1K a month is about what many MTs are earning - sm

• Letter from Department of Labor - Curious
  • can you tell us which state or company? Are you an employee or IC? sm - Curious2
    • Please check your email. (nm) - Curious
  • Probably for good reason SM - good luck guys!
  • Labor laws - MT Dinosaur
  • I HOPE IT'S IN TEXAS!!! nm - Fingers
    • Why in Texas specifically? I would think - SM - Bayou MT
      • Think it means state co. is based. - nm
  • Might be a different reason. (SM) - Curious
  • I can't think of a single MTSO that SHOULDN'T be - thoroughly investigated the D.O.L. *SM
    • Completely agree. Why should they get - sm
    • I can think of 2 who should not...sm - nn
    • and I can't think of a single MT - Snow Bunny
      • I think that there are some of us who - DA
        • Hey, if that works for you - most of are totally fine with your choice
        • There is not 1 person on this board that - DA
          • 1K a month is about what many MTs are earning - sm - mtme
            • I'm pretty close - about 12-13K/month. - It don't buy much! nm
              • OOOPS! Major typo there! It should be 1200-1300/mo. - I only WISH I made 12K a month! ;D
            • I currently make way more than that, - HT
            • I have never heard of an MT making 1K per month - MTTTTTTTT
              • me too, more like 5K a month. nm - Christian MT
              • yes, it can be possible, for a newbie, on VR with 2 cpl ......nm - pos
            • If most are only making that much per month - DA
        • Your boat's sinking just as fast as other MTs' boats. - nm
          • You know, I would hate for my job to go out tomorrow but - DA
            • Look out for #1, who cares about anyone else. - The new mentality.
              • That's the attitude that keeps the suits rolling in cash. - nm
        • you are hurting everyone else, though - cj
          • I am only responsible for me - DA
            • Actually DA, - fatcat
              • I see the numerous complaints on here - DA
            • Sounds like a true management attitude if I ever heard one. - "It's all about me, me, ME!"
              • or a selfish child... - cj
            • And it is you who ENABLE these - companies to take advantage.
              • A company/MTSO can offer an IC a job working certain hours - deb
                • Loosely specifying daylight hours - C. Mudgeon
                • reply - companies to take advantage.
  • No, but I sure hope the company's initials are AT!!! - nm

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Just thought I would add my 2 cents worth.  It would be great to be paid 10-11-12-13 cents per line (as an employee not IC), but that is not a reality in this job market.  Yes, MTs will take jobs that pay 7 cents per line, but that MTSO is not necessarily underpaying or demeaning the MTs that work for them. 

Bottom line is that you have to do your homework because, yes, there are people who can make a living on 7 cents a line and will take those jobs.   It really depends on your skills and how dedicated you are to making your maximum possible lines per hour.  The MTSO that is offering only 7 cents a line but has easy dictators can actually pay you more per check if you type more lines per hour than an MTSO that is offering 10 cents a line but has horrible quality, ESL dictators, nasty QA, etc and you can barely type 100 lines an hour because of it. 

MY TIP:  When you interview, ask what the approximate minimum and maximum lines per hour that the other MTs that are doing EXACTLY the same accounts that you are going to be doing are achieving per hour/day/pay period.  If the recruiter/MTSO will not tell you that information, you probably don’t want to work there anyway so just terminate the interview before wasting any more of your time.  The slowest MTs are probably new and the ones achieving 200-250-300 lines per hour have been there a long time and know the account(s) forwards and backwards.  If you plan to make that MTSO a long-term employer, you will have a pretty good idea of what you can potentially achieve if you stay there long enough.  Don’t let them tell you the “average” of all the MTs that work for the company or what their perfect employee Suzie Q types.   We all know every account is different, so Suzie Q who just started last week and is already doing 150 lines per hour may have easier accounts than the one you are going to be working on, so that is not very representative of what your account(s) is really going to be like.  Ask specifically about the accounts you will be assigned to and don’t let them distract you.  Again, if they don’t want to tell you, terminate the interview. 

According to the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, in 2004 !!!, the MEDIAN hourly earnings for a Medical Transcriptionist (probably  mostly hospital and office based) in May of 2004, was $13.64 an hour. 

Just for reference, it seems like most MTSOs have a 6000 lines per week minimum production standard which is about 150 line per hour (40 hour week) on average for full-time MTs.   

·        If you are being paid 7 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (150 x 0.07) = $10.50 per hour.

·        If you are being paid 8 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (150 x 0.08) = $12.00 per hour. 

·        If you are being paid 9 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (150 x 0.09) = $13.50 per hour. 

·        If you are being paid 10 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (150 x 0.10) = $15.00 per hour. 

If you are one of the highly trained experienced MT and type 200 lines per hour on average, you are even better off. 

·        If you are being paid 7 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (200 x 0.07) = $14.00 per hour.

·        If you are being paid 8 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (200 x 0.08) = $16.00 per hour. 

·        If you are being paid 9 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (200 x 0.09) = $18.00 per hour. 

·        If you are being paid 10 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (200 x 0.10) = $20.00 per hour. 

The median hourly earnings in 2004 was $13.64 per hour.  That was almost 4 years ago.  With a minimal 2% per year cost of living/inflation increase, by 2008 the median hourly earning should be about $14.76 per hour.       

2004 --------- $13.64

2005 x 2% = $13.91

2006 x 2% = $14.19

2007 x 2% = $14.47

2008 x 2% = $14.76

So, in my humble opinion, if you are an experienced MT with 5 or more years of experience, when you call that MTSO offering 7 cents per line the accounts you will be assigned to should be easy enough so that you can make an average of 210 lines per hour within a relatively short period of time.  If they say their experienced MTs are only doing 175 to 200 lines per hour on average, that MTSO is drastically underpaying their experienced MTs and it is time for you to move on.  If they say their MTs are averaging 250 to 300 lines per hour, then that MTSO may be worth looking into further, even if their starting wage is lower than what you originally thought you should be getting paid. 

I think if WE ALL start doing this, the MTSOs will start to figure out that we are not going to work for companies that underpay our skills and experience.  If enough experienced MTs hang up on these companies, eventually they will figure out that the recruiters/supervisors need to be more honest with us regarding their pay structure and the difficulty of their accounts. 

Some food for thought !! 

More information from the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: 

Medical transcriptionists had median hourly earnings of $13.64 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $11.50 and $16.32. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $9.67, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $19.11. Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of medical transcriptionists in May 2004 were:

If you want more information, check out the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics web page for Medical Transcriptionist. 

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos271.htm

So, I guess you could maybe get by with less than 1000 a day, although the incentive tier would make it worth your while to do a bit more.  I am using ExText, and yes, I find it easy to use, but then I used it for a year with another company.  I think their other platform is Mongoose, and I know nothing about that, so really cannot say.

Yes, they are hiring now.  In fact, there is a $500 sign-on bonus.  I think it is all just acute care.  I'm sure they would love to have someone with your experience.  Rhonda Durham is the recruiter.  I am sure she could answer any of your questions.  I am happy to help too, if I can, but I am relatively new.  The account I am working on is mostly psych, it seems, and I am loving it.

Another nice thing, their benefits start after 60 days, not 90 like most.

Good luck to you.

I am trying to compare nationals versus working at a hospital.  Please respond if you have time. 

For all of you working for a national, what do average making per month?  How many hours per day?  Do you work for one doctor, a clinic, or a hospital? 

I, personally, would like to make $2500 to $3000 per month but don't.  Is that unrealistic?  Currently, I only average around $1800 and this is with no benefits; I have flexibility but no benefits. 

What transcripton platform do you guys find to be the most productive for you?

I realize you can't have everything, but you do have to live; also, I am trying to stay home because of my son, i.e., taking him to school, being there for school functions, sport's activities, etc. 

for two people and this is the highest end insurance (BC/BS PPO) through my hospital.   

Transtech was the greatest. This month's featured flavor -- Keystrokes. I am getting whiplash watching the stampede from place to place.