My survey answers - (s/m)
Posted By: LowlyMT on 2008-07-23
In Reply to: Let's take a little survey.....sm - Country MT
1. Q: What do you believe should be the minimum line rate paid to MTs?
A: Forget the 'going rate'. It's a national disgrace. Based on current cost of living in this country, inflation, average rent, price of food, gas, etc., and amount of skill the MTSOs demand from their workers, it should be closer to 12 cpl. And no, I'm NOT kidding.
2. Q: What do you believe should be the minimum line rate paid to QA/editors?
A: Never been one, so can't answer from experience. Granted, they do less typing, but then again, they're supposedly supposed to know more than we do, 'cause they're correcting and QA-ing our work. So it probably all evens out in the end, and they should probably be paid similar to MTs. Don't forget that some of them MT when not QA-ing.
3. Q: What do you think realistically your paycheck should be per pay period?
A: One that pays the rent, healthcare copayments, puts gas in my car and food on my table. That varies from region to region. In my region it would be about $1400 per pay-period, AFTER taxes/soc. security,etc.
4. Q: Do you think ICs and employees should be paid equally?
A: Have never been an IC, so am not knowledgeable enough to give you a cpl answer. But when all is said and done, they work just as hard as the rest of us. And don't get insurance. So their pay should enable them to buy their own insurance. If they can't afford it, they're being cheated.
5. Q: Do you believe that a person's ability to be an MT should impact the amount they are paid?
A: Are you talking about the quality of work? Quantity? Both? Neither? If you are, OF COURSE I believe in merit raises. But 'raise' is a word rarely heard in the MT world. Also, I believe that maybe the pay rate should not be by the actual account (as in which hospital/clinic) but by each dictator. Sloppy dictators and/or extremely difficult-to-transcribe ESLs should pay the MT more, and cost the clinic more to have transcribed.
6. Q: Do you believe MT pay should be standardized within the industry?
A: Only if that means standardizing it to compare with other skilled jobs in this country. But if that means keeping the status-quo, and keeping the pay down at 3rd World standards, then no, I don't. It all depends on WHICH standard they'd be adhering to.
7. Q: What is your BASE line rate before any incentives and does your company pay incentives?
A: Min. = apx. 1000 lines per day. No incentives other than, 'If you want more money, just type more.'
8. Q: Do you believe government should regulate minimum MT pay as they regulate the minimum wage in the general work force?
A: Absolutely. And the problem is, this is not the 'general' work force.. this is a highly skilled profession that requires aptitudes, i.e., hearing/spelling/extremely strong knowledge of English and 'medicalese'/extremely fast fingers) that take time & education (regardless of how much is on-the-job learning) to master. It's a talent. Not every nurse or doc can do this. Not every secretary can do this. Not even every MT-school grad can do this. So we should be paid more in accordance with what we can do. The fact that technology allows us to work from home should in NO WAY force us to accept less. Sometimes working from home is harder than working in an office. We may pay less for gas in the car, but pay more for heat, AC, electricity, etc. since we're home all day. The bottom line is we still get the transcription done to the very highest standards. I think it's time the government got involved with this sector of the health care industry that has been swept under the rug for far too long, and bring our pay up to more realistic standards. Most likely that will only happen if we could all be unionized.
But before the government can do anything to help us, FIRST they have to be made aware that we even EXIST.
9. What benefits do you believe should be extended to employee MTs?
Let's just answer these honestly and see exactly how poorly we feel we are being treated.
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survey answers
1. Minimum line rate should be at least 12 cpl/65 characters. The company I work for now pays 6 cpl/43 characters, which evens out to around 8 or 9 cpl/65 characters - aka, not enough.
2. I think editors should be paid for the amount of work they have to do. I have been an Editor for almost 5 years now and the work is harder when the MT is brand new. You have to read every report line by line, which should merit more money. However, on reports for seasoned MTs where only blanks need to be filled in, this requires less work and should be paid so. Don't ask what I get paid to QA - it's definately not enough!
3. Realistically, I think my check should be at least $1200 to 1400 per pay period.
4. Yes, I think ICs and employees should be paid equally.
5. I think there are too many MTs out there that are not really MTs, as in going through the actual training and certification process. I know of several that just learn as they go along, but that don't know drug names, syndromes, etc. I think it should be manditory to have training to be an MT and then the pay thing wouldn't even be a question.
6. No, I don't think pay should be standardized because there are too many bad dictators out there to make typing their reports worth the same as someone dictating very clearly and cleanly. Pay should be based on difficulty of dictator and only mandated by the MTSO.
7. 1,000 lines a day is not unobtainable for any MT as a base line rate, as long as they are considerd FT. Incentives should be given when the MT is no longer required to go through line by line editing; quality of work, as well as quantity. Anyone can type more, but how well is it being done? No, the company I work for does not pay incentives - I'm betting, though, that I would be spending a lot less time editing if they used my idea!
8. Does the government actually even know we exist? I think they think that all MT jobs are over in India. I'm sure, though, if we brought ourselves to thier attention, they'd find some way to regulate just about everything having to do with the industry. However, I don't think the government should have anything to do with it.
9. Medical, dental, vision, disability (carpal tunnel, anyone?), and family plans shouldn't cost you your entire paycheck!
My main beef with the MT industry is the number of companies that willingly send work out of the United States just to save a few pennies per line, but that gripe could go on and on and on...
Survey
I got the same thing. We took that survey last year, and then finally many moons later the only update is that it is still being held under advisement? BS! I'm content with what I manage to produce for myself working as an IC for MQ, but am not hopeful about the promised benies.
a survey for MTs
I was just wondering for all you at-home MTs why you chose transcription and what kind of job (good paying or not so good paying ) your significant other (if you have one) has. If your significant other has a job, are the benefits good? Thanks in advance for answering.
This survey does NOT ask for any -nm
ui
Survey
I am working as an IC for a smaller service. VERY few if any ESLs and those that are ESL, are extremely clear and coherent. Base rate is based on 5K lines per pay period with increase in anything over that and great incentive for doing what you can Friday-Sunday. Frankly, I prefer the flexibility of IC over being an employee because of the unexpected emergencies that can and do arise.
Let's take a little survey.....sm
Since we are all up in arms about the state of MT these days, how about answering a few questions.
1. What do you believe should be the minimum line rate paid to MTs?
2. What do you believe should be the minimum line rate paid to QA/editors?
3. What do you think realistically your paycheck should be per pay period?
4. Do you think ICs and employees should be paid equally?
5. Do you believe that a person's ability to be an MT should impact the amount they are paid?
6. Do you believe MT pay should be standardized within the industry?
7. What is your BASE line rate before any incentives and does your company pay incentives?
8. Do you believe government should regulate minimum MT pay as they regulate the minimum wage in the general work force?
9. What benefits do you believe should be extended to employee MTs?
Let's just answer these honestly and see exactly how poorly we feel we are being treated.
survey
And my answers....
1. What do you believe should be the minimum line rate paid to MTs?
I think .12 to .14 would be reasonable. I know several services charging the client .24 or more per line so I think the MT should get a fair percentage of that.
2. What do you believe should be the minimum line rate paid to QA/editors?
Since I've not done QA, can't answer that one. Did do some editing and I found it to be more work then MT, just too much fixing to do so I think the current 50% of the MT pay is nuts! Why would anyone settle for that?
3. What do you think realistically your paycheck should be per pay period?
I would say equivalent of about $16 to $18 per hour so somewhere between $640 to $720 per week. Don't get me wrong. I'd love more but......let's be real. We were for the most part educated at community colleges or the like and cannot command the salaries of people with advanced degrees, can we?
4. Do you think ICs and employees should be paid equally?
same work, same pay. the IC may not have traditional benefits but made that choice for themselves and reaps many other benefits (scheduling, time off, etc.)
5. Do you believe that a person's ability to be an MT should impact the amount they are paid?
Well, of course. We all should be compensated for our skill levels.
6. Do you believe MT pay should be standardized within the industry?
Why? There is no other industry that is. I know attorneys earning $60 K and some earning $300 K and the same is true in all jobs. some companies pay more, some pay less. that's reality.
7. What is your BASE line rate before any incentives and does your company pay incentives?
Mine is 0.85 with the MTSO I am with right now, and I am fine with it. Their platform is wonderful and the work is really good so I can still achieve a decent hourly rate and have the right to work when it works for me.
8. Do you believe government should regulate minimum MT pay as they regulate the minimum wage in the general work force?
If you mean establish a minimum, that would only work for employee status, not IC. But no, I don't think so. It is up to us to stop settling for less than we are worth.
9. What benefits do you believe should be extended to employee MTs?
Depends on the person's status.
Let's just answer these honestly and see exactly how poorly we feel we are being treated.
Survey everyone please
nm
Hey can i still join the survey? nm
x
Survey: Don't give co name, but do you all have
xx
Salary Survey
Looking at the post below about who loves their company, I am hoping to take this information a step further with what I hope is a fair survey. Working 40 hours a week, what is your salary, acute care versus clinic, benefits versus no benefits, and what company do you work for? I think it is very hard to judge what the individual companies are offering, and a lot of the opinions are based on what works for one does not work for another. Thanks to all who are willing to share this info.
Also, has your salary gone up (ha, ha), stayed the same, or gone down over the last 5 years? Thanks again.
What do you pay for health insurance? Survey. sm
What do you pay at the company you are with for health insurance? Is it employee, employee w/spouse, employee w/children or family? What is the deductible? HMO or PPO? Big company or small? What percentage does the company pay?
We are trying to come up with what is fair for everyone without putting us out of business due to cost. We need more MTs for new contracts but cannot grow until our benefits are better. Catch 22.
I really would appreciate feedback. What other benefits do you get? Do you want?
Re: Survey below. Why would someone say that an owner is moody. Why are they sm
talking to the owner at all? I have never talked to the owner of Keystrokes and I have been there for over two years. I have never had a broken promise. I have plenty of work to make my line count and 24 hours to do it. I have high QA scores and do not get bothered, which is important to me.
To each his/her own.
Personal info from survey's
Oh, it asks enough info and you can count on it collecting your IP address, that is all it takes to find out exactly who you are. This survey may be free - but you can bet her future survey's will cost you to take, and once she has all this data, you can bet your sweet bippy her site to access all of this information is going to be a pay site! She is not interested in improving anything in our field, she is only interested in $$$$$ she can make collecting data and making this data seem like it means something.
Wow..okay. How about a survey of ANYONE that was happy with their service.
I'm not sure how or why they keep in busy if everyone can do better on their own getting a job. Personally, I've never felt I needed a matchmaker. I just did the best I could in matching up my own skills and preferences to what was being offered to me once I applied. I have never had a problem getting a job in this business, anyone else???
QA error values survey...
I am just curious and trying to get a randomized answer regarding error values when an editor/QA/QC audits reports. For example: Major medical error has what point value, minor English error has what point value, etc. Also, if you don't mind stating what company this is or was for? If you would rather email me, you are more than welcome.
Survey - Is it time for hospitals
to bring their transcription home to the medical records department and contract directly with MTs, both ICs and employees? IMHO this is something that seriously needs to be done both for the cost savings to the facilities and to ensure that qualified MTs can make a decent living. This could be even more important with the EMR thing and could apply both to regular MTs and EMR editors. With health care reform on the table it would seem to me that this is the time. Email me with your suggestions of how this might be accomplished.
We were notified that they were correlating our survey info (sm)
and hope to have a new plan out to promote retention and happiness. Last letter we got stated that it was taking longer than anticipated. This was maybe a month or so ago. Not sure exactly what will be effected, just hoping for the best.
Anyway what was the result on the Female MT and Male MT survey?
Oh yeah, Cant find the tread and the results.
Well, here we go...time for another survey. Anyone out there love their job and able to survive on .
what they make. I am totally burned out on broken promises, dreams and expectations when I have taken jobs. Recruiters hype their company up but then they never live up to it. All I am asking for is a job with regular work every day when I am assigned to work and decent benefits. Is this impossible to find? Have any of you found such a thing? If so, let me hear from you.
Survey - how does your company do with maternity leave?
I am contemplating trying to get pregnant within the year, and I am wondering how all the MTSOs take to maternity leave. I am afraid if I get pregnant, my company might find a way to get rid of me before having to cover my maternity leave. Any advise or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
Survey - What type of medical insurance does your company offer?
Just curious about which company you work for and what type of medical insurance they offer. HMO, PPO? Cheap or expensive for you?
Christmas Bonus survey...Has anyone received a bonus yet this year or expect one?
We usually get one but haven't see it yet. Just curious if anyone has been so lucky as to get one.
Answers
They do overstaff with incompetent people, run out of work, then lose accounts to other companies. They didn't care if I starved, so I left. My accuracy rate was near perfect. Don't know what their problem is.
Well that answers everything!
..
answers
Software is free, yes they have a word expander. They do not, however, pay for spaces and it is based on a 65 character line. The manager I spoke with and the hiring person were very very nice, but the training lady was extremely rude, short, and acted like it was just killing her to even set up training. It was because of the training lady I didn't accept the PT job with them.
Their benefits were okay as well.
Answers
Yes. I have a fairly steady supply of work. I haven't run out of work in a long time. A few years anyway. Sometimes it's low but I haven't completely run out.
As far as flexibility. They are pretty flexible as long as you don't abuse it and let your team leaders know what is going on. If you have to leave in the middle of a shift you should let them know when you are leaving and when you will be back.
After all, they still have to cover STATs and when someone isn't working when they should be, they will have to scramble to find someone to do STATs when they come up.
Unfortunately, they are tightening the reins a little bit on the flexibility because some people abuse it. I haven't had any trouble though.
Some answers for you.
StenTel is a franchise organization. Someone buys a franchise from them and then run it pretty much as they choose. When I worked for StenTel out of Springfield , Massachusetts (who designed the StenTel system and then began the franchise), the pay was low and work sporadic. I don't know of all of their franchises offshore or not, but if they do, then you can bet the work will be only the very toughest reports and nasty dictators. The office I worked for only hired IC status, but like I said, each franchise is run differently.
Answers
No equipment rental fee - new Dell with flatscreen (nice equipment) and they provide foot pedal. Need DSL or cable - they do not reimburse. All internet based. I do acute care, so don't know about radiology. Line rate for acute care is not the highest, but there is a good incentive. I believe the pay is biweekly but not sure (I am an employee of the hospital through Diskriter, so I get paid directly from the hospital and pay dates are different).
Some answers -
Part-time with them, I believe, is anything less than 32 hours. I don't know how they handle IC, but would venture to say they would not require anything of you the Dept. of Labor would frown upon. There are 2 platforms, one is Merit (very easy to learn and user-friendly); the other, I believe, is ExText, but I don't know anything about it. I do not know of ANY account they have that uses VR.
HTH. Good luck.
answers
I am new to the company, working on neuro, Touchtype platform, and seem to be pretty slow due to entering demographics, switching from screen to screen to enter and find information such as doctor name, patient number, etc, etc, etc. I was wonder if Vscript was better and it sounds like it is. Maybe I should ask them about that.
Are you on the east coast? I am in OK. Kinda' rainy here today.
answers
My supervisor is in Louisville. My account is in California.
I've never faxed anything to them so I don't know if they have a fax #. I pasted my resume in an email and sent it to them.
Good luck.
Two answers
Deventure - you don't buy anything. No contribution to retirement. No bonuses that I am aware of.
Thank you for your answers. Do you sm
happen to know the name of the platform (the software program)that is web based or what your Expander is called? Thanks. I am making up a list of maybes.
MORE ANSWERS
Precyse - OKAY
MD-IT - ?
OSI - OKAY
DDT Arizona - ?
TTS - NO PAY
Zylomed - ?
Answers
Precyse - OK
OSI - Absolutely NOT!!
All the others - Have no idea.
a few answers
Most of the stuff you have already read probably still holds true. Spaces are included in pay, headers are not. Pay depends on if you work part time or full time and your experience, etc. As far as I know, all accounts are acute care and they also have radiology. No set schedule, you just commit to a certain number of lines a day and you have to finish them some time during that day.
Answers for you...sm
5 cpl for editing. Very user friendly. The program counts lines and you can check this at any time.
no answers
I worked for OSi for a time, it has been a while now but I did notice that it was harder than heck to get lines there. I would have to type over 50 reports (clinic) to get my line counts in, at the company I am with now it only takes 20-30 reports to get my lines in for the day. I heard people say it in the past but when I asked questions I never got answers. So, needless to say I no longer work for OSI
Answers
Keystrokes:
1. Unicare
2. Depends on account (I use Meditech)
3. YES!
4. 1200 lines a day, 0.095 per line.
5. Very, very rarely. I have a back-up account but have only had to go to it twice, and once because they asked for extra help.
IMPORTANT TO ME: They do not send work out of the country. They care about their employees. My checks are correct and on time via direct deposit.
Answers...
Your current employ will remain as is. Always tossed around to different accounts. I have worked for another company (neither one of the aforementioned) and have never even been trained on a secondary account, let alone 9 or 10 others. There is money to be made!!
answers
When I worked there, the account I was on the demo information was almost completely filled in beyond the date of the exam, but yes, that is what is meant by too much demo info to fill in (pt. name, date, time, dr., etc.).
She's a great person to work for, Emdat is pretty easy to work in, and I think you could make decent money there as an IC if you wanted too, by using normals and a short-hand program, although the pay is on the low side, IMO. I went with my higher-paying second IC job because my MTSO offered me full-time work and I didn't really want 2 jobs at the time, but I'd go back if I needed too.
more answers
Their new platform leaves much to be desired. We can't look at old reports like we could the old system and as of yet can't even check line counts throughout the day. They are supposedly working on getting the line counts to work with the new platform AnyModal Edit, but they have been saying that for months. Right now they email us line counts the next day, but they are accurate. I was more productive on their old platform of CTS - so basically not terribly happy with the new platform, but it could be worse.
They are an honest company. Pay is accurate and on time. They aren't for everyone, but are worth giving a try in my opinion.
MDI-MD answers
I've been at MDI for a little over 3 years. My accounts have had a slow period this summer but not so slow that I could not meet my line commitment most days. You commit to how many lines you want to do in a day and can do them any time in a 24-hour period so you can't get more flexible than that. I've always been treated with respect by QA. I think the website says MDI pays 9 to 11 cpl. The only con would be on some accounts you have to use a C-phone or Lanier and need unlimited LD.
answers for you
Pay usually starts at 8 cpl if you need bennies, 8.5 cpl if no bennies. Not sure about shift differentials, as doesn't apply to me. Incentive for over 6000 lines a week is 9 cpl for only those lines over 6000. PTO starts at 12 days a year, to be used for sick time, vacation days, anything. They just started using MModal for their software for both typing and editing speech recognition jobs, it is okay, I thought the older program was better. Can't see old reports now. Have to copy and paste demographics, don't get paid for those. Report you see is what you get paid for, not Word-based, so doesn't look like the finished product. They use ShortHand v.9. New software is very, very difficult to be productive on and a lot of the MTs say they can type faster than they can edit the SR stuff. They are still working out the pay scale for SR, so now it is average hourly of what you earn straight typing. I think their okay, sometimes communication is poor. I would say they have to be better than MQ from what I've read. One advantage is they are flexible if you need to come on early, leave late, make up time earlier or later, different day. I would try them before leaving MQ though, they are looking for PT nights and weekends, might get you in the door to know if you like them or not.
Okay, thanks. That answers all my ?!!!
nm
answers
Medware. Dictaphone Extext is easy to learn and easy to use. No multiple screens to enter data. Very little downtime. Tech support issues maybe once a month or two but not often. I can fix many of my own problems, maybe once a week to reboot, etc. Lines average 275-300 on good days, sometimes around 200-250.
Answers
Base rate depending on experience, plus incentives for evening and night shift, weekends, QA incentive. Also we have a tier system. The more you type the more you make as you fall within the different tiers. We get 1-1/2 for holidays and overtime.
Answers...sm
I have a primary account but also trained on one other for secondary. There are a lot of instructions to keep straight on each so they don't overload you with too many accounts. Yes, I got a lot of feedback during training until they were ready to turn me loose without having everything proofed. (Maybe 2 weeks to a month, can't remember for sure.) In the meantime they would send an update about everyday highlighting the errors you were making. It did take me awhile to get my lines up just because I'm on the slow side because I don't want to rush and make mistakes, but I work enough hours to make the minimum line count for the pay period, so they've kept me around. The first month or maybe 2 you get paid hourly because they know your lph won't be that great starting out. I don't know about the insurance because I'm part-time. I know they offer health, dental, and now vision but I don't take any of them.
Answers
How many hours do you have to work to make the minimum lines for part-time? Was it hard to remember all the demographics?
Some answers
So with TT, what should I expect starting out per line? I believe they start at 8.5 cpl, with incentives for 2nd and 3rd shift and for weekends and production.
Can I set my own hours? You can choose your own schedule, but you must stick to it and notify them when you need to make a change.
I read something about 35 hours and 6,000 lines per week, no schedule, you just turn in what you worked at the end of two weeks. Is this correct? You have to work 40 hours, 5500 lines for full-time to qualify for benefits.
How often do you get paid? Every 2 weeks on Monday, DD available.
Is there always work? I have yet to run out.
Do you almost always work on your primary account? Yes, I have not yet worked my secondary or tertiary account.
Is there a lot of ESL? Is there a way to get rid of the ESL job if you can't do it, unable to decipher (such as abandon)? Depends on account. ESL is just part of the package no matter where you work...some hospitals have more, some less.
Holidays, I read you work 3/6, alternating years. Is this correct? You work 3 holidays a year. You have to work either Thanksgiving or Christmas as one of the 3. If you work TG one year, the following year you must work Xmas.
Is it time and a half when working on holidays? Yes.
Benefits? How good are they? How cheap are they? Benefits seemed reasonably priced with several options available. (I was quoted about $134 for emp+child up to $236 (i think it was) depending on which plan and which options.
PTO? How do you accumulate this? 11 PTO a year.
Finally, would switching in your opinion be a good idea for me? Depends on what you are looking for.
Thanks in advance for any advice or opinions you can give me. I appreciate it.
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