PS -- I am gross line which makes a difference -- nm

• Question regarding IC pay by line vs. by page... - Laurie
  • I, too, charge by the gross line (sm) - B
    • Thanks for all the great advice... - Laurie
      • One last thought about going to cpl vs page - Patti
  • PS -- I am gross line which makes a difference -- nm - Patti
  • Charges - Patti
  • 16 cpl sounds right for Cali - IC
    • I charge $0.18 cpl (65 character) - so you are - Cali-IC
  • Charge by line - Diane in NY
  • I charge - trose

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This is supposed to be an AMERICAN MT BOARD (as per the moderator) and they have their own boards.

I am sick to death of everyone training them to do our jobs better! 

I'm very sorry that your lines are 90 characters line and you get paid by gross lines.  You are cheating yourself - that's not my fault.  You cannot change the definition of a gross line.  So I gues I'm not understanding what you are trying to say.  Now if you are trying to say that your line equals 90 characters and that's how you figure your lines, than you are not using gross lines.  You have defined a line to be 90 characters, whereas most MTSOs define a line as 65 characters.  If that is the case, then I must say again, you are cheating yourself.

So which is it, do you get paid by gross lines or by a 90 character line?

Hi Jay,  I took the survey just now, but one caveat I have that I was hoping to be able to comment on in the survey but it was not asked (and I believe is a key component to the way people will respond favorably or not to VR) is what VR platform they are using.  They are definitely not all created equal.  I work on eScription, which is MS Word-based, and have made more money doing eScription VR than straight typing (previously also in an MS Word-based platform).  I have seen another person's experience in a non-MS Word-based platform, and they have not had the same experience as I have had with tremendous gains in productivity.  It is a platform that basically resides in a Web browser window and prohibits use of all the built-in MS Word productivity tools (autocorrect, autotext, spell check).  Some people seem to think that the need/use of these tools vanishes in VR, but it does not.  So, robbed of such tools in a non-MS Word-based system such as some VR platforms, there will probably be disappointing gains in productivity compared to MS Word-based VR platforms.  I can attest to this personally.  This goes for platforms that will not work with Expanders such as InstantText (which I use) or any of the other Expander programs.  So, what I am saying in summary is that not all VR platforms/programs are created equal, and I think it is very important to distinguish which platform people use that are responding to your survey, because I feel that greatly influences their experience with VR and, hence, response to your questions on the survey.  Good luck with your speaking....

Can someone explain the difference between these two?  I am assuming that the gross line is better than the gross character line.  How much better is being paid by the gross character line than just by the standard 65-character line?  Does anyone know how much difference it would make in dollars and cents?

Thanks.

The only way I see it, is if you graduate from one of the top 3 programs out there and do well, jobs are definitely out there.  Otherwise, I wouldn't even know what to tell them.  Good luck! :)

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.

A gross line is anything on a line versus 65 gross characters per net line the other way.  You make more money working for the gross line than for the 65 gross character line, as long as the line rate's OK.

Mebbe just got my first OWN ACCOUNT YAY!  He said to charge him the "going rate" since I pay him that.  This could be the start, baby!  (I hope)

for instance...

MEDICATIONS:

Effexor

Prevasid

A 65 character line without spaces is black marks on the page only and 65 w/spaces is everything... tabs, spaces, numbers, letters, bold, etc.

I am thinking of taking a job that pays by the gross line and not a 65-character line.  I have never worked this way.  Does this literally mean if there is one little word on a line you get paid for it?  I have not pinned her down on a line rate but I am just thinking I am going to be comparing apples to oranges and am wondering how to accomplish that. 

Thanks for any help!

spaces really don't matter in a gross line count.

I bill for gross line which means each line counts whether there are 10 words or one word each line counts.  So when I type in a smaller font, there are less lines than in Courier.  I do not take the characters and divide by 65.   Hope that makes sense.  So the smaller font, the less lines.  So when I contract with a client I tell them that my price per cpl it is a 65 character line in Courier font.  If they chose to use Ariel 10, I will type in that for them but the line count is done in Courier or at least Ariel 10. 

One account that I inherited told me to count from top to bottom, gross lines and just use microsoft word lines.  Their margins are 1" for chart notes and -- I did not do this they requested, letters/consults 1.45 as it lines up with their letter head.  Count blank lines, etc., was told to do it this way.   But then again I charge .115 per line and type in Times Roman 12.  Again, I figure out how much per hour I make and try to keep my cpl in line with that.   Another account wants chart notes in Arial 10 and I told them when I bid my cpl is for Courier 12 and so I change the file back to Courier 12 when I do my line count for them.  But I do all in gross lines, one word or 10 words all the same price for the line.   I do print and supply all paper except for letter head, pick up and deliver which is all included in my price.  But I make good money and again look at my hourly rate and my monthly receivables to see if it works for me. 

Patti

Gross line is courier new 12, 1-inch margins.  I tried to figure out some kind of formula, but not really sure where to start.

Any input is appreciated.

I never bid per page anymore but by the line.  On a full page you can get anywhere from 50 to60 depending on the font and if you times that by 0.12 it is better pay.  It also depends if you are putting the chart notes consinuously and counting just full pages and not per each patient.  To me $3 per full page is WAY low, I used to charge when first starting out back in --- wow am I old -- 1988 $1.00 -- 10 lines or less, $2.50 half page and $4.00 full page.  Now I am lucky that my accounts all started out with me doing gross lines when it was still acceptable and I continue with gross lines, put patient after patient on sticky paper and just do line counts per Microsoft word.   That is what they are used to and that is one reason my rates are a little lower.  All averages out.  But per page - to me - does go in your favor. 

Good luck and congrats. 

Patti