Weekly earnings

Am relatively new to at home transcription so I am not doing as well as most poster.

Instant Text is relativley new to me, but helping prodcution.

I am not familiar with MP Lite. I know someone will be kind enough to share.

Thanks!

• Curosity- I am curious if I am making the normal amount of money weekly for MT. Would anyone care - Becca
  • Lowest runs $900 week, highest $1400 week (sm) - Lauryn
  • About $1000. - nm
  • About $350-$375 :( - (In the po-house!)
  • Normal amount? - please sm
  • About $800. sm - shipaddict
    • My earnings are very similar to shipaddict. Really good week I can top $1000 but rarely. nm - LMT
    • Weekly earnings - Janie
      • MPLite sm - shipaddict
    • Thank you! This helps me so much and I appreciate your sharing this with me! - Becca
  • $750 to $850 sm - LongtimeMT
    • Thank you for your answer! That helped me a lot. I have been an MT for 4 years and feel i should ma - Becca
      • Just about $500 a week - LinK
  • Sorry, I was making around $250-$300 weekly - Becca
    • how is it done? - Sue
      • typo! - Sue
  • Well you could have put down what you are making???? - sm -
  • around $400 - CJ
  • why don't you start nm - shipaddict

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

t

Hi there,

I have been working as an MT since January.  It was certainly slow at first as I was on a learning curve.  Now I am quite familiar with the work and have made all sorts of "shorthand" for myself with MS Word.  I also spend long hours, often more than 8 a day working at this, and I am still only earning under $600 per two weeks.  How do I get my earnings up?  I have heard one can make very good money doing this... but I am considering going back to work outside the home.  I need to earn at least $1000 per two weeks.  The company I am with pays 8 cpl for typing and 4 cpl for editing.

The MT Conundrum

Those in the medical transcription field flocked to our 2008 Salary Survey, eager to see how they measured up against their colleagues. We had 872 total respondents in the transcription field, and 516 full-time MTs/editors and 212 part-time MTs/editors took our annual survey. Average MT salaries did nudge up a bit--4 percent--from last year, with full- and part-time MTs/editors making an average of $28,900 in 2008, compared to $27,800 last year. Full-time MTs reported bringing in $33,500.

At the Association for Health Care Documentation Integrity (AHDI), Kim Buchanan, CMT, AHDI-F, director of education and credentialing, hears a lot of complaints from MTs in the industry reporting drops in pay. "You hear complaints that wages are going down, but overall the data shows otherwise," Buchanan said. "This stat is showing we're slowly increasing."

MTs who work for medical transcription service organizations (MTSOs) did see a dip in pay (see sidebar on the next page), but certified medical transcriptionists (CMTs) (21 percent of full-time MTs) saw average salaries poke up to $39,000. To compare with last year's results, CMTs across all HIM professions brought in $37,864, and this year, CMTs who were MTs and other HIM professionals combined made an average of $43,900. Buchanan was very encouraged by the numbers, as full-time MTs who have a CMT make nearly $7,000 more than their non-credentialed colleagues. "To me, that really shows the credential differentiates you in the marketplace," Buchanan noted. "It's really encouraging to me to see the credential is being valued, and it should be. The complexity of documentation we're starting to see is going to require a  knowledgeable worker, and to me, credentials show you made a commitment to lifelong learning and you are truly invested in your knowledge."

The registered medical Transcriptionist (RMT) credentialed folks didn't fare as well, making on average $6,000 less than full-time MTs with no credential. The credential is only 2 years old, Buchanan explained, and most RMTs are entry-level MTs/editors who just came out of school. Looking at the average salary of MTs/editors with 0 to 2 years' experience ($24,500), RMTs make more than that ($26,100), and the RMT might also just be the ticket that gets new MTs hired in the field. "In a way, it's really helping them leapfrog that beginning salary you show on 0 to 2 years," Buchanan said. "It's helping them, it's propelling them, and it's putting them ahead, which is great. That's exactly what we wanted it to do."

After examining all the numbers for MTs, Buchanan was happy the average salary for MTs/editors crept up, albeit slightly. "Overall, I'm encouraged to see we continue to increase, even if it's at what looks like a snail's pace," Buchanan said. "In an economy where people are losing jobs left and right, it's good to know transcription is remaining viable, and we're still seeing our wages creep back up."  

Lynn Jusinski is an associate Editor with ADVANCE.

Hello all ... I've been an MT for 13+ years and my current hospital has OUTSOURCED  my position!  I'm in a crappy  job at the hospital currently, working 3-11, to keep my benefits until I decide what to do, and go on interviews.  I'm considering working for the company that took over the hospital account - but I'm not sure what to expect as far as pay per line.  

If its not too personal - how much do you guys earn at home per hour/week?

THanks so much!  Joanne 

1.  What are your monthly earnings -- just you (no spousal income) -- doesn't matter how many jobs....monthly earnings?

2.   Do you work more than one job?

3.  What is your base line rate?  If you have more than 1 job, list all base rates.

4.   Now what is the minimum bring-home pay you need to survive each month?  This is your housing, energy, transportation, insurances, food -- what you have to have to make it. 

5.   What's the difference?  Are you in the hole?  Got surplus?  Breaking even?

My answers:

1.   About $3100 each month.

2.   One job.

3.   $0.095 cpl plus some incentive bonus each month.

4.   $2287 gets everything paid.  Savings and pocket money not included in that figure.

5.   Surplus but not much.  Trying to save as much as possible and have a few greenbacks in my wallet each week. 

and I spend most of my time counting the spelling errors when I read it.  The best one was the headline one November that proclaimed - HAPPY THANKGSIVING.  Did I mention this is a FREE paper. I would never pay for something like that.

Another one I saw a number of years ago, mirrow instead of mirror. And one time at my old job at a manufacturing plant, they were taking a bus trip to some shopping "outlits."

I am a teacher's kid and stuff like that really bugs me.  Good thread by the way!

I need your opinions please….

I am an IC who works for four doctors who each dictate approximately 100 or more reports a week.  They send them via over to their personal website and I download and transfer to Express Scribe (awesome program by the way).  They tend to call me often and will ask for one or more patient’s report to be faxed over immediately for insurance purposes.  Of course, they have no idea how complicating and time consuming this is on me, when I have to search for these specific voice files, one by one, and then transcribe the report, etc.  I felt a bit of an attitude the other day when it took longer to perform my task. 

I am wondering, am I just too slow?  Is completing 400 or more reports (on average half page reports) a week slow, including transcribing these special request reports?  I feel so stressed all the time now; their phone calls for insurance purposes are becoming more constant.  I am wondering if they realize that I am not an employee, but an IC, and that there is a difference.  How may reports do most full time IC’s complete within a week, plus deliver 2-3 times per week?

Thanks for any and all advice. 

Weekly for food.  Biweekly for bills.

:

what matters is: is it worth it to you to work for that rate? On some accounts, my IC's might make only 50% of what I charge the client, on others they might be paid 80%. For one physician, I might charge 12 cents a line - if another calls, says they are in a jam and desperate to get their backlog done, I might bid it at 14.  But if you are satisifed with say 8.5 cents a line, it doesn't matter if your MTSO charges them 9.5 or 19.5.

As far as line rates to physicians, again, it depends on what the market will bear. You could call local physician offices and tell them you are an independent MT service and you are getting price ranges for the locality, and ask the OM what they are paying. That would give you an idea of what is competitive. In West  Virginia, they might be charging 18 cents per line, in Chicagoland they might be charging 11.

The line rate

would ever pay money to watch TV. I always thought it would be in a coin box on top of the TV set. I couldn't imagine having enough money to do that.

Weekly Reader also predicted that one day we'd go to the store and pay with a card instead of money, that our money would be "virtual" and stay in the bank.

That was about 1960. It was actually a pretty close prediction.

 Would you consider $1000 a week, IC status, working 5 hours a day, 5 days a week "great money"?

What do you make a week and how many hours do you work?

This is for informational purposes only and not to belittle or degrade anyone or boast and put anyone on a soapbox about their income.

Thanks for your help!