Line rates

• Line rates - puzzled
  • That is a hard question to answer /sm - My thoughts
  • Line Rates - puzzled
    • I do believe that is a good rate with benefits - MTinNC

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the different companies out there?  I feel lost and confused.  It seems like everything is changing daily, and I am not being organized enough to keep up.  I am about to actively look for full time employment again but if there was a list, I would be able to sort through a lot more quickly. 

Can anyone help?  I am going to start keeping a chart myself in case anyone needs this in the future.

I have only been working from home for 8 months now and my previous MT work was done while i was office manger and of course i was paid hourly but did more then just MT work.

I was wondering what is the going line rate other companies are offering??

I was an hourly employee hired in 1989 at 7.00 an hour, and after 17 years was making 13.00 an hour when I left due to my job being outsourced.

My first IC account paid $1.50 a page, and I got a raise to $2.00 a page (dumped for nonpayment).  My 2nd IC account pays 10 cents per gross line including blank lines (Word), and I haven't gotten a raise in 10 years; afraid to ask; I sub that work and make a killing.

My 3rd IC account on my own I charge 12 cpl (65 cpl w/ spaces), and I can get his work done in no time; so I average about 50.00 an hour for that.

My online account I started at 7.5 and now make 8 and do all clinic work and easy, peezy dictators, no set schedule; no line quota; and no they are not hiring.

My Salary approximately:

2006 - $27,000.00 a year approx

2008 - $45,000.00 a year approx

I never realized I could double my salary if I worked for myself and worked production instead of hourly.  WOW! 

I'm just curious, is anyone out there charging extra to do ESL dictations or dictations from the really difficult, horrible dictators?  I know it is be hard to break these out from other providers of the same group who are of average difficulty but it just seems as though we never have any idea of the quality of the dictations when we agree on a line rate.  Then, whammy!  You discover the quality is really poor.  Sure some may be good those that are bad tend to be really bad.  I think we should be able to charge extra for those.

I'm an experiened MT and it never ceases to amaze me how we set a line rate, but then that goes down the tubes when you get providers who dictate in broken English (taking lots more time to re-listen) and/or those that leave huges gaps of blank recording while they look stuff up, answer their cell phones, etc.  (I guess this is where charging by the recorded amount of time would help). 

Any creative line rates out there to compensate for these, i.e. charging differently for residents, ESL providers, providers who do not know how to use the pause button????

Hi,

Could I get an idea of the "going" line rate for clinic dictation, please.

They tell me I am too expensive and want me to lower my rates......

Thanks, I really appreciate some help.

As we all know, line rates for ICs continue to fall due to offshoring and other issues involved.  I can no longer quote a decent line rate or I hear the phone slam in my ear. 

Therefore, I've decided to do what I have to do to compete and get accounts, which is lower my line rate to 10.5.  Naturally, I am not going to give this large cardiology group a 65-character line for that rate.

What do you feel is fair for me and the group line character-wise for 10.5 cents line?  I was thinking of a 50-character line.  Your opinions, please.

Thank you!      

For my smaller accounts I charge 12 cpl under 4,000 lines per month.  For those from 5 to 15,000 lines per month I charge 11.5 and I have one account at 10.5 but that is only because he gives me a week's turn around time.  Again, I look more at what I make per hour than what my cpl is and if I make $45 an hour at 11.5 I keep it there.   Even with the 10.5 cpl I make close to $50 an hour.  But if it is a large account and it goes close to 2K per month, they will freak out.  I do give a 1% discount for payment within 3 days of receipt and they all love that and do pay mostly the next day.

Patti

I know there is a similar post further down the board, but I am in a similar situation....how DO you figure out what to charge your client?  I think charging what you made as an IC and then adding a few pennies makes sense to me.  Do other MTSOs think that is reasonable?  If there is no way to know what the previous transcription service charged, do you just ask what the CLIENT thinks is reasonable and go from there?

Also, lets assume that the MTSO (very small, of course) has a remote phone-in system...how can the MTSO figure this into their price?  Do you bill them separately for phone charges  or just tack it onto the cpl?  If so, that makes figuring the cpl even more complicated. 

Any wisdom from other MTSOs would be MUCH appreciated!

I've looked through several old threads on this board about eScription/EditScript and have seen those who love it and those who don't. I may be moving to an account that utilizes this platform and am trying to see how my earnings might be impacted. I understand there will be a learning curve, but I anticipate getting "up to speed" quickly as I have always been fairly good at learning new technology. What is the average  line rate I can expect using EditScript software? I've seen rates quoted from between 3 cpl up to 5 cpl.  Is that right?  Is anyone making more than 5 cpl editing? 

What is the average line count for editing I can expect (hope) to achieve?  I've seen some say 300+/- lph and others who can do 600 or more lph.  What is the highest sustained lines per hour one can expect when editing, if utilizing all the keyboard shortcuts, etc., available? 

Thanks for your input. 

q

can anyone share what going rates are for IC and transcription services  in their area?

I'm trying to get my own docs and want to set rates that are equivalent to everyone else so as not to undercut and lower our industry standards. But, I can't seem to find out what rates are locally, soooo, as much input as possible would be appreciated.  Anyway, I know that local family practices have been quoted by the hour, by the minute, by the line, by the page, and so on.

I don't really want to do by the minute -- it makes them feel like they have to dictate at sonic speed. Some of them balk at by the line because no matter what you tell them, they feel like they are penalized for having nice formats. They balk at by the page because they think you will extend it to 2 pages for more money. Then there are the ones who gripe about hourly rates because they feel like you will type slower to make more money. I actually typed a sample tape for a local practice a year ago and based on my rate the office manager figured it up PER PATIENT and said it was too much!! 

I know family practice docs and nurse practitioners don't make that much money but dangit I gotta feed my family too.

So help, please!!!!

and what company to help turn things around in this industry, meaning, the 4,5,6,7,8 9 etc per line which is grossly under paying if one takes the time to figure, how many lines, how many lines per hour, per minute, per second to make HOW MUCH PER HOUR.  This is the key, how much per hour you make.

With a list of where to refer to, it helps curb this slave labor mentality.

THE MTs NEED A SECTION ON THIS BOARD to list going rates so the industry becomes more competitive and not at our expense with all this " supply 3 phones, supply long distance TO THEM. BUY THIS AND PROVIDE THIS TO THEIR COMPANY.  Buy this license, this software. 

My contribution: As taken from their ads the last month (looking back) at least 10/ln

Future Net Tech - California  9-10

CPR Tech California 10

Digital Records California - California

Phoenix Trans

Keystrokes Ill.

Tidewater  Virg.

Trans tech

Ascend 9-11 BVirg.

Paladin

TTS New Hampshire

Softscript - California

MWPS Michigan   Rad.

i

CPR - California

Phoenix

nix

I recently had a call for family practice dictation and I offered 12 cents per line.  Have always charged by the gross line and was charging 14 cents, which I thought was too high, so lowered it to 12 cents.  However, the more I am reading I see that 65 character seems to be the way everything is getting billed.  I also realize at 12 cents per line I lose a lot going to 65 character lines. 

I also realize with family practice that they might have a lot of times where there is one or two words on a line and probably wouldn't be too happy about paying for gross lines. 

I guess I'm looking for advice on charging.  Is charging for gross lines unheard of anymore? I have already quoted the 12 cents, so that will have to be my charge.  But as far as gross or 65 character, I haven't been asked that yet but would need to have that absolutely straight with them before starting.  Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.  I know I'm a little behind the times and am trying to catch up and stay competitive also. 

Thanks!

However, you fail to see that if the company itself was honest about the company, its structure, the software, and the accounts, few MTs would leave so quickly.  It's the old saying of what came first, the chicken or the egg? 

To the original poster, if you feel uncomfortable with a company or an account, by all means go with yorur gut feeling.  If you feel somehow responsible for accepting the job without researching it first and want to keep your side of the street clean, you can always resign and offer to return the equipment at your expense.  As always, make sure you get a return receipt, but this might make the ending to this chapter of your life more comfortable for you. 

Good luck in whatever you decide to do!!!

You can get an idea in the difference using documents you have already created, assuming you're working in Word. Simply open a document and check the properties. Click on the statistics tab and you will see the number of lines as well as characters with and without spaces. If you're currently getting paid by the line and a line is 65-characters with spaces, do the math and see how that number of lines compares with the number of lines in your stats.

One thing to keep in mind: if you have a blank line between paragraphs, instead of hitting the enter key twice, format your document to give the appearance of blank lines between paragraphs.

It definitely depends on where you live.  I'm in Arkansas and have a hard time getting 0.10 out of docs around here.  Right now I have a peds acct that is 0.08 and an internal med that is 0.9, 65 character lines.  The peds acct provides their own paper for me to print on and I email transcription to the internist, so they print it.  I do pick up tapes everyday and I am always available, never take vacations unless the docs do.

The best thing to do would probably be to talk to some of the doctors and negotiate terms.

Can I ask what you get per line?

nth

Just checking in to see what a fair rate would be to charge for specialities (neuro and ortho) in the Morris/Sussex/Warren County areas of NJ.  If anyone out there has any info, I'd appreciate it.