Some of my accounts are charged for blank lines..nm
Posted By: Lily on 2006-06-12
In Reply to: You charge for blank lines? WOW! That's a first! - SM
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No Blank Accounts sm
I heard about this but it sounds kinda strange. Anyone ever run into this kind of account? How do you not leave blanks if you don't know what they are saying?
I have heard of this two different ways -- Where I work now, we have no blank accounts which mean
that you must leave a QA marker for the QA department and if they can't figure it out, then in most cases they can leave a blank. Where another friend works, her no blank account involves calling other MTs for their input, also as a last resort, can call the hospital and ask for assistance with the chart from the floor.
blank lines also
When I started my surgical/oncology account 6 years ago, the gal that had been doing it charged for blanks, from first line to the last line on letters, consults, etc. All blanks were counted so I just continued, the OM, docs are well aware of it. Also, that is why my cpl is lower than others also, it usually averages out in the wash.
Take out all blank lines
Go through and take out all blank lines and count or put on your line count on your file and see how many blanks there are and subtract. Remember if you have a header though on pg 2 and 3, it does not count those lines. Also I think that Sylcount will count lines only and no blanks. Also when doing your line count in MS word, it gives you the paragraphs and so if it is 20, subtract 20 lines, date to address is 4, address to RE is 2, RE to salutation is 2, etc. Usually there are ten blanks from date to Dear. Good luck.
You charge for blank lines? WOW! That's a first!
charge for blank lines
not my idea, but I'll take it!
You could just go through and delete all the blank lines.
Since it is just a test, why not try doing that?
I mean without blank lines in between patient notes
Our Meditech counts BLANK lines...
we get a sweet line count off our account that uses Meditech.
Word counts the blank lines between paragraphs unless you change
your paragraph style to double space when you hit enter. You need to change the "after" setting in the spacing section of the paragraph dialog box to the point size of the font you are using and click the Default button. You'll probably want to do this in a separate template unless you want this setting for all new documents.
I thought Word counted blank lines using this method. I think the OP is looking for Abacus. nm
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You can set Word to not count blank lines by changing your paragraph style
to automatically double space after the paragraph.
7 cpl gross and counts blank lines, IC status-- make a ton of money because it's easy work...nm
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Gross line, also including blank lines because my line rate is so low. It all works out in the wash.
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$14.97 is what I was charged
They did not have these on the shelf (I wonder why). I had to ask for the model number. See my post above and they had to go get them in the back. You could call your local Radio Shack (what I did). They looked in the computer and saw them in inventory (they had only 3). I would ask them to pull a pair for you and hold them at the front register with your name on them until you can get there. Hope this helps. Happy holidays.
I think you should have charged them
the first time. Tell them if you have to spend time to listen, then that's at a rate of $20.00 an hour in addition to the transcribed lines minus the reports they think are already transcribed. This way, you are paid to listen.
How much more of this are you going to take Lisa? My dear, you are letting them walk on you.
Are you being paid for the "meeting" in the morning?
I can thank C-Bay for losing my job, too.
Look, you are going to need to draft a contract to bring along in the morning. Otherwise, you will be working for free, and this practice will drive you insane.
You need to figure out what works best for you and set the ground rules. You simply explain to the office manager that this is how you will be doing the work and what you will charge, etc.
At some point, you will have to hold this office accountable for the work they give you and stop working for free.
If you are picking up flash drives, then they should not expect you to report back on patients, etc., which is time consuming unless they would agree to a flat hourly rate for listening and sorting out dictations and then a lower line rate.
I know, I have a big mouth, but please, don't let them take advantage of you. As I said in your last posting, they will continue to abuse you if you allow it.
There are plenty of companies online hiring right now. www.mtjobs.com - have you checked there?
AND CHARGED ME AND KEPT MY MONEY
when I asked for return. Thanks you for the post above. I think the people on here are mostly English speaking, are they not? Maybe some speaking broken-English. They are not seeming to understand. I do not think most would like to be stolen from. I would put this in several languages as I am thinking the posts coming in are maybe not comprehending what we are saying but I only speak English.
I charged per line
I charged per line because then they had no question with regards to hours. It was gross line, top to bottom of page using Microsoft word. Did all the uh's, yea, okay as they wanted it verbatim. For a little over 2 hours dictation made $400 but it was very hard to do and I think that they got a deal. It was a land use county meeting and people would not identify themselves and talk over each other, interrupt, could not tell who was talking, etc. I think I averaged about $25 an hour but kept going over it and over it. Had someone else helping me and we kind of relistened to each other's parts of the tape. But again, they got a deal as between the two of us we put 10 hours typing and 5-6 hours reviewing. But I charged .125 cpl. Then told him that there would be review time and so we just settled on $400 and made sure that he paid me before I returned the tapes. He had to review them to see who was saying what and I did eventually get an apology saying he now could see why I had the trouble that I did. It was 7 men and 1 woman and all the men sounded alike. But good luck. I have done seminars, medical and building a computer chip and those were easier than this. But the only way I would bid on this type of job again is to say I need to listen to part of the tape before I can name my price. Good luck.
I used to do that and charged by the page. nm
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They charged me almost $400 last year.
It goes up every year. I overhold on all my employee jobs so I'm not worried about that. I just can't stand paying someone that much for something I can do myself.
Forgot to say, doctor charged $79
for DH to come in and find out the results of the MRI, doctor never touched him. It could be worse, we could have not had insurance at all. DH and I weren't exactly thrilled with the doctor anyway (can you imagine an MT going to support their spouse and not being allowed to ask questions until the doctor gives you permission - LOL).
The doc charged $500 I don't see that as a rip off - the hospital bill though - sm
for $5K is a bit outragous and has nothing to do with the doctor actually. I hope she has insurance.
I got charged $75 for a copy of my old MRs, even though I transcribed it!!! n/m
:p
Cigna may be charged with manslaughter in
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Guilty as charged! It is very difficult.
My biggest and best suggestions are to type a specialty that interests you and try to keep up with the report. In other words make it a challenge to diagnose and treat the patient before you're through with the report. I use an online timer set for 45 minutes. I'm not allowed to do anything but type during those 45 minutes. If I'm feeling a compulsion to research something that I found while checking on a word, I write it down and give myself 5-10 minutes between 45 minute sessions to do exactly that. I also take medication (adderall) without it I would be completely lost. I also have to make myself use the interest as little as possible.....too many shiny things to take my attention away. The good thing is that usually ADD people are exceptionally bright and innovative, so I can accurately produce in 4 distracted hours what most can produce in 6-8 diligently working. However, can you imagine what your line count would be like if you stuck to it the whole time??
So, to summarize:
1. Try to find an MT job that interests you.
2. Use a timer to limit your distractions.
3. Take medication.
4. Avoid the internet for reseach if at all possible.
How about zillions of accounts. MQ has these accounts so overloaded even the new hires dont have any
work. I would love to read some of these reports and then they expect perfect QA and no blanks. Did they lose their minds completely.
has anyone ever charged insurance companies for doing their work - SM
I have a lot of medical issues with my family and so see a lot of doctors and pay a lot of copays. Each and every time I see a doctor or facility I have to pay a copay, which I always ALWAYS charge on my credit card. No exception. Do not pay, do not see the doctor or have the test. Yet time and time again I get letters from the doctor's billing or facility saying I owe a copay to them. When I call them up, explain that I paid my copay at the time of services rendered and do not owe anything further, I am told they don't have a record of it. I must find the receipt and send them a copy for proof of payment. In short, I must do their job because they are either too lazy or inefficient to do it. Earlier this month I got a statement from the x-ray facility saying that I owed a copay. The customer (dis)service person was very unhelpful when I explained that I always made my copay first and it showed up on my credit card statement. Finally I told him I would call the facility myself and get things straightened out, which I did (they had put my copay into a different account by mistake). But I ended up doing his job and got treated rudely to boot. Then yesterday, I got yet another doctor's billing statement saying I owed my copay. I called and left a message saying that it had already gone through on my credit card bill and would not be paying. They want proof. Am I out of line saying, fine, I will photocopy the receipt (and this is an NCR receipt so the office has a copy of it) and my credit card bill (with everything else blanked out) and send it to you as proof of my payment, but it will require my invoicing you a $10 processing fee. If you are not willing to reimburse me for my time to straighten out your mistake, then I will not provide proof of payment. This takes time out of my day to hunt through my receipts, make a photocopy, document it in writing (LOL I learned that VERY early on), then postage, etc. Why must I do this without being reimbursed for it. IS ANYONE ELSE FED UP WITH PEOPLE NOT DOING THEIR JOBS????? Arrrrghhh. I feel every so much better.
An MTSO that I worked for charged $6 a page. NM
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Wow! Thanks for the info. I didn't know the nationals charged THAT much!! I'm going for it! n
nm
Agree, but geezzo, my acct only charged 150 to
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line rates charged to clients
I know that 10 years ago, Medquist charged one of their big hospitals in St. Louis 24 cents per line!!! Yet of course they pay their employees peanuts, since they pay by the WORD. (MQ is more concerned with paying Wall Street.) But there's your upper ceiling of what you might dare think of charging!
Very impressive. Reading this really charged me up, and I hope it does him also. nm
nm
Yep, my son's doc charged 111.00 for a 3 minute visit to tell him he had a kidney stone.
And to think the insurance paid it. Hmmm.
figure an average at 1.20 and 1.50 and charge double..we charged 2.50 and 3.95
I've never heard of sales tax being charged for a service, only
for a tangible product.
I charged by the gross line and made more money that way.
I had to have a bowel resection for a Meckels diverticulum and the surgeon charged 2500 and got 1500
and the hospital bill was 27,000. Until that surgeon gets done paying malpractice, his office costs, taxes, etc. I bet he doesnt get one third of that money plus all the visits I had while in the hospital for 9 days and fu visits. I did have insurance thank God.
You need to charge for this extra service. Stat reports should be charged at a higher rate or per r
Never lose money. I have unlimited long distance and when my docs what things faxed, etc, I charge them per report to fax the document as well as charging them to transcribe it.
The accounts are old and she keeps her accounts TRUSTING she hired the right MTs
who if in doubt will ask questions regarding reports. No one can find all mistakes in all reports and that is human to have a report with perhaps a typo. You think anyone reads through all the reports of a national company before they get to the hospital? Not a chance. Some random QA is supposed to correct all mistakes? Not hardly. Doctors/dictators make mistakes too. We all do. So do QA people. So the thing is this person hires good people who are trustworthy, the hospital likes the way she does their account and life goes on quite nicely w/o hovering editors/QA people. BTW, who QAs the QA people on your accounts. Ever wonder?
Aaahhhh, now I get it. Gross lines vs. Character lines. I guess I've just been conditioned to
think in terms of character lines. One of the perils of working as an IC for somebody who defines what a line is versus owning your own company and defining it yourself. After working for someone else for 15 years, maybe it's time to bust out on my own.
to blank or not blank
I've taken tests like that before, and, yes, they seem impossible but point is to stick it out and put all the blanks that are needed because that is the point, to see if you will blank it or guess something st*pid. They know what the dictation is like. I recently took a test where one voice file was horrendous. I had a ton of blanks but I got the job. The other 3 files I still had blanks too. Then again, on the flip side, I've tested for places that had tests like that too and were indicative of their regular dictation, so you had to just test it out and see for yourself because you might be pleasantly surprised that it's not so bad.
That is a lot of work/lines for 2 people. I do 3000 lines per day sm
if you times that by 30 days that only comes to 90K lines a month, that is working 7 days a week including weekends. I don't think 2 people can handle that.
900 lines is below 1100 lines, where the bonus starts.
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Personally, I would blank it. You should
the spelling and for other reasons, i.e. privacy, I think it would be a good idea. Some tests I've taken have asked me to put in three underscores __ __ __ when items bleeped for confidentiality. Even if not asked to, I think that's the way to go IMHO ...
Since you had a bad ESL did you blank or put what it sounded like?
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Blank emails-me, too
I have always used Spybot and Adware SE, but read they sometimes miss things, so I just bought NoAdWare. Was I surprized at the stuff it found compared to the other ones (including Norton AntiVirus, and my server software)! I had 4 "dangerous" and 92 "severe" the very first day...that have been on my system for quite a while.
Since then, I have also been receiving blank emails. I'm now up to 5 every time I receive my mail. I've been getting a lot of junk mail all of a sudden and have no idea why. My favorites are winning the lotteries. If I believed them, I would have a bankroll of well over $100,000,000,000. The other ones where I am named in someone's will. Love it. Dream on. 
Don't know what to say or what else to do about it without changing my email addess again, and I sure don't feel like doing that. I just did change it 3 months ago.
In my experience, if you don't know for sure, blank it. sm
It doesn't happen to often with my line of work as I only do clinic notes. I do know which drugs are used for what and the differences between similar sounding drugs. I have reference materials to help if I don't quite understand the pronounciation, as long as I have been given a particular diagnosis for which the drug is used.
If I am completely unsure (i.e. med list for PMH with no given symptoms or diagnosis) I ask or leave a QA note. That is much safer than putting the wrong med in the patient's record and that is the extent of what MT's should be expected to do.
As far as the doctor dictating the wrong side of the body for any reason whatsoever, there is no way an MT could possibly determine in a case of it being left rather than right. In the event of a dictator switching between left and right, that is a red flag to leave a note that simply says, "dicatator is indicating left and then right but does not clarify by end of note."
When my son had his mastoidectomy a year ago, the surgeon came in and drew a big blue circle around his left ear and looked at me and said, "This is the ear that I am operating on. This is his left ear. Are you in agreement with me that I have the correct ear that needs surgery?" Well, I kind of chuckled a little bit as my son looked rather strange at the moment and the doc said, very nicely: "In all seriousness, we are human and we do make mistakes, but I don't wish to make a mistake with your little boy."
What about when you leave a blank
and then QA goes in and "guesses" and fills in the blank? I have relistened after QA, and it absolutely sometimes is not what was said, it's just what the dictator "usually says" so QA puts that in. That makes me look dumb for putting so many blanks, and QA look good for knowing the answers.
Screen blank for me too.
nm
Leave a blank
Definitely an error on the MD's part
Always flag/blank something so odd it is likely
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