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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Folks that I know usually charge by the dictation minute. sm

Posted By: Deb on 2008-09-30
In Reply to: Non-medical transcription rate. - sm

Depending on difficulty and turn around time, most charge about 90 cents to $1.20 per dictation minute.


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Previous posts say at the least charge $2 per minute
ok
Pay by minute of dictation

I've been offered a position where the line count is calculated by multiplying the minutes of dictation transcribed by 12.5 (the assumed average number of lines in a minute of dictation). Has anyone had experience being paid in this manner, and how do you feel it compares to the 65-character line?


How long does a 60-minute dictation take you
nm
Oh man, I'm working on an 18-minute brief dictation.

JLG charges $3.00 per minute of dictation.
I was shocked to see that my hospital was paying $3.00 per dictated minute to JLG. As contractors, we only got $1.50 per minute.
one minute of dictation = 10 lines?
nm
paid by minute dictation
It is not a rip off. I work in-house in a hospital and that is what we use to count time, lines, and jobs. It is also used to tie in our production bonus. We have what we call "weighted" dictators - ESLs if you will. The docs are weighted as 1.1, 1.3, 1.5 with 1.5 being the bad dictators. You know the ones, they yawn, chew, and talk at the same time, they have a really thick accent, and talk and chew at the same time. They have more minutes than clear-speaking docs. Multiply your your hours worked (8) X 12.5 that equals 100. You then divide your minutes typed into that number. That gives you your production. Where I work you have to have 85% to be eligble for production bonus. It is not a rip off, it works quite well.
Lines per minute of dictation

Worked for a university medical center years ago when we were paid by the minute, and the average number of 65-character lines per minute was 10 lines.  There were over 2000 dictating physicians, though, who made up the pool, so there were the slow dictators along with the speeders.  I agree with other poster:  Nothing less than $1.00 per minute.  I charge for 800-number service and I would charge $2.00 per minute. 


I had a 30 minute dictation a few weeks ago - American doc - sm
who does that, talks super fast and mumbles to boot, we are told to do the best we can and turn in as is-- I counted 125 blanks in that report, nuts. Luckily it is not held against me as they know how awful this doc is. He has also been repeatedly told to slow down and speak clearly, but he does not care obviously and keeps doing it, so he cannot complain about poor work product.
I was paid by the dictation minute for almost 3 years. sm
Most general transcription is paid that way, but only a few MT. Some dictators are fast, others waste a lot of time hemming and hawing and shuffling papers. I though it evens out in the end.

I definitely wouldn't do it for less than $1.00/minute, a bit more if you have lots of experience.
It varies but for me it works about 10 lines per minute of dictation.
nm
Question on what the average time is to transcribe 1 minute of dictation?

I know this is going to vary widely but any sort of general idea would be helpful.  I know this is a tough question!


Thanks for your help!


So it doesn't matter if you got a 30 minute file and only 3 minutes of it is actually dictation,
nm
Paid by the minute... new to me... does $1.14/minute sound reasonable?
x
Charge what the credit card companies charge when they don't get paid on time!!!!
 
Audio hour charge - what is fair rate to charge company?

Doubt you can charge 15 cpl for VR work to the docs - you can't even charge them 12 for straight
x
you don't have to charge $60/HR - all you have to do is charge a good rate and then..
work smart, not hard. If you have a great dictator, charge him 14 cpl on a 65 char gross line, then set up your templates and word expanders, you can make $80/hr. But you need all three to work together, otherwise you might only be making $60/hr. Some people are just really good at what they do - shouldn't they make more if they are more productive?
I'd still charge by line, just charge a lower
rate, like maybe 8 cpl.  Do you have to pickup and deliver work?    You could also setup a one-month contract until you see how it goes and then you can figure out the best way to charge and go from there.  You could also charge a flat rate per page and keep it fairly low.  
One office I charge .12, another I charge $2.25 page--nm
//
I think this happens a lot. Usually, the folks
Some of you people are basketcases.
I wonder why there are so many folks
compose an email that is not riddled with misspelled and misused words? I get emails everyday from a workflow coordinator who leaves the letters 'ed' or 'd' off of almost every word that should have it...Example: "The work has -increse- in the last few days." -incomplete sentences, missisng commas, etc.

It's ridiculous. I have managers who send out poorly composed emails as well. Unbelievable!
You might want to try these folks
I don't know if you've found anything yet, but you might want to try a company called Transcription Matchmaker. They found me a job a year ago when all I had was dial up. They find out what your requirements/specialties are and then match you with a company that best fits you. I've now been with the same company they found for me 10 months ago and I am happy with my job. I hope they can help you.
So now we know, folks, why so many MTs - sm
never get so much as a response when they apply for the literally THOUSANDS of MT jobs we see online every single day.

YouTube is not only a fun and entertaining website, it is also proving to be an amazingly POWERFUL TOOL, and I think that power has only just begun to be tapped.

Now there is one way to get the word out about MT. If you have the capabilities to make YouTube video (or your kids do), the word about fraud, ID theft, & American job loss can be spread.
IC folks

Hey there all you Indepedent contractor folks.  Just want to take a quick poll and see if you are happy being independent.  I am thinking of the making the jump over from employee to IC.  Just want to see and get a quick glance and see if you are happy or not so happy with being IC. 


 


 


Welcome! I like seeing new folks here
it's great to get some fresh perspectives or see how MTs in the business are doing.
You are so right. Our pay goes down from same folks who are charging us more when we

Right now McDonald's in our town starts employees at $8/hour and pays benefits and some school benefits.


I have worked 30 years in transcription and make less now than I did in 1985.  That's 20 years ago.  I know more and earn less.  In fact I am a fraction above poverty level.


If you don't think MQ is getting ready to take us all below poverty level right down there with Mexico City, just hide and watch.  Or rather, sit here and think you are with a "good" company.  I didn't, because they are making millions in profit off your hard work and not sharing a penny of it with you. 


In the old days an employer spread the wealth of the company with the employees who made it happen.  This group has never heard of the concept.


Those City folks

I can really relate to your situation and wanted to tell you this story. 


I live at the base of a mountain.  There is an RV place out here and every winter the hunters camp and .....leave aggrevation everywhere (garbage).


Yesterday i drove the 15 miles to town to the post office where they know everyone by name.  I was packaging my book to mail and was listening to this conversation:  A gentleman handed a change of address form to the Postmaster. He says," You just moved in that new house on the hill last fall.  Is everything okay"? 


Naturally everyone looks that direction.  The gentleman says " We don't like that housing developement on the hill.  There is way too much snow".


Continuing with his story:  My wife had the kids were in the SUV and the road was covered with snow and ice. (duh, it is all winter long).  She had to stop because of the herd of Elk standing on the hill in the middle of the road.  She slid back down the hill and wouldn't drive up again until I came home from work".


So i have asked my husband for a snow maker!!!!!! Maybe they will all move back to the city.  At the base of this hill, a herd of Elk always graze in the field.  There have been many occassions i drive the grandkids that direction to watch.  The 3-year-old asks to me take him to see the funny cows.


So if anyone has a spare Snowmaker please send it to me.....I would love to drive the rest of the city folk out of there!!  


The world needs more folks like you 2...
You both just added a big ole jewel to your crowns in Heaven...you're awesome!!! Congratulations...the best of luck and much, much happiness in your marriage...
That's more than my folks did, or my husbands.

I think that you thinking you "put yourself through college" when your parents were paying your tuition and rent kind of says this is the pot calling the kettle black. 


 


Golly, some folks just have to have the last
word, 'eh? I've been following this thread and just waiting for someone to blame the dog owner for the dog nails, or even the dog!! Unreal!
A lot of folks are complaining about MT pay
and not being able to make enough money. I personally don't think the problem lies so much with how many cpl we get, but the fact that we have to transcribe dictators who obviously have no regard for the person doing the transcription. They seem to think it quite proper to eat, chew gum, have a conversation with someone in the background, lay the mic down and dictate or speaker phone, dictate on a cell phone, in a crowded room, and a host of other things that make transcription very, very difficult. When you throw in a whole slew of ESLs, there goes your money.
Question for QA folks
Quick question for QA. When an MT flags a report because of something simple like no date of consultation given, does QA generally get paid for all the lines on that report. I have a dictator who is very long, generally 100+ lines, and never gives the date of consultation, otherwise great dictator. No blanks. So unless it is dictated the same day the patient is admitted, I leave that field blank which automatically sends it to QA. QA has never once gotten back to me on this and on pulling up old reports it looks to me like they just go back in and put the general coding for the auto feed, though no date is provided. Since it is continuous with this doc it seems like a big waste of time and money not to get some instruction back on sending this directly to the client. I am wondering if this is just easy lines for QA and then if it shows up against me as far as editing. I know all companies are different, just wondering what the rule of thumb is. By the way, I have asked for feedback from QA multiple times and never get a response either way. Thanks.
Another question for QA folks
I typed "laparoscopy fundoplication" instead of laparoscopic.  Would you count this as a misspelled medical word or typo?  Thanks. 
What about this scenario, folks!

What do you think of a manager of many MTs, who shares intimate details with each of us regarding her situation as a wife as well as sharing details of other MTs with each other, some extremely complicated and highly personal, which I believe were given to her in confidence.  Then, having her turn into a professional zealot and alienate us with her emotionless response to us which is such a contradiction to prior interactions that it leaves us spinning and feeling as if we do not know her at all.


I have come upon this before early in my career.  And I would say that changing ths subject in the conversation is the answer so to not end up in this web.  What do you think though?  It is awkward and confusing. 


 She is new at supervision and maybe it can be chocked up to that but she holds a lot of power over us and some whom she confided in during long emotion-filled  conversations, word has it, she has turned against to the point they had to transfer to another department.


It is placing a shadow over the job for me


 


Folks on here exceptional!
thanks so much for that!
Where do you folks get these amounts???
I find it hard to believe that a lot of the MTs on this board are making over 20.00 an hour.  The state of MT is in BAD shape with outsourcing, EMR taking MT jobs, etc.  I'm having a hard time believing that some of you are making those high amounts.  If is is true, where do you live and where can I sign up?  My company is hiring MTs with many years experience at 10.20 an hour. 
I think you are asking the wrong folks...

...We are trying to figure out how to become independent, so we can make better than overseas pay.


A question for the QA folks

I realize that every company/employer is different and some want verbatim transcribed.  At my company, it's never been specified, and so sometimes I trust my judgement to change things as I see fit, and other times, I flag a questionable item and explain my thought process to QA.  Oftentimes, when I do the latter, QA just leaves the questionable item as dictated, and does not respond directly to me regarding my question, which makes me feel ignored.  This leaves me feeling frustrated and feeling like the report may have returned to the doctor not 100% accurate.


Here's an example of what I'm talking about, but it's not necessarily the best example from a cesarean section note:


Rectus muscles were then separated in the midline and the peritoneum identified, tented up and entered sharply with Metzenbaum scissors.  The perineal incision was then extended superiorly and inferiorly, with good visualization of the bladder.


The bolded word is obviously incorrect and should be peritoneal.  Do you think QA and everyone else concerned would appreciate if I just used my brain and fixed this without taking anyone else's time, or is there a chance that using my judgement and changing it would come back to haunt me if this report were pulled for a QA review and someone saw that I didn't transcribe what was dictated?


I'm not a newbie.  I'm been in the MT field for almost 8 years.


LOL .. folks ask me why I don't go digital
My doctors are happy, it works great for me ..

it ain't broke, so why fix it? LOL


Wow, these ADHI folks are

really not representing the American Transcriptionist at all. I'm really just speechless. I wonder why they're making such unprofessional attacks on the US transcriptionists. 


The representative who wrote the response is either uninformed or downright deceitful in stating that the Indian transcriptionists want the CMT credentials just to have them. On the contrary, their employers are using it as a tool to get their feet in the door to get American work.


I'm just curious as to how many of Indian CMTs have been grandfathered in (not required to take any testing because of years of experience) because most of the companies who do work with them have to have US transcriptionists do a lot of heavy editing.  If this is the case, then the CMT credential is as worthless as it was 30 years ago.  Sad for our industry, really. 


I wish some retirees would start up another professional organization for US transcriptionists only <hint hint> 


And folks think I'm paranoid
If someone is sitting in a corner at Starbucks or the library or whatever on a laptop working, I'm not sure I see what the problem is. If you're that stringent about things, do you jump from your chair and throw your body across the monitor if you feel a family member approaching your work area? If a person isn't doing their work on external speakers and does not have a 26 inch monitor facing the room at large, I do not see there to be any more of a 'security' risk than there is at home.
Okay folks! What do YOU daydream of while workin? - sm

Mine has been daydreaming of Leland from Dog The Bounty Hunter.  Hummina Hummina  What a hunk!   Wooooooooooooooo pour some cold water on me!


Remember these are also the same folks that tried in the past....sm
to change the policy to it being 1 space instead of 2 spaces after a period.... and that crap stopped only when clients complained that in certain fonts it looked like you didn't have a space at all between a period and the next word. 
this board and world could use a lot more folks like you! nm

Train? you really think those folks get your feedback?
x
For you married folks, how did you meet? sm

Through friends/family?  At school?  Met each other at the grocery store when you reached for the same loaf of bread at the same time?    Through an internet dating site?  


 


 


 


Question for folks who QA/Edit
I'm an IC QA person for a company who uses Editscript. I spend precious time writing down job# and calculating the number of lines for each report. Is this system not capable of tracking the number of reports I edit or the number of lines?

Seems like the employer would prefer a software that tracks this info so they can ensure that the IC's are billing accurately. Any opinions on this?
well maybe folks will realize there are no true...sm

friends on public boards online......you're right, the Gay thing should never have been brought up in public......


some have class and some lack class and are uncouth....


nice to see some folks watched...sm
waiting to see how this progresses - hope it lasts as a reality show - seems like there is less *bickering* that with Dancing with the Stars, though I like that show too but NOT the judges there....*grin*
Guess you were one of those disappointed folks (nt)