Per page versus per line

• Per page versus per line - CrazyMT
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I am checking into other options for transcription.  Can anyone tell me how to compare all of these types of lines & also payment per word?  I know companies use different scales, so I wondered how they compare.  I have been paid on a 65 character line with spaces, but I may be making a change in the future - don't want to get burned.

Thank you in advance!

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!

I have never been paid by the line before, and I was wondering before I go any further, what would be the minimum requirement of lines per day for most services?  I want to be full time and have benefits.

Thanks

I've been offered two QA jobs; one that pays $15 per hour and one that pays 4 cpl.  I'm told that I can make more than $15 per hour on production because you get credit for all lines in a report, even if you make only one correction.  So I figured that to make the equivalent of $15 per hour, I would have to QA 3000 lines a day.  So here's my question, is 3000 lines of QA in an 8 hour day feasible and is it possible to do more lines than that in an 8 hour day?

Both offer employee status, benefits, etc.  Benefit plans are pretty much exactly the same down to the same health insurance company. 

I am a Southern California IC for two chiropractors and soon starting a third chiropractor in a few weeks.  I charge $1.50 - $3.00 per page.  Usually the notes are 10-25 gross lines and sometimes (1-2x/wk) a  60+ line report.  I do approximately 150 reports a week total with the two chiros.  So after paying gas, paper, ink, taxes, etc., I feel like I am making very little for what I am putting out. 

So now I am considering charging by the line, but worry on how much to charge.  I print out all reports, pick up and deliver 2x/wk, and pay for all materials including disks for backup.  I feel I should be making more, but worry what to charge.  Does anyone have an amount that sounds fair?  I was thinking in the lines of  .16 or .17 per line, does that sound right?

TIA~

Does anyone know how to compare byte count versus gross line pay?

Thank you

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!

I do a lot of MRI/CAT scan/neuroradiology, etc.  These are sometimes long drawn-out reports and sometimes go to 2 to 2-1/2 pages. 

Most companies that pay by the page only pay at most $2.00 a page.  You can make more by the line. 

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!!!!

I have always charged or been paid by 65 or 60 character lines or per letter or space typed, but have never been paid or charged per gross line.

What is the advantage of this?  If I were to charge 11 cents per 65-character line including spaces, what does this figure out to for an average line rate and how do you do this calculation? 

I'm wondering if it is financially beneficial for me to bill by gross line or to keep it the way I have it.  I do know some accounts will only pay per 65-character line, as this was the deal my first own account I recently acquired.  They were adamant on a 65-character line, but didn't specify with or without spaces and I personally would never not charge for spaces.

Thanks for explaining this.  I appreciate it and hope everyone has a speedy day.

When I worked for a national, up thru 2 years ago, I was getting $1.75 page and heard they got $4.

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.

Ok - maybe I am having a brain fart - the dictation says the guy smokes 1 "ppd"  (pack per day) should i do ppd or PPD??  It is verbatim.

HELP!

The RMT (Registered Medical Transcriptionist) credential that is for those MTs who have just recently graduated or have been working but do not have the required 2 years of acute care experience to write the CMT (Certified Medical Transcriptionst) exam. 

You can find information about the CMT and RMT exams and credentials at http://www.aamt.org/scriptcontent/creddesig.cfm.

I really don't want to open a can of worms about poor pay, but I am really trying to compare these two options.  I need to make a decision about which company to go with.  Since I have no idea which has the better platform or better dictators I'm pretty much flying blind.  The obvious difference is that one pays for spaces and one doesn't (I didn't know there were still companies that DIDN'T pay for spaces).  Both are part-time IC.

Company 1 -- 7.6 cpl with spaces, no headers or footers

Company 2 -- 9 cpl with headers and footers, no spaces

Any insight would be very welcomed.