... and adults... who don't use good common sense about trick-or-treating and ignore the usual "lights on means ok to knock/ring, lights off means go away/no goodies" rules that have been around for decades. 

I'm thinking about turning on the lawn sprinkler close to the front door - but some idiots would probably just run through it.

In the past I've put the dog out on her tie-out in the front yard and that scares some away, but the people that my dog knows get by her by just petting her because she knows them.

What are your plans/recommendations?

I was recently assigned a new account at my current employer.  My first impression of the account was lousy dictators and now my impression is lousy practitioners to the point of feeling almost guilty working on their reports.

I don't want to get too specific for fear of ramifications, but....I see practitioners who are just confused, scattered, make many...MANY...errors in drug names, drug amounts, drugs for stated conditions that are wrongwrongwrong, etc.  They forget portions of dictations or ignore portions of dictations.  They will state the patient is not available for the exam but then say to just put in the following vital signs.  It makes my gut hurt.  I won't even go into what goes on in the background at this facility but it is equally disturbing and really drains me physically to listen to their long rambling nonsense while listening to the sounds of their failings as medical professionals(?). 

This is EVERY day in my workload (I am making no money on this account because of the constant re-dictating portions, mistakes, account notations, etc) .  Well....out of curiosity I did some research.  The facility has been nailed by the state on numerous occasions for errors and bad medicine and I cannot be surprised.  I half feel like someone has to do it, it may as well be me (though its not profitable....) and the other half has a feeling of 'aiding and abetting' their complete inadequacy as medical professionals. 

I am curious what your take is on this.  What would you do?  I am considering asking off of the account altogether but I am afraid to say because I don't want to work with the dregs of the medical profession.  I don't want to be one of those whiny MT's who don't like this or that and want something else.  I just find this account depressing and I dread it for all the reasons stated.

I find myself, like when I'm reading a menu or magazine, newspaper, etc, always finding the grammer errors, punctuation errors, spelling errors, and it drives me--not to mention my DH--nuts! I guess it's out of habit, but I can't seem to turn the "editor" in me off!  I'm always, instead of enjoying the story or article, or whatever I'm reading, looking for errors or typo's.  Does anyone else ever do this? I guess I'm obsessive/compulsive.  Think I could get work comp for that?

Could anyone direct to me some good web sites with wedding cake pictures?  I have found a few, but it seems they are all "cookie cutter" and I am looking for something original, but not crazy.  Am having a smaller wedding (under 100), outdoor.  Any links anyone could provide, I would be majorly appreciative!  (I have cake appointments next week and need to provide some ideas for them.)

I live in a bad neighborhood on a fairly high-traffic corner.  There is a little patch of ground outside my fence that I have been trying since spring to plant bulbs there, but they keep disappearing.  First I tried tulips.  They did start to bloom, and one morning they were all pulled out and scattered about the area.  We do have a lot of squirrels around, so I blamed it on them not knowing at the time I planted that squirrels love tulip bulbs. 

So I gave up on the tulips and tried something else I found packaged as Flowers for Dummies.  I don't even know what these are called.  They are a mixture of purple and white kind of weedy-looking flowers on the package.  They didn't even start to bloom yet, and I go out there today and they are all pulled up.

Does anyone have any idea if it would be the local kids doing this or stray cats or dogs or what?  I'm really getting a complex about this as this is my 3rd crop of bulbs!  At any rate, I have given up on the flower bulbs and think now I will try to spread  wildflower seeds and see if anything grows.

for an experienced (12 years) high producing op note MT that is hiring either SE or employee status and that has a good platform?  I can't pay the winter heating bills when there is no work.  I don't need lots of benefits, just work.