mean black character on white paper
Posted By: . on 2009-07-08
In Reply to: Black AND white (sm) - MT
also called virtual black character or VBC. Spaces not paid for. Never do it. This is just horrible.
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I don't think so. What you see on paper or on the screen in black and white.
If it were me, I certainly would ask specifically the HR person or MTSO. Pick up the phone, dial their number, and ask. Never take a job, unless you know how and what you are getting paid for.
I do believe it means without spaces, but I could be wrong. Things change so fast in this industry, what it means one day, does not necessarily have the same definition tomorrow.
I emailed and asked. Said it was 65-character line with spaces or black and white.
clear as mud.
I would think that black and WHITE means they pay for both black characters and spaces.
There is no such thing as a white character. But I would definitely clarify this in your interview.
Black and white. nm
black and white?
I understand what you are saying about transcription being black and white, but I have to disagree. While transcription itself is pretty straight forward, there are many different fields that require the same service.
To say that someone with no medical transcription experience does not need additional training does not make sense to me. I have dealt soley with psych. transcription and won't fool myself into thinking that once I've done one area, I've done it all.
If you go to websites of top online companies, they specifically say that any other transcription experience outside of MT does not apply towards years of experience required for employment and my conversations with them have confirmed that.
I appreciate all of you who have given me honest, useful and valid information. It will definitely influence my decision! thanks again!
Black AND white (sm)
Doesn't that mean white (or spaces) are paid for?
Black and white characters
I worked for a company that used the DQS software and I never could get my line counts, even though I typed like a fiend! In an 8-hour shift, I could get maybe 800 to 900 lines with that program. The way my company said, is Black and White characters, which means no spaces. I didn't get any credit for the ADT screens either.
Hope this helps.
Definitely is spaces include, black and white.
Indeed it is.
That doesn't explain black and white lines.
If not employed there we can't as a supervisor, but if the recruiter says black and white lines wouldn't that be just the black characters on a white page? No spaces.
It means characters that are printed in black and white - no spaces included. nm
x
Visual black character perhaps
You might want to check to see if they have switched to no spaces and are paying the VBC method. That could account for such a drastic cut. It would not be surprising to me at all. I am always more than appalled when companies do this on their own without notification or at client request without feeling the need to inform the MTs. Do they think that we do not notice that we are working harder than previously for less?
Visible black character spaces
I work for a company that only pays VBC and let me tell you it takes forever to get that line count. In my opinion that space bar does not move by itself. Getting cheated but I need the job.
VBC= virtual black character link
a bit hard to understand but those out there are sure using the calculators. This was on the internet and note this VBC listed on a job listing.on MTStars. Not only have to provide expensive Lanier equip and provide free long distance to their clients but lower line pay. See how they keep lowering their business client cost. and pass it on to the MT
Posted By: K&R Consulting, Inc on 2009-06-30
We currently have several fulltime positions available for acute care MTs with a minimum of 3 years exp and exp with ESL.
Equipment required - Dictaphone or compatible Cphone and unlimited long distance.
Start dates of 8/10 and 8/18 available.
Pay is 9 cents on a 65 VBC line.
Please send resume to resumes@knrconsult.com i
visible black character (VBC) spaces not counted SM
I just ran across this as bit long article but it is worth saving to your PC and reading a bit at a time. I recall posting that Probity used this, I posted this meant NO SPACES and somebody came back and said they do pay for them. Boy they are really really making extensive calculation, guess always have and we did not know it.
Last year, KLAS reported that the industry appeared to be moving towards a standard
pricing model based on visual black characters (VBC), especially given the joint announcement from AHIMA and MTIA endorsing the adoption of VBC. The vision was for the VBC to be used to develop service level agreements, benchmark internal
transcription performance, foster better business relationships with the MTSOs, and improve the tools for evaluating and selecting MTSO partners. However, based on this body of research, adoption of this standard has been slow and billing per line is still the predominant approach.
http://www.californiahia.org/Content/ul/8694//Kivi_Dale_Transcriptions_New_Standards.pdf
VBC - visible black character - no spaces, returns,
It reduces your pay by about 30%, because you still have to hit the spacebar and return even though you are not paid for it.
Cquence pay is 65-character with NO spaces, only black characters which equates to
approximately 1.5 to 2 cents per line less than 65-character with spaces.
Ask what is a line. I was offered 6 clp for a 42 black character line sm
that seemed to strange, but really it was not so bad. Came out pretty close to a 65 k/s line at 8.5 to 9.
Wouldn't the white mean spaces? nm
x
Anyone with any info on Proscribe Transcription out of White, GA?
They have an ad on job seeker's board.
"making some young white hotshot"
Wow....and I thought I had issues! 
I worked for a guy who owned a landscape nursery who was just like that though...He was younger than most everyone there and couldn't have weighed 90 pounds soakin' wet AND he had to look up at all of us (barely made 5 feet!)...it was so hard to keep a straight face when he got all upset and pissy over something. You'd never see him walking around his domain to keep an eye on things...uh oh. He'd be tooling around in his Bobcat shouting orders from over a bullhorn. Oh my god it was a riot!
To be fair to the above poster, $11/hour gross is kinda low though, so I can see how someone would be tweeked at that.
Probity also. "Black on white" means no spaces
.
TT - ext text. Why are some voice jobs gold/yellow instead of white? nm
The paper says 45 days.
I hope it isn't 45 working days.
paper work
I currently work for Phoenix and the paper work they send is for your use. It explains the doctors accounts and also has examples of the doctor work, so when or if you have a question, you can refer to these files. It is your choice to print them out or not.
I believe they have both, DD and paper check.
Extext and Escription, in my opinion, are the best platforms out there. Extext is a little more difficult, but Escript is totally awesome and very user friendly. TTS has had pay issues in the past (which you will find a lot of negative posts on here regarding that). I have worked here for almost a year now and have never had a single issue with my paycheck. Always on time! Feel free to email me if I can help further.
I haven't seen an MT job in the paper since the mid-80s!
X
carbon paper... sm
Not just onionskin but erasable onionskin... oh, yay!
Pale green eraser pencil with brush on the other end for boo-boos.
I'm going to bet that most dictators under the age of 40 have absolutely NO idea what they mean when they say CC to Dr. Jones...
If you are an IC, the printer, ink and paper are tax
x
First check will probably be paper
NM
I think the first one is paper check. nm
nm
and .... that is no different than with paper records, so ...
nm
No. The paper they make you sign
says $125 (I guess to reimburse them for sending it to you in the first place) and for returning it.
Do be aware . . . paper checks only! (sm)
They don't offer direct deposit, just mailed, typed, handsigned checks, which can be very hard to cash.
They don't communicate very well -- hard to get someone after 3pm EST if you have a problem.
At least one of their major accounts still uses a DOS platform and requires you to have this weird token thing that changes passwords every few minutes to log in. You also have to get their footpedal and software. So, if you're using their tools, their token, etc., how can you be an IC (since part of the definition of an IC is that you provide your own tools)? Another company the IRS needs to look into, IMHO.
The DOS platform is so slow you can't make any kind of lines. Instant Text works, but there is no way to save normals.
My son was about 17 when he asked me what carbon paper was! nm
X
That's funny didn't know they had it in the paper
I was told they recently moved somebody from another dept within the company to fill that position. She is definitely entry level, completely different field. Just goes to show.....
We may not have had to type on sticky paper
but MTs breaking into this business have their own set of challenges. I am a little tired being looked down on as a new MT, only 5 years, because it is so much easier. I beg to differ.
I went to school to be an MT. I have under my belt a 2-year Associates degree in Medical Transcription and a CareerStep class. I was hired by a national company who promised me a constant account with 2 backups, and I did not lie about my experience. I was at goal my first day of traning and have always had QA scores above the required average.
In return, I went to work and printed sample after sample after sample as we had over 100 doctors in my primary account alone. I learned new voices, new ways of pronouncing medications, and that some people still use kilograms as a unit of measurement. I faithfully made note of every blank I left and its correction so it would not be a blank again. I studied not only transcription but the other doctors names, specialties, area hospitals, local physicians, nursing homes, lakes and recreational facilities, highway and route numbers, and pretty much every possible place a person could work in the area.
My secondary account did not get as much attention initially, but 6 months after I started, my account was yanked and sent to India (where they no doubt know more about US geography than I do), so I repeated the process over again. So far I had made it a year and learned clinic notes, routine procedures (sometimes called OP notes), consultations, and ER transcription.
I had not lied about my experience, but it really didn't matter because one day I woke up, went to work, and was getting discharge summaries from a teaching hospital that I have never heard of. I was told that since I am doing so well that it was time to move on. LOL...it was more like no other team in the company could type that account so we got it. I typed it, cried, and typed it some more. Pretty soon, I was literally not making enough money to pay my bills after I paid my health insurance. I was not making my quota, which I had always regularly exceeded, and I was worried that I was going to lose my job for not producing. By the way, I am at a whopping 6.5 cents a line at this point.
I went looking for a job. I was recruited by a smaller MTSO by their president. He said that they were very supportive, like one big happy family, and they jump on a conference every month just to hash out any issues they have. I even got a 1 cpl raise. WOW...but, I am 3 months short of your 2-year minimum exeperience requirement. (I didn't lie).
I got the job anyway, and after 3-1/2 years, I have never jumped on a big ole conference call or had the opportunity to hash out any issues. Since being there, I have learned 10 accounts (repeat above learning process times 10), and I am still one of the highest producing MTs they have.
Again, I was handed a gift by my MTSO. I was given the opportunity to work on their self-described second hardest account because I was doing so well. Again, the message was sent by waking up one day and seeing it in my queue. I decided to be a team player because the company line is if you can do this, you can do anything. You will make bank.
Eventually, I was given another opportunity to help out on an account. This soon became my primary account because no one they trained on it could do it, and the account I was hired to do (and loved) was given to someone else. I figured if I was doing harder work (and the hardest they had),after 3 years I should get a raise.
No, I couldn't have a raise because they still had my primary account related to my pay scale. It didn't matter that even if I begged, I couldn't get that work. I was still what they considered a Level 1 MT. Shame on me, I went looking for another job.
I held that job for 1-1/2 weeks. I spent 3 days in training after waiting 2-1/2 months for my computer to arrive. It then took me another week to track down my production supervisor to be able to start working and get samples for my account. In our phone call, she apologized for taking so long (insert baby crying), but she was very busy as they had taken away her assistant and not replaced her (insert long pause as she IMs someone else). She was very hard to get a hold of now (insert baby crying again) but she would do what she could to get me started. I typed for 5 days and had 3 unanswered questions that were critical to me doing my work. I came back after a 2-day break to an e-mail that she was going to be gone for a week at a production supervisor meeting. Yes, I quit and without notice.
I was wise enough now to have not given up my current contract, and I decided to accept that they were going to pay me when they felt like it, but I was not going to take Level 1 pay for doing Level 3 work. I assumed that account full-time in June. I was off almost $800 that month even with the increased line rate (so much for making bank). By September I was back up to the production that was normal for me and raised my contract to 14,000 lines. Then last week, my boss tells me that we are backed up in OPs in this account.
I said that I would take them on as I had been practicing on them for quite some time. As I expected, my production dipped again. I knew I was not going to make 7000 lines, and I IM'd my supervisor that if I was going to be set for all OPs, I would need to readjust my contract back down.
The tizzy fit that she threw defies description, and I am back wishing for a new job. I told her simply that either we are in trouble for not meeting production or we are in trouble for not being a team player. I cannot produce 7000 lines of OP notes in a week, and I am not being terminated for not meeting my contract goals.
Is it fair that you have a single priority report that needs to be typed, and all I have to do is read the account notes (all xxx pages) and type it, BUT you are going to bash me if my production is off.
It is really easy for the MTSO
or management or whoever does it to complain that the quality isn't there or line counts aren't being met but wouldn't consider paying an ounce of training time to compensate you.
My husband is also self-employed. If I said to him, I know you regularly make xxx dollars an hour, but this is an emergency, and you are the only one who could do it, so would you mind spending 20 or 30 minutes learning how to do this. I know you may never have to do it again, and I won't pay you any more than what I normally would no matter how long it takes you, but would you do it to be a team player? I would STILL be taking that flying leap.
When you were back typing on sticky paper, did you regularly worry that you were going to have to stay an extra hour in the evening because the report you were on was taking too long? Did you spend your evenings researching doctors in Bullhead City, Arizona, and Columbus, Ohio, and in some little known town in Louisiana that has a clinic but barely even a zip code? Did you have to use Mapquest as one of your transcription tools so you could figure out where this guy on this account is from? Did your boss come to you and say there is a clinic 300 miles away that is behind, and I volunteered you to do their work? Don't leave, now, until you have 1000 lines in. And don't WHINE.
PS...how do you know they don't whine in India.
so, it wasn't put on paper that you are terminated
nm
Saw on paper that pay was only 6 - 8.5 cpl. Is that what you guys will be starting at, or staying
m
On the front page of my morning paper
http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/214991
I see a big ad in my paper for Heartland IS, many bad reviews on this board.
Stuff about them being sold and on their website is a big picture of....India? I am sort of new to the business, one of the MQ SE in the middle of the shuffle. Are there any companies that are stable? I am tired of stress. 
Tradeoff between paper use and system speed (sm).
If I have too many reference lists up in Excel and Wordpad, my system bogs down; Microsoft products are such memory hogs.
Any Spheris employees get paper checks?
Just had my direct deposit changed to a paper check. Since payday is tomorrow, am wondering how long it will take to get my check--I am only two states away from HQ. Thanks!
Any Spheris employees get paper checks
Wow, I was expecting it Monday. That's good to hear!
I DID type on sticky paper and an IBM Selectric
Yes, I did stay an extra hour because a report was too long. The difference was I got paid for it and appreciated for it.
I agree with you. The cheap exploitation of the third world has driven a high percentage of this field into filthy trash and many of those managing it into slumlords. It went from MTs working from home to fill a need to just dirty bloodsucking middlemen looking for a place to weasel into and make a buck off the backs of others.
What do you mean that you have Thanksgiving with your family? What do you mean that your arms or back hurt after no time off for months? What do you mean that you need time off for a mammogram? Geeze. It's sick. It's just disgusting. I'm in it only because I've done it so long I'm not quite sure what else to do. I'm back at a hospital so I can be a PERSON again. The difference is night and day. I'm finding the hospitals are grossing-out on it, too, and outsourced MTs are thought of as those poor things and somewhat pitiful. Like a necessary evil they are trying to figure a way around.
LOL .. I'll bet you are write. UGH on the carbon paper ... sm
We typed in triplicate, so had to correct 3 documents each time I made a mistake. Forget the good old days in this case ... I am going to give my PC a big hug right now! 
Webmedx first pay date DD or paper check?
Just wondering. I know every place does something different. I asked my STM, and she is trying to find out for me, but i thought this might be faster.
I wish I had kept the article out of the paper on Transcend outsourcing
The home office located (as you might know) close to Atlanta and it was listed as a top company for Georgia but was I surprised when the person speaking made no bones about their outsourcing and the reason they STATED for it, lack of American MTs. Well, ladies, who do you feel about that? I am sure someone posting on MTstars has this article because they did last time. Hopefully they can quote word for word.
Black Lists?
No, I don't believe there is such a thing. Then, do companies talk to each other about former employees? Yes, sometimes that happens. It's simply the course of doing business. It's called a network and often called checking your references.
As for recruiters not knowing each other, at any given AAMT meeting there will be 5 to 20 companies exhibiting, each with their recruiter there. Of course they get to know each other. It is, again, about networking.
I am curious, though. If MTs can create a blacklist for companies, what would be wrong with employers doing it??
black characters?
Sounds like no spaces counted to me.
Pot - Kettle - Black
Shelley,
Talk about bad business practices.
Your post is blatant example of the pot calling the kettle black. Just how marketable have you made yourself posting openly this gripe about your former employer you left months ago. Perhaps you may sway a few MTs from applying with D&L, but I bet your post instead turns many more prospective employers away from you.
Next time, think before you speak.
Anyhow, good luck to you.
Current D&L IC
- always paid in full and on time.
Pot-kettle-black
What's true is true, and I can't change that for you...however, it hasn't hurt my marketability in the least. Thank you so much for your concern.
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