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

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

Posted By: ( adjusted for inflation). - Topaz on 2009-06-26
In Reply to: Making less per hour in 2009 than in 2003 - real difference in a few short years

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.


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

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.
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. 


1979 vs 2009

First, don't get me wrong, I definitely think we should be paid more.


However, in 1979, you were likely using a typewriter, no such thing as computer and delete/backspace, no such thing as Google, no such thing as sending in reports with the push of a button, which makes things much, much quicker and efficient, which makes more typed.  We should have better insurance, though.


I imagine it took at least three times longer to type a report then than it does now with computers, Google, better references, et.


1979 and 2009
I don't know what went on in 1979 because I was 10 but I do know that in 1990, the school I trained with was still using typewriters and in my first job, although they had computers, were using tapes, which we had to use a magnetic to erase.  Heaven forbid that someone erased the wrong tape.  Talk about a doctor being PO'd.
I am making less now than in 1979
but I am not working 2 full time jobs, have cut down to part time and loving it.
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.
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
BS pure and simple. Nobody and I mean NOBODY is making $36/hour in this profession.

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?


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


You must not have been around in 1979...
We had lines that were BLOCKS LONG!  It was ridiculous.  I sure hope that doesn't happen again.  I'll just stay home and swim in my pool.  The heck with driving.
me too. I started in 1979 at the age of 24 sm
I turned 50 this past May. We had selectric typewriters and the dictation was done on some kind of dictaphone system that had these little disks that were that floppy plastic kind of like when you would get kids records out of the cereal boxes. Remember that stuff. They were the size of a CD now. I remember when we first got cassette tapes. I thought I was in hog heaven. When I started with Transcriptions Limited in 1983 (now Medquist), we had selectric typwriters, typed on paper, different kind for each report and each account and got paid by the page. They delivered the cassette tapes to your door (at least where there were offices in the area) and picked up the work the next day. At least back then I actually knew people and saw them every day and got acquainted. Not like today. If you had too many accounts and too many types of paper you wound up getting paper "mites". For you younguns who don't know what paper mites are, they are little tiny creatures you cannot see but they will bite at your anikles. You have to spray for them! Kind of like fleas but smaller. I use to hire my two sons when they were small to separate the paper and pile it up by accounts and type or report. The little guys were 6 and 8 and they learned a lot quick. I paid them so much a page and finally my oldest asked me one day, how much I made page! He was 8 years old. I knew I was in trouble. But, then again this was the kid who took his Twinkies to school and sold one for a quarter and ate the other!

Now I sound old, but those really were the good old days.

O yes, I remember when Transcriptions Limited/Medquist got the IBM wheelwriter and then finally one day computers! I had been on the MTs system since tehy developed it in the late 80s and just this past March went on the DQS system. If they change again, I won't be here. Don't want to learn another one. haha

O yes, I learned in highschool on an old black manual typewriter (Olivetti I think), not sure and then we went to the really sophisticated stuff, the ELECTRIC TYPEWRITER which at the time I hated as much as I hated the computer the first time I used it!

Thanks for the memories!

P.S. You yunguns, 50 is not that old!
Carter was I think 1979 - not old at all.....nm

Antivirus 2009
You are so right...it was entirely my fault...I definitely will be more careful from now on! I downloaded the Malwarebytes antivirus and it has partially removed it, but it is still blocking my IE, not sure how to get rid of this but I will keep trying.

Thank you so much for your help.
You do realize it is 2009, don't you?

I had one too!! a 1979 piece of junk.

And if that wasn't bad enough it was chocolate brown.


My blinker knob fell off and I had to shove a pair of tweezers in there to work the blinkers.  I couldn't wear heels or they'd get wedged in the holes in the floor board and one tire had a big bubble in it.


I can't believe I even dared drive that thing.


Beware of Antivirus 2009

While working late at night, I had something pop up that I thought was a MS product called Antivirus 2009, and thinking it was an update on their security, without checking it out, I clicked ok, then at the end, it states it costs $59...and I realized that it was not MS, so I backed out of it.  I currently have AVG 8.0 and it has always done a good job for me...but now after several days and asking several different places, plus the Internet, I cannot get rid of this.  It seems to be tied into my Google site, the one I use so much. 


Does anyone know how you get rid of it?  I removed the software (or so I thought) from my program) but it is blocking Google, and just keeps popping up constantly...driving me absolutely nuts.


Does anyone know of a solution to get rid of this?  I hate to pay a techie to come out to my house to get rid of this, but I will if I have to...just thought I would ask here first.


Thank you for your help.


Beware of Antivirus 2009
AVG is great and not a resource "hog' like McAfee or Norton -- I have had computer problems in the past, and have dealt with Hiwired.com -- they are inexpensive, ALL USA-based techs and great people to work with -- they understand the MT and if you need a progam completely erased and you tell them as such, they will do it -- I had a problem a couple of weeks ago with Adobe and could NOT get files to load that were in that format -- they got it cleared up and no problems but almost every "tekkie" person including them, that I have talked to has recommended AVG
Quick Look 2009 will be coming

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=quick+look+drug+book+2009


This would probably be what you are looking for, but if you want 2008, the above link also has used ones that are much cheaper.  I am not keen on electronic references other than Google and my spell check.  I have Book of Style 2 on electronic and it's not that user friendly.  I'd rather flip through a book.


For the time being, use google.  Put your drug name and then the word drug after it.  This is what I do.


Hope this helps...


You claim it in 2009. If you did not receive
it in 2008, it does not matter it was owed, only what you received in the calendar year.
I lived in So. Cal in 1979 and they lines were atrocious.
x
Started in 1979 when I was 18, worked in office at MQ while it was still
.
IBM Selectives before, but In 1979 where I worked we had computers
and loved them; however right before then we had IBM Selective typewriters and you could honestly fly on those, well I could anyway. I think anyone who ever used the IBMs would tell you they loved the keyboard. I don't think it took 3 times as long because we were trained better to start with. I spent a year studying before being turned loose on actual incentive pay plus payroll. The typewriters had correction tape you put on and used that way. When making an error you simply backed up, hit the same error again, your new letter and on you went. It was fast and seems like then you did not have as many to go back and say, oh add this, erase that, start over and so on. The first computer we got was honey also. Don't remember the name but I do remember having a Wang in the 80s, loved that one and no internet but still did straight over 2000 a day. We were our own good references, did not rely on the internet.
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?
Also avoid Antivirus 2008/2009. It is very nasty.
x
Norton Internet Security 2009 and Service Pack 2 or 3??
I am having a heck of a time! I have Windows XP and just purchased Norton Internet Security 2009 for my antivirus, as my previous version is just about to expire. Upon installing it it says I have to install Service Pack 2 or higher for it to work. I never installed SP2 because I read that many, many had problems with it. Should I go ahead and download SP3? Is there anything I need to do before installing it? I'm thinking of taking the computer to a professional and having them download SP3 and install it for me because it makes me really nervous! Anyone have any experience with this? What should I do?

Thanks!
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
I appreciate your responses. I had an option of line vs hour ($14/hour) but if line pays more...nm
nm
65 to 75 an hour comes to $15 an hour if u are fast
nm
making up.....

I suggest you have your father read my post and explain it to you.  Apparently you have poor comprehension skills.  Talk about ignorance.


My point was NEW immigrants who come here not to become American.  Obviously, this is not apply to all NEW immigrants, because as we know, many of them bust their butts to become American in every way including service in the military.  My point was that so many of the NEW immigrants, meaning those from the last 25-30 years, come with different aspirations than previous groups.  This is documented by social scientists who have been studying this very point for a couple of decades.  Look up some articles in any journal of American sociology or political science and you will find research on this subject.  


 I am perfectly aware of New Spain and New France and even that Russia once owned parts what is now Washington state and Oregon.  Do the people in Northwest US demand to have legal papers printed in Russian because 400 years ago, Russia settled that land?   Are you aware of the language controversy in Quebec, Canada?  We don't need that in this country and having English as our accepted common language has helped prevent some of the fighting and death that results from people coming to blows over language.  Language is the root of "the Troubles" as the Irish call their 100 years of conflict with England.  England passed a law making English the official language and forbad Gaelic in public places, including schools.  Look how that has worked for them.   In the U.S., it has worked because it has been understood as a custom and new immigrants were proud to learn English, because it was a mark of American citizenship.


You need a history lesson - New Spain was SOLD to the U.S. government  and New France was sold to the U.S. government by their respective kings because France and Spain needed money to finance their wars with each other.   So, Spain left voluntarily.


BTW, my brother wrote my parents in English during WWII and his letters were confiscated - is there a group that will protest such actions again Irish-German Americans? 


Wnat to see what ignorace looks like?  Got a mirror?


I am making......
17.00 per hour with a home-based hospital job (you have to be local to the hospita) PLUS a generous incentive with a "quite easy to attain" minimum line count and then 8 cents a line after the minimum is met.  Plus I have all the benefits of being an employee (which I am) including paid vacation and benefits.  I've been the national route and I didn't find any of them to be paying well, plus I was always running out of work.  We are swamped all the time and NEVER run out at the hospital.  If we do run out, which has never happened, we can go into the department and shred paper or something.  I wish more hospitals would go back to having a department.  That's where you'll find your dignity IMHO.
You were making LESS than THIS????

unless u r making $25/hr

not impressed one bit


you can make $12.50 an hour being a secretary and be dumb as


dirt.


you can make $12.50 an hour doing data entry and not know one


word of medicine or the other junk we have to know and be responsible


for and get grief from QA about.


you can make $12.50 an hour doing a lot of things and not have to


put up with the junk MTs are having to put up with now.


 


IT is making me
My eyes keep moving up, down, up, down. I'm getting a headache. How long does it take to adjust to this?
No, making way more. nm
x
Making more now
I worked for a hospital for 5 years and then we moved... tried another national who didn't pay much, and then started with OSi and am making more than I ever have (including 25 years of secretarial work)! I've read so many negative posts here about OSi, but I think those who have complaints tend to voice them more than those who don't. I'm very happy with them as far as money, schedule, and flexibility. I know from reading previous posts that many will assume I'm part of management just trying to give them a plug. No, I'm not part of OSi management. Just a very happy transcriptionist.
Men Making More LOL
That is because they choose wisely and don't accept just anything. I am female and quite often make more than most women. Having been in the MT business for only 3-4 yrs I am constantly amazed at the rates offered and accepted, and the lack of understanding at the complexity and enormity of education required to do this job. When someone offers me a low salary I tell them what I think of it and just go on to the next company. I have always known why there aren't a lot of men in MT work - the salary. In places where typing pays decent $$$ there are tons and tons of men.
making the big $$$
I was actually referring to the above posts that state they are making $50 to $60K per year.
Making $100,000/yr?
Is that really possible without having your own service?