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you may be happy making chump change but

Posted By: mary on 2009-05-22
In Reply to: I'm not attacking anyone here, but... - Just Me

but not everyone should be. An MT does more than type. They do more than sit at a desk. We do a job that is required to be 98% accurate, done on time, done in specific ways for each individual doctor a lot of times. This is worth a lot more than 12.00 an hour at 150 lines an hour typed. We learn work types from every body system (acute care anyway) and have to dicepher mumbo jumbo and I happen to think 12.00 an hour is not enough with 7 yrs' experience.


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How did you come up with chump change?
I also do 8 cpl and 4 with VR and paid today, averaged out to be $17.85 per hour. I think that is a pretty good salary not to have to leave the comfort of home.
Good for you. I am making a change too and...sm
it is stressful, especially when you have been with the same company forever. Your story just goes to show that change can be good. Sometimes we get dragged kicking and screaming into a better life. Good luck to you!
The OP said she is happy making $11.50 an hour.
I don't think the dollar amount you make is the point she was trying to get across. I think it's all the complaining people do instead of looking at the positive aspects of MTing. I could work for 11.50 an hour because I have a husband who makes a good living. I haven't made 11.50 an hour for about 20 years.
You're right! I forgot! I'm happy! Not even a hugely ignorant poster can change that! I AM hap
This is the dawn of my happy day, and I will NOT forget it again! Thanks Michelle!!  Well, Dr. Burpinchortle is calling me - he has a STAT report! Really, its been fun, and I would love to do it again! Maybe tomorrow night??  This was really fun! I mean it!!  Good night!
Even 4.5 is too low. doctors do not change - they still hem and haw, change, change stuff along wit
It is just not enough for the work. Speech is great on the wrists but you are not just reading what is typed, you are making a lot of changes. I have a hard time doubling a lot of days with all the changes I have to make. Just my opinion.
sure i was. i'm making fun of the people who are making a case for background checks, etc
to do medical transcription at home as if they may do something AWFUL with the info they receive. So if you want an invasion of privacy let's REALLY invade it and make sure fat chicks don't transcribe because they are so busy eating they can't get the work done, they mess up the keyboard with food and if they are provided health insurance they will raise the rates for the company sky high because their health risks are higher than others. Then there are the psychological issues overweight people bring to the table. After we eliminate fat people, we can go on to eliminate diabetic people who may have low blood sugar while typing and go into a spell and type the wrong thing. I could go on and on through the process of elimination. How about prescribed medications that may cloud your thinking? So you take Ambien to sleep but you have an Ambien groggy hangover when you are transcribing? Should they transcribe. How about your teens are on your last nerves and you take a Xanax? Should you be allowed to transcribe?
Don't change. I had to change back to cable. SuddenLink DSL stinks! nm

nm


Change provider vs change to business plan

In your place, I would seriously consider changing providers if there were others available in your area, but I'd ask around about their service quality first.  It may not be any better.  If there are no other providers, then consider changing your service package to a business account rather than residential.  They're usually more expensive, but they also tend to get faster service if there's a problem.


Last summer, I had no electricity for 3 days due to severe storms, but there were some 600,000 in the same boat with me.  We just had to wait it out.  It's a downside of working at home.


change attitude, change life
The first thing you need to change is that defeatist attitude! I know that's hard at times like this, but that's when you need to most.
I won't go into detail, but my financial situation is also at an all-time low, we couldn't even exchange gifts., daughter in hospital twice, & no med insurance)..but then I heard about how much worse things were for others around me this season. Now I'm thankful instead!
Don't cap happy holiday season. Cap the others and Happy Holidays alone. nm
xxx
You realize by doing that they're making more money & you're making less? You should reconsid

Get out while you can. Things will *never* change unless you change them. (nt)

Heck, I did not say not to wish her a happy birthday! She deserves a happy birthday.
I was just saying her birthday was on Sunday!! :) Why does everyone always want to read something negative into everything on this board. I certainly did not mean anything negative by it! I was just makin' it known WHEN her birthday was!!
:)
making up.....

I suggest you have your father read my post and explain it to you.  Apparently you have poor comprehension skills.  Talk about ignorance.


My point was NEW immigrants who come here not to become American.  Obviously, this is not apply to all NEW immigrants, because as we know, many of them bust their butts to become American in every way including service in the military.  My point was that so many of the NEW immigrants, meaning those from the last 25-30 years, come with different aspirations than previous groups.  This is documented by social scientists who have been studying this very point for a couple of decades.  Look up some articles in any journal of American sociology or political science and you will find research on this subject.  


 I am perfectly aware of New Spain and New France and even that Russia once owned parts what is now Washington state and Oregon.  Do the people in Northwest US demand to have legal papers printed in Russian because 400 years ago, Russia settled that land?   Are you aware of the language controversy in Quebec, Canada?  We don't need that in this country and having English as our accepted common language has helped prevent some of the fighting and death that results from people coming to blows over language.  Language is the root of "the Troubles" as the Irish call their 100 years of conflict with England.  England passed a law making English the official language and forbad Gaelic in public places, including schools.  Look how that has worked for them.   In the U.S., it has worked because it has been understood as a custom and new immigrants were proud to learn English, because it was a mark of American citizenship.


You need a history lesson - New Spain was SOLD to the U.S. government  and New France was sold to the U.S. government by their respective kings because France and Spain needed money to finance their wars with each other.   So, Spain left voluntarily.


BTW, my brother wrote my parents in English during WWII and his letters were confiscated - is there a group that will protest such actions again Irish-German Americans? 


Wnat to see what ignorace looks like?  Got a mirror?


I am making......
17.00 per hour with a home-based hospital job (you have to be local to the hospita) PLUS a generous incentive with a "quite easy to attain" minimum line count and then 8 cents a line after the minimum is met.  Plus I have all the benefits of being an employee (which I am) including paid vacation and benefits.  I've been the national route and I didn't find any of them to be paying well, plus I was always running out of work.  We are swamped all the time and NEVER run out at the hospital.  If we do run out, which has never happened, we can go into the department and shred paper or something.  I wish more hospitals would go back to having a department.  That's where you'll find your dignity IMHO.
You were making LESS than THIS????

unless u r making $25/hr

not impressed one bit


you can make $12.50 an hour being a secretary and be dumb as


dirt.


you can make $12.50 an hour doing data entry and not know one


word of medicine or the other junk we have to know and be responsible


for and get grief from QA about.


you can make $12.50 an hour doing a lot of things and not have to


put up with the junk MTs are having to put up with now.


 


IT is making me
My eyes keep moving up, down, up, down. I'm getting a headache. How long does it take to adjust to this?
No, making way more. nm
x
Making more now
I worked for a hospital for 5 years and then we moved... tried another national who didn't pay much, and then started with OSi and am making more than I ever have (including 25 years of secretarial work)! I've read so many negative posts here about OSi, but I think those who have complaints tend to voice them more than those who don't. I'm very happy with them as far as money, schedule, and flexibility. I know from reading previous posts that many will assume I'm part of management just trying to give them a plug. No, I'm not part of OSi management. Just a very happy transcriptionist.
Men Making More LOL
That is because they choose wisely and don't accept just anything. I am female and quite often make more than most women. Having been in the MT business for only 3-4 yrs I am constantly amazed at the rates offered and accepted, and the lack of understanding at the complexity and enormity of education required to do this job. When someone offers me a low salary I tell them what I think of it and just go on to the next company. I have always known why there aren't a lot of men in MT work - the salary. In places where typing pays decent $$$ there are tons and tons of men.
making the big $$$
I was actually referring to the above posts that state they are making $50 to $60K per year.
Making $100,000/yr?
Is that really possible without having your own service?
ya know, when I'm making

70k a year, I can have the 850 square foot bedroom if I want. In fact, my home is a mere 2200 square foot, on 5 acres in the country, only worth $450,000 but I paid off the mortgage in full in 7 years, by- yep, you guessed it-- working my MTSO.  I have no debts. I own 4 cars. I have money stuffed in my 401k. The point was made in an earlier post by our beloved Patti, who chooses to live in 1000 square feet - and also put 15K in her retirement account and takes home 50K. When Patti mentioned her home was 1000 square feet, some ignorant troll said  (now say this in a high falsetto) "shocked! my bedroom is 850 square feet! How can you possibly live in only 1000 square feet."  Jealous, no. Anyone who wants to own, maintain, clean their 850 square foot bedroom can be my guest. Me - I go for a little smaller but still nice, with more freedom and lifestyle. That's why I put in my 5-10 hours a week running my service while you're working full time. LOL!


What we SHOULD be making, and what most of us ARE making (sm)
are two different things. We SHOULD be getting from 12-18 cents per line. In reality, most of us are somewhere between 7 and 9 cents a line.
I'm making nowhere near that much
I'm either working for the wrong companies or am really slow, my best is 200 lines an hour, which translates to at best 18 bucks an hour, Wish I was faster I guess
What I would like to know..... IF they are indeed making that much then.... sm
how are they doing it? VR? Would love to know the secret. Those of you claiming to make a ton of money, please do share how you do it. Have been doing this for 15+ years and I am seeing a quick decline in pay and seeing these companies getting away with making the lines harder to get with how they calculate them. This profession quickly going downhill.
More than what she is making, I'm sure.
x
If you are making 9.5....

I would ask for at least 11.  If you have been there that long, why not?  I always ask for more than i really want cause you can negotiate.  If you end up with 10.5 that is still a good rate. 


For ESL's I want 11, but I don't get snippy if i have some here and there.  I do one now exclusively and he can be a big pain but i can understand him fine and ESLs are great for making normals because in my experience they repeat A LOT. 


The going rates around here seems to be 8 cpl with many companies...you are doing good at what you have but there is nothing wrong with levering your experience and services for more money.  You have proven yourself already to these people.  If they turn you down you can start looking elsewhere but only do so if you are taking a step up. 


 


I was making 16/hr when i was QA n/m
x
Making changes

Alright folks let's move this off the word help board because it's become a different discussion.  First of all, I personally believe that we should type what doctors say, everything they say and not change a thing.  So if they say Synthroid 100 mg, leave it.  If they say There was changes.  Leave it.  However, our companies and many hospitals don't agree. 


If you were to try to get a job editing books at a publlishing house you would need a degree in English and you'd get paid a whole heck of a lot more than we do.  But we do the same job, fixing the English of doctors, having perfect punctuation, correcting verb tenses.  Not to mention the medical side, knowing all the drug dosages, correct lab values (yeah we get marked off for those too).  I love it when I have to leave something blank like I just did "H&H 13/4/38"  ???


IMHO we don't get paid enough to do all we have to do.  We are not just typists.  My friend is a nurse and when I told her everything we have to know she told me we could all be nurses!  This is because I carried on a conversation with her about cardiac cath, CABG and people who have IV dye allergies and the compliance issues with Mucomyst.  She was shocked.


We get no respect from many doctors.  I actually had a PCP that I went to when I was sick say that because I was an MT I knew too much about medicine in a really condescending voice.  Had another say then what do you suggest when he tried to tell me he'd done all the possible tests.  Corrected another to his face. 


So call me whatever you want but if I hear the doctor say something that is inappropriate in the same manner that Potassium 132 is inappropriate or Synthroid 100 mg is inappropriate, I'm going to leave a blank.  Maybe the doctor is mad or frustrated but the medical record is a legal document that the patient can get access to anytime they want.  So when the doctor calls a patient a land whale or says she's f-ing pregnant again or is a retard or is an SOB (and I don't mean short of breath), IMO I am covering their butt by giving them a chance to rethink what they say before they put it in a legal document.


VR and making only 10.00 a day!
No work this entire week at Sten-Tel.  What is up?  A job here and there but that is VR and I am making like 10.00 a day...this is total bullcrap.  So glad I am training for a new company starting tomorrow. 
Well you could have put down what you are making???? - sm
But with that said I do $375 to $450 a week.
I will say what I'm making

I make close to 3,000 dollars a month typing....I'm not sure if anyone thinks that's a lot, but I feel very fortunate to be making this kind of money.  I have been doing this for a little over 20 years.


I hope this helps!


It is entirely possible to be making that
much money. I make close to 50K, but also work FT and as an IC at another facility, and luckily I work for 2 companies that actually appreciate their employees and pay a decent cpl.
I am currently making
about 52K, but I work 50+ hours a week.
I am definitely not one of those making...sm
the high annual income. My income is rather pitiful to be honest. But I don't have enough work and that is why. And due to not enough exp yet I am going to have to tough it out until I can obtain a better paying job or preferably where I am has more work for me or higher line rate. I love where I am.

Some people may make up income or cpl or they may not. Who knows? Who cares? What do they have to gain by doing that? I understand your selfish longing to have that. Who wouldn't but remember you are doing your best and that is all you can do.
Yes you need to change everything to

reflect GA as your residence.   In my state you have 30 days to notify DMV of an address change.    You don't have to be head of household to claim office expenses and can claim in GA if you meet the criteria needed for a home office. 


From someone who has BTDT be sure you have a legal contract with your renters, even if family member and do a video of your house before you leave for your protection.  Also you might want to look at getting some additional insurance.  I had a trusted family member living in my house for a year, rent free in exchange for upkeep, and they practically destroyed the house, which is why I suggested the above. 


 


I once had a QA from HS change BMI to PMI sm

This was in vital signs.   The pt BMI was 35.  She/he changed that to PMI....... 


Anyone else have any QA mistakes they'd like to share?


DID MQ CHANGE THIS?
The very first QA notice I received when I started (January) was to double space at the end of a sentence. I felt like the biggest dummy for not knowing this. But, after viewing these posts, I guess it is not such a common knowledge thing. I NEVER, NEVER hear from MQ. I wonder if it is because I don't have their e-mail. I know they have my e-mail address, but NEVER hear from them. I wonder how many CHANGES I have missed?
change that from 375 to
365, but feels like 375.
Wonder if they will change
the offshore concerns board to the offshore board.
Actually no change at all...
just venting. Sorry to have gone on and on with being upset and angry all day and other family issues that have caused stress. I could state my personal life on here and all of my business dealings, but do you really need to hear every bit of a story? Should I recount every little detail about my work habits as an MT? Is that really necessary? Fine, I was crying and upset in the beginning thinking of ways to find work, what to do, then that turned to anger. Then that passed and I realized how businesses are run and that posting on a board and not editing my post and misspelling words and not using proper grammar (EMPLOYED AS AN IC) is just unfortunate I guess for me and I won't be posting on any boards any time soon. As far as the year of working as an IC (hope that sounds better for you) there were plenty of times when I made mistakes and yes, even the MTSO admitted to having made a mistake or two and overlooked a document and then paid me for it on the next check or found something she thought I hadn't turned it and I actually had and I covered for someone who was sick that day and did extra work and yes, I really made a few mistakes when I missed the TAT. I am not wanting to hear something terrible from anyone, like, yes, you should write a letter. I guess just a little venting and typing out loud and..wow, I hope things get better soon too. Don't worry, everyone, PLEASE don't worry!! I didn't do anything terrible, I didn't send a nasty e-mail to anyone, I didn't write a letter and I apologized again to the MTSO.
This is what I am saying. She isn't going to change.
I'd begin trying to drown her out with the stereo or a water fountain that is somewhat loud and runs all of the time. I'd not say anything at all but what you could do, in a kind way, is when you talk with her, say something to her that you overhead her saying and then mention that you didn't mean to be eaves dropping but that sound carries and it is impossible to not hear her. Keep it friendly. A neighbor who dislikes you makes life hell if they are the kind who act out.
Name change SM
They should change it to DEFUNCT
Does anybody change
just the first few reports to get the difference in price per line and just use the new rate figured to calculate for their font and margins?

In other words, if the difference is 2.4 cpl or whatever, you just add that to your rate and count lines with their font and margins without changing them each time. Would that be kosher?

I was wondering if you could make a macro to do it. Excellent idea!

Thanks everyone.
MY WAY TO CHANGE
If you have a "normal" set and you want to do another temporarily, you can add the font/pitch icons to your toolbar.   I always leave them there anyway.  Then you put your cursor at the top left of the document and click on the font and pitch you want and they will be good for the whole document, unless you bring in one from somewhere else (like Instant Text or another document) Be sure your default is set for any text you bring into documents to match the document you are on (the document you are on determines the font and pitch, etc.)  Or, if it is a permanent thing you are doing, set up a template for it.   You can set up in instant text too, if you save with the format on it. 
I have yet to see any name change

Everything that i have gotten from them lately has been AAMT and nothing else. 


We can now compete with China.  What a mess this is.


Change happens
Lots of jobs that existed in my lifetime do not exist anymore. Telephone operators were replaced by automated switchboards. Key punch operators are no more. And in the near future these jobs we do, too, will be no more. It isn't the Indian MTs that will eventually make them go away; it will be the improvement in voice recognition and all the blaming and complaining won't change it. The key punch operators and the telephone operators went to work doing other things, and we shall, too.
Name Change
The only way to change the name is to control T out of the document you opened and then start the document over and make sure the patient info is correct on your document info screen before you enter or say okay. Word pulls in the patient information through a template so you can't modify it once you're in the actual Word document.
change
I was reading your message with interest and an open mind, until I saw the word "dear," then realized the unnecessary condescension and patronization of your message.