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IC versus employee, accounts, transcription type, platform,

Posted By: many variables - n/m on 2008-01-10
In Reply to: Quick Question - Deborah

nm


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MTSO with platform versus no platform (big message)

If a MTSO advertises that the MT works in MS Word and sends dictation by FTP, does this usually mean there will be no demographic/doctor database and the demographics will not be autopopulated?


 


I got into a mess with a small company (got out real quickly too).  I was required to print out daily email copies of the doctors' office patient schedules (which were barely legible) and type in all information.  I spent more time hunting for the correct patient through pages and pages of these schedules.  Then I had about 25 pages worth of doctor's names that I would have to go through to find the attending, referring, etc.  A total waste of time as I didn’t get paid for that. 


 


I wish MTSO would give more information as to what platform they use (if any).  Proprietary software is such a generic, totally useless description.  Would they buy a new car that listed, "Car has gasoline operated motor?" 


 


And for Pete's sakes, why so secretive about the pay?  Give a ballpark figure.  Just say, pay is between 7-12 cpl depending on skill, testing, etc. Tell me if you pay for spaces, headers, etc.  It would save them time because I wouldn’t even apply for a 7 cpl job. 


 


Before I spend an hour or two testing, I need more information from a company to be sure it is compatible for my needs.  If the MTSO would spend a little time on their website detailing their platform, how they send/receive files, pay rates,  how line rate is determined (spaces/no spaces) employee/IC/SE status, minimal line count, whether work pools consist of 100s of doctors, or smaller pools with 25-50 doctors etc.   Having all this information on their website would save them time and the MTs time.   Phoenix Medcom has a really good layout describing pretty much everything an MT would want to know before testing with them.  I am just tired of testing with a company and then finding out the job wasn’t exactly suited to my needs. 


Platform versus non-platform (templates)?

I've been working for MTSOs for years now, using their templates which sometimes cause productivity problems (macro issues, etc). I'm wondering if productivity is increased when working on a structured platform, such as one that a national company provides for its transcriptionists?  I've never used a platform, but it would seem that all one needs to do is straight type onto the screen and the platform program takes care of margins, page breaks, etc?


Any thoughts (as well as companies who are hiring who use platforms) would be appreciated.  Thanks


IC versus employee
I have been an IC/MTSO both married and divorced for the past 15 years.  I feel that I bring home "more" of a dollar than if I were making the same amount as an employee.  I do have quite a few write offs as I do have a real "office" in the home, I take my depreciation on the house as I feel when and if I sell prior to dying, will deal with it then.  I do deliver and pick up so have mileage.  I save for my vacations and time off.  I have the flexibility to take time off during the day if needed --work at night true but I CHOSE it not someone else.   When married I just had my husband over withhold a  little more and did not need to worry about the "tax bite" on April 15th.  I planned and planned so I knew what he had to over withold.   But again, when I make over $50K and end up paying SS on only $15K or so, it is well worth it to me.   I did take a small "in-clinic" employee status this year to get out of the house as with no hubby - thank the Lord, and no kids it gets me out and I take out more of my taxes that way.  But when I did not do that, I just took 5 to 10% out of each check and put it in a special account and it was more than enough to cover my taxes.  Truly look at your paychecks as "employees" and see what you really bring home but everyone thinks that because your "employer" pays those taxes FOR you, you are not really paying them.  So you just have to do the same.  And you have to add the two salaries together even as an employee so that also hurts.  But again, I feel being self employed or IC is the only way to go.  Even when on vacation I stop in a local transcription company or a couple of clinics or hospital and talk to them about providing services so I can count part of it as a write off.   Also look for seminars in cities you want to visit.  I go to Vegas every year for the "electronic show" to see what is new for my company.  Again, if you look carefully at deductions and plan, plan, plan it is better - at least to me - financially to be an IC.    Patti -- e-mail me if you wish
IC versus employee...
Am thinking about going from employee to IC - what is involved with being an IC? Taxes, etc...would appreciate any advice from IC's. TIA
8 cpl IC versus employee
No I mean money wise what is the difference once you take out the taxes. 8 cpl as an IC is less money than 8 cpl as an employee when the employee pays half your social security
IC versus employee
I was following you until you said "my regular scheduled hours". Um, if you are IC, you shouldn't have scheduled hours, only a set amount of production within a specified time period (say 2000 lines in 24 hours). I'd say you are already crossing that IRS rule of who has control without even considering the OT issue.

But, to answer your question, they can ask for help and you can say yes or no, but you are not under any obligation to do it. As the other poster did point out, preference might be given to someone else at a later time, but IMHO, not working "every weekend" is acceptable. You can give yourself permission to take some time off. No, they do not have to pay you overtime, but you could ask for incentive pay for the work you provide on days you are not already comitted to (they will probably tell you no).
IC versus Employee
I am trying to figure out if going from employee status to IC is worth it.  Anyone have any opinions?
ic versus employee
Hate to burst your bubble to but you are better off with your own accounts. Most of the nationals out there want strict hours and a requirement of how many lines you are going to do. Some do pay a little extra for holidays and weekends but not always and most you will get stuck working on weekends as well.
ic versus employee
True definition straight from IRS is that they can make you commit to so many lines a day between so and so hours but if they say you have to do this many lines between this and this time than employee.
IC versus employee
Employee is definitely the way to go. I too was new a year ago and found a company paying .12 a line, .13 for nights. Taxes hit me really hard this year. I have to paid time off, no 401K, no sick days, no insurance. I would rather work for .10 a line and have benefits. No one should work for less than .10. I you ask me, experience transcriptionists should be making .15 a line.

I worked in Radiology and quit a job making almost $16.00/hr with six weeks paid time off after 29 years.

Now I make less, have no time off, no benefits and work harder with more hours as an IC and they don't offer employee status.
IC versus Employee??
Hey everyone. I just finished school and am doing the job search thing. Great fun right. javascript:editor_insertHTML('text','')
Anyhow, I know that I have a better shot of getting hired if I work IC but I don't know exactly what that would mean for me? Anybody have current info. on how it all works?

Thanks =0)
IC versus employee

I have to agree...it's very concerning how companies try to save $$ by hiring you as IC and not as an employee, yet try to exert much control over when and how you work.  I don't think transcriptionists are aware enough of what/how much control a company can technically exert before they are really treating you like an employee and should be paying you as such.  The IRS website discusses "behavioral control" and I would be willing that many transcription companies exert much behavioral control over the ICs, which would technically classify them as employees. 


 


IC versus Employee status?

I am just curious which you prefer, and why?  I have never been an IC before and have just accepted an IC position and am a little nervous about it.  I like some aspects of it, but some things have me a little concerned.  I would just like to get a feel for what you think.


 


taxes ic versus employee
Don't really understand the $$ difference between being an IC and employee when it comes to taxes.  If as an IC you get a check of $1000---and and as an employee your gross wage is $1000--what is the difference in the amount of taxes you pay as an IC versus as an employee?  I have gotten the impression you pay a lot more as an IC...is this true?  Can someone give me an idea of what the percentage or dollar amounts would be? thanks:)
Statutory versus employee
Are there any advantages to being statutory versus an employee?  Anyone out there working statutory who can help?  Thanks!
Please respone IC versus Employee Status

Can the person who posted the site www.EFTPS.gov please reply to this...


My husband and I are "discussing" the ad/disadv between the two.  I know you said IC all the way.  Can you please tell me why IC is better? I would be gratefully honored!


THANK YOU!! 


How are hiring companies getting away with trend towards IC versus employee status SM
after the lawsuit that determined that IC was indeed an employee because she was told when to work, what days of the week.  The company got into trouble with employment laws because of this a few years back, yet I see most of the job postings on this and other sites are mostly IC.
It may your experience versus the type
of jobs you are applying for. Do you have acute care with all specialities or just clinic.
Can someone tell me if most of Spheris's accounts have a lot of ESLs and is their platform still
difficult to use as it used to be. I have heard their platform has a lot of steps to it.
Are all Escription accounts EditScript? I could not use this platform. sm
I see so many people that use Escription and like it.  Are there other Escription platforms, or are they all EditScript?
PS - check out the VR versus transcription

...a physician's study, on the right under in the news...

Still think we have a future?


speech versus transcription

Hoping to find some input/wisdom here---I have been offered a positon where may of the accounts are partially voice rec--I have never edited this speech stuff--but I am wondering if you can make the same amount of $$ doing that as you can transcribing it--all the speech rates seem very low, around 4 cents a line--is it actually that much faster than transcribing?  I would think it would be a lot quicker to actually do the transcription--has anyone any experience to share in this regard? thanks for any insight.....


Transcription versus Billing
Before doing MT at home, I worked in an office for over 10 years, many doing fulll-time billing.

The office job I had certainly paid more (and it was guaranteed despite productivity).

I am now employed at home dut to family situations.

I guess my answer would be that you have to determine what is most improtant to you. If it is flexibility you desire, go for MT. There are very few billing/coding jobs based at home.

Should you choose to pursue billing, immediately get certified. Many places are now laying off employees who are not certified, depsite years of experienc.

I have done both. If you have any questions, feel free to email. I will let you know what books etc required and the CPC sites.

Many have helped and encouraged me on this site. I would be happy to return the favor.

well, of course you make more with your own accounts cuz you're not employee
nm
Transcription-Versus-Editing, Particularly RE: Tendinitis
A couple of questions for you editors out there.  Is it really worth the "promotion" from Transcriptionist to Editor if you are a very efficient typist who can make $20/hr typing?  Also, as someone who is considering this change due to tendinitis, is editing really any easier on your body than high-production transcription?  Any input much appreciated. 
I have my own accounts and I work as an employee, but we are not talking about BEING an MTSO, we are

the MTSO's offer.  If you are a well-trained, knowledgeable medical Transcriptionist with experience and you are looking for an IC job or an employee position with an MTSO, then you are worth more than 8 or 9 cpl.  If all you do is sit and transcribe all day long, you are worth more than 8 or 9 cpl. 


I really don't know what you're getting at.  Not everyone has the capabilities, time, or money to start their own service.  Not everyone is good at pounding the pavement and finding their own accounts.  I'm not a salesperson to say the least.  I lucked into my own personal accounts and if I hadn't, I'd be working for one of the MTSOs, but I'm not.  My full-time employee status job is with a hospital for the benefits only and it pays hourly with incentive.  Right now, that's the only employee status job worth taking is through an actual hospital, NOT an MTSO.  At least at the hospital, you get a decent wage and get great benefits.  Oh, there are a few good MTSOs out there, but they are very few and far between.


own accounts, IC, employee with benefits, acute or clinic?
nm
Instant Text versus Smart Type
Which one is considered the best and has anybody out there used both?  Which one is easiest to learn.
Smart Type, versus InstanText and ShortHand, etc.
I have used all of these. I hated ShortHand. Shortcut was not much of a short cut. Smart Type allowed me to type the most in the shortest length of time, end of the story. HOWEVER, Smart Type will limit your career since you can't use it in Windows and all these strange platforms that are out there.

InstanText versus Smart Type with the same library...only very slightly less production and I am not proficient with IT at all, not yet. I almost like IT better than ST because the order of expansions is static. ST for Word will rearrange it all for you each and every time you open it. I liked the DOS program a lot better and I can never have that back. As I am learning IT I am again becoming familiar with my shortcuts. I had gotten "sloppy" about typing my actual abbreviations because ST will let you type a couple of letters and you see the word in the line, space bar and it drops in. I am working more than one job so I have enough work and I use ST for one and IT for the other. The more I use IT the faster I am getting in both IT and ST. I am thinking that once I have adjusted the IT to the best possible fit for my needs I'll switch completely to IT.

Ladies, it is not really about the expander, it is about the library/glossary. If you only have a few hundred entries you are working way too hard. You need thousands of entries to maximize your efforts (I have about 22,000 of them). This is one of those times when it is different strokes for different folks.

There are many libraries/glossaries out there, some you can put into more than one program, some are program specific. Some are free and some you have to pay for (I give mine away). Get a good one, learn to use it, "think" in it and stick with it. That is how about any of them will pay off.
own contracts versus what is happening with transcription field
can any of you out there who do transcription for local clients give me some insight here. Is it still worth it today to try to go out and get local clients versus working for a national or even in house?  I am so tired of working my you know what off and struggling just to make $12 an hour. When I first started my per hour was not so bad and then other changes came a few years later and I just cannot go on like this and waiting for the good to happen because I am just not feeling it with my company even though they say "those who stick it out will be glad"  I am sooo tired and worn out. Any info regarding on this would be helpful or any advice at all for that matter.  Thanks all. I need a break now. 
transcription buddy versus express scribe
Which one is better?
varies: clinic/acute, employee/IC, own accounts/pool.
nm
depends; clinic/acute, IC/employee, pool/own accounts....
nm
If our platform allowed me to type 250 lph, I sure
I have no full-page templates or normals. Its all straight transcription on a platform that requires lots of backing up & opening other windows before you ever even get the demographics filled out. Plus its a teaching hospital, so its RARE that I ever do the same doctor twice, and theres a large number of nurses/NPs/students dictating. It's INTERESTING, to say the least, but by no means fast or profitable.
Pros and cons on SOAP transcription versus MediVoxx? nm
s
What is the best platform for pathology transcription?

This is not for a company, but for an in-house system that we will want to purchase. 


What transcription platform do you work on? sm
Hi all! Just curious about the platform you work on and if you like it? If there was a "dream" platform, what would it be? What would you change on your platform if you could? Don't be shy, tell us what you think. :)
Does that incorporate into transcription platform you are using, or just
on the desktop to open and view?  I need a medical spell check.  Is this the same as what you are talking about?  Thanks.
What can you tell me about the Scribe platform for transcription?

I have been offered a position using this platform, but I have had no experience with it.  I use ShortHand as an expander, will it be compatible?  When they load the program on your computer, does it disable the WORD program in any way (I worked for a short time for a company whose platform did do that (unbeknownst to me), which created a world of problems.  Is the program hard to get line counts on?  Any information would be wonderful.  You may reply via email if you rather not post here. 


may I ask what type of accounts you are doing?
nm
Question for all who type on a Word-based platform.
Does anyone else use F3 to go from expansion to expansion?  For instance, I have gent that expands to gentleman, then I hit F3 to go to gentamicin, F3 again to go to Gastroenterology, etc., etc.  My question is this:  I am typing on ExText, and I have been making these entries, but in the morning when I turn the computer on they are all gone and I have to start over again.  In ChartScript they "stick" and in ExText they don't.  Does anyone have any ideas on how to get them to stay?  TIA for any suggestions anyone may have. 
I do that for two of my three accounts, but I type the missing pts at the top of the
x
You may be at your limit for the accounts you type on - sm
Those are not bad line counts. It really depends on the docs you can get and if they say literally the same thing again or again or say *use my normal.* I used to for years do 500-600 lines an hour when I had docs who were fast talkers who used all kinds of normals and I had a much smaller pool of them (say 30-40 docs). I now work from a HUGE pool of docs, all acute care, from 5 different hospitals with very different account specifics for each hospital. A good day for me is 250-275 lines an hour no matter how fast I slam the keyboard. You may be doing the best you can do with the accounts you have. :-)
I like editing VR accounts better that full transcription
even though it doesn't pay as well, but you go through more jobs a day. It saves so much time, especially with the ESL doctors and those doctors who talk 50 miles a minute or sound like they are drunk. It still gets annoying at times though, but not near as time consuming as full transcription.
At TransHealth, there are backlog updates every 15 minutes for the accounts we type. sm
We're always informed of where are accounts are standing (in ChartMatrix).  It's a nice feature.
JUST YOUR TYPE TRANSCRIPTION

I am just wondering if anyone has heard of this company.  They are offering me a position but I have to provide long distance service - they say they will reimburse up to 5 cents - how do I know for sure - do other companies do this?  Usually, it is a toll free number to dial into? 


how will you know what you type is ASR and what is regular transcription?(nm)
x
Does anyone here type other types of transcription?
If so what type of transcription is it and how did you go about getting that type of work?
65 character line versus gross lines versus pay by word

I am checking into other options for transcription.  Can anyone tell me how to compare all of these types of lines & also payment per word?  I know companies use different scales, so I wondered how they compare.  I have been paid on a 65 character line with spaces, but I may be making a change in the future - don't want to get burned.


Thank you in advance!


Radiology transcription, what type of reports are considered radiology
I have lot of experience with everything and I would like to know what exactly is considered radiology so I know if I qualify for that type of work?  I've had many types that I think qualify for radiology.
Excuse me but federal taxes are paid as employee by employee
The ONLY difference in IC is you pay the ENTIRE amount of the SS which is the 15.25%, as an employee you only pay 7.75%.  And you can easily make up that difference in deductions.  As an employee you just have someone else manage your withholdings and as an IC you do it yourself.  I have much more usable income being an IC and not an employee and I am strict about putting aside what I need to.  But everyone always says you have to pay your own taxes, well your employer does not PAY them for you -- except 7.75% of SS, they merely withhold it for you.  As an IC you are the employer.