RE: Depends on the account

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an hourly rate would be great, but being paid by the line I make $20+/hour and I don't think companies would be willing to pay that hourly, so I guess I would have to say I'd rather be paid by the line, unless it is editing and that is a whole different story.   I also think being paid hourly would make me maybe not work so hard to get lines and perhaps slack off occasionally.   Depending on what shift I'm working I'm up and down every hour or so, putting a load in the washer, feeding animals, loading the dishwasher, etc.  If I was getting paid hourly I should not be doing that stuff.  I am not very disciplined and find it hard to sit still for more than 2 hours, so I would have to have a change in my routine.  I enjoy the flexibility of being able to get up, even go outside and sit on the deck and watch the sunrise, etc.   Another pro for the hourly wage though is at least you'd know what your paychecks were doing to be every payday and could maybe budget better. 

Some accounts want a strict SOAP format, so you would disregard the other headings.

I personally work on verbatim accounts so we put in any headings they dictate.

I grunt it out to make 10 bucks an hour.  If I worked just the ER account, I would definitely make full time money for part time hours.

Durn second account.  :}

you use numerals for all numbers (and the old way is to spell out numbers UNDER 10).  The BOS says to use numerals for ordinals; 10th, 2nd, etc.  BUT, many accounts have their own preferences, so why don't you check to see what yours wants?

My own accounts been doing them for over 4 years, it is just one office person that says anything.  I think that she was having a bad day last week and we about went on a minor screaming match with each other not only over this but some other things.   So will let things calm down, check and double check to see if I can figure things out but without showing me, I am in the dark like I explained to her.  When nothing comes back you think all is great.  

separate folder on Word and I just click on the appropriate folder. I do 4 hospitals in one state and two more, plus a local.

I never have gotten anything mixed up that I know of.

You should never work for only 1 company.  I learned this the hard way.  It's always good to have a backup.

I took a small account a few months ago. 3 docs, I do 2 and 1 has his own MT. She is an employee but we cover for each other for vacations. It is lucky they have that other person and they are flexible when I go away (rarely). Some accounts might expect you to find your own coverage. I have had problems with them not paying on time. It's not their fault, they have a large institutional accounting office over them. But MT is my only income so it has been a problem. Make sure you have a cushion in your checking account or whatever that you can live off of if you don't get paid for a while.

Another option might be an IC position if you can find the right one. I also have an outside contractor position with a local hospital that has employees, but I charge them like a service and they make no demands on my time.

Something to consider is how much time you will spend doing administrative things like billing, recordkeeping, marketing, answering emails, picking up tapes if applicable, traveling for interviews or training if you will be working on their system. I find that stuff eats up a lot of my time.

You might want to consider a 30-day trial period in case you dont like them. My account turned out to have a crappy dial-in system, they expected me to fax every report 1-4 times, and they eat up my time with emails and phone calls - each doc has his own secretary and they have another MT and they all tend to call me for things they don't need to bother me with like I'm an employee. Instead of telling them to find one person to deal with me we agreed I would charge by the hour instead.  I have no problem telling a secretary who calls me at 7p I will take down the info and call her back during business hours unless it is an emergency. It is hard to anticipate those things hence the trial period.

I don't think my account now is any better or any worse than any others.  I have been doing this for over 15 years and basically 2000 lines a day has been my average for the last 9 years and during that time, I have worked in house for 1 hospital and for 4 different agencies. 

I just make good use of a lot of word Expanders and sit down and work and not answer the phones and talk to people and watch TV, etc.