For seasoned, fast transcriptionists, hourly would be a step down ...
Posted By: LMT on 2009-01-07
In Reply to: Too subjective - EmmaMT
I agree with your post. I've given a lot of thought lately to whether hourly would be more fair (given the extras that we have to do), and I've come to the conclusion that it is not. In the spirit of honesty, if I were to take an hourly position, my production would suffer for it.
As an experienced and fast transcriptionist, the amount of time I spend looking up unfamiliar terms is negligible, and I've reached a point of knowing what mush-mouthed blanks I won't get, after listening six or seven times.
The only thing I ask for is pay commensurate to my experience and knowledge. With a decent line rate, I could accept that there are other things that go into my job and that my line rate doesn't just pay for my production - it pays for the emails, and the instant messages, and figuring out line counts, and spending ten minutes every so often looking for a doctor's address.
As it is, at 8 cpl, those things are not worth the amount of money that I'm making. They seem superfluous and cut into my real life.
So, in answer to the first question, with 12 years of experience, an ingrained attention to detail, and all the knowledge of this profession that 12 years can bring, I believe my worth is 13-14 cpl. That's roughly $47,000 a year at 1500 lines a day. I think, given the intensity of our work hours (and the fact that, unlike other jobs, we don't get to spend an hour talking to coworkers or daydreaming or resting for any reason), that's a very, very fair wage in this day and age.
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Questions for any seasoned transcriptionists....
I am supposed to do a typist and word processing test tomorrow for a place called KCS Psych Type in Illinois. The reason I replied to the job was because it advertised work-from-home, which I desperately need right now due to family matters. Anyway, I am debating on whether this is worth the trip right now because its a 2 hr drive each way, and I have to get a rental car, and for some reason the lady isn't answering my questions about the rate of pay. She also said in her last email for me to keep in mind that if I am hired, I would need to commute to Bartlett until I am trained; when I emailed back immediately to ask her how long training would usually take, I have received no reply. Should I do this? I really can't decide!! Help!!
Precyse MT's: Can a seasoned MT do 250+ LPH
nm
The reason the seasoned MTs won't
for them is because the line rate is offensive.
Don't you think, though, that one reason seasoned -
MT's are making more mistakes and not caring about it, is that we're expected to produce more and more, and yet we're getting paid less and less. 'Back in the day', when I was getting paid hourly, my production was higher, and my quality was better, but that's because I received a good wage, so I actually CARED. Now, it's a race against the clock all day long. The industry is getting what it's paying for, which is 'NOT MUCH'.
How many lines per hour should a seasoned MT
I know it depends on work types and such but I just need a generalized idea. This is my first time being paid by line. The job offers a good mix of exams. TIA
Seasoned, we were told from the very start we could not
retype the entire report, better not zap it off and start over because it was a no-no and your pay would still be for the lesser amount per line even if you were allowed to retype. It is not VR that I am steaming, enraged at, nah, it is mostly the ESLs we have now. I love VR myself even with its quirks.
They have created a new position that pays hourly. Anyone know what the hourly rate range is? NM
xx
A combo hourly/incentive or straight hourly rate based on
A platform where MTs have had major input in developing it.
10 annual days of PTO, at average hourly rate.
Affordable, decent health insurance.
QA done by very experienced high-level MTs, with open and respectful communication between QA and the MTs.
Resume Tips & Tricks for Seasoned MTs!!!
We should all add these qualities to our resumes. It's what they expect anymore anyway:
- An outstanding ability to take muddy, garbled jibber-jabber and severely fractured English in 155,000 dilects and turn it into unbelievably beautiful transcription, with no blanks!
- Oh, and don't worry, Mexican, Cuban, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Indian, or even rabid auctioneer doctors who speak so fast they could not understand them self on a play back . . . no problemo! It doesn't matter, because I am so good if it sounds remotely close with even one syllable barely audible or intelligible I will struggle until I get it. I do this eagerly because I know you are selling me pride in my work, not a decent wage and because I dread your miserable QA autopsy of my work.
- Will work as hard as a slave for $3 an hour average with a college degree on the most gut-wrenching work you have, and all this without an occasional can of salve for the whip marks on my back.
- Will also fill in hundreds of entries for free on patient information, courtesy copies and researching things like how to spell Waccamaw even if I don't live in South Carolina. Things doctors could spell, or dictate clearly but won't because they are too lazy.
- I will also run those dates of service through my magic crystal ball formula to know when the doctor says The patient was seen today, I should look back on the ADT screen and see when he dictated it to know what he means by when it was dictated. I will do it because you will bonk me on the head and tell me, It's your job to do this for free!
While I am at it, I will run a medical quality assessment through my head to see if it sounds logical and reasonable for all medical sciences and diagnoses. I will happily verify those medication dosages are correctly dictated because even if the doctor has been to medical school and I haven't . . . I should identify that 325 mg of Coreg will kill someone and correct it! Again because, It's my job, to run around behind doctors and wipe their butt for free!!! I'm happy to do that, even if I haven't had the benefit of medical school because . . . . yes, I'm that good baby!!
- And at the end of two or three years of struggling to make a wage above the poverty level learning all this garbage, if you find some foreigner will do my job cheaper to make you more money, don't sweat it! Just fire me . . . in a conference call with 101 of my coworkers in mass humiliation. No problem!
We should go one step further than that!
We should stop buying products made in other countries if at all possible (Wal*Mart comes to mind). Don't forget: Every time you buy a foreign product, an American somewhere at some point lost her/his job to offshoring because of that product. MTs represent ONE segment in a loooooooong line of people who are losing/have lost their jobs to offshoring.
One step further
You got one step further than myself. I sent my resume but didn't even hear back from them...so I am guessing they were probably inundated with resumes. Doggone it anyway!
Hourly?? Where does one get an hourly editing job?
I'm at 5 for VR/8.5 for straight typing. I know we aren't to mention names, but I'm curious how hourly VR jobs are located.
Maybe Transcend needs to step up
to the plate and fix these issues before their investimate goes down the drain.
Yes but Transcend needs to step up
They are loosing a lot of their money by allowing MDI to continue to operate they way they do. I personally would love to see them merge MDI into Transcend and be one company. I'm holding out hope this happens, if it does not then I'm leaving MDI.
Been there . . . this is actually a step up on dictators for me!!! NM
NM
You don't have to go to Career Step
I smell something a little fishy here. Are you advertising for Career Step? I repeat if you are already a transcriptionist, then you can apply for online jobs. It does not take a certificate from Career Step. I have been offered many jobs online, and I do not have a certificate from Career Step or any other training program. 
Career Step
Just to clarify about Career Step, the cost is nowhere near $5000. It is in fact, between $1500 and $2000 the last I knew. I do not work for them, but graduated a year ago and they did prepare me for acute care MT work. (After 9 months I am making about $20,000 a year, working 2 IC jobs for a total of about 40 hours a week).
Career Step
CS has been a dream for me. With their training, I had 7 offers for at-home MT employment within 2 weeks of graduation. It is a hard course, and the final exam has a 50% fail rate, but it really prepares you for the real world of MT. If it wasn't that hard I think I would be dead in the water. If you want to learn more, they have a forum for people who have questions about joining at http://careerstep.groupee.net/eve/forums/a/frm/f/6960008433
and their website is www.careerstep.com. Before joinging, I checked them out with the BBB and called them probably 20 times with questions. They were very helpful and have a shiny record with the BBB. Also, they are one of the few schools approved by the AAMT, as you can see from the AAMT website. They are also a lot cheaper than most places. Hope that helps!
Career Step
Career Step is legit (and I don't get any $$ for recommending them). The course is self-paced and allowed me to work from home right after graduation. The website has all the cost info. on it.
Career Step
If I knew then what I know now, I would not have attended Career Step. I would have attended MTEC or Andrews.
Does feel like the new Q. This is step 1...
Beware.
Career Step
My sister took this course 3 years ago and was hired as a graduate. I was able to view this course and was very impressed with it and how it prepared the students. There is a lot of practice dictation starting from beginner to advanced, working your way up. Another good school is M-TEC. When I helped my sister research what companies were looking for in graduates, these were the 2 schools that always popped up as being recognized by companies that hire graduates.
I went to a local business school and worked on site at a hospital/clinic for 5 years before working from home.
I agree, but it's a step up from
and I don't care to the Nth power.
Hold on there! Now I must step in.
Don't be putting down people who like to do VR. I did straight typing for over 15 years and I am making the same, if not more, doing VR now. I was not a very slow typist, and quality is my first priority. I've been doing VR for almost a year now and love it. What makes it easy for me is I never really relied on Expanders to up my line rate since my hospital didn't really allow them, except for autocorrect. I didn't have an Expander until 6 years ago. Doing VR, I can't use the expander I did finally learn, but it's no big deal.
Like some other posters stated, it depends on who else is doing the reports whether or not VR is easy or hard. Some days, my reports are easy, other days tough. It's the same when doing straight typing. Some dictators are easy, other are tough.
I don't think VR is really made for large companies with hundreds of transcriptionists. It's made for the smaller companies that all conform to the same verbiage.
If you're good/fast/quality-oriented with straight typing without expanders, then VR would be good for you. If you rely on an expander to get those lines, you will have a problem in the beginning, but if you're flexible, it will pan out.
Don't down people because they like VR. You know what they say......try it. You may like it.
Let's take a step back
Okay. I think we can agree that in this industry, like every other, there are some bad apples. There are some bad MTSOs, some bad MTs and even some bad clients. And there are some good apples, too.
Unfortunately, even the best MTSOs have to deal with a lot of new realities in this business that limit their options. Over the past 15 to 20 years, the business has become much more competitive, clients are now being run by bean-counters who squeeze every penny out of contracts that they can, and the investment that an MTSO has to make in technology today has simply skyrocketed - not only the initial investment, but the ongoing investment in tech people, etc. to keep it running. On top of that, there's been the deteriorating business climate that has actually been going on since 2007, although it didn't attract significant notice until late in 2008.
And now comes speech rec. There's a lot of MTSOs who haven't been thrilled about this because it's a huge investment and because they know how crummy SR really is - but clients become sold on the exaggerations in savings that the SR missionaries preach, and start insisting on it. So you'll do SR or they'll find someone else.
The costs to every business in America for what we call compliance (to all of the jillions of laws that affect business) have also skyrocketed. You can find plenty of information about this yourself. These costs include all sorts of insurance and a lot of costs in terms of your operation just to keep yourself out of court or an administrative hearing of some kind.
MTSO's don't run the industry like some people here seem to think. Clients run the industry. Technology runs the industry. Congress and various administrative agencies at every level of government run the industry. Lawyers run the industry.
There is one thing that I do criticize many MTSOs for, however, and that is the crappy line rate that many of them are paying for SR editing. The typical scenario is that they promise you'll be able to edit jillions more lines per hour than you can transcribe, so you shouldn't mind going from 9 or 10 cpl to 3 or 4 cpl. Unfortunately, you buy into this and then discover that if you do your editing job properly, you really can't do all that many more lines per hour. So your next paycheck sucks. You give it a little longer...and your paycheck still sucks. A couple more paychecks that suck, and now YOU are the one who is out of options.
It's no good telling people who get caught in this trap Well, then, get into another field! because by this time they have no money to be trained in anything else. Their kids are already fighting with the dog to see who gets the food in his bowl. So my criticism is the shameful way that many MTSOs have dealt with their people.
What bothers me the most about this is that every line of an SR document gets edited - even if it doesn't need to be changed. In other words, there's really no difference in the KNOWLEDGE that an Editor has to bring to a line whether she declares the line to be correct or decides that it needs correction. That line is correct is PRECISELY THE SAME SORT OF JUDGMENT as saying That line is wrong.
This is a knowledge business, not a typing business. There is absolutely no excuse for reducing the line rates so drastically (and little experience to show that people can still earn the same living). This means, then, that the MTSO is buying knowledge on the cheap - and that's one thing that I can't forgive them for. That, and the way they sucker people into accepting editing jobs in the first place.
its true, but wish WMX would take the first step
been here for awhile and I am not an underperformer by any means. Yet i still get the NSA message dozens of times a day for the past month. So while I think that waiting it out is the right move for me and that those who can't will go someplace else and create more work, I do wish mgmt would evaluate who is not performing up to par and cut them loose. Sorry if that sound harsh, but i consistently do over 200 lph straight and close to 300 ASR and I think those that perform better should have some kind of preference over those that are at 125 to 150 lph, which i believe is below what mgmt expects each day. don't mean to be offensive to anyone personally, but this is what the industry has come down to.
okay, your first step would be to find out...
What the sale or merger involved, if the sale involved assets only or if it included ALL contracts. If the sale was assets only (meaning accounts) you SHOULD be free of the contract. This would mean they could not have included employees as an asset. If the terms of the sale included existing employee contracts or included the employees as assets, you would be bound by the noncompete clause. Sounds confusing but makes sense. In other words, you need to know if they sold you guys along with the company. That is what happened to me in the past (this was way long ago, 1970s). The new company paid $1000 per employee. We got no notice. one day they told us at 2 p.m. today you no longer work for _____ but are an employee of _____. I walked right then and there. I was not then nor will I ever be for sale! Fortunately for me, at that time we had no noncompete clause in place so we just went and recruited the old clients and started our own service.
Anyone hear of Future Step?
I received an email from Future Step telling me about a job. Never heard of them. Never applied with them?????
QA is not a step up. They make less than the MTs and are on quota.
x
but of course, people in the 10-step program
.
They do get a fee for all who actually enroll in career step.
Watch that first step off the horse. NM
nm
let the MTSOs step in the MTs shoes - sm
If they cant pay a decent wage, them maybe it is time to let some of the clients go and work for yourself. It is just like MTs, if you accept a low rate of pay that is what you get. Stand up for yourself MTSOs and ask for more money. Get a back bone.
To follow that logic one step further,
then why is Transcend trying so hard on this board to convince everyone they are not the anti-Christ? If they were that good, everyone would be beating a path to their door and they wouldn't have to be defending themselves to the degree we are seeing...
but correct me if I'm wrong...
why do so many MQ transcriptionists
on the boards seem to be having such a hard time with keeping up their line counts? I am getting ready to send them my paperwork today and I'm getting really nervous. Right now I average anywhere from 1400 lines to 1700 lines, however, I'd like to get that up to 2000 per day....what's the deal with MQ????
MQ Transcriptionists
To the Administrator:
Since MQrs are practically occupying the whole main board, and it seems this company has the most transcriptionists in the MT business, may I suggest that an MQrs Board be set up for MQ so as not to waste the time of MTs who would like to be informed of other matters on said board.
We, who are not MQrs would like to know more of other MTs' problems with other companies and not only with MQ.
Thanks,
jgl
Some of these transcriptionists are
so ignorant. They don't read anything other than MT stars. They constantly bitch and moan about MT companies that offshore but they're typing on a computer that was made by someone in a foreign country...they have a ragedy imported vehicle sitting in the driveway......they have a Japanese vacuum cleaner, etc... Yet you come to this board and state how dirty and poor these people are.
Intelligence says a whole lot about a person no matter what part of the globe they live in. All of the offshore MT's who work for the company I QA for are college educated (4 year degrees). They may be poor but they are doing everyting they can to make a better life for themselves. They are not lazy. They don't call in sick every other Friday. They are dependable. They are loyal to their employer. They would NEVER come to MTstars or any other forum and berate and belittle their employer like many of you do. Most of you people don't know what the word loyalty means.
Offshoring is nothing new. It has been done for years and will continue to be done. Nearly everytime you purchase an electronic item you are supporting offshoring. You're just too stupid to realize it. You are no different than the MTSO's who offshore. The MTSO's who offshore are looking for the same thing you are when you buy an import-QUALITY.
Perhaps they have transcriptionists that they-sm
know frequent this site and they don't want those transcriptionists to know they are hiring editors or any other personnel. just a thought.
Is it just me, or does 100 transcriptionists
seem like way too many for 1000 beds? Would hate to see people sitting without work...
No, you are NOT transcriptionists....if you were...
you would take more time to learn the ENGLISH LANGUAGE and how to use it *correctly*. Studying in a large institution doesn't mean squat if you put out poor work for medical records. It scares the bejeezus out of me to think that you might be transcribing a record of mine! I've seen some of the stuff that comes out of your country - not sure which institution taught the *stuff* I've seen but have serious doubts about it being MIT! So all in all, you've lowered the standards of the medical records field, you've brought down our pay, and you've put fear in Americans about the security of our personal information. Don't ask us to feel sorry for you, and consideration won't be in the bag, either. Generosity? I guess you've already achieved that by undercutting our field in ribbons. We're hoping for somebody to stop this mess, and I'm working feverishly by bugging my elected representatives to achieve just that.
No more transcriptionists
If there are not enough transcriptionists, perhaps they are still at Precyse Solutions stuck on 100% QA.
Career Step is $1320 or $1560
x
If they use MTTEST by Career Step - Don't bother...
...just like Career Step's program, MTtest is GREATLY flawed. And the potential employers don't bother to review this or your testing. If an employer lazily uses MTTest (and is recruiting people to buy Career Step's scam terrible training program), I don't bother. Even if you get it right, the module is flawed and will likely say you got it wrong. Don't waste your time being insulted by same.
Companies that actually send you dictation to transcribe are the best to test with. They test your true knowledge/ability, not through a flawed and inadequate multiple choice module that's sole purpose is to recruit people to Career Step.
Just my 2 cents... :O)
Each journey begins with one small step.
If one hospital/MTSO sees the folly of VR, the lawsuits, etc., they will stop this NONSENSE. Thank you for your validation of my efforts.
any steno transcriptionists here?
I use a steno machine to transcribe with and was wondering if any of you do too.
I'm getting ready to start with Medquist and wondering if there are any tips for me.
thanks
Not all managers were transcriptionists.
I know of one manager who used to be in marketing. She is still there now. She is and/or was not very well liked because she was not a transcriptionist. There is no teamwork. I tried teamwork, until the manager put an end to it. They could care less if you get a lunch break as long as the work is done. You only know about your manager and co-workers. You would know nothing about other account managers and their employees. They changed their name because TSI has a bad reputation. They were losing accounts. They laid off people. They can't afford incentives. The insurance premiums are insane.
happy transcriptionists!
It's really sad that someone who is obviously a disgruntled EX-employee would bad mouth a company that treats it's transcriptionists so fairly and with respect. There are 34 girls that would be more than happy to say how much they love their jobs. Being the relatively small, but incredibly busy, group that we are, we are honestly one big happy family and I plan to make sure that it stays that way!
Why don't ya try giving the transcriptionists
a limited number of doctors to learn in the areas they were hired for? NOOOO....gotta know 15 doctors. Then you folks want us to fill in on an emergency in a field never tried before by the transcriptionist...the Transcriptionist tells you she's never done that but you say....ahhh...you won't have any trouble...please??? She says yes and tortures along trying to figure it out for pennies on the dollar. Two days later she is still struggling along, has told you several times, but you say you're doing great...Two days later you send her an e-mail saying that if her work doesn't improve you'll have to dock her pay. Stick it man.
Lets see....doctors specialize but we who make peanuts have to be able to transcribe ALL specialties or are punished. Wake up.
travelling transcriptionists
I am new to this site, and not sure this is the proper place, but does anyone know anything about travelling transcriptionists? Worth it? Are there many companies that hire travelling transcriptionists. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
WebmedX Transcriptionists
Can anyone give me any information about WedMedX. Is this a good company?
I hear they pretty much watch your every move, when you are punching in, when your away, when you punch out, etc. Is this true? Do they have a lot of ESL? Any info would be helpful. Thanks.
Hiring new transcriptionists?
I have a friend who completed a transcription course through a 4 year college and wants to find a company that will allow her to work at home. I can mentor her having 20+ years experience in the field. Does anyone know a company that will hire new grads and allow them to get some experience that way? I have told her about doctors' offices, but we're very rural here and there are not too many doctors around. Any help would be appreciated. I have been searching the job board here and MTJobs also, as has she, but we can't find anything. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks!
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