I might add that I make a decent hourly rate doing

• To those who have done both - mnm
  • I did both for 4 years - jlc
  • To "StuckQA" - see msg - mac
  • I earned more doing MT work but I prefer QA - QA specialist
    • I might add that I make a decent hourly rate doing - QA specialist
  • Prefer QA to MT (sm) - QA'r
  • Faced with a decision right now! - me
  • What is a decent - Jody
    • Maybe 16.................... - FrustratedQA
      • Thank you! My thoughts exactly. I earn more - QA specialist
    • If you have been doing MT for 11 years - QA specialist
      • Line rate is not acceptable - FrustratedQA
        • I do not think $14 is acceptable--no. She has not - QA specialist
          • But if you worked for a company that hired - FrustratedQA
          • QA should be paid $30 an hour minimum - Just my Opinion
            • And industry would pay the lowest wage possible - sm
            • I agree. Should pay $30 minimum. However - QA specialist
  • Definitely prefer QA over MT. - sm
  • Made much more transcribing, but it was too SM - QAer
  • I preferred QA, but make WAY more transcribing. nm - R
  • Prefer MT - k
  • Have done both MT and QA and - mac
    • Not the original poster, but can I ask if you went - StuckQA
      • Do you want to enjoy your work? If so, you know what you need to do. - QAer
        • I also enjoy QA and enjoy the mentoring aspect - QA specialist
        • Yes, you're right. I know what I have to do. But - StuckQA

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

The home-based MTs were on a tiered hourly scale depending on how many minutes we typed daily.  The in-house MTs were not on this scale and I believe they are the reason we lost our jobs to outsourcing.  They made the big bucks and could not even produce 80 minutes of dictation a day.  The home MTs had to produce 100 minutes a day to reach the maximum hourly pay. 

I feel that being paid by production is not such a bad thing because at least the ones who produce get paid for it. 

I have been working for Transolutions since March, and so far I'm very happy with them.  They pay $10 for training (7 hours a day for 4 days the first week, if I remember correctly) and your first month you make $10/hour while you get used to your account.  You can also get extensions to that time period, as long as you continue making progress.  Once your evaluation period is over, your pay is based on production levels - from 150 up to 225 per hour, with the pay per line increasing as you go up - I think it work out to around $19/hour at the top level.  They also have bonuses, weekend differentials, and paid time off even for part-timers like me.

Hope that helps! 

QA is more than just filling in the blanks.  You have to give feedback and there is also mentoring.  New MTs to the company and accounts have to be on 100% QA, so those reports have to be listened to.  Doing QA on production is not a good thing.  If a company really cares about quality they would not pay QA Specialists by the line.   

Can anyone give suggestions of a MT company that pays hourly for IC work instead of line rate?  Can be FT or PT.

Does anyone have info on Transolutions' new hourly rate?

It is MME.  You do QA for 3 cents a line.  Then when that runs out, which it does, you do Editing at 5 cents a line.  And you also get straight transcription which is 8 cents a line.

Was in the pilot program and got more Editing and straight Transcription than QA. 

No more QA department for MQ. 

And while you are at it, TT Management,

BITE ME!!!  You were fools to file this lawsuit.  $294.50 to lose all credibility in the MT World.  Sad, truly sad...

And many thought you were one of the good guys.

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

I am confused.  Is that right - you make an hourly wage when there is no work available?  How long has that been going on?  I have worked there for some time and have NEVER been paid for when there was no work.  Please explain.