Home     Contact Us    
Main Board Job Seeker's Board Job Wanted Board Resume Bank Company Board Word Help Medquist New MTs Classifieds Offshore Concerns VR/Speech Recognition Tech Help Coding/Medical Billing
Gab Board Politics Comedy Stop Health Issues
ADVERTISEMENT




Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Same for me, I made more 10 years ago. It depends so much on account, SM

Posted By: ditto squared on 2007-07-05
In Reply to: 30 years exp for me. - Ditto

work type(for me), and expanders. I find it hard to stay motivated when report after report is ESL and a work type I can't make money on. The above poster likes radiology, I like OPs. It is easier to stay motivated when you have that.


Complete Discussion Below: marks the location of current message within thread

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu


Other related messages found in our database

RE: Depends on the account
No it does not!!!!!!
depends on which account
It really depends on which account you are going to be working on as to how much of a response you will get.  There is one account manager who manages several who is NEVER around, doesn't answer emails or the phone and it's been whispered she may even work another job.  There is a huge group of clinic accounts without a manager, they got rid of her, probably to save money since there have been lots of money saving cuts going on.  Currently that one is being overseen by the HR lady with no transcription experience (the second in command, watch out for her, really thinks anybody can do the MT or Editor job without having any experience).  There was another account with a really good manager but a bad platform, but she finally left, so hard to tell who is there now.  The actual owner is a very nice lady but unfortunately isn't much involved and only knows what her second in command tells her, and she makes it look like she has all under control, and in reality she is the second top reason most people leave this company.  A new manager has been hired for the new account we have, but yet again she will be limited by what Ms. G. will allow her to do, which won't be much.  This used to be a really good company but steadily has been on the decline.  Tell me what editor will put up with bad platforms, 100% listens and low work for 3-3.5 cpl?  What MTs will stay on with bad platforms and being ignored when there is no work?
Yes, it depends on the account (sm)
I do think it would be strange to have a PE section.  The physical exam section is the "O" section, for Objective.  It would be redundant to have PE within O.  You may want to ask for samples.
Depends what account you are on. I have been
there just over a year. DocuScribe is easy to learn, not bad at all. I don't have that many ESLs, mostly they are residents, but still I don't know about other accounts.
I think it depends on what the account wants, and
In fact, one account I type wants it both ways: They want all abbreviations expanded in letters, and usually no expansions except in certain circumstances on all other dictations by that account. The 'twice a day' vs. 'b.i.d.' thing is trickier. If my account has no specific rules about it, then for the sake of continuity, if the first couple meds in a list are written one way (such as b.i.d.), then even if they say twice a day on the next med, I still type it b.i.d. That way there's a little more uniformity, and I think also the list is easier to read. Of course, it all boils down to the preferences of those you work for.
Depends on account, but discontinued
would be correct (sometimes it means discharged)
It depends on what your clients or account wants. sm
BOS sometimes does not matter. The only thing that matters is what the people who sign your paycheck want on their reports.

It depends. If you have a very difficult account

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. 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


I find it really depends on the account.
I really lucked out that I am on an account that has been doing VR for a while and the docs all speak pretty clearly. The reports come to me pretty clean. I only have to verify demographics and make minor changes to the report and I can get pretty good line counts.

On the other hand, I know MTs who aren't so lucky and end up having to transcribe many of their reports because they are so bad and end up making less money.

I love my VR account. I decided to do VR to save my wrists. I have had problems with carpal tunnel, but not since switching to VR.


It also depends on your account specifics too...
if it is verbatim, you type what they say...
Depends on your account, I would guess.

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.


It depends on the account guidelines.
For the majority of the accounts I work on abbreviations are only expanded in the critical sections, such as diagnosis, impression, etc. This is to the client's preference, and it is considered an error to expand an abbreviation when it is not necessary.

As far as dosages, I always transcribe what the dictator says unless it is a prohibited abbreviation or an error. Prohibited abbreviations are changed, per client preference, to the acceptable term. If it may be an error, it is flagged for review. If the doc dictates "twice a day," they get "twice a day." If they dictate "b.i.d." that is what I transcribe. It is also considered a error, at least at my company, to alter what is dictated.
Much depends on the account/accounts that you are on (sm)
Like everywhere else, I suppose... I've been with JLG for almost 12 years and have had the same main acct the whole time. It's a large hospital system, and yes, lots of ESL, but only a few that I would consider dreadful. Have been on some other accts with virtually no ESL. Have also been on work types where I could rack up lines like crazy, and other times (like now, for instance) struggling to get 1200-1300 per day. Have had times where I felt extremely micro-managed, other times don't hear anything from anyone for literally weeks. Paycheck has always gone out on time, but unfortunately no longer do direct deposit. I guess you could say they've been a little erratic since I've been with them, but overall I am pretty happy. I believe they have several different platforms - I'm on "EHR" (for the past year or so) and while it's a little slow going from the patient information screen to the document screen and back again, it works with your own Stedman's spellchecker and with Shorthand, so better than some others that I've been on. I will say that the support personnel have not always been the best, but, again, I've seen a lot of people come and go! Hope you find a position that's perfect for you - or at least nearly so!
I have been paid both ways. Depends on the account. nm
n
I guess that depends if it is a verbatim account...
I think even so I would type feces....
I agree, it depends on who you work for BUT also the account
and how long it has been on VR. If it has been on VR for a few years, piece of cake. If it is just starting out on VR - tedious work, low pay as it takes longer to edit than to just transcribe it.

I have been doing VR editing for 4 years now with an account that has been on it that long also...can make up to $50 an hour, and some times as low as $30 an hour when we add new dictators.

Hope this helps.
Depends - one account I make 40 an hour, other - s/m

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.  :}


depends on location, I know someone who lost a local account - sm
in Woodbridge, VA, was charging .12 a line (60 character line), got underbid and lost it after having had it for years.  Now in order to get more but look less, she bids at .10 a line but a 50 char. line....comes out to .13 if a 65 cpl.   You can't get much over .10 around here on your own which really stinks, or do some fancy accounting which in this case works.
I consider myself a pretty fast Mt, and I am lucky to hit 100 reports a day...depends upon account.

lines produced also depends on type of account, doctors, specifics, platforms.
nm
Made more 10 years ago
Better dictators back then and the company/facility you worked for didn't give with one hand and take with the other.
Ive been doing this for 4 years and made
37,000 in 2008...A lot of hard work though to get that.
How many MTs made more per line 10 years
nm
made more money 15 years ago than I do now. nm.
x
Like I am saying, what I made years ago and what I make now
sooooooo much different. I do not have to raise a family though now and my quest towards making money is not like it was at 1 time. IF I HAD TO support a family, I definitely would not go into this business now or I would plan on working as I did in the past, 2 full time jobs, then I could make ends meet. I am so glad money is not the #1 thing anymore that drives me.
15 years ago I made 75 thousand
a year, but not anymore. To do that, I had a very good paying FT job, and a home business. I worked 7 days a week, sometimes 12 hour days. Now I just work regular, and sometimes PT. I doubt I could make that again unless I want to be a workaholic.
Yes. I made that my first couple of years.
Now it's at least twice that when I'm lucky enough to have a half-decent account. (Those are getting fewer and farther between.)
Waited 6 years to buy one could have made
and now I can't imagine living without it. I took a job recently and I could not use Smartype on their program, they had an Expander but with nothing in it LOL and I thought I was going to die!!! Get one...it is NOT faster typing it.
I have had the same account for six years - sm
One of the doctors hates using tapes ... so he decided that he would dictate over the internet. Guess what? He hated it.

Then he decided that the whole office should use a transcription service. Guess what? He found out with each transcription service that if you wanted a stat letter done it cost him about $35!! $35 for a two page letter!! And he was angry because none of the companies would print the letters. They wanted to send them back by email and have his staff print them out! They also charged various line rates for various letters, which was totally ridiculous.

I charge $5.00/page to transcribe the doctors letters, they fed ex me my tapes no matter where I am (and they pay for the fed ex). Guess what? I'm still more cost effective than the transcription services. I manage a same day to 48 hour turnaround time. My bill averages around $600-800 month and I have never worked more than 20 hours a month for the group.

Don't fret it. I have found over the years that doctors will always try to find a cheaper alternative to getting things done, but I have never ever been let go because of bad transcription, and whenever this has happened, I can guarantee you this .... they will call you back!!! I can almost promise you that!

My doctors have come to rely on the fact that they have been able to call me on my cell phone and ask me if I could call them back before the end of the day because they have a stat letter that needs to be done. I tell them what time I will call, transcribe the letter, email it to them, or print it from where I am and mail it to where it needs to go. Now keep in mind that they don't do this all the time, but I would probably say on the average of about 4-5 times a day. They will never find that with a transcription service.

I have never raised my rates. I take my time off around the main doctor's schedule. I have even tried to find a replacement a couple of times for them for when I really needed the time off - and it all comes back to this - I am a perfect fit for my doctors, and they now know that.

So cheer up. You'll be surprised - they will call you back.
The key here is 1 account for many, many years.
How many dictators? I made that good before DQS, and of course, MQ lost the accounts. Now on an account that you never get the same dictator twice in a shift. Makes it extremely difficult. Happy for you, hope it continues.
I had my own account years ago
transcribing for an office of 4 docs. They all admitted they were were terrible at grammar and such and it was my job to make them look good on paper, but they were paying me very well for this at $25 an hour. Just a few years ago another account I had with 2 docs it was the same thing at 15 cents per line. Unfortunately, all these accounts went to an MTSO at less than half of what they paid me.

Now I am with one of the major companies as employee and it is the same as you are saying, QA inconsistent and always getting dinged for fixing things and dinged if you don't, at slave wages compared to what it used to be.
You're okay making LESS than you made 10-20 years ago?
I'm not. No, every "job" doesn't work itself DOWN the ladder of success. I'm working to earn a living, I'm working to have goals, to better myself and my way of life. I would never settle for a job that keeps paying less and less. Sorry, but I disagree with you but to each his own.
I've been at it for 30+ years. 'Back in the day', I too made
about $42,000/year (gross). But the accounts keep getting crappier, and the pay keeps going lower. Meanwhile, I saw gas a $4.10/gallon on the interstate Sunday evening, and I'm slowly becoming a forced vegetarian because I can no longer afford to buy meat or fish.

Meanwhile, the suits at the big hospitals that whine about a 1-cpl increase in the cost of MT have six-(and some seven)-figure incomes.
Yeah, QT. Same account for 4 years. nm
nm
They (AAMT) made the rules for years until the internet
and those of us who had been isolated in the past got to know each other on line.  We started to discuss this and other issues, and figured out that AAMT is a bunch of bottom feeding scheisters ripping us off while enjoying themselves in Hawaii at their "convention" most likely being paid for at least in part by the dues, fees, and other drummed up charges for useless crap they've gotten out of us before we figured out what a huge money-grubbing hoax their "organization" is.
I haven't made that kind of rate for at least 20 years
Don't know where you live. In my area, that is not good money at all.
Been undercut, after 4 years, losing account, I am sure.
I am a small MTSO and have had this physician group for 4 years since I started my service. I have always charged them just a flat rate per 65 character line, which in the North East I feel is reasonable - 14 cents per line. Never charged them extra for reprinting reports they have lost (which have been many over the years) and I always did the printing and delivering daily for them. Now some other vendor comes in and says they only charge 11 cents per line. This group comes back to me and says that their "final offer is 12 cents per line".... I told them, no way....MY final offer is 13 cents and NO PRINTING! Did I do the right thing?
I've had a Hotmail account for years
They are updating it to "Windows Live Hotmail" which is much more like Outlook Express. You have 2 gigs of free storage space if you need it. I only use a fraction of that - it is the address I use when I'm ordering something online so I won't get tons of spam in my "regular" email.
depends on state, I didn't for 9 years...sm
occupational with the city I live in and then the county.....florida is my state.....they didn't require it as long as you had no *traffic* - but the laws/rules changed over time.....
Depends on how much experience you have. I have 26 years, not good for me. nm
nm
Fresh out of school 13 years ago I made 8 cents gross/clinic/no ESL

x


I just left after 16 years of marriage. Hardest decision I've ever made, but something that I ha

My husband doesn't want to work.  Never has and probably never will and it took me 16 years to figure out that nothing was ever going to change.  He has been in and out of college over the years with a number of different majors and when he is on the verge of actually finishing something, he up and quits, because I believe he doesn't want to actually go out and get a job.  He loves the going to school part, the studying, etc., but the actual finishing and putting his education to work, that's too overwhelming.


For years I made excuses for him, supported him, and actually believed that as he got older he would mature and finally find his way.  He's 42 now and runs off every day with one of his unemployed friends to play frisbee golf or go hiking or water skiing or fishing while I'm sitting at home at my desk typing until my nose bleeds!


I was one of those women afraid of being by myself.  I recently had a major depressive snap where I cried nonstop for three weeks.  I found a great doctor who became a great friend and she helped me find the right medicine to get my head clear and then she helped me realize that I don't have to be afraid of anything.  I was already supporting myself and my kids without anyone elses' help.  What was so frightening about leaving my husband behind?


So quietly I made my plans to leave.  I let my husband know that I was going to move back home to the area where all my family still lives when school let out this summer.  He didn't believe me because I had said it all before.  So I just made sure he knew I was thinking about it again.  Then May came along and miracously a job opened up at the hospital in the small community I wanted to move back to.  This hospital never has openings because they virtually have no employee turnover whatsoever.  Everyone's been there at least 5 or more years.  I took it as a sign and made my move.  Within two days of submitting my resume, I had an interview set up.  Without even waiting to see if I had the job, I packed up my kids and our stuff and told my husband "I'm going.  I love you, but if you want to be with me you need to get a job and actually be my partner not one of my kids."  And I left.


I got the job, thankfully.  I've been here a month and I know without a doubt that it was the best thing I've done in a long time for me and my kids.  My teenage son had built up a lot of resentment towards his father and their was a lot of anger and tension between the two of them before we moved.  Now, my son is happier than I've seen him in years.  He's more social, made a lot of friends, and even has a girlfriend now.  My daughter misses her dad, but she has always been remarkably wise for her young age and is very open about saying how calm everything is up here.


So there's my story.  I would never encourage anyone to divorce or leave their husband, and I haven't actually taken the step to file for divorce yet myself.  But sometimes separation is liberating and therapeutic.  It has been for me.  I can't remember the last time I felt so peaceful.


I've lost a local account today that I have had for five years......

I cannot believe that this happened to me today.  I went into one of my doctor's offices this afternoon to pick up his tape for today.   I was given a tape and told that his wife, who is the office manager, wanted to see me in her office.  I thought nothing of it because she sometimes has extra things that she wants me to type up for her and we talk quite often also.  


She tells me that she just has not gotten around to talking with me yet, but  "tomorrow we will start dictating through a company over the internet".  I was blown away!  She said she wanted to give me a break and that if it does not work out she will let me know.   The whole time she was tell me this she was writing me a check as I had just turned in an invoice.   


My first inclination was to throw that #@%$ tape at her and say "do it yourself", but I knew that wasn't the "professional thing" to do.  I was thinking how could she do this to me, not even a 24 hour notice.  She handed the check to me, I snatched it and walked out. 


I have had this account for five years exactly (began August 1, 2000).   I have never took a day off, never raised my rates, never asked anything of them, and my work has always been the best possible quality.  I have been the most dependable person they have could had.   I have passed up other accounts because of them, and I always put them first.   Thank goodness I have other accounts to fall back on.   In our town, there is only one other transcriptionist besides myself, and we both have more work than we can handle most of the time.


Just thought I'd remind all those other MTs out there that no matter how good we are and no matter how much we try to please everyone we are still not appreciated.  I will never be fooled again.  No one will ever receive the attention from me that I gave them.  


Depends on the pay and account. My lowest average is $15.52 an hour (roughly 182.6 lines an hour) w
;'
Thirteen years ago made 9 cents gross/clinic straight out of school

3-1/2 years experience, type cardio only on clinic account, and make 9 cpl nm
nm
Lost account of 28 years to Dictaphone because hospital believes it will eliminate all transcription
Curious if any of you are working for Dictaphone or Infomatics and doing an account out of Miami with mainly ESL dictators?  I was convinced I would not lose the account after a few days with VR. However Dictaphone is not using VR right away and will transcribe reports the regular way until they have a database. I am certain this hospital will never be done by VR. I posted a job on here about a year ago offering 18 cents per line to help with this account and not one person  accepted after hearing the ESL doctors we have. They are that bad.  Anyone else have this happen to them? Losing to Dictaphone  And we have had to do most of the work for over a month since they supposedly took over because their system is not working.          
i made $15/hr before and didn't stay long because i made so much more on production. sm
that was with full benes too. i wouldn't do it for less than $20, but i think even with $20, i'd want benes. are you in-house?
What is the difference between an acute care account and a multispecialty account??..nm
nm
I've never had a problem switching from account to account.
The problem I had was being switched too soon. If I don't get one account spec solidly in my memory with QA feedback on mistakes before starting another, I get confused. The other problem I had with former jobs was inconsistent QA. One person tells you one thing, another person tells you another.

Lately, I don't have a problem with it. Right now, my binder has 8 account specs (some I've never had to use) and I'm picking up a new weekend job for a while. The terminology and report formats stay basically the same. It's just all those little preferences. LOL
I don't know how it made such a small diff in your invoice... made a $100 diff in mine! (sm)

If it were only adding up to three bucks, I wouldn't sweat it. $100? Yeah, that's baseball registration for my son for this year. I am not giving tabs, returns, etc. away free when it adds up to that much difference!  Why should I charge less for a Return than I would for a"K"?