Home     Contact Us    
Main Board Job Seeker's Board Job Wanted Board Resume Bank Company Board Word Help Medquist New MTs Classifieds Offshore Concerns VR/Speech Recognition Tech Help Coding/Medical Billing
Gab Board Politics Comedy Stop Health Issues
ADVERTISEMENT




Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Have you forgotten we have not gotten the new pay plan yet which will lower the base rate I am sure

Posted By: MQMT on 2005-09-01
In Reply to: That still is not a paid line rate. If your base is $0.10 per line, it will be $0.08 cpl. - VR Queen

and be incentive tiered according to production which is next to impossible on so many accounts anymore. This is only the beginning of the pay decrease.


Complete Discussion Below: marks the location of current message within thread

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu


Other related messages found in our database

Wait until we get a lower base rate and incentive and no work for incentive.Should prove interesting
because everyone will probably have a lower base rate than now. As I say, should prove interesting.
This is my base rate for surgeries sm
I have an incentive program, I can make more, but this is my base rate. I had this rate at another company where I did OPs for 4 yrs and I made really good money at it typing just outpatient surgical notes (6 hours a day, 1500-1700 lines a day average during that shift).

In point of fact, it is much easier to get normals set up for this situation than for OPs in a hospital because you have fewer doctors and fewer different procedures.
Thanks, Mardi. My base rate is .085, so the most I am paid . . .
is .095 a line, whether it be 16,000 or 20,000 lines per pay period. I try to get 1800-2000 lines a day, or 9000-10,000 lines a week. This is for employee status, 1st shift, acute care, with 15+ years' experience.

I have seen so many job listings only requiring 5000-6000 lines a week and a line rate of .07-.09, and figured my .095/line was about average. If I can do better than this, please let me know!!!

I just assumed the low line requirements were due to the fact that anything more than that was impossible, whether it be due to ESL dictators, complicated platform, or just the lack of work. I would love to know of any MTSOs that can provide enough work for my production level with a better line rate. Thanks again!!
Just got a letter in the mail from MQ stating that they will be paying 80% of our base rate for ASR.
So this is the start of the new pay plan the rest of which isnt out yet. We will lose 20% of our line rate for ASR starting October 1.
I would not lower the rate. They know how
much they are paying you and have accepted it.
Never lower your rate

I would never, ever lower my rates.  Is the one doctor in the group that is complaining a constant whiner?  He may just be a tightwad that still has the first .01 he ever earned.  Think about it - we complain about the cost of gas increasing and the cost of groceries increasing, but those businesses sure aren't going to drop the price of their product due to our complaining just to keep our business.  You run a business and the point of that is to earn money.  If you or a family member had to see this particular doctor, would he drop his office visit rate because you complained about his bill?  Never!


Not only that, these are cardiologists - one of the elite money makers in the medical profession. 


Write a note stating that you understand his concerns about the cost, but state that in spite of your expenses increasing along with everything else recently, you will agree not to go up on your rate for a year instead.  Tell him while there is less expensive out there, it comes back to the old saying of, "you get what you pay for." 


I do not give a lower rate for any templates--I still--sm
have to pull them up and there are usually changes that I have to do. I charge my rate x 3 for envelopes and they supply the envelope. I also charge for cc's--if the name and address are provided. If not, I do not print an envelope for them, the office does.

Your other option would be to have his office print the envelope. My ink cartridge runs about 25-30$ depending on where I get them, and can get very expensive depending on the amount you will be printing each week.

I also do not take anything off my rate. I have figured how much I have to charge in order to make a profit and do not vary from that. If he gets you to drop your rate below your profit margin, guess how long it will take for him to spread the word to his friends that you will come down on your rates??
Well....he asked me to lower my line rate for him (sm)
which I did....then he asked that I make copies of everything he cc's and copies of the letters he dictates....then asked me to subtract off the templates he uses, even though I am using my ink to print these templates and making changes where he wants....it seems that I am spending more time doing these things than I am making any money. Just don't know what to do. I am not complaining, just need some helpful advice. Thanks
Client interested but wants to lower rate. sm
He said he wants to hire me to do his work, but at 8 cpl and give a week's turnaround time. I worked as an SC at that rate, but not as IC.

Is there anything I can say or show him to convince him this rate is incorrect?
Call the credit card companies and ask them to lower your rate. sm
Tell them you are having trouble and you need a lower rate. I would try that first on your own. I have done it and went from 14.9% to 4.9% on my credit cards. I can now pay them more monthly than they ask for and I am on my way out of credit card debt.

Consolidation companies, some, charge a fee and it goes on your credit report as "write off or bad creditor". If you have no success with the cc companies yourself, than try a consumer company to help you.

Good luck to you!
You're likely to make more money on the lower rate because easier to understand and can probably
faster and need less time to look things up, etc. Just my 2 cents.
No actually I plan to suck everything out of them at my line rate this year and then quit in January
when they start the new pay plan. Yep, that is exactly what I plan to do. Yep, I have it all planned out. This sick sick lady has it all planned out. The best of MQ is over.
That still is not a paid line rate. If your base is $0.10 per line, it will be $0.08 cpl.
Considering other companies pay 4 or 5 cents per line for VR - you are still making out.

Does your program change lower case to upper? If so, type all in lower and
it will change the ones it is supposed to.
I wouldn't lower my rates. Should I request a lower CPL from my employer
because I use a ton of normals, templates and such to increase my line count?
You're confusing the new QA plan with the new pay plan. New pay plan is still completely under wr
Shhhhhhhhhhh....
For anyone who has forgotten
http://www.caldavid.com/911/911.swf
I had forgotten about one I used to have
that went on and on about what a lady had worn to church on Sunday morning - her yellow polka dot dress with the short puffed sleeves that have a cuff - his whole point was that she was experiencing some lymphedema and she was sure of it because of how the cuff on the dress fit.  Cracked me up!
Forgotten people

It just so seems that the media always focuses on the sensational.  Not that I don't feel for all displaced persons but those in shelters, it appears to me, are having all their needs met.  What about those who are too proud to ask for help?  Those doing the best they can to help each other?  I simply have not been aware that MS/AL were so hard-hit.  We live in a very poor, rural community in NW Arkansas and I'm sure that there are many people in MS/AL and rural parts of LA that are in desparate need of help and no one seems to be concerned about them. My husband and I would even be willing to go to these areas at our own expense to volunteer but unfortunately, we haven't been "trained" to volunteer so there's nothing we can do until we receive "proper training."  What the heck??  How much training does it take to pass out water and food for the SA or ARC in areas where they don't have ANYONE?


 Maybe, like me, thanks to the media reporting, not many know there are people there hurting.  I hope we can find some small way to  help.  We've tried about every charitable organization and they want cash donations to go into their general funds.  We've already done that.  Now in our small way, we want to help those no one is talking about.


 


Oh thank you, thank you, I'd forgotten about jibjab

since the presidential election when they had the "This Land Is Your Land" with "Bushed" and Kerry which was way too funny.


I know they're talking about Wal Mart, but it comes down to no choice in towns as small as mine. If it wasn't bad enough for them to come in and close down our Rich's Department Store and our Ames Department Store and practically all of our mile long Main Street, when our local K-Mart decided to hang on, Wal Mart built a "superstore" right behind K-Mart and its adjacent big chain grocery store. At this Wal Mart you can buy your groceries as well.


K-Mart is still hanging on, as well as the small grocery store next door, but I've a feeling it won't be long before they just give up.


I used to shop once in awhile at Wal Mart for the "Lower prices all the time," but I've decided to boycott that place.


You've forgotten what it was like
to start out as a newbie! Seven years ago, I believe I started at about 6 cents a line. My first several hours did not come anywhere near minimum wage - so many questions - stopping to look up what seemed like every other word. I am excited that I did $9.60 plus an hour "out the door". It is not where I will stay. This is in addition to my Full Time MT job! I'm giving my brain a rest. I'm a tier 3 and if you have ever visited the Medquist board, you should be able to understand my elation! I'm still dancing!
One who hasn't forgotten that subordinates are
*
people seem to have forgotten that the shrub family
is friends with the family of Bin Laden's... Would he really want to the son of a friend?  That's why he let him go, and diverted attention elsewhere. He thought it would be popular.. what a loon!
No LOL/Yuckie upchuckie... you've forgotten
your uncle ron is YOUR husband.  duh!
I am talking about the QA plan I dont know what the new pay plan is.
:
You are WAY off base ...
WE don't have any control over any such thing at all.

The MAIN focus is patient care. We're part of the team that helps document that care but that's it.

I do NOT want such politics playing in my healthcare as a patient, I can tell you that.

Those physicians are very intelligent and educated and we need them. I know US physicians that are far worse dictators. The US is a melting pot (I believe Eyetype has already stated this all so eloquently); that is what we are made up of and will continue to be.

Get over it. We just don't have that much power...NOR SHOULD WE.
We have 500 at a base already SM

As early as today, the Ft. Custer Training Center, a fenced-in military base just west of Battle Creek, will become home to 500 Hurricane Katrina evacuees.


I don't think you could be any more off base

Just getting my power back and being able to access the internet after Wilma, I know exactly what it's like.  We're in an area that had to ride out the whole eyewall front, side, and back.  At least with the eye going overhead you get a 2 to 3-hour break.  We didn't.  Our power went out in the early morning hours before the storm even hit and we JUST got it back.   The east coast of FL where I am was told to expect a cat. 1 storm by the time it reached us.   Usually that means limited power outages with restoration of power within 24 to 48 hours.   The eye made landfall over the Everglades and it was moving so quickly that by the time it got to us it was still a cat. 3, and with the forward motion of the storm at 25-30 mph, it intensified the wind gusts to a cat. 4 in some areas.   This was much different than the storm we were expecting.


We've got more than enough water and canned goods to last us, and DS joked that we had enough batteries to power a third-world country.  But, we were on the verge of being out of fuel for the grill, camp stove, and lantern, out of batteries for the flashlights and radios, NO ice whatsoever because there is no way that ice will last for 3 days.  Think about preparing for the storm.  If you buy or make ice and your power goes out before the storm even hits, that means day 1 is over before the storm is even over.  By the end of day 2 (which is considered storm day 1 by FEMA) your ice is already starting to melt.  By FEMA day 3, you're already ending your 4th day and beginning your 5th.  Any perishables you had are long gone. 


In Broward County we were promised that ice would be delivered by 2 p.m. on the day after the storm (which had already been almost 48 hours since preparations were completed and the power went out).  People had been waiting in line since 6 a.m. that morning.   By 8:00 that evening the lines were already 1000s of people long and the ice hadn't arrived yet.  Some people's medications had already gone 24 hours without refrigeration by that point.  It was at that point that the announcement was made that ice wouldn't even be delivered to our area by FEMA until the next day. 


So while it may seem to you that all those people are just standing there with their hands out, it isn't quite the picture you paint it.  Ice was more importance than the water and the MREs, but FEMA doesn't let you take 1 without the other.  So while it looks to you that all those people were waiting for meals because they didn't prepare, the majority of them were waiting for ice because what we had was long gone. 


Coming originally from an area that was well known for blizzards in the winter time, the preparation for hurricanes is a lot different.  In the blizzards when the power went out there were blankets for warmth and indoor natural gas stoves for cooking.  Perishables could be placed outside and ice would keep for days.  Frozen goods would stay frozen.  Not so in Florida.  Until you've actually gone through it you don't really appreciate the difference.  And until you've actually gone through it, you're in no position to judge "all those people" waiting for handouts.


Way off base

Hopefully you answered to the wrong poster as she said nothing about investing in anything to help her KEEP the account she doesn't have it.  If not, you are way off base and rude.    Most of us charge by the line normally and it depends where you live and what you will be providing, printing, is it pick up and delivery, etc.   What kind of doctor, etc.  But most of the time between 12 and 15 cpl, I am at the lower end but that is me.    


What company are you currently at, what is your base
pay, and how many years experience do you have?  Me, i'm 10+ years, MQ, 9.5 cpl.  Wondering if i'm at the top of the scale and the only way to go is down?  I hate switching jobs as it is, was back and forth between Edix and MQ, pros and cons of each, but I want BIG BUCKS!!!!!
Does anyone have any idea what my base pay

will end up being on the new payment plan?  I do clinical and ER reports/discharge summaries.  I've been a Transcriptionist for 8 yrs (worked with them for six).   I currently make 8 CPL as it is.  


I really  need to know what I might make with this new plan.  I NEED THE MONEY.  I SURVIVE ON THIS PAYCHECK.  Nervous as all he** right now. 


Obviously not part of the base of
..
I am making 8 cpl base
I average 1800 to 2000 lines per day and gross 40K with just 8 cpl with incentive and that's not including any overtime. Maybe my production is above average, but my pay rate certainly is not.   
Again, you can't base your rates on what
Are you an MTSO yourself, Suzanne? I would say not because if you were, you'd know there are just too many variables. How do they charge? 65-char. line or gross line? Are they paying for spaces or no spaces? What kind of account is it? What supplies will you need to service the account? What equipment will you use and what kind of maintenance does it need? Will you need to hire SCs to work on the account? All of those things will make a HUGE difference. For example, a gross line at 8 cpl is actually more like 10 cpl using a 65 char. count (do the math and you'll see). Saying one MTSO charges 15 cpl and another charges 13 cpl is not comparing oranges to oranges unless their account specs are identical, which you cannot be sure of from an anonymous MB.

You take all of the above into consideration and come up with a line rate for each client on a per-client basis. The only time you need to worry what others are charging is to see whether you are competitive or not. Find out what you need to make and if it happens to be too far above what others in the area charge, you can negotiate a little in order to obtain the business.

I do not undercut myself because I do all of the above and charge what I need to charge for each client in order to turn a profit. I couldn't care less what other MTSOs charge in MI and MO. I know the market in my area and each person needs to consider that when branching out on their own.
Me thinks you are way off base.
You may want to find a new career.  When you refer to drop in for an hour or two, you are speaking about ICs who in no way are any less professional than you are working from your home as an employee.  Some MTs work from a typing pool meaning they can take a job at a time and make money in that fashion as a contribution to the household (paying bills I might add).  Many professions offer at home employment.  We are not the only ones.  I think you have a bad attitude and should probably find somewhere else to drone in your sorrows.  Many of us here are professionals even at home with a husband and children.  It kind of sounds like you are jealous about husbands that make money and have insurance.  You may want to re-think what you are saying in regards to MTs working from home and not being considered a professional.  In my experience, my friends and relatives are envious of my being able to make a living from my home office, so I'm not sure who you have that talks about you to where you cannot defend yourself, but that is usually a psyhiatric entity called paranoia.  Sorry to say, but you make as much as you'd like as long as you can "hang with the big dogs".  If you are not making enough money, then that is for you to either take some courses in typing and anatomy or just go with the flow.  To blame at home MTs is way off base.   
Sure, base it off of 1 experience....
that makes a whole lot of sense .  You must be the same person who said Radiology was an "easy specialty," right?
I would certainly base my decision around what
What are your hobbies or activities that you really enjoy? Look for a way to find training/employment in those areas.

It's not too late to go back to school at all. Though it will take some time and investment. You might discover your perfect interest along the way!

I'd open an Internet Cafe that serves gourmet baked goods, sandwiches, etc. :)


Charge him an hourly rate. The current rate is
between $15-21/hr. according to your location. If he had to use an independent secretarial service, he would be charged much more. You can look in the Yellow Pages in your area under Secretarial Service and ask them what they charge, then charge accordingly knowing you can back it up.
Base for the ball chairs
I actually bought my exercise ball/chair through ebay and it came with a base which has a small back support as well as wheels.  It works out great.
Thank you your reply. He/she says the client base
is there and I know the funding is there. The plan is in its early stages, but they are ready to go forward and will. I can't decide whether this is something I want to get involved in or not and I appreciate your input!
Don't base your quote on rates

Why are you a better deal than anyone else?  It's not because of rate, it's because you care about your work and you're reliable -- what else?


ASK them what they've been paying -- they won't know because they probably won't understand their invoice.  Ask them to send you a copy of the invoice.  Reply to me privately if you need to, I'll help you figure it out. 


But even if you get that, keep the focus of the discussion off price, keep it on your quality, your caring, your reliability, what you can offer them.  Do you buy EVERYTHING based on price?  If not, think about the things you buy based on quality and base your letter on that. 


If your sole value is because you have the lowest price, you're fighting a losing battle.


Our president has even alienated his own base.

I visit a local political board that is primarily conservative (something I am totally not, but it's still fun to go watch the "fireworks") and even the hardcore Republicans are peeved at him.  Apparently this immigration "amnesty" bill he's pushing has really not settled very well with his "peeps."  I didn't vote for him twice, so my conscience is clear, but I still think he's a tool, president or not.  I never had respect for him and never will.  I know I am not alone either and I'm sorry if that offends you, but I'm exercising one of the primary freedoms that our poor soldiers are dying and getting wounded for--freedom of speech. 


maybe spray outside the house around the base? NM
.
Upper case is lower, lower case is upper. Using InstaText. Anyone know how to fix this?

Aargh.  It happened all day yesterday.  When I brought in text that was all caps


IMPRESSION:


and had lower case on keyboard (as always do), it reverses keyboard commands.  This is driving me c-r-a-z-y.


It is a startup company with base in Phillipines. That is all I know! nm
x
I've used it. There are a ton of knowledge base forums out there
where you can research your results.
Is it at the thumb base? I had mine x-rayed, and it
NSAIDs and wearing typing gloves seems to help. Also, after the initial 1-2 yrs. of constant pain, it did settle down considerably, now only hurts if I use my hands for twisting, such as opening jars, wringing out wet washcloths or laundry, or using screwdrives instead of a power drill bit to assemble, dissasemble things. I also have a lot of pain riding a bike. I padded the handlebars as much as possible, and try to ride with the the sorer of the 2 thumbs resting on top of the handle bar with my other fingers, not gripping it.

Anyway, good luck, and hopefully it'll settle down in a few months!
Dolfan you are so far off base you are foolish. I don't troll these boards and don't come her

that often. I am baby-sitting and I can be on the computer on and off today.  Can't work.   I don't know what you are talking about trolling when there is a discussion going on with people's taste in men.   You are LOL with your "wisdom" and "insight" on trolls. 


PS:  Sorry if you like girlie men.  Didn't mean to offend you.  It is what it is and the unisex look is okay for some, male and female.


 


you are soooooo off base, it really is funny. i am a single woman who
runs my own household. i try to surround myself with smart people, or at least as smart as myself. i am not threatened by anything but the dumbing down of america and lots of that can be seen in situation comedy for the masses. i raised four boys, all of whom are doing very well in life and i can do things i can't do and know things i do not. i am not threatened by them. i enjoy them. i am a student of life even at my age and want to learn and be amused not at the expense of someone else, male, minority, blonds, etc.
Mayo Clinic in AZ has an ad for in-house MT in Advance Mag, $19/hr base pay. sm

Plus shift diff and bonus, plus $1000 sign-on bonus, and relocation $. What a great offer if it's true.


At our base the civilian employees are treated worse
than the prisoners from the nearby federal prisoner. Military thinks civilians are the scum of the earth. You will never get a promotion or recognition unless you are married to an active duty person.