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HELP! How much to charge for copies? sm

Posted By: Ga Peach on 2005-09-05
In Reply to:

Just got a new account; however, the doctor wanted me to take half a cent off my rate AND not charge him for his templates (even though it's my ink he's using) AND he wants me to do the cc's and envelopes at no extra charge.....I do not want to do this as I really think that's a lot of extra work with no extra pay....could anyone help me with this?  What do yall do? 


How much for evelopes??


How much for copies??  Thanks to everyone who replies!!!  I realy need help on this one as none of my other accounts have asked for a bunch for nothing. 



Suckered in the South




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How much do you charge for copies? sm
One of the doctors I transcribe for wants me to print the notes and the cc's to other docs, but I don't know how much to charge for this.  I have never had a doc ask me to do this before, as my other docs just copy everything themselves.  TIA
How much do YOU charge for extra copies and envelopes? sm

Need some help here ---- have a very cheap doctor who wants everything for nothing.  Need to know what to charge him for copies and envlopes as he seems to have a lot of those.  THANKS!!


 


Does this seem fair? To charge .16 per line - includes printed reports, copies on disk for one year

and delivery.  I do travel twice a week to this office.  Plus, at times I will fax or email the reports free of charge.  I live in Southern California in an upscale area. 


 


Thanks again!


Charge what the credit card companies charge when they don't get paid on time!!!!
 
Audio hour charge - what is fair rate to charge company?

Doubt you can charge 15 cpl for VR work to the docs - you can't even charge them 12 for straight
x
you don't have to charge $60/HR - all you have to do is charge a good rate and then..
work smart, not hard. If you have a great dictator, charge him 14 cpl on a 65 char gross line, then set up your templates and word expanders, you can make $80/hr. But you need all three to work together, otherwise you might only be making $60/hr. Some people are just really good at what they do - shouldn't they make more if they are more productive?
I'd still charge by line, just charge a lower
rate, like maybe 8 cpl.  Do you have to pickup and deliver work?    You could also setup a one-month contract until you see how it goes and then you can figure out the best way to charge and go from there.  You could also charge a flat rate per page and keep it fairly low.  
One office I charge .12, another I charge $2.25 page--nm
//
copies of what?? nm
nm
Keep copies
I made copies of all my OPs at first. You will find that even with changing dictators, much of the content is the same.
Charging for copies.

My charges for copies depend on who it is and how many copies.  I had one guy who wanted to use me and my little inkjet printer as a personal photocopy shop.  I was charging $.10 per copy to cover paper and ink, but he'd want 20 copies of each page I typed.  Finally, I told him to go to Staples to make copies because I wasn't going to do it any more.  I was driving there every few days for more ink and paper anyway, and he was just someone I didn't want to do business with.


I don't charge my other client for carbon copies because he usually only wants one or two copies.  Besides, he pays me really well and I've been typing for him for 8 years.  When he wants full color copies of digital pictures printed out, however, it's at least $1 per page because it chews up the color ink cartridges so much.


So how much for copies and envelopes? sm
I am about to go crazy trying to figure out how to do his invoice.
ABE books has many copies

www.abebooks.com


Well worth getting.  Also research online for Expanders -- there are lots of lists out there to give you an idea how to make your own. Some are free downloads.  But you do definitely have to have your own system and just use these to give you an idea how to set up one.  No two brains work the same.  I refuse to work without my list!!


I keep copies of all my work even what I - sm
copy and paste into the hospital's software, which does the line counting for me, but in their case it is always slightly more than what I get when I figure it myself, we only get the body of the report, but don't have to enter any patient info (or check it luckily). On my FTP work or direct email accounts I report my line counts on a daily basis, which I do and they take my word on it, and are free to check me as I do not cheat on my counts. I just take the told character count and divide by 65 to get my lines, though I have it set up in Excel so I actually don't have to do the math for every report, that would take way too much time which I don't get paid for. But keep your work and verify. Sounds like you may not be getting paid for spaces, or expanded words (only paid for keystrokes, and also no spaces), sit down, do some math and figure it out, good luck.
Aren't macros copies of what others have said?

Aren't macros carbon copies of what someone else is dictating to you?  You have it in your pc to make you're life easier, but it is not "your words" coming from your mouth.  These words belong to the dictator...  Am I missing something here?  That is why at the end of the report, the dictators initials come first and they are in CAPS, and your initials come second and are in lower case.   


And most often headers, footers, & copies are not
s
I get copies of the schedule from the offices. sm
you are an IC, so you can call the shots. You can let them know that if you don't receive the work by a certain time, you will assume there is none, something of that sort. If you need a day off, give them advance notice and don't "ask" them for it, because you are an IC so you set your own schedule per IRS rules. You do not need their permission, per se. Obviously, we accommodate the docs as much as possible to keep the accounts, but only to a certain extent. We shouldn't be on call for them 24/7, either. They wouldn't wait all day for a patient that may or may not show (and sometimes even charge if the patient is a no-show!!) If you wait and wait for work, play their game and put it in writing that you will charge for your time -- and then DO it. A few extra charges on the old invoice will likely bring about a change. ;)

Even with the schedules provided, the docs can and do change them at the last minute, so there's no way you can ever know for sure, but at least you can have SOME idea what's going on if they provide them. The way I see it, if he tells you he will be out, then that's what you go by. Even if the staff can't verify it (strange, since most docs are highly reachable by staff), you've heard it straight from the horse's mouth so if you want to take that opportunity to have a day off, let the staff know you'll be off that day, period.

If the doc changes his mind and comes in that day, well, I'd still take the day off if I made plans. Keep that saying in mind that poor planning on their part does not constitute an emergency on your part. If they don't like it, then maybe they'll make better future efforts to keep you in the loop.


Keep copies of your original report
& if you are being blamed for other's mistakes, get your "ammunition" out & go straight to the owner/manager and ask how this can be corrected and that you will not be taking responsibility for someone else's error.  If your owner/manager is a decent person, he/she will have a resonable doubt from now on when someone like QA complains about "your" work.  Always CYA and don't be afraid to speak up.
I have signed it and sent copies to my congressman and
senators. I also call the White House, my congressman and senator every single week and email them. The one guy who answers the phone at my congressman's office said to me to keep squeaking.

We all need to do the same. Talk to everyone, your MD, you neighbors, your friends, clergy, send emails to the Editor of every news agency you can think of.

Sometimes I feel like I am the only one doing this. I also feel like we have already lost the battle, though.

It makes me sick to think that big business is dictating everything down to our medical care and how that information is handled.
copies of previously transcribed reports
What I always found helped, make copies of reports from the medical record charts.  Make a few copies of each doctor and keep them in your desk that way you can refer back to the report when doing the doctor.  You will get the hang of it.  No hospital wants to go through the money and time hiring someone just to let them go right away.  Usually you get about a three to six month probation period. 
Keep copies of your reports and do a line count yourself
Then you will know won't you? Get MPCount (think that's the name)(free), or abacus, or any other number of line counting programs. This website (MTStars) has one you can get for free too. Try it and then you will have your answer.
Do you have Word set to make backup copies (sm)
of the documents? Check the folder your document is in for a backup file. I've also been able to recover using a .tmp file as well. You didn't delete the file so it wouldn't be in the recycle bin. You just didn't save the changes you had made, so hopefully along the way Word saved a version and you may be able to recover something.
Keep copies of all jobs and when you hit the bonus level,
p
Office Max has 25 colored copies free until 6/9. (nm)

:)


Names & addies on copies sometimes aren't
s
I use the paper copies of each of those and get new ones every year. Love
s
You may find that actual copies of the reports are also useful. sm
I did strictly OPs for two years. There were some doctors that I had to check 4 or 5 different reports for every time, just to find the subtle variations he used. I might have 4 copies of appendectomies for him, and need them all to complete a difficult one. Complete copies really are almost necessary, I think.
Document everything! Save copies of your reports
Then, when you get an email contradicting the email that she sent you earlier, you have proof. You can print it, or copy & paste that info. into an email to your supervisor. And hers. Same with the reports. If you're getting incorrect corrections, go back and check your copy of the report. Double check with the company's policies, and with the BOS if necessary. Then, if you're right they they're wrong, you have written proof to back you up when you complain about it to whoever is responsible for that QA person's work.
I tried to download it. It says do not file these copies for some reason. I'm going tomorrow to S
pick up the ONE stinkin' form I need from the federal building. Beats buying 50 at Office Depot!
As can the looking up of addresses, names for the copies, deleting stuff that's not used on the
s
I dunno. I sure do miss my Selectric and those onion-skin copies. nm
nm
Select text, Ctrl-C copies, Ctrl-V pastes...nm
x
Okay well if you are going to charge 10 cpl..what do your MTs get?
Maybe they are looking out for the little people getting paid a little more?? I see a lot of aspects of this you haven't researched. Ask questions, learn from their decisions so you are better prepared next time.
how much do you charge?

What should I charge?
I've never solicited my own accounts before, but my fiance's sister called me yesterday asking if I'd be interested in transcribing some letters for the dermatologist she works for. I said sure, since I'd like to go all independent, and this is a good way to try it out. Only problem is, I'm not sure what to charge. I'll be using the doctor's transcriber (she uses tapes, and I don't have a tape player), and it isn't decided yet whether I'll be emailing the completed letters to her, or printing them myself. What would be an average rate?
Is there a law on this? Don't think there is; not sure. You should be able to charge whatever U w
 
What I Charge
I also work for an insurance company doing claim tapes. I charge $3.00 a page. My reports can vary anywhere from a few pages up to 25 pages, which I actually did last night (I don't think I've done any longer than that). I'm not sure if this helps or not. I use Tahoma 10 with the margins the same as what you're using.
I get 9 CPL for a nat'l, and charge 12 CPL...nm

I charge
12 cents per line, 65 character line. With HIPAA issues, don't forget better grab yourself a carrier that reports will fit in to take back--one that locks. This is very important in case you are in an accident taking their reports back. It happens.
charge them as much as you can sm
I would charge per gross line, that means every line counts, no matter what. Depends on the reports, but why not start with 12 cents a gross line. Don't under sell yourself. You'll be killing yourself for pennies. good luck.
What to charge for something like this?
I have had this account for 5 years now and they have made a change to the format of their report.  The first page is basically a template with check boxes.  The other three pages are figured out by 65 character count.  Being that there isn't much I'm doing to the first page (checking maybe 5-8 boxes and adding little blurbs once in awhile), but I am printing this page out.  Any ideas?  I hope I'm making sense!  Thanks much in advance.
mt-what to charge?

I work at a mental health clinic as a transcriptionist/records person.  A coworker asked if I would be interested in making some extra cash by typing some documents for him and his buddies that are in college.  I am interested but have no idea WHAT TO CHARGE? 1 cent per word?  i have no idea please help.


 


-Gina


What to charge? Please sm...

I was approached by a family doctor to do some typing for his very small company. He indicated that there are 2 other doctors in his office. I am thinking about taking the offer, but I'm just not sure how much to charge them. I noticed on the job boards that MTs are now being paid on an average of 0.07 cpl. How much more of this would I need to charge in order to actually profit from doing this? I currently get paid 0.12 cpl at a company I am working for, so what would be appropriate for me to charge these doctors then? I'm so confused.


what to charge
no one is going to come out and answer this question for you. It all depends on where you live..  Call a local transcription company, make like you are a doctors office and see what their rates are..  call at least 5 of them and go inbetween. 
What to charge for something like this?

I've been contacted about "putting together a training
outline, tips and tricks and materials for MTs moving into the Editor role."


I'd charge at least what I would lose in production spending time on this, but any idea of an hourly rate?  The company is moving into a VR platform.


I charge
.10 a line but all my work is done over the internet.  I open an e-mail and then e-mail the work back so it does not cost me anything extra.  I haven't been doing this for very long, so I am probably not the one to be giving advice, but I did want to make sure you are putting all these expenses on your taxes.  You can even log your driving time, these are just things I didn't know when I first began. 
I charge 12 cpl as well.

I provide 48-hour turnaround.  Instead of raising your rate, why not ask if you can pick-up every two days?  I believe that some charge up to 14 cpl.  It all depends on the practice. 


So you charge ,12 cpl...(sm)
due to the fact that you have to compete with nationals that outsource overseas, right? Okay, what portion of that .12 cpl are you willing to pay a sub? Would you be willing to pay .10 cpl and still make at least .02 cpl AND keep your contracts happy? That's what I did. When I had my own contracts I was happy to get good and truly experienced transcriptionists who would sign non-competitive agreements and pay them almost as much as I got per line. I felt that "something was better than nothing". So, if I only got .02 cpl it was still better than losing client, driving myself nuts working all the time, and .02 cpl adds up after a while. Furthermore, it was more than I would make if I lost the client! Are you wiling to do that, pay your sub's a very good rate - cause if you are willing to do so there are many good transcriptionists willing to work for you (myself included)!
How much to charge

Hi!


I don't mind -- I just answered it when another MT was asking if $50 per audio hour was too low and I said yes, it was too low.


You generally charge per audio hour. I don't know what it takes other people, but I work on a 3:1 ratio, meaning 1 hour of audio takes me 3 hours to do. So I charge $75 an audio hour if it's not terribly complicated. Like I said in the other post, others charge $95 and I have even heard $115. I'm happy with it working out to $25 an hour, but I do spend additional time proofing it afterwards.


I like general because people don't seem to be as "stat" about things as in MT :) Sometimes the speaking is even nice and slow, like they are reading from a presentation so you just keep right up with it.


Diane


Have always seen charge more than $1 per min
x