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I do believe that is a good rate with benefits

Posted By: MTinNC on 2008-07-12
In Reply to: Line Rates - puzzled

and I probably would take it myself. I agree with 'my thoughts', that no one can tell you what you'd make with any real accuracy. It depends on outside intrusions, job specifics, your focus/dedication, etc. I type around 250-275 lines an hour if things are running relatively smooth. The best you can do is 'guesstimate' what one would make. Give yourself some room there, and multiply 0.08 x 225 or so for a realistic estimate....about $18.00 an hour/$720 a week.


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Try Webmedx. Decent company, good benefits. sm
What a blow.  Good luck
That was with full benefits, which are the same benefits as an in-office employee for the QA staff..
However, I hear that their current QA staff are being asked to reach numbers that are out of sight and goals are basically impossible.
a good rate, - sm
100 gross lines (at 77 cpl) = $9.00, but the same using the 65/cpl formula, it would be 7700 characters/65 = 118 lines x .09 = 10.66. So you make more by regular line if you have full reports usually....but as I said if the gross lines are generally short or not the whole page width then it is good, do you get blank lines too?
I think 9.5 CPL is a good rate anywhere...nm

Good cpl rate?
Would you guys be willing to compare line rates.  I know there's a difference for experience, etc.  I've been MT'ing for 8-1/2 years now.  Been with the same company for the past 4 years.  Thinking about changing, but want to make sure I'm getting the best line rate I can.  I've only had two increases in my line rate since being with this company.  Thanks!!
Good cpl rate?
Yeah, I agree with you. I was very, very surprised when I did get a raise, but I think it was mostly because I was looking to leave them. I make a lot less yearly than when I originally started also, but this is mostly because I just can't sit here all day and not sleep like I used to.

Thanks for your response!
Good cpl rate?
I currently make 9.5 cpl doing hospital and clinic work for a company. I guess I'm trying to figure out if about 10 cpl is the going rate? Don't want to cut myself short! So, do you actually tell someone that if you do ESLs you will only do it for more? How much more? Would they then want you to do only ESLs?

I've always been IC until the past 6 months when I took employee status - no benefit other than them taking out the taxes. I had never taken it before because everyone wants you to take a lower line rate, but this time they didn't push the issue.

Thanks for the info!!
Is 13 CPL a good rate for

nm


Everyone that have good lph rate do not cherrypick. You are nm
just mad because you can't do it. I don't not do in excess of 150 but I know it can be done and I would not dare say a person cherrypicks if they have a good line rate. You are sad.
What is a good per line rate?
Have not worked in a while.  Interview today in an hour. 
what is a good line pay rate
I just got hired on for .0975 cpl which is pretty good  I think in today's market. I also get paid for spaces, headers and footers but the characters per line is 74. All in all, I thought this was pretty good but I do have 15 years experience. Also, there is incentive pay as well as bonuses for typing 1000 lines per day. I think I have done pretty well but will have to get started to see first.
OK, so what IS a good line rate
no message
The average is now $1.00-$1.25, so that is a good rate. sm
If it includes mammos and/or plain films, it will balance out the MRIs and CTs. Just make sure that they do not include IR reports in there at that rate. There are probably only 3 decent radiology transcription companies out there, so do you homework and not just the nay-sayers or cheerleaders. Look for the longer answers with details, not the "go for it" or "stay away" kind. I have found that those are either angry ex-employees of a company or new hires that are still in the honeymoon phase. Look for advice from those that have been at a company over a year; that is a good length of time for an impression to be accurate.

What company/companies are you looking at for that rate?
Are you getting a good editing rate?
I have to ask because your post demonstrates something about this industry that really irks me.

Most companies are charging 1-2 cpl for editing. At 400 lph, that is $8/hour max. Meanwhile, even if you were making a bottom of the barrel transcription rate, 6 cpl, you would still be making $12/hour for 200 lines.

The rates these companies are paying for editing just doesn't add up.
yes, I get a good editing rate....nm


Cost of insurance..is this a good rate?
I have just been oferred a job with a company that offers insurnace at $385 a month to cover me and my husband.  But, we would have a $2000 deductible and after that is met then a $20 co-pay.  Since I have been an IC my entire MT life, I'm not sure if this is good insurance or not?  Is this the norm for MT companies?
What is a good line rate for radiology?
Currently being paid by report, 10 years experience. TIA
Is 9cpl a good line rate
no message
If you are being paid per report for MRI's and CT's, what is a good rate? nm
:O)
I think it is a good rate as long as they offer
health benefits.  Sometimes it is best to leave work at work, then you find you have a homelife unless of course you do extra from home.  Good luck to you!  $15.00 is mid in my area with the average being between 13-17 dollars per hour. 
If you haven't done MT in many years, that is a very good rate...sm
Many things have changed and companies usually require more recent experience. I say go for it!
have you had a pretty good success rate doing this?
how is the wait time?  TIA
What is considered a good line rate...sm
for working 3rd shift (graveyard).  If you work nights, could you let me know what your line rate is?  TIA
Is 13 cpl a good rate for clinic account?...nm
ss
WHAT IS A GOOD LINE RATE FOR EDITING POSITION?nm
nm
Is 9.5 cents per line a good rate using Meditech?
This is for a radiology account.  TIA
Union diesil mechanic - good pay, great benefits. We swap year to year on who brings home more sm
money.....but I am an IC and he has all the benefits...health insurance/dental that the company pays for, pension plan, 401k, etc.  Factor all of that in and he makes way more than I do.
An excellent platform and a good line rate with plenty of work -
Then leave me alone and let me do my thing! :-)
Is $15 an hour a good hourly rate for an in-house office position?

nm


 


The line rate sounds pretty good compared to other places - by "punch the clock", you mean
it really is not a flexible schedule, even for an IC? That's what I need the most.
IC positions offer no benefits, employee positions off full benefits, so if you do not need
benefits, then IC would be best.
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.
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?
ME rate 80% of baseline MT rate
are you happy with the 20% cut to do ME work or are you going to just do MT work (which will be those dictators that ASR can't do) at your baseline rate?
Cross off old rate, put in your new rate, (nt)

Employee rate/IC rate......
I work at home for a hospital account that I make .11 cpl on 60-character line. I also do IC work for a clinic where I make .14 cpl. I am from Missouri.
Right Now, we do get benefits
but MQ is trying to change that, of course. They are trying to get our hospital to outsource everything to them, which would then mean i can work for MQ or leave. I hate MQ. I want to see them exposed for what they really are and I want to see everybody that have hurt, be compensated.
You can do that with benefits too, ya know.
:)

As long as you're happy, it pays your bills, and you can make ends meet at tax time, that's all that counts. :)
Is that with or without benefits

Do they have Editor positions as SE?


 


If you don't need benefits, look into
doing house cleaning for individuals on a weekly basis. Lots of under-the-table money to be made from what I used to see when I worked at a bank (and saw deposits of gals doing housekeeping). Weekly house cleaning is no longer limited to the well off professionals.

I was in QuickLube, or whatever it's called this week, and a 70-something lady was talking about her work as a home aide - light housekeeping and cooking and companionship - no medical stuff. She got her referrals through her church and was charging $10/hour.
Unfortunately, some of us need benefits.

Not even in the salad days did I make anywhere near that.  In fact, most of the services I know don't charge that.


It's all about the benefits
Hospitals don't want to pay the benes. The hospital where I used to work was sold and the new owners threw us all out plus the service we used. My benefits alone costed the hospital roughly $5000 per year x that by 15 transcriptionists. Plus they provided everything for us, equip, desk, computer, etc.

Apparently they contracted a service for X amount of dollars per month/year to do it for them. No messing around with line counts and they always know what it will cost them.
Can you name some benefits for
the American MT to become certified? Please tell me how AAMT has changed the average MT's job security, satisfaction, etc. All I see is that they have given up on us and moved overseas to start programs and gain overseas members.
well, there are some benefits to having your own
was asking you to go away. A blog serves a similar purpose and in fact you may find a wider range of readers, interactions and help than what you may get on this web site. Yes, I have seen others here say they would start their own blog and have seen a couple of them, so it wasn't an only you thing (at least I didn't see it that way).
Benefits can add up to $10,000 though. (nt)

Tax benefits

I guess I just like knowing I own my own business and I made it what it is today. I like getting out and delivering.  Talking to the people in the office making personal contact. Working as much as I want.   I also like the write offs and paying less than $1,000 taxes per year.  To each their own.   To me this is the answer. Most on this board all they do is say that there is no way to make 50K a year and I simply gave an example of how you can do it.  I am not  knocking you, you seem to have done it I just like doing it "my way" as Frank Sinatra would say.   Best of luck to you. 


If you do not need benefits then you would
there is more leg work involved especially when first landing an account.  The other problem is that even when you have a contract with them they can break it any time for someone who charges less.  So you must remain humble with your pricing.  When you have your own accounts, you have cut out the middle man, BUT, you must chase down your money.  In my experience, the Transcriptionist must get paid LAST because most weeks, I have to ask nicely or do without.  Have a safety net, an account to borrow from until you get paid because a lot of the time they pull OOPS, forgot your write your check, or OOPS doc needs to sign it or you just wonder when you'll get it.  Just SOME things to consider, but good luck on whatever you decide. 
IC - No benefits with this doc
I was total IC before. I dropped my other accounts and went the employee route for the bennies and so taxes are taken out. Now I get days and holidays off, too. That's a first. Worked 9 years 7/7, 12-14 hours a day, 3 days off a year for family.

What no one seems to realize that in my area, money is tight and so I can't charge the same as someone in a city or heavily populated area can charge. Jobs just aren't here.
Benefits
They cannot give you benefits if you are an IC. If they did they would have to turn you into employees. This is not just my opinion they are IRS rules.
My pay is okay - just no more benefits

It has become a matter of taking a higher cpl w/o benefits or lower cpl with benefits in this industry...as well as those employers who want (example) 7 years of experience for 5-6 cpl.  Anyone accepting that should be ashamed to call themselves an MT.  I make only slightly less than I did 5 years ago.  Now I make 11 cpl on a 65 line count versus 11-12 cpl on a gross line - the difference though, is that I had paid benefits then which I don't have now.  The other difference is that when I could work in DOS and create all reports into one file to send at the end of the day, I could routinely produced over 350 lph (and never, ever work more than 6 hours a day, 5 days a week!).  Now that I have to work on a platform that requires individual reports being submitted, I've really taken a hit in how many lph I can produce.  I still work less than 40 hr/wk, though.


I truly believe in working smarter than harder.  If a company offers a platform or dictators that prevent me from making a minimum of 200 lph or more, then I don't work for them.  If I can't use my abbreviations that I've built over the past 10 years, then I won't work for that company.  If I can't have benefits paid by the company AND the cpl I want, then yes, I will be an independent contractor and take all the tax benefits I can.  Last year, I only paid $268 in federal taxes for the entire year.


I have to work around my child as well (I am single) and I am fortunate that my training days are well behind me.  I still have a good life and good income, but I am choosy about the company I will work for.  When I am older and things change significantly that I make less than $40k/yr, then I will go back into coding and have a job with good pay and benefits.  I can't see staying in a profession if it doesn't benefit me the way I need it to.


About benefits

After I wrote my last post I was just thinking about the benefits.  I was with Keystrokes for a while and you can be an employee with them and still get the flexibility of 24 hour TAT and therefore you can get the benefits.  So it's not impossible to get benefits and flexibility.  I know the Keystrokes ortho accounts offer 24 hour TAT, not sure if it's all of the ortho accounts, but I know some of them do.  I'm not sure if they have other specialties that have the 24 hour TAT.  Good luck.