Minutes versus lines

• Minutes of Dictation sm - nm
  • I found it depends on the system - AgingMT
  • I do not think there is an accurate answer (sm) - MT
    • I think you are right, no REAL way to be 100%. I think I am doing sm - nm
      • LOL - AmericanMT
  • How can you ask this? 140 min. of ahhs & uhhs, - will not get many lines. nmx
  • 60 min doesn't equal 600 lines imnsho..sm - DJ
  • The most I typically transcibe is 130 minutes, - and I typically get 1800-1900 lines. nm
    • Lines vs. minutes. - SO
  • Minutes versus lines - Mting
  • min vs lines - AmericanMT
  • minutes vs lines - foreverMT
    • Interesting. Thanks. nm - nm
  • According to THE method... - In the know MT
    • actually it was 1585, thanks for the information. sm - nm
      • Was always told a general rule of thumb... - In the know MT

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I usually do at least 125 to 130 minutres in one hour.  Now I did that at MQ and they said I only had 850 or 900 lines, no matter how many more reports I did.  It is strange that I would average doing about 5 or 6 fairly long reports and still only get 850 or 900 per shift.  I finally concluded that they were cheating me at a rate of 30 to 40 lines per hour.  so actually I was doing 1,200 to 1,300 per shift.  This really does add up after awhile.  I never computed just how much money I was losing by working there, but it was probably enough to make a difference.  I have had many MTs come forward with the same story as mine, so I know I am not the only one.  

SO

I'm getting ready to start applying and these are the companies that I'm looking at.  So give me the low-down.  Good, bad, India?

Here are my criteria:

9 cpl or better

Does NOT send work to India

Good accounts with at least 50/50 of ESL versus American dictators

Consistent work flow - no downtime or time spent waiting for work

Upper management should be professional, positive, and encouraging.

Pay for lines WITH spaces.

Is there such a job out there or am I just dreaming?  If there are other companies other than the ones I listed that would fit the bill, please feel free to let me know. I tested with TransHealth and I felt like I tanked.  It was a hard test and I had to use the mouse to stop and start the dictation as it was online test and you couldn't download the voice files.  So that made it a lot more difficult.  One of the dictators was cutting himself off through the report and I had to leave some blanks.  I'm very frustrated with this whole process of looking and testing.  Are all the tests like that?  Or are there companies that allow you download the test files and transcribe them using your pedal and software?  Ugh!  I am just so frustrated and discouraged.

Thanks for any helpf.

I'd like your opinions...  I think it's more important to be able to produce a high line count than what your actual cents per line rate is.  $0.10/line means nothing to me if I have to struggle to produce 200 lines per hour because of their format or platform.  I'd rather make $0.07/line if I can count on producing 500 lines per hour. 

Just something to think about when you interview with a potential employer who tries to dazzle you with a high line rate.  I always ask about the average line counts and if they have auto-populated headings.  We don't get paid for auto-populated headings (which can make a significant difference in our line counts), yet I'm sure the service bills the hospital for them. 

may cover you for 2 weeks if you work FT.   I'd be looking for another plan if I were you. 

I was investigating this a couple of weeks ago and I did read somewhere about unlimited up to 5000 and then after that you would need to get a business plan, but I didn't specifically read anything that said the unlimited was only limited to 5000.

I did talk with someone at AT&T last week because I had switched from them to digital phone service through my cable internet provider and she said we have unlimited long distance for $24.95 and I said yes but your unlimited isn't really unlimited and she said no that the limit was 5000 minutes. 

We were on a tiered pay scale and in order to get the high tier pay, I had to type 120 minutes a day.  I had this done in 4 to 5 hours. 

As far as my pay scale now, I hit $35,000 in 2007 and I have been with my company for 2 years.  My first year with them, I hit $28,000.  I have averaged a gross monthly pay anywhere from $3000 to $4000 this year.  I have received a line rate increase every year since I have been with the company, plus I also get a $500 longevity bonus. 

90% of the time I'm on my main account and have something like five backups.  Also, I asked my manager to train me on the account that's always super backed up (like 200+ reports every day) so I'd have that as back-up, also. 

Running out of work is gonna happen sometimes; it's the nature of the beast.  And like I said, it's never lasted long.  I'll take the teeny little hiccups in work flow over the low hospital pay and bitchy co-workers/managers any day of the week.

wasn't bad in my opinion.  Pretty routine questions, the more you know off your head, the faster it goes and also if you keep the small talk down and get to business, doesn't take that long.

When I worked in-house (Radiology) we were actually paid an hourly wage, however, instead of having to produce x amount of lines per shift, or x number of reports per shift, we were required to do x amount of minutes per shift.  Just wondering if anyone does this anymore? 

I'm also looking to make a move back to my first love of radiology.  Anyone have any GOOD companies to work for that have radiology accounts?  I just found this site yesterday and have seen many companies listed but a couple GOOD names would be so much more helpful. 

Thank you in advance for any help/suggestions.