THANKS! Now as soon as I make my line quota
Posted By: me on 2009-08-30
In Reply to: If you are really serious about buying clothes - fatcat
and can afford something other than thrift stores or Walmart I WILL check them out. LOL
Seriously, thanks for the link. I will keep it.
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cannot make quota
Has anybody out there ever used all accessible shortcuts, typed steadily, and seen after a grueling 8, 9, 10 hours lines equalling approx 77 per hour?  I refuse to think myself as doing something wrong: Just want to hear from ANYBODY who has done what s/he can, yet finds him/herself always unable to meet productivity. I am at a crossroads right now so it is a good time to leave transcription, but I cannot believe my forays into at-home land yield the same results: exhaustion, impossible quotas, and the sneaking suspicion that the nearly-industry-wide policy of not paying for headers is cruel, immoral, and unethical--CONSIDERABLE quality time is spent on getting this info right, and what automatically populates must often be, umm, massaged by our exhausted fingers. I would love to hear any comments from anybody about how they met productivity. I would need to increase by almost 100% in order to barely tread water: I cannot do it. Just wondering how all you VERY hard-working people survive. Wish there were an emoticon for throwing in the towel. 
can't make quota
I can't make mine, either. A 15-16 minute dication will only yield me about 100 lines. I'm fed up, but scared to death to leave this field and embark on a new career at my age.
QA is not a step up. They make less than the MTs and are on quota.
x
DSG - QA, line quota, how they pay Qs
Questions for DSG QA folks. Do they pay per hour or by line? I heard someone say by the line, but then someone else say they had to give feedback. I have never worked for someplace that paid you by the line AND expected you to give feedback also. If it is by the line, do they have a daily quota?
Thanks
I make 4 cents a line, work part and make
over $500 a week on part.
Thanks for the info! Do you *feel* like you make more with a gross line v. character line? (nm)
Oh, they make money off us. Line rate is 17 cents a gross line.nm
z
I left MQ for TT. The base line rate was less at TT, but overall I make more per line with the
shift differential (I work second shift) and the incentive plan (I have never once failed to make at least an extra half cent per line on incentives - most of the time a penny). I was scared to death to make that move, as I had been with MQ since back in the Transcriptions Limited days. I have to say, though, that it was the best career move I have ever made and I have never, not once, regretted it.
I hope that was of some help.
And always make sure you don't make line
counts that amount to anything. They always place you with impossible ESLs as soon as you start making decent money.
BUT don't they pay on a 55-ch line to make up for it? nm
xx
Not many & you make a lot more by the line anyway
:)
Do you make more that .15/line?
I worked for a company that sounds similar to your situation. I worked so many odd hours and sometimes long hours to make 24 hour TAT. Made a whopping 11.00/hour. In today's economy that's not much. You don't get paid vacation, benefits, etc. Hated it - in fact, I hate this profession and glad to be getting out soon.
Just not sure, as I would make less per line
at Transcend, a cent less and a cent and a quarter less for VR.
You have been there TWO months and make 10c/line????
nm
I could not make line count
in 4 months
I make 0.105 per line, started at 0.08 but got a
few increases over the past few years.
I make .05 - 65 char line now, what should I be getting?
I have been working for almost 2 years.
Transcenders-Per line how much do you make?
Current Transcenders, how much do you make per line and how much experience do you have?
Is 9.5 cpl any good?
I currently make 3.0 cents per line
and I average about 2400 - 3000 lines per day.
I know...I can't even make my line count
each day. I just saw in the newsletter that some people are going over and that is causing this problem...but I think they have hired too many also. Such a shame!
Unfortunately I could not make line count w/o OT
:(
I make 9 cents per line. I am not
on an account with VR. Regarding the platform, there are several. Do you have one in particular?
Is it difficult to make line count at
nm
Depends. How many characters make up a line?
.
Are the ESLs really bad and can you make line count?
nm
How can you possibly make any $$ for 2 cents per line???
Am I missing something??
I haven't even tried to make my line count
for MONTHS. I know the work load has been low and I have some accounts of my own that I can do, so I have done my own accounts and not even touched MDI. Kinda hoping I won't get yelled at for not meeting my quota but I figure I'll just hang in the background and work when the work is there, and when it is light let the other MTs who don't have anything else to fall back on have it.
Now if my own accounts slow down I will be in trouble...
How can anybody make a decent line count there
I couldn't
The only time I don't make my line count
it is my own fault for wasting time, surfing the net, etc. It's always my fault. Even when we had a dry spell with work trickling in I still hopped on when most people weren't working and I still made my required count for the pay period.
Wow, if you can make that kind of line rate, ...
I am surprised you left at all. Ya'll that make those kind of line rates must have started in a company prior to MQ absorbing them or you live on the West Coast.
I made 2 cents less with over 15 years experience at level 3.
P
I liked hourly until I found out I could make more on line pay. nm
x
EASY to make line count!
My experience was the opposite. I routinely did 1600-2000 lines a day, WAY over minimum of about 1200 lines a day. I can't make that now in my current job, but at Spheris it was easy. It does depend on the accounts you're assigned, though, so I don't doubt that it COULD be hard to make line count at Spheris. Just depends.
Can you easily make your line count - sm
Old posts say 1600 lines per day required. Is that possible on their accounts without going nuts? I was sort of looking into them too, just in case.
Does Anybody make line count at SoftScript? (sm)
I see multiple negative posts, but have to believe nothing is totally bad. Please confirm there ARE people there making line count and semi-enjoying the company.
Had interviewed and was then told I'd need a second line, w/o reimbursement. Make sure you ask! I
s
I get 10-12 cents a line from clients so I can only pay 6-71/2 to make any profit.
There are some clinics/hospital that will pay more but they also want you to do a lot more secretary stuff which the management staff does and you do not see. I know some of the huge nationals are raking in the profit and not spreading it around to well deserved transcriptionists but us smaller nationals or local companies are not getting those huge accounts that pay 16-20? cents a line. There is overhead too to pay like your utility bills, dictation equipment and upkeep, long distance phone bills, advertising, paper, printers, ink, faxes, health insurance, etc and then the income for the management team, proofers, and computer techs. I am not trying to take up for the huge companies that rake it in but if you haven't had your own business in the field then you really can't speak about what goes on after you turn in your work because you have no idea. Making comments to ad that can't offer more like me does not help anyone. I find plenty of experience transcriptionists happy with the pay, workload, and TAT. I wish I could offer more but when you are only making 3-4 cents of profit and still have your overhead that is not greedy. Your checks are nearly the same as the transcriptionists. If you don't like the pay find your own account - you do the leg work and don't respond to if it does not interests you as it does to a lot of people.
it would only hurt those struggling to make their line count
It could endager their job. If they need just 45 minutes extra a day to meet their count, what does it hurt? No one said you have to work more hours. You could always opt out of working longer than 8 hours.
I don't do chart notes and I make more than 7 cents a line
they don't think you can handle a more intricate account and you should try working on your MT skills.
Giggle at that, hon.
Is it difficult to make line count at TransHealth? nm
nm
Of course, depends on your line rate, but $700.00 is very good for MT right now. I can make over
that if the work is available, and I put in more than 40 hours. I think to make $1000.00 you need to have lots of expansions and dictators with which you are familiar, IMHO.
I work on Dictaphone ExSpeech and make .04 per line.
x
if your platform is decent at OSI and you make line count....
nm
Webmedx pays 70% of your line rate. I make more on VR s/m
with them them straight typing, a lot more.
Again, we make pretty big concessions to be in our line of work ...
First of all, I'd like to see this 'lucky enough to work out of the comfort of our own homes' stuff abolished. Many, many professions now work at home, and they do NOT accept a substandard quality of treatment because of that.
I know dozens upon dozens of coders, graphic designers, and support staff who work at home - BY THE HOUR - and get paid for the time in which they are working (or the time in which they are scheduled to be working, but have no work to do).
Let's say I make 9 cpl doing clinic notes (which is a really good gig, if I did that, but that's definitely NOT standard), and I make $19 an hour.
However, the first half hour that I work is answering work emails, starting my day, gathering the info I need, etc. Then, there's another half hour throughout my day that I spend answering emails or instant messages. Then, there's an hour or two during my day where I'm out of work because the company has over hired. Then, at the end of my day, I spend another half hour tallying my line counts, finishing up emails, and filling out a time sheet.
How much am I actually making per hour now?
Now, as a true fact, back when I started in transcription 12 years ago, I did start at 9 cpl. And I had an IC job that paid 13 cpl.
Earlier this year, I had to look for a new company to work for, and I was blatantly told several times by several 'reputable' companies that they would absolutely not start anyone, regardless of experience, over 8 cpl.
In no other profession would you find this, except maybe (MAYBE) fast food or waitressing.
The bitterness many MTs feel makes sense. We are asked to do many things outside of our work time that brings our actual hourly wages down. We are asked to sit for hours and scrounge for work, all without pay. We are consistently stripped of benefits like holiday pay and vacation pay. We are never rewarded for the years we have put into our careers or the knowledge we've gained because of that. We are very, very occasionally thanked (in mass emails) for the hard work we put in, and then immediately asked to flex our time regardless of the lives we have planned in order to suit the needs of our company. Our only hope for more money is to work more hours, or to somehow make our fingers faster and the dictators more audible. We are never, ever able to be dependent on our paychecks, because our line counts vary paycheck to paycheck due to fluctuating work. And, more than anything, we're treated as numbers (by many, but not all), and expendable because we're faceless, personality-less drones.
But it's our fault as much as it's the companies' faults. We've allowed ourselves to be treated this way. We've told ourselves things like, 'Oh well. At least I can do this in my pajamas.'
Can you imagine a coder in a hospital being asked to leave for three hours a day on random days of the week, only to be asked to come back and work those three hours at some time after 7 p.m.? Can you imagine an accountant being told that they are not to conduct company business like responding to or sending emails during their work hours, and that they have to do it on their own time without pay?
I don't condone whining, and I don't think dwelling in negativity is the answer to our problems. I also agree that the complaining can be easily misconstrued as selfish.
But I DO congratulate those who are constructively doing something to elevate our profession to a new level. Even if it backfires, even if it's all for naught, and even if it's misguided, at least it's not just sitting around and complaining anymore.
I believe they mean that you have to make $900 per PP to be full time, still paid by line
x
oh no, what is the quota for the day? Please let
us know if it was a mistake, thanks.
QA quota
When I worked at Amphion, we were expected to do 100 reports per 8-hour shift. Most often I did at least 80 which could be a stretch depending on what else was going on so I understand your concern.
Can an MT make a decent living earning 7 cents per line
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:
General medical and surgical hospitals |
$13.83 |
Offices of physicians |
13.40 |
Business support services |
13.40 |
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 could make .11/line no matter how much under old system, only .1075 now unless over 11K/period.
That's not a raise. I figure it the way the recruiter did--add the LPH incentive to your line rate.
Venting- how can you make money or get line counts when all the work is given to someone else!
Nothing seems fair anymore. Does anyone else ever have this happen?
Wanna give the rest of us instructions on how to make a line count like that, aside from doing all
m
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