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 think anywhere from 14 to 20 an hour depending on hours worked, kind of work, etc.

Posted By: nm on 2005-12-14
In Reply to: QA pay - dls

nm


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 have a 10-hour window to work 8 hours
and that works fine for me.
Probably 8 to 10 an hour, of depending on what part of the

for the Lafayette area, you should be able to start around $12-13/hour depending
on the amount of expeience you have. But generally, Lafayette starts around $13/hour. Again, not a bad rate of pay to start for that area!!!
30 hours divided by four days equals seven-hour days. Most of us have to work pretty much every day
.
He's the kind that needs 2 hours to watch 60
nm
But in transcription, if you are good at what you do, you can do 8 hours of work in 4 hours. So eit

you slice it, both companies will still get 8 hours worth of work out of you.


That is the problem I've been having lately being an MT.  Companies want to pay us on production and they set minimum productivity standards, but want us timed in for 8 hours a day.  My thinking is, if they want 8 hours of work out of me, pay me hourly with production incentive.  If they want to pay me on production and tell how much I have to produce in an 8 hour period, then when I hit that mark, I should be able to call it a day even if I've only worked 4 hours.


Seems these companies want it both ways and it is simply not fair to us MTs.  JMO, tho.


Depending on who you work for.... you can make good money

I usually average between $15-25 an hour doing VR. That is enough for me. I think it helps if you have companies that pay for footers, headers, spaces etc.. Good luck.


1000 to 1700, depending on work type
on the slow days, its usually because I cannot get myself motivated!  I think it really depends on the work type as well and the doc.  If you are straining to listen hard to every word and have no idea what he is talking about, then you aren't going to make a good line count and if you have those kinds of reports throughout the entire shift, well, there you go. 
I just type 250-275 lines per hour and transcribe about 6 to 6.5 hours a day.

I am a seasoned MT who back in the day 2000 lines was nothing to achieve.  I sat for 8 straight hours, barring potty breaks and 30-minute lunch.  But now that I am pushing 50, I can hardly stay in the chair 2 hours at a time.  I have set my goal at 1600 lines per day as that is what my employer pays 9.5 cpl for.  If I drop below that, my cpl drops also.   In addition, I have a backup up IC position with another company (to compensate when I run out of work on my FT job)  that pays 10 cpl.  I type 2 hours  on that account  (usually at night) and get 600 lines per day.  Fabulous account, fabulous "internet software" everything is right at your fingertips, and they count spaces, headers and footers.   Actually both jobs count spaces.


My advice to anyone wanting to get more lines- first and foremost priorty is check out the software the company uses.  If it is not user-friendly... forget it.  There was this one company who paid 10 cpl, and I could hardly get 500 lines in a 2-hour period.  They said they counted spaces, but it was hard to tell, and they surely did not count footers or headers.


I had 439 for an hour yesterday, 1800+ if I don't take breaks in 7 to 9 hours.nm
nm
I worked for two hours right away this morning.
Then I went to the farmer's market and stocked up on the space hogging veggies I don't have growing in my garden, like potatoes, corn, and beets.  Now I'm supposed to be outside ripping off the back deck and sorting through junk with hubby and the kids.  However, it's 97 degrees out and my allergies are bugging me, so I came inside to package some things that need to go to the post office.  I have to go pick some veggies in the garden and weed the flowerbeds today, but the air conditioning is too nice.  We're ripping out a concrete pad when the deck dismantling is done.  Who said weekends were supposed to be relaxing?  Oh, well.  I can relax in my new office and dining room when it's all done.....  Whenever that might be....  LOL
I have worked so many jobs, so many hours before
in my life it is time for me to slow down and enjoy life more. One thing about working as much as I did in the past, gosh that social security really increased to a wonderful draw now that it has started. I am not planning on leaving MTing but just don’t have to sweat those 2, 3 and 4 jobs at 1 time. I did it, figure others csn do the same. I was young, healthy and willing at that time, now not so much.
Doctors documenting hours worked

Does anyone else find it unseemly that some of these doctors are now stating at the end of the report how much time they spent examining the patient, talking to the staff, other doctors, the family members, reviewing chart data, attempting a lumbar puncture, etc., from 9 to 12 and again 1 to 2, for a total of 3 hours?


For some reason, this seems very unprofessional to me.  Am I just being cranky?


 


Yes, I am - worked 7 hours @ 3218 lines.
It all depends on your account and worktype you transcribe, as well as your expander. I am an MT with 25 years experience also, transcribing all acute care, mostly op reports.

As far as tricks, I don't have any. I consistently do at minimum 2500 lines in 5-6 hours daily. I think the key is the account you transcribe.

I have been where you are now, and it is not fun. I finally found my company/account and have for the past 6 months. I have to enjoy while it is here, tomorrow may be a different story.

Keep looking for that right company/account. You will come upon it soon. Good luck.
I knew one that worked 18 hours a day and had a stroke
and could not work for a long time after that. We have to be so careful in this business.
Hours Worked and Line Count
I have a question about worked hours and line count.  These are remote transcriptionists who are employees--receiving all benefits.  The transcriptionists have a minimum daily line count and are scheduled for 8 hours per day.   At the end of the week they are paid time and a half for extra lines transcribed.   Do most companies require transcriptionists to stay on the system a full 8 hours ?  If a Transcriptionist can produce the required line count in 6 hours, can they be required to stay on for their full 8 hour shift ?  On the other side, can companies require that the transcriptionist be on the system for only 8 hours and must complete their line count in that time ?  Our system does not keep track of time logged into the system, meaning that some are on the system more/less than others.   I would appreciate any input into what can be required of an employee when they are working on production.  Thanks.
If I worked an 8 hour day I could make that much
money.   I only work about 5 hours day and make good money, but I have a good platform, paid for gross lines, fairly easy to get lines, etc.   I am an employee too. 
I must say, I work long hours, sometimes 12-14 hours a day.
I thought it was important to mention that. However many hours it takes to get the work done is what I do. Some days 12 hours, other days 6 hours and sometimes 14 hours. So, I guess there really is no easy answer.
I was a FT employee, but I had 24-hour TAT. Worked for a small
local MTSO.   Currently work for a small national and while I don't have babies anymore, the MTSO is a mother herself and is very understanding and allows me some flexibility because she knows I am reliable and good at what I do. 
I worked 2 hrs 35 last Saturday and got my 1200 for the 8-hour day sm
Had the same epiphany. End result? I have worked 72 the past 2 weeks (not quite 80, not till tomorrow). How much money have I made? $2000 at 8.5 cpl SO FAR, I have to work tomorrow.
Have never known shift lead who just worked 8 hours a day for 5 days. By the time they
:+
I made $17 an hour when I worked there. I also was promised a raise
but never saw it nor did I get an answer from mgmt when I asked.  I quit.  Most editors I know make between $15-$18 with MQ
actual typing time versus hours worked-venting here

I just have to vent about companies that keep track of your actual "typing time" and then say you are not putting in your 40 hours.  I always come up short and not by just a few hours.  They have said I worked only 60 hours when I worked 80.  But they say "their system is not wrong."


For one thing when you look up old reports or do research on-line or if you walk to the fridge, that shouldnt count as "not working" as long as you are getting your line rate.  Also something is wrong because I dont take that much time looking up things.


Also how can they get by with making you work 40 hours when you are paid "production?"  This is wrong.  Either pay me by the hour or leave me alone!!


 


IC sets their own hours. As long as the work is done by the deadline, you decide when to work.

If I work for a co. that mainly has VA hospitals, can you tell me what kind of work to expect. sm
Has been a long time since I have been an IC,so I forget what to expect from VA accounts. Will you enlighten me?
I kind of thought this fit with all the posts about low work, no work.
MTs complaining they are not finding jobs, or if they are the pay is extremely low. Seems to be a lot of posting mostly about no work...

I was kind of curious where all the work has been going, much more so than the usual slow times...
Work for 1 hour, then count your lines of the completed work - sm
either check you total characters in word (with spaces) then total them all up and divide by 65, and you get your total lines per hour. 10,000/65 is 153 lines. Or if you have a line counting program us that to figure you count, either way will work quite well. Maybe do it a few times and then figure an average over 3 hours or something like that, it will vary with the ease/difficulty of the work you are doing.
what kind of company and where do you work
dh
When things dry up in MT, what kind of work will you do?

I am finishing my studies to be a teacher and it should be pretty good money and rewarding, but standing in front of people *blech*.


I'm trying to get over my stage fright.  Any suggestions for stage fright?


What hours do you work?
I am having a hard time setting a schedule.  I would like to work early mornings, but it is hard ot get motivated.
So how many hours a day do you work? nm
xx
So-you work 13 hours a day?(sm)

I can't even get 8 in without falling asleep, most of the time between the hours of 7-9 a.m. My first 3 hours, I can do almost 200 lines an hour. After that, it's downhill.  I rarely hit 1,000 lines a day let alone what you do. Thick ESL account.


We are not allowed to work more than 8 hours a day. I use an expander, but I'm slow with it. Still have a lot of words that need to go in. The worse part of this is  remembering  that I have a short cut for the words!


Another problem I have is that I hate leaving blanks and I will take time to research and look things up.  I know I could cut the time a bit, but . . .I can't stand to do that. I freak out with an ESL if I have to leave 2 blanks.


It's the falling asleep I can't handle. Yet, we have to work our scheduled hours or suffer the consequences, so I'm stuck. I guess I'll be out the door soon.


I'm getting so-o-o depressed because of it. I left a job earning $1400 for 15 days for 1/3rd that I am getting now. Can't afford the health insurance, can't afford to save money. Heck, can't afford to pay my bills anymore.


I work about 5-1/2 hours a day, five...sm
days a week as an IC and make about $27,000/year contracting with a national at 0.0975/line.  I feel like I represent the norm, but I could be wrong.  Sounds like a lot of people on this board are doing a lot better, although I don't know of any personally. 
I work 24 hours
and make around $22-24,000. And I am NOT glued to my computer (because of small children). I could make $30-32,000 if I really tried.
How many hours do yo work a day
to get these lines? I would think it would take you more than eight. I would hate to spend more than eight hours working, but that is me.
I only work 35 hours and anything/ sm

over 35 hours is OT.  If I work before or after my scheduled shift on any day, I get OT pay.  This is before I have reached my 35 hours too.  Whenever I work when it is not my normally scheduled time, it is considered OT. 


No & if you work the same hours SM
and same production year after year, you will actually see a DEcrease in your income over time.  Isn't that nice?  The only way you can maintain or increase your income in this biz is to work longer and faster.
That kind of money is what has sent work overseas, IMO.
x
What kind of clinic work are you needing help with??
I have a few specialties under my belt and could use an IC job as I quit my in-house job. I also have a C-phone. Thanks.
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. 


 


and work more than 40 hours/week you are due

compensation.  If your company requires you to work 7 days a week I'd find a new job.  They may ASK you to work extra as workload dictates but by no means should you be required too.  Many companies require 1 weekend/month or every other weekend, but there are off days during the week, unless you WANT to work.


If you are an IC you work what you commit to.  If a company can get you to work as an IC by holding over your head you dictate the hours you work, versus working a set schedule, why not.   With having to compete with companies offshoring they have to cut expenses where they can and cutting benefits, etc. is where they do it.  I don't like it, but in order to stay in business they have to, but they also can't require you to work 7 days/week either.  


 


 


 


Looking to pick up some prn work, about 10 hours per
week. I have Word 2000 and Transnet or can use FTP. Acute care or clinic. Email me for details if interested.
where do you work that you just do lines, not hours?- nm
nm
I take a 5-10 min break every 2 hours I work ...
barring that, I try to have as close as possible productive hours during my shift.
A little over 1100 - 5 hours work. nm
x
Only work 8 hours a day?? (Anon)
I honestly don't know how you do it. After 17 years of doing MT, my C-spine is a mess, i.e. DDD, bulging disk, bone spur, cord compression, disk dessication, etc. Four hours of transcribing IMHO, considering the intensity of the work (eyes on screen, hands on keyboard, foot on pedal, headphones on, glued to chair) is equivalent to the 8 to 9 hours I used to put in daily as a medical secretary with the breaks at the water cooler, and just having different tasks to break up the day. An MT can't even listen to a radio while working. Four hours is my limit. Friends and family will comment on how lucky I am to only work a 4 hour day. If they only knew how much work I do in those 4 hours...
sorry, but some ICs have specific hours to work (nm)
x
I work 8 hours a day and average anywhere
between 1700 and 2000 with 65 character line, spaces included.
I'm with you! So I work the hours people don't want
to work. Much too stressful to fight for work. Life is too short for me to take the money I already earn to spend on a physician prescribing nerve pills.
I work 40 hours a week and more
if there is work and I don't slack off and barely take a break. I do acute care and seldom leave a blank. According to my Expander stats, I am saving myself 23 hours of work and do 22% of the total in expanders. My pay has actually gone down especially this year and I am using more Expanders every day. That's my story.
Would you do all that work for 12.50 an hour?
x