1500 lines
Posted By: Chavera on 2008-05-25
In Reply to: 1500 lines per day? Is this a realistic line - MTtoQAtoMT
I think 1500 lines a day is realistic as long as the work is there. So it's kind of a mixed message I guess.
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1500 to 2000 lines if doing
medical. If on radiology, 2000 to 3000 plus. I have done as much as 4000 on radiology but that depends on which radiologists I get. We have 5. And no, I don't use a lot of macros, and we have 2 ESL radiologists and probably 90% of our medical dictators are ESL or otherwise horrible dictators.
Well, I just transcribed 1500 lines in 3 hours. sm
I work on the same account every day, same dictators, lots of templated reports I did myself and put them into auto correct. I get up early, start at 7 am and today I was done by 10 am. Cleaning the house now. Also, the line pay is slightly higher than most, so 1500 lines is fine for me today.
On harder days when the account is really behind, I get up and vacuum the house after 3 hours of transcribing then come back for 1 hour. If things are caught up, I stop for the day. If not, I will go back in the evening.
I can't sit for 6-8 hours straight. Making $160 bucks in 3 hours is good for me and enough. Tomorrow is another day!
Use templates and short cuts - that will help! I have whole reports in my auto correct, but you have to listen through and change and correct things as each patient is a different case.
I do have to tell you, I do not get this many lines every day in such short a time. It just happened that today was a good day. 
Hope this helps.
If gross lines average is 1500 nm
nn
I won't quit until I have 1300-1500 lines a day.
slow days take longer
I type no less than 1500 lines in 7 hours
On my slowest day, I will not allow myself to get less than 200 lines an hour. Depending on the worktype, I can type up to 400 lines an hour. It is hard for me to consistently stay at that speed as I have orthopedic issues!!! I also can type extremely fast, (120 wpm). I also use a lot of Expanders and shortcuts.
1500 lines per day? Is this a realistic line
count to be able to make daily in the current MT climate? I have been in MT field for 30 years, with last 10 as QA. I hate it, and can't wait to transcribe again. I am still really fast, never lost my skills thankfully, and can easily hit 1500 lines per 8 hour shift IF the work is there, though. That is the target I would have to hit to even come close to what I am making currently as QA - things are tight on this salary, and can't get much tighter! Do you think most companies have this sort of workload to offer MTs? I used to work for 2 companies 15 years or so ago. Maybe do you think it would be more realistic for me to try to work for 2, or is 1500 lines steadily daily not a big deal? I'm just so used to getting paid hourly, and never having that gut-wrenching fear of running out of work. I don't need benefits at all, so IC is a big possibility. I hope you understand, and I really appreciate your thoughts.  I'm so scared, but have to get out of my current situation at "you-know-where" before I lose my "you-know-what"...  Figured I'd peddle myself off as an MT rather than QA - worry about that down the road at a good company.
1500 lpd, 8 cpl over that nm
xx
I did ($1500)
nm
I use APC XS 1500
Gives me around 45 minutes of time. It has been very reliable!
How do you get 1500 lpd even in...
radiology? I've been tested at 70 wpm with 100% accuracy, use Instant Text, have 20 years experience and good dictators but still can't get 1500 lines per day! Maybe it's because the platform is Meditech and I find it cumbersome. If there is some secret to getting the lines won't somebody please share it!
How long does it take you to get 1500? nm
x
I don't think 1500 is unreasonable...
There are a lot of variables. If you're willing to work as many hours as necessary to attain 1500 lines per day, then that's feasible within a reasonable amount of time. And once used to the account, of course, you'll do that in fewer and fewer hours.
As far as cpl, I haven't seen many ads for companies willing to pay even 8.5, and that's rare. More likely it would be around 7 to 8.
If you want to get your own accounts, depending on your area, you could probably ask for 9.5 to 10 per line and get it.
Also, you may have to work for a few companies to find the right one.
yesterday I had a 1500 second report....nm
Cuba is offering 1500 doctors to help us...
This was posted with a picture in the hurricane slideshow.
Hundreds of Cuban doctors listen to a speech by Cuban President Fidel Castro in Havana, September 4, 2005. The U.S. gave longtime foe Cuba the cold shoulder on Tuesday over its offer to send more than 1,500 doctors to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, which created a humanitarian disaster after pummeling the U.S.Golf Coast. Picture taken September 4, 2005. REUTERS/Claudia Daut
What a disgrace. During times like these, people should be able to set aside their grudges and problems and come together.
I was hired with a 1500 sign on bonus...
and the stipulations were that I got the first $500 after 30 days off of QA and meeting minimal line count, another $500 after 60 days of meeting minimal line count, and the final $500 at 1 year. Of course if a pay period is missed not meeting minimum, there is no more sign on bonus. Hope this helps.
1500, lucky if I make that, lost my motivation, how do you guys do it ?
Never get the same dictators, all the OPs are not the usual appendectomies, T&As, etc, way more extensive, neurosurgery, spinal, etc. Have 2 accounts, over 150 pages of account specifics, 2 systems in and out, type about 1-2 report from backup account, just enough to waste more time closing out of ChartScript and loging into C quence, then back to CS. Typed about 1 H&P this year. I have no normals. Rarely ever get ESL dicators though. Giving myself about another month or two. Lost all motivation. How do you guys do it ? I really need a pep talk. I just can't concentrate any more.
I had to have a bowel resection for a Meckels diverticulum and the surgeon charged 2500 and got 1500
and the hospital bill was 27,000. Until that surgeon gets done paying malpractice, his office costs, taxes, etc. I bet he doesnt get one third of that money plus all the visits I had while in the hospital for 9 days and fu visits. I did have insurance thank God.
Aaahhhh, now I get it. Gross lines vs. Character lines. I guess I've just been conditioned to
think in terms of character lines. One of the perils of working as an IC for somebody who defines what a line is versus owning your own company and defining it yourself. After working for someone else for 15 years, maybe it's time to bust out on my own.
1500-1600 doing acute, multiple, multiple work types. NM
/
That is a lot of work/lines for 2 people. I do 3000 lines per day sm
if you times that by 30 days that only comes to 90K lines a month, that is working 7 days a week including weekends. I don't think 2 people can handle that.
900 lines is below 1100 lines, where the bonus starts.
x
Gross lines include all lines containing
printable characters, so a full line and a line with one word on it are charged equally. Straight lines are basically the same as gross lines, but with this method of counting the blank lines are counted as well (again, equally). I have only had one company pay this way, and they are a middle man. I would think the charge would be about the same as for gross lines, and that not too many offices will want their lines counted this way (the one I worked on was probably inherited from someone who had counted the lines that way, so just continued).
The norm is 1 minute = 10 lines; 10 min = 100 lines - sm
granted this varies per dictator. More lines if a fast talker, less if a slow talker.
I went from 2400 lines to 1800 lines
a day when I switched from clinic (through an MTSO) to hospital work. Not only was the clinic work easier with more macros (and less providers to learn, 12 vs 300+), but I was typing in straight Word (as opposed to Softmed/Chart Script). So you see, it really varies depending upon the type of work as well as the platform used. That said, I am so much happier typing the 1800 lines per day (I make over $15 per hour plus an incentive for any lines in excess of 1200 per day) plus a great health package/benefits, AND approximately 5 weeks of paid time off per year. In my opinion, hospitals really are the best employers WHEN they appreciate the work we do.
My advice for you is not to judge a job by any one criterion but rather the entire picture. The 'extra's can really add up.
Good luck in your job!
Which is the one where they are sc*&ing us the standard lines or the qualified lines? SM
Mine show up as STD when I pull up my transcription log. But I see now there is STD/QT.... So which is the one where they are ripping us off, standard or qualified? Need to know. I am about to switch companies and I will not do if they are actually taking lines from me. Thanks guys.
Question versus gross lines versus 65-character lines....
I have always charged or been paid by 65 or 60 character lines or per letter or space typed, but have never been paid or charged per gross line.
What is the advantage of this? If I were to charge 11 cents per 65-character line including spaces, what does this figure out to for an average line rate and how do you do this calculation?
I'm wondering if it is financially beneficial for me to bill by gross line or to keep it the way I have it. I do know some accounts will only pay per 65-character line, as this was the deal my first own account I recently acquired. They were adamant on a 65-character line, but didn't specify with or without spaces and I personally would never not charge for spaces.
Thanks for explaining this. I appreciate it and hope everyone has a speedy day.
Word count: 824 lines. DocuCount count: 897 lines.
I just counted the same file in Word and then in DocuCount, and DocuCount was higher than Word.
Just as an aside.
lines
I always say a good average is around 250-300 lines an hour.
Lines
I have been flamed many times about my production, rate and how much I make. I think it is great for you. But there are those 10 hour days sometimes but I like the fact that I have my own business, and get paid for the hard work. One account that I have is surgeons and with their consults have hit close to 600 lines per hour but with my IM's, and their chart notes can only get up to 350 to 400 or so. It is hard when I switch to my clinic account where I sometimes go in and get paid hourly as I feel like I am not working fast enough on their electronic charts. Again, I have said it many times, it may take a while but if you want to work hard the money is there to be made in this field.
How many lines??
Everyone just wondering how many lines did you do a day when you first started MT? And, how many hours a day?
SS lines, pay,
They are a total rip off. E-mails are plain rude. Cherrypickers like one could not believe. Management does not exist. QA a total joke. Roaming payday. Anyone else who states other is not an MT with the company.
lines...whatever it was.
Well you see, you stated right in your post that you can't possibly cherry pick...so what do you know about what is going on with the rest of us out here who DO have to deal with cherry pickers.
Ma'am, I have 25 years in this business, 15 of it in a nest of the worst cherrypickers you have ever seen, at the largest hospital in my state. I was the supervisor for 5 years and I would have fired somebody on the spot if they'd done that, but they all knew it. Had no problems.
Don't know what you make per line but getting about 666 lines per hour is quite astounding. I'm sure you must be quite happy where you are and with no cherry pickers!
I work for 3 hospitals, doing operative notes. They are assigned to me by someone 6 states away. I go down the list. There's no way to get anything other than what I get. And yes, I am completely happy where I am.
Good for you. I've been an acute care MT for over 30 years and am rated as one of the best as far as QA and quantity and have NEVER, EVER in my life been able to come close to your line count. Maybe you are from another planet and have powers beyond us or maybe you have some special secret you could share. Or maybe, we should just ignore your statement of getting that kind of line count, especially when you are not dealing with cherry pickers. 
I don't deal with cherrypickers because I won't work where there are any. I get that kind of line count every single day, because that is what is assigned to me and I have to do it and turn it in on a deadline.
It is all in where you work and what you are able to put up with. I happen to have the freedom to work where I please and working there pleases me.
It's unfortunate that you have 30 years' experience and you are stuck where you are.
lines
Well it took me a little longer 5 typing and 1.0 delivering but I did 2295 at 0.12 cents a line. So guess I will quit until later this evening. Two surgeons and two IM' and 1 plastic surgeon. Lots of consults, auto corrects but pays off. 13 consults at 3 to 4 pages each.
LINES
I have gotten 500 lines but I should not count as I do clinical notes for two surgeons that do the same consults for most breast CA, hernias, cysts, etc. I just whipped out between the two almost 700 lines in about 75 minutes but I have been doing them for so long and have so much saved that I type perhaps on a general inguinal hernia consult and letter, 30% of the actual consult. Sometimes more. On regular chart notes, I average around 300 to 350 but again have had the same docs for 5 and 7 years. And when you read closely, you will see that is how we do it. But if you are with a national and new docs all the time, I would be luck to get 200 lines an hour. So it is sometimes like comparing oranges to apples as they say.
lines
Working 2-1/2 hours, all ops, mainly ESL, 308 lines which comes out to about $10 an hour. Am I crazy or what?
lines/pay
I've been transcribing 25 years, only 4 months being production paid with a large national, no incentives, no bonuses, no extras for working holidays. I find it terribly depressing when the check comes and you see your gross lines, divide the number of hours you worked--it has been improving each pay, but still not near what I was making previously. I now have been offered a position (not transcription) at a local hospital (where I lost my transcribing job to outsourcing) at $16/hr. An easy job that I'm seriously considering. No holidays, no logging on all hours to find work, great benefits. But I've been working at home 5 years now..... I never realized how the big companies are underpaying good transcriptionists. Thank heavens I have extra accounts that I've been doing on the side for years or I couldn't survive on what I'm bringing in now. Thanks for listening!
lines/pay
If that is true, many not making $10/hr., then yes, I guess I should consider myself lucky. I had no idea others were being paid such a minimal amount - and I never considered that I was "in the dark" about things!
lines
My max after 4 months with the national came out to $13.42/hr. I have extra accounts that I've been doing for years and make $25-$30 an hour on those - letters by specialists which I breeze though, 15-20 extra hours a week, so when I went to the national, pay by the line, what a shocker. Never been paid by the line, even though I was told not to worry with my experience, etc., I would have no trouble with getting good line counts, doesn't seem to be happening. At least it doesn't seem good to me and at this point the in-house hospital job (not transcription) seems more inviting at $16/hr Mon-Fri, no weekends, no holidays, great bennies...Even though my love is transcription my feeling is I'll still have my fingers in it with the extra accounts I have but will feel more stable. Single parent, need the bennies.
lines
Glad to know it is not just me. New to this at home thing - only 4 months with 25 years experience. I struggle to get 1200 lines a day unless I get lucky and get an ER account - which doesn't happen very often.
$13/hr plus .04 over 150 lines/hr
Just went back to the local hospital I used to work for. I usually can easily type 300 lines per hour, so the hourly rate plus incentive is fairly decent.
Lines
I checked this when I first went on DQS. Do a select all on a completed document in DQS, paste it into MS Word, then go to tools, choose word count, look at the characters with spaces total and divide that number by 65. You will find that it matches with DQS.
lines
It takes me about 8 hours to do 2000 lines
lines
one day
lines
How? I could only dream of doing that. I started workign as an MT in July, I currently am getting only about 500-700 lines a day. I made $20 my first day. I also have a 2 year old that constantly needs my attention. How did you get so good? Any tips would really be appreciated.
500 to 700 lines isn't bad at all
if you just started in July.
I do right around 1500 a day (more or less) and I've been at it nearly 20 years.
Take the time to add in expansion settings, templates, etc. I did 650 lines today for one doctor I do and he does almost the same exact progress report for each patient. The template runs right around 10 lines and I did 30 patients so there were 300 "free" lines (that I didn't have to actually type) right there. Add the expansion settings of only having to type "pmh" for "past medical history is significant for multiple medical issues, including," etc, etc., I can do 600 lines for him in 2 hours.
However, if I get a new guy, I'm luck if I can do 300 lines in 2 hours.
So it sounds as if you're not doing to badly if you can get 500 to 700 lines done especially with a 2-year-old! If I have my 18 month old twin granddaughters here I get ZERO lines in a day! 
lines/hr
Thank you for responding. I really appreciate it.
Lines/hr
routinely between 7.5 - 8 hours per day with a couple breaks per day.
lines/hr
Ooops! I thought you said PER DAY. Sorry.
lines
Like I said, easy to check just look at an old report in Microsoft word and see character count with and without spaces. That will tell you the difference.
Lines
My lines depend on what doctors I get, how they speak, if they are foreign where you have to listen over and over until you learn what they are saying. Some days I do not have to go to a book and other days I have to look up a lot of things, especially if it is the first time I heard it, just to make sure I am spelling it right and I have been doing this a long time. Hang in there.
lines
I easily do 2000 lines a day on a word count (about 7 hours) but then again I have been at this for 25 years! Good luck!
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