MTSO charges

• Does anyone know what a MTSO - wondering?
  • MTSO charges - who knows
  • Every account/contract is different. - no message
    • I realize that, but any average figures? - wondering?
      • Guess no one know on this board. - wondering?

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I would really like to see the opinion of some of those who are so upset to see what they would do if they were running a MTSO and what they would charge to the client, pay the transcriptionist, pay for overhead, pay for QA and see what kind of a profit they would make.  I have only a small company and still have to take 30% plus type myself to make it worth while to cover the "non billable" hours that  I put it.  So if you are upset at getting only 9 cents per line what would you do if you ran the company?

Tapes just switching to digital, depending on their volume 11.5 to 12.5 gross line.  I pick up and deliver, cut chart notes apart.  But great accounts and would not charge more as don't want to lose them.  Gross 55K per year with 6 docs.   Put in about 24 - 26 hours per week with delivery, printing, etc.  Pay on time, Christmas bonus, and have been with me for 5 to 15 years.

At least this company is being up front and telling you what they are charging the company and you do not have to wonder what they make off the account.  If you are making .975 per line that is pretty good pay for a sub/IC especially if you have the same account/docs, etc and can get down your shortcuts.   I am upfront with most of my subs/IC and tell them what portion I take for myself if they ask.  Don't hide anything.  You do not get rich off of having subs working for you when you pay a fair wage and that is why I expect good quality work.  

Patti

I have done seminars, interviews, and court proceedings as they use a tape recorder or a CD recorder now.  I charge a little more than my regular accounts as it is a one time shot but still charge 11 to 13 cents per gross line depending on the difficulty of the tapes/digital file.s

Patti

Even though they pay most of your expenses, our cost of living has gone up.  It was hard for me to raise mine but I did and they did not say anything.  I try to figure out what I am making an hour and see how that goes.  But I hate raising 0.05 per line and so I usually do 1 cent every 2-3 years.   I have more expenses  that you but still like I said the cost of living still goes up and I am sure that they have raised their rates in the past two years.   But again, it all boils down to what you are making per hour and if that is okay with you then keep it and raise it if you are happy.   I still charge pretty low according the standards on this board but I make good money per hour and just cannot justify raising it to the 15 to 16 cpl if I am comfortable with what I am making per hour.   I am the one that I have to live with.

Patti

Lots of time with a speciality you will be able to set up a lot of templates, normals or wharevery you call them as they do the same thing or say the same thing over and over.  So with that in mind, I try to figure out what I need to make hourly and figure that out into a cpl.  It will be slower at first but as you get going you will make more since you will be used to the docs, etc.  I keep my charges lower than a lot but I make enough per hour to cover all my cost.  Out here in Oregon there are people charging .15 to .18 cpl but I am still at .115 to .12 cpl and I make good money and have good accounts.  But I am also gross line.  That is how I started out 18 years ago and have kept it that way and since two of my accounts have been with me for those 18 years they know no difference.    Again, look at the big picture and see what you need to make.  With all of the Expanders that we have now and the normals, etc.  especially for clinic notes and repetitive docs, you can make good money at 11 to 12 cpl.  Slower at first but it will get better.    Good luck.

Again more info is needed when asking this question. Need to know gross or character per line, margins, font used,tTAT, etc.  Are you contracting with a MTSO company or the insurance company?  Sometimes they let you know what they  will be paying you.   What type of reports?  Tapes or voice files?  Do you print or send back E-mail or what?    Are they interviews or finished reports?  You need to get samples of the work, ask a few more questions unless you know the above answers already.  But BALLPARK figure would be 0.12 to 0.14 per line but again depends on gross versus cpl and what type of reports.  I never quote a price without seeing what I will be typing.  Do a search as this subject has come up many, many times.    Patti

Charge for pick up and delivery is in my cpl charge.  I do 24 hour TAT.  I have a locked briefcase I put the tapes in, in the trunk of the car if I stop anywhere.   Not many allow 48 TAT at least to my knowledge.  You pick up Friday's tape on Monday and return on Tues. 

With AT&T/SBC telling some of us it will now be 3 or 5 cents per minute because we are a business, how are MTs being able to afford paying anywhere from 400 to 600 per month in phone charges?

How are others doing this?  I know i would literally have to take on more work just to pay that bill.

Any feedback on what others do....

Dot

But you are using it to generate  an income and they will consider that a business.  Sorry that is the way that they think -- you are not conducting personal matters but matters to generate  an income.  Do you deduct your phone charges on your income tax form?   This is not the way I think but they way that they think.  I do not use my phone anymore than a residential but because I am an independent contractor, I must register as a business and my Comcast cable Internet Provider, my phone line is double that of a residential person -- have been paying double for almost 20 years.   They will get every and any penny that they can. 

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 am a small MTSO and also IC'd for another company a couple of years ago and something similar happened to me.  However it was probably a little different as I did the pick-up and deliveries although I was an IC for the company.  When she did not bill the clinics so that I could not get paid, I knew the clinics and so I went to them and told them that after a certain date I would not be doing their sevice because I was not being paid -- a little different than your story but you can also let the clinics know how that service is being run.  Again, only after you write your calm, fact filled letter.  But if someone threatened my business with anything like that - going to my accounts -- they would be paid within 24 hours.   Reputation is what counts in this business.   But again, just write to them calmly and with the facts asking them to prove that you had signed a contract, then giving them 48 hours to produce such contract or send you a check for your services or you will see them in court.   Again, I would threaten to go to their accounts to let them know how they run their business but only as a last resort.  But just do it, write them you deserve your money.   Was there problems prior to quitting and that is why you just left suddenly -- I know this leaves them in a lurch but if they were a crummy company they probably deserved it.  Also if you did not sign a contract stating you would not go after any account you worked on for two years go for the accounts. 

my hospital's TAT is between 24 and 48 hours depending on type of report.  When I worked in-house, it was from 2 to 48 hours, with Op notes/HP having a 2 hour TAT.   I think it varies a bit between hospitals, but as a general rule most reports are no greater than 24 hours. Sometimes discharge summaries have a longer TAT, such as 48 hours.   I don't have any experience with VA hospitals, but they probably aren't much different.  

I am an IC for a small MTSO.  I have a deduction taken from my invoice every pay period for renting Transnet equipment.  My foot pedal broke and I asked urgently Monday morning for a replacement foot pedal to be Fed Exed to me - work was on the system and needed to get done.  Well, after many many phone calls and e-mails I got the replacement foot pedal via Fed Ex (they shipped on Friday) on Saturday morning.  So I worked all weekend to get caught up on a whole week's worth of work.  Got my invoice yesterday (late - the MTSO has rescheduled their payment schedule as they are not getting promptly paid by their clients - the ICs had to accept the new payment schedule or quit).  There was a deduction for $40.13 for delivery fee for the foot pedal.  The Accounts manager says that "many memos" have been sent out that ICs are responsible for delivery fees.  Huh?  I looked over the memo I received about Transnet rentals and it said our invoice deduction covers maintenance costs for faulty equipment, etc. (the MTSO had originally said I would be billed for a new foot pedal - then I brought up the memo on rentals that covers faulty equipment and that got dropped pretty quickly).  I told the Accts manager that postage is the MTSOs expense, just like it is my IC expense to return the faulty equipment to the MTSO.  I also mentioned that the MTSO pays for phone charges to fax stuff to ICs; likewise the ICs pay for their phone charges for faxing to the MTSO.

What would you do?  I am so fed up with this MTSO...I don't make that much money on Transnet anyway (most of my lines are from microtapes) that I am tempted to just tell her to take all of my doctors on Transnet and quit doing these willy nilly deductions without my approval or knowledge.  This is the third time the Accts manager has taken "deductions" from my invoice without telling me - the last time was for Chicago taxes on rental equipment (totally illegal according to Cook County govn't) - that took 2 weeks to get straightened out!  Arrggghhh!!!