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I can verify my lines at Spheris, but not all

Posted By: platforms allow for that. on 2007-07-25
In Reply to: No, nothing has done about it. Still the same via - TT line counts

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Spheris does that as well...hours/lines...
The hours are kept up with so that OT can be paid. Federal regulations influence that because all MTs are employees.

But you do have to verify and look up
ones that are not there.
You'd have to verify
with them, of course, but I know as an IC I let them know how much work/how many hours I will commit to in a day and then the expectation is you will achieve it.

My experience has not been that they insist on 9-5 etc.
I can absolutely verify this. SM
Awful work.  The worst of the worst dictators. Yes, the platform is great, but that doesn't help much when you have nearly 100% ESL dictators and the WORST ESLs I have ever heard.  QA is definitely very rude and if you like getting 9000 e-mails a day begging people to work, then it is your cup of tea.  I live in the Midwest and I was not offered employee status ever.  I have to pay to get my check sent to me overnight.  No direct deposit and no bennies.  Nada.  So in other words, decent pay, 10 cents a line, for crap work and no bennies.  That about sums it up. 
you verify what I said, experience=8 cpl or
Of course they're going to try to make you feel grateful for being offered 9 cpl. What's the alternative? We know it's low for your level of expertise, but we're not willing to give you more. Again, MOST companies will pay 8 cpl or above if you have enough experience and/or negotiate well. I didn't say it was a great wage, just answering the OP's question.
Softscript will pay you 10 cpl if you can verify that now.
You'll have to get through QA and meet minimum line expectations, but they'd be glad to pay you that if you deserve it!
I would verify these things - sm

Did you ask when you were hired what the company definition of a line was?  Are you paid for spaces, headers, footers, demographics?  The DQS platform can only do what people have programmed it to do and nothing more.  I worked on the back end with this platform for nearly 10 years.  You can break down every single key stroke and assign it various values, i.e., you can make the letter *a* count for 2 strokes if you want and *?* count for nothing.  Those are just examples.  If you are on different accounts the lines may also be counted differently.  So many variables, but look at the suggestions above. 


Here is the story I was given but no way to verify

Here’s the line we got from one of the smaller MTSOs I worked for.  A lot of MTSOs have in their contracts with some hospitals that there is a minimum amount of minutes/jobs per year that the hospital promises to send to the MTSO and the hospital had to pay the entire contract even if they did not send that many minutes/jobs.  That is so the MTSO has a better idea of how many MTs they will need for the year (like that ever worked !!! They were always overstaffed or understaffed).  But I digress.  So come the end of the year (usually November or December) we would get slammed with old dictation and a lot of it was work types we usually did not get.  So, we were told that the hospital “found” some old dictation.  The MTs figured that we were not the only MTSO that that particular hospital used or they still had in-house MTs, and what really happened was instead of being charged for jobs they did not have us type, they cleaned out their in-house dictations and sent everything they had to us.  Some hospitals do not have a time limit on discharge summaries and letters so they can be a couple of weeks old without anyone worrying about it. 


 


Some of the hospitals had all their dictations go through their in-house dictating system, and then the hospital would transmit jobs to us in batches.  So, another time we got slammed, they told us the hospital was having problems because their in-house system had crashed or something, and they just “found” all these old dictations that had gotten “stuck” in their system and just popped up when they rebooted. 


 


Do not know if either explanation is true, but that was their story.  Guess they sounded plausible, because we never asked again where all those jobs came from after the first couple of years.  LOL 


Could you verify this and let us know, because I haven't seen a word about this...
thanks.
Yup. I can sure verify that story! Disgusting. nm
nm
Verify line count
A long time ago I read on this board that an employer had to clearly define a line telling you exactly how they figured it and how they counted it.  The poster said it was a requirement by US DOL.  They also said the person being paid by the line had to be able to verify their lines.  I have tried to find this post and cannot.  Does anyone know about this.  Can your employer send you home to work, pay you by the line, and not clearly define what they use to determine a line and how it is counted?  Human Resources said it is up to the Department head and they will not interfere.  Their attitude is if you don't like it you can quit.  Now, they haven't done this to me yet, but the two people they did it to have quit.  They paid them 8 cents a line, no headers or footers, in fact, they paid only for the body of the report, and did not even count paragraph headings, even though we almost always have to either take one out because it is not dictated, or draw them together because they are dictated all in one paragraph.  We get no pay for anything already on the page, except 2 lines added to each report for numbers we have to type such as job number, dates and times of  dictation and transcription.  Nothing else is paid for.  They say we get paid for auto correct and auto text but they can't show us.  There are just two of us left, and only one of us is going to be paid by the hour, and I am low man on the totem pole.  If they tell me they will pay be by the line, what are my recourses, other than quitting,  for proving to Human Resources that they really do HAVE   to define a line and how it is counted, and I really do HAVE the right to check their figures against my own.  Please help as the axe is about to fall about this and I am scratching on glass trying to get info about my rights, if any.  Thanks.
How do you verify your line counts

I like to see the reports typed so that I can do a check against my list that I write on a tablet for myself. How are you doing this? CTRL I does not give an accurate count, because it shows every line/character in the report, which we do not get paid for.


Please share with us how you double check your handwritten list by the number of jobs/job #'s you get paid for. I have never worked a job where this is not available to the MT.


I want to see a list of reports by job number that I have sent/transcribed showing the number of lines for each individual report.


Newbie, mind sharing your name so I can verify this?

nm


It is easy enough to verify by doing a Google search
it is not unfounded rumors.
tell me how you verify your line count with TransTech
I had that problem as well and I was not anonymous about it and I came here and was called a liar and was told I was paranoid. I eventually found employment elsewhere and they also use Ex-Text and I-Chart. I was told by them that I would be paid on a 65-character line that includes black characters, spaces, and hard returns but no headers or footers which was the exact same thing I was told by TransTech. On the whole right now I am making less cents per line but my paychecks are bigger with them because unlike Transtech I am actually paid on a 65-character line that includes black characters, spaces, and hard returns but no headers or footers; and this is a true story.
Keystrokes Can verify up to the minute via cntr I
report by report
Did you call WebMedx to verify that they have the account? NM

NM


Whatever company you work for, you should verify that it counts correctly. sm
Take the document, cut and paste it into Word, count it that way. No way I would take the word of a company or a program unless I can verify my lines.

I do not work for Keystrokes but had to give my 2 cents, whatever it's worth!
A company is ONLY supposed to verify that someone worked there, what dates they worked, whether PT o
and last date worked. It opens everyone up to a lawsuit if more is given, so most companies are told by their attorneys and business advisors to verify only.

No one has a right to a reference, only verification of employment.
1800 lines is easily achieved. I average 300-340 lines per hour. nm
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10 lines per minute = 1500 lines for 150 minutes - average. nm
x
I average 1200-1400 lines per day with a national, and am only getting around 600-800 lines per day.
It's been this way since the day before Thanksgiving. I've been doing this for almost 30 years now, and more often than from Thanksgiving until the new year is the slowest time of the year. I have some months where I am swamped with up to 2000 lines per day. I stash that little extra money, and take advantage of a handful of extremely slow days this time of the year to actually cook dinner, decorate for Christmas, or do Christmas shopping. I actually anticipate this slow time every year and have grown to enjoy the breathing time. Any time I have attempted to pick up extra work with another company to supplement these slow times, the minute I get adjusted to the new accounts, etc. I have no time to finish all of my work because my full time job with national gets slammed again. Hang in there if you can, and hopefully your work will pick up significantly around New Years.
They work with you to make sure you get the lines required or the amount of lines you want...
I have never had a problem getting more work
I still feel like a team player of Spheris, as the shackle scars are still on my legs! Spheris was

Micromanaged to the microsecond, or ms!  Horrible. And part of a team?  Total opposite - part of a team as in prison.


Don't imply you're worried at all. Just stating fact that Spheris does NOT allow a Spheris MT
work concurrently for MQ - no exceptions.  MQ, on the other hand, does not have the same feelings as Spheris.  Just all I had to say so that MTs aren't misled into thinking they can do the same "legally". Even went to the ropes on this issue with Spheris, as I was professional as well, and wouldn't share info, etc. The point they raised was that MQ is their direct #1 competition, and if I was typing for MQ and doing great work, that was in direct conflict of interest with Spheris' best interests.  Guess which one I obviously stuck with!!
Minimum lines for FT used to be 60,000 keystrokes a day, about 925 lines. Pay was good. Just not a
s
Yes it is possible to double your lines. I cant type 460 lines an hour but I can get those with VR
x
Thank you, Spheris recruiter! Anybody wanna place a bet that there are lots of Spheris
HELP WANTED ads on the job board?? So funny!! Out of the blue, Spheris, we love you!! Lets all run and apply NOW!!
I also know Spheris would fire you if they knew you worked for MQ. That is a BIG NO with Spheris!
nm
Regular lines, not weighted lines
was what I got paid for....
12K lines payperiod is 6K lines a week.
nm
0.8 x 1000 lines = $80.00 - 0.8 x 1500 lines = $120.

Spheris - any spheris employees out there care to s/m
comment on the new Cornerstone platform, good, bad? Will we all be going to SR on this? Thanks.
It's not 1600 lines -- it's 16,000 lines...and
I've got my contract right here and have already gotten 2 checks and YES, I am getting 9.5 cpl base rate.

I don't know what other people are getting. Don't really care. I work for MY paycheck. Gosh.
Why would they "fix" lines? The more lines you
transcribe, the more you make, the more you make, the more you make. It wouldn't profit any company to put a lid on line counts.
My experience with Spheris isn't bad at all. I have been with Spheris sm
6 months and already have 40 hours PTO. I was shocked.  Spheris is a  great company.  After 90 days I did get my sign on bonus and didn't even have to ask.  There is soooooooooooooooo much that Spheris offer I wasn't even aware of.  I am so glad that I didn't listen to the negative posts on this board in regards to Spheris because I am a happy camper.
lines
My lines have dropped too and I thought it was because I was slacking off or something - my checks have been 300 dollars less for the past 3 pay periods....hmmmmm
300+ lines?
can you email me - I want to know HOW you do it? tanks! myfingershurt63@yahoo.com
Like I said--how many lines do you do?
A whole lot of people don't like it--a whole lot more than do.  How many lines are you able to do?  Care to share since you love Transcend so much.  Is it more than 400 lines an hour typing and more than 600 lines an hour editing?  If not, you can't understand my situation at all.
How do you get 1-1/2 lines?
On my account, I never get that, the most I'm offered is 0.05 a line extra.
lines..
they are saying 250 because I want $15 per hour,but honestly..I'm having a hard time keeping up.....I can do the 250, but it would take time to get used to the dictators and get all templates/abbreviations on the system. I was offered a job with Medquist for 8 cpl, 8.5 if you go over a certain number of lines.... however, they get such bad press I haven't sent in thep paperwork and was thinking of only trying them part time to start.....anyone with any advice? TIA
8 cpl for 11,000 lines a pay, 8.5 for 14,000 lines and over. nm
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hrs/v/lines
From what I hear it all depends on the MQ office you work out of. I understand Amherst has a fit if your off by 15 minutes.
UGH, I think it should be either or lines or hours, not both. They just want to get the max out of us!!!
3 lines
I have 3 lines. My long distance is through AT&T from a long time ago. It is unlimited and it covers all three lines.
Yes, I have to say how many lines I will do but
I don't have to work a set schedule.  If you read the post above mine, you will see that the poster says she thinks it's because people just get on 24/7 whenever they feel like it and type and that's why there is no work, and it sounds like she thinks it would be better if we worked within a certain time frame so we could get our work in during those hours.  I don't think that is the problem at all.  I have been with MDI for several years and having access was never a problem before; when I was ready to work there was work.  I think the problem now is that there are just too many people and not enough work to go around.
lines
usually around 5000 lines per pay period.
lines

It depends on the company.


dsg lines
Can anyone share how many lines per hour you do approximately at DSG.  I work there and just seems like it takes me forever to get lines in....
osi lines
I use a lot of templates and some I use probably 15 times a day, and I noticed one day that where this particular template used to be about 30 lines, it is now 27. I have been a Transcriptionist for a long time and I know how actual lines are not the ones I see on the page.
Yes, yes, and seems to be okay with lines. nm
s
For how many lines?
125?