Can acute care make $17 an hour?
Posted By: webmt on 2009-04-29
In Reply to: Can a very experienced acute-care MT make 17+/hr - with Focus, Webmedx, or Diskriter? nm
Yes. With WMX, in December, straight typing, I was making $25.73 an hour. Started VR in January, now averaging $20.73. Sucks.
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at that rate, working acute care, I would do $28 an hour - but I only work 6 hours a day...
Like she said, you just have to be able to utilize all your tools and be at it for years - it comes eventually...
I actually make $33.00 an hour though because at my production tier I make 10 cpl a line.
I make 7.25, do acute care, and have worked at MQ sm
since 1992. From reading other posts on this board, I think I make the low end of normal.
Can a very experienced acute-care MT make 17+/hr
nm
I am not ER or rad. I am acute care and make excellent money on an sm
account that was supposed to be difficult.
There is no reason, on any platform, for any company, that a good, seasoned MT cannot get over 200 lph. I have used dial-up and DSL, Meditech, EXText, MiSys, TA and EmDat. Once familiar with a system, they are all basically the same.
She includes ER in acute care, so I guess that would make it Basic Five :) nm
nm
think, people! If she does 250 lines/hour, same docs daily, will make $15/hour
nm
what's not to believe - I said that I charge $35/hour and work 10 hour days AND DO NOT MAKE - sm
I DO NOT MAKE $100,000/YEAR
try READING the post.
$20 an hour is not even average for radiology. You should not make less than $25-30 per hour. sm
I work for Keystrokes and have for 3 years. I average 25 reports an hour, which is $31.25 an hour. I have 401, health insurance, direct deposit, life insurance. My lead tells me I'm wonderful when I talk to her, but I do not need a daily pat on the back.
I also have a good friend who works for them on a clinic. She only makes 0.08 per line but does 300 lines an hour, which is $24 an hour, again higher than your $20.
I don't think we're selling ourselves short. There are companies out there that are good to work for, 6 or 8 of them that I know of personally. Don't settle for $20 an hour.
Acute care
Acute care is (sm)
typically the basic four: history and physicals, operative reports, consults and discharge summaries. It's hospital work typically done in the medical records department of a hospital.
That's going to be your hurdle because it sounds like you don't have the acute care experience. Once you have 2-3 years of that, you've got it made. Getting your foot in is the hard part.
I'm not a recruiter. Is there a local hospital you can work at? That's sometimes the way to get the experience when you have some medical transcription but not acute care.
Good luck!
Yes, acute care
I have 5 major accounts I get backlogs for and they are all empty, completely!!!! It has been this way since the beginning of December and before that so light that if you got 300-500 lines you were very lucky and had to work morning to evening for it. If you talk to the owner, she will just say she is going to hire more, the work will be there, it is slow deal with it, etc. I can't believe we are not being taken care of.
Acute care, ER
They wanted to pay 7.5 cents for 150 lines an hour, and then anything over 165 was on a tier plan.
Acute care
I started out right out of school working for a national doing acute care for a large hospital. Let me tell you, it was very scary for me. But, I look back on it now, and I am glad that I had that experience because I learned a lot right from the very beginning. I have transcribed every type of report in every specialty. Acute care can be very difficult, but what I like about it is the variety. For me, it never gets boring. I am still working for the same company I started out with (along with another) and I am still very happy.
Since you already have quite a bit of experience, you will have a somewhat easier time than I did, but it will still be difficult. In the beginning you will have to spend a lot of time looking things up and doing research and your production will probably not be that great. In the long run though, I think you will enjoy it, I know I do. But, you may also find it is not for you. You just won't know until you try.
Probably the hardest thing about working for a large hospital is getting used to the large variety of dictators. At this point in time, I have approximately 30 doctors that I transcribe for that I would consider my regular docs. Then, there is a very large pool of approximately 200 doctors, any of whom I may get on any given day. Rarely a day goes by that I don't get a doctor that is new to me. But, that is also something about the job that I enjoy because that keeps it from getting old and boring for me.
I have created tons of normals and expansions and that has helped me beyond belief. I know that is no big secret for someone who has experience such as you. My advice would be to give it a shot and see how it goes. It could be the best decision you ever made. And if you find out you don't like it, at least you will know that for the future.
Best of luck to you!
They said maybe I could do some acute care if
the Rad work is low...but they're starting me out on about 3 or 4 Rad accounts so I doubt if I will do any acute care for a while....I know there are people who do acute care for them who say they don't run out of work..I'm not worried...just anxious to get trained!!! (which starts tomorrow)!
Acute care..nm
nm
No more acute care for me
I do not particularly enjoy acute care either. I really want to get back to typing clinic, but all the jobs I see posted lately are for acute care/basic four. Where do you find clinic work these days? I stay away from companies who use Emdat too. Just hate that system.
Acute care
I work there
Sorry, acute care...nm
x
Is there any way you can get on acute care?
xx
acute care
Two other people that I know had the same problem this year, they had no work available to train on.
The Big 4 Acute Care
Please pardon my ignorance, but what are the big 4? I do surgeries, H&P's, and ER. Is inpatient care the 4th? Thanks for any input!
6.5 cpl is for acute care.
While 6-8 is the average for a new MT, I think 6.5 is extremely low for acute care. This is why I left Spheris. I now make 7 cpl for clinic notes and make a lot more money and have a whole lot less stress.
I do acute care/B4 and some ER at KS
and was looking to do basic 4/acute care with MDI. Do you really have to pay a lot in back in taxes when you are an IC? I have never done this before as I have always been employee status at every other company I have worked for, so I don't even know how much ICs generally have to pay in taxes. Thanks for the advice! I will definitely keep that in mind when deciding which road to take!
Acute care
acute care
Hello,
Ya know, I started out with no experience in a hospital setting also about 15 years ago. It definitely is a learning curve. I stuck it out and it took me about a year to get up to making $9.00 an hour including ESL docs which you will get everywhere! My advice, unless you want to do clinic or one specialty, stick with it, it's a lot of learning, like a new language, but you will get it and then have a lot of opportunities open up after that.
GOOD LUCK!! Hang in there!
Acute care NM
nm
acute care
I used to work clinic, now acute care. In clinic, sometimes most of my day would be 4 line reports. I had to set up each one. Avg. was 20 lines though. In acute care, avg report is probably 50+. Not so much setup time. In the long run, you want to narrow down your # of doctors if possible. That's who I see making the most money.
Yes I think they are all acute care but sm
Usually after we get the accounts, the radiology departments and such also use our services.
acute care
I prefer acute care. You can make lots of normals for physical exams and OP notes. Acute care reports tend to be longer so I can get a rhythm going, not having to change reports and look for patient info every minute or so.
It has been my experience that I do tend to make more doing OP notes exclusively. Some MTSO will not pay the Transcriptionist for normals that come from the client, though I'm sure they are charging the client when they are used. That is one question I am sure to ask these days. Found that out the hard way.
CA, acute care, 75% ESL nt
No, acute care...nm
nm
Acute care - HP, DS, Con, Op, maybe some sm
specialty worktypes like sleep studies, diagnostic reports (EKGs, EEGs), depending on your hospital. Level 3 MTs are ER, radiology and basic clinic work.
Acute Care
Dumb question: Acute care does not include ER reports, does it? I do not like typing ER and that seems to be all I type. I was hired for acute care.
12 hour window on my accts - pay for acute good. (sm)
Work flow steady, weekend and shift differentials, OT offered at times.
I think things are different for some people depending on the TAT and specifics for their accounts.
Talk to a recruiter, they can give you much more info.
IC ... acute care hospital
.
If this is for the acute care position - sm
I wouldn't bother - it's a horrible dictating hospital, the cherry pickers are rampant, and honestly, more often than not there is no work! I've gotten e-mails from them saying they're expecting a lot of work on such-and-such a date and could I please set aside extra time for them. They even offer to pay incentives, but then when that date comes and I've blown off all my other work and I'm ready to type, there's NO WORK. Regarding paychecks, I didn't like the fact that they didn't provide a line count to me. They have their own line counting software and it never jived with mine. I think they now have direct deposit, so I guess that would be a plus. And they had also promised to reimburse me "x" amount a month for long distance, but I had absolutely no way of knowing if I ever received this because I would just receive one big check every month and never saw a line count to go with it, so I'm very suspicious if this was ever included. I only know about this one account, but it definitely wasn't worth my time and I definitely could not rely on it to be a steady job.
Are you acute care or Radiology?
The difference being that Radiology usually has a faster TAT. I think most companies will be flexible. I know a few give you a 12-hour window to get your time in.
Why can they not bring on acute care MTs?
Cannot get them or do not want them?
Not sure if there are Rad openings. I do acute care...
OPs, DS, HP, and CS. Been here since September and have never been happier with a job. Website is www.mditrans.com.
I think acute care is a great way to go
You will gain a lot of experience, just try your best not to get frustrated and don't give up, it does get easier. As far as ESL's go, I think that just depends on where you work, you may have more in acute care, you may not. I wish you the best!
Actually I have done acute care for many years but
x
I'm an MT with 23 years of acute care
they told me to call them. I called and Heather was busy at the time and told me she'd call me RIGHT back. She never called and I never checked back; I accepted a job with another company that DID call me back. I was very interested in DSG but since they weren't excited enough about ME to call me back, I figured I'd go with one who was.
With all the acute care experience I have (as a hospital employee, as an MTSO myself, and as an IC for other companies), I am used to companies falling all over themselves trying to hire me, trying to convince me to work for them, etc. I guess they didn't recognize how VALUABLE I am! 
45-50 reports acute care
not sure about clinic work.
Was that for acute care or clinic? nm
nm
I have 10 years + acute care, maybe that is why? nm
x
No, I do acute care/basic 4 ... so I don't know
about the radiology part, but give it a shot. They've gotten rid of some bad eggs as I understand it, and as long as I've been here, which is under a year, things have been fine.
I can do between 175-200 (acute care) when there is enough work.
nm
IC pay too low, I thought,. Also I want acute care.
nm
TransTech Acute Care MTs
Does anyone work at Transtech in acute care? I would like to email some questions if they have a minute or two to spare. You can reply by emailing me. Thanks!
Are they looking for Acute Care or Clinic?
There are a few posts already about Axolotl if you want to do a search. A lot of negative lately. Clinic work is not bad but the pay is average. Acute Care is terrible. 90% ESL on some accounts and every account has conflicting Account Specifics so you really have to pay attention to which account you are on. (for example, if the dictator says 50 cc - you type on one account 50 cc, but on another 50 mL), and QA will nail you on that if you do it wrong. Work comes in by TAT, so you may switch every other job between 2 or 3 accounts all day or get a string of the same horrible ESL dictator in a row. No flexibility. They are a small company with only enough MTs to cover incoming jobs. You tell them what hours you are going to work and you have to be there at that specific time. Really depends on what you are looking for in a new job. Ask lots of questions. Let us know how it goes.
For acute care level 3
me 8. Their recruiter called responding to my email today. She was nice. Plus the incentive and differentials if you do an evening shift. She sent me a file to type and I am going to do that tonight. I will let everyone know how it goes. MK.
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