Just half-cent thoughts...
Posted By: MidwestMT on 2007-05-11
In Reply to: Very confused and frustrated! - Debbie
I know this is too long, but wanted to give you a few tips. Sounds like you're one of those employees of medical offices (and many, many types of offices) that isn't set up on clear job descriptions for the workers--and then stick to it. Not all practice managers really know how to run an office efficiently. You have lots of issues here, but just for me curiously, why on earth would you invest in your own equipment (unless you really wanted it anyway) and still be considered an "employee." Do you have other work where you can write off your expenses? In our city (and in many organizations, many MTSOs) there is a hospital that has home workers, but they bring the hospital equipment to the MT's home for them to use. That's how they get to tell you how and when to work. I've worked in offices most of my adult life where people grumble out of habit all the time. You may not be that kind of person, and you may be grumbling in vain or just burned out. It's sad but true that many offices don't have the luxury of being managed properly, nor does anyone have personal knowlege of knowing how to set up a bona fide transcription department. Maybe that's where you could make some changes. Make yourself a "department" not just an employee. Take the lead and define yourself. It's called intrapreneurship--you create your own little venture as an employee but see yourself yourself a "small business owner" in your own mind. You could make up a plan to present a better work option to your employers based on research and projected outcome that this change may benefit all involved. Personally, I don't think you'll get anywhere by taking the defensive line here (though you have set a precedent). However, agression and resistance won't work either. You have to "create" your spot and show how it will profit the greater good proactively. And if you're getting insurance benefits for this home/office pattern you are requested do to keep your job, lady, count your MT blessings. Also, I'll bet many MTs working at home probably wouldn't mind having to "go into the office" on some days. Sure beats the isolation and might make you feel more connected to the real world. Best of luck to you.
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I believe it is about 4 cpl for either, give or take half a cent. nm
x
Is that half-cent worth selling out to an
organization that has been pro-active in sending our jobs to India? To me it isn't. The good of our entire industry is worth more to me than my own personal greed for those VERY FEW extra dollars. That's why I let my CMT expire.
Half of a cent! Wowee-zowee! Where do
Yep, I figure 0.01 is 1 cent, so 0.005 is 1/2 cent.
x
I'll bring the dip and the half and half ;)
take a cent of their rate and a cent of your mom's rate. I'd do it to keep the account or the
You already charge a fairly low line rate, but I'd definitely cut it to keep the account. JMO
Is 0.005 only 1/2 a cent?
bonus amt is 0.005, is this cheap or I am greedy.
1/2 cent=0.025.
0.005 is 5/1000th of a dollar.
yes .. 0.005 is 1/2 cent
my shift differential for asr is 1/2 cent from 6-11 and 1 cent from 11-7
when I calculate it .. i go from 0.048 to .053, which is 0.005 ..
stinks so bad .. 
1 cent refund
that is absolutely unbelievable -- they are totally out of it!! i would definitely be calling and asking what were they thinking?
Would think that it SHOULD be 0.01 cent per word OR
s
I charge 1 cent less than some nationals...nm
xx
9-cent line count
I just signed on as an IC at a local clinic getting 9 cpl base, up to 10.5 cpl. I don't get paid for spaces, just characters, and there are very few ESLs on the account. I think that you will get paid more as an IC, but you don't get your taxes taken out, so it kind of balances out.
So, at the 1 extra cent per line . . .
with making an extra $6000 per year, you are transcribing 50,000 lines per month? Wow. I'm impressed.
And you might earn another 1/2 to 1 cent more working
s
OMG - this company only CHARGES 1/cent a line. WTF?
What is this???/!!!!!!!!
 .....quick, shoot them before they multiply!
_______________
http://usatasp.com/
"At a cost of only 1 cent per line, USA Tasp offers a Secure Web Enabled environment, which allows Medical Transcription Service Owner the ability to manage their dictations, transcription, quality of the medical record, invoicing, and payroll.
So, whether you have 5,000 lines per month or 500,000 lines per month, be assured that your cost per line remains the same."
I remember 5 cent pay phone calls. nm
:+
My pay went up 1 cent a line when I obtained my CMT credential.
x 26 pay periods a year. Nothing to sneeze at and definitely worth the effort.
ONE CENT? That shows its not worth it ROFLMBO!!!
x
Also applied 2 months ago. Think it was 8 cpl for 1200 lpd, going up in 1/4-cent increments, and U
n
I knew I should not have bought that roll of 37-cent stamps!
This is all my fault.
How about 1 cent a line being cheap. That equals only $10. for 1000 lines which
is really not an incentive to work either. Why not make it more like time and a half, i.e., if you normally make 10 cents a line when you would get 15. They could even offer 1/4 pay incentive so you could make an extra $25 to work a holiday but the $50 would certainly make me think more about working a day when I usually wouldn't. Yes, it would cost the company more but I'm sure more people will be working that weekend for such an "incentive."
That's real smart, spend 30+ cents postage to pay somebody 1 cent
df
USATasp charges 10 cents per minute for voice & 1/2 cent per line
email to info@usatasp.com and we'll get back to you.
is this the person who makes 1 cent a line extra for $6000 a year?
how many lines a day and what do you normally make in a year because to reach an extra $6000 wouldn't you have to be typing way above average which is say 1200 a day for most of us, or 6000 lines a week.
encouraging someone to get their CMT based on $6000 a year extra, perhaps you could give more details because I have never worked for a company who would do that, not unless perhaps you were also a huge producer of lines.
Thank you...
1 out of 2, 1/2 looks like one-half
what do you do in this situation?
I have it also and they don't have even half sm
when you are doing angios and MRIs.
Could you do half and half - QA/MT?
Some days I think I'd rather do QA - I have carpal tunnel and I could sit in my recliner and QA because I wouldn't have to be pushing a foot pedal all the time and could use hot keys, and it would be a change of pace. But then I have days at a time, if not weeks, where I have the worst dictators. I rarely have blanks, but I do have them, and I think no way do I want to be stuck listening to every horrible dictator, although my company pays by the hour and a good rate, so it would be nice not to have to worry about working 50+ hours/week so I can pay my bills because I don't have a consistent pay check to try to budget with.
Which half?
nm
they get half pay for retirement too!
Bus drivers are making $63,0000 and that is with no education. you can be a hs dropout or a foreigner. I hate NY and glad I left.
As an IC half-time I still use believe it or not...
I loved WP5.1 from the getgo....and still love it and all my private MDs are fine with it - they merely convert the floppy diskette over to whatever program they use. No complaints SO FAR and it's been TEN YEARS!!!! *lol*
Six of one/half dozen of the other
I have had both over the years (have bought my own insurance since 1989). Neither gave me any grief. Blue Cross was eventually cheaper for me than Mutual of Omaha. The downside to Blue Cross is that if you move out of the area where you bought Blue Cross, say you have Blue Cross of Illinois and want to move to Georgia, you cannot take Blue Cross of Illinois with you, and just because Blue Cross of Illinois accepted you does not mean that the Blue Cross plan in Georgia will accept you when you apply. With Mutual of Omaha, you would not have this problem.
Already checked half.com and they don't have any at all, e-bay only had
edition one cheap, edition 2 more expensive than any other place I've seen.
Yep..try half.com or eBay for used ones. nm
s
I write off half my DSL
I am sure I use it more like 3/4 time for work, but half to be safe. Tax Cut, from H&R Block, goes through the deductions with you and it is simple.
About an hour and a half if I sit still...
It also depends on how many screens to maneuver before you can type which takes time in between.
I transcribed a 70 min file in an hour and a half the other night but it was one long letter.
It all depends I guess.
half a brain...
Again... I am not trying to win any friends or make any enemies. If you are happy and have no complaints, that is wonderful. I was observing and making comments. Half a brain was not meant as a cut to anyone, simply a figure of speech.
half year mark
My small MTSO is at 22,500 and my part-time job in a clinic is $6200. So should do well this year.
Not sure how to type a liter and a half. Help please sm
The patient was given a liter and ½ of fluid.
Withholding half your check
I, too, think you should check with an attorney. I see no reason why wording like that would even be included in an IC contract, but if it is, you may not have a legal leg to stand on.
Give your notice, work it, problem solved.
If you bought it new go for half of what you paid or it - sm
If you bought it used then try to get back what you paid for it unless it is not in good shape. If you don't remember what you paid for it, look it up on the internet what it sells for now so you can get an idea what the value is.
Have you thought about trying Half.com or Ebay? I
started with Half.com and just cleared out a bunch of books, videos, etc. They don't charge a listing fee - just a percentage when you sell your items. They stay listed indefinitely, too. From there I went to Ebay. There's a little to learn, but I've done pretty well with that, too. Just an idea. It works pretty good for me.
My husband remodeled half of ...
our basement about 7-8 years ago and made it the family room. Then it became the room that the kids used for their playstation. After awhile, nobody used it for anything anymore. So I cleaned it out when I started working and just this spring I painted it and added my own touches, such as the Beatle's posters that no one else wants to look at. I also added a small TV and DVD player and bookshelf, so I basically have my OWN space, which is cool. I am also treasurer of our church, so I have all that stuff there as well - check book, books, records, etc. It's not a big room, but it's mine and it's my favorite room in the house.
500K...as in half a mill???
Geez, luckeee...I'm jealous . Congrats though!
I don't think it would be wise to quit over half a mil
that's not gonna last you a lifetime! I think you should be reasonable. What about health insurance? Are you married? Do you have a lot of debt? There are a lot of factors inolved.
Glass half empty....
I can agree on a few points here. If you expect to be stroked, you won't find that in healthcare at all. I have worked in a hospital setting, have my own accounts, and also currently IC for a company online at this point. I just love what I do, and I'm pretty good at it. A lot of what you write is true in that this profession has evolved, but think about it this way. If we didn't evolve, then how long would a patient wait for you to get that report off of the old typewriter? How many people would go months and months before finding that lung mass or brain tumor?
Just like the typewriter has evolved, the technology in which we diagnose and treat patients has evolved with leaps and bounds. I still feel I'm doing a service to the patient. I like my job because I know it helps people. I'm sort of behind the scenes at this point and not visible to the patient any longer unless there's one in the waiting room when I pick up my tapes (doctor won't go digital), so I see the difference I can make.
Do I need to be stroked and told I'm doing a great job? No. I know I do a good job, but being told that every day or two is not why I'm in it. Money is just the means of a transfer. No one told me I'd get rich being a transcriptionist, but no one told me how much I would learn about the human body and functionality of it either and that I could most likely take that experience into another field.
Wow, when I type a report on a patient that has a serious illness, I think my lucky stars. I think at this point, reading your post, I may go back to school. My transcription skills could really help me become a coder (are they stroked/given raises every year?) or maybe I'll become a nurse (are they stroked/given raises every year?), or maybe I'll become a physician myself and pay my transcription enormous amounts of money and remember to call and thank them to express a job well done when really I should be calling my patient with the brain tumor or lung mass or any other disease. I wonder if the maintenance guy sweeping the hall deserves a raise or the nice lady cleaning the windows, then again maybe the physician himself wouldn't mind being reimbursed for the services he renders to someone without health insurance?
Buck up camper.... It's going to a long trip! 
You need to get up and walk around about every half hour.
I had this for a long, long time. It wouldn't hurt to see a vascular doc about this. The reason I say this is because I was 50 years old and saw MD about that. My calves would get so hard it sometimes felt like they were going to burst. I had problems with walking for only short distances with horrible pain going down my legs. I thought it was just deconditioning. They ran tests and found I had claudication. They did angioplasty on both inguinals, left took but the right failed instantly. The left leg angioplasty lasted for about six months and I had to have aortiobifem bypass for both legs. Don't mean to scare you but better safe than sorry.
IC - pay own SS; SE - employer pays half SS (NM)
x
I agree, faster by half, at least
My Expander has round about 6,000 entries and I add sometimes 20-30 more a day. I think I definitely type twice the amount I could without one.
$30,000 ---- YIKES! That's a year and a half's
I wish I had the money, and still had the time, to become a court reporter. Interesting work, banker's hours, great pay. And they can ask the people talking to speak up, slow down, repeat stuff, etc. I wish I'd had the foresight to pick CR back when I was 23 or so, instead of MT. I thought I'd made the right choice, but man, was I ever WRONG!
Half a brain?? You are not speaking for everyone here
I have no problem with the work I do and I certainly would not join in any walkout or the like. As far as the statement about half a brain, that was unnecessary if you want to get people on your side. You sure wont win friends that way.
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