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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

BS pure and simple. Nobody and I mean NOBODY is making $36/hour in this profession.

Posted By: No Way! on 2008-04-18
In Reply to: let's get real here for a minute --- - anon

I have almost 20 years experience and the best I can do on a good day where I have few interruptions and have been chained to my PC for 8 straight hours I can make $20 per hour, MAYBE $25 but that is pushing it.  And I have my own accounts and have used my Expander to death.


Is this Sally Struthers?




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Self Defense, pure and simple. I am leaving this board as of --sm
today because of you and your obnoxious attitude. I know you don't care, but you should, being a *fellow MT*, but everything revolves around you and you always being right. You remind me of KiKi. YOu like to take cheap shots at everybody who does not have the same opinion as you about anything, just as long as you can start an argument and keep it going. You are vicious, rude, crude, and a definite infant. I will pray for you. good bye.
maybe it's just a pure and simple invasion of privacy the poster feels they want to protect.
if you do your job, who cares if poster was released from prison. weren't companies hiring prisoners to do MT anyway and weren't they doing credit card customer service?
so find a different profession where you'll make more money - plain and simple. nm
x
At 200 lines a day for 6 cents, you are making $1.20 a day or 0.15 hour for an 8 hour day!!!--cm
Did you mean 2,000? Even then you would only be making $1.50 if you work 8 hours a day.
No. I'm making excellent money doing this (IC). I have no desire to leave this profession.
  
Anyone here making 0.075 cpl and 30.00 an hour?

Is this possible?  Compensation for higher production adds a penny more or so.


My gosh!! How is it that you are making less than $10/hour - sm
are you new?? Who are you working for? Do you use expanders???
The OP said she is happy making $11.50 an hour.
I don't think the dollar amount you make is the point she was trying to get across. I think it's all the complaining people do instead of looking at the positive aspects of MTing. I could work for 11.50 an hour because I have a husband who makes a good living. I haven't made 11.50 an hour for about 20 years.
Come back east, I'm making 17 per hour and for 300,000 you get a
x
Making less per hour in 2009 than in 2003

I have a part time job of 30 hours/week and a doctor account part time. 


On my doctor account, I am paid per report and get to use a lot of templates.  It is common to get 9 second dictation jobs, just fill in patient name and dates, save and close.  I still make $30/hr for this.


On my other job, I am on a very user friendly platform, produce clinic work at 8 cpl, everything over the internet, and make $20/hr.


Just a few years ago, I was on a platform just a couple hours a day making about $25/hr and the rest of my time was working in a DOS environment.  I never, ever worked more than 6 hours a day (sometimes less) and my 2-week check was over $1400, averaging over $26/hr.


I'm older now and have to work an extra two hours a day 5 days a week to earn the same money.  It is no wonder people are leaving this industry in droves.  I still have another 6 years before my youngest doesn't need daycare so I can get a job outside the home, so I need to make MT work for me, but wow am I getting tired of hitting the keyboard.  I've been in front of a computer for 30 years now.  Now that I have passed all my other bottom lines, I wonder how much longer I can last before I really will leave.  I have always said that if I can't make $20/hr Txing then it is time to find something else to do. I know a lot of people would love to earn what I do, a lot of fresher, younger people would, and I don't mean to sound ungrateful.  Just hope my body and mind last a few more years. 


I'm making less per hour in 2009 than in 1979!

I'm making less per hour in 2009 than in 1979!

I'm making less per hour in 2009 than in 1979!
In 1977/78, I made 6 cpl. at a transcription company. Had full medical benefits, paid sick days, a cushy, comfortable office, and monthly CASH (like, real paper dollars!) bonuses for 'Transcriber of the Month'. Of course, back in 1977, I could fill a 20-plus gallon gas tank for just under $18-20, too.
I'm making less per hour in 2009 than in 1979!
In 1977/78, I made 6 cpl. at a transcription company. Had full medical benefits, paid sick days, a cushy, comfortable office, and monthly CASH (like, real paper dollars!) bonuses for 'Transcriber of the Month'. Of course, back in 1977, I could fill a 20-plus gallon gas tank for just under $18-20, too.
I'm making less per hour in 2009 than in 1979!
In 1977/78, I made 6 cpl. at a transcription company. Had full medical benefits, paid sick days, a cushy, comfortable office, and monthly CASH (like, real paper dollars!) bonuses for 'Transcriber of the Month'. Of course, back in 1977, I could fill a 20-plus gallon gas tank for just under $18-20, too.
Geez I was making $20 an hour after 1 week as a newbie and now
average $30-$35 an hour. I transcribe 2000 lines a day acute care in no more than 6-7 hours a day. I refuse to work for these companies that expect you to actually transcribe 8 hours!! Talk about a quick burnout!!

You have to find the right company, account, and platform. Simple as that. Well I should not say simple, it definitely takes some digging these days..
I have 13 years experience and just started a hospital job working from home making $16 an hour

and with a really good incentive plan.  I live in the Kansas City area.  $10 seems like a low starting point even with only two years experience which is the usual benchmark for hospital MT jobs. 


It's been my experience that the low end of the pay scale for hospital employed MTs was around $12 an hour.  Also, it's been my experience that the pay offered is usually based on years of experience and how well you perform on the transcription test.


I would say if their pay is that low, they should at least be making it up with incentive and it doesn't sound like they are.


JMO


Pure Citrus. sm
I got a can of stuff at WM called pure citrus.  It is pure orange OIL and it works on ANY odor.
and nothing but pure speculation.......

Pure, unadulterated BOLOGNE!!!...or...
would you say "baloney?"  Probably.
My take on that is that alot of it is pure FANTASY.
Just to make my minimum lines, I'm working 10-11 hours days, plus at least part of Sat., and am making about $23,000/year. And I'm not a newbie, either - been at it for over 30 years.
This is our profession -- a profession which is dying, I might add. SM

So I should get a hobby so I won't care, like you?  A hobby isn't going to pay the bills.  I can't afford a hobby because in addition to working for a living, I also have to study in a different career field in my spare for fear that eventually transcription will be strictly an offshore operation!


Ignore them - pure ignorance on the subject

Oh man,pure-dee evil stuff! "Worse" when you use

Has anyone used the Eden Pure Heater as a supplement?

I hear Paul Harvey advertise this heater on the radio all the time and I am considering it for our house for this winter. I just wonder how much it might really save us since we use propane to heat and this is an electric heater. It sounds good according to what I have heard and read but obviously I don't really know.


I am in my home office most of the day and thought I could turn our furnace down low as there is no need to heat the entire house when I spend at least 8 hours a day in my office and I am the only one at home during the day. I could just close my office door and use this heater and maybe save some $. We have a 1600 sq. ft. home, one level, and we spent about $1900 for propane last year (including hot water heater and gas cooking stove).  I wore thermals and warm clothes as well as used a snug snack while working but I am always cold and had the thermostat turned up to 72 during the day and 66 at night.


I will post the link for those that might be interested in knowing more bout the heater.


Pure opinion dear. I make an extra 1 cpl with CMT. As well,
I can see that you, however, are an angry, disgruntled person.

Just because YOU didn't get the bennies and YOU can't make a good living doesn't mean the rest of us are doomed to your fate!!


It's pure luck anymore, Steveo. The biggest bucks
s
sure i was. i'm making fun of the people who are making a case for background checks, etc
to do medical transcription at home as if they may do something AWFUL with the info they receive. So if you want an invasion of privacy let's REALLY invade it and make sure fat chicks don't transcribe because they are so busy eating they can't get the work done, they mess up the keyboard with food and if they are provided health insurance they will raise the rates for the company sky high because their health risks are higher than others. Then there are the psychological issues overweight people bring to the table. After we eliminate fat people, we can go on to eliminate diabetic people who may have low blood sugar while typing and go into a spell and type the wrong thing. I could go on and on through the process of elimination. How about prescribed medications that may cloud your thinking? So you take Ambien to sleep but you have an Ambien groggy hangover when you are transcribing? Should they transcribe. How about your teens are on your last nerves and you take a Xanax? Should you be allowed to transcribe?
Depends on the pay and account. My lowest average is $15.52 an hour (roughly 182.6 lines an hour) w
;'
1850 lines per 8 hour shift. 15.00 hour - no real requirement
x
if it is feasable, split that 6-hour shift into two 3-hour shifts. sm
i work a split shift and find that i am much better able to stay focused and get more work done that way. also, being 3 months pregnant you have gone through the very tiring time of pregnancy and you should start seeing an energy perk before long.
I start an hour or 2 early and then take an hour or 2 for dinner -nm
x
$32/hour? You said $36/hour on an earlier post. Either way would be great. n/m
xx


You realize by doing that they're making more money & you're making less? You should reconsid

10 reports/hour or 25 markers/hour
NM
Welcome to the profession. Get used to it.
x
Consider another profession?
To standardize testing you have to have every single company use one lone resource. What if company A is more concerned with ESL skills, company B is more concerned with oncology, and company C would like to know whether you rock at op notes? How do you standardize testing to cover every area that a given employer might want to concentrate on?
Definitely a profession. This is a
you will get a lot of pessimism and negativity.  I definitely have made tons of money in my own business.  Sounds like low self-esteem on the posters below, unhappy, depressed.
This is not just in this profession but
all over. I sat and waited on a call yesterday (my off day) regarding a piece of property I have up for sale. No call at all. I really hate to leave a message on a recording because most of the time you are ignored. Times have changed and not for the good. I think the majority of my family including my mother and my grandmother who are deceased would probably be shocked at today's life as we live it.
which profession
would you let us know what you decided to do? I'm wondering what I want to do next.
re: which profession
Dental Hygiene...usually takes 2 years but have to do it part time so I can still earn a living so is taking me 4 - I'm more than halfway done though, so can't complain...
our profession

This is old, but has anyone read this??  I must research further what the final outcome was.  While I totally agree with what they are doing and why, I totally DISAGREE with their final recommendation for standardizing line counts. VBC is not the way to do it.  


 


 


You ask anybody in any profession
They will say they are worth more than they are being paid. That's the way it is everywhere. I make good money sitting at home. My local hospital pays their transcriptionists 9.40/hr. Big deal! I'll rather stick with a MTSO any day.
Our profession/New job

About three weeks ago I began a position with a local health care company (transcribing for local acute care hospitals but part of a national chain).


We are not really transcribing, at least not by my definition (21 years of experience).  Rather, we are recording medical ShortHand (abbreviations [even in DIAGNOSES section], shortened medication names, slang, contractions, etc.).  On the one hand, they claim they want you to type it verbatim (no expansions, additions, etc.), yet OTOH they say to delete redundancies, repetitions, etc., which is hardly verbatim. We are not allowed to expand, add to, or correct ANYTHING except number and tense dictated by ESL docs, who comprise about 60% of the dictators.  In addition, certain dictated terms are to be abbreviated (e.g., "emergency room" transcribed as "ER").


The supervisor had the gall to look me right in the eye and deliver a harangue about how these are "legal documents, and we have to transcribe EXACTLY what they say."  (Conveniently disregarding the bit about deleting redundancies and the other "allowed" changes.)  So ALL of my previous employers, AAMT, etc. did it wrong, and THEIR crackerjack legal department is smarter than everyone else?!     Don't think so.  Cutting costs is the game they're playing; everyone can see that.


Excerpt from a typical report looks like this:  Wrote scrip for vanco 100, patient also to take aspirin 81 and will return next week. I don't think .... [blah blah blah]


AAMT taught me to create a complete, coherent, grammatically correct document that doesn't look like alphabet soup.  Needless to say, I don't feel good about what I am creating and HATE THIS JOB!!


I'm just curious if this is happening elsewhere.  With all of the emphasis on "cutting costs,"  I have to think that it is.


Thanks for listening to my splenic venting.


I appreciate your responses. I had an option of line vs hour ($14/hour) but if line pays more...nm
nm
Simple as this!
Then you absolutely must stay where USA has jurisdiction and that is absolutely not in a foreign country.  Those are the rules and laws and everyone knows that up front.  The troops, the FBI, the CIA, the US police do not help you when you get drunk and/or lost in a foreign country.     But you know that don't you?
It is really quite simple. sm
If you are a good MT, which most of us are, and all of a sudden you start getting a bunch of crap.  I was very happy to be with a company that afforded you the luxury of being an MT, but yet a "hospital employee".  This was a very innovative thing and I jumped on the band wagon.  All the money is in ops, surgeons, they are predictable, macro-friendly, organized, don't flip through the charts and make me the most money.  After being with this company for over 3 months, at my skill level, and only to get cued 10 ops, most of which were rejected and cherry picked, that is a HUGE sign.  I did not tell "them" that is why I quit, they need to figure it out for themselves.  I personally liked the team leader, but she is obviously pooling work out to her favorites, and not giving new MTs a chance - hence they will still "be with the original team", not realizing that people unfortunately get sick, die, move on, and the "original team" will not last forever.  I am so glad to be out of there.  Don't know if new company is going to be any better, have to wait and see.
I think both, but not as simple as that.
We do all make choices, but in some instances there are very few choices.  Yes, we should first avail ourselves of education.  Basic education is available to everyone in this country.  After high school, education becomes harder to obtain, but it is available to everyone.  You do have to have either transportation or a computer, and you have to have time to participate, but if you want it bad enough you can find a way.  All that being said, if the company you work for suddenly closes, and there are few jobs available where you live, you can find yourself in a bad situation that you did not create.  I think government assistance is important for people that find themselves in a temporary bad situation, but should not be allowed to be a way of life, except in the case of disability. 
Very simple....
You tell them you're going digital, and they can either join you in the 21st century or be left behind.
well that seems simple enough! thanks
xx
Might try Simple FTP....sm
They have an option where you can log on as a guest and try out.