"Pay for stat work"
Posted By: skylineduo on 2005-08-22
In Reply to:
What is the "going rate" for stat transcription? I work for a hospital and get calls for stat work at all hours but do not get paid for this extra service. Would love to hear from other MTs as to what they are paid for this service. Really getting tired of it, but it is my largest account - still it's not worth sitting by the PC or phone all day just in case they might have a stat! 
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Maybe a stat stat because patient is going to surgery or being transferred somewhere immediately? nm
s
IC STAT work
We generally find out when our ICs will be working on our accounts and ask that they be available for STAT work. If they are not available within one hour of the request, we have one of our editors pick it up.
Oh, that's hilarious - a STAT STAT! Never heard THAT one before!!! Heheheheh
Yes, I do "pay my own taxes" as do you
and it works out to considerably more than $13 an hour. Your bad math and jealousy will have no effect on my standard of living, so you might as well keep your ignorance to yourself.
Template "pay"
Tell them this: Transcriptionists have to be smart enough to know when to use the template and when to remove parts of it, when to question if it should be used at all for a particular report. They also must be smart enough to create it, maintain it and smart enough when to let the doctor know when his style changes so as to "update" the template.
Also tell him that you drive both ways to pick up and deliver, you are his "clerk" evidently and print his work, probably print envelopes and fax, and save his work correctly for his use or recall on your computer. All these things would cost him money too if he had to pay for them separately. Call around in your area and find out how much a courier service would be to pick up and deliver. Time how long the "clerk things" take. Clerks in my area earn approximately $10.00/hour. Find out how much the going rate is for archiving with timely backups and "free reprints."
I too have an account where I too pick up, deliver, where they use archaic tapes (against my will), and expect me to archive all their work, print reports, envelopes, and fax. In general, I am their secretary. They pay me well for this service and I give them a good product. I have told them I would be glad to lower my rates if they would please go digital. The doctor says no digital because he "does not trust it" and "does not want to learn it." I said fine, and when your tapes break then from now on you will pay to have them re-spooled (in my area it is 85.00 to have one done). It has since happened and they paid. If he forgets to change his batteries and the tape is horrible he has to re-dictate it. He does. So, if they want to pay you for your services fairly and quit complaining then stay there. If they whine and badger you then I say tell them to knock it off or you will leave and find some other client who will appreciate you and your work and be willing to pay you the going rate without politics. Some things in this life are just not worth it and this may be one of them.
Remind them too of how much you could type and earn if you did not have to pick up and deliver. In my case it is about $50.00 worth. I recently raised my rate because of high gas prices. You should do the same when you need to and feel no guilt. They don't feel guilty when they send you the bill for an office visit where you were seen for five minutes and they charge $150.00 and you are an established patient, do they now?
Sorry. That should be "pay" all of my own taxes. nm
nm
I remember in Weekly Reader the article discussing "pay TV" and how we didn't see that anyb
would ever pay money to watch TV. I always thought it would be in a coin box on top of the TV set. I couldn't imagine having enough money to do that.
Weekly Reader also predicted that one day we'd go to the store and pay with a card instead of money, that our money would be "virtual" and stay in the bank.
That was about 1960. It was actually a pretty close prediction.
How about....a STAT that's hot?? SM....
Ya' know, Paris Hilton's always saying, "THAT'S HOT!!" Maybe your boss is trying to be a Paris wannabe and figures if she says "HOT STAT!" that's her way of being "HOT!"
Ugh! A STAT, no doubt!
When I used to do hospital dictation, there was one MD whose dictations were always in the 20- to 30- minute range. What was worse was that he was the kind with long pauses followed by speed-dictated phrases. That's my least-favorite style. And he'd have the audacity to mark many dictations STAT. I think there should be a rule that 9 minutes is the longest a STAT report can go on, so the Transcriptionist has time to do the other, real STATs!
"HOT" STAT please ?
 Supervisor keeps referring to a "hot" STAT. What the heck is she trying to elucidate?? 
HOT STAT TO "MTme"
 To MTme: I'm perfectly aware that I can ask the person this question. HOWEVER, perhaps you cannot understand that I only broached the question here in this FORUM to inquire whether or not ANYBODY else IN THE GENERAL MT WORLD had ever heard of this phrase. Do you have some kind of problem with my asking this question? Get over it!!!!
STAT dictations
Re: Stat dictations. Does anyone out there charge extra for STAT dictations that come in during the day so that we have to put aside what we are working on and type a STAT letter/document and send in? This sort of thing can keep one behind in Turn Around Time if it happens on a regular basis. If anyone charges extra for STAT dictations coming in, what would be a good fee to charge for these besides the line count?
Ginny
After typing the STAT, do you have to
take it to them the next morning also???? When I worked for a doctor as an IC who used tapes, I charged double when I had to scan a tape. It wasn't much, but they did not call too often for them; and I did not have to take the report in. I just e-mailed it to them and they waited for the original to get there.
If you have to then drive it over to them out of your normal time to do so, I would charge them mileage at least and double the rate you charge per line/report, whatever.
However, if this is a constant thing, I agree with the other poster, charge them by the hour to look for the dictation.
P.S. As an IC, you are allowed to set your hours. They cannot force you to work when you don't want, unless it is in your contract that you are on call 24/7.
Stat reports
Since they are still on tapes and it is an office and not an entire hospital, can they que the tapes for surgical patients, or can they put next day surgical patients on a seperate tape? It might take some training on their part but I worked for a group of 11 Radiologists and we did get them trained to use a different tape for in-patient vs outpatient reports. Seems like if they want you to get the reports to you for the next days surgery that they need to implement a procedure in the office for identifying where those patients are on a tape. If they were on a different type of system it would be a different story.
How much easier it would be for to to have one that that is nothing but next day surgeries that need to be transcribed stat, beats searching all through a bunch of tapes.
STAT reports
Right - the MT profession has changed a lot since the inception of offshore outsourcing, VR, salaries going down instead of up, and sadly there are those MTSOs taking advantage of the situation, especially with today's economy and in effect saying, "Like it or lump it, you're lucky to have a job." and whom I would tell likewise, "So are you." So its often hard to draw the line, and it is often a fine line, between bending over backwards to do your job and feeling exploited.
As for refusing to do a STAT job on maybe the weekend, well, this should be made clear up front before hire ... will you or won't you? I agree with the former poster re. family ... when my late husband was still around, and he was essentially bedridden and required care 24/7... he came first, even though I had a full-time schedule to maintain with production requirement. But if my supe should call me for a rare STAT job to be done, he/she must have had a reason. One Christmas, a supe from my company (whom I did not know) asked me to do a STAT radiology job (I wasn't even on the radiology account) bec. a patient was waiting to go to surgery and they needed the MRI report before they could do the rather urgent surgery. While I don't defend all of a company's actions all of the time, if a supervisor calls me in the middle of the night for a STAT report, I know there must be a good reason for it. 
try a dermatologist! and/or internist stat.
x
Going rate for stat notes
I was wondering if anybody had any information on what the going rate for stat reports currently is? On MTJobs there is a posting for 14 cents per line for stat work and I was wondering if this is the norm.
Kay :)
Did you type that stat report? What did you say
x
Yes I did type the STAT. It is not the patient's
evening. You have to understand that I am a professional. I will not refuse to do work as that adds fuel to the fire. I'll get my money in due time. This field is full of pay-laters! I'm not the only one waiting for my check, I'm sure. 
rate for stat reports
Hey, does anyone on here charge extra for stat reports. I receive work in the evenings and the doctors need some stats done before the next morning for surgery. I wanted to know what the going rate for stats are, as I have to stop what I am doing, work in the evenings, plus, they are on tapes so I have to search the entire tapes looking for the stat reports to type. It is very time consuming and wondered if anyone charges extra for those, more per line, or a flat rate, etc. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
So, if you were dying in the bed and needed a STAT
You wouldn't mind that the person behind the document only cared about the money? You wouldn't care they put a post on this board like "why does anybody do this?"
Patient would feel slapped in the face.
That would be dying you slapped in the face.
I am really shocked and saddened to see who we serve is forgotten for the sake of money. Yes, we have to survive, and we do well. I have 3 jobs, am exhausted, but proud to say I am behind the document to help a very sick child or dying person, or recovering person, or person who was saved from suicide. I guess the idea of self rather than others is prominent around here, but not where I come from. After 27 years in the business I am proud to say I work behind the scenes and give the best I can for the patient, the doc, the nurse, my boss, the patient's family and so forth. After all, I would expect the same for me and my little boy.
Were STAT reports addressed in contract? sm
I had a doctor that did this same exact thing. He would procrastinate on doing reports, or just overbook himself so he never had time to dictate, and then when someone called wanting a report, he'd call me to see if I could do it ASAP. Of course, he didn't want to pay extra for this service, though. He would also call me night or day and expect me to drop whatever I was doing for other (better-paying) clients and do his "urgent" report. I go by the old saying that poor planning on his part does not make it an emergency on my part. I will do it for them IF I have the time and IF they pay a higher rate. Otherwise, I will not cater to this behavior because the poster above is right - they will continue to do it as long as you oblige. You have to be the one to set the boundaries. Get voice mail and caller ID if you don't already have and screen your calls. I found that sometimes just waiting a few hours before calling them back allowed them to calm down and realize it's not the end of the world, and they'd then say it was okay to get in by the next day or whatever. Sometimes it's not so much that it's a stat report in terms of the patient's need but that they need it to get paid, in which case they'll sometimes back down if you quote a higher rate or tell them you simply cannot fit it in right then. Same doc would pile me up with a week's worth of dictation and expect it all back in 12 hours, too, so it was an overall mentality with him that he wanted everything done NOW. It wasn't even humanly possible most of the time but try getting them to see that. You should have no social life, after all, and live to work! LOL
Good luck with that. I got rid of the client that did it to me. He felt I should be at his beck and call but argued the rate at every turn, and it wasn't that much to begin with so it wasn't worth the aggravation! Seems like the most demanding ones are usually the biggest cheapskates, too.
rate for STAT reports after hours
I currently work for a group doing transcription all day as an IC. I am delivered my work at night by the office for the next day's work. But, often they have a need for me to do STAT reports that night for surgery the next morning. I work all day full time for them and then have these to do in the evenings too. They also use tapes still and I have to spend and hour or two searching the tapes looking for the dictation to transcribe. It is so frustrating and time consuming on my part and I am making NOTHING for the time I am spending on this, 2-4 bucks tops for an hour or two of work. I just wondered if anyone knew of a good line rate, flat rate, etc. to charge for this turnaround time and the time I have to waste searching through these tapes!!!!! They will not go digital, which would be so much better. Any thoughts???? Thanks in advance.
Rates for working, paid more for stat?
Maybe others but I think mine are probably the average, 8 cents per line for straight and 4 cents per line for VR. My standard 4 are considered history and physicals, operative notes, discharge summaries and consults. A transfer, I think, would be a discharge summary. No extra pay for experience or lack thereof.
stat report. Under PMH: (female) vesiculopublic sling.
Off topic but need STAT ADVISE on deviled eggs
Hi,
I need help as I don't want to make anyone sick LOL. Baby shower tomorrow night, my co-host who was making the deviled eggs along with other things broke her wrist this morning...soooo, I am in a time crunch and would like to know if I can make these things tonight (36), just boil them tonight, maybe do the prep just fill them tomorrow?? I usually make them & take them or serve them, but don't know about preparing them this 24 hrs ahead of time.
Thank any of you experts in advance for your opinions..this is so much easier than trying to call Betty Crocker
2 hr 30 min stat psych eval -- MD paid double rate :) NM
x
You need to charge for this extra service. Stat reports should be charged at a higher rate or per r
Never lose money. I have unlimited long distance and when my docs what things faxed, etc, I charge them per report to fax the document as well as charging them to transcribe it.
I get my work from an FTP site that they load the work to, however I don't have pool work so to
speak, but I tell them how many minutes a day I want. The work is generally put in my box by 5 pm every day, then I have until 10 am the following day for some priority work, or 3:30 pm for the rest, so TAT is not too bad. I would like to work less at night though, but I working on that. My downside is I do not get the same dictators day to day, there are a few I do on a semi-regular basis though, some generate great lines but take longer to do that other doc's and are not "money-makers", I also do not get paid for spaces so that hurts a bit too. This is WP5.1 too.....so very antiquated but that is what the hospital uses, so not much choice there. But I understand what you mean about the C-phone. I was just doing another job with C-phone recently...they incidentally did not tell me how to get off of the system, which was very simple. I'd finish a job, then hit stop and hangup if I wanted to get off or quit working. That is what you need to do if you want to sleep, eat, etc. Don't feel guilty, do what you signed up for, believe me they watch the pools and will get others to do the work you don't finish. If they get on your case remind them that you are only PT and only want 500 lines a day, etc. It's not worth killing yourself over. Good Luck.
You go by your schedule and have no work. Everytime I get on to work, there is always work.
x
Then you would have no life at all except work, work, work if you did that. I wouldn't do it. nm
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Same thing with nationals. You work all the time to keep the account caught up when others dont work
and then when they decide to put a whole lot of extra people on your accounts and run you out they could care less about how much you worked.
Have a hospital I work for and they consistently change work types and do line counts. (sm)
Management just doesn't understand in order to crank out the work you need to be proficient by typing the same accounts. Go figure, they just don't get it ??
Usually work "live" on a Cphone, while connected. There are ways to record & work off line, bu
s
steady work...gearing up to start new account....but there was no work on Tues as it was a holiday
Be patient with your eyes open....
I work for Warminster at MQ and I am sick to death of being jerked around with no work all the time.
I would like a job where I can depend on the work and it does not seem to be in this office of MQ.
Speaking of offshoring MT work, who does not directly send work offshore?
Just curious. Has anyone got a list of companies who do not send work offshore? Precyse? MQ? Spheris?
Becky you work in a great place. With no one hovering, I bet you get a lot more work done w/o agoniz
wants what. The only people qualified to do QA on my reports are the dictating doctors and the rest is just pure waste of money and time. If I have a question fine. But this random QA bites and hurts everyone. BTW, I don't have random QA for those who seem to think I may have an ax to grind. No dog in this fight. Just common sense.
Good. Why dont you send some our way. What office do you work for so I can call and get your work.
:
Before needing to work, I did volunteer work through the Junior League where I am from in Texas. lm
Junior League was like a full-time job sometimes, but I loved it. Now that I have to work, even though it is from home, I still volunteer through my son's school. I am a school teacher in my previous (pre-MT) life, so I volunteer my tutoring services for children who need the help beyond what the schools are able to provide but whose parents cannot afford to pay for private tutoring. I also know how you felt about being afraid. I was strangely afraid before I joined the Junior League. It was just the unknown. But I was SO blessed by being able to help. Honestly, I am sure that it helped me just as much, if not more, than I helped others. Go for it. You won't be sorry. (Just remember that you have to say NO when you have to say no, okay? Remember that and you will be richly blessed by the experience!)
nm would you mind if I asked where you work and what type of work hosp, clinic ?
x
All I know is it caused the company I work for to be unable to do all work due today and the rest
:+
Just return the work, submit your bill, the scurry and find more work elsewhere. sm
They will never meet with you before next week. It is Thursday, already. Be prepared to sue for payment, because you will probably need to. But, most of all, find other work elsewhere, because I have a feeling this final payment will be a long time coming.
I work on Escription platform and the adapter didnt work for me. I tried it on my laptop though
and the foot pedal would just not play correctly with the adapter. I think others have tried it and done it but it just didnt work for me.
IC sets their own hours. As long as the work is done by the deadline, you decide when to work.
Glad I work somewhere where you cannot cherrypick....our work is divvied out by minutes and - sm
the office manager (who does not normally transcribe) dishes out the work, so some days are easy, others are a mix. So no cherrypicking is possible. You type up what is given to you, period. She will alternate the tough one's out so no one person gets him/her all the time unless they want him/her and are used to that doc, or everyone gets a little piece, etc. There are days when I ask for easy work (tired, chemo day, Jen sick, or a lot going on, etc.) but not often, generally I get a mix but they all get easier the more you do them. I am not working as much as I should be of course, every week is different here so I adjust my limited work schedule accordingly, so sometimes it hard to get better at certain docs. I used to have a lot of blanks with the Trauma ER unit, but I have been doing that a lot lately and now and very good at it, still a time consuming account but at least I am improving. ----------------------- But I believe the OP was stating she did it to clear out the log, not to make more lines, and only when she was asked to do so. At an old job I had #s meant everything, everyday we would get report (2=4 x a day) of the backlog, and emails pleading us to work, work, work. The QA rules sucked  (MQ probably is basing their new plan loosly on this one), however we did not get penalized, just chewed out if you sent in too much work to QA (over 5%, and was 80% ESL), I would imagine eventually fired if you continued to do it. They were a great place to work for until they re-organized....it all went downhill from there. This is why I prefer smaller MTSOs, it's not all about the #s, yes, they want production too but at least it's not so cut-throat.
i used to work for a company that divided the work types up and i loved it. sm
there were only 4 of us working a major teaching hospital. someone was assigned surgery, different assigned discharges, different admits, etc. we all had the backup work type in case the original assignee wasn't available and were cross trained. it made us much more efficient, ability to get used to dictators, set macros, and in the long run we were all much happier.
Used to work in Cooperstown, NY - and on the way to work is a huge turkey farm
It made me never want to eat turkey again - seeing them all cramped up against the fence and cages, packed tightly, no room to move. Actually, it made me want to do some harm to the farmer who found this acceptable.
Do not work for Amherst if you can work for any other office in MQ. It is terrible. They overload
accounts terribly. We are always running out of work or need to have 8 or 9 backups to get lines in. This is the way it is. There may be a few out there that it is different but I do acute care and was just transferred there along with my office and everyone in my office is in the same boat. Not a good deal at all.
An MQ recruiter told me yesterday if work is low they "cut off" the work
SEs are doing it. She also told me that it is written in MQ policies
that MQ can let go EMPLOYEES without notice (I'm not saying statutory employees here, I'm saying employees).
You're lucky they work for you. I've never gotten a refill to work right, ever.
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