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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

It depends on where you work. I have always, my entire career, been SM

Posted By: Becky on 2005-12-21
In Reply to: Are you serious? Is 1400 really considered low??? - snail

in the 2000+ range. I now do that in much less time than it took me as an in-house employee with no shortcuts or anything.


However, when I went with EDiX my highest day ever was 1900 something and I had to kill myself to get that.


Those company platforms are the devil's work where MTs are concerned.




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I can flex some, but I cannot make up an entire day of nearly no work!
:-( They do not want any excuses as to why people cannot work, but those of us who are here and WANT to work have nothing to do. Really makes me feel loyal to them, 'ya know????
CAREER versus JOB--lovin' my CAREER
Career definition:

1. an occupation or profession, esp. one requiring special training, followed as one's lifework:

2. a person's progress or general course of action through life or through a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking.

3. success in a profession, occupation, etc.

Job definition:

1. A specific task done as part of one's occupation or for an agreed price
2. post of employment; full-time or part-time position: She was seeking a job as an editor.
3. anything a person is expected or obliged to do; duty; responsibility.

Hence, medical transcription requires special training. This is a CAREER.

The report we transcribe is a job with a job number.

I love this CAREER and am proud to be in my 12th year as a medical transcriptionist. I'm not rich, but my consistent $18 to $20 per hour equivalent is pretty darn good in this small town where the cost of living is pretty low.

LOVING MY CAREER!!!! :)
Career? this thing is not a career anymore...sm
this is a sweat shop job right up there with all the illegal sweat shops out there.

Right now, i have no other choice but to do this "job" because with my disabilities, no other place will hire me and I especially cannot work out of the home anymore. Until I can get disability, I guess I will continue to do this job, until we are all phased out by Indian MTs and VR.
Depends on who you work for
nm
I think it depends on where you work..(sm)
If u work for a hospital and work at home like a lot of MTs I know do, they make out okay with an hourly rate. But made more when the hospitals paid incentives. But overall your right about the testing. Our hospital has mandatory monthly meetings, QA'd every month and productivity assessment. I guess it just depends on what your willing to put up with.
Depends on who you work for...
I have been reading a lot about this topic lately. It seems to depend on who you work for. I work at home for a large clinic and I absolutely love it. I get together with a group of ladies I work with once a month and we have department parties, meetings,etc. Without that contact I know for sure I would feel exactly the same as you.
Depends on who you work for.
x
Depends on where you work...lol
x
Depends on where they work.........
m
Depends on how much you work - sm
I work part-time but but in too many hours due to my own lack of discipline and make $16K after 6 years. Started out at about $5K and increase it every year usually, however made the same for 2006 and 2007, hope to clear at least $20K in 2008, shooting for $24K by/in 2009 if all goes well with where I am at now.
Depends on where you work, so you really do have to ask

Depends on where you work.
Even though you are paid on a tier, you can get a raise. Don't know where you heard that.

I am an IC and have received 2 raises in the last 2 years. Guess it depends on where you work.
It depends on who you work for. Every
company is different. Equipment, software, foot pedals, etc., all vary from company to company. Your employer will let you know what you need. Some require long distance on your phone, others work strictly off internet. Wait until you have a job, then you buy what you need.
Depends if there is much work or not... sm
I work for a local hospital. I was production, then went to hourly because I typically would have 4-5 hours per day with no work and they wanted someone available. Radiology and ER are no longer dictated for us.


Pay depends on where you work, I guess.

I know if I have a midnight deadline, it's 4:00 a.m. my time because I'm on the east coast and my national is out of California.


Good luck with the 3rd shift.  I was thinking of that myself, but my husband has been doing 3rd shift for 7 years and I do first shift and we tell everyone that's why we get along so good.


P.S.  He usually tries to keep his all night routine on the weekends, (his shift is 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.M- Th) but sometimes he'll stay up on Friday morning and go to bed at 11:00, but it messes him up sometimes because his week starts Sundays with a 12 hour third shift from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.  You'll get used to it.  He loves it.  No alarm clocks. No morning rush.


Depends on who you work for as to how much you make..
The first online company I worked for, unfortunately, found out later they were India-based. Anyway, I work in Escription and made SQUAT. It would take 12 hours or more to make $100. Now, I work for another company that uses Escription and I can make up to $26 an hour doing VR. I think these companies set something up in the line count as how to count it and also it depends if they pay for headers, footers, etc. I definitely got ripped off the first go round. I like the company I work for now and like Escription. You can make money on this platform, although I am paid more than 3.5 for VR. That is ridiculous.
Depends on what company you work for though.
I had the same experience about 10 years ago. I did a comparison on 1 page and found out they were not paying me for any normals, Expanders or macros. I talked to the President personally and he admitted they do not pay for these things. So, I got paid for tp instead of the patient; etc. I told him I was shocked. He said, "that's business." I quit on the spot. That company is no longer around.
depends on type of work
Recent experience shows that working for a service with radiology accounts pays anywhere from $1.25 to $2.25 or so for a page or report (depends on how computer program / system counts a page) with diagnostic x-ray being short and quick and longer MRI/CT reports paying more. I've heard of psych reports - IMEs which are longer with very dense line count per page - being paid higher page rates but many years since I have done this work, no idea of average $ amount now.
That depends on the type of work

Completely depends on the work, but...

with decent experience as a Transcriptionist and a decent amount of shortcuts in an Expander program, I think maybe an average for acute care lines per hour might be about 125 on a new account with ESL.  So take your requirement and divide by that...and you might be typing 40 hours or so in order to get 5000 lines in.  Depending on work, experience, how long you've been doing that account, if you're getting paid for spaces, and your expanders, it could be anywhere between that and up to or beyond 225 lines per hour pretty much.  


I guess maybe it depends on who you work for...
All I know is my boss is well aware of every single report that I proof every single day. I have specific accounts that are my sole responsibility, so if an error like this drug mistake got through on one of my docs' reports, it would be easy to know who saw it last.
Depends on your company. One I work--sm
wants ***00;23**, which is the number of seconds in the report where the word is, another wants ***the word that I think it is***.

What does you company want?
It depends on how smart and how hard you want to work.
:+
I agree, it depends on who you work for BUT also the account
and how long it has been on VR. If it has been on VR for a few years, piece of cake. If it is just starting out on VR - tedious work, low pay as it takes longer to edit than to just transcribe it.

I have been doing VR editing for 4 years now with an account that has been on it that long also...can make up to $50 an hour, and some times as low as $30 an hour when we add new dictators.

Hope this helps.
Depends on where you work and how you're paid
kj
It depends on what kind of work you're doing..sm...

If you're doing clinic work, you would need the book that pertains to your clinic.  I'd also recommend a Stedman's Abbreviations, acronyms & symbols.  I'd also recommend Sander's Pharmaceutical Book.  Other than that, I'd use Google and trustworthy websites. 


 


It depends where you work and what your straight rate is.
I make 75% of my straight rate for VR. This is the highest I have seen. It seems like most seem to offer 50% of straight. DON'T accept that. It is way too low. I don't produce that much more with VR than I did with straight. I am on an account though that is newer to VR, so some adjustments are still being made. Unfortunately even with VR, I probably just give up and straight transcribe half of my VR work that I am getting. It is way faster than trying to fix every other word of an entire report.
I guess that depends on how many hours you work. sm
Do you save yourself 2 hours because of your Expander and then quit for the day? Or do you work more hours because your expansions allow you to = more on the paycheck?
depends on how badly you need GOOD work
and whether you are one of those who spends every penny on payday or budgets.

25-40 bucks an hour suits me just fine, cake platform...

you must just like to complain



I guess it depends on what company or client you work for. nm
x
It depends entirely on the company you work for. If their tech support stinks, then
the program will not do well, but if they have good tech support, they can tweak it to work just fine.
Generally 200 lph, but depends on work type, I can do more with OP notes, has to do with motivation
I hate HP, consults, and DS, but that is the majority of what I do. I always, always do better with OP notes.
here's the entire MQ article
Press Release Source: Medquist Inc.


MedQuist Announces Preliminary, Partial and Unaudited Financial Results
Friday August 19, 5:14 pm ET


MT. LAUREL, N.J., Aug. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MedQuist Inc. (Pink Sheets: MEDQ - News) announced today certain preliminary, partial and unaudited financial results. Once the Company completes the financial assessment and review of its billing practices disclosed in the Company's previous filings with the SEC, the Company expects that an independent registered public accounting firm will review and/or audit the Company's financial statements, as appropriate. While, at this time, the Company cannot estimate the total costs of (i) the billing review, (ii) defense of the class action matters, (iii) the SEC investigation, and (iv) compliance with the Department of Justice investigation, all of which have been previously disclosed in either the Company's filings with the SEC or the Company's press releases, the costs incurred to date by the Company in connection with the foregoing have been included in the results set forth below. Because the completion of the billing review and resolution of the litigation and governmental investigatory matters are pending, the Company is not certain whether any changes to the accounting treatment of any component of its consolidated financial statements will be required and, if any changes are necessary, whether any such changes would have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements. Accordingly, the financial information set forth below is preliminary, unaudited, and subject to change based on the completion of the financial assessment and review of the Company's billing practices and the completion of the review and/or audit of its financial statements, as appropriate.
ADVERTISEMENT


The information set forth below is derived from the Company's internal books and records. The Company cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the information presented below. As a result of the developments described above and in the Company's previous SEC filings, the Company's financial statements have not been audited or reviewed by an independent registered accounting firm. The information contained in this press release also has not been audited or reviewed by an independent registered accounting firm. Such information is not a substitute for the information required to be reported in the Company's Forms 10-K and Forms 10-Q that have not yet been filed. There can be no assurance that the results of the billing review, and resolution of the litigation and governmental investigatory matters will not have a material adverse effect on the Company's revenue, results of operations and financial condition.



MedQuist Inc. - Preliminary and Unaudited Financial Information (in
millions)

Years Ended
12/31/2002 12/31/2003 12/31/2004

Revenue (1) $486 $490 $456

Operating income (1) 71 61 23

Cash (3) 103 162 196

Debt (3) <0.1 <0.1 <0.1



Quarters Ended
12/31/03 3/31/04 6/30/04 9/30/04 12/31/04 3/31/05 6/30/05

Revenue (2) $121 $118 $114 $113 $112 $108 $106

Operating
income (2) 13 13 7 6 (3) (2) (6)

Cash (3) 162 180 183 192 196 199 198

Debt (3) <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 -

Notes:
(1) Information presented for the twelve months ended
(2) Information presented for the three months ended
(3) Information presented as of the date

Twelve months ended December 31, 2003

Revenues:
Preliminary, unaudited results indicate that the Company's revenue increased from approximately $486 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2002 to approximately $490 million for the comparable 2003 period. The increase was largely the result of twelve months of Lanier operations being reflected in 2003 results as compared to six months of Lanier operations being reflected in 2002 results, as the acquisition of Lanier Healthcare LLC took place on July 1, 2002, largely offset by transcription service volume declines as well as declining pricing from both new and existing transcription clients.

Operating Income:

Preliminary, unaudited results indicate that operating income declined from approximately $71 million, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2002 to approximately $61 million for the comparable 2003 period. The decline in operating income is largely the result of transcription service volume and rate declines, partially offset by the result of twelve months of Lanier operations being reflected in 2003 results as compared to six months of Lanier operations being reflected in 2002 results, as the acquisition of Lanier Healthcare LLC took place on July 1, 2002.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

At December 31, 2003 the Company had $162 million in cash and cash equivalents. At December 31, 2003, the Company had less than $100 thousand in total debt. Other than minimal exercises of stock options, there were no additional issuances of capital stock or other securities for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2003.

Twelve months ended December 31, 2004

Revenues:

Preliminary, unaudited results indicate that the Company's revenue decreased from approximately $490 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2003 to approximately $456 million for the comparable 2004 period. The decline in revenues includes the impact of decreasing transcription service volume from existing and lost clients, partially offset by new clients, as well as the impact of pricing declines attributable to a competitive pricing environment. Additionally, the Company has recognized declines in revenue from its front-end speech recognition products as it transitioned from TalkStation to SpeechQ for Radiology.

Operating Income:

Preliminary, unaudited results indicate that operating income declined from approximately $61 million, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2003 to approximately $23 million for the comparable 2004 period. The decline in operating income includes: 1) the impact of approximately $11 million in costs incurred in 2004 related to the ongoing billing investigation and associated litigation, 2) approximately $4 million in costs associated with separation and replacement of the Company's management team, including members at the executive level and 3) approximately $3 million associated with the write-off of intangible assets associated with products no longer being offered. In addition, the base business, as described above in the Revenues section, experienced a decline in transcription service volume from existing and lost clients and a decline in transcription service rates charged to customers. The impact of the revenue decline was partially offset by several cost saving initiatives including reductions in telecommunications costs, office consolidations and associated staff reductions.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

At December 31, 2004 the Company had $196 million in cash and cash equivalents. At December 31, 2004, the Company had less than $100 thousand in total debt. Other than minimal exercises of stock options, there were no additional issuances of capital stock or other securities for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2004.

Six Months ended June 30, 2005

Revenues:

Preliminary, unaudited results indicate that the Company's revenue decreased from approximately $232 million for the six months ended June 30, 2004 to approximately $213 million for the comparable 2005 period. The decline in revenues includes the impact of the result of reductions in contracted transcription service rates from existing clients, further affected by new transcription business service volume replacing lost transcription service volume at a lower average price. Management expects these pricing pressures to continue and for revenue in the second half of 2005 to decline from first half levels.

Operating Income:

Preliminary, unaudited results indicate that operating income declined from approximately $20 million for the six months ended June 30, 2004 to an operating loss of approximately $8 million for the comparable 2005 period. Operating income includes 1) approximately $16 million in costs incurred in 2005 related to the ongoing billing investigation and associated litigation, which represents an increase of approximately $11 million over similar costs incurred for the comparable time period in 2004 and 2) approximately $3 million in costs associated with separation and replacement of the Company's management team, including members at the executive level, which represents and increase of approximately $2 million over similar costs incurred for the comparable time period in 2004. In addition, the base business, as described above in the Revenues section experienced a decline in transcription service rates charged to customers. The impact of the revenue decline was partially offset by several cost saving initiatives including reductions in telecommunications costs, office consolidations and associated staff reductions. The Company continues to strive for improved profitability through service and technology enhancement initiatives, along with other cost reductions.

Three months ended June 30, 2005

Revenues:

Preliminary, unaudited results indicate that the Company's revenue decreased from approximately $114 million for the three months ended June 30, 2004 to approximately $106 million for the comparable 2005 period. The decline in revenues includes the impact of the result of reductions in contracted transcription service rates from existing clients, further affected by new transcription business service volume replacing lost transcription service volume at a lower average price. As noted above, management expects these pricing pressures to continue and for revenue in the second half of 2005 to decline from first half levels.

Operating Income:

Preliminary results indicate that operating income declined from approximately $7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2004 to an operating loss of approximately $6 million for the comparable 2005 period. Operating income includes 1) approximately $9.5 million in costs incurred in 2005 related to the ongoing billing investigation and associated litigation, which represents an increase of approximately $5.5 million over similar costs incurred for the comparable time period in 2004 and 2) $1 million in costs associated with separation and replacement of the Company's management team, including members at the executive level. In addition, the base business, as described above in the Revenues section experienced a decline in transcription service rates charged to customers. The impact of the revenue decline was partially offset by several cost saving initiatives including reductions in telecommunications costs, office consolidations and associated staff reductions. The Company continues to strive for improved profitability through service and technology enhancement initiatives, along with other cost reductions.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

At June 30, 2005, the Company had $198 million in cash and cash equivalents and no debt. There were no additional issuances of capital stock or other securities for the six month period ended June 30, 2005.

About MedQuist:

MedQuist, a member of the Philips Group of Companies, is a leading provider of electronic medical transcription, health information and document management products and services. MedQuist provides document workflow management, digital dictation, speech recognition, mobile dictation devices, Web-based transcription, electronic signature, medical coding products and outsourcing services.

Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

Some of the statements in this Press Release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not historical facts but rather are based on the Company's current expectations, estimates and projections regarding the Company's business, operations and other factors relating thereto. Words such as "may," "will," "could," "would," "should," "anticipate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "believes," "estimates" and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this Press Release include, without limitation, statements about the Company's results of operations and financial condition. These statements are only predictions and as such are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions as to future events of the Company's future financial performance that may not prove to be accurate. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in these forward-looking statements. As a result, these statements speak only as of the date they were made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The Company's actual results may differ from the forward-looking statements for many reasons, including any direct or indirect impact of the matters disclosed in the Form 12b-25 filed by the Company on August 19, 2005 on the Company's operating results or financial condition; any continuation of pricing pressures and declining billing rates; difficulties relating to the implementation of management changes throughout the Company; and the outcome of pending and future legal and regulatory proceedings and investigations.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: MedQuist Inc.
Even when they deduct your entire (sm)
report if you make one error that QA doesn't catch and the hospital does?

Seems to me like QA should get dinged, not the MT.

TRS is your typical admin-heavy, treat the MT like a number company, made more offensive by their assumption that everyone in America is "Christian" and will adore prayer requests and other off-topic crap on the company email.


I think this entire season is going to be -
while he is in the hospital and how the business continues without him.  We won't know if he makes it until the last episode.  Gotta feelin' he won't.  The show will die with him.  - 
been this way my entire life ....N/M

Fox is going to show the entire
fourth season this summer. Two episodes back-to-back every Tuesday night. Maybe you can see some of the ones you missed. :-)
There is an entire section on this

You have been doing for an entire 3 years and
never made $31,000? OMG, I am so surprised (NOT). Those days when the salaries were really good (except for 1 here and there) are mostly over. Unless willing to work about 24/7, weekends, overtime, etc., etc. you do good now to just eek out a living and many on here complaining about not even doing that.
Yep, sometimes an entire dollar cheaper...
x
you want the admin. to take time out of her entire day


And to think there is an entire country above Montana! No
zz
I have entire reports in SC, though not many. Is it limited? nm
x
what is the shortcut to take out an entire sentence? sm
I know ctrl backspace takes out one word at a time, what is the key to take out a sentene at a time?  I have an MD is is just awful about changing his mind.  Thanks in advance!!!!
Article? As in one? This is an entire industry, and
has been going on for decades - I believe it was the 1960s when the food processors and dog food conglomerates figured out their partnership would profit them both. Its not an article, and to think so is honestly just ignorant. Also most huge dog food producers are actually other companies that have no interest in dogs at all - Del Monte and Heinz are in the dog food biz. Have you seen labels lately of the name brands that now claim to have some tomato enzyme in them? I can't recall the name, but it is literally a tomato enzyme that they claim is a new discovery for being great for dog joints. Its literally the tomato swill that Heinz and Del Monte use to have to throw out as its the slop that lands on the floor after Ketchup production, etc. Now, they just hose it into vats and throw it in the kibble ooze with a fancy label that most consumers fall for- tomato enzyme. I only wish I was making this up!! And its not a scam industry nor are we extremists. Most of us don't promote any brand at all - best thing for Spot and Fido is boring old meat, marrow bones and a few veggies steamed, and brown rice. The leftovers that our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents used to feed their dogs - table scraps - were fine! Again, do the research. Decades ago, dogs used to have an average life span of 20 to 25 years  - now its 10. Cats used to live longer - 30 years - now its 15. And our parents and their parents would have laughed hysterically at the thought of spending good $ on Gravy Train or Alpo. We have been "had" as American consumers, and you are actually gonna argue about it! Your vets - bet they support Pedigree, too, which is absolutely garbage - dead animals and loads of corn filler, which, by the way, most dogs are intolerant of. They don't digest corn well. But its cheap for the manufacturers!  Pedigree is well known for keeping lots of vets on its payroll to praise its products - gee, ya think they might like the $$. There are thousands more vets who know Pedigree and the like is garbage and are finally getting the courage to speak up about it. They are getting sick and tired of treating the animals who are NOT benefitting from this dog food. Nope, sorry, but way more than 1 article - its knowledge, and knowledge is wisdom, and wisdom is priceless.
Are you saying you left the entire report sm

blank because you could not understand the dictator?  If so, no company will put up with that. Even if you can only understand every third or fourth word, you are expected to transcribe those, and put in blanks as you need.


No one will put up with you leaving an entire report blank and sending to QA.  They are not supposed to transcribe, just try to fill in the blanks.


How do you know you missed 2 on the entire exam?nm
nm
I've never been fired by anyone in my entire life.
I hate MQ and I'm happy to tell everyone why.  However, every MT is different and every MTSO is different.  What works for me may not work for someone else.  I found my fit elsewhere.
Actually, I lived in California my ENTIRE life...
until moving to Utah for the past several years.  Utah state tax is ldefinitely lower, but I NEVER paid 40% while living in CA.  We're moving back after the first of the year, and our biggest worry is the cost of houses, not the taxes. 
I go through the entire dictation first, then go back and relisten
for any blanks.  Sometimes by the end of the report I've learned the accent and can fill in the blanks. 
Pergo - I have it throughout my entire house and love it!
x