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Here's the thing. We were paid on a 50-char line SM

Posted By: Becky on 2005-12-03
In Reply to: It really depends how much you make at hospital. If - you are used to 65 char line, be in for shock.

because we were on new software and it was hard (before EDiX). Then we went to 60 char and you have never heard the screeching and griping (LOL. We just didn't know).


I have told this story before, but for five years I was the supervisor in the MT dept. All I did was evaluate MTs, line counts, average lines per hour, just endless figuring. I could tell you off the top of my head what any particular dictation should count out to.


In fact, after I decided to go back to transcribing, I knew the very day that my former employees started cheating - our line counts were posted by ssn on a computer-generated list. I knew that work like the back of my hand.


When EDiX did their spiel, I was eager to start with them because I knew how they supposedly counted their lines and I knew how many lines a day I could type. Man, I was gonna be RICH.


Not one line count EVER matched what it used to. Bad thing about that is, I just got blank silence on the telephone when I asked what was the deal. When I asked my immediate supervisors how they were counting these lines, I got "I don't know. I'll get back to you." Nobody ever answered my question. I gave them a year full time, and then I had to start working other jobs to make ends meet so I quit.


They asked me to come back, and I said I would, part time. They said they really needed me on that account. All told, I was employed there three times in three years. I never made enough money to even cover my basic expenses. I cannot live like that.


My biggest problem with nationals, and the reason I refuse to work for them, is that the money goes to the suits first, the MTs next. People who do what we do simply do not need that much supervision. If they hire newbies who do need extensive supervision (and they do, we all did), we all pay for it in that situation -- I'm not against hiring newbies, by the way, but the $ it takes to hold their hands the way the need their hands held should not come out of the pocket of the veteran MT who sits down and chugs out her work day in, day out.


So no more nationals for me. I make three times what I made at EDiX now, working for a company that could be considered a national because we're scattered out, but it's still run by the owner, and her aim in life is for us to make as much $$$ as possible because then SHE does. That's the way it should be.


National companies treat MT as a cost center and that is not right. That's for the facilities to do. The MTSO should treat us as an income-generating entity instead of a hole to divert money away from their executives. They've got it all wrong!




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I just re-read his email and he said he paid 9 cpl per 55-char line! Must be offshore. sm
I'm going to bring up the offshore issue with him and HIPPA issue as well.  My OB/GYN just switched over to that practice to do just GYN and specialize in urological gyn, so they have my records too and I sure don't want them overseas.  Even if they don't want to hire me, that's fine and I'm not going to sales pitch him at all, but I don't want my records outsourced.
What is a 55 char gross line compared to a 65-char line including spaces?
t
What's the diff between a gross line and a 65-char line?

Mebbe just got my first OWN ACCOUNT YAY!  He said to charge him the "going rate" since I pay him that.  This could be the start, baby!  (I hope)



10 cpl per 65 char line
I include all spaces, headers, footers, etc with a 24 hour TAT.
65 char line
while you are in a Word document, click on Tools from the bar at the top. Then click on word count. You will see characters (no spaces) and characters (with spaces). If you are paid by 65 characters with spaces, take that number and divide it by 65. Then take the result and multiply the result by .08 or .09 if you are paid 8 or 9 cents per line. That is the amount of money you made for that one letter.
7.5/gross line or 10/65 char line?
Anyone have any idea which would come out to more?  TIA
1385 by 65 char line.
nm
65 char per line is not the same as gross?? sm
You said "Anyway go with gross line, I still quote it as 65 characters per line which it is but I count by gross and 12 font."

65 char per line is NOT the same as gross. How in the world do you come to the conclusion that it is? If it was the same, then the 65-char line would not even exist. Gross line count means that even a line containing only one word is counted as a whole line. 65-char. line means that a line must contain at least 65 characters (i.e., letters, numbers, or symbols) to be counted as a whole line.

Gross line does not equal 65-char. line and you are doing a huge disservice to your clients and to the other MTs asking for advice here by saying it is. Clients do sometimes check the line counts to see if they match (obviously yours don't so you have been lucky so far) and if you bill them at gross lines and they are counting at 65 chars per line, your line count will be quite a bit higher and it will look like you have been padding your line counts.

Please, do clarify how it is you feel a gorss line is the same as 65 char. per line. Also, font does make a difference when using gross lines but does not make a difference when using 65-char lines so again, your theory that you are switching fonts tells me you are, indeed, charging gross lines and yet are quoting clients at 65 chars a line.

Does anyone else think this is just a tad on the shady side ???
.11 cpl/60 char. line for hospital
account that I do from home and am also considered an employee.  They pay my insurance and also offer family insurance for 110.00 a month.  I also have another account for a brain and spine trauma center that pay me .13 cpl/65 char. line.
Gross versus 65 char line
Can someone tell me how a gross line is calculated. Thanks.
I charge by 65-char line with spaces...sm

The two accounts I've worked on wanted 0.5 inch margins on both sides.  One of the accounts wants 10-point Times.  The other wants 12-point Times.  They want the margins so big because they are trying to save on their paper costs, because the sticky back paper (I think that's what they use) is apparently quite expensive.  I send the documents via e-mail for them to print on their own.  Anyway, charging for a 65-character line with spaces nets me more than a gross line because of the margins, font, and typeface.  Try it with your line counter.  I have one built into my Instant Text (which I don't use for invoices) and SylCount.  Both of them show that the gross line is quite a bit less when the margins are this big. 


 


Why not charge for spaces?  You type 'em like you type a letter or number! 


10 cents/line 65 char. w/spaces,
Small company (about 7 of us, I'm the only part-timer) Acute care, mix of dictators, 1 year part-time experience.
Only if that is coupled with a line definition of greater than 55 char.
.
65-char line to client and charge for gross? sm
That's a bit underhanded. If they ever get suspicious, your line counts are going to exceed what they count at 65 char. a line. You said yourself that 65-char/line and gross line are two different things, so why do you contract with the client saying you bill for one and actually bill for another ?? That's shady, IMO, and I would never quote my client a 65-char line and then charge them for gross line.
At 40 hours a week? Is that gross line or 65 char?
You'll never get an accurate comparison unless you have every single detail lining up, i.e., same rate per line, same amount of hours, same type of work, same doctors dictating, same amount of Expander entries, same typing speed, same method of payment, etc., etc.

It just doesn't matter what anyone here posts -- it's going to be different for each individual. There is no real true way to predict what you will make at this profession!
then they'll offer you 8 cents/ 65 char line. very sad nm
dfd
127 if based on 65-char line (8243 divided by 65 is the formula) nm
c
I quote a price per gross 65 char line, say 12 cpl, but then convert

I have one client who doesn't want bulk and is Franklin condensed 10; another is on Garamond 12 with a 1 inch margin R and L. I take a large block of type, put in a format that gives me 65 char per line and do a line count that way and get a price for the whole block, for example, 58 gross lines at 12 cpl = $6.96. Then I take the same type and format it as the client wishes, get a line count and divide the dollar amount by the lines. If their formatted version came to 28 lines, then 6.96 divided by 28, would come to 24 cpl for their format. I always include a line on the invoice to indicate their 65 char line rate. Something like


2586 extended lines at 0.24 cpl = $620.64


(your line rate converts to 0.12 cpl for standard 65 char line)


I always educate the client as to the industry standard of the 65 char line which allows clients to compare apples to apples...


 


 


 


 


Two companies, both 65 char lines including spaces, one pays 0.10/l and the other 8.5/gross line. n
x
You don't get paid an hourly rate you get paid by line - sm
so because of how you are paid (not an hourly rate) you don't get OT, especially if you are an IC.
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.

Question about what is PAID for a line and what is BILLED for a line
Does the MTSO actually bill for headers, footers, and other things the transcriptionists are not paid for?  I worked for a company a while back and their copy of what each Transcriptionist typed the day before and our copy was a lot different, about 30% different.  Their copy was the billing copy. So, double their enhanced amount and subtract our 9 cents a line, it comes to a bigger profit than what I thought.   
Own accounts; 12 cpl 65 char and 17 cpl 65 char.
Accounts are on the West Coast.
is there such a thing as a cell phone with pre-paid minutes,
and no monthly bill?  A couple years ago i heard one was being developed, and yet, at least here in the middle of the country, have yet to see such.   I would like to have a cell phone for emergencies or very occasional use, but can't go for the monthly bill...
Getting paid by the line
You would get more being paid by the line.
Where can you get paid .13/line?
I have worked for Medquist for 6 years and don't get paid anywhere near .13/line.
I get paid 0.15/line
.
I get paid by the line sm
You want to be careful if you accept a job paid by the page. The going rate by the page is around $1.25. This is fine if all you're typing is plain films, but $1.25 to type long reports is a rip off.
WHAT? I get paid by the line for VR.....sm

you don't necessarily know what you're talking about - I get cpl for VR and I'm 10 times faster doing VR than straight transcription!


Where are you getting your info from? 


If QA is paid by the line then I would
yes she is getting credit for the whole report.  But she is probably getting 3 cpl so not really that much.  You should get feedback from QA and company should contact doctor re dates but whose to say they have not and have been ignored?  Been there and see both sides.  Sorry!
QA IS PAID BY THE LINE ALSO
It's not just the MTs getting lousy pay and trying to make line counts for the day... as QA editor, I struggle for my lines and when someone doesn't care to proofread or take pride in their work, I pay the price. QA is difficult!
I am QA and paid by line also and...
I have an MT one in particular who always takes feedback as a personal attack. Why is that? I am just doing my job. She actually is a good MT. The bad ones just ignore it all.
Hello! Please SM, ? about how this line is paid. Thanks!

65 character B&W line + ICP


What does ICP stand for and can you explain "black and white line" to me?


THANKS!


Paid Gross Line
Paid 0.09 a gross line with Courier 10 and 1" margins. How do you figure this?
Paid Gross Line
I was trying to figure what it would came out to be based on a 65-character line rather than gross.
We're usually paid by the line SM
I think MTEC is worth it, at least from what I hear.
I was paid from 4 to 6 cents/line

I definitely wouldn't take less than 6 cents a line, and even that is pushing it to really make any money. Most of the reports I got for one company had to be pretty much re-typed, so it was kind of like getting paid only 6 cents to trascribe, which is horrible! However, a few of the docs reports were pretty good and one was even at 90% recognition, where I pretty much just had to fix the formatting. It may be better for radiology, as I didn't do any of those.


To make a long story short, I hated VR editing and didn't make any money at it, even at 6 cents/line.


I would much rather do ME, (that is, if it paid the same line rate) sm
Which it does not, so I guess I will be sticking with MT, at least until I don't have a choice.
Do employees not get paid by the line?
I know I do!
I am paid by the line in radiology and I
Tried being paid by the report but was given long report after long report and actually lost money. Being paid by the report, in my opinion, is good if you have a fairly large amount of x-ray reports which are short and sweet and you can move right through them and that makes up for the longer reports such as MRIs and CTs.
No, but I am a QA editor paid by the line
There are a few of us I guess.
Paid by line question
I have been a Rad MT for 7+ years and have always been paid by the hour.  I have been offered a job that is paid by the line (starting a .08 going up to .10 when they don't have to read your reports anymore).  They also don't offer any benefits so I'm guessing this is IC status?  I'm just wondering if you can make money being paid by production and how bad is it during the slow times of the year?  Any idea on what an average Rad transcriptionists lines per day would be?  I am a single and self supporting so money is a big deal (as it is with anyone) but I need to know if I'll be able to make my bills with no problem.  Thanks in advance for all your input, help, etc.
Do PA's get paid to dictate by the line? SM
I am doing a 25 minute preop of a patient admitted for removal of two lipomas.
paid by page or line
wondering how many people out there get paid by the page instead of by the line? I am getting paid by the page (varies from 1.50 to 1.80 a page, and half that for less than 15 lines on a second page). Welcoming any insights to what others are getting.....thanks!
Being paid gross line

I have been offered a job that pays 8 cpl per gross line.  Is that a good rate? Thanks for your input.


You get paid for every line you read
and the corections you make. If there is only 1 correction to be made and the report has 100 lines, you get paid for 100 lines, according to the cpl agreed.

The number of corrections depend on a lot of things:

sound quality
VR software
platform
dictator
etc...

I get paid by the line. Pay by the page is a ripoff sm

I do a lot of MRI/CAT scan/neuroradiology, etc.  These are sometimes long drawn-out reports and sometimes go to 2 to 2-1/2 pages. 


Most companies that pay by the page only pay at most $2.00 a page.  You can make more by the line. 


I too am not paid by the line and I do NOT type. I do QA. There is a reason for QA because

MT has taken a toll on my body.  Some companies will pull you in there as QA and then try to have you transcribe...if you do it once for them, they will ask you all the time.


Now, as far as pay....$15.50 to $16 is average for non-CMT employee per hour. 


Line pay I have paid no attention to because any company that has true QA will not pay by the line.  Quality means quality all the way.


 


If the file is 10,000 KB and you are being paid by a 65 character line sm
divide 10,000 by 65 for your line count.  This has been done for years. 
Does anyone know if Indian MTs are paid by the line or by the hour? sm
That's something I have been curious about.  I know the MTSOs charge by the line, but was wondering how they pay the MTs.  I recall various articles about all the benefits they had, free medical, etc., even food.
Are you paid by the line, word, hour?