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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

OH! ER notes - that is where you can rack up minutes/lines!

Posted By: Seriously! on 2006-08-10
In Reply to: Not sure but I once worked for a company that insisted on.... - Carly d

Just fly 'em out the window, dude!!


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Wow, 600 lines from 30 minutes of clinic/chart notes - sm
The most I would squeeze out of that would be 350 probably. You must have one fast talking doctor. You are also very fast if you can do 600 lines in one hour, or else you have it macroed/expanded to death and there is very little actual typing so that is why you can do so much in such a small amount of time.
I found pain clinic to be very boring, but you can rack up a lot of lines with all the repetitious
s
minutes vs. lines
In my experience, as I get paid per minute, depending on what you get paid per line, let's say anywhere 10-13 cents per line then by the line is the way to go especially if you have a lot of normal reports. I have a speedy radiologist and sometimes get paid nothing for a report because I barely get the name recorded and study recorded.
130 lines in 15 minutes?
Wow!  You are fast.  That would be 530 lines an hour!  I thought I was doing good at 250.  At that rate you can make a lot of money, but I think it would burn me out typing that much every day. 
Minutes vs. lines

Can anyone please tell me what 75 minutes of dictation should yield in lines (65 char).


TIA


minutes to lines
I recently started a new job and was told the formula is 100 minutes of dictation equals 1000 lines a day, approximately. Hope that helps.
probably about 100 minutes/1000 lines
15 years ago, I worked for a company that paid by the minute.  we got 87 cents for 1 minute.  I did 200 minutes a day and it was in the ballpark of 2000 lines.  it varies depending on your dictators but that's a good average.
Info on minutes converted to lines
Hi everyone.   I have a potential job offer and two of us are going to split the minutes.  Does anyone know what 100 minute's worth of dictation would equal in lines per day.   I know there is probably a formula for converting this, but I cannot find my information that I used to have.   Thanks
I mean without blank lines in between patient notes

On average 1000 minutes equals how many lines?
nm
How do minutes dictated equate to lines typed?
In other words, if I commit to type 30 minutes of dictation, how many lines would that equate to (for 150 lines per hour for example)??  Or put another way - how long would an average Transcriptionist take to type 30 minutes of dictation (from an "average" dicatator)??
approximately how many minutes dict. equals 1000 lines?sm
When I worked in-house, I pure typed all day (8 hrs) 1/2hr lunch..2 10-min breaks and we were applauded for 70-100 minutes (we weren't paid by line but by hour). We didn't have Expanders and such..no normals..just typed. I don't know how many lines I produced, but 100 minutes dictation was a lot of work. Now it seems everybody looks at 1000 lpd as low normal.
One of my employers told me to just add a 0, i.e. 30 minutes would roughly equal 300 lines. sm

Of course, if someone talks fast, you'd get more lines, and if you get one of those guys who stops and turns pages and/or talks slow, the lines would be less.  Seems to be a pretty good rule of thumb for me.


As for the length taken, when I started doing MT work 30-some years ago (back in the days of the vinyl belts and carbon paper -- eek!), the quota was that you should be able to 15 minutes of dictation in 1 hour.  However, I think anyone with experience would probably do it in much less time. 


Hope this helps.  


As the song says "I've never seen a luggage rack on a hearse."
When do you have time to have a life?  If it is a financial issue I certainly understand that, but I'd live a simplier lifestyle and do without "wants" than to work myself to death.  If it is just you no harm done to anyone but you, but if you have a family it isn't worth the sacrifice IMHO. 
And you'll almost never get just Op notes. Probably get mixed acute care - op notes, discharge su
s
I used to say he nursed for 30 minutes every 30 minutes. I was trying to figure
out a way to strap him across my chest so he could help himself while I went about whatever it was I had to do.    I really miss those days too.  
ATT- I was paying $320 for 7000 minutes, I am now paying $175 for 5000 minutes in CA. nm
nm
Aaahhhh, now I get it. Gross lines vs. Character lines. I guess I've just been conditioned to
think in terms of character lines.  One of the perils of working as an IC for somebody who defines what a line is versus owning your own company and defining it yourself.  After working for someone else for 15 years, maybe it's time to bust out on my own.
That is a lot of work/lines for 2 people. I do 3000 lines per day sm
if you times that by 30 days that only comes to 90K lines a month, that is working 7 days a week including weekends. I don't think 2 people can handle that.
900 lines is below 1100 lines, where the bonus starts.
x
Gross lines include all lines containing
printable characters, so a full line and a line with one word on it are charged equally. Straight lines are basically the same as gross lines, but with this method of counting the blank lines are counted as well (again, equally). I have only had one company pay this way, and they are a middle man. I would think the charge would be about the same as for gross lines, and that not too many offices will want their lines counted this way (the one I worked on was probably inherited from someone who had counted the lines that way, so just continued).
The norm is 1 minute = 10 lines; 10 min = 100 lines - sm
granted this varies per dictator. More lines if a fast talker, less if a slow talker.
I went from 2400 lines to 1800 lines

a day when I switched from clinic (through an MTSO)  to hospital work. Not only was the clinic work easier with more macros (and less providers to learn, 12 vs 300+), but I was typing in straight Word (as opposed to Softmed/Chart Script).  So you see, it really varies depending upon the type of work as well as the platform used. That said, I am so much happier typing the 1800 lines per day (I make over $15 per hour plus an incentive for any lines in excess of 1200 per day) plus a great health package/benefits, AND approximately 5 weeks of paid time off per year.  In my opinion, hospitals really are the best employers WHEN they appreciate the work we do.


My advice for you is not to judge a job by any one criterion but rather the entire picture. The 'extra's can really add up.

Good luck in your job!


Which is the one where they are sc*&ing us the standard lines or the qualified lines? SM
Mine show up as STD when I pull up my transcription log.  But I see now there is STD/QT....  So which is the one where they are ripping us off, standard or qualified?  Need to know.  I am about to switch companies and I will not do if they are actually taking lines from me.  Thanks guys. 
Question versus gross lines versus 65-character lines....

I have always charged or been paid by 65 or 60 character lines or per letter or space typed, but have never been paid or charged per gross line.


What is the advantage of this?  If I were to charge 11 cents per 65-character line including spaces, what does this figure out to for an average line rate and how do you do this calculation? 


I'm wondering if it is financially beneficial for me to bill by gross line or to keep it the way I have it.  I do know some accounts will only pay per 65-character line, as this was the deal my first own account I recently acquired.  They were adamant on a 65-character line, but didn't specify with or without spaces and I personally would never not charge for spaces.


Thanks for explaining this.  I appreciate it and hope everyone has a speedy day.


It has taken me 20 minutes to look up
addresses for one patient report.  That's a whopping four lines there.  Someone mentioned earlier making sure that the platform was user friendly.  It's simple enough to use, but this looking up information has got to go if I'm going to make any money at all.  I wish I could find something where I could just cruise.  Any ideas on companies without all the extra research done for free?
60 minutes

Depending on which account but 60 minutes to me is about $100 to $175 for me.    If it would be my surgeons would be over $200.  Sure they did not mean for 60 minutes of transcribing -- $40 per hour?  Even dividing by minute that is less than $1 per minute.  Way too low. 


 


So, you are saying then that 90 minutes sm
would take approximately 4.5 to 5 hours?
I think 60 minutes and all of you should
Enough already!  I'm sorry, but quite frankly your energy could be spent on much more important issues than offshoring medical records.  Let's bring the fathers and mothers home.  There are still physicians/facilities that use U.S. MTs.  JMO. 
minutes
Anywhere from 175-250 depending on account.
It's on again in about 45 minutes.
Should be, anyway.
i had an 800 # before and yes we had to pay for minutes used. sm
i am sure there are different options out there and this was 5+ years ago though. could you rerecord and send to her via net?
I just saw one a few minutes ago
x
I sent it to 60 Minutes
I sent the link to 60 Minutes. If I hear anything back, I will let you all know. Something needs to be done. To be truthful, I feel almost as bad for poor Indian workers being used by US companies and paid nothing, when they don't have the ability to do the job they are hired for. It's bad all around. I am sure there's plenty of work in their own country where they would at least be able to do a halfway decent job. It sure would spare us in the US having to re-do their reports before they are acceptable to send to clients.
5 minutes (nm)
nm
ER notes

Don't worry.  It has been my experience being a Transcriptionist for a huge hospital that I loved the ER notes the most.  They are really pretty much abbreviated H&P's and are sometimes the most interesting reports of all.  Not nearly as difficult as some surgeries or discharges notes can be.  Simple and brief and sometimes a really good story.


OP NOTES
I just started doing op notes at the hospital I work in and it is hard as there are so many different instruments they use that I have never even heard of. I use a surgical word book and Google a lot. That's about it.
To me, O.R. notes
get really boring.  I prefer discharges  - just my personal opinion.  Plus once I get used to them, I can go really fast. 
Doc notes

I do two internal medicine Docs, SOAP notes only and minor procedures and love it  I also did other specialities, but all that was lost to outsourcing to INDIA!


op notes
Operative notes.  Perhaps as far a leap from clinic work as is possible.  Not something for you to jump into with no experience. 
Not op notes but
This site has brand names of surgical instruments. You can choose by speciality and manufacturer also.

http://ptiresource.50megs.com/about.html
Even for op notes? sm
I can see where being paid this way would have its advantages when doing DS and work types where there is a lot of paper shuffling, looking for values, etc., but I am concerned about op notes where the dictation is speedier.
OP notes

I love doing OP notes. They are so interesting. Anyway there is a website that I use now and then and it is


www.mt911.com it also has samples.com on it and has alot of different samples.


Also a good reference book is The surgical word book by Saunders.


Hope this helps.


OP notes
I only type OPs. I have done it for 8+years and LOVE IT.  Its a niche that is hard for companies to fill, it seems.  I would say it would be a great move on your part.  Good luck!
Op notes
At my current company, op notes are paid at 9 cents a line for over a year experience. At my previous company, op notes were paid the same as any other type of report; cpl was based on difficulty of the account and ranged from 7.5 to 10 cpl, with op notes being paid the same as other basic 4 reports.
OP notes
If you already work for a service, maybe they have OP accounts. I would tell them you would like to learn. Ask if they could assign you a few each day and have them go to QA for feedback.

I would also buy a few surgical reference books. I feel the books are much easier to use than Google because so many instruments, brand names, etc, sound alike.

Good luck. I love my OP accounts.
RE: OP notes
Some people like OPs and some people like DS. I like DS. They talk too fast on OPs. If you can get them down, they say about the same thing. You can put that in your shortcuts and make more money just by popping it in there.
OP notes

Any good sites for OP notes?


thanks Lori


Op notes

Does anybody have any tips on the best places to specialize in op notes?   I need a place where I can do heavy volume ops -- not interested in basic 4 stuff.


Thanks.


 


me too as far as the notes and sm
standard phrases for certain docs go. It was nice when the docs would come in and talk too or even fuss sometimes! haha Most MTs knew how to come back at them and didn't take a whole lot off them and didn't have to. They respected us (at least most of them) for that. I think there are actually docs now that don't even realize there is a "person" behind all of this doing MT. NEver thought I would see this profession get like this taht's for sure.
And probably her notes look like