MTSO charges
Posted By: who knows on 2008-04-30
In Reply to: Does anyone know what a MTSO - wondering?
I do not believe that no one on this board knows how much is charged - I believe no one wants to say - I think that MTs, either employees or ICs would leave under great numbers if all was known about any MTSO. I knew of one company that charged the client $25 per hour during the week and $27.50 on the weekends - that was to work in-house - some of the MTs were making $17.50 straight - weekday or weekend while others were making $11.00 - so you see - it varies and the MTSO's main concern is how much they are making - not so much what the MT is making - which is why we no longer make the money we used to - plus the outsourcing - but I know that it takes a lot more time to make any money than it used to.
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irrelevant what MTSO charges the customer...
as long as you feel the price they pay you is sufficient for you. nuff said.
honey, it works like this: The MTSO(service) charges the doctor X amount per line or report, and
takes part, gives you the rest. Therefore - the MSTO(or service) decides your pay.
If you are paid 8 cpl, surely you do not believe the service charges the doctor 8 cpl - do you?
Charges
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?
charges
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.
Charges
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![](https://forum.mtstars.com/smileys/shake.gif)
Charges
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
charges
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
PA charges ..
I cannot tell you who might have the information, but I do know that the State of PA charges a tax for MT services. You might want to call their Dept. of Revenue and inquire .. it would not be pleasant to get hit with it down the road and you know that you are then guilty without recourse save for paying!
charges
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.
Charges
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
charges, TAT
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.
Charges
I do daily pick up and delivery, print, cut apart chart notes on sticky paper, envelopes, and charge .125 cpl. But this is Oregon and might be a little lower. But I look more at what I am making per hour and I can average 400 to 500 lines per hour depending on how many consults, OPs, that I have. If I suddenly went to .16 cpl I think that they would be looking for someone else. Perhaps not. But I make good money and cannot justify raising it right now. But go for it all they can say is "no, we will look elsewhere". But again figure out what you make per hour and see how that goes. Never did like charging by the page. Good luck, let us know what they say.
Charges
Can you get copies of the templates or a report to see how many lines there are or an approximate time to do a report. Also will you have to retype the templates or will he give them to you? Also you don't know how many he will make minor changes so that could be time consuming. But I would probably do per page or report making sure that you equal out to $20 to $25 per hour. When doing hourly they are always questioning if that time was spent and with page or report, there is no question. But again without actually doing one, you are shooting in the dark for a price and be sure that he knows that the price could change if you find it is more work that it sounds. Like I said, many templates are changed and sometimes that takes time and can screw up an entire report. Good luck.
Charges....sm
Be careful, when you go over bytes that they allow you, they usually charge a per byte used to connect to the internet......and it can get VERY expensive if you use the net a lot.
Line charges
I had this done to me as well. From experience 1) be aware she will dump you. 2) Look for another account. 3) Be the dumper instead of the dumpee. Just go along to get along and get rid of them.
How are other MTs doing phone charges?..sm
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
Phone charges
I don't know what anyone else is doing, but I'm contacting Lisa Madigan, Dick Durbin, and Barack Obama. I was told by SBC's business office that I am not a business.
phone charges
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.
They were federal charges
go to a halfway house first, but I thought surely that the prison could tell me something, if that was the case?! They just said he was out of custody and that's all they could tell me. Thanks for the encouragement...it's appreciated!
AT&T/C-phone charges
My advice, get rid of AT&T, they suddenly, after taking over SBC, wanted to charge me 10 cents per telephone use while using my C-phone, said it was not considered a telephone call, but that data was being sent over line, so, another one bites the dust with them..am now with "WOW" for a 1/3 the cost and is great service.
Can I write off all my DSL charges
on taxes. I assumed I could, but now somebody is telling me not if I use it for personal stuff that I would have to figure out how much I used it for personal, and how much I used it for work. Of course I wouldn't have DSL if work did not require it, so why should I not be able to write off the whole cost.
And do you know charges different according to where you live?
My rates for landline very high as compared to a person I know in smaller town, same thing, theirs was less than 20 and mine more than 40. Asked person at AT&T about this and waa told yes, it does make a difference in the charges.
really, that's what offshore charges?
are you kidding??? I work for a hospital in California and get paid 10 cents per 65 character line... i would hope that I am getting paid more than ESL workers!
Appropriate charges for hospital SR editing? SM
As a service owner providing transcription services (medical records, not pathology or radiology) to a large hospital, I was informed recently that the hospital is moving to speech recognition over the next couple of years. I foresee this to be a giant fiasco in general, but my specific question is this… I am wondering about my charges to the hospital and how they will/should be affected? I know the “powers that be” will expect me to lower my per line rate for SR editing (they currently pay 16 cpl for transcription), but I don’t have any idea what is appropriate. Has anyone had experience with such a scenario? Any input will be greatly appreciated.
My vet charges a $5 Prescription writing fee. (nt)
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.
And if there were charges filed and case goes
to court then it would be beneficial to have "rape" documented. I still can't believe that anyone thought it was necessary to change the wording.
data processing...medical charges
okay, so I've been doing medical data processing for a clinic for the past four months and the office lifestyle is NOT for me. Does anyone have information on work at home medical billing? I sure would like a nudge in the right direction. Thanks!
OMG - this company only CHARGES 1/cent a line. WTF?
![](https://forum.mtstars.com/smileys/tickedoff.gif)
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 don't believe anyone charges 45 cpl. Why would anyone hire them at that rate? Name names or
:+
Charge what the bank or library charges. nm
You can file mail fraud charges, plus contact her
local police/sheriff department and file a claim. It may take you a while to get your money back, if ever, but she may go to jail.
Nickel and dime accounts/misc charges
I do not nickel and dime my accounts to death. What I charge per line covers my time of delivery, printing, cutting apart chart notes, reruns when needed, etc. If you hit them with this charge and that charge they very well could look elsewhere that just gives one price for everything, all included. Simplicity. Sure just like now I scanned a tape to do a STAT H&P for surgery but the doctor did it on the hospital line and did not write it down as he usually does, yes it took me 10 to 15 minutes but will I charge them NO. WHY because yesterday I made $130 in less than two hours on their account and I received my checks one day after invoicing. I invoice on the 25th, receive check today and it was due until the 1st. And also they treat me like one of the team and appreciate what I do. But you do what you need to do but if you keep it simple without all the extra charges, they will like you better. You have to figure your nonbillable time into your rate. Good luck. Patti
Hi, just lately I spoke with a couple of companies who said they re-imbursed for telephone charges..
or supplied "calling cards" for specific accounts -- myself, I am glad to be away from C-phones, I did not have a great fondness for them! Have a good one!
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.
I could switch to DSL but the phone company charges 50 extra a month for being on line for more than
So either way I will have to pay more. I guess no one else here is affected or concerned by this but the article said that other companies would follow suit if Time Warner has success. The article said it would affect the teleworkers who are on line for long periods, not the people who just use cable for reading their email.
I pay $35/month through Vonage for unlimited LD. Local phone co. charges $50/month. NM
x
what is MTSO?
I'm an MTSO. I can tell you....
We don't hire *anyone* unless they have successfully completed a college education, meaning an associate's degree, in medical transcription. It doesn't matter if they learned on the job, learned in their garage, learned on their patio, learned it on their own 25 years ago or 25 months ago, taught themselves or taught the next door neighbor, or if they used to be a nurse, doctor or janitor. The short and simple of it is: No formal college training in MT, no job! (And that includes the "make-$40,000.00-a-year-correspondence-courses, too!). We've seen the handiwork of those who say they're self-taught, and it's not pretty!
mtso
Amen!
I'm an MTSO
and trust me I believe in paying above average for an above average job, but when you can't get the docs to cough it up because you've got third-world countries and VR breathing down your neck, not to mention newbies fresh out of school who will do it for even less, well, what do you expect...the MTSO to pull it out of her pocket to pay for you to work. Never forget ....MTSOs have to make a profit. They're entitled to that dear....If not, there's no reason to be in business. If you don't like what you're being offered, you're always free to get brave, strike out and get your own accounts.
When I was an IC I sent my MTSO
Christmas lottery tickets, which he loved. Nothing compared to the $500 bonus he gave me. Now that I am working for a large national, I'm just another number lost in the shuffle. I probably won't send them anything, don't expect anything from them and probably will receive nothing, though a full day's work would be nice once in a while.
I am a MTSO
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.
I'm not a MTSO, but
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.
What would you do re this MTSO?
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!!!
i'm not an MTSO,
but i think you did right and my guess is that within 6 months to a year, they'll come back to you.
MTSO
I have checked the labor sites and just could not find anything. In the beginning, my accountant told me I would need to either collect sales tax or get a wholesale exemption from my client, but after calling the local and state sales tax offices and being told I didn't need one, she changed her mind too. The problem with offices is you don't always get the right answer but you are still responsible for the results. I just thought if nobody else charged, then I could be pretty safe in not charging as well. Thanks for replying anyway!
MTSO??
x
MTSO
I am just starting with an MTSO and looking foward to many, many happy years with them; locally based to my area. Can't wait. Start training tomorrow.
Everyone should be IC/MTSO at least once
it gives you a great prespective on where your money goes and how much goes to taxes... people think that when you are an employee the employer is "giving" them benefits, paying their share of the employee's SS taxes, etc. but actually the employee is paying indirectly, reflected in their wage amount, cpl, etc. They just don't have to write the check for the taxes, it's taken from them before they can see it. The problem with being in this business and being IC is that you need to make a better line rate than an employee and people do not realize that until the tax bill comes. I had to go with a national last year as my large physician group went to an EMR, so I switched to employee status. They were only going to pay the same line rate either way, so it works out better for me now to be an employee. As an IC/MTSO I had alot of deductions, kept every reciept, took depreciation, mileage (a big ded for me as I live in the country), etc. but now with my national position everything is internet, no printing documents, etc. so it only made sense for me to switch to employee. I have another sideline business which provides plenty of deductions right now and not much income. Planning is key whenever taxes are involved, check out the IRS publications or home business books, etc. Some great information to avoid the same tax problems next year.
MTSO
I loved your comment about the outhouse!! :) (And some of the matchbook schools could well BE outhouses for all we know.)
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