My earnings are very similar to shipaddict. Really good week I can top $1000 but rarely. nm

• Curosity- I am curious if I am making the normal amount of money weekly for MT. Would anyone care - Becca
  • Lowest runs $900 week, highest $1400 week (sm) - Lauryn
  • About $1000. - nm
  • About $350-$375 :( - (In the po-house!)
  • Normal amount? - please sm
  • About $800. sm - shipaddict
    • My earnings are very similar to shipaddict. Really good week I can top $1000 but rarely. nm - LMT
    • Weekly earnings - Janie
      • MPLite sm - shipaddict
    • Thank you! This helps me so much and I appreciate your sharing this with me! - Becca
  • $750 to $850 sm - LongtimeMT
    • Thank you for your answer! That helped me a lot. I have been an MT for 4 years and feel i should ma - Becca
      • Just about $500 a week - LinK
  • Sorry, I was making around $250-$300 weekly - Becca
    • how is it done? - Sue
      • typo! - Sue
  • Well you could have put down what you are making???? - sm -
  • around $400 - CJ
  • why don't you start nm - shipaddict

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drink, don't have alcohol in the house except for cooking wine/sherry, don't smoke, don't do drugs, are honest, hard working people.  My oldest son has "friends" who smoke, who put vodka in their Coke cans, cuss, steal, etc.  My son is a good kid and no I'm not naive and he isn't doing this stuff behind my back because we spend lots of time together.   My son is a health freak and won't allow anyone to smoke around him.  We've also tried to explain to him that even if he isn't drinking if someone he is with is caught drinking then he is guilty by association and he knows he needs to avoid these kids.  He has come home before upset that kids were using seriously foul language.  The "F" word at our house is spelled f-a-r-t. 

We live in a country club community.  The kids around here get new cars when they turn 16.  The parents don't keep up with their kids, just give them money.   My son has to earn his car with saving $$, keeping out of trouble, and good grades.  I don't keep tabs on him 24/7, but I know where he is at ALL times so that if I need to find him I can.  He even asks me if he can get on-line so I know he isn't using the computer for porn.  He is concerned that he doesn't have enough testosterone because he isn't wanting to sleep with anything that stays still long enough.  Don't know that his friends are, but they talk a good talk anyway.  

I think you are wise to be concerned and just need to keep open communication with your kids and hope that he makes good choices.  My son was a follower when he was younger and I had serious concerns about how he would be growing up, but now he has become a leader and I'm very proud of him because so far he is making good choices. 

Missed your post yesterday.

And for listening to me boo hoo about being laid off or dissolved as the suits at the hospital like to call it.  Anyway, I have officially accepted a QA Editor position with a service and I'm actually in a more positive frame of mind than I was last week.

I got my laptop all set up and ready to go with a laptop stand for plenty of ventilation, I put off buying any kind of wav player and just downloaded ExpressScribe for the time being, and I didn't saturate the market with my resume, but picked only a few places to apply based on suggestions and information you all gave me here.  And I did all of this because you ladies gave me such good advice.

I just wanted to say what a great place this is and it is very, VERY wonderful to have a place to network, socialize, fellowship, or just plain gab with colleagues and friends. 

Hi there,

I have been working as an MT since January.  It was certainly slow at first as I was on a learning curve.  Now I am quite familiar with the work and have made all sorts of "shorthand" for myself with MS Word.  I also spend long hours, often more than 8 a day working at this, and I am still only earning under $600 per two weeks.  How do I get my earnings up?  I have heard one can make very good money doing this... but I am considering going back to work outside the home.  I need to earn at least $1000 per two weeks.  The company I am with pays 8 cpl for typing and 4 cpl for editing.

The MT Conundrum

Those in the medical transcription field flocked to our 2008 Salary Survey, eager to see how they measured up against their colleagues. We had 872 total respondents in the transcription field, and 516 full-time MTs/editors and 212 part-time MTs/editors took our annual survey. Average MT salaries did nudge up a bit--4 percent--from last year, with full- and part-time MTs/editors making an average of $28,900 in 2008, compared to $27,800 last year. Full-time MTs reported bringing in $33,500.

At the Association for Health Care Documentation Integrity (AHDI), Kim Buchanan, CMT, AHDI-F, director of education and credentialing, hears a lot of complaints from MTs in the industry reporting drops in pay. "You hear complaints that wages are going down, but overall the data shows otherwise," Buchanan said. "This stat is showing we're slowly increasing."

MTs who work for medical transcription service organizations (MTSOs) did see a dip in pay (see sidebar on the next page), but certified medical transcriptionists (CMTs) (21 percent of full-time MTs) saw average salaries poke up to $39,000. To compare with last year's results, CMTs across all HIM professions brought in $37,864, and this year, CMTs who were MTs and other HIM professionals combined made an average of $43,900. Buchanan was very encouraged by the numbers, as full-time MTs who have a CMT make nearly $7,000 more than their non-credentialed colleagues. "To me, that really shows the credential differentiates you in the marketplace," Buchanan noted. "It's really encouraging to me to see the credential is being valued, and it should be. The complexity of documentation we're starting to see is going to require a  knowledgeable worker, and to me, credentials show you made a commitment to lifelong learning and you are truly invested in your knowledge."

The registered medical Transcriptionist (RMT) credentialed folks didn't fare as well, making on average $6,000 less than full-time MTs with no credential. The credential is only 2 years old, Buchanan explained, and most RMTs are entry-level MTs/editors who just came out of school. Looking at the average salary of MTs/editors with 0 to 2 years' experience ($24,500), RMTs make more than that ($26,100), and the RMT might also just be the ticket that gets new MTs hired in the field. "In a way, it's really helping them leapfrog that beginning salary you show on 0 to 2 years," Buchanan said. "It's helping them, it's propelling them, and it's putting them ahead, which is great. That's exactly what we wanted it to do."

After examining all the numbers for MTs, Buchanan was happy the average salary for MTs/editors crept up, albeit slightly. "Overall, I'm encouraged to see we continue to increase, even if it's at what looks like a snail's pace," Buchanan said. "In an economy where people are losing jobs left and right, it's good to know transcription is remaining viable, and we're still seeing our wages creep back up."  

Lynn Jusinski is an associate Editor with ADVANCE.

Am relatively new to at home transcription so I am not doing as well as most poster.

Instant Text is relativley new to me, but helping prodcution.

I am not familiar with MP Lite. I know someone will be kind enough to share.

Thanks!

Hello all ... I've been an MT for 13+ years and my current hospital has OUTSOURCED  my position!  I'm in a crappy  job at the hospital currently, working 3-11, to keep my benefits until I decide what to do, and go on interviews.  I'm considering working for the company that took over the hospital account - but I'm not sure what to expect as far as pay per line.  

If its not too personal - how much do you guys earn at home per hour/week?

THanks so much!  Joanne 

1.  What are your monthly earnings -- just you (no spousal income) -- doesn't matter how many jobs....monthly earnings?

2.   Do you work more than one job?

3.  What is your base line rate?  If you have more than 1 job, list all base rates.

4.   Now what is the minimum bring-home pay you need to survive each month?  This is your housing, energy, transportation, insurances, food -- what you have to have to make it. 

5.   What's the difference?  Are you in the hole?  Got surplus?  Breaking even?

My answers:

1.   About $3100 each month.

2.   One job.

3.   $0.095 cpl plus some incentive bonus each month.

4.   $2287 gets everything paid.  Savings and pocket money not included in that figure.

5.   Surplus but not much.  Trying to save as much as possible and have a few greenbacks in my wallet each week. 

AAMT. They started the whole problem, and then they bailed out after everybody decided it was the most honest method to determine what a "real line" was.

But there's still a way to break even. Go to this web site:  http://www.medicalese.org/line_count.html

Figure out what you want to bill for gross lines. That would be under the 45 cpl column (trust me on this ... I did stats for years when I was billing for gross lines). Compare it to what you would get paid if you billed for a 65-char line and that's what you want to be paid.

IOW, if you want to make 9 cpl for gross lines, under the 45 line length column it would be $200. Go over to the 65-char line and see how close you can match things up. It's 13 cpl = $200.00. That's what you want to make the same amount.

However, I would get Vera Pyle's Med. Term book, Ellen Drake Sloane's Medical Word Book, and Claudia Tessier's Surgical Word Book.  Also Quik-Look Drug Book.  This is only if you are still using books 24/7/365.  The web has faster access in my opinion.   

:

what matters is: is it worth it to you to work for that rate? On some accounts, my IC's might make only 50% of what I charge the client, on others they might be paid 80%. For one physician, I might charge 12 cents a line - if another calls, says they are in a jam and desperate to get their backlog done, I might bid it at 14.  But if you are satisifed with say 8.5 cents a line, it doesn't matter if your MTSO charges them 9.5 or 19.5.

As far as line rates to physicians, again, it depends on what the market will bear. You could call local physician offices and tell them you are an independent MT service and you are getting price ranges for the locality, and ask the OM what they are paying. That would give you an idea of what is competitive. In West  Virginia, they might be charging 18 cents per line, in Chicagoland they might be charging 11.

The line rate

I wonder what the change is?  Do we parents have egos because now most of us have as much education as teachers do?  Are we unwilling to sit back and never question "authority figures"?  Do we remember being wronged in our own childhoods, so we're quick to defend?

I try not to be a buttinsky at my kids' schools, but sometimes I just don't agree with how they're doing things there.  One day, three bigger boys with bad home lives and a history of fighting jumped my son, who is the most peaceful kid you've ever met.  Two of them held him down while the third one was on top of him punching and kicking him.  My son had to bite the kids to get them off of him.  He was cut, bruised, and had a bloody nose.  Guess who got punished?  My son did, for biting.  I called the cops and intervened at the school because my son has my full permission to defend himself against bullies, especially on a 3-on-1 situation.

I also remember being punished for things at school when I did nothing wrong, then my parents punished me a second time because of what the teacher said.  I got detention for sneezing in class once.  One of my teachers publicly humiliated me and threatened to pull me out of all the advanced classes if I didn't publicly apologize to another teacher when I wasn't even the one who said whatever it was she was upset about.  One of my male teachers actually picked up a student and slammed him into the chalkboard, ripping the kid's shirt off in the process.  So yes, I'm going to stay on the schools and make sure my kids aren't hassled by any burnt out teachers who are just biding their time until retirement.  My kids aren't angels, but they're not demon spawn either.

I have one client for 11 years, another one for 15 years. They wait...they don't want anyone else doing their work. Are they spoiling me or am I spoiling them? My vacations consist of a 2 day fishing trip. One day to the site, 1/2 day fishing, and back home again.

If I'm sick, they understand. I still do the work, but at a pace that won't make me sicker. I sually catch up in a couple days.