I pulled a report I did today. I get paid 65 characters.

At 65 characters it was 110 lines and at 55 it was 130.   If the 65 is employee status and there are other benefits that would be the one I would choose.  If you don't have benefits it would probably be 6 of one and half-dozen of the other.  

Sorry couldn't be more helpful.  Having to make a decision too.  One job pays more per line but no benefits, no bonuses.  The other job pays a little bit less but has incentives and good benefits.   Sounds like a no brainer but it is still hard to decide. 

I would look at how productive you could be.  I know you probably don't have any idea if you aren't familiar with the account.  I'd also look at the stability of the company.  There are no guarantees, but if there is a mom and pop company, versus a 300+ MT company, that may play a factor.  Check the boards on both companies (I'm assuming it is 2 different companies but maybe it is just pay scale difference) and see what others have said about them.  Tons of ESLs, hard to make lines, very inflexible with schedule, etc.  

You can take job #1, but there is no law that says you are there for the next 2 years and maybe job #2 will still be willing to hire you.  

• What would you do?....sm - Howie
  • Generally, benefits cost the employer $3/hour, so that's sm - fn
  • I pulled a report I did today. I get paid 65 characters. - me
  • depends on whether you need benefits. If not, go with 9 per 55 character line. more money. nm - Me

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including spaces if your company counts them.  Then divide the total by 65 or whatever your lines are defined as. If there is a discrepancy between your manual count and their systematic count, you have a problem. 

I did this recenty on ExText and find I am getting shorted about 1-2 lines per report. 

I've got two firm offers from very reputable employers.  One is paid per report while the other is paid by the line.  One is Radiology, the other is multispecialty. 

I'd like to hear from some of the MTs here who are, or have been, paid by report for radiology.  I've heard horror stories about getting $1.10-1.35 per report, and having an entire shift filled with detailed CTs and MRIs with very few simple plain film studies.  Conversely, I can also see where if one were lucky enough to get a run of negative plain film studies, one could conceivably make a great deal of money. 

Being relatively new to subcontracting, I'd love some advice from the MTs here about what you feel is the most beneficial method of being paid. 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer. 

Only on QA do some companies (GRRR) pay for just a certain amount of lines or what you actually type in the blanks. 

VR is the same line count as text reports - and the whole report.  Hope this helps you.  You might want to check with your company to confirm though, lots of weird stuff going on with some of them;-)

sucks

I kinda thought that meant I'd be paid today.  I know payday is not until tomorrow, but they usually are early, and I thought I'd check before I asked Raul about it.

Thanks.

we have actually been told in the past to not post about them -- it's THAT BAD.  Womanizing horrible ignorant piece of crap company that doesn't give a rip about you.  If you like being treated like an idiot -- go for it!

Now I see that teeny print fine.

WE take the risk to run a company.  WE get accounts to keep people busy.  WE pay more to our MTs than ourselves.  WE have to keep up on transcription, drugs, equipment, grammar rules, individual accounts, individual doctor preferences, business practices, tax laws, employment laws, etc.

WE have to pay for QA for MTs that do not know how to look up a word or phrase.  WE have to pay to hire and then be burned.  WE have to pay bank fees, lawyers, accountants, clerical staff, etc.  WE have to put on a smile for customers who don't deserve it because we don't want to lose an account because then our MTs would not have any work.  WE have to put up with crap from MTs who have every excuse in the book from mysterious illnesses to mysterious DSL/phone/electric outages. 

WE get bashed if someone is let go because their work is not up to par or if an account goes to voice recognition or goes with a company in India to save a buck.

WE get bashed if someone is hired and does not work out.

WE get bashed for requiring people to provide equipment, phones, etc OR we get bashed for providing all that but paying too low.

Take a look in the mirror.  If you have what it takes to get your own accounts, invoice, file all tax/employment/sales paperwork with your state and the federal government, can wait to pay your bills until the account has paid you, discount invoices for TAT that your employees do not meet or quality that is not perfect, deal with customers that nickel and dime you to death, give up time off because no one can cover for you, give up holidays so that your employees can spend time with their families, give up hot meals as someone always seems to drop the ball as the day goes on, negotiate to keep customers as each contract expires in an industry where prices are going down not up, then do it.

If you can do better than us, be my guest. 

Yes, some big wigs at some of the huge companies make a lot of money, but for the most part, most MTSOs make a good living, not great.  If I put my hours end to end, I put in the equivalent of two full time jobs.  If I worked two full time jobs for someone else, I would make more than I do running a service.

Before you b**tch and moan about the company you work for any more, ask yourself this question --- why are you still in this field?  The answers are easy --- it is a good field, MTs make excellent money for working at home, most without master's degrees or doctorates, there is some flexibility, opportunity to advance, ability to learn something every day, satisfaction knowing that an accurately transcribed report can make someone's treatment more effective or save a life (rather than having inaccurate medical records) and much, much more. 

The average teacher starts in the 20s, the average accountant in the 30s, the average computer person in the 30s.  We have potentially unlimited income and start in the 20s and move up rapidly.  Several MTs in our company topped 100k this year.  They would never have that opportunity in a different field.

We need to stop bashing each other.  It is not MTSOs vs MTs.  It should be working together as a team.  Teams that don't play well together do not succeed.

which is more than 9 for 65.  There is definitely something wrong with his math.  If he paid 9 for 70 then it might be the same as 8.5 for 65.  

1600 lines is a lot.  It doesn't mention vacation time though does it?