Should mention that my VR is 7 cpl - 2 cents below my regular pain...I would be thrilled with 500lph
Posted By: jj on 2009-07-15
In Reply to: Well if I could do 500 lines per hour, I would be making 35.00 an hour. sm - jj
Keep up the great work!!!!
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
Not Thrilled
I think we are going to be working for a big brother company. Why do we have to put our escription lines in a completely different tracking system? Makes no sense to me and a waste of my time, especially when I have 3+ account every day.
Old timers are thrilled to be promoted too sm
and especially thrilled when they get offered more for their experience coming in than sombody training for goodness sakes. I just can't get behind that rationale.
Congrats. I'm sure they were thrilled to see your resume come their way!! nm
zzzz
Having not had any in 12 yrs, I am thrilled by it all. Having the Blues is great sm
I was so very surprised. When I had it that I paid on my own, I had about like the lower tier and I paid $200 a month for it and had a pricier med copay.
I said 12 years and it more like 15. Imagine my delight to find the same or lower copays than all those years ago and find a cheaper premium too! I am so glad to have it. The other was not available in my area and this IS.
Not thrilled about the new 40-hour week but SM
am still positive. An issue is how much of the current slowdown is actually due to the crash in the economy (on top of the holiday season), a change no company could have planned for.
Also, something I find encouraging is that WedMedx has a vowed goal of developing and providing its clients with very high-quality MTs, excuse me, MCSs (medical content specialists). If that continues, it means doing what it takes to hold onto them since these are people who can always normally find another job.
What is average? 7 cents, 8 cents, 9 cents? 65-character?
x
To the MT who was *talking* w/ me a few weeks ago re MDI-MD who said Dorothy would be thrilled ...SM
to hear from me.....well, I finally decided to email them about a position. It's sure been long enough, hasn't it? lol I appreciate your encouragement and your help. We'll just have to wait and see if they have a part-time slot for me. I wasn't sure if I ever expressed my appreciation to you then, and I sure hope you see this now and recognize yourself in my subject line. Thanks again!!
LOL! Yep, people are thrilled with system that is slow and
xx
I also work for 8 cents a line. I left a job typing OPs for 10-11 cents sm
to take a clinic job. I made an average of $17-18 an hour with OPs, now make $16-17 an hour, but the work is easier on me. I do not call that poor pay. I type 200+ lines an hour. True, it isn't the $26-27 an hour I was making 10 years ago at a hospital, but that's gone for good. I have excellent skills, make better than 99% on QA at any company I have worked for, and some of those have been very demanding.
I'm afraid the people that are expecting to make $20-30 an hour in MT are going to be disappointed. A few can still make that amount, but for the average good transcriptionist, the pay is much more likely to run $15-20. Benefits are pretty much gone. However, I feel that what I'm making is considerably above what I could make in another field, unless I decide to teach, which I will not do. Still, I make more than I would at Walmart or Burger King, or even a secretarial job. It's my choice. Good luck to you.
The mentoring program does not pay 8-1/2 cents per line. Believe it is like 6 cents.
n/m
4 CENTS , SCHMORE CENTS. THAT'S WRONG!
Whether an MT is new or an editor, 4 cents a line is deeply insulting, and 9 cents per line isn't really too much better. You know, I understand that most of these MT companies want to save money, but most of them don't seem to want to pay what an MT's time and skills are really worth. Why not pay an MT who has been in the field for 7-10 years or more 15 or 20 cents per line? At least I might consider working for one of these companies at home if I were to be paid that much straight off the bat for having 12 years' experience, but I guess that would be too much like right...
Do they still pay you 5 cents a line and 2 cents if you send anything to QA?
xx
I have a problem with 7 cents and 8 cents a line because
...when I started 15 years ago, my very first MT job started me out at 8 cents a gross line, then went to 9 cents a gross line after only a year. I was SOOO happy and proud of myself for choosing a profession that paid so well - I imagined myself making a lot of $$ once I had 10 or 15 years experience behind me...
Well that never happened; in fact, it all went backwards, pay wise. The company I worked for back then sold out to a national, and of course the pay was cut, and 9 cents a gross line was never to be had again, at least not that I could find. I am considered living in poverty now. I started out great but have ended up very badly.
I think my own personal problem is that it's hard for me to let go the fact that I made good money just starting out and how everything I had ever learned about jobs, careers and pay was that the more experience and education you have in a particular field, the more your pay goes up as each year passes. Well my pay has been consistently taking a nosedive for at least a decade now. I actually have to work MORE to make at least as much as I did years ago, and it's killing me health-wise as far as my wrists, my legs, my neck, my back....
It also kills me that I'm going to have to accept 7 or 8 cents a 65-character line when I made so much more than that 15 years ago.
I suppose to someone who's just starting out, 7 or 8 cents would seem pretty good, though. Maybe that's why I haven't been able to land any jobs with my resume. They may not want me with my years of experience, probably want a newbie who will be more grateful about such low pay. I dunno.
I could just kick myself for wasting money on MT school those years ago when I could've spent it on a career that would actually LAST and where I'd be making great money after being in the same field for 15 years. There's just no reward to this business. None at all, IMO.
I would NOT recommend this field to anyone just getting started. To me, it's a dead field.
I'd have more freedom working at McDonalds (for a number of reasons), and, believe me, I've been considering taking a local job around my home for minimum wage. At least I'd have a consistent paycheck and would know exactly what I'm getting every 2 weeks, then build from there as far as another job or two.
Well anyway that's all. I really need a job. I'm going down, going under, and it's a shame because I do very good work and have all this experience but no one seems to want me, even the low-paying companies. Oh well.
Few cents here, few cents there stolen from you by
x
I'll add my 5 cents to your 2 for 7 cents sm
I AGREE WITH YOU!
I know an MT who sits on her laurels and whines about no work and only getting 9 cpl after 5 whole years of experience. She can type 3 specialties, won't touch an ESL, goofs off when there is work and whines when there is not. I have tried to help, but it is quite plain to me she doesn't want that help.
I have about 3 times the experience of the above MT. The only specialty I have not done is pathology. I have literally done everything else. I know the BOS 2 like the back of my hand and I have outstanding accuracy scores (even if I can't type straight here). I work as an employee and make a base rate of 8.5 cpl, which I never get because I always have some of the different incentives offered. I regularly turn that 8.5 cpl into $25 an hour and at my PT job where I get 10 cpl and faster software, I can turn that into $32.50 an hour.
I have heard, more times than I can count from other MTs that they wish they could have my income. I can tell they why they don't. It is called hang out to complain on a message board like MTStars. It is doing everything, BUT your work on your shift. It is your lack of a willingness to learn new things, even if they slow you down some. This very year, recently in fact, I was put on straight cardiology procedure notes and I didn't worry for a second that I would suffer financially. I AM FLEXIBLE and that, in a nutshell, is why most MTs will not succeed.
A long time ago I realized that if I want more money, I was going to have to work SMART, not hard. In my 15 years, I now make 5 times what I did my first year and at the same exact line rate I had then! I spend less time working to achieve that these days. So no, I can't agree with your sky is falling routine.
Most of you...your attitudes suck. If I had to have you on site as my employees, you would not last 15 minutes. The first time I heard you at the water cooler whining about your pay, I'd fire your fanny so fast it would make your head SWIM. I have eyes in the back of my head too, so when you started making that stink face you are making right now, I'd have sacked you for that, on the spot, no warning and no day's pay. The ONLY reason you all get away with this is that you THINK no one who knows you is watching and that your respective contract holders can't figure out who you are.
By and large, I can't tolerate other MTs as friends. I find them lazy, self-absorbed whiners and complainers with some the worst negative attitudes I have EVER seen! If you hate MT so very much GO GET A JOB DOING SOMETHING ELSE. I can tell you, your bad attitude, your tendency to complain, whine, witch (with a capital B), moan and ALWAYS see the most negative side of everything...THAT crap will follow you to that new career and it won't be any better than this one. You have issues and I really think they are issues for a good therapist. They are called personality disorders and many of you have them in multiples and in spades!
I think you should be completely and utterly ashamed of yourselves. Too many people are out of work, homeless, and starving this Christmas to be so opinionated and selfish.
what a pain.
I agreed to cross train from my lovely eScription to MedTran. I just did the training for it and BLECK! I love my eScription. LOVE IT! I'm hoping tomorrow I like MedTran more. It also pays by the minute not the line. It's supposed to be a better deal for me but I have my doubts. Anyone else using MedTran? Any feedback or tips would be appreciated.
I feel your pain.
I trained as a federal employee at a military hospital. When we got to "go home" to work, we thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread; what it actually did was to take away my federal blue cross, blue shield insurance, I was 40 thought I would be young forever, cashed out my 10,000 retirement. I was a single parent, no child support (long story, I did not want to hurt my son), so for over a year I was able to buy a few things and get anything I wanted at the grocery store, at the cost of my civil service retirement that I cashed in. I wish you well in your new on-site job. I wish I had such an opportunity. You will be much better off, be happier, and when mom is happy, everyone is happy. Sincerely good luck to you, and I am from a small town in SC, and I think if I move to a big city I can find such an opportunity. Good luck to you and keep us posted.
Again, I feel your pain, but you have to get over
thinking or believing that the company you work for is your friend. I most certainly have experienced this same stabbing pain and have learned never to fall prey to those emotions again. I started with a small local company where you actually saw the owners face to face, and they were lying dogs in the end - complete betrayal over a $$$. They sold to a company, who sold to a company, who sold to a company, and each one lied to all the MTs over and over again. You have to have yourself covered, have 2 jobs, make sure your bank account is padded - whatever you have to do. But get rid of the emotions that any company is your friend. As Dr. Phil would say, take your power back. This is business and its cut-throat in America these days in any industry.
Feel your pain
I don't know anything about USAMedTran.
I have a company I'm committed to full time, a part time company and a whenever I can put in some time company. My main company was always running out of work so I had to look somewhere else to make that up. Good luck to you!
true, we have it, I just don't do it. I think it is a pain. nm
.
Feel your pain OSi
MQ is doing the exact same thing. Rarely see my primary, and I mean rarely. Have had nothing but new clients over and over, new client profiles to read, and making minimum wage if I am lucky. I have been with MQ 7 years, an MT for 20 years. I think a MQ and OSi are copying each other, get rid of the more experienced MTs, and pay less money to newer MTs. I don't know if even the hospitals care what is in those documents anymore. Good luck to you. I am resigning from MQ today.
Back pain
Thanks for the tip. I'll certainly try it.
LOL Thanks for sharing your pain.
I've had a day or two of those recently as well. ;-)
I feel your pain
I've been in that boat before, where I worked for a company who wanted all employees to have MSN messenger open at all times during their shift. It was SO annoying. You'd be trying to work, and then an IM would pop up asking you to do stat reports. Ugh! I got out of there fast! I can't stand being bothered on messenger when I'm trying to work.
I feel your pain!
Mine went up 69% from last year. It was a good thing I was sitting down when I looked at the numbers. I'm still trying to figure out much more I have to type to make up the difference. I'm so sad about this and the health care industry crisis as a whole.
I share your pain
I've been trying to live off of promises. They promise there's work. I promise the electric company they'll get some money. So far, no one is living up to their promises.
I get low periods, but I don't understand ZERO work available for weeks on end. I wish services would just be honest and understand that these are the reasons good MTs don't stay with companies. Try eating a promise, quite unfulfilling at best. We've had to suck up and accept low wages, now low wages for no work is more than anyone should have to tolerate. I'll be filing for unemployment this week. Afterall, I'm a full time employee who isn't even making subminimum wage for a 40-hour week.
I feel your pain! sm
My account has been slow on work for the past 3 months. During the week there is usually not enough work during my schedule to meet my minimum requirement. They send out emails expecting you to work nights, weekends, your days off to make up during the slow times. Do they think I just sit at home all day with no life? I picked my schedule because those are the hours/days I can work! I do have a life outside of work and I cannot work on my days off because I have a family. It annoys me to no end.
FEEL YOUR PAIN
I am currently working full-time at a hospital and looking for a part-time position as an independent contractor. I have been transcribing for 33 years, so I have seen the ups and lately downs in medical transcription.
As an independent contractor, I am not going to accept less than 10 cpl, and I actually believe with my experience, I may be able to hold out for something higher.
I guess my advice which is given with the best intentions would be dependent on if you need benefits. If you need benefits, you may be able to or have to accept less than 10 cpl, but I feel with your experience, that you definitely deserve at least 10 cpl as an employee.
Two hospitals in my area offer great benefits and pay 10 cpl during the week with a weekend bonus of up to 5 cpl! Currently, I am making an hourly wage with incentive bonus (if you want to call it that). We have had 3 drops in our incentive in less than a year. I have gone from being fairly comfortable to barely making it, and actually have had to move.
I envy your 300 lines an hour! I average about 209, but our work is manually assigned to us and sometimes being experienced means you are given the hardest work.
Remember, you have a lot to offer a transcription company...your experience which is worth its weight in gold. You are an assest to the company and especially to the hospital which they service. Good Luck and it is nice to say Hi to an OLDBIE? Is that what we are??
Keep in touch with me if you like via private e-mail. I would love to help and would like your help also! 
I feel your pain. (sm)
I was QA at 3 different companies in the past, and honestly, I couldn't make any money because of having to leave feedback and then defend it when MTs argued every point. This was all for free, like you said, because getting paid by the line means no pay for feedback or answering emails clarifying and defending what you changed. My last straw was when one MT complained to my boss bitterly when I changed her typed a-b-duction to abduction (you know how they say it that way sometimes to be clear). She SWORE she worked for a doctor who said that was the way it should be typed and therefore I was a moron because I didn't know that. My boss actually went so far as to say just leave it when she types it that way, we don't want to lose her because she works 3rd shift. After that, I decided it just wasn't worth it to me, went back to typing, and I've never been happier. I don't see how anyone makes real money doing QA since most places pay by the line now.
I feel you pain
I got the exact same message
Feel your pain
I have 4 kids ranging from 7 to 18. Obviously the 18 yo can fend for himself as can my 17 yo, but the youngest two, 7 and 8, cannot. They have a habit of picking up every bug known to man and always seem to get the worse of everything. I am an IC as well, but have to work and also have a boss who when I cannot work, will give the work away and then I have to fight to get it back, which means normally waiting until the person that took over has to take time off.
But, is what I have done, is keep the kids on the couch, set them up all comfy and they are within hearing distance. I have given them walkie-talkies and they call if they need something, going to vomit, etc. I check on them frequently as well. I make sure to take a lunch break and spend that time cuddling with them. If they aren't too bad like the last bout of chicken pox (even with the shot!), I have a table set up in my office that they can come in and color, etc and be with me.
Keep your head up, you are Super Mom as we all are and things will work out in the end.
I feel your pain
I just wanted to say that I know what you are talking about as I am in the same situation. I also start very early in the morning in the hopes of finishing up before my kids get home from school, but I often run out of work and end up sitting here at my computer for at least 10 hours a day as it is waiting for work. I'm not looking forward to the stress of adding an hour to each day when there are not enough hours in the day as it is. I'll be praying that you will be able to handle the extra hour each day. I know how precious an hour can be when you are already stretched so thin.
I feel your pain
anon...very, very frustrating these days in the MT world. Unfortunately these company's true colors don't come shining through until you've experienced it first hand. Best of luck to you. Don't wait for things to get better as problems like this usually fall upon deaf ears. 
Sometimes it's due to RSI or pain from keyboarding. nm
.
I feel your pain
That is so funny you are talking about this. I tried to take that test with those buttons, and ended up throwing my hands up in the air, and exited right out of the program. I am sad because I really was interested in working for them. I have 11 years experience, and after trying that test, I felt like I was just starting out.
I definitely feel your pain..
...as well as my own. It was a horrible year for me. I signed on CyMed several months before SPi swallowed it. (I hold a big grudge, by the way, against those at Cymed who knew this deal was in the works and concealed this fact, though I specifically asked about pending sales.) For several months it was heaven. Then over the next year under SPi management it became a nightmare, culminating with a mass layoff by conference call. Everything I've read about it on this forum since then has only confirmed that nothing has improved. My advice to any job hunter is to run away from these users and abusers very, very fast.
Feel your pain
I work for Keystrokes and I am in the same situation. No work in the morning when it is time to sign on,being asked to sign in later, work different hours etc. Don't know how long I can keep it up.
Thanks for clarifying that. What a pain for her. nm
cc
I feel your pain. nm
Because they are a pain in the A double SS up there. I wish they would take their 1 hour TAT and
stick it. Sick to death of them.
I feel your pain and almost gave up
We are a Delhi Based Medical Transcription Production Unit.
With a Team of 45
Excellent Medical Transcriptionist trained by Doctors and 24 years experienced Medical
transcriptionist from USA, we offer to give our Best services to you.
Capacity :Minimum
Accuracy of 99% and 12000 lines per day. Best Rates per Line. Turn Around Time as
per Clients requirement.
If you are looking for Something Better, Mail us at
Keskatech@id.eth.net or Fax us at + 91 11 6933893
While testing is a pain, pay is based on how well
you test. I've tested 3 times the past week through mttest, different test each time, but I wish there would be one test to take and then companies could get test scores from them without having to test with each company.
I feel your pain and have wasted more of my
time on new companies than I can ever get back. I didn't honestly have time to read your whole post, but I know I made myself a thorough list of all things to cover before I ever even thought about saying Yes, and found that it made no difference at all in the end. The recruiters promised the moon, answered all my concerns in the way I wanted to hear, and then I got the bait-and-switch every single time once I actually was employed. Its so disgusting in our industry, and I'm sure they get away with it because we are all remote - I much prefer to look somebody straight in the lie when I'm getting lied to...Its so very hard via phone, and I have also noticed that they won't put it in writing, exactly. So you have to either trust them and give it a shot, or mistrust them and don't give it a shot. But I have tried at least a dozen companies in the past few years, and absolutely gave up all hope, and stayed with my original employer - at least I know this enemy. I researched and researched every single company, confirmed and double confirmed all info given me, even had things go great for weeks while in training, transcribing thousands upon thousands of lines per day, only to have the bait-and-switch dumped on me every single time, bar none, when I was out on my real account and stuck with the company. Its as if it was a candid camera episode - gone were the dictators I had grown accustomed to, and here were the garbage ESL dictators and/or no work, and/or cherry picking, and/or new hours required, etc. I have no stomach for changing jobs ever again.
I certainly feel your pain/frustration
i do work for Keystrokes after many nationals. It sounds like you had a clinic account and with 20 years experience that would be horrible, I have 17 and no clinic experience and I certainly don't want to do clinic work or look up doctors, so I am on your side.
I think Keystrokes really leans to the experienced MT who does not require much guidance, but believe you me I would not be on an account where you had to find doctor's addresses. After working for them I quit for pie in the sky - emailed Lee to take me back. You probably should have been on an acute care account - you can always go back, I did - I am finally making some money after 5 years of almost desperation.
I feel your frustration, that has been me, but I think for me with 17 years acute care experience, and being on EX-Text, I am making money for the first time. I worked on Meditech years ago and made money but that was gross line with the system being in the hospital, I don't know now.
Try again unless you are happy where you are. Lee took me back with open arms.
I was told (and all my experince was in hospitals for the first 7 year) that it takes at least 5 years before your nose is out of the books constantly. Sounds like you were on the wrong account.
Hang in there, it is horrible starting new with any company and then find out you don't fit or you were steered wrong.
I am feeling your pain today.
I hit the national scene just over a year ago when my hospital finally outsourced our department. I have not made any money since, nearly lost my house and had to rent it out, and my credit is shot and my car near repossession soon. Im fed up. I cannot believe how difficult it is to make money in this field short of an hourly wage. I am totally disgusted and looking for something new. I was trying to hold out in this field working from (which I have been doing for years for the hospital I worked for) until my youngest is in school, but I can't wait any longer.
I soooo feel your pain!
and it makes me angry too. I have done this since 1980 and never had a raise. As a matter of fact, I used to make more!! Everybody wants to do medical transcription and I get asked about it all the time. I tell them NOOOOOO, you do NOT want to do this. The ads out there make it sound like you can make so much money, and while as a good Transcriptionist you CAN make better than average money, it never goes past that point. Working at home is not all it is cracked up to be. I only did it because I wanted to be home with my kids. Now I am sorry to be stuck in this rut.
Oh, the pain of having to explain the simple!!
She doesn't want this going on any longer, and asked for it to STOP, take it private email. So, now this one is just stirring up the pot. If you can't figure out that logic, well, good luck in life.
Working for Indians is a pain.........sm
They are rude and they love to talk down to you, especially women....they think they know every damn think about everything and don't know squat.
Indian men are A holes!
VR isn't even editing-it's worse-and such a pain I
X
trust me I feel your pain
but you still don't seem to understand WHY this is happening...
and I can't help you there - just strongly suggest you do more research on our system (capitalism) and maybe you'll understand why things are as they are - AS LONG AS UNRESTRAINED PROFIT IS A MOTIVE who polices those with the power and the money?
I feel your pain, truly. Good luck to you. nm
x
|
