Yikes, I guess that says it all for this field....I made that over 15 years ago!
Posted By: sm on 2007-03-25
In Reply to: Anywhere from 13-15 dollars per hour to start - :o)
Guess it's time to move on :(
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Yikes. I made 8 an hour 9 years ago starting. nm
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YIKES!!! This is horrible. Guess I will not be applying there. Thanks for the info!! nm
YIKES... I guess I knew it sounded to good to be true. I wonder if anyone ever gets sign-on bonuses
at any company. Maybe we should take a survey on who actually gets a sign-on bonus. How depressing is that. Now I'm bummed.
I have been in this field for 17 years sm
and am still working one job IC for 8 cents, just because I like the company. Only made 8 cents on my last full-time job, but did have benefits. You can sometimes make more on an easy clinic account at 8 cents, than an acute care job at 10 cents. Count your blessings.
I am 30 years old and have been in the medical field since
I was 19. My first 3 years I worked as a certified medical assistant and then I fell into transcription and I have 8 years of experience as an MT. Can I ask why all the personal questions, not that I mind answering?
Yikes..I don't think I've used that for like 10 years. Why do you ask?
I'd also be curious to see if any companies actually are still using that. I can't imagine anyone still having it but you never know. Do you really like working on this now that we're on like WP 12??
10 total years in the medical field, 8 as a MT.nm
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I guess you've never made
Grow up.
I guess that is the stuff lawsuits are made of, but nothing you can do to fix it. sm
I am not unsympathetic. I just do not think there is anything any of us can to to stop this. I am no fan of EMR, but I refuse to get my stomach all in knots over things I cannot change.
I guess what you make at Transcend is based on what you made when you came on board, 8 cpl here. sm
I guess since the last 2 companies purchased made good cpl Transcend is willing to pay them what they made, really not fair for others only making 8 cpl, but I guess they gotta cut corners somewhere in order to keep the new Transcenders happy. I think you all are getting the best deal they have to offer.
You are too much...I made almost 60k five years ago
working in a similar recruiting/QA position for a small company. It varies widely. And it is a whole lot nicer position than MTing..well just about anything is IMO. Stop being so envious.
I made upper 40s with them 6 years.
My insurance was around $350 a month family coverage. I have been gone from them about a year.
I made $13/hour 14 years ago
nm
I made 20.00 an hour 3 years ago -
Even that was not enough money for all the garbage I had to correct. I went back to straight typing. Make more money now with lots less stress!
I have been doing this for over 30 years .. I made more in 1983 than I do now . sm
However, I still make a decent living. What burns me is when I see these cheesy ads telling women they can take their course (and spend $$$$) and instantly make $50,000 .... you know that doesn't happen.
I was lucky and had the advantage of being trained on the job when I was a junior in high school (my mom was a lab tech and friends with the director of Medical Records). No matter how good the at-home course is (or is not), to me, you just can't beat the hands on experience of having the benefit of someone else's ears .. but I guess those days are gone like the wind.
I don't know much about painting gourds, but I thought about sitting on a beach in the carribbean and selling cheap crap to tourists .. care to join me? 
I made in the low 50s at Spheris 4 years ago.
Yes, you can.
Sorry, but I made more than that as a grocery cashier 7 years ago (nm)
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I've made in the upper 40s and low 50s for several years now.
From 2 top nationals. Yes, it is possible.
Can everyone do it? No. Some people are better at it than others. Some can put their headset on, hit that pedal and keep on until it's all done. Others cannot sit still, don't have a very good skill set, are easily distracted or listen to too many complaints by others. Never let others help you decide how to feel about YOUR job.
Some of it will rely on your skill set, your mindset and your self-discipline. Some of it will depend on working for a company that you are comfortable with - comfortable with their set up, how work is divided, their base and incentive pay, etc. If you're upset, you'll not perform as well. If you're unhappy, you'll spend more time being upset than working and being productive.
Are they kidding, made $1.25 per report over 20 years ago. nm
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I've made $35,000 for the years I worked there. SM
I would have to kill myself for $50,000 and I don't choose to do that. I give you credit if you were able to achieve it.
The pay rate has been lowered there now, due to SR. The rate of pay at MQ has always been higher, but this field is dying out where ever one goes.
What about those who made 12 cents a line only a few years ago
you have no problem with reduction in pay, are you serious? making less money is truly okay with you because you sympathize with those poor administors and owners of the companies who should have the money instead.
I respect your talking about bad work habits but what type of transcription to you do, what percent ESL may I ask? You do realize it is not humanly possible to jump through all the hoops just right now to make that kind of money, not unless you are lucky enough to work on 'good accounts' which are usually saved for those who also do QA, and for new people or whoever gets or however they get it I have no idea.
you must type so many lines a day, but your quality better be 98-100% or you lose benefits and pay and also you must never complain or speak up about anything or you will get the worst dictation on the system only to have your work gone over with people who are paid hourly so they can pretend quality is what matters when we all know what really matters is the hospital saving money for the CEOs and their families.
if anyone cared about the patients, I mean truly cared about the patients as we are expected to do, the whole system would not have gone to capitation and nonprofit to a for-profit business. Halls in hospitals would not be filled with patients who have no one to help them and who lie there moaning and groaning while the nursing staff is cut back to less than skeleton crew, or any kind of ancillary service is outsourced and moved out of the hospital to save money, no matter that elderly people suffer because they may not be able to drive all over.
I could go on and on but it no doubt will be lost on where you are at.
This country seems to be becoming more 'sadistic' and less compassionate day by sorry day.
where were people like you when the money was flowing freely, were you protesting for lower pay - do you want to take lower pay right now because I am sure your boss will oblige...
I made 8 cpl when I worked for them 3 years ago. The ESLs were really horrendous, though.
Even the English speaking docs were bad. I just couldn't make any money with those accounts. Maybe things have changed in 3 years, but it was not a pleasant experience for me. It was my very first MT job.
They have not had ICs in 5 years but the decision was just recently made to have PT employees. sm
There are pretty strict guidelines they are adhering to with regard to part-timers. They must have a set schedule of 8 hours one weekend day or 8 hours both weekend days and 4 hours at least 3 evenings per week. The days have to be the same every week.
So if you are looking for say MWF 6-10p and all day Saturday, it would work well for you. If you are looking to work whenever you want, it would not.
Why should I go back to making 9 cpl when I make 11 cpl now?? I made 8 cpl over 12 years ago.
nm
Guess my 28+ years over your 2
equals an extra cent per line. Last week, I was offered 7cpl for cardiology and they wanted someone with extensive experience which I do, was in on the original forms back in the day setting up echos and caths, etc. I think the american based companies are counting on us being desperate, just offer us a tiny bit more than they are making in India. unfortunately, our cost of living is not a tiny bit more. The lady doing the hiring even apologized for what they were offering.
Have done VR now for some years and guess what?
The same hospital, same platform and VR for some reason seems to just go quirky every once in awhile. This is something new my VR just started- under final diagnoses it usually would put 1 and then go to 2, now it has started messing up and misnumbering, having the first diagnoses besides final diagnoses and then the 1 that should be 2 is numbered 1 so then have to go down the list and renumber all. Another thing, has forgotten to put in periods in the last several months- even with the person saying it and then the next word is capitalized like it should be but I have to put in that period. Sometimes now will capitalize The patient in the middle of a sentence as it knows usually the patient is starting off a sentence. If I were you, knowing how long I have been doing VR now, I would not worry at all. Even though mine is exceptionally good, it does revert back for ?? reasons off and on. The mistakes I see now are not the same as say 6 months ago.
I worked there for abour 4-1/2 years and made excellent money.
I hated to leave but I was only scheduled PT but allowed to work up to 40 hours a week as I wanted. Certain family obligations made me have to choose between FT at Spheris or my local accounts and I chose my local accounts.
I was pulling in about $40,000 a year.
If you made a graph of all the things taken away by Edix/Speris in the last 5 years.....
You would be shocked, although it has been 6 years since it started.....
first charging for errors, about 6 years ago (they stopped that), then insurance changed for the worst, regrading hospitals to their advantage so you would make at least 200. to 300 less a pay period, the list is long, long, long. I can go back 6 years up to 2 years ago when I finally left.
In REPLY TO: What do you call 6.5 cents?? - Geeze, when I started out 15 years ago, I made 8 c
6.5 was the offer for one place and the second offer was 9 cents. I chose the second offer :). Rough out there indeed! There are even places paying per report now... I saw 75 cents, $1.10, $1.15 and $1.25. Ain't good for Rad.
I guess 17 years of ortho exp. isn't good enough for them
Made 1200-1600 per week paid on a gross line for 5 years!
It CAN be done. The key is either a really high line rate or canned text over and over again with very small accounts. I had a little of both and then some harder stuff thrown in. It also helps if you work like you are on fire most of the day. Needless to say, that gravy train ran out of juice and now I am back to *normal* pay of around $750 per week at another company. SO many variables out there with the *how much do you make?* question.
Isn't Wal-Mart the company that lied/replaced labels several years back with Made in USA? nm
,,
I guess my major dissatisfaction working as an MT for the 15 years -
is that there no other profession I know where everyone usually starts at the same pay, regardless of experience. It is also the only profession I can think of that does not feel compelled to give raises.
There is just so much of MY time spent reading and responding to emails to comply with changes and specifics, switching to backup account, actually doing text on VR reports to make them accurate and not getting paid for it at text CPL, no work, downtimes, etc, etc, etc. that I don't even get paid for. Afraid to keep track of my time working and trying to manage my work and figure how much I make an hour that if I did, I would probably jump off the nearest bridge. (No responses on that - I have other skills and will get out of MT and head to another type of job before I resort to this).
I started my last job at the same rate as those joining the company with 2 years' experence. Haven't had a raise in 5 years.
I don't want to hear back that we are fortunate to work at home. I know any poster that comes back with this works in management, so spare us all your thoughts on that. The MTSOs don't have offices big enough to house their MT staff. They don't pay for our computers and generally not our internet, do not pay for our utility bills, virus protection and would have some hefty bills if we were all working in their office and they had to pay these bills - SO they do come out rather well -they just don't know how to share profits. Our cost of living goes up - no raises to reflect that at all. I am back to thinking greed is driving the MTSO businesses - but have known that probably for a lot of years. 3 CPL for VR some places and lucky to get 8 cpl for text - give me a break. Ready to throw in the towel.
And MTSO managers, supervisors, team leads, if you are reading this, please do not send me another IM with your picture sitting on a beach. That constitutes you had made enough money to take a vacation - I don't and I actually do the work, am a skilled professional with lots of knowledge, and this implies you got to take a vacation - you guessed it - ain't been able to afford one of those for a few years now. Put a picture of you at a keyboard or pulling your hair out over a bad dictator;-) which is what MTs go through on a daily, if not hourly, basis.
I havent heard a word about an incentive and I have worked there almost 2 years so I guess I didnt
qualify for whatever status you needed to get an incentive. Is this something you get every pay period if you meet a quota or just something quarterly. Just curious.
Getting out of this field -
It's just a matter of time before my company sends works oversees, and I REFUSE to correct Indian, Irish, Phiillipino, or any other foreigners work for half my pay. It's just a matter of time before this all blows up. Let them figure it out. If they want us Americans back - they will have to PAY big time! I'm looking into another field as well.
I'm obviously in the field too...
I've never seen all of these so-called problems you are talking about and I do plenty of those same reports everyday as well. Slippage occurs when someone with a Lap-Band decides to eat so much they force themselves to vomit. It's extremely rare. I'm willing to take the risks rather than be morbidly obese and hardly living as it is.
I don't think it's just this field
I think it's human nature. I used to hang out on the General Hospital board on ABC.com (I'm a soap opera geek) and it amazed me at how nasty some of those women would be to other posters who weren't quite up to snuff. I've seen all out board wars develop. If it was a full moon and I was PMSing, I enjoyed the spectacle, but most of the time I got a little disgusted with them. Don't even get me started on how nasty it got before the election.
I do get surprised at some of the negativity that is posted here, but I can understand how it's hard to be really super positive in today's world.
You know what's going on in this field, right?
This is how MTSOs are going to squeeze ALL American MTs out of the field. We are an 'unnecessary' expense for them. They don't care about quality transcription. They care about driving quality cars and living in quality homes in quality neighborhoods. And who cares about the client, and screw the worker. The sooner they can price us out of the field, the sooner they can ALL go 100% to India.
If they do that, I think it should be mandatory that they, TOO, must leave the U.S. Set up their godforsaken offices in INDIA, and move there themselves. It's a travesty to our country that these MAGGOTS feel they even deserve to live here.
So that it narrows down the field when they look into
It really shouldn't be that hard to find out which female MLS started 4 months ago with 15 years experience and is making 10 cpl, since 10 cpl is NOT a normal starting wage at Transcend. You are aware that discussing your wages is ground for termination, right? You really have to be careful when trying to get those referral bonuses that you give accurate information.
That is the problem with the MT field...
Everyone is always bickering and knows it all. I am by no means a recruiter. I was just reading the posts, had been there myself, and thought I would offer some friendly advice, but some people think they know everything and try to discourage others from something good. Sad world today. Sad people.
Disgrace to the whole field!
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I could have written this myself. I'm looking into a new field. nm
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Finding another field
My heart goes out to all you Heartlanders along with all the others in all fields who have lost jobs to cheap overseas labor. It looks like there is soon going to be absolutely NO JOBS for Americans. Seems all the jobs that can't be offshored are considered jobs Americans won't do or there aren't enough qualified people, the dandy explanations for greedy corporate America hiring illegals, or what is it? HR2 visas? to fill the jobs that can't be exported. America is in a world of hurt and God help those trying to raise children and give them a better life than you have, which is the true American Dream.
It is just a different field to break into now...
I have only been an MT for 4-1/2 years, and I am happy to hear that you found a job that you are happy with and making a good wage at.
However, to say that because MTs are not happy has something to do with their skills does an injustice to hardworking MTs. There are some of us who do 12-hour days, too.
The field is totally different that what it used to be. You can ask a majority of seasoned MTs, and they will tell you that wages are going down and the cost of benefits is becoming outrageous. It can take you almost 2 weeks to earn enough money to pay for family insurance. Couple that MTSOs who are making contracts with companies for acute care work when they have only hired transcriptionists with clinic experience, and you have some very overstressed MTs just trying to make a living. I have felt since starting I am being pushed to gain 10 years experience for each year I work. Some days you just wake up, go to work, and you are on a totally different account, totally different work type, and totally different part of the country with no warning.
Since starting in this profession, I have worked on over 20 different accounts in all areas of the country. Not only have I been required to learn medical transcription (and I have done all report types right through the OP notes), I have had to learn umpteen physician groups, hospitals in those areas, nursing homes, drug stores, county social service units...you name it.
I have consistently good quality scores, and I usually work at least 1-1/2 times my required production. I have been with my company close to 3 years, work nights and holidays, and have given up more family time than I care to consider. However, I just saw an ad where my employer is offering 10 cpl to do discharge summaries while I am doing consults for a clinic no one in the company wants to touch because of the difficulty factor, and they will not raise me above 7.5 CPL.
On top of that, I had to darn near beg today to have a technical problem taken care of that was preventing me from working. It was a 2-minute fix that took almost 40 minutes to resolve because our customer service kept telling me I wasn't even working as I had no jobs checked out and my boss kept switching her MSN messenger to say she was busy or away.
Do I feel disrespected and underpaid? YUP!
That is my reality.
yes, but when you have to go from field 1 to 20 it's "faster" to use
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From out of left field....
Sent my resume to, received an email from, and then a telephone interview with Landmark. They made me a very nice offer which piqued my interest, so I went with them instead of either Superior Global or Diskriter.
Thanks so much for all of the advice on SGS and DR. I was seriously debating between the two when the Landmark offer dropped into my lap.
I started today and so far everyone has been fantastic. I'll keep everyone posted.
Thanks again!!!
"I have been in this field for over 3 decades..."
BUSTED!!!!
Yikes!
Run for the hills! Don't get suckered into joining them cuz they may offer 10 cpl as it is not worth it; also not worth sacrificing every weekend for chump change. They say they offer competetive wages in their ads but yet they don't offer incentive or shift differential. No wonder everyone leaves as there are greener pastures.
Yikes!
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Yikes.
I can't see any MTSO getting involved in this. I know plenty of MTSOs or their loyal workers read here. I warn people when I can and give credit to a good company when I run across them. If a company worries you, don't work for them. There are hundreds of companies to choose from. :-)
Yikes.
That is just terrible!
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